KERALA: CPI (M) COLLECTS SOLIDARITY FUND FOR WEST BENGAL

K K Ragesh

THE people of Kerala expressed profound solidarity with the struggling people of West Bengal. They responded massively to the solidarity fund campaign of the CPI (M) Kerala state committee in support of the people facing heinous attacks of the TMC-Maoist-Congress forces. The Central Committee meeting of the CPI (M) held at Hyderabad had called for organising West Bengal solidarity campaign and the solidarity fund collection. And immediately after the decision, the Kerala state committee had contributed Rs 25 lakhs as a first installment of the fund. The Kerala state committee had decided to collect the solidarity fund on August 7-8.

In July, a huge solidarity campaign was organised in the state where thousands of people participated in every center to show their anger against the terror unleashed on the Party comrades and to express their heartfelt solidarity. The solidarity campaign programmes were accompanied by the fund collection and the Kerala state committee had called upon its units to collect the fund on August 7-8 through bucket collection. The state committee also said that the Party cadres at all levels including the leadership would directly participate in the collection. The solidarity fund call evoked inspiring response from all sections of the people. Around 50,000 Party squads visited each and every house, shops, factories and other institutions in the state for the solidarity fund. Tens of lakhs of pamphlets were also distributed during the solidarity campaign.

Along with the state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, other state secretariat and state committee members, district secretaries and elected representatives of the Party also led the solidarity fund collection in different parts of the state. After participating in the fund collection campaign at Rajaji Nagar Colony in Thiruvananthapuram city, Pinarayi Vijayan called upon the democratic sections to support the struggling people of West Bengal who are being terribly attacked by the TMC led forces. The Left activists, sympathisers and their family members in West Bengal are facing this continuous attack. Thousands of houses were burned and tens of thousands became homeless as their houses were destroyed. Many comrades were severely attacked and were seriously injured.

Pinarayi Vijayan describing the situation in West Bengal said that after the assembly elections alone, more than 30 people were brutally killed. In many areas, people were threatened with dire consequences for their political loyalty and many of them were attacked for their undeterred support to the Left. The TMC led government in the state is also aiding the criminals without taking any action against them. A large number of people have been rehabilitated who includes not just the Party activists but sympathisers of the class and mass organisations also. Many of them need a long time medical care. And thus it is extremely important for one and all to take part in the solidarity fund collection, he said.

The people of Kerala contributed Rs 3,68,04,120 as solidarity fund. Pinarayi Vijayan handed over the solidarity fund (3,54,59,172) to Biman Basu, secretary of the West Bengal state committee of the CPI(M) on August 26 during the Parliament March organised against the TMC-Maoist terror in West Bengal. Handing over the fund, Pinarayi Vijayan said that the democratic rights in West Bengal are being slaughtered under the TMC led regime. Many comrades are killed and many are seriously injured and the Party state committee had given the fund call on August 7-8 to aid those comrades and to protect their families. Polit Bureau members and state committee members also participated in the fund collection campaign and the 50,000 squads collected the fund from 5,60,000 houses, shops and institutions in the state. The Kerala Party state committee is ready for more assistance if required, he said.

Courtesy: People's Democracy

MAHARASHTRA: CPI (M) PLUNGES INTO ANTI-CORRUPTION MOVEMENT

Ashok Dhawale

THE arbitrary arrest of Gandhian social activist Anna Hazare by the Congress-led UPA regime even before he began his fast on August 16, was strongly denounced by the CPI (M) and by all other democratic and secular forces in Maharashtra. The CPI (M) Polit Bureau and the state secretariat gave a call for protest actions all over the state the next day on August 17. The CPI (M) state secretariat immediately contacted the leaders of other Left and secular parties and it was decided to hold these protest actions unitedly.

In fact, as soon as the news of Anna Hazare’s arrest came on the morning of August 16, several CPI (M) units in the state swung into action and held protest demonstrations on that day itself. On August 17, the CPI (M) and other Left and secular parties mobilised thousands of people in districts like Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Pune, Solapur, Kolhapur, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Nanded, Nagpur, Wardha and so on.

A 3000-strong protest rally was held by the CPI (M) on August 17 in Anna Hazare’s own tehsil of Parner in Ahmednagar district. It was the first-ever CPI (M) rally in Parner, and it was also the largest among all the protest actions held in the district that day. In Nashik, a 2000-strong Left demonstration picketed the district collectorate. In Talasari in Thane district, a 2000-strong rally was organised by the SFI and Talasari observed a bandh. In Solapur, 1000 people joined a Left protest rally and 300 courted arrest. Jail bharo stirs were conducted in Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district, Nanded, Wardha and other places.

Mass organisations like the SFI and DYFI were especially active among students and youth. On Independence Day, August 15 itself, the DYFI state committee had given a call for statewide rallies against corruption. Thousands of youth joined these rallies in Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Solapur, Beed, Aurangabad and other districts. During the anti-corruption stir, the SFI mobilised thousands of students in districts like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik, Solapur, Beed, Nanded, Aurangabad and Wardha.

As the days passed, the anger and resistance of the people grew in direct proportion to the intransigence of the central government in seriously responding to the issue of corruption. The Nine Parties’ call of nationwide protests on August 23 elicited another massive response in Maharashtra. On that day, over 1500 people led by the Left in Solapur burnt a ten-headed Ravana-like effigy of Corruption, the faces on the ten heads being those of the big scamsters from all the bourgeois parties. This novel protest was widely covered by the media. Police cases were lodged against 80 leading comrades. Aurangabad city had earlier observed a bandh which was very successful.

In almost all the 29 districts of the state in which the CPI (M) exists, large and enthusiastic actions took place on August 23, in which thousands of people took part. The two largest independent mobilisations of the CPI (M) were spread out last week in the various rural tehsils of Thane and Nashik districts. Thane district recorded a total participation of over 10,000, while in Nashik district it was over 8,000.

Apart from these independent actions of the CPI (M) or joint actions of the Left and secular parties, the CPI (M) also participated in the broader dharnas and rallies of citizens supporting Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption in various centres throughout the state. However, care was taken in most places to project the independent view of the Party on the Lok Pal Bill and on the issue of corruption as a whole.

Courtesy: People's Democracy

DELHI UNIVERSITY TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION (DUTA) ELECTIONS: A REBUFF TO NEO-LIBERAL POLICIES IN EDUCATION

Vijender Sharma

THE elections to the post of president and 15-member executive committee of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) were held on August 25, 2011 with 68 per cent polling. Amar Deo Sharma of Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) won as its president securing 2,415 votes with a record of 45.8 per cent votes which no one in the past ever got.

Amar Deo Sharma defeated by a margin of 524 votes his nearest rival belonging to Academics for Action and Development (AAD) – an organisation representing a section of the Congress. The AAD candidate got 1,891 or 35.8 per cent votes. The DTF secured 10 per cent more votes than the AAD. The BJP backed National Democratic Teachers’ Front (NDTF) candidate came third with just 872 votes or 16.5 per cent votes.

Three of the four candidates the DTF contested for the executive committee won with the fourth losing very narrowly. DTF’s Abha Dev Habib came first with highest number of votes followed by Saikat Ghosh and Giriraj Bairwa. One of the three candidates of NDTF for executive committee lost.

A day earlier, on August 24 there was an election to the membership of the executive council (EC), the highest decision making body of the University, from the University Court which is constituted by all principals of the colleges and all professors of the University, and some representatives of the alumni, legislatures, professions and commerce and business, etc. Ajay Kumar, general manager, Progressive Printers, got elected to the EC.

The DUTA election was contested in the backdrop of the sixth pay revision with a lot of negative service conditions for teachers, two terms of DUTA leadership led by AAD (2007-11) during which it did not fight against negative changes in service conditions, butchering of all democratic norms and institutions by the previous and current vice-chancellors to force the implementation of semester system as part of the 100-day agenda of the MHRD led by Kapil Sibal and several bills introduced in parliament after the UPA-2 government came to power in 2009.

The DUTA in its history of more than four decades fought and won big battles to improve service conditions of teachers and to democratise the functioning of the University and colleges. It won the right to promotion, staff councils, rotation of headship of the departments, elected representation in the academic council (AC) and executive council of the University and governing bodies of colleges. It fought against harassment of temporary/ ad hoc teachers and for the dignity of all teachers. And it firmly resisted many policy assaults by successive governments that threatened to erode our hard won rights and democratic academic environment.

The DTF during the election campaign approached the teachers saying, “Today such assaults are being intensified many times over. Several bills await approval of parliament that aim at drastic changes in the landscape of universities and colleges through aggressive marketisation of higher education and authoritarian measures to overcome resistance Semesterisation and the points based system of denying promotion are part and parcel of this policy assault. Shall we be cowed down or shall we fight back? And with what kind of DUTA leadership can we fight back?”

The teachers responded to the DTF positively. They overwhelmingly voted for the DTF. They voted for the DTF because they saw over the past two years an unprecedented united struggle by teachers on the issue of semester system, but under an unwilling DUTA leadership. This leadership was forced by the DTF and the collective will of the teachers to fight the semester system as part of the neo-liberal agenda of the UPA government in higher education. The teachers noted that the DTF was always at the forefront.

The teachers at large whose opinion was bulldozed, who were humiliated and threatened by the previous and present administrations realised that the struggle against semester system, commercialisation of education through several bills pending before parliament was the struggle forced by the DTF on an unwilling leadership of the DUTA. They also noted that the AAD leadership of the DUTA withdrew into a shell using the Court order of November 2010 regarding semester system as a pretext. Its withdrawal was so complete that it watched in silence as the new University administration outdid even its predecessor in disregarding statutory provisions, throwing all norms and propriety to the winds, and vindictively targeting teachers who were seen as part of the movement of resistance. The AAD leadership of DUTA did not protest against it at all. The administration's arrogance has been doubly fortified by the concurrent silence of the AAD and NDTF and their unwillingness to even express dissent in the AC/EC. The DUTA leadership had been similarly unwilling to confront the government on adverse changes in service conditions.

The campaign launched by the DTF against neo-liberal reforms in higher education through several policy changes by the UPA government, several bills introduced in parliament and others in the offing, was so effective that the teachers at large started raising slogans against FEI and commercialisation and privatisation of higher education. During the struggle against forcible imposition of semester system, the DTF had through Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) and member of parliament, organised a DUTA delegation to the president in her capacity as the Visitor of the University of Delhi and another delegation of professors to the prime minister. With these delegations and other actions, the teachers realised that the fight against these reforms and university administration can only be launched by the DTF with seriousness. They came in large numbers and decisively voted in favour of the DTF rebuffing neo-liberal policies of the UPA government in higher education.

Courtesy: People's Democracy

HIMACHAL PRADESH - SFI SWEEPS HPU POLLS WITH STILL HIGHER MARGINS

Vijender Mehra

THE Students Federation of India (SFI) has once again swept the Students Central Association (SCA) elections in the Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), based in Shimla. This time, moreover, the SFI has won the election with historical record margins.

SIGNIFICANT VICTORY

These elections were held at a time when there was strong anti-Left campaign in our country by the unholy alliance of extreme Left and extreme right ideologies. The student organisations belonging to the ruling class parties also tried to cast doubts on the validity of Marxism and the Left ideology. The RSS-patronised Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) initiated a debate in the HPU campus on the future of the Left ideology and asked the students community to defeat the SFI. The logic behind such an appeal was that the Left had faced defeat in the West Bengal legislative assembly elections, that the Left bastion has fallen. This they construed in a twisted way, saying the Left has lost its relevance in India.

But the enlightened students community of the HPU rejected this logic and gave a serious blow to the proponents of this theory by making the SFI victorious with highest ever margin in the history of the HPU over the last 32 years. This victory once again reflects the validity and importance of left ideology. The results of this year’s SCA selections are nothing new but only repetition of the legacy which SFI inherits since last 32 years. The slogan of “Study, Struggle and Sacrifice” once again caught the imagination of students community and the record margin created during the last year’s SCA election was broken within a year. The margin of victory is so high that the ABVP, supported by the BJP government, could not even manage votes equal to the margins gained by the SFI.

Also, the SFI has won the highest ever number of departmental representatives (DR) posts.

In these elections, the SFI has won all the four seats of the central panel with comfortable margins. The student community has thus fully rejected the ABVP. Further, while the SFI won 42 posts of departmental representatives out of 44, the ABVP could manage only 2. Had the teachers illegally appointed by the BJP government in the Physical Education and Tourism departments not threatened the students of these departments, the SFI would have probably won all the 44 department representatives posts and the ABVP would have been completely swept away.

The SFI has managed to clean-sweep the Arts, Science, Management, Law and Education faculties.

RECORD MARGINS

The presidential candidate from the SFI panel, Puneet Dhaunta, got elected by a historical margin of 536 votes. Lokender Kumar of the SFI was elected vice president by a margin of 673 votes. Hoshiyar Singh, candidate for the secretary’s post, won by 676 votes. Manju Thakur got elected as joint secretary by a margin of 585 votes.

The details are given in the table alongside.

Sr No	Name of Office	Total Votes Polled	SFI	ABVP	Margin
1.	President	1923	1202	666	536
2.	Vice President	1919	1255	582	673
3.	Secretary	1918	1249	573	676
4.	Joint Secretary	1918	1200	615	585

Compared to the last year’s SCA elections, the SFI has gained throughout the state. But its biggest victory has been in the chief minister’s home constituency of Hamirpur where the BJP unleashed state terror but yet the ABVP, its student wing, could not savour victory. The SFI has gained in 3 out of 6 colleges in the chief minister’s home district.

In Kangra, the largest district of the state, the SFI has gained as compared to the last year. It has registered victory in the DAV College of Kangra, which is one of the most prestigious colleges in the state. The SFI has won for first time in Dehri college of Kangra district.

In Mandi district, after many years, the SFI has once again gained by winning in the Sarkaghat, Lambathach and Jogindernagar colleges. Likewise, the organisation has secured victory in the Kullu college after a long span of time. The organisation has once again registered victory in Chamba and Chuvari colleges. In Shimla, the state capital, the results were a repetition of the organisation’s historical legacy. It has once again got victory in the RKMV, the only girls college and one of the largest colleges in the state. Likewise, the organisation has won elections in Theog, Rampur and HPU Centre of Evening Studies in Shimla, and also in Sanjauli, Fagli, Kotshera, Rampur and Tungish colleges. The SFI has once again restored its position in the Bhatoli College in Una district.

STATE TERROR

Though the BJP government tried its level best to ensure the victory of its student wing, the ABVP, the students community gave a serious blow to its heinous designs. Not only the ABVP’s tally of seats came down as compared to the last year; its vote share too fell down drastically. This year the performance of the ABVP has been its worst over the last 11 years.

The BJP government unleashed state sponsored terror on the opponent organisations and specially the SFI. The chief minister himself was keen about winning these elections and left no stone unturned to ensure it. The situation in the CM’s home constituency was virtually like an emergency. A numbers of frivolous cases were registered against leaders of the SFI. The chief minister’s son and national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha was in command of the ABVP campaign. The principal of Hamirpur College too went from one class to another, asking the students to vote for the ABVP. But all such tactics were rejected by the students community.

The state government and the chief minister had made it an issue of prestige to win elections. They had passed instructions to the BJP cadre that the ABVP must register victory in HPU Shimla and in Hamirpur College at any cost. To ensure its victory in HP University at Shimla, the ABVP on the instructions of the BJP government attacked some leaders of the SFI on August 8, 2011. Only a little before it, ABVP people had pelted stones on SFI activists in which around 45 students were injured.

On the election day too, some SFI leaders were attacked by ABVP leaders in the Evening College. Similar kinds of attacks were organised by the ABVP in Sujanpur, Chakmoh, Rajpur, Kangra, Palampur, Dehri, Bhatoli, Mandi, Sarkaghat, Jogindernagar, Karsog, Solan, Nahan, Kullu, Hamirpur, Sanjauli, Kotshera etc. in fact the ABVP was given a free hand by the state government and the police and administration.

In sum, they did everything to win the elections. There was a pre-planned murderous attack on SFI state secretary Vijender Mehra in which he got multiple injuries; one of his teeth was broken. Fake cases were registered against 37 SFI activists of Kotshera and the Evening College and they were put behind bars for 24 days. In a majority of violence related cases, no FIR was registered against the ABVP. In fact, the repression and terror tactics of the ABVP and state government continue even after the elections. ABVP leaders attacked the victory rally of the SFI on election day in HPU in which 14 students were injured; 2 out of them were still in hospital while writing these lines and had been operated. Same kind of attacks were executed after elections by ABVP in Sanjauli, Kotshera, Bhotoli and the Evening College.

ISSUES IN ELECTIONS

These attacks by the BJP government and ABVP leaders on SFI leaders were executed with the thinking that SFI is the main hurdle in their way of privatisation and commercialisation of education. The BJP government is all set to destroy the education system. Some 24 private universities have been opened in this small state of HP. Perhaps this is the highest number throughout the country. The Dhumal government is following the principle of “Bring Money, Get Education.” Around 110 SCVT private technical institutes and 79 private BEd colleges have also been opened in the state. The owners of a majority of these colleges are either former ABVP leaders or BJP leaders. These colleges are looting the students. The SFI has launched a vigorous and continuing struggle against this loot and is thus the main enemy in the eyes of the BJP government which fully knows that the SFI is the main hurdle in their drive of commercialisation of education. Hence its attempts to curb the democratic movement led by the SFI.

The HPU Shimla is known for its academics and research standards. The university got 31st position among around 500 universities in the country in a survey. This could become possible due to the hard work put in by its students, employees and teachers. This is also a well known fact that the second highest number of NET and JRF qualifiers in the country this year came from this university, next only to JNU in New Delhi.

But the BJP government is continuously following its agenda of saffronisation, corruption and nepotism. Recruitments in the university are being done purely on the basis of adherence to saffron ideology, denying merit. The university has become a hub of corruption and nepotism. Its autonomy is at stake.

Commercialisation of education has become a common phenomenon. Recently a massive fee hike was effected in colleges. Vacant posts of teachers are either not being filled up or being filled up on contract basis. There was no raise in the budget of colleges and the university. Basic infrastructure is lacking. But the government is not putting serious efforts to save higher education. Rather, private universities are mushrooming.

The SFI had made the commercialisation of education an important agenda in the SCA elections. Its election manifesto highlighted all these points and also the role of the BJP government in making education a saleable commodity. It was on the basis of its manifesto that the students community has once again reposed its faith in the SFI, giving a serious blow to the anti-student policies of the BJP government. The following were the issues which were included in the SFI’s election manifesto.

1) Stop to commercialisation and privatisation of education.

2) Halt to opening of private universities.

3) Increase in the budget of HPU and affiliated colleges.

4) Appointment on vacant posts of teaching and non-teaching staff.

5) Provision of proper infrastructure in colleges and HPU.

6) Restoration of the autonomy of HPU.

7) Stop to saffronisation of education.

8) Strengthening the Executive Council, Academic Council and departmental councils.

9) Stop to misuse of student funds.

10) Establishment of a Bhagat Singh Chair in HPU.

11) End to the loot of students in the name of self-financing and NRI seats.

12) An end to the neo-liberal policies.

Courtesy: People's Democracy

ANDHRA PRADESH CPI (M) - A UNIQUE EFFORT IN PARTY EDUCATION

RECENTLY in August month a unique landmark was reached when a district level study circle being run by Bodepudi Vignana Kendram (BVK) under the aegis of Khammam district committee of the CPI(M) completed an uninterrupted 200 weeks of imparting political education. The slogan “Sunday for Study; Study for Struggle and Struggle for a Better Society” was followed scrupulously with every of the last 200 Sundays devoted to study without a break. This must be a unique record in the party as far as structured political education in concerned.

The study circle began four years ago in 2007 with six members and today it is enlarged to 60 members, including the district level leadership of Party and mass organisations. The timings of the study circle is from 6:30 in the morning to 1:00 pm in the afternoon. The format was that a subject would be selected in advance and everyone would be asked to come after reading about it. One of the leaders, either of district level or state level, would introduce the subject for about an hour and there would be discussion. Once CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury also spoke in the study circle. The subjects covered included dialectics, political economy, history, politics, philosophy, science, social aspects etc. Discussion on the three volumes of Capital was completed in the study circle. CPI(M) Central Committee member Thammineni Veerabadhram is acting as the coordinator for this study circle.

CPI (M) central secretariat member V Srinivasa Rao attended a special meeting of the study circle organised on the occasion of completing 200 weeks of uninterrupted study. Speaking on this occasion, he said that the Central Committee has decided to expand this unique experience of the study circle across the country and strengthen the ideological study within the Party.

The BVK study circle began in Khammam at a time when there were concerted efforts to disrupt the organisational unity of the Party in the district, aided by the then chief minister late Y S Rajashekar Reddy. A few district level leaders left the Party and joined the forces working to weaken the Party. The study circle helped in withstanding these attacks and rallying the cadre on ideological basis.

Among the many notions that are usually cited in not being able to conduct systematic study programs is the pressure of Party activity. The experience of this study circle proves that it is just a notion. Despite conducting many mass activity programmes during this period, including the two month long cycle yatra covering over thousand kilometres within the district on dalit issues, the study circle remained uninterrupted. The programmes were planned in a way that would leave out these seven hours of the Sunday or the study circle was either preponed in the week or postponed by a few days. Even holding of the state conference of AIDWA in Khammam town did not come in the way of conducting the study circle.

As for benefits of such continuous study, it has resulted in greater ideological confidence among the cadre; their ability to convince others on political issues improved; there was visible improvement in their work methods and overall work. On an average, around 40 members attended this study circle constantly. Parallel to this study circle, and buoyed by its success, another programme of “Sunday for You” is being organised every Sunday evening in which topical aspects are dealt by a speaker. This is for a wider audience of around 400 people, most of whom are middle class employees. In ten assembly constituencies of the district, weekly study circles are being conducted while in 46 mandal headquarters it is being done every fortnight.

The success of this study circle encouraged starting of around 150 study circles across the state. The state committee is having a study circle every month apart from regional and district level study circles. This intensive campaign of political education within the Party is helping in strengthening and renewal of Party in the state after the electoral setback of 2009 and the agitation launched for separate Telangana. The circulation of state Party's ideological monthly, Marxistu has jumped from 5000 to over 30,000 during this period. Overall, the drive for ideological strengthening is having a positive impact on the Party in the state.

(INN)

Courtesy: People's Democracy

100 DAYS OF TMC-CONGRESS GOVT: A FALSE START

From Our Special

Correspondent in Kolkata

WHAT are the high points of the first 100 days of the TMC-Congress government in West Bengal?

 Organised terror against the opposition, which has claimed lives of 33 Left Front activists, injured hundreds; 684 women were assaulted physically, 508 molested and 23 raped; nearly 40,000 had to leave their homes under threat. An unprecedented extortion campaign is going on in villages.

 Campaign of political vendetta, using state police forces for that purpose. More than 1500 false cases have been registered against the CPI (M) leaders and activists. CPI (M) leaders, including MLA and former minister Sushanto Ghosh, have been put in prison. CPI (M) state committee members have been targeted too.

 Land grabbing and comprehensive attack on panchayats.

 A unique budget without budgeting, without finalisation of sources of revenue and expenditure.

 Refusal to discuss budgets of important ministries, including home, in the assembly. The chief minister herself is in-charge of these ministries.

 Reversal of decisions, hastily announced by the chief minister and other ministers. One of the more important one is retarding on the re-establishment of the legislative council in the state.

 Lots of nominated committees with the TMC and pro-TMC people, presiding over the jeopardising of normal governmental functions.

DARJEELING

 As per the government’s claim, peace has been restored in Darjeeling! But the reality is that the process of peace restoration, initiated by the government, has been done at the cost of recognising the term Gorkhaland.

 The process to establish Gorkhaland Territorial Area has started. The survey will be conducted in order to include the new areas into the said territory.

SINGUR

 The Singur problem remains and has become much complicated with the new government’s decision to return the lands to the unwilling farmers with the force of the special legislation. The whole controversy has aggravated since it has gone to the court.

JANGAL MAHAL:

 The chief minister had earlier declared that there will be 23 new ration shops in jangal mahal area to ensure food distribution. Unfortunately, not a single one has been established in West Midnapore district, where 11 of 23 blocks of jangal mahal are situated.

 The government has a proposal for the creation of 10,000 Special Police Officers to tackle the 'Maoist' situation in jangal mahal like the Chhattisgarh government. In this context the government has completely dumped the Supreme Court’s order against the creation of SPOs to tackle the 'Maoist' problems.

 Meanwhile, the 'Maoists' have started to regroup.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT:

 The performance of TMC-led government in the specific sectors like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is not only poor but also much lower than the performance made during the tenure of the Left Front government. The contrast with the tenure of the Left Front government can be easily seen. The government has claimed that a total number of 1 crore 59 lakh working days have been created whereas the same was 15 crore at the time of the Left Front government.

EMPLOYMENT:

 The document, celebrating 90 days, published by the new government has proclaimed that it has already provided jobs for 2,79,286 people in its first months. The break up shows that out of those jobs 2 lakh jobs have been given in the private sector and the 79,286 have been provided in the government offices. The government did not bother to disclose the names of the private sector where the jobs have been given and the government sector break up reveals that most of the posts have been proposed and created. So, as yet the government has not provided any jobs.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

 Most of the works cited in the book released by the TMC-led government are the repetition of the projects and works undertaken by the government of West Bengal during the tenure of the Left Front.

 The modernisation of the Coochbihar Airport and the commencement of Kolkata-Coochbihar flight - in reality, the whole infrastructural work, was done during the time of the Left Front government and the project was waiting for its official inauguration.

 The draft policy for the street vendors was also introduced during the time of the Left Front government, although it is falsely cited as a success of the new government.

 A project of Rs 500 crore for job generation and a project of Rs 800 crore for building urban houses, has been falsely claimed by the TMC government as its success. They were also the projects taken up by the Left Front government.

Courtesy: People's Democracy