Unreasonable demand

In the latest edition of CPIM mouthpiece People8217;s Democracy, the party8217;s West Bengal unit secretary Biman...

In the latest edition of CPIM mouthpiece People8217;s Democracy, the party8217;s West Bengal unit secretary Biman Basu favours fresh dialogue to end the continuing impasse over land acquisition for Tata8217;s small car factory at Singur. He says that the return of 400 acres of acquired land a demand raised by the Trinamul Congress was 8220;unreal and impractical8221; and argues that the factory will generate a lot of employment. 8220;On the question of return of the land, Nirupam, our industries minister has already said how difficult it is to gather together scattered parcels of land and then find the owners, and then organise a fresh compensation 8212; the task is an improbable one 8212; the demand is being made for motivated reasons.8221; He added that the need of the hour 8220;is not strife, not attack and counterattack, slandering and mayhem, harassment of the people, and distruption of development. Without peace and amity, no development work, especially pro-people development work can take place.8221;

MNC bias

In another article titled 8220;Draining of EPF funds to favour companies8221;, CPM Central Committee member W.R. Varada Rajan talks about the Government8217;s decision to appoint private Asset Management Companies to manage the provident fund corpus. Although the central board of trustees of the provident fund administration had accepted in principle the idea of introducing competition in fund management with to explore avenues for maximising yield on investment, the issue of engaging private fund managers for the purpose was the farthest from its thinking. He claims that the three-member committee constituted by the labour minister to draw up a roadmap for introducing competition in fund management transgressed its mandate and unilaterally decided on the number of fund managers to be appointed. It also decided on the allocation of funds between multiple fund managers and set the threshold limit for prospective fund managers to participate in bidding at Rs. 10,000 crore, a move that resulted in exclusion of public sector banks other than the SBI from participating in the process.

Rajan says neither the central board of trustees nor its finance and investment subcommittee were privy to the whole process. 8220;The UPA regime has chosen to drain the EPF funds to favour the MNCs and corporates, throwing all norms and propriety to the winds,8221; he alleges.

Caucasus causes

In the context of the Russia-Georgia conflict, the lead editorial argues that after having successfully engineered disintegration of former Yugoslavia fostering internecine conflict and instability in the Balkans, US imperialism aided by local chauvinistic outfits is now targeting the Caucasus. Claiming that Georgia is on the verge of joining the NATO and is considered very close to the US administration, it says 8220;naturally, Russia would be wary of NATO forces on its borders.8221;

8220;When Russia was asked to withdraw the former USSR military bases from Georgia, this was to have been accompanied by Georgia adopting a constitutional law prohibiting and proscribing any presence of foreign military bases on Georgian soil ever. Additionally, Russia and Georgia were to establish a joint counter-terrorism mechanism as Russia felt that Georgian territory was being used by certain forces against it,8221; it says.

While Russia has totally withdrawn its military bases from Georgia, the other two elements of the agreement have not been complied with. With Georgia joining NATO, Russia naturally sees its security interests as challenged by the presence of NATO bases, it notes. It also argues that US imperialism and its allies seek to claim that Russia has conducted a military operation inside Georgia and using this pretext the US has extracted an agreement from Poland to station its missiles in Polish territory. 8220;It is clear that the US imperialism would like to use the present conflict to further its hegemonic designs by strengthening its military presence in Europe.8221;