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Volume 48 No. 7 Organ of the SOCIALIST UNITY CENTRE OF INDIA (COMMUNIST)
November 15, 2014 Founder Editor-in-Chief : COMRADE SHIBDAS GHOSH Price : Rs. 3.00
Contd. on page 2
SUCI (C) stronglycondemns killingof innocent youthsin Kashmir bymilitary anddemands stringentpunishment of theculpritsComrade Provash Ghosh,General Secretary, SUCI(C),issued the following statementon 9 November 2014 :
We strongly condemn thekilling of innocent youths bymilitary in Kashmir. Mereadmission of mistake by themilitary authorities andannouncement of monetarycompensation to the victims’families cannot be solace forthis gruesome killing. It is in thisway that the military in Kashmirand Manipur, using ArmedForces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) as a shield, is carryingout mass killing, mass rape andbarbaric atrocities in the nameof suppressing separatist andterrorist forces. Such oppressionand repression by the military isvirtually fuelling separatism andterrorism further.
We want stringent punish-ment of the killers and immediatewithdrawal of AFSPA.
In its pre-poll big bang promises,the BJP averred that if elected tooffice it would within hundred daysbring back to the country so muchblack money from abroad as to giveevery Indian citizen Rs 15 lakh as ashare of the spoils. However afterbeing saddled in power, the Modigovernment has not so far producedof its own even 15 names who mayhave secreted away clandestinefunds abroad. At the SupremeCourt’s prodding, the governmentultimately submitted a measly list of627 names provided by HSBCBank, Geneva. Not that the list isopen. It is coyly concealed in asealed envelope and handed over tothe Apex Court. It is learnt that thesix hundred odd names is withoutmention of prominent politicians,industrialists or real estate giants.Therefore, there is ground forinferring that the money belonging tothe persons featuring in the list maynot be the deepest shade ofblack. Aware of the fact thatquestion is already raised ifgovernment’s clamouring forunearthing ill-gotten money andbringing back the illegal blackmoney stashed overseas is more agimmick than serious intent, primeminister Modi has chosen to assuagethe feelings of the countrymen
through media. “On the matter ofthe return of black money, pleasetrust this pradhan sewak (principalservant) of yours, the return of thismoney is an article of faith withme,” Modi said during the second ofhis radio chats called ‘Mann KiBaat’, “Every penny belonging to thepoor which has gone out of thecountry should come back. This ismy commitment. Let me assure you,there will be no let-up in my effortsto get this money back into thecountry.” It sounds so mellifluous,so assuring. But reality is totallydifferent. More smoke than light hasbeen generated by the currentoutcry on black money. Let’sseparate the wheat from chaff andstart with busting some myths.
Supreme Court’s interventionThe factual side needs to be
recapitulated at the outset. Therewas a Public Interest Litigation(PIL) filed in the apex court inregard to detection and exhuminghuge black money deposited inforeign banks located in the taxhavens. Under public pressure,the Supreme Court, whileresponding to the PIL rapped thegovernment for not taking initiativeto haul up black money holders andunearth huge black money that has
been stashed away in Swiss Bankand tax havens abroad. The courtdirected the government to takenecessary steps in this regard. Butthe erstwhile Congress governmentpleaded its inability to do so referringto the confidentiality clause of thevarious tax treaties India hadentered into with other countries.This confidentiality clause, theCongress government argued,debarred it from disclosing thenames, let alone bringing the moneyback home. The Apex Court set upa Special Investigation Team (SIT)with Justice M B Shah as chairmanin July, 2011 to handle investigationabout stashing black money abroad.However, the issue went to the backburner only to be raked up againafter the BJP came to powerbecause of Narendra Modi’s pre-pollpromise of bringing back blackmoney hiding abroad. Publiccuriosity about the illegal wealth ofIndians, rich and corrupt, in foreignbanks, broadly termed as Swissbanks, has been high ever since theModi-led BJP’s pre-electioncampaign. But like the previousCongress government, the BJPgovernment also pleaded its inabilityto submit the names referring to thesame confidentiality clause of
Menace of Black Moneyand Rhetoric of BJP
A massive meeting wasorganized by the West Bengal StateCommittee of SUCI(C) on 12November at Rani Rashmoni Roadin Kolkata to mark the 97t h
anniversary of the great NovemberRevolution. Comrade DebaprasadSarkar, Member, Central Committee,presided over. Also present wereComrades Sankar Saha and ChhayaMukherjee, both members of theCentral Committeeand StateSecretariat members. In his addressas the main speaker, ComradeSaumen Basu, Member CentralCommittee and West Bengal stateSecretary, SUCI(C) said that animpression prevailed during the time
Massive meeting in Kolkata to mark97th anniversary of great November Revolution
of Karl Marx and Fredrick Engelsthat Marxism was a utopian theory.But it was great Lenin who byconcretely applying the Marxism tothe concrete situation of Russiamade the proletarian revolutionsuccessful in Russia and therebyproved that Marxism is indeed ascience. Lenin also interpretedMarxism at the stage of imperialism,not known during Marx’s time.Socialism in Russia proved itssupremacy within two decades ofrevolution when socialist SovietUnion registered spectacularachievement in every field and thestandard of living of all Soviet Comrade Saumen Basu, Member, Central Committee and Secretary, West
Bengal State Committee addressing as the main speaker.Contd on page 6
PAGE TWO NOVEMBER 15, 2014 PROLETARIAN ERA
Contd. from page 1
Contd. on page 7
Black Money
Modi’s pre-poll promise of unearthingblack money within 100 days was a hoax
DTAA (Double Tax AvoidanceAgreement) it had twitted theCongress-led UPA for invoking. TheBJP government had also soughtmodification of Supreme Court’s2011 order that the governmentshould make a complete disclosureof the information received fromforeign governments. BJPgovernment’s has been an argumentthat it was at odds with theconfidentiality clause in bilateralagreements and the centralgovernment could comply with itonly at the cost of jeopardizingcooperation on tracking blackmoney. Nothing should be done toimpede, the government held, theability to get information from thecountries with whom India hasdouble taxation avoidanceagreements. The union financeminister even went to the extent ofsaying that “A disclosure in violationof tax treaties helps the accountholder. The reciprocating statewould treat this as a violation of atax treaty and refuse to provide anyevidence in support of theunauthorized account. The holder ofthe unauthorized account in theabsence of any proof andconfirmation from the reciprocatingstate would get the benefit in anyinvestigation or prosecution and thenclaim that ‘I stand vindicated’. Infact, a premature disclosure wouldadditionally alert the account holderto prepare some documentation or asham defence. It may even enablehim to destroy evidence.”
But, the apex court refused tobuy the argument. When theattorney general argued for amodification of the court’s order, thecourt expressed its strongdispleasure. “You are trying to re-argue the matter which in ouropinion is impermissible. We won’tchange even a word of our order.Months after, the new regime at thecentre can’t ask for modification oforder when it was passed in an opencourt and accepted by the thengovernment,” it said. Thereafter, theCourt ordered the Centralgovernment to reveal in a sealedenvelope the names of all Indianaccount holders in foreign banks.The court’s direction came a dayafter the government filed anaffidavit giving the names of sevenindividuals and a mining companywho have allegedly stashed blackmoney abroad and are facingprosecution for tax evasion underthe Income Tax Act. The much-awaited first list did not include
names of any politician. “Why areyou trying to protect people havingbank accounts in foreign countries?Why are you providing a protectiveumbrella for all these people”, theSupreme Court asked thegovernment. “Don’t give us two orthree names but all the names. Giveus the entire list… whatever youhave got from Germany, France,Switzerland and other countries.What you have disclosed could be atip of the iceberg. This is going to bethe first step now – discloseeverything”, it ordered. Virtuallyridiculing the government, the chiefjustice of the apex court further said,“Why are you taking the trouble toinvestigate? We have taken theresponsibility to bring back the blackmoney and we will decide the futurecourse of action. We can’t leave theissue completely to you. It maynever happen during our time,”observed the Supreme Court bench.It clearly showed thatnotwithstanding all tall promises, theCourt has no faith in the governmentin so far as disclosure of blackmoney holders’ names is concerned.
Finally, after being snubbed bythe Supreme Court, the governmentsubmitted to it names of 627Indians who are holding accounts inHSBC bank, Geneva. TheSupreme Court, however, did notopen the envelope and handed overthe same to the SIT probing theblack money case. “Only the SITchairman and vice-chairman wouldopen the sealed envelope”, theCourt said. But there is someselective leakage in the media. It islearnt that the list reportedly doesnot have any big names connectedto political parties or industrialists.Even the government sources arealso reported to be sceptical aboutrecovery of huge amounts from the350-odd Indians, against whom theauthorities had issued notices ofevading tax. Some of them haveconfessed to having excess moneyin the account and have agreed topay tax and penalties. For others,the proceedings are ongoing. Ofthe remaining, 270-odd individualsare non-resident Indians (NRIs)who are immune from prosecutionunder Indian tax laws. It is alsolearnt that most of the bankaccount entries are much before2006 and generally were recordedfrom 1999 to 2004-05. The entriesare also stated to reflect smallamounts, ranging between Rs 5crore and Rs 10 crore. So, what isthe much touted list going toproduce?
What is black money?Before we proceed further,
perhaps it is required to say a fewwords about the very definition ofblack money. Black money arisesmainly from incomes not disclosedto the government usually to avoidtaxation, and, sometimes, because ofits criminal links. To reiterate whatwe showed in an earlier article, it iswell known that income is taxablebeyond a limit. Everybody is alsoaware that in a capitalist state likeours income or wage invariablykeeps back the surplus value thelabour creates, to make room for theprofit of the capitalists. So profit isalways a sum born out ofexploitation. Over and above that,the government fixes tax in variousforms, direct or indirect, to earnrevenue avowedly for the welfare ofpeople or governance. Direct tax islevied straightaway on the incomeearned. On the other hand, indirecttax is what the owning capitalistsneed to directly pay to theexchequer either as excise duty,import duty or sales tax, wealth taxor even stipulated corporate tax onprofit. These indirect taxes are thenrecovered from the end-consumersof goods and services by loading theprice. Even the Value Added Tax(VAT) which the selling organizationis supposed to bear is straightawayadded to the listed price of goodsand taxes and recovered from theconsumer. So, people bear theindirect tax load. Again if exchequerdoes not receive the due taxrevenue, people are again deprivedof whatever little welfare measurethe government undertakes. Toevade direct tax and deprive theexchequer, big industrialists,bureaucrats, corrupt politicians,people attached with the glamourworld hide their real income. Whendirect tax on any income or anyfinancial transaction, is evaded, theincome accumulates as anunaccounted wealth. To put it insimple terms, undisclosed income orwealth on which tax is evaded is theblack money. Unaccounted illegalwealth or black money also getsgenerated through criminal means,be it through smuggling, for instanceof drugs or arms, through ransompaid to kidnappers, bribes, cut-moneytaken by politicians and bureaucrats,and so on.
How black money is stashedaway
Most of the big black moneyholders and operators prefer to havetheir holdings stashed away in
foreign lands particularly tax havenswhere certain taxes are either notlevied at all or at best at a low rate.There are two routes, internal aswell as external, for moving theblack money abroad. Internal routeis that an industrialist accumulates achunk of black money by evadingtax. He then divides the money intosmall tranches and deposit in theaccounts of smaller, technicallycalled, shell companies set up by himfor the purpose. Then the money issimply, what is called, ‘wired’ to thetax havens. As the amount is brokenand each tranche consists of smallersum, it escapes regulatory watch.The external route is much talkedabout “hawala” in which moneyshifts through various operatorsplanted in different countries bymeans of a series of shadytransactions.
The Double Tax AvoidanceAgreement (DTAA)
In this connection, it would benecessary to understand what thisDTAA is and what are tax havens.India has DTAA with certaincountries known as tax havens.Tax havens are places where tax istypically zero. DTAA stipulates thatincome in one country, ifrepatriated to another country,would attract tax only in onecountry, either the source countryor destination country. Mauritius,for example, is a tax haven. So, if acompany or institution registeredwith Mauritius invests in India andbooks profit, the profit amount willeither be taxed in India orMauritius. Since tax rate inMauritius is typically nil orinsignificant, the profit so booked inIndia evades tax at Indian rates andsafely brought back to Mauritius.Because most of these tax havenshave a DTAA with India, taxavoidance in India is facilitated. Butwhy does DTAA become sopertinent in a discussion on blackmoney? Because, the black moneyholders in India manage to ‘wire’their holdings mostly throughhawala route or such other modesas stated above to tax havens.Then the big industrialists,corporates, corrupt politicians andbureaucrats who thus park theirunaccounted money overseas opena company or institution known asFII (Foreign Institutional Investors)preferably at tax havens andretransmit the black money throughthat company or institution intoIndia for investment in stock
PROLETARIAN ERA NOVEMBER 15, 2014 PAGE THREE
Contd. on page 4
Dear President and Newly ElectedMembers of the Council ofBreakthrough Science Society,
I had a deep desire to bephysically present at this historicScience Conference of yours. Butunfortunately, I was suddenly laiddown by a severe viral attack andhad to be shifted to the hospital. Itis still not certain when I would getdischarged. Hence this writtenmessage.
A science conference of thiskind that you have organized withthe renowned scientists, researchscholars, science students andpeople interested in science and aconference with the aim of trulypractising science, developingscientific attitude and method ofthinking and for cultivation of humanvalues that only science can show tous, is no doubt a unique venture.
It is no doubt a noble endeavourat the same time, particularly, whentrue scientific bent of mind, methodof study and cultivation of higherhuman values have become rare notonly in our country but in the wholeworld. I am constrained to say thatsuch qualities can hardly be foundeven in those who are seriouslyengaged in studying sciences.Naturally, it is a noble struggle, but avery difficult challenge at the sametime.
You know the history ofdevelopment of modern sciences. Itstarted from the middle of thefifteenth century, with Copernicus.Science had to develop in a veryhostile environment when GiordanoBruno was burnt alive because ofhis pursuit of science and his fightagainst established religious beliefs.Almost similar was the fate ofGalileo who also had to faceinquisition. No great struggle of theworld has developed in favourablecondition so far. It had to face stiffopposition from the ruling class andmost conservative religious headswho feared science. In feudalconditions of life a vast majority ofthe people were victims ofprejudices, superstitions andobscurantist ideas. Blind faith wasthe greatest obstacle to the strugglenot only in those days but also forthe present as well. The bourgeoisiewho in the rising period of capitalismfought for development of socialproduction and for that had to fightfor the development of sciences, isafraid of science today in the period
“Real science throws light on the material world,reveals its hidden laws and thus shows the path”
— Comrade Krishna Chakraborty(This is the message of Comrade Krishna Chakraborty, Member, PolitBureau, SUCI(C), sent to the All India Science Conference organizedby Breakthrough Science Society in Bangalore from 17 to 19 October,2014)
of overproduction due to lack ofmarket. So, even today the mostpowerful section of the society, thatis, the bourgeoisie who rule are thegreatest enemy of science. Why? Itis because science tells the truth.Science shows that everythingchanges and changes from quantityto quality, from the lower to thehigher. You should always keep inmind that in this material worldnothing is permanent, nothing isabsolute, nothing is all perfect. Ofcourse at a given time there is ahighest development of a thing. Butwith change of time it becomesinadequate and imperfect. In courseof change and development,reaching its nodal point, again itundergoes radical change. Nophenomenon can avoid this process.The bourgeoisie also knows thatcapitalism also must go. And theyfear this very truth.
There is a popular saying aswell as a belief even within theeducated section of the people
objective laws. This material worldexisted and will go on existingindependently of humanconsciousness. Even when manwas not born, nature existed andwas governed by objective laws.Man tried to know this materialworld from the very beginning, evenwhen he was in primitive society andhis thinking was also primitive. Incourse of millions of years ofstruggle man found an instrument,science, to know the material worldand its reality. And that method is asystematic analysis of anything onthe basis of observation,experimentation and verification.Firstly, science does not acceptanything to be true unless it isexperimented and verified in ascientific way. Secondly, it believesthat this material world is governedby objective laws. That thisobjective material world is governedby objective laws means, laws donot exist because of man’s likes ordislikes. Thirdly, it believes thatthese objective laws can beknown only by following this
shave their heads at Tirupathi.Though all do not do it consciouslybut still it is a hypocrisy. Allbranches of science have shownthat there exists nothing beyondnature, everything is part of natureor natural. They read these thingsin books academically but do notbelieve in them. Their truth lies inblind belief and faith. Blindnessbrings fanaticism and regimentationof thought. The more the blindness,the more the fanaticism, and thatlays the solid foundation for thegrowth of fascism and notdemocracy. You should never forgetthat blindness is the enemy ofscience and so of man.
All should know and rememberthat in history science could growspeedily and could develop in themost free and open atmospherewhere discussions, debates,polemics on the basis ofphilosophical tolerance wereencouraged in the society at thebeginning of the BourgeoisDemocratic Revolution. But todaythat very bourgeoisie, being afraid oftheir very ultimate doom, aregagging the voice of the opponents,killing the atmosphere of debate anddiscussions, trampling down alldemocratic norms and values. Youmust wage determined struggleagainst it, and fight out these mostundemocratic trends and tendenciesand ensure free and open exchangeof different thoughts, for truedemocracy that finally gives birth totruth.
One more important conditionunder which science can develop issecular atmosphere. BourgeoisDemocratic Revolution in its initialdays fought against all religious fads,supernatural beliefs and obscurantistideas. One of the great pioneers ofrenaissance, Jean Jacques Rousseausaid that man is born free, buteverywhere he is in chains. ‘Breakthe chains, break the fetters’ werethe slogans of the bourgeoisie duringthe rising period of capitalism. Nowat the dying stage of capitalism, thebourgeoisie has distorted and dilutedthe concept of secularism whichstarted with non-recognition of anysupernatural entity and reduced it tothe concept of encouraging allreligions. The dialectics of capitalismhas forced the bourgeoisie to goagainst the idea on which bourgeoisrenaissance movement started. Youfriends, who are fighting for growthof science should stubbornly fightagainst this motivated distortion of
Dais of the delegate session of All India Science Conference organized byBreakthrough Science Society in Bangalore from 17 to 19 November
because of long and viciouspropaganda, that science may giveworldly goods but cannot deliverpeace of mind or solace. If youanalyse this motivated propagandaor belief of the ignorant, you caneasily see that nothing can be moredangerously misleading andconfusing than this. The fact is thatman finds peace of mind only whenhe comes to know the truth. Buttruth of what?
Truth of the material world.What do we mean by truth of thematerial world? Material worldmeans nature, society and thought intheir correlation and integration.
All branches of science haveproved beyond doubt that nature isinfinite and will go on changing anddeveloping infinitely. Nothing canexist beyond nature, nothing istherefore supernatural. Again thismaterial world is governed by
process of analysis, observation,experimentation and verification andby no other means.
Those who think that sciencecannot bring solace to mind, whatprocess do they follow to know thetruth? The fact is that they do nothave any process. They blindlybelieve in the sayings or predictionsof great men. But however great aman can be, he cannot find truthsimply by meditation or ‘heavenlypower’. And their findings canhardly be experimented and verified.
Friends, you should never forgetthat only truth can give peace andsolace of mind and establish justicein this society. Those who tell thatscience cannot bring solace to mindthey also read sciences but believein some supernatural power. So youwill find that many lecturers ofscience at the universities keep tilakor vermilion on their forehead and
PAGE FOUR NOVEMBER 15, 2014 PROLETARIAN ERA
secularism.Some are so blind as to say
whatever you see today, sayaeroplanes, rockets etc., all werethere in our ancient India. Modernscience has only taken from thosethings. These people clearly do notunderstand the difference betweenmythology and history. There areexaggerations, imageries, fantasticsimiles, wild contemplations etc., inall mythologies. In Greek mythologysome of the Greek heroes could goto the sky with just sandals on theirfeet. Likewise there are angels andfairies in all fairy stories. Are theretruly any angels or fairies in reality?
There are no such things inreality. But they are not totallyunreal also. But how to resolve thisparadox then? Man cannot thinkanything which is not there in thematerial world. Then how could thishappen in fairy stories? It couldhappen because there are beautifulladies and children and there arebirds which fly with their wings andthere is desire of man to fly. So inimagination one can cut the wings ofthe birds and add it to the bodies ofthe beautiful ladies and children anddream them to be flying.
In this connection, I would like totell you a fact that happened in mylife. In Chennai, one gentlemanwho belonged to rationalistmovement attended one of mydiscussions. He was so impressedthat after the discussion he met meand presented one of theirpublications. Next, when he met mehe asked me how I liked that. I toldhim, ‘If you do not mind I could notappreciate your logic. You try toprove that the Hanuman couldneither carry the hill on his hand norcould he put the rising sun under hisarm pit far less could it make a jumpto reach Lanka crossing the sea. Iwould not have read Ramayana orMahabharata unless there weresome such things in them.’ While therationalists ridicule these things, thevast majority of our people blindlyput faith on them, believing thatthose feats could be reallyperformed by Bajrangbali. Both thesections took things in extremes,none of them could understand thatthis was the form of art of writingepics of those days.
However, the propagandists ofold Indian heritage relate those‘achievements of the past’ withnational heritage. They are soignorant of the historicaldevelopment of society that they donot know even this preliminary thing,that, not to speak of Vedic age, evenduring feudalism there were nonations anywhere in the world.
Nation is the product of BourgeoisDemocratic Revolution like theFrench Revolution, the IndustrialRevolution of England, the AmericanWar of Independence, etc., or thefreedom movement of our country.We became a nation after 1947.Before that, though there weremany nationalities, there was nonation in India. The nation was inthe making during the freedommovement.
These people talk of old nationalheritage, glorify the achievements ofthe past so much so that they do notlook to the future but look to thepast. They propagate that our Vedicscience is a great science. So allshould learn Vedic science, Vedicmathematics, etc. A vast section ofthe people blindly believe in this.They say in the past we were sogreat, we had everything. They saywhat is there to learn from theBritishers, we were so great thatwhen we were in great civilizationthey were in the jungle. Youperhaps read some of the works ofgreat novelist Sarat ChandraChatterjee. He was not just a greatnovelist: a great novelist he was ofcourse, but a philosopher as well.He understood that this idea of so-called old national heritage will makeour students and youths blind andfanatic and thus will obstruct thegrowth of their intellectual andcultural ability. They must havescientific approach to history. Thisis why addressing the students andyouths in one of his speeches hesaid, “I do not feel any pride toloudly declare we were so great —‘you the Britishers are nothing incomparison to our old civilization.’ Inreply to that if the Britishers say thatif you were so great then why youwere once under the feet of Huns,then the Pathans, then the Moghuls,and now under our feet? Then alsoI feel ashamed to dig out the historyof the past and say you Britishers,you were also under such and suchpeoples one day. I say Britishersyou are great. You have built up agreat civilization but we have also allthe potentials to become great. Thisnobody can suppress. Even youcannot.”
See the difference betweenthese two approaches! They say goto the past; the past was so glorious.They magnify glory of the past.Can you really go back to the past?Many like to go back to childhoodbecause in the present-day societyall-pervading crises, not onlyeconomic, political and social butalso ethical, moral and cultural, allthese together have made lifeunbearable, suffocating. So weimagine how beautiful was the life of
our boyhood and girlhood. Noworries; go to the school; if there israin on the way get drenched in thatand ask the teacher to give leave.Then one goes to play and enjoyslife. But objectively or historicallycan we really go back to boyhood orgirlhood days? That is a simple andpure dream. That is historically notpossible. This is equally true for thesociety. More so, boyhood andgirlhood definitely have potential butare surely not greater than youthfuldays. Only in youthful days a manor woman can attain very high level,both physically and intellectually.But critically speaking, of coursementally you can go back to past.That means you have made yourthinking itself old. Thereby youhave made yourself thinking wiseand old though you are physicallyyoung. That is, your ideas will bethe ideas of people of two thousandor three thousand years old. That isnot really modern thoughts. That ishighly backward, reactionary andnot progressive. Again SaratChandra Chatterjee says to theyouths, in what language can wedefine youth and the old age? Hesays, ‘He is old who fears to look tothe future, who lives in the past andfears to get dislodged from the past.He likes to spend the last part of hislife clinging to the past. Otherwisehe feels he would be dislodged in lifeand become insignificant. Here isthe victory of the youths. Youthsare those to whom past is nothingmore than past. The lessons of thepast brighten up their future.’ Andthis is the real and progressiveconcept of life.
Friends, I know you will not getconfused by the confusions of theignorant or get misled by thisreactionary propaganda. Ratheryou will definitely carry this idea tothe vast masses of the peopleparticularly the youths and studentswho are innocent victims of thismischievous propaganda. This ofcourse is a very blunt propaganda,but there are other propaganda orconfusions as well, which are moresubtle. Those who do not so bluntlycling as the above mentionedmotivated and innocent people toimaginary achievements ofmythological stories, some of themmagnify true achievements ofancient India as the manufacturingof steel and the mathematics ofAryabhatta or the achievements ofSushrutha in medical science.Those were no doubt bigachievements in those days. But,for whatever reasons their ideascould not be advanced further. Sothey remained backward. What wecall modern science did not develop
on the findings of those days ofIndia. As I have already mentionedand you all know, this started withCopernicus.
There was an attempt during thefirst BJP rule at the Centre tointroduce astrology in the universitycurriculum. Many believe thatastrology is a science. Others whoare not that blunt also believeastrology to be a pseudo-science.But the fact is that it is not justpseudo-science it is anti-science.Astrologers believe in fate andfatalism and not in objective materialworld. In some of my discussionsearlier by citing an example I tried tomake this point clear. We feardarkness. Why? Because indarkness we cannot see what liesbefore us. We do not knowwhether there is a snake or a tigeror a pit or a hole or thorny bushes inthe front. So we fear to moveahead. But if we have a torch inour hand that throws powerful lightin front of us and brightens it up somuch so that even a speck of sandcan be clearly seen, then we caneasily find out our path and can walkon that boldly. That way man hasadvanced and built today’scivilization with the help of science.No astrology can and neither couldachieve it. Because real sciencethrows light on the material world,reveals its hidden laws and thusshows the path, while astrologythrows light on our eyes that makesdark future still darker and obstructsour progress.
Lastly, I will tell you about aserious confusion about science.Both the motivated campaignersagainst science and the ignorantsection of the people to which evenmany academically qualified peoplelike lecturers, professors of theuniversities belong, believe thatscience gives us professionalknowledge and not ethical or moralsense or concept of values. This isthe most dangerous confusion.Actually the correlated knowledgeof science has developed, whichonly can develop sense of higherethical and moral principles andvalue concepts. All branches ofscience have got their own ethics, soalso medical sciences are havingmedical ethics. It shows thatscience has developed very highsense of ethics of modern times.And those who have truly developedthis higher ethics, only they becamegreat scientists, as we see in thecases of Copernicus, Bruno, Galileo,Lavoisier, Newton, Einstein, MarieCurie, Louis Pasteur and others.They all have reflected very highcultural and ethical standards in their
Comrade Krishna Chakraborty’s Message
Science is the tool for unraveling truth of nature and societyContd. from page 3
Contd. on page 5
PROLETARIAN ERA NOVEMBER 15, 2014 PAGE FIVE
personal lives. They had foughtagainst the age-old ethics and valueconcepts to uphold truth and higherethics. For this Copernicus had tosuffer whole of his life; Brunosacrificed his life; Galileo had toface inquisition. And see the ethicsof Einstein; he says whatever I takefrom the society, say, for examplethe shirt I use, the food I take all arethe products of society and sociallabour. This obliges me to pay backin equal measure to the society. Itis a high ethical concept and a socialvalue as well. Madame MarieCurie could, and in fact wasrequested by many, to patent hergreat finding — the radium. Thiscould make her one of the richestpersons of the world. But shestubbornly refused it. She desiredthat this should serve even theneedy people. This is a very highsocial value.
Today when all old valueconcepts have become totallyexhausted, the correlated knowledgeof science alone can develop realsense of ethics and social values.Our way of life should be that wepractice what we believe in. Youshould believe in it. Those who readall these ethical concepts from textbooks but do not believe in them,rather believe in the age-oldconcepts of ethics and morality, theytry to take the country back to thatfeudal period. But by only fightingthese old concepts of ethics andmorality and the value concepts and
Comrade Krishna Chakraborty’s Message
With science, man can create favourable conditionsfor those laws which help him grow and develop
to know that laws of nature orsociety work under favourableconditions. Man has known thatlaws cannot operate underunfavourable conditions. So, mancan create favourable conditions inwhich life grows, society advances.But man can neither create nordestroy objective laws of nature andsociety but with the help of science,man has learnt that he can createfavourable conditions for those lawswhich help him to grow and develop,so also create unfavourableconditions for those laws whichharm the society. Thus, man couldcreate present civilization and willbe creating still higher conditions oflife with the help of science. Thosewho do not understand this objectiveprocess of development of life andsociety, they are to know it. Butthose who oppose this conceptvirtually obstruct the growth of lifeand hence are enemies of mankind.
The message may appear to bea long one but I shall not be heldresponsible for this. Confusions inthe field of science are so many andso deep that this could not but takethe space. Still then I could not dealwith some other minor confusionswhich also need to be fought out.This I may try in future.
At the end I again congratulateyou and not just hope but believethat you would make your sciencemovement victorious.
With best wishes,Sincerely yours,
Krishna Chakraborty
replacing them with higher ethicsand morality and social values whichare historically developing in sociallife can we advance our countryforward. This is true for allcountries of the world.
In this context we should alsoremember to give recognition to thecontribution to human knowledge ofany people of any nation which is ahigh ethical concept. When in blindglorification of so-called nationalsentiments, we forget thecontributions of others, it is highlyunethical. The fact is that in thevast field of knowledge of modernsciences and in the other fields ofknowledge also Indians have madevery little contribution. It demandshigher ethics and true modesty toaccept this fact. History ofdevelopment of modern scienceswill definitely show to anyone whois freed from prejudices that, exceptin a few fields of science like thecontributions of Jagadish ChandraBose, Prafulla Chandra Roy,Satyen Bose, Meghnad Saha,C.V.Raman and others, Indianshave very few contributions indeveloping the vast treasure ofmodern sciences. Only by admittingthis fact with all humility, we shallbe able to contribute to humanknowledge.
We shall never forget thatknowledge has no national boundary.Without the knowledge ofCopernicus and Galileo, Newtonwould not have come in history. Soalso without the knowledge of
Newton, the emergence of Einsteinwould have been an impossibility. Ihave named a very few. Theemergence of Einstein’s thought isthe coordination and assimilation ofthe ideas of very many scientistswho appeared before him and duringhis time. Einstein gives recognitionto this fact. He said that today’sscience could develop only bystanding on the solid foundation thathis predecessors had laid down.
Another great scientist LouisPasteur, pointed out that knowledgehas no nation or national boundary.Knowledge is the product of thestruggle of the entire mankind.Those who narrow down knowledgewith national character and confineit within the national boundary,knowingly or unknowingly, theyactually obstruct the development ofthe whole country, while chantingnationalist mantra.
Lastly, man so also animal fightfor life against nature. But thedifference between the two isbasically that in course of struggleanimals can per chance survive,otherwise perish. They are victimsof natural laws. But man because ofhis power of thinking not onlysurvived but has been conqueringnature increasingly. This is notbecause man can change objectivelaws. Objective laws of nature,society and thought neither can becreated far less can be destroyed.Then how does man change thematerial world? This is because withthe help of science, man has come
Haryana peasants stageprotest demonstration
On 10 November 2014 AIKKMS organized aprotest demonstration of hundreds of peasants atJhajjar, Haryana. They submitted an 8 pointcharter of demands to the chief minister andagricultural minister. The demands covered theburning problems of peasants in the state. Thoseincluded sufficient price of agricultural producethat was to be at least 50% more than the presentprevailing price, a compensation of Rs 2000 perquintal in the price of paddy and cotton,introduction of old age pension, removal of aadharcard restriction on old age pension and othergovernment facilities, no implementation of LandAcquisition Act 2013 in the interest of privateowners including corporate, and others.
Comrade Satyawan, member, CentralCommittee and Haryana state secretary,Comrade Anup Singh State president, KKMS,state secretary Comrade Vijay Kumar and otherstate and district leaders from Rewari, Narnaul,Hissar, Bhiwani, Sonepat, Kurukshetra and Jindaddressed the gathering and pledged to continuethe movement till the demands are fulfilled.
Contd from page 4
A meeting of six Left parties – CommunistParty of India (Marxist), Communist Party ofIndia, Revolutionary Socialist Party, All IndiaForward Bloc, Communist Party of India(Marxist-Leninist)-Liberation and Socialist UnityCentre of India (Communist) was held today atNew Delhi. They have issued the followingstatement:
With the advent of the Modi government inpower there is a concerted rightwing offensivefueled by the corporate-Hindutva forces. There isa growing onslaught on the people through theimposition of neo-liberal policies which is going toadversely impact the livelihood of the people.There is no respite for the people from price rise,unemployment and corruption.
The Hindutva forces are resorting toaggressive communal activities. The Modigovernment’s patronage of the RSS and its outfitsis aimed at communalising the educational, socialand cultural institutions. There is rise in communaltensions in different parts of the country.
The Left parties decided to conduct a weeklong protest campaign between December 8 to14, 2014 on the following issues :
Week-long Protest Campaign by Six Left Parties (i) Against steps to curtail and dilute the
MNREGA(ii) Curb price rise; control exorbitant price of
medicines and drugs(iii) No increased FDI in insurance.(iv) Take firm action to unearth black money(v) Stop infiltration of the RSS and Hindutva
ideology in education, public broadcastingmedia and other institutions of the State.
(vi) Stop the “love jihad” hate campaign and otherforms of communal propaganda
(vii) Stop attacks on minorities and their rights(viii) Fight violence against women and all forms
of gender oppression(ix) Fight against atrocities on dalits and caste
oppression
Those who attended the meeting were : Debabrata Biswas {AIFB}; Kshiti Goswami
& Manoj Bhattacharya {RSP}; SwapanMukherjee & Kavita Krishnan {CPI(ML)-Liberation}; Manik Mukherjee & Ranjit Dhar{SUCI(C)}, A.B. Bardhan & D Raja {CPI} andPrakash Karat & S Ramachandran Pillai{CPI(M)}.
PAGE SIX NOVEMBER 15, 2014 PROLETARIAN ERA
citizens was uplifted like anything.There was no unemployment, nobeggar, no prostitution. Educationwas free. State had taken over theresponsibility of the education andupbringing of the children as well ascaring older people. Socialdevelopment went to such a heightthat Soviet Union under the ableleadership of great Stalin wascontemplating elevation to the firststage of communism. But afterStalin’s death, the leadership of theRussian Communist Party wascaptured by the Khrushchevitemodern revisionists who deviatedfrom Marxism-Leninism, andbecame capitalist-roaders. AndUltimately Soviet socialism wasdismantled owing to revisionistconspiracy aided and abetted by theimperialist camp. Subsequently,socialism in East European countriesand then China also met the samefate. But this setback is temporaryas people the world over are risingagainst the imperialist-capitalistrules. What is needed that thesespontaneous movements of thepeople are led to logical culminationunder the leadership of genuinecommunist parties.
Coming to the Indian situation,Comrade Basu said that beingunbriddled in a unipolar world, theimperialists-capitalists are wreakinghavoc in people’s life. More crisisridden is decadent moribundcapitalism, more intensified is theoppression. As part of worldcapitalism, the ruling Indian
monopolists are also traversing thesame path devastating people’s lifein every field. Keeping a façade ofparliamentary democracy, the rulingIndian bourgeoisie is trying to bringfascism in the country. When theyfound that the Congress whichbecause of serving their classinterest devotedly had becomeextremely unpopular, they decidedand finally managed to bring Modi,their darling, and BJP into powerbased on money and media power.After riding to power, Modi and theBJP are bringing one after anotheranti-people measures like heftyincrease in railway fare, deregulatingdiesel price, decontrolling medicinesand so forth. But most viciousattack they have descended oneducation, on the realm of thoughts,culture and social relations. Theirs isa motivated move to regimentthinking and retrograde the mentalprocess by bringing back oldmedieval thoughts, religiousbackwardness, obscurantism, age-old obsolete creeds and revivalism.School textbooks are drafted topander to these thoughts. Andalongside, Modi and the BJP arefomenting crass communalism andspewing venom against the minorityMuslims so as to disrupt the unity ofthe toiling people and crushdemocratic movement. This isbecause the ruling bourgeoisie ismortally afraid of anti-capitalistsocialist revolution which is ordainedby history. So, the suffering peopleought to close their rank and riseagainst this menacing conspiracy of
the bourgeoisie and its agent, theRSS—BJP. The RSS-BJP who talkof Hindu Rashtra and Hindutva hadnot supported but denigrated Indianfreedom movement and its leaders.Now they are out to suppresspeople’s movement against capitalistonslaught. Quoting extensively fromthe writings of Subhaschandra,Rabindranath, Vidyasagar,Vivekananda and others, ComradeBasu showed how these stalwartsof the past had opposed religiousfundamentalism, dividing people onreligious line and old obsoletethoughts and had upheld people’scause. None of the exponents ofHinduism like Chaitanya,Vivekananda and others had talkedof religious fanaticism, bigotry andpossessing hatred towards otherreligions. Subhaschandra even gavea call to isolate Hindu Mahasabha,the predecessors of RSS-BJP, fromthe public. The RSS-BJP aredistorting even Hinduism andthereby insulting all thesepersonalities. At the end, ComradeBasu said that holding aloft thebanner of Marxism-Leninism-Shibdas Ghosh Thought, theSUCI(C) is carrying the true legacyof great November revolution andbuilding up with all its might theclass and mass struggles based onhigher proletarian ethics and cultureconducive to proletarianrevolutionary movement. It wasComrade Shibdas Ghosh, the greatleader of the proletariat and worthycontinuator of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin-Mao Zedong, who released a
historic arduous struggle to build upSUCI (C) as a genuine communistparty on the soil based on Leninistmodel and in the process of partybuilding, he concretized Marxism-Leninism on this soil, was first topoint out revisionist deviation in theinternational communist movement,defined and delineated the path offighting and rooting out modernrevisionism, provided guideline tofight menace of individualism andthereby developed, enrichedMarxism-Leninism and brought itsunderstanding to a new height.SUCI(C), the party founded by thisgreat Marxist, thinker, philosopher,teacher and guide is committed totake the struggle forward.
In his presidential address atthe end, Comrade DebaprosadSarkar also warned all against thecry of Hindutva, religiousfundamentalism and communalismof the RSS-BJP. He particularlyalerted all about the way the BJP istrying to fan up anti-Muslimsentiment by highlighting theincident of bomb blast inKhagragarh and infiltration ofBangladeshi citizens. If a fewpeople belonging to the minoritycommunity indulge in terroristactivities, can the entire minoritycommunity be blamed for that? Agang of Hindutva zealotsdemolished historic Babri Masjid.Does it mean that allHindus are responsible for such acrime? He called upon all to thwartthis venomous attack of rightreaction.
November Revolution anniversaryContd. from page 1
Tall claims almost always rousederision and ridicule, since they arehardly ever substantiated. Howeverwhen they cross the limits ofrationality and common sense –they are deemed to be bearingrather sinister intent. This is all themore so when such claims arevoiced by a public figure of thePrime Minister’s stature.
At the inauguration of Sir H NReliance Foundation Hospital andResearch Centre, on October 24,Mr. Modi, the BJP Prime Ministerreportedly claimed that long back-during the time of Mahabharata(the noted epic of India), cult ofgenetic science was in vogue in thecountry and that plastic surgery andstem cell reaserch too werepractised by some of the surgeonsof the time. To back his claim,Modi referred to Karna, amythological character, whosupposedly was given birth to byKunti –then unwed, but not beingborne in her womb. As per the
mythology, Sun God, Surya hadwished that Kunti should bear hima child and that his touch itself ledto Karna’s birth. Modi claimed thisto prove that there was stem cellresearch in ancient India! Thenagain, Lord Ganesha (the deity tocause prosperity ), bearing on historso an elephant head , accordingto Mr. Modi bore testimony toplastic surgery having beenoperative from then only. In thisconnection, we cannot but bereminded of one Dinanath Batra ofGujarat, who with endorsement byModi, the then Chief Minister of thestate, wrote in the text booksprescribed for schools across thestate that stem-cell research wasknown at the time of theMahabharata; that the televisionwas an invention of the time andthat during Vedic period cars werepresent in our country. Theselackeys of Modi might better writefables and show their talent.
What we find in the
observations of Mr. Modi is an utterlack of rationality and commonsense that enables one todistinguish between mythology andhistory or mythology and science.We know myths are products ofimagination- creating a world offantasy where superhuman andsupernatural qualities were ascribedto some superior beings who weredeified. Such fantasies admittedlycapture people’s imagination assomething novel and unique - farbeyond the range of real-life humancapabilities.
History on the other hand isthe depiction of facts, a chronicleof real events. Hence the questionthat naturally follows is: does notthe attempt to project epiccharacters as though they werereal and existing during the time ofpenning the epics and are provinghow developed was the humanknowledge in ancient India -amount to absurdity? Also would itnot be equally preposterous for a
myth to claim the same sort ofcredit for wonders which we knowto be present day innovations ofscience as intricate as the stem cellexperimentation or plastic surgery!We are lucky that Modi has not yettold that in ancient India, peoplewere having ten hands like goddessDurga and ten heads like Ravanaand these were all possible becauseof surgical advancement of thosedays. Perhaps, he might also saythat like Hanuman, a section of thepeople in ancient India had tails andpossessed immense power so muchas to carry the Himalayas in onehand or cross the Palk straits byone big jump to reach Sri Lanka.He may then conclude that theseall bear testimony to the fact that inancient India, athletics were sodeveloped as to keep mark of suchweight lifting and high jump. Suchwild claims cannot but incite thecomment that a person makingthem should have produced
EPIC VERSES OF MODI
Contd. on page 11
PROLETARIAN ERA NOVEMBER 15, 2014 PAGE SEVEN
markets and other areas and earnhefty returns. So, they avoid taxtwice, first by hiding the incomewhich otherwise would haveattracted tax in India. Secondly,when the said money reinters thecountry through tax haven routeand becomes white, it further skipstaxation in India. This is oneaspect.
Secondly, there is stated to bea confidentiality clause in DTAAwhich precludes divulgence of thenames of those having accounts inthe banks of those countries. It isthis clause which the BJPgovernment has referred to whilearguing that data on foreign bankaccounts cannot be disclosed. Thegovernment further argued that theprivacy of individuals would beviolated by the revelation of data.However, the treaty provides thatany information about the bankaccount holders “shall be disclosedonly to persons or authorities(including courts and administrativebodies) concerned with theassessment or collection of(information), the enforcement orprosecution in respect of, or thedetermination of appeals in relationto the taxes ... or the oversight ofthe above.” In other words,information can be disclosed ifthere is a court proceeding or taxrelated enquiry against the accountholder. The Supreme Court caseson black incomes are a part ofcourt proceedings. So, thisinformation can be legitimatelygiven under DTAA since thisclause has a provision for sharinginformation with courts. Thus,secrecy is not absolute.
Further, if the Court passes onthe information to the SIT toinvestigate black incomes, thatwould also be legitimate. Thegovernment’s argument that thiswould lead to a drying up ofinformation from other countries,therefore, does not hold water.Moreover, thousands of Indians goabroad each year to study andwork and almost every one of themopens a bank account overseas.Thus, merely having a bank accountabroad is neither illegal nor is it asign of tax evasion. RBI’s generalprovisions were modified in 2004 toallow Indians not just to haveaccounts abroad but also to remitmoney from India to that overseasaccount. The current limit is $1,25,000 per person, per annum.Unless the black money holders areidentified, this business of merelynaming and shaming by revealingall the names of foreign accountholders is at best puerile and at
worst stupid.Further, the UN convention that
provides a model framework forDTAAs had gone a step further tohelp the developing countries intracking black money deposited inthe developed world. It suggestedthe member countries frame nationallaw to protect their interests andensure the confidentiality clausedoes not come in the way of seekinginformation. In other words, the UNconvention prescribes re-negotiatingDTAA in tune with domestic lawsand the process to disclose thenames. But, strangely, India is not asignatory to this convention forreasons better known to the Indiangovernment and policy makers. Butthe question remains : In whoseinterest ? This, in brief, is the DTAAepisode.
Special Investigation TeamNext is about the Special
Investigation Team constituted bythe Apex court to investigate theblack money holders whose namesare obtained from the foreign-located banks. The team membersare talking very loud aboutunraveling the black money holdersand subject them to appropriatepunishment. “Before us, nobody isbig, nobody is small. Everybody isequal. Whoever has looted thiscountry will be caught and punished,economically and otherwise also.That we assure,” said the vicechairman of SIT. The SIT has alsomade several recommendations likeredrafting the DTAA, audit byComptroller and Auditor General(CAG) on suspicious exports,appointing officers to completepending investigation in top 15 taxevasion cases, amendment of thePrevention of Money LaunderingAct (PMLA) and Foreign ExchangeManagement Act (FEMA) tointroduce seizure of value equivalentto the assets or funds stashedabroad and including tax evasion asa predicate offence under thedefinition of PMLA, which attractsstringent punishment.
Recommendations are all rightbut who will implement those? Isthere any dearth of penal provisionsin the law book for moneylaundering, tax evasion and suchother economic offences? Whythen the state of affairs is so sordidand murky? Because, the systemitself is corrupt. There is law butno law delivery mechanism. Thecourts might pronounce judgment,but who is there to carry out that?There are innumerable instances oflate when the court itself hasexpressed indignation over eithernon-implementation or flawed
implementation of the judgments.The SIT might proclaim thateverybody is equal in the eyes oflaw but the reality is far away fromthat. In the recent past, so manymega financial scams havesurfaced. Has a single person beenmeted out exemplary punishment?CAG and other investigationsunfolded cases where politicalbigwigs, industrial barons andunscrupulous executives wereindicated to be involved. Has anyof them been hauled up andprosecuted? Sometimes, for playingto the gallery, some token arrestsare made or small fries sent to jail.But the big names elude legalproceeding with alacrity. Moreover,in India, cases are unusuallydelayed and usually spoiled so thatprosecution is rare. Even in theinstant case of revealing names ofblack money holders, there has notbeen much headway in investigatingthese accounts since 2009 whenthe case was first referred to theSupreme Court. Such is not thestate of affairs even in otherbourgeois countries. For example, inthe Birkenfeld-UBS case in theUnited States, in spite of non-cooperation by the UBS Bank andthe threats by the Switzerlandgovernment, courts in the USpressed ahead ignoring theargument of secrecy andconfidentiality of information. UBSwas forced to admit wrongdoing,pay a fine of $780 million andprovide a list of 4,500 names ofU.S. citizens who had accountswith it. Recently, Credit Suisse wasalso fined $2.5 billion for suchfraud. But Indian reality is farremoved from that. So,notwithstanding all blaster, there isevery possibility of much cry andlittle wool. SIT itself has had a feelof the fuss when it is stated to havediscovered that of the 627 HSBCGeneva entries, there is no amountshown in almost 289 while 122 ofthem are repeated twice in thesame list. There are no detailsabout the operations of theseaccounts. It is not reflected in thelist as to when these accounts wereopened and what their transactionhistory was. Surely, this wouldhamper the possibility of any actionagainst them.
Black Money is wreakinghavoc
It is needless to say that rapidlyincresing black money is virtuallyholding the economy in ransom,pushing up inflation beyond the roof,adversely affecting the moneycirculation in the country, distortingall facts, figures and measures and
thereby running a parallel economyin the country. When Modi talkedof giving Rs 15 lakhs to each citizenby unearthing black money, heinsinuated as to how gigantic thequantum of black money incirculation is. Of course, Modi laterbacktracked and said that he has noidea of how much black money ismoving around. India’s illicitfinancial outflows steadily increasedover the past decade. Especially,between 2009 and 2011, it increasedby a massive 196%. Global FinancialIntegrity (GFI), a Washington-basedthink-tank, has estimated thatIndians had salted away $462 billion(about 28 lakh crore in currentexchange rates) in overseas taxhavens between 1948 and 2008.But, the GFI figure is a grossunderestimate because it does notinclude the misinvoicing of services,hawala and criminal funds generatedin narcotic drug trafficking, humantrafficking, etc. The Director of theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) scaled it up and gave it afigure of $500 billion or Rs. 31 lakhcrore in 2010 i.e. nearly 30% ofIndia’s $1.8-trillion GDP.
But, the figure is apprehended tobe still higher. Another report pointsout that the figure would be around$1.2 trillion for the period 1948 to2012, if the missing elements areadded. As per Swiss bankauthorities, as high as 1456 billion or1.4 trillion US dollars or Rs 72 lakhcrores of money (around 70% ofIndia’s GDP) are lying in thepersonal accounts maintained byIndian industrialists, politicians andbureaucrats. This is highest in theworld. Calculation shows that if thishuge amount of black money couldbe brought back to India the entireforeign debt of the country can berepaid in 24 hours. Even afterclearing foreign debt, there willremain a surplus 12 times larger thanthe foreign debt which, if invested,would earn an interest more than theannual budget of the Centralgovernment. So even if all the taxesare abolished, then also the Centralgovernment will be able to maintainthe country very comfortably. Withthis amount a few tens of crore ofpoor people of the country can getRs 1,00,000 each. It is widely feltthat only small fractions of thismoney can help solve the problemsof water treatment, sanitation, wastemanagement, renewable energy,health, education, urbaninfrastructure and allied fields in thecountry, can give effect toUniversalization of PublicDistribution System (PDS) and bringall Indians out of the hunger trap,
Black Money
All vote-based bourgeois parties are thriving on black MoneyContd. from page 2
Contd. on page 8
PAGE EIGHT NOVEMBER 15, 2014 PROLETARIAN ERA
can fund higher education, scientificand social research institutes andexclusive scientific projects, alltaken together and all at one and thesame time.
Capitalism is generating blackmoney and abetting it
But why is this curse of blackmoney? Is it that a fewunscrupulous elements are secretingincome and defrauding thegovernment which is keen to freeeconomy from the scourge?Unfortunately it is not that. Theoutdated capitalist system which isnow prolonging its moribundexistence riding on corruption,criminality and aberrations isgenerating black money. Blackmoney and capitalism have becomeintertwined. Had it been that thegovernment was serious to containgalloping rise in black money andprosecute the black money holdersand the administration was so tonedup as to apprehend the wrongdoers,it was possible to ameliorate theproblem to certain extent. But thereality as experienced by thecountrymen is different. Blackmoney, capitalist class, bourgeoisgovernment, blackmarketers,hoarders, shady operators—all arenow merged into one entity. The
bourgeois parties whether ingovernance or in opposition, who yellagainst black money and pretend tobe to so keen to see action forseizing the black money, neithermean it seriously nor are themselvesfree from involvement in it. Had thegovernment been serious, it couldeasily identify the culprits through itsintelligence wings, take them intocustody and mete out stringentpunishment for such criminaloffence and thereby deal seriousblow to the unholy nexus of corruptcorporate sector-politicians-police-administration-smugglers. It couldalso take administrative steps likedemonetization of currency notes i.e.the process of ceasing to produceand circulate particular forms ofcurrency. But it cannot do that, noteven give a threat to do thatbecause the government itself is ofthe monopolists, industrialists andblack money holders. All theelection-oriented bourgeois partieswho share power or are visible inthe corridors of power are in factfunded by black money. So theyhave nothing but gimmick to offer.Hence, there is some occasionalvenomless fuming as the BJP isdoing now for public consumption.In the past, the government as aneyewash called for voluntarydisclosure of black money. Those
Black Money
Corrupt outmoded capitalist system isgenerating black money
few who responded were not onlyexempted from paying any penaltybut appreciated. Incredible indeed!A bunch of robbers and thieves whoembezzled people’s money throughillegal means and used it for self-aggrandizement were ferventlycalled upon to voluntary disclosetheir unaccounted wealth and thenindirectly applauded for respondingto the appeal.
It would therefore be a height offolly to believe that anything tangiblewould emanate through interventionof the Court, presumed activation ofthe SIT or rhetoric by Modi and hisgovernment. There is no reason topin too much hope on the judicialactivism either as judiciary too,being an integral part of this corruptbourgeois system, no more enjoys itsprevious position of esteem and infact is itself not in a position toremain insulated from corruption.Even if there are some honestpersons in the judiciary and the SIT,they cannot proceed beyond a pointas the system would come acropper. After some smoke and fire,things will subside and the status quowill be maintained.
People must act decisivelyObvious question will be
whether this is fait accompli. Theanswer is no. It is true that so long
capitalism is in vogue, black moneywill continue to rule the roost. Blackmoney will be abolished only ifcapitalism is overthrown byrevolution and a socialist societywith a socialist economy andadministration is established. Till thetime that does not happen, somerestrain could be exercised on thisunbriddled generation of blackmoney and the havoc it is wreaking,if people dawned upon by necessaryconsciousness can close their rankand develop a countrywideorganized democratic movementunder correct leadership against allthese vices, evils and oppression ofcapitalist rule. The pressure of suchmovement can only put some reinon the generators, operators andbeneficiaries of black money. Only ifthis movement is taken to the peak,the people might expect some relieffrom the menace of black money. Inthe instant case, it is imperative tobuild up a powerful anti-black moneymovement as part of the broaderanti-capitalist movement. This ishow people can act decisively. Allother means including hyperactivityon the part of the judiciary willprove to be abortive. So is theimperativeness to build up suchmovement in right earnest and scaleit up so that the camp of reaction isshaken.
Contd. from page 7
SUCI (C) carries on movement across the country
Medical Camp for Assam-flood victims organized
After and along with the medical camps forflood victims of Kashmir, Medical Service Centrestepped ahead with organizing such camps forAssam flood victims. The Party extended its helplead by Comrade Surat Jaman Mondal – member,SUCI(C) Assam State Secretariat. TheSeptember flood affected a vast stretch ofGoalpara District in Assam. The camps run byeight doctors of the Medical Service Centre led
Chandamari in Balballa area, 500 patients atBanshbari and 300 at Dhumerghat during themonth of October till 1 November. Besides,medicine including baby-food, worth 3 lakhs wasdistributed from the camps.
At Mechheda West Bengalstate level KOMSOMOLCamp held with enthusiasm
KOMSOMOL, Young Communists’organization of SUCI (C) organized a state levelcamp and political class on 20-21 October 2014at Vidyasagar Library and Research Centre,Mechhada, Purba Medinipur district, WestBengal. Around 125 Activists of Komsomol from
Tamilnadu protests overmilk-price hike
Tamilnadu State Organizing Committee of theParty staged demonstrations at Chennai andTheni on 31 October 2014 against TamilnaduGovernment declaration on exorbitant hiking
join movements, adding that hike in milk pricewould lead to cascading effect on price of allmilk-products
by Dr. Kalyanmoy Ghosh treated hundreds ofpatients, about 200 patients at Doptalla Marketadjacent to Goalpara city, 600 at Velterghat inKrishnai area, followed by 900 patients at
price of milk by Rs.10 and proposal for enhancingelectricity charges. Tamilnadu State Incharge ofour Party A Rengaswamy strongly condemnedthe government moves and called on people to
14 districts of the state participated in the Camp.The class was conducted by Comrade SaumenBasu, member, Central Committee SUCI(C) andSecretary, West Bengal State Committee.
More news on pages 9 & 10
PROLETARIAN ERA NOVEMBER 15, 2014 PAGE NINE
Comrade Gouri Shankar Ghatakpasses away
Comrade Gouri Shankar Ghatak, a Party member for many years, General Secretary ofthe All India Save Education Committee and President of the West Bengal State Committeeof the All India Anti-imperialist Forum, breathed his last on 5th November at the CalcuttaHeart Clinic and Hospital after a brief illness. He was 76. Comrade Gouri Shankar Ghatakhad a distinguished academic career. From his student days he hadan abiding interest in science, and he tried to delve deep into theessence of science and the philosophy of science. His learning ofscience was not for scoring marks in the examinations, or buildingup a career, but came from his deep attraction for the methods ofscience and the general principles of scientific analysis and enquiry.
Comrade Gouri Shankar was a student of the PresidencyCollege, Kolkata, at a time when a surge of left movement wassweeping across West Bengal. Like many other bright students ofthat period, he was attracted to left and Marxist ideology. Whenhe embarked on the teaching career first at the BengalEngineering College and later at the Presidency College, he hadan inner urge to be directly involved in left politics. But before that he wanted to criticallyjudge all the left parties. He undertook a study of the Marxist classics, critically read theliterature of different left parties and started to attend the mass meetings of the differentparties. His younger brother Proshanto Ghatak was a whole-timer of the Socialist UnityCentre of India (Communist). The life-style of the party comrades, their behaviour andcultural-ethical standard must have cast a strong influence on him. Through discussions withsome Party leaders and especially after listening to Comrade Shibdas Ghosh at severalmass meetings, he was convinced about the correctness of SUCI(C)’s ideology, politicalanalysis and programme. He even went to villages to check the work the party was doingamong the poor peasants and became convinced that this is the party, though numericallysmall, which was working for the Indian revolution. In Comrade Shibdas Ghosh’s writingsand speeches, he found what he was looking for. It is his aptitude in science which helpedhim to quickly grasp the basic tenets of Marxism, and to develop a deep understanding andappreciation for the thoughts of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh. His cultivation of the thoughts ofComrade Ghosh helped him to elevate his understanding of the philosophical aspects ofscience to a higher level. He aligned himself with the Party and dedicated himself to astruggle based on Comrade Shibdas Ghosh Thought.
Apart from being a renowned geoscientist, he was an outstanding teacher, always tryingto make the students understand and master the general principles and the methods andlogic of science. After coming in contact with the thoughts of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh,through cultivation, he developed a deeper understanding of the true beauty of science andits ethics and he strove to transmit this to his students. His scientific insight, captivatingclass-room teaching and soft-spoken demeanour made him dear to his students who had adeep respect for him as a scientist, as a teacher and as a person. His humility, utter lack ofpride, wonderfully soft nature, innate good humour besides his knowledge endeared him toall.
He started his party work through Pathikrit, the cultural front of SUCI(C). ComradeGouri Shankar had a powerful pen and could write equally well in Bengali and English.Under the guidance of the party leadership, he emerged as a fine analytical writer. Thepages of the magazine Pathikrit contain many incisive articles written by him on diversetopics. When Pathikrit started the English magazine ‘Trend’, he played an important roleand wrote articles in it and translated some articles of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh. At thetime of the Saratchandra centenary celebration, directed by the Party, he undertook theherculean task of editing the Golden Book of Saratchandra. Later he was drafted as awriter for the Party’s English organ ‘Proletarian Era’ and wrote regularly for the organ formany years. Under the guidance of Party leadership, he played a vital role in translatingthe writings of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh for the Selected Works.
Comrade Gouri Shankar Ghatak also played an important role in the progressive sciencemovement released by the Breakthrough Science Society inspired by the thoughts ofComrade Shibdas Ghosh. The Party and Breakthrough were immensely benefited by hisinsightful exposition of the teachings of Shibdas Ghosh on many philosophical problems ofmodern science, for example, those centring round quantum mechanics and uncertaintyprinciple, big bang hypothesis, origin of human consciousness and thinking. He upheld froma scientist’s point of view the philosophical basis of Marxism from the attacks of anti-Marxists and staunchly defended Comrade Shibdas Ghosh’s thoughts on the principles ofdialectics and the philosophical implications of modern science from distortions andrevisionist attacks. Party comrades always found him ready to clear their confusions ondialectical materialism and science on the basis of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh’s thoughts.
He dedicated himself to the struggle to be a communist revolutionary. He had pain andanguish, particularly in the latter part of his life that at times he could not work as much forthe Party as he wanted to or as he was capable of. He sought guidance from the Partyleadership to conduct his struggle. In the midst of this struggle he succumbed to his illness.In his death, Party has lost a valuable comrade.
Red Salute Comrade Gouri Shankar Ghatak
Citizens’ Protest inBhubaneswar at the initiative ofthe Party
Responding to the call of the BhubaneswarCommittee of our Party citizens staged a demonstrationon different demands including stalling price- hike ofessential commodities, ensuring potable water supply,garbage clearance, drainage and installation of electricitylines in the slums as well as in other areas of the city, on1 November, in front of Bhubaneswar Corporationbuilding.
Jaunpur demonstration overelectricity charge hike
Jaunpur District Committee of SUCI(C), UPorganized a demonstration- protest meeting andsubmission of a charter of demands at the JaunpurDistrict Electricity Office on 16 October on demandsto stall the steep rise in electricity charges and to stopload-shedding and change burnt transformers andlines.
Demonstration in cyclone-ravaged Odisha in demand forrelief
Though the coastal areas of Odisha and AndhraPradesh were very badly affected by the cyclonic stormHudhud, the BJD government of Odisha is showing uttercallousness in relief and rescue activities. So, thecyclone-ravaged people under the leadership ofBaridapuda-Koraput local committee of SUCI(C) held abig demonstration on 16 October before the local BDOoffice in demand for running relief work for minimumone month, proper compensation to those affected,waiving bank and education loans, repairing of roads andbridges, minimum 6 months’ job for the agriculturalworkers etc.
PAGE TEN NOVEMBER 15, 2014 PROLETARIAN ERA
School of politics of OdishaKomsomol
A state level school of politics of Odisha unitof Komsomol was held in Bhubaneswar on 18-19October and was conducted by Comrades DhurjatiDas, Odisha State Secretary and SankarDasgupta, member, Odisha State Secretariat,SUCI(C).Protest demonstration inDhalbhumgarh against rapeof student
Massive rally of AIDSO and AIMSS atDhalbhumgarh, East Singbhum, Jharkhand on 27September against barbaric rape and murder of agirl student.
Comrade Arun Singh, Member, Bihar StateCommittee, SUCI(C), addressing citizensconvention against FDI at IMA hall in Patna on 7October
Anti-FDI citizens’convention in Patna
Karnataka Asha workers’sconference
A massive convention of ASHA workers on11 October at Freedom Park, Bangalore. (Inset)Comrade Krishna Chakraborty, AIUTUCpresident and Polit Bureau member, SUCI(C)addressing.
Komsomol camp in UttarPradesh
Komsomol camp at Badlapur, UP on 1-2October which was conducted by Comrades V NSingh, SUCI UP state Secretary and ComradesSwapan Chatterjee and Ramasray Maurya.
Lathi charge on ABECA rally
35 people sustained grievous injuries at theunprovoked and brutal lathicharge of the police onthe protest demonstration organized by All BengalElectricity Consumer’s Association in Kolkata on20 October against steep rise in power tariff andthe West Bengal TMC chief minister’s renegingon the promise to lower electricity charge.
AIMSS on Bilaspur tragedyDr. H G. Jayalakshmi, General Secretary, AIMSS, issued the following statement on 12
November:
The All India Committee of AIMSS expresses its shock over the death of 11 women and thecritical condition of 34 more women, due to complications after mass sterilization operations at aGovernment organized family planning camp in Bilaspur District of Chhattisgarh.
This incident is yet another testimony to the criminal negligence exhibited by our Governmentsregarding the health of poor people while they do not fall behind in paying lip services to them.AIMSS demands a speedy and impartial enquiry into the whole incident and severe punishmentto all the culprits who are responsible for this unfortunate incident.
AIMSS expresses its heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. We also demand thatcompensation announced by the Government should be paid to the families of the victimsimmediately.
AIMSS condemnsAligarh University VC’s move
Dr. H G. Jayalakshmi, General Secretary, All India Committee, AIMSS, issued the followingstatement on 13 November :
It is shocking to know that the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University has denied theentry to the undergraduate girl students to the main library, as the library faced a huge spaceconstraint. As reported in the media, he has said that if Under Graduate girls were allowed accessto the library, ‘there would be four times more boys’.
While the Universities are deemed to be centres of universal learning and set a model forhigh thinking, the Vice-Chancellors are to reflect a standard befitting the position. Such meanand irresponsible remarks of him is highly condemnable. This discriminatory attitude towards girlstudents reflects his ossified patriarchal mindset.
AIMSS on behalf of the entire student and women community demands that authoritiesprovide necessary library facilities to the undergraduate girls students immediately. AIMSS alsodemands that suitable punishment be awarded to the Vice Chancellor for his remarks.
Trade Union convention inTrivandrum
A Kerala state level convention of unitedTrade Unions was held in Trivandrum on 21October. Comrade Sunderrajan, Kerala StateVice-President of AIUTUC was on the daisalongwith the leaders of other trade unions.
Premchand-SaratchandraJayanti at Jamshedpur
On 2 November, a meeting was organized atJamshedpur in commemoration of great humanistlitterateurs Saratchandra and Premchand. It waspresided over by the well known poet NandaKumar Unman. Speakers included Dr. SubhashGupta, Professor Mitreswar, Shri Ranjit Singh,Editor of Hindi newspaper Prabhat Khabar andComrade Sumit Roy, Jharkahand State OrganizingCommittee member of the SUCI(C)
PROLETARIAN ERA NOVEMBER 15, 2014 PAGE ELEVEN
It is ridiculous and mockery ofdemocracy. In the Maharashtraassembly on 12 November, theruling BJP managed to survive trustvote without having requisitenumbers. Maharashtra’s has beenhung assembly after elections. TheBJP though emerging as the largestparty with 121 seats fell much shortof the number required to havemajority. Its hitherto ally Shiv Senahad already broken the alliance anddeclared that it would sit inopposition. Sharad Pawar’s NCP, aclose associate of the Congress tillother day, however, in a volte facesaid that it would support the BJPgovernment. But it seems that theBJP could not have faith in thewords of the NCP. So, in spite ofmanaging to secure support of someof the smaller parties, when it found
that the attainment of the magicfigure is eluding, it resorted to anasty trick to cling to power by hookor by crook. Knowing fully well thata defeat in the trust vote would costit the ministry, the BJP played adirty game. It got one of its MLAsShri Bagde selected as speakerearlier on the day. Then, as per plan,the BJP speaker totally flouting thedemocratic norms, whatever little ofthat is still in existence, decided tohave the crucial trust vote throughvoice vote instead of secret ballotand then declared that the BJP haswon it. This is not onlyunprecedented but is tantamount tonot just trampling underfoot thebarest precepts of parliamentarydemo-=cracy but demonstrating thatthe BJP is licensed to do anything itwants to remain in power or capture
Broad Day Light Murder of Democracy
evidence to substantiate them.Were the objective conditions ofIndia, thousands of years backwere so ripe enough to promotesuch scientific innovations? If thatbe so, why were they lost? Whotook it away? Why then are theseto be invented anew? Why again, ifthey were already in vogue- hadthey not been recorded in thehistory of scientific innovations?
It would not be irrelevant topoint out that under Article 51 A(h) of the Indian Constitution it isthe fundamental duty of everycitizen ‘to develop a scientifictemper’. A citizen of these days isexpected to get rid of age-oldbeliefs, superstitions and irrationalityto be able to cope up with thecomplex life- problems of moderntime and use science to unraveltruth. Do not the blatant andunfounded claims made by ourPrime Minister contradict theessentials of the Constitution in thisrespect?
Mr. Modi wants to sendsatellites to the Mars and is optingfor digital India; he is introducingsmart phone and is welcoming theimport of bullet trains and othernovelties of science, laudingtechnological advancement. At thesame time, he promotes irrationalbelief in unverified mythology! Forinformation of Modi and his hang-ons, myths comprise many imaginarycharacters, figures and incidents.These were all imagined. Men thenfound that chariots move very fast.At the same time, he found that onlybirds can fly. So, they imagined thathad chariots or the horse wings, they
could fly. Similarly they had seenthat man does all work with hands.So, they imagined that gods orgoddesses who were supposed to besuperior to man must have tenhands. These are all imaginationsbased on what material conditionallowed to think and does not requiretoo much of grey matter in head tounderstand that.
Let us not think that Modi doesnot know these. He has beendeliberately saying all thesenonsense to pander to falsifiednotions, convoluted thinking,backwardness, and blind faith inmyths. He wants that by doing so,he would be able to make thepeople blindfolded so that they arenot dawned upon by realknowledge and adopt scientificoutlook. Truth will elude them. Andon the enchanting fringe ofirrational blind faith, bigotry andbackward sterile thoughts, he andhis RSS-BJP will work out theirstratagem to fleece and rule withalacrity. These trashes aretherefore meted out from a definiteulterior motive.
Retrograding mental process,promoting irrationality, getting blindfaith and bizarre thoughts firmlyentrenched in people are all partsof the grandiose design to enshroudmind with medieval darkness andestablish fascism. So, thisnefarious design of the fascistforces ought to combated anddefeated by promoting scientificthoughts and rational outlook. Modidoes not know that the evilsultimately do not win. Let him learnthat from the Ramayana andMahabharata.
EPIC VERSES OF MODIContd from page 6
power. This is footstep of fascism.Already parliamentary democracyhas been reduced to a farce withmanipulation of election riding onmoney-media-mafia-administrativepower, progressive reduction in thenumber of days parliament is insession, proceedings marked bymore of mutual bickering than anydiscussion, mudslinging andpandemonium, prolonged Houseboycott for no reason whatsoeverand even legislators getting involvedin scuffles, if not engaged in brawls.For long, there is any meaningfuldebate on the issues of the people.In fact, people’s interest has beengiven a decent burial. Now,parliament meets to approve thepro-capitalist pro-rich bills. If thegovernment has any doubt of any ofits anti-people bills to be passed, notbecause of any opposition on meritbut more because of respective
political agendas of the bourgeoisparties represented in the parliament,it simply bypasses parliament andgets its proposals implementedthrough ordinance route oradministrative fiat. Now, over andabove all this caricature ofdemocracy, the ruling BJP is bentupon to ensure that parliament whichduring the rising period of bourgeoisiewas considered as sovereign isreduced to a non-entity. Thus it isputting the last nail on the coffin ofdemocracy. The sign is ominous.Time has come for all to understandwhat a dangerous fascist force hasbeen anointed to power by the rulingmonopolists to implement its sinisterclass design. There has to bepowerful organized protest againstsuch travesty of democracy.Otherwise the BJP would becomemore autocratic and despotic inrunning the steamroller of oppression.
The introduction of the Right toInformation (RTI) Act a few yearsback, much hyped as empoweringpeople of India to obtain free accessto any information, in practice wasfound to provide the common manwith anything but easy access toinformation. After all, no matter thetalk about transparency, the fact isthat the exploitative, obsoletecapitalist system in our countrybreeds corruption and crime on ahorrendous scale, so naturally thereis much to hide. It comes thereforeas no surprise that a maze ofbureaucratic set of rules serves toobstruct access, and even thosewho succeed in negotiating the mazeof regulations may not get thedesired information at all. For,already in the short span since theintroduction of RTI Act, a hugebacklog has accumulated. Thus,over 24,000 cases under the RTIAct are pending with CentralInformation Commission as on 31Oct. Moreover, for the last fewmonths even the posts of its chiefand three deputies remain vacant,according to RTI activist MrVenkatesh Nayak, programmecoordinator at CommonwealthHuman Rights Initiative. (TheStatesman, 6 Nov. 2014) Whatmore glaring pointer is needed toshow the actual attitude of theCentral governments towards RTI!
But what is really alarming isthat quite a number of RTI activistswho managed to unearth corruptionor corrupt deals and acted aswhistleblowers have been murderedand countless activists have beenassaulted. In fact, according toVenkatesh Nayak no less than about42 RTI activists have beenmurdered and over 300 assaulted. In
such a situation, the recent DoPT(Department of Personnel andTraining) memorandum directing allministries and governmentdepartments to upload applicationsreceived under the RTI Act andreplies given on their websites, asreported in The Times of India(Nov. 6, 2014) is a dangerous movethat would endanger the life of RTIactivists by openly displaying theiridentity in view of the fact that Indiadoes not have privacy laws like e.g.the UK’s Data Protection Act whichensures that even when queriesunder the Freedom of InformationAct (similar to our RTI Act) areuploaded on websites the applicantsnames are blanked out. Clearly, thismove makes RTI activities,especially if the information couldprove to be embarrassing, to say theleast, a most perilous undertakingexcept perhaps for those whosestature provides them with someimmunity from such attacks. Thislatest move comes on the heels oftwo other recent governmentnotifications, or 2 circulars, statingthat assets of a public servant,details of official records and giftsdo not have to be given under theAct, and also exempting the stateACB from RTI queries, which werereportedly based on some rulings byCourts in some specific cases butin which no reasoning of law wasgiven to provide a legal principle,which could be used as a precedent,according to an RTI activist. So,would it be wrong to conclude thatunder the guise of improvingefficiency, the Modi government hasadded a new, menacing dimensionto the attempt to stifle RTImovement in order to keepcorruption under wraps?
Attempt to stifle RTI Movement
RNI No. 13932/67P. R. No. KOL / RMS / /145 / 2013-2015
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF : PROVASH GHOSH
Edited & Published by Asit Bhattacharyya from 48 Lenin Sarani, Kolkata 700013 and printed by him at Ganadabi Printers and Publishers Private Limited,52B, Indian Mirror Street, Kolkata 700013. Phone : 2249-1828, 2265-3234 E-mail : suci_cc@vsnl.net, proletarianera@gmail.com, Website : www.sucic.in
Struggling friend,We are pleased to announce that the construction work of the new
central office building of Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)founded by Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, the great leader of the proletariat,at 48, Lenin Sarani, Kolkata, is over. Construction of this new buildinghas been possible because of the contributions made by the leaders-workers-supporters-sympathizers and well-wishers of the Partyresponding to the call given by the Party for this. We convey ourrevolutionary greetings to all of them.
On 17th November at 12 Noon, this new building will be inauguratedby Comrade Provash Ghosh, General Secretary, SUCI(C), in a brieffunction.
With revolutionary greetings48 Lenin Sarani, Debaprasad SarkarKolkata-700013 Office Secretary, Central Committee30 October, 2014 S U C I (C)
Make SUCI(C) Candidates Victorious inJharkhand Assembly Election
Constituency Candidate
1. Hatia Comrade Vinay Kumar
2. Khijri Comrade Ashrita Khalko
3. Bokaro City Comrade Manoj Kumar Singh
4. Bermo Comrade Lalji Manjhi
5. Chandankiari Comrade Kalidasi Bauri
6. Baghmara Comrade Chandan Kumar Srivastav
7. Ghatsila Comrade Jaydev Singh Munda
8. Jugsalai Comrade Rajesh Sahish
9. Ichagarh Comrade Ashudev Mahato
On the occasion of 97th anniversary of great November Revolution, ComradeChhaya Mukherjee, Member, Central Committee, garlanding the portrait ofComrade Lenin on 17th November in front of the newly constructed Party’s centraloffice in Kolkata. Also seen in the picture is Comrade Saumen Basu, CentralCommittee member and Secretary, West Bengal State Committee.
Obamacare in USAset to die its death
Media is now reporting that themuch hyped Obamacare, the blue-eyed programme of the Americanpresident Barrack Obama, faces afatal blow. The centerpiece of thescheme or the law is the assertionthat every citizen is obliged to gethealth insurance. And the ominoussigns of its mortal danger send agrave signal to the American poorsin millions who live withoutinsurance of any kind, that theassertion is receding fast leavingthem in a hapless void.
Despite all the hullabalooaccompanying its introduction,Obamacare was fraught withproblems recurring. The websitethat was meant to make it easy forthe American ‘poors’ withoutinsurance to buy new healthpolicies was rolled out officially ayear back. It was disastrous forpeople and the government too andthe disaster management drive hadto be mooted only very recentlywith opening of enrollment windowfor people to sign up for 2015.
But the omens did not fade out,but rather made a fresh and morevigorous comeback. It was in thefollowing backdrop and manner.When the US Congress originallywrote the law, it stipulated thatfederal (i.e., central) subsidies wouldbe extended to the ‘least wealthy’Americans to purchase the newlyavailable plans on the onlineexchanges. Each of the 50 states ofthe USA was supposed to set upthose exchanges which would act asgateway for those federal subsidies.Now an individual from a stateVirginia reportedly sharing the same
view with many others, pointed outthat only 14 of the 50 USA states(less than one-third) set up their ownexchanges. The other 36 statespreferred to use a federal exchangeinstead. The question raised is: Willthose states without their ownexchanges, be denied of the federalsubsidies to buyers of healthcareplans? In that case, the cost ofpolicies for people would instantlyjump by as much as 43 per cent. Thepurpose of the scheme would betotally lost and the Obamacare woulddie its natural death. Of course itwould then leave a few questions inits trail? What do these mean? Whywas the website withdrawn and thenreintroduced? What was the intent?A silent wind-up of the scheme thatcould not be given effect to becauseof the people’s pressure? Why couldnot the federal authority make allstates set up their own exchanges?Was the federal authority callous orreluctant? Obviously that such asituation may come up was notvisualized. Was it then a carelesseffort without much homeworkdone? Or, were the loopholes leftback while introducing the law thatcould serve as a means to let thescheme die? Do these indicate thateven such an apparently pro-peoplemeasure carried some inherentdefects that would help to withdrawthe scheme in due course? Well then,could this scheme be called a genuinepro-people attempt or a meregimmick, the rulers in a decayingcapitalist system so typically takeresort to? Perhaps, the Americanpeople may ask their rulers forclarification.
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