LAL JHANDA FLUTTERS IN LALGARH - B PRASANT

PASSING in front of the CPI (M) office at the Lalgarh gram panchayat area, we saw a woman busy with a formidably large broom. On being asked what she was going about, she curtly told us that she was sweeping the débris away from the Party office, and would we mind going about doing whatever we had come to do from the ‘city’ – and what she was sweeping away was waste material, flotsam and jetsam that had accumulated in terms of dust as well as fall-out from a grisly political outrage. We later realised the person was a district committee member of the Midnapore west unit of the CPI (M).

Earlier, on a bright and breezy Sunday mid-morning, around twenty five thousand people once residents of Lalgarh had come trooping in, Red Flags aflutter by the thousands.

There was no fanfare, and there was no sound of any bugle or another form of wind instrument. The marchers passed the so-called ‘Maoist’ strongholds of Gopalpur, Jhatuiara, Jirakul, Jirpara, Kochatola, Mohanpore, Brindabanpore, Bamal, Kakpara, Chemtiara, Laxmanpur, Sakhakulia, and Chunapara before finally entering the Lalgarh gram panchayat.

Where were the vaunted ‘Maoists’ with their ‘formidable’ armed personnel, their mass base, and most important their sophisticated guerrilla techniques backed up by ‘superior’ firepower? This is a puzzle that awaits history for the disclosing of an answer. We may humbly posit here that all these labels are rendered meaningless when the crucible and matrix of comparison is the mass of the people. Nothing, nobody, and certainly no ‘Maoist’ can and shall come between the people and their tasks that are emblazoned in history.

This was no ‘come back’ that Lalgarh gram panchayat witnessed. The area has seen hundreds of CPI (M) workers, sympathisers, and supporters killed, injured, abducted, women raped, children butchered over more than a year’s time. Many villagers too had been killed despite their lack of affiliation to any political party.

The joint forces operations had left Lalgarh devoid of most of the population. The people virtually in exile, had fumed, fretted—and also planned, under the vanguard leadership of the CPI (M). Over the past two months, they had marched fearlessly across the so-called ‘Maoist’-infested terrain. The halt at Dharampur was a brief one. Then the people came home, to Lalgarh. It was homecoming and not a come-back in the sense that the corporate media would like to have its readership/viewership believe.

Each one of the heinous deeds, the brutal murders, the abductions, the outraging of the modesty of the women and the deportations, perpetrated in the Lalgarh had been done in active connivance of the Trinamul Congress; the people have kept this in mind. Not a single Trinamuli flag was seen in Lalgarh as the marchers entered the zone. Red Flags appeared instead from hutments and courtyards where the strong Party veterans had held out in the face of the toughest of survival challenges.

By the evening, when it was time for us to leave, the bazaar had opened with fresh vegetables being brought in eagerly from the fields afar and near. The pitched-and-tarred roads have started to witness cricket matches, impromptu football games. The bell rang from the Lalgarh high school. The bell also rings in memory of the 58 CPI (M) comrades who were killed at Lalgarh. They, each one of them, will be remembered by the people of Bengal, and elsewhere, we have no doubt.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org

USA RETREATS FROM ECUADOR

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PERVERTED MAOIST BUTCHERS, RAPISTS AND EXTORTIONISTS WELCOME MAMATA BANERJEE IN THEIR TERROR ZONES FOR SUPPORT

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LEFT FRONT GOVERNMENT IN WEST BENGAL RECOGNISES THE POOR DRUMMERS

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YOUTH SERVICES IN WEST BENGAL

Instilling New Vigour

If one has to name a single department of the State Government that works with and for arguably the most sensitive, creative and agile section of the society, it is the Youth Services Department. Adopting and implementing policies and projects in the best interest of the youth—that is, the people of the age group of 15 and 35 who, in general terms, constitute the one-thirds of the population—the department has, in every sense, got its job cut out.

The decade of 1960s especially the later part of it, had seen a certain trend of volatility, often suffused with raw and mis-directed anger finding expression in mindless violence, among the youth the world over.

That paved the way—or, one may say, laid the groundwork—for overhauling, worldwide, the nuances in dealing with the problems and crises of the youth. Likewise, in West Bengal, with the objective of reaching out to the younger generation, the State Youth Services Department was constituted in the year 1972.

From 1972 to 1977, owing to infrastruc-tural and financial stringency, the department could never actually peak up from the first gear. Only 40 block youth services offices were set up in those five years. But since 1977, with a lot healthier budget allocation, the State Youth Services Department has not only been raring to go on a full swing, it has been flourishing too in such a way as to spread right to the grassroots level all over the state. At present, youth offices are there in all the 19 districts of the state. And West Bengal can well claim to have been the pioneer in the country in providing the Youth Services Department with such a wide and elaborate infrastructure. Backed by this wide and elaborate infrastructure, and of course with the positive will of the State Government, the Youth Services Department has been working relentlessly for all round development including material and cultural nourishment of the state's youth force.

In order to make sure that the younger section of the population chipped in their positive and effective input towards building up a healthy and prosperous society, the primary pre-requisite has to be their material sustenance. Realizing this, the State Youth Services Department has attached topmost priority to see to it that the youth became financially self-reliant.

With this end in view, the State Youth Services Department launched the Bengal Self-Employment Scheme for the Urban Youth in the financial year 2000-01. The scheme has assumed special significance against the backdrop of the recent wave of industrial resurgence in the state. Any unemployed youth below the age of 40 and coming from a family with total family income of less than Rs. 15,000 per month can avail of this scheme. The scheme offers financial support to small units with the cost of Rs. 10 lac at the most in the sectors like agro-industries, horticulture, animal husbandry etc. The support is meant both for setting up of new units as well as expansion and revamping of existing units. Under the project, there come two subschemes called (i) Atmamaryada for individual entrepreneurship and (ii) Atmasamman for group entrepreneurship of maximum of five entrepreneurs residing in the same urban area. In both cases, 10% of the project cost has to be accumulated by the entrepreneur or entrepreneurs. The Youth Services Department bears 20% of the cost as subsidy, the upper ceiling of this being Rs. 50,000 for the Atmamaryada sub-project and Rs. 1·25 lac for the Atmasamman sub-project. The rest 70% of the cost comes from the banks or financial institutions as loan. To run the project smoothly, a body called Society for Self-Employment of Urban Youth, West Bengal, has been formed.

It is to be mentioned here that since the financial year 2006-07, the scheme has been extended to the rural areas of the state as well. Of late, the charge of running of the scheme has been transferred from the State Youth Services Department to the Department of Self-Employment Schemes & Self-Help Groups, newly set up by the seventh Left Front Government.

Training programmes for the youth

With the proclamation of the new Industrial Policy of the State Government in 1994, imparting computer training to the youth assumed much greater importance. Gauging the newly emerging situation, the Youth Services Department floated-at first, experimentally—a computer training centre on joint venture at the State Youth Centre in Kolkata. The department, though, did not shed its responsibility with just opening the centre.

Keeping tab on the norms of admission of students and allied expenditures, the department ensured that the poor and meritorious sections of the state's youth could avail of this training. The success of this centre made way for many other joint venture computer training centres in the districts of the state, too. Of late, such centres are being opened even below the sub-division level in many districts as well.

Another major programme of the Youth Services Department is imparting vocational training, which plays a crucial role in terms of employment and self-employment of the youth. With the passage of time, many new vocations are also coming up such as interior decoration, still photography, video photography, TV repairing and servicing, silk screen printing, computer hardware servicing, packaging and the like. The Youth Services Department has been running regular training courses in all these disciplines.

These apart, Youth Services Department has also been providing financial assistance for coaching centres that impart training for competitive examinations. To aid the unemployed youth, the department also runs career guidance centres at the block level. Equipped with employment news material, career guidance literature and a lot more, these centres provide complete career guidance for the rural insolvent youth.

Science awareness campaigns

To spread science awareness and for instilling a temperamental bent for science among the youth, the Youth Services Department has been taking up regular programmes since sooner or later it had come into being. These programmes include holding seminars, symposia and contests on science subjects at the school level, organizing science fairs with the logistic support of the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM). Apart from the Eastern Zonal Science Fair, organized jointly with the BITM, the Youth Services Department also holds annual State Science Fair, which has gained immense popularity among the state's youth folk.

State Youth Centre

In smooth running of the various schemes, projects and programmes of the Department, a major role is played by the State Youth Centre, situated in central Kolkata. Erected during the first Left Front Government, the centre was formally opened for the state's youth by the then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu in the year 1981.

Equipped with a 400-seat capacity auditorium, the Kolkata Youth Hostel, the Vocational Training Centre, the Computer Training Centre and the office of the Society for Urban Self-Employment, the State Youth Centre also houses the State Youth Library set up in 1983. Books on varied subjects including history, philosophy, sociology and all the disciplines of science studies, along with several career guidance literature and journals are there at the library for the disposal of the youth.

Youth Festival

But after all this said and done, addressing the question of material sustenance alone is not enough for shaping up the state's youth for a better life. Realizing this, the department organizes annual Youth Festival on an elaborate scale. The primary round of the festival is held at more than 500 centres at the block, municipality, notified area, borough area and such levels. Besides, District Youth Festivals at every district and a central State Youth Festival are also organized by the department. Nearly a million students and youth get the opportunity of displaying their talent over these festivals every year.

This apart, the department organizes annual Street Drama Festival to mark the occasion of International May Day. Like the Youth Festival, this Street Drama Festival is also organized spreading over the length and breadth of the state. More than 1,000 street drama presentations are held over 300-odd centres all over the state during this festival.

Bottomline

All in all, the State Youth Services Department, one may say, just quite embodies the spirit of youth, always active and agile, sensitive and creative, and responsible and responsive, too.

Sports

Over the last 30 years, the Left Front Government has been making a concerted effort in creating and upholding a favourable sports ambience in the state. For that, the Sports Department of the State Government has taken up various schemes for maintenance and making proper use of the existing infrastructure like stadia, swimming pools, gymnasia etc. The department has provided budget allocation for the existing schemes and projects alongside the permanent infrastructure as per their importance and significance. Since the year 1977, the department has also been providing financial assistance for various sports organizations to enable them in organizing tournaments as well as for talented but needy sportspersons for purchasing necessary sports gear and participating in national and international events.

The Left Front Government, right at the time of its inception, took a decision of erecting sports stadia not only in Kolkata but at the sub-division level, too, in every district of the state. Materialization of that policy decision is still on even today. The major ones built up in the last two decades include the Yuvabharati
Krirangan at Salt Lake, the Kanchenjungha Stadium at Siliguri, the Jadavpur Stadium, the Barasat Stadium, the Baharampur Stadium, the Balurghat Stadium, the Contai Stadium and the Suri Stadium. An indoor stadium has been set up at Dumurjala in Howrah district, to boot. Works are on for setting up three more indoor stadia at Purulia, Dum Dum and Khardah. These apart, a swimming pool is being set up in Cooch Behar. The Subhas Sarovar swimming pool at Beliaghata, Kolkata, is also being made proper use of. The Sports Authority of India, too, uses this pool for the purpose of their swimming training. Besides, the department also provides infrastructural assistance as well as financial aid for holding national and international tournaments everywhere in the state including at the Yuvabharati Krirangan and the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

The department has a scheme of monthly pension @ Rs. 600 for the needy sportspersons of the olden days. In case of death of that particular sportsperson, the pension goes to the next to the kin. This apart, there are annual scholarships for talented sportspersons, awarded by the West Bengal State Sports Council, the nodal agency of the department.

Not only as the nodal agency, the West Bengal State Sports Council also works as the advisory body of the department. Apart from chalking out sports policies, the West Bengal State Sports Council takes up the responsibility of implementing those policies through the state and district bodies, too. The council has also been running regular training camps under competent coaches in the disciplines like football, kabadi, kho-kho, basketball, swimming et al. As part of this programme, long-term non-residential training camps for football, volleyball and swimming have been under operation since 1989 in as many as 30 schools in rural Bengal. The West Bengal State Sports Council organizes sports tournaments for the street children of the state as well.

In addition to the mainstream sports, so to say, adventure sports like mountaineering and trekking are also being given proper importance to by the department. The department has formed two separate bodies for this purpose. One is the West Bengal Mountaineering and Adventure Foundation, established in 1989 for coordinating and arranging expeditions; and the other is the West Bengal State Academy of Adventure Sports for looking after adventure expeditions on land as well as in sea and sky.

The department also awards scholarships for attending training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and the National Institute of Mountaineering. Since 1986, the department has been handing out the Tsenzing Norgay Award for outstanding achievement in mountaineering.

The Left Front Government, of late, is contemplating an enhancement in the budget allocation for sports. Plans are there to set up self-sufficient sports infrastructrure in 5,000 out of 36,000 villages of the state. The scheme calls for an initial cost of Rs. 10 lac each such set-up. To implement this scheme in a couple of years from now, the total annual expenditure will be to the tune of Rs. 250 crore. Given the limited resources of the State Government, initiatives will be there to accumulate sums of money from various state and central funds, the MP and MLA local area development (LAD) funds as well as from the commercial sector. Should it succeed, it would ensure not only a better sports ambience in the state, it would also bring forth wide-scale employment opportunities for a large number of people.

PRIME MINISTER ON MAOISTS

"It would not be an exaggeration to say that the problem of Naxalism is the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country." ……..

Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh at a meeting of Chief Ministers of Naxal-affected states in Sep 2006.

SFI: FOUR DECADES OF STUDY STRUGGLE & SACRIFICECALLS FOR STRENGTHENING THE BATTLE OF IDEAS - Ritabrata Banerjee

ANARCHIC forces had mounted up steep resistance in the early seventies when the journey had begun. Fierce attacks on democratic rights throughout the country and unleashing of semi fascist terror in West Bengal were the predominant trends of that era. Successfully combating all challenges, the Students’ Federation of India had emerged to be most dominating voice of the students across the country in the last four decades. The four decades of SFI has witnessed its active participation on different issues of the student life and the society which has shaped its onward march to be the strongest and largest representative of the student community in our country. From a membership of one lakh and twenty three thousand during its inception, the organisation today represents more than forty four lakhs of students in the country. And in this eventful journey, innumerable comrades of SFI have made supreme sacrifices in order to hold aloft the banner of ‘Independence, Democracy, Socialism”. Commemorating the glorious ‘Four decades of Study, Struggle and Sacrifice,” SFI vowed that the struggle for the alternative, necessary to build a happy and prosperous India, will be strengthened amidst all obstacles.

REMARKABLE JOURNEY

The year 2010 marks the 40th year of the formation of SFI. The journey from 1970 to 2010 has been a remarkable and inspiring one for the progressive student movement. The SFI central executive committee decided to take up various programmes to celebrate and salute these forty years of Study, Struggle and Sacrifice. It was further decided that the programmes would highlight the history and development of the organisation as well as the ideological-political thrust which has been the hallmark of the SFI.

The inaugural programme in the form of an open rally was held in Kolkata on September 15. Netaji Nagar was chosen as the venue of the meeting. In 1970, the progressive student leadership of different states met at Netajinagar Vidyamandir from June 1-7, discussing about the formation of SFI and a preparatory committee was formed with Biman Basu as the convenor. Later in the month of December (27-30), SFI came into being through the first all India conference held at Tagore Centenary hall, Thiruvanathapuram.

The programme was inaugurated by the founder general secretary of SFI, Biman Basu by waving the flag of ‘Independence, Democracy, and Socialism’. Former all India president, Sitaram Yechury was also present in the programme. The programme will conclude with an open rally in Thiruvanathapuram on January 5, 2011. Programmes will also be held in all the state units. The celebrations will not only highlight the history of the organization, but also inspire the members across the country to fight for the ideals of ‘Independence, Democracy and Socialism,’ which have guided SFI in this eventful journey.

The rally witnessed a colourful and jubilant participation of a large number of students from the southern districts of the state. Besides Biman Basu and Sitaram Yechury, SFI all India president P K Biju, general secretary Ritabrata Banerjee, West Bengal state secretary Kaustav Chatterjee spoke in the rally. The rally was presided over by the state president, Sayandeep Mitra.

Biman Basu in his inaugural address said Netaji nagar has been a bastion of the Left and democratic movement in the state. The area which was the abode of the refugees coming from East Bengal fought against all sorts of authority and domination. People assembled and united under the red flag fought for their existence and self esteem. Basu mentioned that during the semi fascist terror of the seventies, forty six activists of the democratic movement were killed only in the Jadavpur- Tollygunge area under which Netajinagar falls. And the legacy of those supreme sacrifices still continues. He pointed out that till date, activists of the student and democratic movement are being killed by forces of anarchy and reaction. After the formation of the seventh Left Front government in the state, 515 leaders and activists of the LF have been killed. And out of this, 290 have been killed after the announcement of the results of last Lok Sabha and till September 14. He noted that the TMC-Maoist nexus has been the mastermind behind these killings. He even apprehended that some more valuable lives may get butchered by the TMC-Maoist mercenaries in the Junglemahal in the time period when he is delivering his speech.

Biman Basu told the gathering that the imperialist forces like in other parts of the world are gathering all the anti communist, anti left forces in the state. They are active in fabricating false and imaginative stories in order to mislead the people. He talked about the glorious role of the students in anti imperialist struggles and urged them to use all their might in resisting the anti democratic forces of anarchy in order to save the state. These anarchic forces are determined to spread terror to all other parts of the state. He even mentioned the way in which outsiders, by might are trying to capture the elected students unions in the state, which testifies beyond doubt that the TMC does not believe in any democratic principles. There is a concerted effort to snatch the hard earned democratic rights of the students in the state. He urged the students to play their role in combating the false assertions and campaigns made by these forces and to stand firmly by the democratic movement.

Sitaram Yechury categorically said that the responsibility of tomorrow’s India is on the students. And they have to realise what type of a country is bestowed upon them as the legacy and the way in which they have to develop it. He said SFI has been consistently fighting for education and job for all in a country where seventy seven out of hundred students cannot reach the 12th standard. This is not due to the lack of our intelligence or resources. Such conditions have been created due to the policies persuaded by the ruling classes. Yechury mentioned about two Indias within India. He said that shining India has given birth to the largest number of billionaires in Asia in the last ten years and one of them had built a house by spending four thousand five hundred crores of rupees. In that shining India, the total wealth of fifty two persons is equal to the one fourth GDP of the entire country. On the other hand suffering India is home to 77 per cent of the population earning less than twenty rupees a day. Fifty per cent of the population does not receive adequate food. India stands tallest as far as death through malnutrition is concerned. 78 per cent of the mothers are anaemic. In such circumstances, if a new India is to be constructed there has to be a change in the existing conditions and hence the policies need to be altered.

Yechury said the central union budget which has given a tax concession of four lakhs ten thousand crores of rupees to the corporate. This amount would have paved the way for establishing schools in all villages of the country. It would have ensured hospital facilities to largest sections of our population. But the centre has refused to tread this path. If the government ignoring the interests of the common man considers the welfare of the capitalists as its priority, then the people will be on the roads in the fight for change in policies.

BATTLE OF IDEAS

Yechury said the new India which SFI speaks of needs alternate policies and the fight for the alternative policies is being spearheaded by the Left. The Left Front government is West Bengal is an example of how the alternate policies can be implemented. Yechury categorically mentioned that the US imperialism does not approve of this alternative policies and that is precisely the reason they had given directions for weakening of the Left in India and ousting of the Left Front government in West Bengal. Under their instructions, the reactionary forces ranging from the Maoists to the TMC have all joined hands together. He expressed confidence that the people of West Bengal will give a fitting rebuff to these forces in the upcoming elections. He called upon the students to stand by the LF government and strengthen the fight for the alternatives. He said that the student movement is a theatre where battle of ideas are performed and SFI from its inception has been diligent in strengthening the battle of ideas. Yechury said that in the coming days, the contradictions are going to increase more and in order to strengthen the fight for the alternatives, SFI has to play a leading role. He pointed that the meaning of Independence, Democracy and Socialism holds a greater significance today. He expressed that in this fight the militant students under the banner of SFI will play a glorious role.

Speaking at the rally, SFI all India president and MP, P K Biju said SFI is committed towards the interests of the common students and struggles in this regard are being organised in different parts of the country. He mentioned about the historic win SFI has registered in Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh students’ union elections recently. He said SFI will wage a militant struggle throughout the country on the demand of holding students union elections in all states. He noted that consistent struggles are to be continued against the anti student education policies of the central government.

Addressing the rally, SFI general secretary Ritabrata Banerjee spoke about the dominant trends and challenges facing the student movement in the last four decades which has shaped the onward march of the organisation. Speaking about the policies of the central government in the education sector, he mentioned that there is an urgent need to expose these intentions of the government which are being justified in the name of “radical reforms”. He urged the students to wage a thorough and painstaking campaign to explain the dangers which such policies pose to the education sector at large. He said that militant struggles are to be waged to pressurise the government to commit more resources to the education sector and stop its dilly dallying on the long pending demands and withdraw all plans which seek to further the agenda of centralisation and commercialisation of education.

SFI West Bengal state secretary Kaustav Chatterjee and president Sayandeep Mitra also spoke on the occasion.

The rally noted that in the last one and a half years, five leading comrades of SFI have been murdered by the reactionary forces. Comrade A B Bijesh ( Trissur district, Kerala), Comrade Abhijit Mahato, Comrade Tilak Tudu, Comrade Partha Biswas, Comrade Phoolchand Mahato ( West Midnapore district, West Bengal) have laid down their lives fighting for the cause of the students and the people. The rally saluted the comrades and vowed to strengthen the battle of ideas because the undying legacies of the martyrs have proved that enemies can kill our comrades but they cannot kill our ideas. The rally pointed out that the ideas of these comrades remain to be the dominant ideas of the majority of the students in our country.

The leaders expressed that the celebrations will not only highlight the history of the organisation but also inspire the members and newer sections of students across the country to fight for the ideals of Independence, Democracy and Socialism, which have guided SFI in this eventful journey.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org