NEW DEMOCRACY Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Beware of the ‘Final
Solution’ in Kashmir
Kashmir has been in complete lock down since August 4, the day prior
to RSS-BJP Govt. enacting a constitutional coup in Kashmir. Devoid of
constitutional, moral, historical and political merit, RSS-BJP Govt. has
sought to once again use Kashmir to unleash Hindu communal,
hypernationalist chauvinist frenzy in pursuit of its goal of ushering in Hindu
Rashtra, another name of fascist regime managed by Brahmannical upper
castes in the service of imperialism and their domestic corporate. Bankim’s
words that British colonialists will pave the way for Hindu Rashtra (Anand
Math) are vindicated as big capital, foreign and domestic, and the media
controlled and propped up by them, applaud with gusto the bravery of Modi-
Shah’s RSS-BJP regime in sucking the exploited, crushing the oppressed
and repressing the suppressed. On top of it, those who bear the brunt are
supposeod to applaud. For millennia, ancestors of those ruling today have
mastered this art of bowing before the powerful and kicking the one below.
Their bravery knows no bounds when they are assured of no loss and all
gain.
Kashmiris have just been delivered of the tyranny of their autonomy,
with development waiting in the wings. Workers are being freed of labour
laws, the rights enshrined in them having long suffocated employment
generation. Peasants are to be freed of MSP a nd tribals of their land,
bondages unnecessary in this fictitious world. Women are to be freed of
the burden of making their own choices. And not much later, people are to
be freed of the cumbersome duty of whatever is meant by choosing their
Govts. After all choices are fallible and moreover, all good things have
been worked out in the ancient smritis. Then why labour!
Kashmiris are made to taste the might of the Indian state. The onslaught
of RSS-BJP is to crush their will convincing them that resistance is futile.
A narrative has been built over the decades that but for the weak leaders of
the yesteryears- and sections of middle classes particularly upper castes
have gulped this with gusto- Hindus of India would have ruled over the
whole subcontinent, the proverbial aryavrata, though they dare not even
August, 2019 1 2
dream of having any say in their work place or any control over means of
their livelihood.
The lockdown in Kashmir has been total. People in J&K are not allowed
to move out of their houses. More forces are being pumped into this one of
the most militarized region of the world. They are being forced to keep
indoors and the same is being shown as the proof of their appreciation of
the steps being taken by the Govt. The entire political and civilian leadership
is arrested and the number of those under arrest since August 4 is reported
to be more than 4000. The paramilitary forces are using pellet guns to
disperse the crowds blinding a large number of people. A number of reports
have highlighted this tyranny. A four member team which was in J&K from
August 9 to 13, has said that hundreds of children, 11 years old and even
younger, have been taken into custody.
But the silence of the mainstre,am media to this total suppression is
deafening. A fever of pseudo-nationalism has gripped them. It only shows
the need of big capital, which owns this media, to totally suppress the
people of the country. They are even challenging the visual accounts of
the protests in J&K asking the people to believe the Army and the Govt.
and not these visual audio accounts. They must keep their eyes and ears
closed, and of course their mouths shut. Indian media is not even raising
the issue of total curbs on the media in J&K. Little do they realize that they
are signing on the death warrant of their own freedom, or maybe they do
not want it and are happy to partake of the cake of ‘development’. Not for
nothing is media freedom in India rated among the lowest in the world.
Even the Judiciary has proved to be of little use in defending people’s
freedom. Supreme Court's decision not to entertain the petition against
suppression in J&K, expressing faith in the Govt. is reminiscent of the
infamous ADM Jabalpur case ruling of this very Court. The apology rendered
by the Court on the issue a few years back was more to do with the
realization of the change in the power equation among the ruling classes
and not any change in stand on the issue of democratic rights of the people.
Since Supreme Court judgement in Judge Loya case, when the apex Court
chose to deliver a judgement on merit in an uninvestigated case, the apex
Court has gone out of its way not to offend the rulers of the day.
The RSS Govt. is implementing a plan in J&K. Leaders of the ruling RSS-
BJP have been claiming that they are about to finally solve the Kashmir
August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
problem. Their final solution involves taking Kashmir away from the people
living there, reducing them to a minority and making them live in enclaves
managed by the Army. This solution mirrors the solution of so-called
Palestinian problem being implemented by ruling Zionists of Israel.
Palestinians' land is being gradually encroached upon and taken away from
the Palestinians. Those who do no t agree to hand over are being terrorized
and militarily pushed away. They are being asked to go to Jordan and other
Arab countries. All these measures are finding ample echo in the steps
being taken by the RSS rulers of the country. Reducing J&K to a Union
Territory is aimed at taking away the right to legislate over the land use
and also reducing them into political minority by carving out constituencies
according to the rulers' choice. Even the choice of phrases like ushering in
development while pushing the people away, is only an echo of fascist
measures of Zionist rulers. The attack on the so-called moderates from
among Palestinians is also echoed in the attack on the leaders of the
parties working in Kashmir. Similarities are just too glaring to be glossed
over.
These measures will surely be challenged by the people of J&K who
will certainly not agree to die in silence. Indian rulers cannot keep the
people perpetually in lockdown. And even if they are to do so, people’s
anger will find ways of expression. People of J&K are aware of the very
high stakes. Even twenty minutes’ recess for Friday prayers on August 9
had seen a massive protest in Shoura area of Srinagar. People are coming
out in protest defying curfew, though Govt. is calling this only an order
prohibiting assembly. Several reports of mass protests have come out in
the international media though Indian corporate media is keeping silent.
Kashmir is only the beginning. The target is the people of the country.
Rise before it is late. Standing with the people of Kashmir is standing for
your own rights. People and their struggles alone can stop this march of
fascism. Institutions of the ruling classes which had assumed some
independence in the period of political instability or era of minority govts,
have fallen in line. J&K issue is being weaponized to mislead the people.
Obviously, ruling classes faced with deepening economic crisis, need
abrogation of the rights of the people, their right to protest. People should
realize that those who plan to attack your livelihood and lives, attack your
freedoms first, particularly freedom to protest.
August, 2019 3 4
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Oppose the abrogation of Special
Status of J & K
Protest against this Hindutva fascist
onslaught against people of Kashmir
Stand with the people of Kashmir
RSS BJP Govt. has unleashed a sinister and all-around attack on the
people of Kashmir by abolishing Article 370 of the Constitution governing
relations between the two.
This step has struck at the very root of the hitherto propagated stand of
Indian Govt. claiming accession of J&K on the basis of Instrument of
Accession signed by the then ruler King Hari Singh in October 1947. This
was expressly the basis of article 370. By repudiating article 370 Indian
Govt. has repudiated that Instrument.
This act of the Govt. is patently unconstitutional. It is settled by the
Supreme Court that power of the Parliament to amend the Constitution is
not unlimited. The process of change even abrogation given in the
Constitution's Article - 370 is with the consent of Constituent Assembly of
the state. That assembly drafted the Constitution of J&K and dissolved
itself in January 1957. The temporary nature of the Article 370 was subject
to changes by that Constituent Assembly and not by Indian Parliament.
In fact it is an attempt by the RSS-BJP to suppress the struggle of the
Kashmiris. Despite the region having the dubious distinction of being one
of the most militarized region in the world, a large number of additional
forces have been sent. From the special status, J&K has been robbed of
the status of a province also bringing it under central rule and further dividing
it into two units. The express purpose of this unprecedented step is to take
away from J&K the handling of land (Entry 18 of the State List). This has
serious portent of the design of Hindutva ruling group to change the
demography of J&K. Another aspect is to take over the delimitation of the
constituencies and in the process to reduce the representation of Kashmir
Valley in the new legislature. Separation of Ladakh which already enjoyed
August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
regional autonomy, into another Union territory with Kargil and Leh, is to
further divide the Muslims of Kashmir who will consitute nearly half of the
population of Ladakh..
This is a continuation of majority communal hypernationalist agenda of
the corporate backed Hindutva forces. Having tasted success with Balakote
strike ruling Hindutva group has unleashed this offensive. Its timing is
chosen to mask slowing economy, rising unemployment and poverty and
growing dismal conditions of the people. It is part of the attacks launched
by the ruling group through UAPA amendments, NIA amendments, RTI
amendments, NMC and host of legislative acts. RSS-BJP has unleashed
this offensive having secured the open support of several regional parties
and covert acquiescence of other parties of ruling classes.
Timing of this move of Hindutva ruling group also coincides with US
move to reach agreement with Taliban in Afghanistan which has brought
Pakistan once again to the centre of the US policy for the region. Indian
Govt. made this move before the above agreement is reached, thereby
making that agreement difficult to strike before Pakistan savours success
in Afghanistan. Indian Govt. has been expressly barred from deliberations
over the future of Afghanistan as in the recently held meeting in Beijing
with Russia, China, US and Pakistan.
This is a big step towards imposing Fascist dictatorship over the country.
It is a grave challenge before the people of the country.
Struggle of the people of Kashmir against this onslaught will be the key
to the future developments on the issue. Democratic and progressive
sections and organizations should stand with the people of Kashmir and
support their struggle in their hour of trial in the immediate future and for
the people of the whole country in not too distant a future. There is complete
lock down in Kashmir since yesterday and leaders of parties in Kashmir
have been detained. There was systematic build up of security forces in
the state over the last weeks.
CPI(ML)-New Democracy Central Committee calls for immediate protests
against abrogation of Article 370. CPI(ML)-New Democracy appeals to all
revolutionary, democratic and struggling forces for building a broad based
movement against corporate backed Hindutva fascism being imposed on
the country.
(Issued by the Central Committee on 5th August 2019)
August, 2019 5 6
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
CC Statement
Long Live Martyr Com.
Linganna
Leader of the Godavari Valley Resistance Movement and a member of
Telengana State Committee & North East Telengana Regional Committee
and Kothagudem District Secretary of CPI (ML)-New Democracy, Com.
Linganna was martyred today, the 31st of July 2019. He was killed by
police in the forest near village Rolagadda in Gondala mandal of Bhadadri-
Kothagudem district.
Police in Telengana has launched a serious offensive against the
revolutionary movement, CPI (ML)-New Democracy in particular. TRS State
Govt. in conducting serious offensive against tribals to forcibly dispossess
them from their podu lands which they have been cultivating for decades,
even for generations. CPI (ML)-New Democracy is in the forefront of this
struggle and hence, KCR Govt. is targeting CPI (ML)-New Democracy in
its attack. Com. Linganna was one of the main organizers of tribals and
other traditional forest dwellers and has been organizing their resistance
against the Govt. offensive. Targeting of Com. Linganna and other CPI
(ML)-ND cadres is a calculated move of the Govt. This is part of the fascist
drive of the Govt. targeting tribals and the organizations defending their
rights.
A large posse of police in four batches had launched an offensive against
Party activists today. They surrounded a team of Party activists led by
Com. Linganna.
Com. Linganna, one of the principal leaders of the resistance movement
and of the Party, has been a consistent adherent of revolutionary mass
line. He has been an epitome of Party discipline and revolutionary
commitment. He staunchly defended people’s right to resist and fiercely
opposed revisionist and rightist trends as well as ultra-left trend in the
revolutionary movement. Consistent in practice of revolutionary struggle,
he was very articulate in his opinions and clear in his vision about the
revolutionary movement. His martyrdom is a glorious addition to those who
August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
offered supreme sacrifice in the course of revolutionary movement and a
big loss to the Party and the revolutionary movement at present.
Com. Linganna Memorial
Born in a tribal family in Rolgadda village in Gundala mandal, Com. Meeting in Hyderabad
Linganna got associated with the revolutionary movement from an early
age. He never hesitated to take difficult tasks demanding sacrifice, offering A largely attended Com. Linganna Memorial Meeting was organized by
supreme sacrifice in the process. His life has been one of simplicity, the Telengana State Committee of CPI(ML)-New Democracy on August
commitment and sacrifice. He had revolutionary daring and astuteness in 13, 2019 in SundariahVignan Kendram in Hyderabad. Party activists from
full measure. Whenever the revolutionary movement placed any arduous different districts of Telengana, leaders of other communist revolutionary
task before the Party, Com. Linganna had been among the first to offer
himself for the same. He lived and ultimately died for the people and the
revolutionary movement.
Com. Linganna lived all his life for the people and gave his life for the
cause of the people. He has given the supreme sacrifice for the revolutionary
movement. Central Committee of CPI (ML)-New Democracy pays its homage
to the revolutionary memory of Com. Linganna and vows to carry
revolutionary movement to victory, the unfinished task bequeathed to us
by Com. Linganna. We grieve his loss and vow to convert this loss into
strength.
Central Committee of CPI (ML)-New Democracy calls upon all Party
Committees to observe martyrdom of Com. Linganna, to pledge to devote Paying homage to Com. Linganna (From Left) Coms. K.
themselves to the task of intensifying revolutionary movement. CPI (ML)- Rangaiah, J.V. Chalapati Rao, Gummadi Narsaiah,
New Democracy calls upon all Party Committees to build a strong protest Mukhtar Pasha, P. Ranga Rao and Sushant Jha
movement against fascist repression being launched against the
revolutionary leaders and cadres. CPI (ML)-New Democracy also calls organizations, democratic organizations and individuals attended the
upon the tribals and other traditional forest dwellers to intensify their struggle meeting. Hall was packed by the participants. A photo of revolutionary
for the defense of their lands and means of livelihood which are being Martyr Com. Linganna was garlanded by the assembled leaders and tributes
attacked by the Govt. were paid by the participants in the meeting.
On behalf of the Central Committee of the Party, Memorial Meeting was
(Issued by the Central Committee of CPI(ML)-New Democracy on
addressed by Com. Sushant Jha. Others speakers in the meeting included
July 31, 2019) Dr. Hargopal, Telengana State Joint Secretary of CPI(ML)-New Democracy
Com. P. Ranga Rao, State Sectt. Member Com. J.V. Chalapati Rao and
ex-MLA Com. G. Narasaiah. Leaders of the revolutionary organizations,
CPI(ML)-Janashakti, CPI(ML)-Class Struggle and CPI(ML) led by Com.
Chandram also paid their homage to martyr Linganna. Comrades of
Arunodaya sang songs hailing the sacrifices of Com. Linganna and
contribution made by him to the revolutionary movement particularly

August, 2019 7 8 August, 2019

 NEW DEMOCRACY Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Linganna’s body was cremated late in
the evening of August 1. Leaders of
the Party including PC Secretary
Com. D.V. Krishna, Com. Madhu and
AIKMS General Secretary Com.
Ashish Mital were present. A large
number of people from the village and
nearby areas were present to bid good
bye to this fighter for the people.

People’s Heroic Protest

A view of the Meeting in SVK, Hyderabad
Godavari Valley resistance struggle and his heroic role in the tribals’ struggle
to save their podu lands from the attacks by the TRS Govt. through forest
officials and police. Com. K. Rangaiah presided over the meeting.
Com. Linganna brutally murdered
Com. Linganna and other activists were attacked by a very large
contingent of the Greyhounds on July 31. He was injured with a bullet in his
leg and could not move. He was captured by the Greyhounds, brutally
tortured and killed in cold blood. Injury marks on his body seen by the
people bear testimony to the brutal torture inflicted on Com. Linganna.
Police insisted on the immediate cremation of Com. Linganna’s body which
the people refused. Police arrested a large number of activists from different
villages and also State leaders of the Party including PC Secretary Com.
D.V. Krishna and Joint Secy. Com. Ranga Rao.
High Court was moved on August 1 and the High Court ordered a re-
post mortem to be performed by three forensic experts in Gandhi Hospital
Hyderabad. Com. Linganna’s body was brought to Hyderabad and autopsy
performed. But the police did not allow leaders of Party, mass organizations
and democratic organizations to be present outside the Hospital. All these
activists were arrested by the police. Police also did not permit Com.
Linganna’s body to be taken to the Party office in Hyderabad. Com.
On July 31, when the people got
the information of the attack by the
large contingent of police on Com.
Linganna and other comrades, a large
number of people of Rolgadda and
nearby villages as sem bled and
confronted the police for attacking
Com. Linganna's body their beloved leaders. The large police
force was chased away by the people
who at that time saw the injury marks on Com. Linganna’s body. This
further infuriated them. However, all police parties assembled and fired in
the air to disperse the people to take control of the body of martyr Linganna.
Greyhounds fired fourteen rounds as per the newspaper reports.
This militant heroic protest of the people has been noticed by the
observers including newspapers. There were comments appreciating the
people and the close bonds CPI(ML)-New Democracy activists had with
the people. CPI(ML)-New Democracy has been fighting for the rights of the
tribals and other poor forest dwellers for over the last five decades. CPI(ML)-
New Democracy has been virtually the sole political organizations fighting
against Govt. attack on podu lands in the region. CPI(ML)-New Democracy
leaders are closely integrated with the people and have been leading
struggles for their just and democratic rights.
Tribals are the real target
In killing Com. Linganna, a beloved leader of the tribals and non-tribal
poor of the region, Telengana Govt. is actually targeting CPI(ML)-New

August, 2019 9 10 August, 2019

 NEW DEMOCRACY
Democracy leaders for their opposition to forcibly evicting tribals from the
lands they are cultivating for decades and their support to tribals in their
resistance to Govt. offensive. After brutally killing of Com. Linganna, the
state police and police intelligence are dishing out cock and bull stories
about the activities of CPI(ML)-New Democracy. One such fictitious report
was published in Hyderabad edition of Times of India. All this fictitious
reports are to cover up the real designs of the Govt., police and
administration to teach a lesson to the tribals for resisting Govt. attempts
to forcibly displace them.
Countrywide Protests
On the Call of the Central Committee of CPI(ML)-New Democracy
protests were organized in all centres. In all district centres of Telengana
and Andhra Pradesh, protests were organized and homage paid to Com.
Linganna from August 1 onwards. Large protest meetings were held in forest
villages and in all centres of Kothagudem-Bhadradri, Mehboobabad, Waragal
Rual and Bhopalpalli-Jaishankar districts. Large number of people
participated in these meetings. On August 10, a large meeting was held in
August 5: Protest at Telengana Bhawan, New Delhi
August, 2019 11
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Rolgadda village in which more than 3000 people participated. It was
addressed among others by Com. Madhu, who was freed from the detention
under PD Act on July 31, the very day Greyhounds brutally killed Com.
Linganna in cold blood.
On August 4, a large protest demonstration was held before Telengana
Bhawan in Delhi protesting against this murder and attacks on tribals. On
August 8, in all districts of Punjab rallies were taken out condemning murder
of Com. Lingannna and in support of resistance movement there. Such
rallies were organized at Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Amritsar, Gurdaspur,
Kapurtahla, Moga, Faridkot, Muktsar, Fazilka, Sangrur, Patiala and
Ludhiana. Between one hundred to two hundred fifty people participated in
each of these rallies. in Bihar on August 5, protest meetings were held in
Sasaram and Muzaffarpur and in other districts. In UP as well, protest
meetings were held in Allahabad and Bijnor districts.
AIKMS General Council which was in session on July 31 when the
news of this murder by Greyhounds came, condemned this heinous killing
and paid homage to revolutionary martyr Linganna.
Com. Linganna inspires the activists and the people
Com. Linganna martyrdom is a great loss to the people, revolutionary
movement and the Party. It is also a great inspiration to the activists to
sacrifice their all for the people and their just struggles, for the revolutionary
movement. It is also a great inspiration for the people to carry forward their
struggle for their land, means of livelihood, democratic rights and for a just
and humane society. It is an inspiration for the Party to intensify its efforts
to organize revolutionary and democratic struggles of the people and to
carry forward the tasks of New Democratic Revolution in India.
12 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
Brief Overview of New
Education Policy
Mrigank
The Modi led BJP-RSS Govt 2.0, immediately after taking over,
announced a 100-day agenda which included drastic education reforms. It
has come out with a document called New Education Policy on June 1,
which is open for comments for one month, after which it will be finalized.
This document is different from what was proposed by the previous Modi
govt. The TSR Subramanian Committee, and ‘Some Inputs for Draft National
Education Policy, 2016’, were proposed earlier. This latter was open to
public for comment for some time but never finalized, probably due to
widespread protests. The present document started getting prepared in
June 2017 under the chairmanship of K Kasturirangan. That was the time
Minister of HRD, Prakash Javadekar, said we will have a new education
policy in a year. At that time, it was thought that the final version of the
earlier one will be published by end of 2018. But that was not the case.
Government waited for general elections and now, with its strong ‘mandate’,
intends to bulldoze the new Policy.
This new Policy seeks to revamp the entire education system right
from pre schooling to research level. This will be done on the lines of an
amalgamation of RSS ideology and WTO/WB dictates. This aim is sugar-
coated with expressions of concern about the reach of education, quality
of education etc, but what it proposes amounts to destroying whatever pro-
people element was there in the education system, howsoever faulty this
might have been. It also further opens the avenues for privatization,
commercialization and facilitating foreign players on one hand while giving
ample scope for pushing through the vision of Hindutva on the other, i.e.
saffronization. In higher education, it is absolutely silent about continuing
affirmative action for addressing social backwardness and no doubt, this
will translate into doing away with all reservations on this basis in toto. A
definite reference was especially needed because reservations do not apply
as of now to private institutions and the thrust of this Policy is on
August, 2019 13
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
privatization and commercialization.
This Policy makes lots of nice statements, touches many of the
problems of education today – that it is not reachable, not scientific, is
burdensome, heavily stratified, there is poor Pupil to Teacher (PTR) ratio
in schools etc. The writers have done some research in substantiating the
same but then this is not new. Earlier Reports too have done the same.
Many of the recommendations of earlier commissions and committees have
been reproduced, particularly those of Yashpal Committee and some from
Kothari Commission (as far back as 1966). It does not bother to investigate
as to why those recommendations were not implemented, why good
sounding recommendations remained in files only. It is the government of
the day which decides to prioritize the recommendations of a committee.
Govts choose to implement only selective parts, which correspond to their
own policy thrust and give emphasis as per their own intentions. The current
document restates the older positive proposals with nice sounding words
and apparent nice intentions such as complete overhauling of the education
system, development of scientific temper, fun learning, making education
less burdensome, increasing PTR, schools within reach, multidisciplinary
education etc. But only actually those parts of the proposals which will
bring Education in accordance with the dictates of WTO and Hindutva will
be implemented. By Hindutva is implied an upper caste, chauvinist,
patriarchal outlook with the inevitable reflection in content of what is taught.
Apart from the lack of analysis on why earlier positive recommendations
failed, the lack of serious discussion on the financial implications of the
complete overhaul this Policy suggests and what outlay it recommends in
the Budget, makes the intention of actual implementation of the positive
suggestions doubtful.It proposes some estimates but doesn’t dwell on the
basis of the same. For instance, it says that the filling of the vacancies of
teachers will add only up to 0.5% of the government expenditure last year.
This looks very meagre and also unlikely. There are many other measures
that will need large outlays if they are to be seriously implemented for
government schools, like school level options in foreign languages,
semesters in schools, high quality preschool education, etc. It clearly means
that good things suggested are mostly just for looking good. In this respect
it appears that actual measures for general students are those suggested
on the side, like open learning, volunteer teachers etc. Rather, with
proposals on merging primary schools etc., the real result may be to
14 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
decrease expenses on govt. funded education. The highly stratified
education system shall not only remain so but surely get even worse.
There is an emphasis on new books and education material. In an
environment where academic bodies are being rapidly stuffed with RSS
sympathizers, the content of such proposed material naturally seems pre
decided. Secondly, the Education policy of this Govt. should be seen in
the light of its policy initiatives for pushing through privatization and
commercialization in other sectors.
Here attempt is made to make a quick overview of the Policy. Let us go
through some salient features.
Composition of Committee
The drafting committee was headed by former ISRO Chairperson Dr.
K. Kasturirangan. Among its members are Leena Chandran Wadia from
Reliance funded Observer Research Foundation Mumbai; Anurag Behar,
CEO, Azim Premji Foundation & Vice Chancellor, Azim Premji University,
Bengaluru;Vinayachandra, Director, Veda Vignana Shodha Samsthanam
(VVSS), Bengaluru. It had a peer review committee which included
Mohandas Pai Chairman, Manipal Global Education, Bengaluru, a private
education corporate; J.S. Rajput India’s representative to the Executive
Board of UNESCO Former Director, NCERT during MM Joshi era. Its
technical Secretariat included Gowrisha, Head, New Initiatives, Centre for
Educational and Social Studies, Bengaluru. CESS is again an institute
with thrust in so called Indic Studies and investigating philosophies of Sri.
Aurobindo, Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda. Also, this Institute is
developing and theorizing Indian Economic Model and Indian Management
thought. All these are ample indicators of the thrust of provisions to be
expected in this draft.
Some Provisions of GATS
UAPA Govt was stopped by people’s movements from signing GATS
Agreement under WTO as it included Education as a Trade, and this applied
to the BJP-RSS 1 Govt. too. Let us look in a nutshell at the policy directives
of GATS to appreciate this New Education policy’s adherence to it. It has
four modes. One is Cross Border Delivery: i.e. delivery of education services
via internet which covers Distance education, tele-education, education
August, 2019 15
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
testing services and open education.This is the thrust of this Policy too.
Second is Consumption Abroad which covers Movement of students from
one country to another for higher education and foreign students in US
universities etc. This, too, is one of the strong proposals of the current
draft although this is garbed in other phrases. Third one is Commercial
Presence which means Establishment of local branch campuses or
subsidiaries by foreign universities in other countries, course offerings by
domestic private colleges leading to degrees at foreign universities, twinning
arrangements, franchising; presence of sponsors of campuses and courses.
Fourth is Movement of persons meaning Temporary movement of teachers,
lecturers, and education personnel to provide education services overseas.
We shall see that all the four modes are embedded in the new policy draft
with some sugar-coating and camouflage of good intentions to drastically
change the current situation with respect to the aspects identified.
School Education
Let us start from the beginning. It proposes a new terminology Early
Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) –a sobriquet for pre schooling, nursery,
Anganwadi etc. It cites a study to show that children exposed to various
ECCE schemes have a higher retention rate and they learn better. Since
large number of people do not have access to quality ECCE or have no
access at all, they lag behind in learning from grade1.Financially well off
have advantage of good pre schooling and that is the reason for their faring
better. Up to now Anganwadis have functioned under the aegis of ICDS. It
proposes to continue it, but its contents are to be decided centrally by
Ministry of HRD. RTE (Right to Education) will also extend to include ECCE.
Let us have a look at its contents.
It talks of children aged 0-3 years first. It talks about stimulating inputs
for learning through low-cost equipment like rattles made using bottles etc.
Second stage meant for children 3-8 years is called Foundation Stage.
This stage is meant for parents, anganwadis, pre-primary schools, grades
1 and 2. Here they will introduce basic learning including language and
socio-emotive skills etc, but also customs, moral development, what is
right and what is wrong. This will surely become one entry point for giving
the content of the RSS agenda of upper caste, chauvinist and patriarchal
values, right at the beginning. It even proposes to integrate and strengthen
the traditional role of family. It means the onus of education will be
16 August, 2019
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transferred to the family of the children. The other important proposal is
that Anganwadi centres will be better equipped, more trained manpower
will be there, they will be co-located with primary schools. It may imply
lessening the number of Anganwadis. Even pre-primary schools will be co-
located. This is even now being tried in the name of better allocation of
resources.In actual practice such co-locations will inevitably constrain
parents from being able to send children to places that may be far away.
Recognizing this, and especially the need to facilitate girl children being
sent to school, the emphasis upto now was always on neighbourhood
schools as having the maximum chance of ensuring that all children went
to school. Reversing that understanding in practice, the policy also proposes
to build standalone pre-primary schools. This ECCE system will have a
strong regulatory and accreditation mechanism. That means central control
and little freedom to reflect the diversity that is inherent in our country.
Central control, it is being seen in other such bodies in education, means
bodies with RSS idealogues as overseers and advisors.
The curricular framework it talks about for ECCE has certain points to
be pondered on. One is proposing that parents, Anganwadis and low cost
locally made tools to be part of this teaching. While it all sounds good, the
difference it has mentioned about learning abilities of rich children and
poor only get deeper here. Secondly, it proposes a flexible course, which
while it sounds good in theory, paves the ways to have sub-standard
education at certain places. Thirdly, in NCF (National Curriculum Framework)
itself, there is provision for incorporation of various rich traditions of India.
In the name of traditions, it is not the democratic, people oriented and
enriching traditions which will find place, but rather that of the ideology in
power at the Centre.
It also proposes that the Anganwadi teachers will be given 6 months’
time for CPD (Continuous Professional Development) to enhance
themselves. This could become a tool to reduce the number of Anganwadi
teachers, particularly old ones. Moreover, while doing all this, it does not
at all mention about what will happen to the status of Anganwadi teachers.
Currently they are given the status of voluntary workers and instead of
salary, given honorarium without any other benefits mandated by the laws
for regular jobs. With such a change, there will be an obvious demand to
make them regular teachers. It conveniently ignores the financial
implications of this part unless it plans that they will be designated differently
August, 2019 17
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
under ‘reformed’ labour laws.
Now coming to schools. While it rightly recognizes problems faced by
students, the solutions it proposes are dangerous. It acknowledges lack of
school preparedness, poor PTR (pupil to teacher Ratio) etc. It also
acknowledges that teachers are less. To resolve this, it does not emphasise
hiring more teachers alone (it does that but proposes other solutions too
with the same emphasis, which give ways to bypass that need), but wants
community and peers to participate in the same. It advocates what was
proposed long back, but now has come as matter of policy “each one teach
one”. This is sought to be justified by citing an Indian proverb that “Knowledge
is the only quantity that increases for oneself when one gives it away to
others.” NEPproposes that this can be done out of school hours by
volunteers or people passionate about teaching, under guidance of teachers.
This also clears the way for entry of NGOs (which can later develop into
PPP and eventually Corporates can also enter in the name of CSR).Notably,
it says that vacancies of teachers should be filled ‘as soon as possible”,
and not ‘as soon as needed.’ It also talks about recruitment of volunteers
and social workers and encouraging large scale community participation.
The need to recruit trained teachers for quality education is totally diluted
and this dilution is going to impact the children in govt. schools.
There is proposal for Remedial Instructional Aids Programme (RIAP). It
is suggested that locals specially women will be drawn in to enable or
motivate students who have fallen behind. They will be given special
remedial classes by such voluntary teachers. Another similar idea is National
Tutor Programme (NTP). The best performing students will be drawn to
this programme. They will teach up to 5 hours a week and these volunteers
will be given certificates too. No mention is made of remuneration. While
doing away with permanent teachers it will use the services of underpaid/
unpaid people who want to serve on one hand, on the other hand perpetuate
the stratified education system.There is also a provision for ‘qualified
volunteers’ for both NTP and RIAP which will include retired teachers, good
students or other society members. This is also in consonance with GATS
policies as it is informal low-cost measure.
The policy does talk of ensuring PTR under 30:1, vacancies to be filled
urgently, but without even estimating proper budgetary allotment and along
with giving scope of NTP, it looks obvious that NTP will get precedence.
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To facilitate bigger coverage of students, Open Distance Learning (ODL),
using NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling), e-learning etc. will be
used.So, all the good talk of school for everyone is mostly for making the
draft sound good. The bulk will be shifted to Open schooling. Open, distance
and online learning is the clear dictum of WTO to reduce infrastructural
spending.
It suggests that distance will not be sole criterion for schools. There
are ideas of transport given by the Policy document, one of which is novel
to government schools. Modes of transport suggested are bicycles, schools’
buses, apart from walking groups. But cycle rickshaws are proposed to be
provided to some parents, who will also use it to leave children of the area
to school as well as take them home for fixed renumeration and then use
the rickshaws to earn their livelihood. It is clear that buses will rarely be
provided.It implies that while talking of new schools etc., basically there is
plan to reduce the number of schools and do away with many of the
neighbourhood schools even in existence.
Structure has been revised into 5 + 3 + 3 + 4 system. It includes 5
years of Foundation Stage (3 years of pre-school and grade I & II); 3 years
of the Preparatory or Latter Primary Stage (Grades 3, 4, 5); 3 years of the
Middle or Upper Primary Stage (Grades 6, 7, 8) and 4 years of the High or
Secondary Stage (Grades 9, 10, 11, 12).From grade 9 semester system
will be introduced.
While different methods and ideas are described for each stage, there
is no necessity to again explain why, in the current atmosphere where
education bodies and institutions are being packed with Hindutva ideologues,
the following statements do not portend well :
“All stages will heavily incorporate Indian and local traditions, as well
as ethical reasoning, socio-emotional learning, quantitative and logical
reasoning, computational thinking and digital literacy, scientific temper,
languages, and communication skills, in a manner that is developmentally
appropriate and in the curricular/pedagogical style that is optimal for each
stage” (emphasis ours).
It also proposes that all activities will be considered curricular rather
than extra-curricular or co-curricular, including sports, yoga, dance,
music,drawing, painting, sculpting, pottery making, woodworking, gardening,
August, 2019 19
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
and electrical work. While it has been long desired that all aspects should
be included as a part of curriculum so as to allow development of all facets
of a child, there is apprehension that in govt. schools this may allow neglect
of providing proper teachers and proper infrastructure and give a cover for
poor facilities as well as neglecting teaching of the core subjects.
With emphasis on multidisciplinary learning, distinction between arts,
science, vocational and academic is proposed to be blurred.The way the
stratified education system has worked till now, pushing children from poor
economic backgrounds towards vocational education rather than giving all
children equal opportunity and then respecting their choice, raises the fear
that by continuing and intensifying the same stratified system, the Policy
will intensify this trend, In fact, the Document states that with rapidly
changing economic scenario, vocational courses are more relevant, and
even pre-vocational courses should be started at early stage. This may
mean government schools and thus invariably, students from poorer
background, will end up getting a lopsided education which will dictate that
they are left with no option but to enter the ranks of skilled workforce. This
will further enhance stratification in education system.
“So m any developed countries around the world have am ply
demonstrated,being well educated in one’s language, culture, and traditions
is not a detriment but indeed a huge benefit to educational, social, and
technological advancement.” While it is good to be taught in one's mother
tongue and know about cultures and traditions, in multilingual, multi cultural
India where will this lead to especially when it is also decreed that textbooks
will be centrally prepared?The country has rich democratic, scientific,
pluralistic traditions; will these be reflected or will Hindutva ideology become
the order of learning? Secondly, it is important to remember that books
needed for higher education are certainly not available in all languages of
India.Third, set the proposal in the frame of our stratified education system-
it means the same will be furthered.
There will be teaching of moral and ethical reasoning. It will inculcate
“traditional Indian values of seva, ahimsa, swacchata, satya, nishkam
karma, tolerance, honest hard work, respect for women, respect for elders,..”
There will be full-fledged course on “knowledge of India”. While this could
be considered desirable from the point of view of emphasizing certain
developments in India missed by western historians especially of science;
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but, given the political context, this is more likely to lead to pseudo-science
and chauvinism given the orientation of policy and policy makers.
This apart, Sanskrit will be given special emphasis as it is considered
a language where a great repository of knowledge including arts, literature,
science, mathematics and medicine, is there. It means that knowledge
which is centuries old will take precedence over current knowledge. It may
be good to mention many achievements as part of history, but not as
replacement of contemporary science and other things.
The proposed three language formula with Hindi as an essential element
to be taught from first stage has already met with enough resistance for
government to backtrack. It was an attempt to impose the RSS idea of
Hindi as “One nation one language” or “Hindi, Hindu Hindustan”. There is
talk of foreign language to be offered with language options mentioned
being German, French, Japanese, Chinese. Today, these are courses
offered only in private schools of elite standing. Where are the teachers
going to come from for government schools if this is the routine option in
schools? Will options be given in govt. schools? There is likelihood that
with such dramatic difference in the wages of skilled personell in our country
and imperialist countries, this knowledge of languages will allow MNCs
coming to India to use this pool just as they use other skilled personnel
like scientists, IT personnel, engineers etc in their overseas locations rather
than the expensive personnel of their parent countries.
A National Curriculum Frame work will be designed to incorporate the
above policy points. The local variations can be there in additional text
books. Interestingly, while NCERT in consultation with SCERT, will develop
‘high quality text books”, the local supplementary or additional material
will be prepared through PPP and crowd funding.
While rightly recognizing the burden Board examinations put on the
students and its uselessness, the solutions NEP proposes seem only to
confuse the situation. Going further, for university entrance a National
Testing Agency (NTA) is proposed. This is akin to the Education and Testing
Agency of USA which conducts various qualifying exams like GRE, SAT,
GMAT etc. We shall see later that the idea in higher education is to replicate
US system. Universities will not be able to conduct entrances or have
admission criterion as per their mandate or vision. Such unification is also
desired by WTO.
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
There are suggestions to change teachers’ selection processes too as
well as their training schedules. New four years' B.Ed. will be introduced
and no further recruitment from old system will be there and para-teaching
staff like Shikshamitra will be discontinued. For promotional avenues,it
proposes ”salary, promotion, career management, and leadership positions
in the school system and beyond tend not to have any formal merit-based
structures, but rather are based on lobbying, luck, or seniority. An excellent
system of merit-based structures and reviews, with excellent enabling school
and school complex leadership and environment, is essential for outstanding
teachers to be incentivised and motivated to do, and be appreciated for
doing their highest quality work”. So there goes affirmative action like
Reservations! Besides, such proposed measures, though they may appear
all right in theory, always tends to promote sycophancy and adherence to
dominant line of ruling section, while claiming to remove the same.
InB.Ed.programmes too “knowledge of India and its traditions” will be
introduced.
The Policy talks of job guarantee for B.Ed. pass outs, but again there is
no mention of how budgetary allocation will be met. At the same time, it
talks of sharing teachers in a school complex. There is an inherent
contradiction and it is seen throughout the draft. CPD will be introduced
and minimum of 50 hours a year will be expected. CPD will also include
cooperation of civil society, peer learning and online resource learning.
This means, while giving a window to Hindutva committed elements as
civil society, CPD programs will not be manned by highly trained experts,
but much will be left to peers and online resources.
There is a talk of making school complexes rather than more schools.
Idea is to have a senior school and various junior schools integrated into
one administrative unit and resource sharing. While the said intent is to
remove isolation of small schools, it risks doing away with any autonomy
of small schools. It would be far more desirable to improve small schools
and have proper infrastructure and facilities there. Instead of that, in the
name of resource sharing, prospects are that many schools may fail to
have any development at all. As mentioned earlier teachers are proposed
to be shared among schools. It means not increasing teachers but increasing
their load, with a possibility rife that students have to go to distant places
to access resources. NEP states - “Adequate numbers of social workers
will be appointed to the school complexes ……… The social workers will
22 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
engage deeply with the community being served by the school complex.” It
implies an emphasis on doing away with paid staff. Even PTR improvement
is sought in school complexes. It means same teacher will teach in different
schools of that complex. Not only it will burden a teacher, talk of better
conditions and more jobs will prove to be only an eyewash.
A Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog (RSA) is proposed to be created for
accreditation and regulation of schools. NEP says - “This apex body will
be the primary institution for overall monitoring and policymaking for
continual improvement of the system”. This body will not handle service
provision.Similar bodies, Rajya Siksha Aayogs(RjSA), are proposed at state
level. We shall discuss RSA later.
The NEP also makes recommendation that no private school can have
‘public’ in their name as this is misleading. This is fine. But, in the same
breath, it gives full right for continuing parallel stratified system of schooling
by giving full right to private schools to flourish. Thus every single
apprehension expressed that the whole Policy will be used to further dilute
teachers, teaching personnel level and courses and options for govt. school
students is fully justified. Specifically, the Policy proposes to encourage
‘public spirited private schools’, schools by ‘private philanthropic
organizations. Regulation criterion will be same for both private as well as
public schools.
Schools are also given freedom to choose curriculum of their own, but
in full accordance with NCF or SCF, however, public (government) schools
will have stricter regulation. There can be multiple boards of assessment
at national level like CBSE, ICSE, NIOS. All schools will be accredited
and assessed, for which a School Quality Assessment and Accreditation
Framework (SQAAF) is proposed. It will have teachers, parents as well as
civil society organizations. Apart from some basic parameters like basic
facilities, PTR, etc., aspect of infrastructure is left flexible. All this means
that in name of flexibility, different schools can have different infrastructure
and deficiencies can be justified. It should be obvious that all the Central
boards and regulatory authority will be staffed by those who share the
ruling RSS ideology.
Private schools will have freedom to decide their fees as long as it is
not for profiteering. All it means is that some accounts have to be managed
to show no profit.
August, 2019 23
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
We can see that while making so much of noise about high PTR, less
scientific education, responsibility of state to educate, the Policy gives
more entries to NGOs, corporate as CSR, and just changes the names of
schools from public to private and thus legitimizes, validates and
encourages private schools. For government schools, particularly in remote
areas, in places where poor children will go, it only suggests informal
education albeit in glorified ways.
Higher Education
In Higher education too, the Draft Policy starts with lots of phrases
about failures or problems of education so far, followed by suggestions to
resolve them. But the intention remains the same. Hindutva is amalgamated
with WB/WTO dictates. There is a general talk of Pan Indian traditions,
talks about Takshashila and Nalanda and description of Education in ancient
times, which needs be replicated in today’s scenario. It talks of 64 Kalas
described in ancient texts from music, painting to engineering, medicine,
maths and so on. It then proposes that Indian higher education should be
multi-disciplinary as that was the first concept of liberal arts. All the future
courses and Higher Education Institutions (HEI) will be multi-disciplinary.
It is important that such homilies for ‘multi-disciplinarily’ and ‘liberal arts’
be read in the context of actual practice of the present ruling dispensation.
The Policy proposes three types of HEIs. Type I will be Universities
doing research and offering both research and teaching; Type II will be
universities offering only teaching; and all affiliated colleges will fall in
Type III category. All will be autonomous. Members of Type III too will
gradually be made autonomous. All must be multi-disciplinary(MD). Deemed
universities,too,will come under one of such categories and there will be
no more deemed universities. These norms will apply to private colleges
as well. The direct implication is that all mushrooming private colleges will
have authority to grant degrees of their own. All of them will gradually
m ove towards f ull autonom y- ac adem ic , adm in istr at ive and
financial,implying that gradually all higher education will be privatized and
commercialized. That is the main drive.
Though the Policy also talks of autonomy to formulate courses, freedom
to innovate etc. but one can see that with tight RSA and National
Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) sitting on their head, the
direction of courses will be pre decided. Moreover, with financial autonomy
24 August, 2019
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(though graded and increasing with time), new courses can only be those
where rich can come and which will be saleable in market. It advocates
designing of new cutting-edge courses and setting up career management
systems. The development of basic sciences, literature, philosophy, social
science will automatically get a back seat. The scope of dissent in practice
and in teaching and deciding differing types of course material will be further
curbed. Private institutions can have their own funding as long as they
disclose their accounts fully. Own funding means own fee structure, and
one hundred percent reservation for the rich and privileged. All the courses
are suggested to be capable of making the students occupationally ready.
This is not always a positive thing though it may appear to be one, as it
dilutes the importance of pursual of basic science and humanities by those
interested.
All universities shall be enjoined to have a four years B.Ed. programme.
Idea is to prepare Multi-disciplinary (MD) teachers for schools. While this
is a replica of US system, autonomy of privatization is in built in the policy
which makes all the nice things it says about reaching to the last person
bogus and nothing but eyewash. It also says focus of education will be on
languages. This is in the name of making it "engaging with world” and
students can learn to express in mother tongue. But it adds “This shall
include India’s deep traditions in the arts, music and sports, including the
numerous remarkable local and regional traditions. Yoga shall form an
integral part of such efforts as well. Institutions will be encouraged and
funded to offer full-fledged programmes and courses in these areas”. NEP
also promotes vocational courses and skill developing courses to be an
integral part of all courses. It is advocating opening of five world class
HEIs for liberal arts like IITs, IIMs, ISERs to be “modelled after some of
the best universities in world history, such as Nalanda and the Ivy League
schools in the U.S.” The engagement with world and liberal arts idea is
either engaging with imperialism or with a phrase mongering which
appropriates everything in ancient India for it.
Even professional HEIs like engineering/medical HEIs will be
‘liberalized’ and will not remain single field programmes. This could be a
welcome step, except for the ideological desperation bringing it. It implies
that above ‘values’ will be part of every student seeking higher education
and thus agenda of RSS will have widest possible base in higher education
as the content of Education will be in the hands of the regulatory bodies
August, 2019 25
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
finally.
While talking of no student being deprived of higher education, it talks
of introducing certificate courses in vocational training. This means that
those not getting into proper courses, which shall be the largest section of
our population as all positive measures like Reservations and Scholarships
will be done away with. Also higher education will be more and more
privatized with fee structures differing for courses. Thus largest number of
students will have no right of option and shall be deemed to be only skilled
workers in waiting for the success of Make in India.
As far as Research is concerned, there will be single funding agency
called National Research Foundation, NRF. Others like DST and ICCSSR
etc. will continue but NRF will be the major agency funding all arenas of
research including science, history, culture, language etc. NEP also states
that “There will be a rigorous periodic review (once every 5 years) of areas
and fields of current national importance, and of emerging fields, by a
committee constituted by the RSA for this purpose.” This should be viewed
in light of the recent order which states that research should be done on
topics relevant to national importance - the deliberate push on an artificial
history and on pseudoscience in national seminars and scientific
conferences shows what this means. In addition, scientific institutions are
already under pressure to do ‘’ commercially viable’’ research which gives
marketable entities rather than focussing on basic research.
The Policy also talks about promoting mobility of students as well as
teachers. This is a clear condition of WTO to treat education as a trade. It
will mean foreign students will come to India to get educated at lesser fees
and at the cost of our students. RSA will make a proposal and set up
portals and other means to help foreign students get visas, and will setup
a Foreigner Registration Regional Office (FRRO).Extension of stay and
internship policies will be simplified to attract high quality students from all
over the world.
NEP talks of internationalization of higher education, justification for
which has been invoked by citing example of ancient international
universities like Nalanda. Therefore, to attract others and to prepare our
students for global challenges, we must have internationally relevant
education. Same goes with teachers. they too can move. It may mean that
foreign teachers may eat our vacancies. Again,this only implies succumbing
26 August, 2019
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to GATS and facilitating foreign players in education business. This mobility
was a major condition of GATS.
Not just this, it also proposes to invite select foreign universities into
India. The draft policy proposes that 200 foreign universities will be invited
to operate in India, for which legislative framework should be made. It is
worth noting that when the Vice Chancellor of the famous Cambridge
University was asked about going global with off shore campuses, he said
our prestige is from this campus and we are not McDonald to distribute
franchise in every street. We can understand that only second grade
universities; not world-famous centres, but profit hungry education
businessmen will enter to disburse second grade education with high fees
in the name of foreign universities. It seeks to remove all the barriers so
that the trading is unhindered. Collaborations with foreign universities are
also encouraged. An Inter-University Centre for International Education is
proposed for this. Australian universities are not generally considered very
good, admission is easy and it gives a stamp of foreign university, it may
happen in India now.
Another feature is emphasis on ODL and online courses.It proposes
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). While talking of establishing new
institutes, enhancing old, ensuring all get educated, it ultimately comes
down to saying that GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio) in ODL must increase to
50%. Expansion of ODL must be encouraged. Regular institutions of Type
I and Type II should have programs for ODL, supposedly to shorten the
gap in quality of the two. But obviously, it is to promote ODL. This means
that the students from poorer background will be sucked in for ODL and
MOOC. The policy only furthers the present system of differentiation. Both
ODL as well as MOOC are propositions of GATS to reduce infrastructural
costs. They also help to curb dissatisfaction, by allowing Govts. to claim
all have access to higher education, however stratified it may be.
Faculty recruitment will include academic as well as some social work
(“Faculty recruitment will be on the basis of academic expertise and depth,
on teaching capacities and disposition for public services”). This ‘social’
could imply in association with the RSS outfits. Probation period for faculty
will be five years! Their promotion will be based on merit, feedback etc. A
so-called robust merit-based tenure track, promotion will be developed. It
will amount to furthering a policy of people not falling in line not being
promoted. Even downgrading and throwing out is also proposed. It will mean
August, 2019 27
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
toeing the government line or being out. A Continuous Professional
Development (CPD) will be compulsory and will include this‘social work’
and ‘values’. The most important aspect is that there is no mention
anywhere that in teacher recruitments to predominantly privatized education,
will the Reservations which allow some social justice to prevail, find any
place?
Professional Education
Professional education (medicine, architecture, agriculture, law and
technical education) will undergo a major revamp. It is proposed that all
professional regulatory bodies will come under RSA, NHERA, NAAC, HEGC.
They will do the job of” governance, regulation, accreditation, and funding”.
Current bodies like UGC, MCI, AICTTE will be only Professional Standard
Setting Body (PSSB), setting standards for courses etc.
Agricultural universities are proposed to be given new vision. They will
not concentrate on just traditional agricultural subjects but will have to
have strong linkage with other national laboratories, in terms of start-ups,
business incubation, etc. meaning thereby emphasis on commercialization
of agriculture.
Technical and vocational education will be given a thrust and B.Voc.
type of courses will start. This will produce workers in related professional
areas like horticulture, pharmacy, radiology, etc. In healthcare alone, WHO
estimate is cited of requirement of 80 million jobs by 2030. It will be part of
national skill development program to produce skilled manpower which will
be used primarily in the private enterprises which are to dominate Health
due to other parallel policy initiatives.
Fees for all professional institutions will be decided by the institution
itself, for both public and private enterprises. To enable access to poor
students, they will be required to provide Scholarships. Minimum 20% should
get 100% and up to 50% “some degree of scholarships”. This has been the
proposal of many corporate lobbies even earlier. Do not regulate fees, but
give some concession to few. Such models are practiced in USA. It will
ensure that a large section of middle class is thrown out of professional
education. And scholarship will be for poor, from where anyway only a
small section will be able to qualify.
There is a proposed provision in the law curriculum that it should fall
28 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
back on culture and tradition. History of legal institutions and victory of
Dharma over Adharma are to be taught.Classical law text should be taught.
(it explicitly does not say manusmriti though).
For Health, it proposes a ‘pluralistic and holistic’ healthcare education
and delivery. MBBS should be redesigned. The first two years of education
should be common to all science graduates, after which they can opt for
MBBS/BDS/Nursing etc. There is also a provision for lateral entry for
graduates from other medical disciplines including dental/nursing into
medicine. It proposes common foundation courses based on “medical
pluralism”. It means that all that are included in AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga
& Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy)as well as others will be
mainstreamed and they are proposed to be bridged later when one can
select electives in later part of the course. This will also mean that without
creating proper infrastructure for better scientific medical education, one
can increase the numbers of doctors. AYUSH and scientific medical health
centre will be co located. These will be the inputs into a healthcare delivery
system differentiated by class. All this must be seen in the context that
the political class which swears by Ayurveda and ancient medicine for the
masses, goes to the top govt allopathic institutions or to such ones abroad
for their own treatment.
A single final exam like single entrance exam like NEET is proposed
called EXIT exam. This exam will not only burden medical students, it will
also lower the standard of education. This will be to facilitate lateral entrants
to exit gracefully. This will also serve as PG entrance examination. All this
implies that it will help to produce legitimized substandard pseudo
scientifically educated personnel for use in care structure for masses.
Nowhere do RSS functionaries go for treatment to AYUSH centres for major
health problems. Nothing can be a better example of amalgamation of
imperialist dictates and Hindutva in education.
Provisions of underprivileged sections
This Policy does talk of Unrepresented Groups (URG) in education but
is absolutely silent on Reservation of any kind. For URG too, it only says
it will give emphasis in recruitment of teachers and volunteers, and these
can serve as role models for students from URG. With privatization as
major direction of thrust, virtually reservations for SC/ST/OBCs and any
August, 2019
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
special provisions for people from interior areas, girls etc. are also done
away with. Also, in URG, it equates all SC, ST, OBCs, minorities, urban
poor, girls, students with special needs, transgenders etc. This is
sociologically illogical.
Regulation & Funding
RashtriyaSikshaAyog (RSA)
There are proposals for various levels of regulatory structures and curbing
or redefining of existing ones. These new institutions include the
establishment, by an Act of Parliament, of an all-powerful Rashtriya Siksha
Ayog (RSA). It will regulate all education, from KG to research. It will have
the Prime Minister as Chairperson and will have Vice Chairman of NITI
Ayog as member and is to be run by executive and advisory bodies that
will consist of 50% of ministers and another 50% of educationists,
academics and civil society members. Thus, education will be in the tight
centralized control of Government as well as, in the case of current Govt.,
Hindutva subscribers (who can also flood Civil Society members even when
not in government). Also, private corporate organizations like Pratham,
Central Square Foundation etc. will get a say in these matters as civil
society. These NGOs are already there. Therefore, it will be under the
direct control of Central government and corporate (CSR). As for NITI Ayog,
it has already started interfering in education and in many states promoted
merger or closure of schools. It has also called for scrapping RTE Act (as
has CSF). What direction will it give too can be seen soon.
Under this all powerful RSA will be many new institutions such as:
National Research Fund, National Higher Education Regulatory Authority
(and State Education Regulatory Authorities in all states), Central Education
Statistics Division (under NUEPA), National Repository of Educational Data,
National Testing Agency, Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation,
Multidisciplinary Education and Research Institutes or Indian Institutes of
Liberal Arts, and General Education Council. There will be new wings or
schemes like National Scholarship Fund, Study in India Portal (for
international students), and the Global Initiative for Academic Networks.
The Draft, repeatedly speaks of ‘autonomy’ in education, but actually
proposes a direct central control of Government and the growth of bloated
and hierarchical bureaucracy in Education.
August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
National Research Foundation (NRF)
NRF will be the major funding agency for research in the country. Its
Governing Board shall be appointed by RSA. It will fund research in four
major divisions- Sciences;Technology; Social Sciences and Arts and
Humanities - with the provision to add additional divisions (e.g. health,
agriculture, environmental issues),whenever it may be determined to be
beneficial by the Governing Council of the NRF. Other funding agencies
will remain.
The arrangement will ensure that by grant of funds, choice of the “most
urgent national issues of the day” are regulated. We have seen that recently
a circular was issued to a central university to do research only on issues
of national interest. It will become national policy now. Either do research
in accordance with official line or do not do.
There is a suggestion that NRF will work as a liaison between government,
researcher and industry. Up to now government had no direct control over
funding, but funding agencies did this work, of course in accordance with
the governmental policies. Now this liaison will give a more direct control.
It also implies that now Industry can have a say in deciding the funding of
research. This is much in accordance with WTO/WB. What is even more
dangerous is that it speaks of collaboration with other government agencies,
industry and philanthropic organizations. These philanthropic organizations
could be CSR organizations or RSS affiliated organizations. Already,
Hindutva subscribers are included in the academic bodies in govt.
institutions.
NRF will also “create a mechanism for monitoring and mid-course
corrections.” It will have a governing body comprising of academicians and
professionals constituted by RSA. NRF will also fund international projects.
This will mean India will fund foreign projects, where domestic research
struggles for funds. There will be ‘no discrimination’ between public and
private institutions.
While it says that monetary benefits of intellectual property will be given
to researchers due to patents, government and the parent body shall have
licence to use it. And this will apply to private and foreign bodies too.
Since NRF will fund, without discrimination, both public and private bodies
it will mean that research will be funded by government, and if there is any
August, 2019 31
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
significant development, it will be owned by private sector.
Other Regulatory & Funding Institutions Under RSA
Many such bodies are proposed. For instance, National Higher Education
Regulatory Authority (NHERA), Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC)
NAAC etc. NHERA shall be the sole regulator for higher education, including
professional education. Other bodies like UGC, MCI, AICTE and others
will serve only as PSSBs (Professional Standard Setting Body) under the
guidance of RSA. For this all existing laws, acts of parliament etc will be
appropriately modified. It will monitor and audit finances and academic
output with diversity of education as its special emphasis. What shall be
the nature of this diversity, has already been discussed.
NAAC will be there for accreditation and will accredit all the educational
institutes. Now instead of a grading system of accreditation, a binary ‘yes
or no’ will be introduced. Meaning thereby, fall in line or perish (though a 10
years' gap period is there). This accreditation will also facilitate transition
to autonomy.
All fund granting powers shall be transferred to HECG. It will be the
sole funder and gradually replace UGC. “HEGC shall focus its energy on
scholarships and on developmental funds to start new focus areas in HEIs
across fields and disciplines”; with HEIs being forced to be financially
autonomous, little funding can be expected from the HECG. Since all these
will be under direct supervision of RSA, everything will be under tight control
of the government, with not just the incorporation of infamous HECI bill,
but worse than that.
The document has many more things which need a very detailed review
and deliberation. But we can see clearly that GATS has been introduced
as a matter of policy even without the government signing it. This policy is
to make Indian education accessible to private and foreign education
corporate and produce trained man power for them, make education
inaccessible to common folks, demolish the concept of state funded free
education to all. In fact, if we read this document along with GATS or with
six bills on education by Kapil Sibal, we shall find stark similarity. At the
same time infiltration of Hindutva ideology at various levels shall come full
throttle under different garbs. Lest there be any illusions regarding the
interpretations of the policy proposals under taken above, please read it in
32 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
conjunction with the NITI Aayog policy recommendations on ‘Education Union Budget 2019-2020
and Skill Development’ which is available from https://niti.gov.in/
writereaddata/files/coop/20.pdf. Increasing the Burden on the
It is surprising indeed that all of this leaves scope in some quarters for
this policy to be read as ‘Too good to be true’! Anyhow, not only should
People, Attacking the Workers
this draft be opposed tooth and nail; rather, it is our bounden duty, for
which outs our cing our concerns through petitioning to various
and Ignoring the Distressed
representatives of the ruling classes in different political parties is certainly Peasantry and Unemployed Youth
not the way forward. Powerful movements of students and teachers, which
seek to inform and educate the common people of India of the dangerous
portents is on agenda. There is burning need too, for the people of India to Having skirted the question of performance of the Govt. in the just
come forward in struggle against this document and all measures for concluded parliamentary elections, Modi Govt.’s Finance Minister chose
commercialization and privatization of education besides measures seeking to sing praises of the performance of Modi led RSS-BJP Govt. in its first
to end positive social action like reservations, without equitable changes term. She dished out jumlas and avoided all specifics.
in the life of the people. The way forward lies in powerful broad based Despite all bravado, the Union Budget displays deepening crisis in the
struggles which must be followed in earnest. Indian economy. Economic Survey presented a day earlier on July 4,
surveyed less and surmised much. It noted drop in tax collections, falling
rate of savings and declining rate of agricultural wages. Though it made
robust claims of high growth, these figures have been questioned not only
by several economists but also by earlier National Economic Advisor to
the Govt. Economic Survey has made the self-evident discovery that for
Read and Subscribe growth, investment has to grow. For this the Survey advocates sale of
CPI(ML) Organs Public Sector Enterprises and further facilitating entry of foreign capital by
labour law ‘reforms’. The corporate think tanks have also been advising
New Democracy English the Govt. on same lines. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget
has toed the very same line.
Pratirodh Ka Swar Hindi
RSS-BJP Govt.’s budget does not address the key questions agitating
Voice of New Democracy Telugu the people. It does not even mention the peasant distress and unemployment
(Telengana) crisis. Modi Govt. assumes that its re-election means people are having
New Democracy Bulletin Telugu no problems. There is not even a mention of raising MSP and of problems
in Govt. purchase of agricultural produce, displaying utmost insensitivity
(Andhra Pradesh)
to the concerns of the vast masses of peasantry of the country. Though
Biplabi Ganaline Bengali the FM talked of “Gaon, Garib and Kisan” these sections were absent from
her concerns. The talk of value addition in agricultural produce is meant for
Inquilabi Sada Rah Punjabi
corporate and not for peasants. RSS-BJP Govt. has been advocating large
Sangrami Ekta Odia scale entry of corporate in Agriculture. On the other hand there are increasing
attacks on tribals’ lands and livelihood. Ms. Sitharaman’s announcement

August, 2019 33 34 August, 2019

 NEW DEMOCRACY
on documentation of the tribals’ origin is probably indicative of the Govt.
thrust to forcibly displace them.
While Drought is affecting several parts of the country and is a big burden
especially on the peasants but the Finance Minister chose to ignore this
serious problem particularly in relation to Agriculture. Though she waxed
eloquent on making water available and even promised to make piped water
reach every home in the current term of this Govt., her words were divorced
from action and she proceeded to cut allocation to this Ministry by over 10
thousand crore rupees.
There are no measures for addressing the question of unemployment.
Only tax benefits or interest subvention for Start-ups cannot resuscitate
this initiative suffering from morbidity. Announcements by the Finance
Minister will not have much impact on the job situation. What is needed is
a boost to increase the demand, which is possible only by increasing
purchasing power of the people for which no measures have been
announced. Rather she proceeded to announce waiver of the requirement
of 30% procurement from local manufactures by foreign single brand retailers
which shows the true colour of the Make in India rhetoric of Modi Govt. and
its declared objective of helping small and medium industries. No
announcement was made even to fill up the vacancies in the Govt. jobs
which according to Economic Survey amounted to more than 2.5 million.
On the other hand there was not even ritual reference to MNREGS in her
speech. But in her proposals there is cut in the allocation to this scheme.
Union Budget was on expected lines, bereft of any measure for the people.
On the other hand, it further increased taxes on diesel and petrol by levying
additional tax of Rs. 1 per litre and cess of Rs. 1 per litre thereby increasing
the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs. 2 per litre. Though prices of crude in
the international market are low, but the diesel and petrol prices are very
high in India due to very heavy taxes levied by the Govt. This will further
increase the burden on the people as increase in the prices of diesel and
petrol has effect on all sectors. This will also further increase the cost of
agricultural operations. 2% surcharge on transactions will hit the small and
medium businesses.
The Union Budget has targeted sale and disinvestment in the PSUs.
Central govt. has targeted to raise Rs. 1 lakh 5 thousand crores. Govt. has
prepared a list of PSUs to be privatized or disinvested. The Budget speech
August, 2019 35
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
laid emphasis on large infrastructure development programme but has taken
Public Private Partnership mode for that which effectively amounts to public
losses and private profits. This was particularly mentioned with regard to
Railways where Govt. is planning large scale privatization. Finance Minister
also announced utilization of the lands with PSUs and also military for
“affordable housing”, the sector in which several corporate have entered in
a big way.
Union Minister announced Govt. resolve to change labour laws. The attack
on labour laws and total liquidation of implementation machinery is sought
to further lower the wages and benefits of workers to shore up the profits.
These measures, in addition to cut in ESI contribution of owners already
effected, are meant to facilitate increasing the profits especially of corporate
and to attract foreign capital. Besides changing labour laws Finance Minister
also announced setting up labour law free big manufacturing hubs which
corporate media and Finance Minister are projecting as tools for promoting
investment.
There were several measures to attract foreign capital. Besides waiving
requirement of purchase from local producers for single-brand retail, 100%
FDI is to be permitted in several sectors. Govt. announced its intention to
invite foreign capital especially in aviation, media and insurance and even
permitted 100% FDI in insurance intermediaries besides several other
sectors. Insurance has been a special target of foreign capital. Steps were
also announced for permitting foreign entities to acquire properties of the
sick Non-Banking Finance Companies. Finance Minister mentioned low
foreign debt GDP ratio to justify her Govt.’s plans to attract foreign capital
and thereby increase the burden of foreign debt.
Finance Minister admitted the ailing condition of banks and announced
plans to merge Public Sector Banks (PSBs) into eight banks. These mergers
are being undertaken to shift the burden of NPAs, in other words of the loot
by corporate as most of the NPAs belong to them, to the healthy banks
and thereby onto the shoulders of the people. Finance Minister also dealt
at length with helping the NBFCs, which have been used by the corporate
to utilize and siphon off people’s money and which is the main reason for
their sickness.
There is not even mention of health services though hundreds of children
have died in Bihar and thousands continue to die in several parts of the
36 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
country in which near absence of health care services play an important
role. Even in the allocations there is hardly any increase despite the severe
crisis in the infrastructure of health services in the country. There is no
emphasis on Education except to attract foreign students and branches of
foreign universities. Finance Minister announced setting up of central
research fund which is one of the proposals in the Draft New Education
Policy. There is no announcement on increasing allocations for Health
services and Education which are abysmally low in our country.
Finance Minister announced increase in SC and ST sub-plans. But it is
well known that a large part of budget allocations remains unused and
even of what is used, the major part of it goes in general expenditure. Only
a small part is actually targeted expenditure. Hence such increase per se
is meaningless unless concrete measures are announced which the Finance
Minister chose not to. Even on women’s issues she dealt cursorily despite
her “Nari tu Narayani” claim, in view of falling employment of women in
industries particularly in the organized sector.
Union Budget marks a cynical disdain about the concerns of the people.
With elections out of the way, the Govt. has announced serious attacks on
workers and peasants, further burdening of the people and showing total
disregard about their welfare.
CPI(ML)-New Democracy strongly condemns this anti-people budget which
is in the interest of the corporate, especially foreign corporate. We appeal
to the people to oppose this anti-worker, anti-peasant and anti-people Budget.
(This statement was issued by the Central Committee of CPI(ML)-New
Democracy on July 5, 2019)
August, 2019 37
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Birth Centenary Year of Com. Charu
Mazumdar
Programmes are being organized during the birth centenary year of Com.
Charu Mazumdar. He was founder General Secretary of the Party, Communist
Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). He was elected as the General Secretary
when All India Co-ordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries dissolved
itself and formed the Central Organizing Committee (COC) of CPI(ML) on
April 22, 1969. He was re-elected as the General Secretary by the Central
Committee elected at the Eighth Congress of the Party (first after Naxalbari).
The struggle against revisionism and neo-revisionism of the leadership of
first the CPI and then the CPM had been going on inside those parties. Com.
Charu Mazumdar was among the first rank of those who had been conducting
that struggle. But contribution of Com. Charu Mazumdar was more. He was a
visionary who realized that the path of Armed Agrarian Struggle cannot be
pursued with revisionists leading the Party. Hence he realized that a break
with revisionism and neo-revisionism is essential for pursuing the path of
Armed Agrarian Struggle. The subsequent developments, unleashing of the
wave of armed agrarian struggles and resistance struggle, bear ample
testimony to the correctness of this understanding of Com. Charu Mazumdar.
The break with neo-revisionist CPM leadership is also proved correct by the
degeneration of the CPM into a ruling class party. Hence the break with
revisionism and neo-revisionism was essential not only for Armed Agrarian
Revolution but also for saving the communist revolutionary movement in the
country. This credit goes to the Communist Revolutionaries of that period,
first and foremost to Com. Charu Mazumdar.
Com. Charu Mazumdar was convinced about the correctness of Mao Zedong
Thought and its applicability to India. He firmly upheld it and stood by it without
wavering. Today all the Communist Revolutionaries in India uphold Marxism-
Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought, thus being part of the great legacy left behind
by earlier generation of Communist Revolutionaries, Com. Charu Mazumdar
being among the foremost of them.
Com. Charu Mazumdar not only struggled against neo-revisionist CPM
leadership envisaging a break with them, not only upheld Mao Zedong Thought
and path of Armed Agrarian Revolution, he led the effort to build armed struggle
of peasantry on the basis of this path in North Bengal. He thus combined the
ideological political struggle against revisionism and neo-revisionism with the
38 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
concrete practice of Armed Agrarian Revolution in India. The Great Naxabari
Armed Struggle which emerged out of the efforts of Naxalbari comrades led
by Com. Charu Mazumdar, became a turning point in the history of Communist
movement in the country drawing a dividing line between the parliamentary
path of revisionists and neo-revisionists and path of Armed Agrarian Struggle
pursued by the communist revolutionaries. Thus Com. Charu Mazumdar not
only visualized separation from neo-revisionist CPM leadership but also carved
out such a separation on the basis of concrete practice. It is fifty years since
the formation of CPI(ML) but the path paved by Naxalbari remains relevant
and a beacon light.
Com. Charu Mazumdar died in a police lock up in Kolkata on July 27,
1972. He was a great martyr of the communist revolutionary movement in
India. We salute his contribution to the communist revolutionary movement.
We reaffirm our firm resolve to shun the parliamentary path and advance on
the path of armed struggle.
We are here reproducing the article he wrote a few weeks before his
martyrdom. We are also reproducing here relevant part of the Basic Lessons
in the Thirteen Years of Struggle (1967 to 1981) dealing with Party’s assessment
of the role of Com. Charu Mazumdar.
It is the People’s Interest that is
the Party’s Interest
(This article, originally in Bengali, was written by Charu
Mazum dar, a bout five weeks befor e hi s ar r es t. T he
translation is done by the editorial board of Liberation.)
We have suffered a setback after the armed struggle in our country
reached a stage. It is our task now to preserve the Party. In order to preserve
it we have to build the Party among the broad masses of workers and
peasants. We shall be able to get over the setback and raise the struggle
to a stage higher than before, if we can build a politically united party. I
hope we shall be able to do this within a short time.
Chairman has said that there is still the possibility of a world war.
Imperialism and social-imperialism are today enmeshed in various crises
at home and abroad. Because of the political and economic crises, they
are at their wits’ end. To capture each other’s market and expand their own
August, 2019 39
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
they now resort to different underhand means and, as a result, the
contradictions among them are becoming sharp. They seek to shift the
burden of their own crises on to the underdeveloped and undeveloped
countries. That is why those countries too are today assuming a role of
opposition to the two superpowers – U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-
imperialism. In their vain efforts to escape from the crises they may start
a world war. In the beginning we shall, indeed, have to face difficulty, if a
world war begins. But that difficulty will not be there for long. A vast,
widespread, revolutionary upsurge will bring our victory near.
Within a short time there will be spontaneous outburst in our country
and this will take the form of a national uprising. Our India is a vast country.
The people of this country are groaning under exploitation and oppression.
Gradually these two camps the exploiters and the exploited – are moving
towards a confrontation.
Discontent is smouldering among the exploited people. They will refuse
to submit to oppression for a long time. There will be spontaneous outbursts
of the peoples’ resentment in different places. When the resentment of the
people of this vast country will explode, no reactionary government will be
powerful enough to put it down. That is why the fall of the reactionary
government is inevitable. So the reactionary Indira government has been
trying to build up a strong Centre, for they can anticipate the future awaiting
them. This vast country has many problems. Moreover, they have created
another problem – ‘Bangladesh’. Tamil Nadu has already raised the demand
for autonomy. The vast land between Bihar and Gujarat is inhabited by
adivasis. There is no limit to the exploitation of the adivasi masses. The
workers in the industrial areas of Maharashtra are victims of severe
exploitation. Terrible is the exploitation of the peasantry of Mysore; the
same is true of the other regions in the south. One cannot calculate and
predict beforehand when the unrest among the oppressed people of our
country will find its expression and in what form. Chairman has said that in
the next 50 to 100 years there will occur many events which were
inconceivable before. In our country, too, such events as cannot be
conceived of beforehand will take place.
On the other hand, the heroic people of Vietnam are providing courage
and inspiration to the people of the entire world. They are waging a struggle
that has no parallel. If Vietnam is liberated, fire will blaze up throughout
South-east Asia. With Vietnam as the central issue, the governments of
Asian, African and Latin American countries, together with those of other
40 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
countries, are clamouring against U.S. imperialism. Besides, they have
established relations with Socialist China, the great citadel of world
revolution. In our country the Nagas and the Mizos were waging entirely
national struggles to realize their demand for separate states, but they
forged relations with China when they observed the struggle of the heroic
people of Vietnam.
An upsurge is coming – a country-wide upsurge. We must keep this
upsurge in view. Only then shall we have confidence in ourselves. In days
before, we witnessed upsurge in one or two districts. The upsurge that is
coming will spread over a far wider area and will attain a still higher stage
than in the past. One should bear in mind that the advance of struggle is
not evolutionary but revolutionary. Our country will not be liberated even
by the year 2001, what to speak of 1975, if we take into consideration only
the pace in which the struggle led by our Party is advancing. It is because
the progress and development of struggle is revolutionary that the upsurge
which occurred in a small area yesterday will not remain confined within
that area and that the struggle will attain greater intensity and reach a
higher stage in the coming days than before.
Is it possible for us to lead everywhere the coming upsurge? Certainly
not. The struggle in those areas where it will be led by our Party’s conscious
leadership will set an example to the struggle in other areas where there
will be no such leadership. If, today, we can implement agrarian reforms in
some areas, these may take place spontaneously in many other areas
during the revolutionary upsurge. Our conscious leadership will bring about
an armed revolutionary upsurge and through this armed revolutionary
upsurge our leadership will gradually be established everywhere.
It is our duty today to carry forward the work of building the Party among
the basic masses and set up a joint front with the broadest sections of the
people on the basis of struggle. It is possible to build the broadest joint
front against Congress rule. Today the “leftist” parties refuse to provide
leadership to the common people in the struggle against the oppression
the Congress perpetrates on them. The worker-peasant masses who are
within the folds of those parties feel resentment against their leadership.
We have to carry on efforts to unite with them on the basis of united struggle.
Even those who once acted as our enemies will come forward in special
circumstances to unite with us. We must have the largeness of mind to
unite with such forces. Largeness of mind is a quality of the Communists.
Today, it is the people’s interest that demands united struggle, it is the
August, 2019 41
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
people’s interest that is the Party’s interests.
Assessment Of The Role Of Comrade Charu Mazumdar
Before closing this part of our struggle against left adventurism, let us
discuss the role of Comrade Charu Mazumdar in our struggle.
When the old CC was revived and an organized ideological, political
and organizational struggle was taken up against the left deviation of
Comrade Charu Mazumdar, though its struggle was basically correct, the
old CC declared that Comrade Charu was counter-revolutionary and a
Trotskyite and expelled him from the Party. But this was only a majority
decision. Due to pressure from the ranks this order of expulsion was
withdrawn.
The CC cannot accept either the evaluation of Comrade Charu or the
expulsion order. Both are absolutely wrong.
Comrade Charu Mazumdar did a good service in the struggle against
the parliamentary path pursued by the CPM leadership while being in that
Party itself, in bringing the struggle for Armed Agrarian Revolution and
People’s War as the key task for all Communist Revolutionaries to achieve
New Democratic Revolution under the leadership of the working class, took
a leading part in organizing the great Naxalbari Armed Peasant Struggle
and on the basis of this struggle, led the Communist Revolutionaries for an
ideological, political and organizational break with revisionism and neo-
revisionism and put the Communist Revolutionaries on the path of Armed
Agrarian Revolution. These were his positive contributions for the Indian
Revolution, in the beginning of our past 13 years of struggle. It is true in
the later period he slipped into left deviation, took to left adventurist line
both politically and organizationally and committed very serious mistakes
on various important matters of principle, affecting our strategy, tactics,
assessment of the national and international situation and party organization
and brought great damage to the cause of Indian Revolution, as explained
earlier.
But our opposition to his left deviation in the later period should not
blind us to recognize his positive contributions in the beginning of our struggle
in this period. Therefore, the CC considers that, in spite of his left deviation,
Comrade Charu Mazumdar was revolutionary and a Marxist-Leninist.
(From the Basic Lessons of the Past 13 years of Struggle (1967-80)
42 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
Protest against the ban of the
anti-fascist memorial event on the
occasion of the 75th anniversary
of the execution of Ernst
Thälmann
(This statement was issued by the CC of Marxist
Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) on 25 July 2019)
Dear colleagues and comrades,
W e are writing to you because of an outrageous incident: the
Internationalist Alliance, a formation of 38 organizations in which the MLPD
also works, has registered a memorial event for Ernst Thälmann, the
chairman of the Communist Party of Germany on 17 August in the
concentration camp Buchenwald. 75 years ago, he was executed there by
the henchmen of Hitlerite fascism. Some of you have already visited the
concentration camp Buchenwald. Last week a letter came from the
foundation that manages the memorial, signed by Mr. Rikola-Gunnar
Lüttgenau: The event in remembrance of Ernst Thälmann is banned – and
this, although it had already been approved! Members or supporters of the
MLPD are even threatened with "being denied access to the memorial“.
Something like this has never happened before!
More and more letters of protest are coming from a broad spectrum of
people, among them descendants of former, also Jewish prisoners. They
express their consternation and declare their solidarity!
In a letter of those who registered the event, Tassilo Timm and Klaus
Dimler (himself a son of a concentration camp prisoner and resistance
fighter in Buchenwald), the incident is rightly qualified as an “excess of
anti-communism“.
In the attempt of the Foundation to give a reason for the ban, false
allegations are being made, as for example the allegation that the
Internationalist Alliance, in which also Palestinian groups cooperate, are
August, 2019 43
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
supposedly antisemitic - because of their completely justifiable criticism
of the policies of the Israeli government. This is all in line with the rightward
development of the government in Germany and the anti-communist
defamation campaign, which is steered by the Office for the Protection of
the Constitution, and the paradigm change of bourgeois anti-fascism it
initiated. More and more, the great number of victims and sacrifices of the
Soviet Union, the Red Army and the communists are being completely
ignored and only the Jewish victims and sacrifices being honored.
Of course, the Internationalist Alliance will not bow to this ban!
Buchenwald is a symbol of the most brutal terror of the Hitlerite fascists in
the service of German monopoly capital. In the concentration camp
Buchenwald were especially political prisoners, communists, social-
democrats, trade-unionists and other antifascists of many nationalities.
Buchenwald stands for the unique self-liberation of a concentration camp
in Germany, under the leadership of an international camp committee led
by communists, among them the father of the notifier Klaus Dimler. Ernst
Thälmann was a role model for the unbroken resistance, even under the
most brutal conditions.
Dear friends, colleagues and comrades,
We request that you support the protest against the ban of the memorial
event!
Write declarations of protest to the foundation of the concentration camp
Buchenwald.
Request especially well-known persons to send short letters of protest
to the Foundation!
Write to us. We would be happy to forward letters to the Foundation and
the Internationalist Alliance or organize translation!
Thank you already today and sincere greetings,
Monika Gärtner-Engel
CC MLPD, responsible person for internationalism
44 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)

Generral Council of Chief Guest Dr.

AIKMS Held in
Golak Bihari
Nath

Berhampur (Odisha)
addressing the
General
Council
The General Council of All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS) began in
Berhampur on July 30, 2019 at 11 am. A total of 101 delegates and 25
invitees from 7 states participated. The GC began with the flag hoisting of
AIKMS flag by Senior Vice President, Comrade Sushanto Jha as AIKMS
President Com. Vemulapalli Venkatramaiah had fallen ill. As the flag rose,
the delegates raised slogans hailing the red flag and the sacrifice of martyrs,
while Arunodaya team from Andhra Pradesh led by Comrade Sriniwas sang economist and retired Professor of Economics from Kalinga university rose
a song with the same message. to speak and greeted the delegates with a warm Red Salute.

Thereafter the delegates entered the hall and National Secretary, He began by saying that the country today is facing its worst economic
Comrade Bhalchandra invited the AIKMS central executive members, the slowdown with unemployment at all time high, inequality rising, PSUs on
Chairman of the Reception Committee, advocate Bhagwan Sahu, the Chief sale, health, education and railways being handed over to MNCs and the
Guest, Prof. Gokul Bihari Nath and editor of Samdrushti, Shri Sudhir corporate taking over agriculture. Unable to stop the decline the govt is
Pattnaik to the dais. Along with handing over the proceedings to Comrade
S. Jha, who presided over the proceedings in the absence of AIKMS
president, Com. V Venkatramaiah, he sought approval of the house for
naming the venue after comrade Rajendra Shadangi and the dining place
after comrade Jacob Rait.
Comrade JV Chalapati Rao and Dharampal Singh presented the martyrs
resolution and a 2 minute silence was observed in their memory. Thereafter
the songs in memory of martyrs were rendered by comrades Sriniwas and
Dharampal and the house raised an applause with slogans.
The proceedings of the General Council began with Sri Bhagwan Sahu,
welcoming the delegates by presenting narratives of struggles of landless
peasants in Ganjam district where the event was taking place. He said
that a number of peasants had become martyrs in their struggles for land
in Ganjam/Berhampur area. Death never deterred them from sustaining
the struggle. The crisis today has depended further.
Thereafter the chief guest, Dr. Golak Bihari Nath, a renowned pro-people AIKMS CEC on the dias

August, 2019 45 46 August, 2019

 NEW DEMOCRACY Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
trying to polarize society, increase jingoism, attack minorities and dalits After some time the production started stagnating. At this time it was realised
through cow vigilantes and demoralize intellectuals by charging them of that the soil had been destroyed by the use of chemicals. Though the
being Urban Naxals. W hen 49 intellectuals wrote to the PM against benefit of this had gone to MNCs, now again newer seeds, GM seeds, are
communal attacks, he countered this with 62 intellectuals criticizing them. being promoted by them in the name of addressing this crisis. They are
It is a hey day for the RSS as RSS pracharaks are on all significant decision also promoting Green Revolution in the eastern states despite it having
making positions of the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Home failed in Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and AP.
and Defence Minsiters.
Now that old seeds are not working well, market driven economic growth
Highlighting the agrarian crisis, he said agriculture contributes just 14% is being promoted in which external factors matter most, he said. The benefit
to India’s GDP while 60% of the people depend on it. It is the mainstay of of this will again go to MNCs dealing with these inputs, like Monsanto,
peoples’ income, employment and food security. While the disparity between Walmart, Bayer, and other MNCs. Along with this, subsidies for peasants
agriculture and industry is rising, it is leading to higher unemployment and are being reduced, PSUs are being sold off in the name of flow of capital
disguised unemployment. The main reasons for decline in agriculture, he and technology. He said the private sector is being promoted, grain markets
said are rise in input costs with no commensurate rise in crop value and are being deregulated for MNCs to buy from open markets, role of FCI and
fall in income. A major reason for this is that the govt is just not procuring PDS is being reduced, all of which are leading to increase in peasant crisis.
enough. This is making agriculture unviable and now suicides have Peasants are deserting farming and unfortunately many of them do not
increased to cover all states of India. have land to fall back upon. In recent times he said distress sale of almost
all crops have impacted the economy of peasants and in some areas they
He said that in 1947 the main slogan for agriculture was land to the have been risen in struggle.
tiller. The govt was forced to take up land reforms. What it implemented
was removal of intermediary tenures, granting security of tenures, placing Criticising the Modi govt he said that though it had promised C2 plus
a ceiling on land ownership and distribution of ceiling surplus land. But 50% as the MSP of all crops, fact is that it told the Supreme Court that
security of tenure, ceiling and distribution were not completed in any state assuring this MSP will distort markets. He said the govt has repeatedly
and only intermediaries were removed. He laid emphasis that land is not
just an economic issue, it is a political issue and we must treat it as such.
He said tenancy operations, share cropping, are present in all states of
the country. This he said is a semi feudal relationship. Now the govts are
stopping distribution of land to the poor and are continuing tenancy and
developing contract farming. Vinoba Bhave and Bhoodan were brought in
only to betray the Telangana Movement’s demands. Even in West Bengal
land distribution happened only partially.
He said that later in the 1960s, the govt of India shifted from structural
reforms in agriculture to technological transformation, i.e. HYV seeds,
chemical fertilzers, insecticides, drawing water, using machinery, all part
of the Green Revolution. The benefit of this went to the landlords and the
rich peasants, as it is they who were able to increase land under their
control and the poor did not have any land to be able to benefit from this
change. In this the main crops promoted were paddy and wheat, not others. Delegates at the General Council

August, 2019 47 48 August, 2019

 NEW DEMOCRACY
told lies to the parliament that it is giving 50% more than the costs. Now,
faced with the protests it is effectively saying that though it will not give
MSP, it shall pay a Bhavantar, i.e. to compensate the deficit in price below
the floor price. He said govt interventions of Kalia, Rytu Bandhu and PM
Kisan are all small economic interventions which cannot solve the agrarian
crisis. We must understand this is a political crisis.
Talking about peasant indebtedness, he said that while in 2003, 47%
peasants were indebted, in 2012-13 more than 61% were in debt. Of the
states, the highest indebtness is in AP, followed by states of Punjab, TN,
Kerala, Karnataka and Maharastra. He said this has led to a massive
increase in role of private moneylenders and the private business lenders,
who deal not only in selling inputs, but also in purchasing crops. With this
they control agricultural operations. Earlier, he said, the govt used to do
much of this. Now the landlords, rich peasants, middle class, traders and
MNCs dominate over water regulation, markets, seeds, labour and credit.
With regard to infrastructure building, he said, the govt. is changing the
Land Acquisition Act of 2013 which was a result of peasant struggles.
Today 70% of the displaced persons are uprooted due to big dams and of
them 40% are tribals. The price of this development is being paid by the
poor, tribals and Dalits.
He said the question of forests is a state subject, not a central subject
and the govt is its owner. But for the govt now it is a source of revenue,
not a source of preserving India’s environment, ecology, biodiversity and
life and livelihood of the poor people. The govt is unwilling to abide by the
FRA, 2006 and it wants to uproot the tribals and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers. It is totally undermining the rights of Gram Sabhas under the
PESA Act.
The govt launched the PM Fasal Bima Yojana with much fanfare, but
its plan is only to benefit the private companies, not the peasants. In the
name of farmers, govt funds are being diverted to private companies. It is
using PMFBY as a slogan to divert attention from peasant demands for
reducing input costs, granting MSP at 50% more than C2 and for procuring
all crops. Its slogan for Doubling Farmers' Income by 2022 is a complete
fraud and now it is postponing even this target by talking about New India
by 2025. He said BJP keeps winning despite this cheating because all
other parties also have nothing material to offer to the peasants.
August, 2019 49
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Finally, he exhorted the delegates to carry forward the great banner of
the struggles which we have inherited from our predecessors, the Great
Telangana Armed Struggle, the Tebhaga Struggle and the Naxalbari Armed
Peasant Struggle. Wider unity of peasant organizations is the need of the
hour. The demands of land, irrigation, MSP, security of tenure, FRA
implementation, employment to rural poor are all on the agenda of struggles
now. But peasants are being politically divided along party lines. He also
said peasants are divided along demands raised by the leaders of the rich
sections, the rich peasants and the landlords like Sharad Joshi and Tikait
and the other working sections, the small, marginal and middle peasants
and the landless.
He said our fight for peasants must have an agenda and that should
include the demands of ceiling on land holdings, distribution of ceiling
surplus land, to drive out the landlords and the corporate from agriculture,
the implementation of the FRA, the rights for share croppers and the security
of tenure for them. The ideological and political basis for this can only be
ML politics, with its anti colonial, anti imperialist, anti feudal struggles.
This needs to be advanced. He said without a ideology we cannot advance
and we must remember what Marx said, “Working people of the World
Unite, You have Nothing to Lose”.
A brief translation of his speech was done by Sri Raja Suresh, President
of Humanist Rationalist Organization of Brahmapur.
Editor of Samdrushti, Shri Sudhir Pattnaik also addressed the delegates
briefly. He said that de-politicization of agrarian issues by itself is a political
act, which is disempowering peasantry by making them dole dependent.
He said that land reforms have not been implemented because it was never
the agenda of those who came to power after the British left. We must
understand that we have no control over our own labour, simply because
we do not have land and we have to labour on land which belongs to others.
He said that technological changes have further upset structural issues
by widening inequality since those who had access to capital, they only
could benefit. He emphasised that one should not give up struggle for
land, as land has been targeted by big players across the globe. Once
corporate entities acquire land, its values increases hundred to 5 hundred
times, as it has been seen in Kalingnagar and elsewhere. Thus, under
valuing one’s own land strengthens the corporate agenda of maximizing
50 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
their value once it comes in their possession and the perpetuation of
destitution among peasantry continues.
He explained that those who own small and marginal land holdings, are
not the real owners of land, as they become slaves to the market and
financial institutions. Right from buying seeds, fertilizers, chemical
pesticides to that of availing machines, tractors, harvesters etc. market
decides their choices and options. Therefore, he explained that even transfer
of land to tiller does not provide effective ownership as market and money
control everything.
He decried ruling classes for selling 30,000 varieties of Indian paddy to
foreign powers and eroding our own seed wealth. Now we are dependent on
them for seeds, which we owned at one time. For all inputs we are now
dependent on markets controlled by the corporate. This does not matter to
the rich, but the poor are always at their mercy. Because of this condition
of dependence on inputs, the govt. is able to promote corporate dominated
contract farming now.He ended by asking the delegates to pay serious
attention to these questions.
After this session, the delegates reassembled at 3 pm. The GS first
presented the report, mainly its political part. The report had already been
received by all delegates in time, though translations in Telugu, Bengali
and Odia were not available. The main emphasis of the report was on the
changes that had taken place since IIIrd conference held in April 2016. It
summed up the present conditions of land ownership, the conditions of
rural employment and wages, including wages of women, the attack on
tribals and FRA,changes in land acquisition laws and rules, facts relating
to PDS, Mnrega and Pensions, loan waivers, the impact of GST and
demonetization, the launch of various schemes of the central govt and the
facts relating to them – PMFBY, Jandhan, JAM, DFI, Ramesh Chandra
Committee report and Doubling Farmers Income, Swaminathan Committee
report and MSP debate, the crisis which befell sale of several crops,
formation of FPOs, ODF and SBA, the direct income schemes and the
changes in agriculture related laws to help corporate penetration.
The report also covered detailed activities of the Central Executive
Committee, in brief of the State Executive Commitees and the important
struggles. The most significant of these have been the resistance of tribals
in Telangana against eviction, the struggle for Dalit lands in Punjab, the
August, 2019 51
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
joint movement with other peasant organizations against loan recovery
and our participation in the programmes of All India Kisan Sangharsh
Coordiation Committee.
The report mainly drew lessons to lay emphasis on land and wage
struggles, on building peoples’ struggles against semi feudal exploitation
and building resistance struggles, on improving organizational functioning,
on conducting objective surveys to study class contradictions in rural areas,
amongst others.
There after the presidium allotted 7 hours time to delegates to express
their views, with a maximum of 10 minutes to each speaker. A total of 25
delegates spoke, suggesting changes and enriched the discussion.
Comrade JV helped with the translations. Thereafter the report was
approved unanimously by the house next day after full and proper discussion.
Just as the report was being approved news of martyrdom of Comrade
Linganna came in and after announcement of the details, the house paid
homage to his contribution to the movement and observed a silence for 2
minutes.
Thereafter resolutions were presented and approved unanimously. Com.
K. Rangaiah presented the resolution on Attacks on Tribals and OTFD;
Com. Tarsem Peter on Rural debts, distress, suicides; Com. Rambriksh
Ram on Conditions of agricultural labour; Com. Shambhu Prasad on the
attack on Unnao Rape Victim; Com. Bhalchandra Sarangi on intensifying
Communal and Caste Attacks; Com. Sudhakar on changes in Industrial
labour laws; Com. Sushanto Jha on changes in UAPA, NIA and repression
on people and one on hailing contribution of Comrade Charu Mazumdar on
his 100th birth anniversary; Com. Dharmapal on Increasing penetration of
corporates in agriculture.
Then the General Council took up the agenda of filling its vacant positions
and unanimously approved Comrade Jatinder Singh of KKU, Punjab as
member of CEC.
And finally, the Council adopted a call for struggle on the eviction of
tribals and other attacks on peasantry, beginning with a two week campaign
on August 9, the World Adivasi Day and culminating with protests at district
headquarters.
52 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
National Medical Commission Bill;
A Cure Worse Than the Malady
That the health of India’s health care system is in dire straits is a self-
evident reality. It is also true that the Medical Council of India (MCI), the
body in charge of regulating the medical profession hither to,had
metamorphosed into a den of corruption. It is another thing that much of
this corruption was facilitated with the collusion of the political
establishment. Even a cursory google search with the key words ‘Ketan
Desai’ (the stupendously corrupt former president of MCI) and ‘BJP’ will
lend enough evidence of the bonhomie between the two. The situation, as
such, was crying for a major overhaul, and to put it in the words of the
union Minister for Health and Family Welfare the ‘National Medical
Commission Bill’(NMC Bill / Bill for short) is to be the “biggest reform.” It is
another thing that much of the medical fraternity seems convinced of this
being a dive to the bottom and is up in arms to oppose the bill.
The road to hell, they say, is paved with good intentions; likewise, there
are plenty of flowery phrases, concerns and platitudes to health care needs
in the Bill that has now been passed by both the houses of the parliament.
The bill talks of developing “competency based dynamic curriculum at
undergraduate level”; of “addressing the needs of primary health services,
community medicine and family medicine”; of “quality and standards to be
maintained in medical education”; of “regulating professional conduct and
promoting medical ethics”, and the like. It would however be naïve to take
these words on face value in as much as their true import is coloured by
the overall context of among the most privatized, iniquitous, unjust, for
profit health care system in India which sends more than sixty million Indians
below one of the stingiest poverty lines in the world.
None of these attributes is intended to be reversed by any of the
provisions of this Bill. In fact, speaking in support of the Bill in the parliament,
union minister, Mahesh Sharma, owner of Kailash Group of hospitals, said
– “there has been 25 to 30 percent of growth in country’s medical tourism
every year and for continuation of this trend, the country needs good doctors
and good medical facilities. The Bill provides for that.”
The union minister for ‘Health and Family Welfare’, Dr Harsh Vardhan,
while introducing the Bill in Lok Sabha, described it as a ‘pro-poor’ legislation
August, 2019 53
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
for the reason that – “it would bring not only the government seats but also
50 percent of all private seats within the reach of the meritorious students
belonging to economically weaker sections.” It is another thing that just a
few months back, his own party’s government in the state of Uttarakhand
had allowed private medical colleges in the state to increase the fees by
400 hundred percent. The increase had to be withdrawn after the hue and
cry raised by the students and their families was aired by a popular national
TV channel almost in a campaign mode.
It is important nevertheless for us to take a look at some of the specifics
of the Bill to pin down the government’s lies and gain clarity on why this
Bill must be opposed tooth and nail to safeguard the health care needs of
the people, especially the poorer sections; safeguard the genuine interests
of medical students and the larger medical fraternity, and the dignity of
medical profession. In this respect the following provisions of the Bill are
of utmost concern:
National Exit Test
Clause 15 of the NMC Bill provides for National Exit Test (NEXT) for
granting license to practice medicine and enrolment in the State Register
or the National Register which shall also be the basis for admission to
postgraduate broad-speciality medical education in medical institutions. It
is also stated that the final MBBS professional examination shall serve the
purpose of this ‘Exit Test.’ The question is how can this be put into practice
without dumbing down the rigorous process of assessing the student’s
competency both in medical theory and clinical methods?
Presently, the final MBBS exam entails not just a written exam, but
also an elaborate exam to test the student’s clinical skills, involving case
presentation and viva-voice etc. As such the process carries with it a lot
of subjective element of evaluation, and in practice is influenced by variation
in actual conditions across colleges in different regions of the country, for
example like infrastructure of the college, teacher student ratio, variation
in level and quality of teaching etc. and the pressure of producing a good
result, especially with respect to the private medical colleges. While on
one hand using such a process as the basis for comparing the merit of
students across regions and states for the purpose of securing a seat in a
post-graduation course will be inherently unjust; on the other hand
substituting the entire process by an objective type exam would imply
54 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
dumbing down of the entire assessment process and completely foregoing
assessment of student’s clinical abilities. Apart from introducing a huge
element of uncertainty in securing a seat in post-graduation for the medical
graduates, this move certainly has grave implications for the quality of
medical graduates to be trained in the country.
Finishing off the Inspector Raj
Both the health minister Harsh Vardhan and his cabinet colleague,
Mahesh Sharma bragged about the Bill finishing off the ‘Inspector Raj’ (i.e.
inspections carried out by MCI to ensure maintenance of required standards
by medical colleges) and seemingly the corruption linked with such a
process. As per the new provisions, there shall be no annual inspections
once the college has been granted permission to start under-graduate or
post-graduate courses. Not just this, the college shall also need no further
approval for increasing the number of under-graduate or post-graduate seats
subsequently. Any issues of infrastructure standards and quality of
education arising thereof, shall apparently be taken care of by the
accreditation process to be carried out by the ‘National Assessmentand
Accreditation Council.’
If a non-existent university (the proposed Jio Institute to be set up by
the Mukesh Ambani led Reliance group) can be granted the status of an
‘Institute of Eminence’ then such provisions introduced in this Bill should
come as a matter of little surprise. What need indeed be feared is the
implications of this for the quality of medical education in the country where
auctioning of both under and post-graduate seats in private medical colleges
is a well acknowledged phenomenon. Given the fact that the Bill makes
ample provision for absolute control of the government on NMC, all that
can be expected is that the transactions which transpired between private
colleges and the corrupt MCI till the other day, shall now be monopolised
by the political bosses and their mandarins in the Ministry. All the glib talk
of doing away with the Inspector Raj notwithstanding, the Bill actually makes
provision for the proposed ‘Medical Assessment and Rating Board’to “hire
and authorise any other third-party agency or persons for carrying out
inspections of medical institutions for assessing and rating such
institutions.” There already exist private agencies in the country that
specialize in providing teachers for private medical colleges at the time of
inspections. With cronyism ruling the roost in the country, this Bill creates
a rife possibility of such agencies now donning the mantle of even the
August, 2019 55
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
‘regulators’, of course with due care to make them appear genuine.
Formalizing quackery
Provision for a bridge course, proposed in the initial draft of the Bill, to
enable the practitioners of other systems of medicine e.g. Homeopathy
and Indian Systems of Medicine, for qualifying them to practice Allopathy,
had been among the most contentious provisions of the Bill. The government
is now being smart by the half in claiming that it has done away with the
provision. The substitution made in this regard, has in fact even more
dangerous portents. Section 32 of the Bill states - “The Commission may
grant limited licence to practice medicine at mid-level as Community Health
Provider to such person connected with modern scientific medical profession
who qualify such criteria as may be specified by the regulations.”
The ambiguity plastered on face of this provision provides evidence of
less than pious intentions of the government. In place of practitioners of
‘recognized systems of medicine’ in the initial provision now we must bear
persons‘connected(emphasis ours) with modern scientific medical
profession.’ While the initial provision at least talked of a ‘bridge course’,
the new provision is silent on the method by which the ‘Commission’ will
grant ‘limited license’ to such ‘Connected’ persons to practice modern
medicine.
The real intent actually is quite nefarious. The ruling elite in the country
have miserably failed to provide the services of qualified doctors to the
under-served sections of the population by replacing regular posts of
doctors in the public health care system with under-paid contractual jobs.
This has resulted in a schism where we have a poorly functional public
health care system for the poor on one hand, and costly privatized health
care, subsidized by the government in various ways, for the rich on the
other. In order to appear to be providing medical care to the poor as well,
for the sake of record, the government now seeks to formalize this schism
through such dubious mechanisms.
Lest there be any confusion, it need be emphasized that such measures
have nothing in common with the laudable concept of ‘bare foot doctors’
practiced in rural China after revolution in 1949, or for that matter the
emphasis placed in the report of the ‘Santokh Singh Sokhey Committee’
set up by the ‘National Planning Committee’ of the then Congress in 1938,
56 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
which advocated reliance on training ‘intelligent young men and women
from rural areas, proficient in their mother tongue’ for the purpose of providing
primary level medical care to the people in rural areas. These proposals
had the provision of serially training such health workers to higher levels,
with a substantial number of them being ultimately trained to become full
doctors.
Marginalizing medical professionals and banishing health care
consumers from the regulatory mechanism
While one would be hard pressed to put up a defence of MCI for what it
had become (and not without the collusion of the political establishment),
it need be emphasized here that it was at least an elected body of doctors
where in 70 of its 100 members were chosen through an electoral process.
The need actually was to make MCI more accountable for its actions keeping
in mind the health care needs of the country, and perhaps make it more
inclusive by including other stakeholders such as representatives of medical
faculty, resident doctors and those working on the social aspects of health.
The new Bill however presents NMC as a complete subsidiary of the
government with the selection of its office bearers and members; its
finances, its functioning and powers, all being comprehensively controlled
by the government. It makes a provision where in – “Central Government
may, by notification, supersede the Commission for such period,not
exceeding six months, as may be specified in the notification.”As such
this would render the NMC as an instrument of pushing the political and
economic agenda of the government of the day in the field of health, rather
than primarily being an instrument for ensuring the highest standards in
medical practice, ethics and morality.
Inimical to federal scheme of the constitution
Even though health is primarily a state subject with only certain areas
being clearly demarcated for legislation by the Central government, the
emergent trend is that when it comes to health failures such as AES (acute
encephalitis syndrome) deaths in Muzaffarpur or Gorakhpur, it is the state
government that is to be held responsible, but in deciding policies and the
manner of functioning of health services, the Central government shall call
the shots. NMC Bill categorically states – “The Central Government may
give such directions, as it may deem necessary, to a State Government
August, 2019 57
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
for carrying out all or any of the provisions of thisAct and the State
Government shall comply with such directions.”
While much could be elaborated on this aspect, one may just cite the
example of massive student protests that rocked the state of Tamil Nadu
in September 2017 after a student S Anitha, from a poor family, who scored
1176 marks out of a total of 1200marks in the Tamil Nadu Senior Secondary
Board exam, committed suicide when she could not make it to a medical
college for failing to clear the uniform NEET (National Eligibility and
Entrance Test) exam conducted for entrance to medical colleges throughout
the country; the reason being that the syllabus of Tamil Nadu board is
different from the CBSE (Central Board for Secondary Education). This
enforces the need for uniformity of school syllabi across different states of
the country irrespective of great variance in their social, economic, cultural
and political context. To say the least, rather than imposing artificial
uniformity throughout a country as diverse as ours, there is a need for a
much careful and all-inclusive deliberations rather than pushing such
measures down the throat of the people.
It is clear from the present onslaught of the government that it is unwilling
to reverse its drive towards the lock, stock and barrel privatization of health
services system (including medical education) aimed at profit maximization,
which actually is at the root of the present malaise in afflicting the health
services and health education in the country. There is much in this bill
which demands a far more comprehensive public scrutiny than has been
afforded by the present union government. Even though the odds seem
stacked against us, the present strike struggle launched by the larger
medical fraternity and the resident doctors in particular to oppose the
implementation of the NMC Bill is a commendable effort to safeguard not
just the sectional interests of medical professionals, but of the impoverished
masses at large.
The Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum calls upon all members
of medical faculty, resident doctors, medical students, scientists working
in the area of health and the people at large to resolutely stand behind this
struggle in order to defeat the nefarious designs of this government.
58 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
Unnao Rape Survivor- When
Public Anger at Lethal Attack Has
Woken the Supreme Court
(Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan, Delhi, Progressive
Organization of Women, Andhra Pradesh & Telengana
and Istri Jagriti Manch, Punjab)
The lethal crash targeting the car in which the Unnao rape survivor and
her family were travelling has happened in a given political milieu when the
first session of the newly elected Parliament was on and the corporate
media also gave the issue almost continual coverage. This allowed the
facts of the case to come before the people in a big and clear way and a
wave of anger and horror has swept the country. This alone has worked to
stir the Supreme Court into much belated preliminary action, even as the
young girl who should have got justice from courts lies fighting between
life and death at the KGMC Hospital in Lucknow (UP) and what is left of her
family struggles to cope.
Towards the end of 2018 itself, the family of the girl knew it would be
impossible to get justice if the case continued in UP and the current
revelation that there is no judge in the designated CBI court since the past
three months is only one more proof. Their proper petition for transfer of all
cases to Delhi has been pending since April 2019 in the Supreme Court
after earlier spending time in the Registry. This is a case under POCSO
Act where already the child’s father had been killed in custody, where the
very FIR of rape by the MLA was registered only after direction of a court
after the custodial death and also the child’s attempt to immolate herself
outside CM Yogi’s office. Not only did the survivor and her family’s letter
to the CJI pointing out threat to life lie unattended in the Registry since 12th
July 2019, this case which has now been heard by the Supreme Court on
1st August 2019 was also there for the past four months. Had it been given
attention, maybe there would have been no car accident, maybe the survivor
would not have been battling for life. It has been reported that the CJI has
asked the Registrar to investigate why the letter was not placed before
him, but the process for files under POCSO also better be attended to as
in this case it is clear that the apex Court had full opportunity to intervene
August, 2019 59
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
much before the survivor was lying fighting for her life.
The longstanding demand has been that the survivor’s cases should
be tried outside the state of UP and in fast track courts and under the
supervision of the Supreme Court. This has now been announced by the
Court, which has also announced other measures for witness protection,
for compensation, etc. These cover the sphere that earlier similar
judgements of Supreme Court on similar issues have done.
All this, even the implied condemnation by the apex Court of the state
Govt’s actions, has not yet been able to force the BJP RSS to clearly
discard the accused MLA. Second, the investigation into the vehicle crash
which has endangered the life of the survivor, her lawyer and killed her
aunts, is in the hands of CBI- the proverbial caged parrot. This is not just
a POCSO case, it is of a poor family fighting for justice against a powerful
person who is also a member of the party ruling both at the Centre and in
the state of UP. It is clear from the uncle‘s FIR that several other BJP
RSS functionaries with family ties to ministers are involved in openly acting
with the accused apart from the compliant police and other state machinery.
Only the continued vigilance of the people’s organizations can ensure
that those who have terrorized the survivor and her family including siblings
even younger than her, who have murdered her aunts and father and
attacked her own life as well as that of her lawyer, are actually punished
by the Courts. Surety of punishment is the only detterent. The RSS BJP
Govt. offers ‘death sentence’ for every form of violence (other than custodial
violence and rape) on women to distract people from the real issues at
stake, advocates ‘death sentence’ for POCSO cases, for gang rapes etc;
but what has been implemented by its state Govt. and functionaries in U.
P.? In the case of this survivor, it is pushing the family to economic
destitution and what amounts to extra legal death sentences for the family
and for the girl herself who s battling for life because the family committed
the ‘crime’ of fighting the rape of the child by a BJP MLA.
It should not be forgotten that on the 1st of August, the very day that
the CJI Bench heard this case, news again surfaced of the Supreme Court
employee who has, through signed affidavit, accused the CJI of sexual
harassment. Hindustan Times reported on the first page of the Delhi edition
that the woman had withdrawn her petition against illegal termination of her
services due to the intervention of ‘a very senior officer’ of the Government.
60 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
Patriarchy and patriarchal violence against women needs not only to
be fought from case to case but it needs to be fought in its entirety. It is
the social structure that sustains it and which must be targeted for complete
change by the serious women’s movements.
Trivializing, Evading, Communalizing
Desertion- The Triple Talaq Bill
Criminalizes A Talaq –which –Isn’t!
(This comment was issued on behalf of Progreesive
Organization of W omwn Telengana, POW Andhra
Pradesh, Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan Delhi and Istri
Jagriti Manch, Punjab.)
The Supreme Court of India has already upheld that triple talaq is not
valid- is no talaq at all, and the marriage contract shall be therefore deemed
continuing to stand unless terminated by valid divorce proceedings. It also
cited that most Islamic countries had also done away with this form of
talaq.
Using the same examples of Islamic countries, the BJP Central Govt.
brought a bill on Triple Talaq into the ongoing session of Parliament and
has got it passed in both Houses, in Rajya Sabha with the help of members
of opposition parties which say they oppose the Bill. Introducing the Bill in
the Upper House; the Law Minister explained that just because the Supreme
Court has already said triple talaq is not talaq at all, that does not curb the
overarching right of the Parliament to legislate on the issue. Thus did he
try to glibly wriggle around the fundamental problem with the Bill his Govt.
is out to enact- that the problem is not that it says triple talaq is no talaq,
something which has already been laid down by the Supreme Court. The
issue is that it seeks to do something totally other- seeks to criminalize an
August, 2019 61
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
issue for one community in a realm which is governed by civil laws for the
rest of the citizens.
While seeking to demonize Muslim men in the name of rights of Muslim
women, the Bill scales down or takes a bite out of the rights given by
virtue of marriage to Muslim women. When triple talaq does not amount to
talaq and the marriage contract continues to exist, from where does the
wife get saddled with having to look for maintenance? That is what the Bill
allows her- right to maintenance. Why is she not entitled to equal share in
the finances of the household and in everything else? If the issue is that
she has actually been abandoned or deserted, the laws for maintenance
and for space in household already exist. The real issue is the accessibility
of these laws for women. Lack of government funded free shelter homes
for women even in the form of short stay homes, lack of job opportunities
and economic independence, difficult, prolonged legal procedures to access
rights allowed by laws, lack of protection officers, these are the issues
which afflict deserted women of all communities. Little use is served to the
women of any community and much harm is done to the movement for
women’s rights as a whole if the issue of desertion is communalized and
broken up, creating difficulties in the united fight for better implementation
of laws which too are a result of women’s struggles.
The Law Minister of India chose to refer to the anti Dowry act in the
Upper House, saying it already criminalizes an area covered by civil laws.
To consider that the extraction of Dowry should be considered under civil
laws can only be appreciated if one views laws from a Manuwadi point of
view. A related question also emerges- the Bill criminalizes triple talaq
which is already declared as no talaq anyway, but either party cannot be
denied the right to seek divorce through legal means and women must
guard against being pushed to view divorce itself as criminal. The Muslim
marriage especially is a contract and not a bond by the gods unlike the
Manuwadi code. Divorce is a right which women too have fought for world
over and it is a right of both partners in India too; it does not at all mean
that because the right exists, marriages will break.
It is also true that when a woman, irrespective of the religion she
practices, registers a criminal complaint against her husband under the
Anti Dowry Act, it will embitter the marital and family relationship just as it
will do so when a Muslim woman lodges a criminal complaint against him
of triple talaq (which is no talaq). Who has denied this? Why do Govt.’s
62 August, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
spokespersons triumphantly assert this as a rebuttal to those who oppose
this Bill which only seeks to create a criminal action out of an act in the
arena of civil law and which has already been invalidated by the Supreme
Court.
Triple Talaq has rightly been invalidated by the Supreme Court and the
Muslim women who have fought this patriarchal provision in their Personal
laws including through law suits and against their own fundamentalists,
have extended the democratic space for all women. The women’s movement
must strengthen the fight for the rights of deserted women and for enactment
of laws on this issue. The movement is facing severe challenges as for
example by the whole scale withdrawal of the cases of gang rapes lodged
in Muzzaffarnagar; the successful lethal attack on the survivor of the Unnao
rape case and her family despite her repeated assertion even to the CJI of
threats to life and the UP Govt.’s efforts to deny the same; the continuing
burning issue of sexual harassment by powerful at workplace when all laws
seem to fall by the wayside and women’s characters are attacked from
ministerial offices, from pulpits of justice; the failure of implementation of
Domestic violence laws and lack of seriousness of all govt.s about them.
The need of the hour is united democratic movements by women to
fight patriarchal dominance and the system that upholds them and to fight
for a society where women are truly equals among equals. For this the
women’s movements must fight attempts to divide the struggles along
chauvinist, parochial lines. In such manipulations sometimes a section is
sought to be lured away from the united struggle in the name of special
concerns while another section is broken away in the name of greater
concerns. Women of all sections in India must recognize, first, that patriarchy
is sustained by our social structure; second, that manuwad is a blueprint
for patriarchal society. Only our united struggles for democratization of our
society are the way forward.
August, 2019 63
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
IFTU Appeal to Ordnance Workers
Worker comrades of ordnance factories!
You have taken up the challenge of fighting against privatization and
corporatization of the ordnance factories of India. These were built with
public money and the aim of any sovereign country has to be that it strives
towards self-sufficiency in defence equipment production. These ordnance
factories were one step in that direction. Not only has foreign investment
been permitted over past few years in defense sector, now the Central
govt.is embarking on selling off these production centres into corporate
hands. These centres, which have for so many years been kept adequately
working by the sweat and toil of you brave ordnance workers, are now to be
handed over to Adani and other corporate to fatten on profits extracted out
of the country's needs and from production centres built with public money!
The current step of making your factories into a PSU is but a step in that
direction.
This Central govt. is also attacking workers’ rights and jobs country
wide in all sectors. It is trying to get out of the severe economic crisis by
squeezing us even more and also the peasantry. It is only if there is money
to spend in the hands of workers and common people that there will be
markets to produce for, but this Govt, backed by corporate and doing their
bidding, is only in haste to increase corporate loot. Like all other sectors
yours too will be hit by increased demands of production for lesser wages,
retrenchments of permanent staff and determined contractualization of
workers.
The Indian Federation of Trade Unions supports the brave struggle you
are launching on the attack on your sector and jobs. We and our fighting
unions stand shoulder to shoulder with you in your struggle. IFTU will hold
support actions in solidarity with you. You are one in the chain of struggles
we workers will build around the country to defend our jobs, our rights and
against privatization and selling off of our public assets built on public
money and the sweat of our working class.
(Appeal by IFTU NC)
64 August, 2019