• Oppose War Mongering and War Preparations!
  Oppose growing Anglo-American interference in South Asia!

• People living in border areas bear the
  brunt of the military build up

• Tony Blair’s second visit to India within three months:
  Anglo-American Imperialism, Hands Off Asia

• Regional cooperation in South Asia – problems and possibilities

• Elections to four State Assemblies in February:

• 93rd Constitution Amendment Bill

• Power sector privatisation program stands exposed

• Workers condemn decision of Government to sell remaining 26% share of Modern Foods to HLL

Oppose War Mongering and War Preparations!
Oppose growing Anglo-American interference in South Asia!

Statement of the CGPI, January 10, 2002

The Anglo-American imperialists are rubbing their hands with glee at the opportunities for playing "peace-brokers" in South Asia, through both military and diplomatic intervention. Bush and Blair are giving sermons for "peace" to India and Pakistan. Home Minister Advani is visiting the US for discussions with the US government on collaboration in "internal security". The US President has announced a "mediator" between India and Pakistan. A high level delegation of US politicians visiting Islamabad has announced that US military presence in South Asia is here to stay and US "mediation" is necessary for "ensuring peace" between India and Pakistan!

The Communist Ghadar Party of India raises its principled voice of opposition to the war preparations and to imperialist intervention in the name of "peace-making". The Indian people must raise their voice against the diplomatic and military intervention in South Asia by the Anglo-American imperialists. We must boldly hoist the banner of peace in South Asia.

All political forces in South Asia must make a sober assessment of the diplomatic and military strategies of the ruling circles of India and Pakistan. The issue is clear and simple. The war mongering, the war preparations, and the diplomacy of Vajpayee and Musharraf are against the interests of all the peoples of South Asia. They play straight into the imperialist strategy for the conquest of South Asia. No political force can afford to remain silent at such a crucial period. No political force in India can afford to make cynical calculations based on narrow electoral or other such petty considerations.

In the post-Cold War period, and most emphatically after September 11, 2001, the Anglo-American imperialists have declared that they will fashion a world order dictated solely by their interests. At the base of the war-mongering, "peace-making", terror and tension on the world scale lies the acute crisis of capitalism and the strategy of imperialism to find a way out of this crisis. The imperialist alliance headed by the Anglo-American imperialists wants to redivide and conquer Asia following the collapse and disintegration of the Soviet Union. The bombardment and subjugation of Afghanistan was but the first step in their grand plan to conquer Asia—the source of many vital raw materials and the largest and most promising "emerging markets". Increasing Anglo-American imperialist interference in South Asia must be seen in this context. It poses the biggest threat to peace and sovereignty of the peoples and states of South Asia.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pervez Musharraf have contributed to the dangerously increasing imperialist military and diplomatic penetration of South Asia. The first act was the competitive support both of them provided to the Anglo-American imperialists’ unjust war against Afghanistan. Now Vajpayee and Musharraf are competing on the diplomatic front trying to score points as to what is "terrorism" and what is "freedom struggle" and asking the Anglo-American imperialists, the biggest terrorists and greatest enemies of all freedom and liberation struggles, to be the arbiter. It is shameful that the very imperialists who are responsible for the repeated partition of our country, the very imperialists who organised the division of Punjab and Kashmir and Bengal and have left no stone unturned to keep India and Pakistan fighting against each other, are now being given a red-carpet welcome to intervene militarily in Kashmir.

Fifty five years ago, the subcontinent was in ferment and the people of India were poised to overthrow colonialism together with its entire political, economic and ideological legacy. The colonialists organised communal massacres and the partition of the subcontinent, setting back the striving of India’s peoples by decades and reinforcing their positions in the region. The Anglo-American imperialists have always been bitter enemies of the peoples of South Asia and their strivings for progress and emancipation. The Anglo-American imperialists do not want the peoples of South Asia to live together in peace and address their problems. They do not want South Asia to break out of the imperialist chain.

In 1947, India’s politicians who were engaged in the freedom struggle had two options. They could either unite against the British imperialists, set aside their internal differences, and build a new India on the basis of a clean break with imperialism and the colonial legacy. Or they could collaborate in the partition of India, out of common fear of the workers and peasants and their aspirations. The reactionary bourgeoisie who assumed leadership in the anti-colonial movement choose the latter course. This inflicted an immense setback to the Indian peoples’ struggle for peace and security, progress and prosperity. Today, a similar situation is unfolding, a similar choice is presented.

The problem of peace and security of the peoples of India and Pakistan cannot be left in the hands of the bourgeoisie. It is the peoples of the two countries who must take up this problem for solution. The people of India and Pakistan must exercise greatest vigilance that they do not get stabbed in the back once again by those who claim to be their leaders. We must not allow our rulers to foist war on us. We must unite and oppose all imperialist military and diplomatic intervention in South Asia. Let us work for resolution of all problems between countries and peoples of South Asia without any outside interference. Let us hoist the banner of peace in South Asia!

Back to Table of Contents

People living in border areas bear the
brunt of the military build up

In Amritsar in Punjab, Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu and in all districts near the LoC, normal life has been brutally shattered, by large scale troop movements into those areas and incursions of the armed forces into private lands and dwelling places of people living there.Periodic shelling and gunfire has made it extremely hazardous for the people living there to move about, and several men, women and children have already become victims of the army firing. With no assistance available from the government and no arrange-ments for their rehabilitation, people there are left to fend for themselves.

Villagers along the border have lost their standing crop in the fields that are now being used by the army personnel for setting up their defence installations. In many of the border areas, the army has been laying mines in these fields and several inhabitants have been wounded or maimed as a result of mine explosions.

People are being forced to migrate in large numbers from these border areas, not only due to these hazardous conditions, but also because in many of the forward areas, they have simply been ordered by the army to leave.People have been forced to flee their homes leaving all their belongings, cattle, etc., with literally nothing more than just the clothes on their backs.They have been forced to sell whatever meagre belongings they had, to obtain food for themselves and their children and to get some kind of shelter from the biting cold. Many villagers have had to make distress sales of their crops, while others are being ruthlessly fleeced by tractor-trolley operators while being transported to safer places.

In villages and townships a little further away from the border, schools have been closed down and hundreds of families are forced to live in make-shift shelters in the school buildings, often with little warm clothing and nothing to cover themselves in the freezing cold. They have to survive with whatever little grain, etc., they have managed to bring with them and often are dependent only on relatives, friends or local people for food and other bare necessities.

Normal life has been completely disrupted for the people in these border areas. With families divided across the border, the Indian government’s latest decision to stop rail and bus services across the border has come as a big blow to these people. In the name of fighting terrorism, in the entire Kashmir Valley, public telephones, STD and Internet services have been disconnected, further adding to miseries of the ordinary people.

Inspite of all the attempts of the ruling circles in India to whip up sentiments in favour of war with Pakistan, portraying it as "patriotism" and "against terrorism", the people living along the Indo-Pakistan border are clearly not in favour of this war, which means untold hardships for them and loss of their near and dear ones. The tragic condition of these people in the event of war preparations and war actually taking place is yet another reason why this war must be resolutely opposed and conditions created for lasting peace and friendship between our two countries.

Back to Table of Contents

Tony Blair’s second visit to India within three months:

Anglo-American Imperialism, Hands Off Asia

Barely have three months gone by since Tony Blair visited India in the beginning of October last year. Now once again, the British prime minister is back for a tour of the Indian subcontinent, with India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in his itinerary. The previous visit of Tony Blair coincided with the terrorist attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. The recent visit has come in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the Parliament. Whatever be the stated aims of these unusually frequent visits, there can be no doubt that these visits are to push the agenda of conquest of Asia, which is being pursued by the Anglo-American imperialism at this time. The Anglo-American imperialism poses the greatest danger to the peace and well being of humanity today, with the US using its military might and Britain using devious diplomacy of which it has been past master from the days of the empire. If their agenda is allowed, the consequences are bound to be as disastrous to the people of this subcontinent as they have been to the Afghan people.

The Anglo-American imperialists are looking for a pretext to increase their role in South Asia. Tony Blair claims that they have a "pivotal role" in all parts of the world. He claims that his mission is to bring peace to Kashmir. To believe his claim would be like believing the old lion of the Panchtantra story when it claimed that it had stopped feeding on other animals. Can we forget the historic criminal role played by the British colonialists in partitioning the subcontinent? They had and continue to have a pivotal role for creating the Kashmir problem and keeping it from getting resolved.

The events of September 11 have been used to put Afghanistan and Pakistan in the stranglehold of Anglo-American imperialism. Various provocations are being organised to extend the stranglehold to India and the rest of South Asia also. It is the responsibility of those who are governing the countries of South Asia not to fall into the trap laid by imperialism. Any escalation of tension or military build-up along the border will give imperialism the excuse to intervene in this region in the name of "peace making" and play their "pivotal role" to tighten their stranglehold on the region.

Since the fall of Soviet Union, US imperialism has been dreaming of a unipolar world under its domination. Towards this aim imperialist economic institutions like the World Bank and WTO have been working to push structural adjustment programs prescribing liberalization and privatization of economy along with multiparty democracy as the only acceptable political systems. Any country that refuses to submit to this dictate has been labeled a rogue state through the imperialist media and is being made a target of economic sanctions and embargoes, military attacks or other intrigues. To push their aims at this time, US imperialism has turned its attention to Asia. This has both to do with the continuing severe economic crisis and massive popular opposition to its policies and agencies. The Anglo-American imperialists see great potential to exploit the land and labour of the Indian subcontinent and are therefore wanting to increase their penetration here.

The visit of Tony Blair has to be seen in this backdrop. There can be no doubt that this imperialist chieftain is visiting the subcontinent to ensure that rulers here do not take actions that are not in line with the aims of the Anglo-American imperialists.The fight against terrorism is a facade to hide these aims. Imperialist media has been declaring Kashmir as the "hottest trouble spot in the world" for some time. What they mean by this is that they will not allow people of this subcontinent to sort out the problems amicably. During this visit to India, for example, Tony Blair pledged "total solidarity with India in fight against terrorism". It is well known that the various emissaries of the Anglo-American imperialism visit India and Pakistan and pretend to support one or even both Governments! Their actions are designed to ensure that various sides do not sit down together for negotiations and solve the problems among themselves.

The Indian working class and people cannot permit the Anglo-American imperialists any role in the subcontinent. It is absolutely essential that we do not permit any imperialist armed forces getting entrenched in this region. The situation calls on the Indian people to work jointly with the peoples of other countries in the region to make this region a zone of peace. The key condition for peace is to ensure that no imperialist power has the right to intervene by force in any country of this region. No state in South Asia has the right to participate in any act of military intervention that violates the right of any nation or people to sovereignty.

Back to Table of Contents

Regional cooperation in South Asia – problems and possibilities

"The people’s of South Asia have been bound by ancient ties of history, geography, trade, culture and traditions. They have also been the victims of colonialism and imperialism. Sharing the same heritage, it was only natural that they should welcome and support the idea of a forum for regional cooperation … The birth of SAARC in December 1985 heralded a new era in the region with the firm commitment of the founding member countries to work together to improve the quality of life of their peoples… Unless we in South Asia can put our act together and cooperate, we will be marginalised by the world economy… " (From, message of H M Jigme Singye Wangchuck, King of Bhutan, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of SAARC, 1995)

Today, the Anglo-American imperialists are using Afghanistan as a launching pad to control Central Asia, drive a wedge between West Asia and South Asia, and use it as a lever to conquer Asia and the world. This is a matter of serious concern for all countries of West and South Asia, and hence was definitely worthy of a unified response from at least all the SAARC countries.

However, instead of calling for a meeting of the SAARC to respond collectively to the dangers posed by Anglo-American designs, the government of India bent over backwards to assure the Anglo -American imperialists of its support. The Indian bourgeoisie wants to curry favour with the Anglo-American imperialists in the context of its own imperialist aims.

Again, in the context of the attack on the Indian parliament on December 13, 2001, tension in the region has greatly increased, along with avoidable hardships to the people of all South Asian countries. The refusal of the Indian government to discuss matters with its neighbour and its beating of the drums of war has heightened tensions in the region. Unilateral actions such as banning the over flights by Pakistani aircraft have caused serious problems to not only the people of Pakistan, but also the people of Bangladesh, Nepal, etc., who use Pakistan airlines to fly to countries of West Asia and Europe.

One of the significant features of the recent SAARC summit in Katmandu was the fact that all other members put pressure on India and Pakistan to resolve their differences peacefully. The Indian moves to isolate Pakistan was also stoutly resisted. As forcefully pointed out by Chandrika Kumaratunga, President of Sri Lanka, "terrorists did not separate India and Pakistan and create the tragedy of Kashmir as a buffer zone", terrorists had not created the problems in Ireland, between Israel and Palestine, and "neither did the LTTE nor armed Tamil militants create circumstances for the marginalisation of minorities in Sri Lanka". She thus very bluntly underlined the need for these issues to be seriously studied and addressed appropriately by the governments and leaders concerned, rather than be swept away as "terrorism". She also articulated the feelings of other South Asian countries that India – Pakistan clashes should not sabotage SAARC pointing out the need to ensure that SAARC summits "take place unhindered by bilateral problems among members".

The Charter adopted at the founding of SAARC in 1985 states:

"…strict adherence to the principles of the UNITED NATIONS CHARTER and NON-ALIGNMENT, par-ticularly respect for the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, national independence, non-use of force and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States and peaceful settlement of all disputes…

… Conscious that in an increasingly interdependent world, the objectives of peace, freedom, social justice and economic prosperity are best achieved in the SOUTH ASIAN region by fostering mutual understanding, good neighborly relations and meaningful cooperation among the Member States which are bound by ties of history and culture;…

(WE) DO HEREBY AGREE to establish an organisation to be known as SOUTH ASIAN ASSO-CIATION FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION.. "

SAARC can be built on the basis of defending collective interests of the member countries and ensuring the interests of each country within the collective interest. The main roadblocks in this are the menacing interference by the imperialists and the hegemonic aspirations of the rulers of India, who cling viciously to the old colonial mindset. In the interest of peace and prosperity for the peoples of South Asia, it is precisely the imperialists of all kinds whose plans have to be thwarted.

Back to Table of Contents

Elections to four State Assemblies in February:

Campaign for peace in South Asia, scrapping of black laws and for an immediate end to the program of privatisation and liberalisation!

These state elections are to take place when the masses of workers, peasants, women and youth of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, of Punjab and Manipur, are facing increasing economic hardships as a result of the crisis of capitalism and the program of privatisation and liberalisation implemented since 1991.

Elections are supposed to be one of the major expressions of democracy, hence of the affirmation of the political rights of all members of the polity. However, the political atmosphere is full of tension, of police and army terror in many places. Troops are being deployed in parts of Punjab near the border with Pakistan. Manipur has been under army occupation and special black laws for a long time. In Uttar Pradesh, the number of arrests of suspected terrorists and "Islamic fundamentalists" is on the rise. Overall, the elections have been called not in an atmosphere of peace but of war drums being beaten on a daily basis.

The workers, peasants, women and youth do not gain from tension and warmongering in the region. They do not gain from continuing with or stepping up the pace of privatisation and liberalisation. They do not gain from the suppression of rights in the name of national security.

The BJP-led coalition government in New Delhi has been championing the so-called second generation of "reforms" that were initiated by the Congress led coalition in 1991, that is the program of liberalisation and privatisation. Those who oppose this anti-people and anti-national program are facing the threat of state repression today in the name of "war against terrorism".

The task confronting all communists and progressive political forces in the context of the state elections is to make the working people conscious of the real dangers that threaten them. The task is to forge the broadest possible political unity against imperialist intervention and war in South Asia, against the curtailment of rights in the name of fighting terrorism and against the economic "reforms" program of the bourgeoisie.

The enemies of the people must not be allowed to fill the air with chauvinist or communal hatred and war hysteria. This means it is essential for all communists and progressive forces to become more active than before in the political arena. Let us champion the cause of peace in South Asia, demand the scrapping of POTO and other black laws and an immediate end to the program of liberalisation and privatisation!

Back to Table of Contents

93rd Constitution Amendment Bill

Your article on the 93rd Constitution Amendment Bill has raised very important questions on the modern conception of rights.

Considering the extensive debate that has gone on in India for decades about the duty of the state to ensure that education is a fundamental right of all children, the Bill that has been finally adopted is a case of the mountain labouring to produce a molehill. It completely violates the conception of rights in the modern era.

When the Indian Constitution came into being, Article 45 which dealt with compulsory education stated that "the State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of 10 years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years". The bourgeoisie had scant regard for this directive principle, which they had given to themselves in the first place, and dismissed it with the specious argument that this directive did not enjoin on the state to actually create the conditions for this right to be exercised and defended. With the result that this directive remained a policy on paper, the sole intention being to fool the people that the directive policy will one day mature into a right.

Again in 1993, in the J.P.Unnikrishnan vs The State of Andhra Pradesh, a bench of the Supreme Court had laid down that the right to education was a fundamental right that flowed from the Right to Life (Article 21). Therefore, it held that free education up to the age of 14 years was a fundamental right of every child. This judgement raised several important questions: i) Why did it take the supreme judicial body of the country such a long time to interpret the Right to Life as also subsuming the Right to Education? ii) If Right to Life were to subsume the Right to Education, as the Supreme Court had discovered rightly, though belatedly, should it not by the same logic also subsume other rights that are considered as rights of an individual by dint of being born in modern society? Should not rights such as universal health care, employment, shelter, clothing and so on be also subsumed under the Right to Life? Even more, should not the right to live in a society without oppression and exploitation, the right to live in peace and the right to conscience — the right to have one’s religious, political and economic views — also be subsumed under the Right to Life? The Supreme Court’s interpretation begged the question of what then is Right to Life.

In the background of all these debates and judgements, one can see how the 93rd Constitution Amendment Bill exemplifies the backward conception of rights and duties of the Indian ruling class that is totally anachronistic in today’s conditions. This conception is meant to serve only the interests of the handful of rulers and not the vast majority of the people.

What is clear from all this jugglery is that a right, which remains on paper has to be distinguished from a right which comes into existence because of developing conditions in the world, and which in turn affects those very conditions. The right to education is a right in the above sense, arising out of modern conditions where it is recognised as imperative that all children should have access to education. In turn, its exercise will demand that conditions be created for its fulfilment. The very coming into being of this right to education demands that people have a say in determining that a part of the surplus generated in society is invested in education and not in unproductive expenditures. Since the right to education is immutable and inviolable, just as any other right, there can be no excuses for not having funds to ensure that there are enough schools and teachers to ensure this right. The Education Bill violates this conception of rights. The Bill does not guarantee that enough funds will be made available. This only means that the existing capitalist system, driven by maximisation of individual profit, is out of step with changing conditions.

The conception of rights and duties envisaged in the Bill is a retrograde conception that separates rights from duties. To be precise, according to the Bill, the state of the capitalists has all the rights and no duties to ensure the fulfilment of rights including the right to education. On the other hand, those who are suffering from this neglect by the state, the parents of millions of out-of-school children, have only duties to make sure that their children go to school, but no rights to demand that there be a functional school with required facilities and providing free quality education within a reasonable distance.

Thus, the dyad of rights and duties, as defined in the Bill, is an archaic definition, totally divorced from the demand of the present conditions. Instead of the dyad of rights and duties being an instrument for the progress of society, they have been converted into an instrument for humiliation of the human personality. The provisions in the Bill suggest that parents somehow do not want their children to go to school, but would rather have them exploited mercilessly by capitalists!

The right to education can find its concretisation only in the removal of those blocks, which hinder the progress of society. The principal block is the capitalist system wherein filling the pockets of the exploiters is given priority over ensuring the well being of people.

Unnikrishnan. K, Allapuzha

Back to Table of Contents

Power sector privatisation program stands exposed

Delivering the 16th Silver Jubilee Lecture organised by the Karnataka Electricity Board Engineers’ Association in Bangalore on December 27, 2001, R. P. Mahapatra, former member of Orissa Electricity Board, said "The example of Orissa, whose power sector is on the brink of crisis despite being the first state in the country to take up power reforms, has demonstrated that ‘privatisation’ is not a panacea for all ailments of the power sector". He said that although the World Bank model of reforming the State Electricity Board was being followed by many states, the example of Orissa shows that this model does not bring the expected benefits to the consumers that reform is supposed to deliver.

The main argument that is presented by the bourgeoisie and its "experts" in favour of privatisation of the power sector is that the State Electricity Boards are financially bankrupt and power shortages are rampant. In other words, privatisation is presented as the solution to solve the problem of ensuring reliable power supply. However, the facts show that far from solving the problem of power supply, privatisation is leading to increasing hardships for the people wherever it has been implemented or is being initiated.

During the period of the Narasimha Rao Government, privatisation in the power sector mainly took the form of allowing new investment by private companies in generation, as in the case of Enron, with purchase and profits guaranteed by the state, which continued to own transmission and distribution. The main thrust during the present period of the so-called "second generation" of reforms is to privatise power distribution ahead of generation, following the so-called World Bank model of power sector restructuring. Orissa was the first state to embark on this path, which is now also being followed in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other states.

In Orissa, the entire distribution business, divided into four zones, has been privatised. Most of generation is also in private hands, while transmission remains in the hands of the state owned GRIDCO. An American electric company, AES, owns generation plants as well as one quarter of the distribution business. The AES has now pulled out of Orissa because its generating unit has not been paid for the power supplied to GRIDCO. However, GRIDCO claims it cannot pay up until the distribution company owned by AES pays for the power it has received from GRIDCO. And the distribution company owned by AES claims it is unable to pay because the distribution business continues to make losses, not profits. The key fact that emerges from this vicious cycle is that the privatisation of distribution is in itself not any solution to the losses suffered in the power sector.

In Andhra Pradesh, preparations are proceeding for the privatisation of power distribution, with technical assistance from a host of international consultants and financial assistance from the World Bank and the British Department for International Assistance (DFID). The first taste of the consequences of this program was felt by the people in the form of huge hikes in power tariffs charged to domestic and agricultural consumers last year, which led to mass protests and several deaths in police firing. The masses of people with legal connections refused to accept the logic that they have to pay double or three times as much while some others in society got away with illegal connections through which they enjoyed practically free power supply.

Faced with the resistance on the streets and the vocal opposition in the State Assembly, the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu mounted a campaign against power theft and illegal connections, to save his face among the people of Andhra Pradesh. He and his World Bank advisers now claim that reforms to "improve governance" are the key to prepare the ground for successful privatisation of power distribution. In other words, the State must carry out a "cleaning up" operation, not for the sake of ensuring the supply of this essential need in adequate quantity and quality at affordable prices to all, but for the sake of handing over cleaned up businesses to private profiteers.

From the standpoint of the working class, the conclusion to be drawn is that the solution to the problems of the power sector lies in empowering the people, which is the real reform in governance that is required. If the masses of workers, peasants, women and youth take charge of the affairs of society, they can ensure that the State fulfills its duty to the people, including power supply at affordable prices and elimination of corruption and theft of all kinds.

The bourgeoisie is repeating the 19th century notion of the "invisible hand" of the market, claiming that "free and fair" competition among private owners will benefit the whole of society. However, there is nothing free or fair about oligopolistic competition, that is rivalry between a handful of big players who collude to maximise their rates of profit and hold the rest of society to ransom. In the privatised power sector in Orissa, for instance, just two or three big players are colluding and dictating onerous terms on the State, which shifts the burden of guaranteeing the profits of these monopoly companies onto the backs of the people. There is an "independent" Regulatory Commission which fixes monopoly prices, i.e. based on guaranteeing maximum profits to the private companies.

What is the reason for the financial bankruptcy of the State Electricity Boards in the first place? Is it because these SEBs were run in the public interest, i.e., the general interests of society? By no means, as everyone knows that the state-owned electricity boards were run in the private interests of ministers, big capitalists and land owners and other vested interests, in league with officers and their henchmen within the SEBs. In Uttar Pradesh, for instance, a political party (whose leader was until recently the Energy Minister in the coalition Cabinet) has been financed almost entirely from the illegal sales and bribes collected in the power sector. In other words, the power sector is already privatised; it runs for various private interests. The aim of the power sector privatisation program is to bring about a change from one form of private loot and plunder to another, more openly private form.

Why should such an essential component of modern social life as the supply of electric power be left in the hands of private profiteers and looters? Why should the workers, peasants, women and youth of India not take over instead? That is how the question is posed.

Back to Table of Contents

Workers condemn decision of Government to sell remaining 26% share of Modern Foods to HLL

Speakers condemned the cynical manner in which the government was going ahead with the complete sell out of MFIL to HLL. They pointed out that HLL had itself claimed that MFIL was making unbearable losses and had referred MFIL to BIFR, which is a first step in complete closure. Apart from victimisation of workers, HLL management had imposed a treacherous "agreement" with the help of some traitors in the federation which paved the way for mass transfers as well as "voluntary retirement". Hundred of workers have lost their jobs in the past year, and it is no secret that HLL plans to reduce the workforce which is currently six thousand to about one-tenth of that number. It is no secret that HLL is producing bread on contract in Gurgaon while shutting down plants in the Lawrence Road Unit as well as other units in the country.

The Modern Food Industries Employees Union has filed a Writ Petition in the Delhi High Court together with the Lok Raj Sangathan questioning the disinvestment commission. The case will be heard in February. The union has also obtained a stay from the Delhi High Court against the agreement between the HLL management and the Federations. Earlier, the confidential reports of the CAG had questioned the entire process of disinvestment of Modern Foods. In this situation, it is clear that the Union government and the disinvestment ministry of Arun Shourie are utilising the climate of terrorism and war hysteria to push through anti-national program of further privatisation.

The justification provided by the government for advancing the sale of 26% shares by one year are truly breath-taking. This is what a ministry official has stated in the Business Line column of The Hindu, December 31, 2001: The government has exercised the option of early sale to "send out a clear signal that it would exit from companies which it perceives to be well run by the strategic partner after the first phase of any strategic sale."

The Union has submitted a memorandum to the disinvest-ment minister, the Prime Minister, the Labour Minister and others exposing how the Modern Food Industries Limited has been mismanaged by HLL management in the nearly two years since privatisation.

Back to Table of Contents