Editorial August 2014

 EDITORIAL      THOTA  HANUMAIAH    

fight the Onslaught on the Lives of People

 

The railway budget for 2014-- 2015  has proposed FDI in the railway sector and placed reliance on the PPP model for its future development in everything from new projects, bullet trains and freight terminals to cleanliness, food on trains and at stations; signaling systems, construction of wagons and coaches and building railway sidings and similar infrastructure. Prior to the budget passenger fares were hiked by 14.2 per cent and freight charges by 6.5 per cent. Periodic passenger and freight charges will be determined by the fuel price index as decided earlier by the UPA government. The railway is the prime national transporter both in peace and war time and essentially a public utility service. It is an imperative need of the nation and people at large to continue to run the railways as a department of the government of India for serving the public and national interest. The attempt of government to privatise the railways is detrimental to the national and public interest.

 

 Similarly, the direction of the Union Budget for 2014-15 is a road map of the government to provide concessions to the corporate and the upper classes at the expense of the common man and drown trodden sections of people. It has opted for large scale privatization of the economy through sale of public sector shares and placed heavy reliance on public-private partnership. It wants to meet the fiscal deficit by resorting to expenditure cuts and by squeezing the people further. It is bidding a go by to the existing subsidies, in all fronts, to the people. The people’s interests are thrown to winds.

The proposed increase of FDI in defence production to 49 per cent will result in the foreign arms companies getting a foothold in the defence production enterprises which will be detrimental to the national sovereignty. Further the entry of US arms companies into this sector will only lead to more and more dependence on the United States for India’s strategic interests and it will cause a striking blow not only  to the growth of our  self reliance in this paramount important sector  of defence but also to our independent foreign policy. The proposals for further disinvestment of shares in nationalised banks and the proposed massive disinvestment in the shares of public sector enterprises are all the steps being taken to appease Indian big business and international finance capital at the cost of people’s interest.

 

The failure of Government to curb price rise has been exposed within a short time of its coming into power as the prices, particularly of food grains, are galloping unabated. . The present government is also pursuing the same UPA policy of deregulation of petroleum prices. Petrol prices were increased by Rs. 1.69 per litre and diesel had been raised by Rs. 0.50 in May and June. Railway freight fares have been hiked steeply. All this has contributed to the price rise of essential commodities and there is no let up in the food inflation.

 

The government has announced its proposal to bring in labour law reforms with intent to dilute or do away altogether with the rights and safeguards provided to workers in the existing labour laws. The AILRSA has been waging relentless struggles for, 8 hours work a day for running staff against the unlimited hours of work being extracted from them under coercion, weekly rest of a calendar day, adequate home station and out station rest, limiting the out of head quarters detention to 36 hours, improvement of rest facilities and against the prevailing inhuman working conditions. There is an imperative need to mobilize the working class to unitedly oppose all such changes in the labour laws which are detrimental to the rights of workers.

  

It is being argued that amending the labour laws would create jobs, which is a false propagation. The danger lurking behind this proposition is to force the workers to work under the conditions of bonded labour system to the benefit of capital. The collective bargaining rights of the workers are under severe attack globally. The workers in many countries are up in arms against these policies of their respective governments that seek to come out of the economic crisis by pushing the burdens of the crisis on to the workers for protecting the interests of the corporate who are in fact, responsible for the crisis. The working class was launching struggles in different countries including the advanced capitalist countries like Britain which witnessed a country wide general strike, recently.  It is this situation, of increasing global attacks on the working class and the government’s strong commitment to the neo-liberal agenda to oblige the national and international corporate, that has posed a big challenge before the working class of this country. The working class has to evolve strategies for united struggles to protect not only the workers but also the entire sections of the toiling masses and the self reliant economy and sovereignty of our country.

 

THOTA   HANUMAIAH