Bring PM under Lok Pal Bill: CPI

New Delhi

9 August 2007

The CPI has said that it will oppose the Bill for unorganised labour if it

is introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. The party also made known its

opposition to the micro finance Bill. It sought the immediate introduction of the Bill for 33

per cent reservation for women in Parliament and the Lok Pal Bill, which should bring the

Prime Minister under its purview too. The party also sought action on the Srikrishna

Commission Report on the 1993 Mumbai riots and a discussion on the Sacha Committee

Report.

Leader of CPI Parliamentary Party Gurudas Dasgupta on Thursday said: "Any Bill

injurious to the common people shall be opposed even through voting." He complained

that the government has several hundreds of crore of rupees to give to the exporters, to

help them tide over the reducing exchange value of the Rupee, but no money for the

unorganised labour. He said that a Bill on unorganised labour without provision of

statutory allocation is a hoax and the CPI will oppose the Bill if its introduced in

Parliament.

Mr Dasgupta said: "The CPI makes it clear that it shall oppose the proposed Central

legislation for the unorganised labour in its present form. It is nothing but a hoax. While

the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) had clearly stated one Bill for the

unorganised labour and another for the agricultural labour, the government has prepared

only a single legislation for the whole unorganised labour of the country." He feared that

the microfinance Bill, in turn, will legitimise the "money-lender system".

He said that the NCMP had become "an obsolete piece of paper" and the government

was not doing its duty to the people. The government, he said, should explain why all its

measures to hold the price line have failed. Training his guns on Union Minister of

Finance P Chidambaram, he said that the minister makes "pedantic speeches" but he

has not been able to arrest the galloping prices of essential commodities. "The minister

is cooking up statistics ... it is an illegitimate act," he said.

The CPI asked the government to review its policy on special economic zone. It said that

the public distribution system has collapsed and also reiterated its opposition to foreign

direct investment in retail.

PM to skip SCO Summit next week

New Delhi

8 Augut 2007

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not represent India at the

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit for the third year in a row. The 2007

SCO Summit will be held at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan next week.

Sources told this newspaper that Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee can be

expected to stand in for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the August 16 summit. New

Delhi has not made an official announcement yet.

The SCO was founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and

Uzbekistan. India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have observer status in the SCO. The US

applied for observer status but its request was turned down.

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora travelled to Shanghai for the

2006 Summit. The then minister of external affairs Natwar Singh represented India at the

2005 Summit at Astana in Kazakhstan.

India's low-key representation continued when Union Minister of State in the Prime

Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan was deputed to attend the SCO Heads of Government

(Prime Minister-level) Meeting held at Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in September last year.

New Delhi has been advancing the logic that there was no need for the Prime Minister to

attend the Summit because India was only an observer. Certain analysts, however, have

pointed out that all the other observer states were represented by their heads of state

and/or government at the Summit last year. The analysts said that New Delhi's thinking

was dictated by a desire to be seen as close to the US, especially at a time when both

sides were negotiating the proposed bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.

According to reports, the presidents of Iran and Mongolia are expected to attend the

Bishkek Summit. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the last Summit at

Shanghai. Pakistan is likely to be represented by its Foreign Minister Khurshid

Mehmood Kasuri. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov will be a

special guest.

Incidentally, Japan, an ally of the US, has realised the importance of Central Asia and

begun engaging the counties of the region, bilaterally and multilaterally. It formed the

Central Asia Plus Japan initiative in August 2004. All the five Central Asian countries are

involved in this dialogue. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit India later this

month. He is expected to address both Houses of Parliament on August 22. Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the Japanese Diet (Parliament) in December last

year.

Left says 123 pact falls short of PM promises

New Delhi

7 August 2007

The Left parties on Tuesday conveyed to Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh that his assurance to Parliament, that the proposed India-United States civilian

nuclear cooperation agreement will cover the entire nuclear fuel cycle, will be violated

under the terms set by the Hyde Act. They also said that a careful study of the 123

Agreement suggested that the Prime Minister's other assurances on India getting full

civilian nuclear cooperation including, but not limited to, sensitive nuclear technology,

dual-use items or uninterrupted fuel supply, were not likely to be met either.

The statement issued on Tuesday by the Left parties read: "While the 123 Agreement is

being presented as a victory for India's positions and conforming to the Prime Minister's

assurances in Parliament, we find that there are a number of issues on which it falls

short of what the Prime Minister had assured Parliament. While the Indian commitments

are binding and in perpetuity, some of the commitments that the US has made are either

quite ambiguous or are ones that can be terminated at a future date."

CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, who was joined by D Raja (CPI), Abani Roy

(RSP) and Devarajan (AIFB) for the news conference, said that under the terms set by the

Hyde Act, it was clear that one of the key assurances given by Prime Minister to

Parliament on August 17, 2006 -- that India-US nuclear cooperation would cover the entire

nuclear fuel cycle -- would be violated.

He said: "The proposed 123 Agreement while superficially using the original wording of

the joint statement of 2005, full civilian nuclear cooperation, denies cooperation or

access in any form whatsoever to fuel enrichment, reprocessing and heavy water

production technologies. The statement of intent in the agreement that a suitable

amendment to enable this access may be considered in the future has little or no

operative value."

Mr Karat said that despite some "skillful drafting" of the 123 Agreement, its text did not

reflect the Prime Minister's assurances. He said that it was certain that successive

presidents of the US and the US Congress will be bound by the Hyde Act and this had

implications for future.

The Left parties were categorical that the direction in the Hyde Act with regard to the

Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) was unacceptable. They went on to reiterate that

the denial of technology extended to transfers of dual-use items that could be used in

enrichment, reprocessing or heavy water production facilities, which are again a

stipulation of the Hyde Act.

Their statement said: "Under these terms, a wide range of sanctions on a host of

technologies would continue, falling well short of full civilian nuclear cooperation. Even

in the new facilities built for reprocessing the spent fuel under safeguards, the onerous

technological sanctions implied by the dual-use label will apply. This is certainly a major

departure from what the Prime Minister had assured the House that this deal recognises

India as an advanced nuclear power and will allow access to full civilian technologies".

Mr Karat said that a number of conditions inserted into the Hyde Act pertained to areas

outside nuclear cooperation and are attempts to coerce India to accept the strategic

goals of the US. He listed three specific issues:

* One, annual certification and reporting to the US Congress by the American President

on a variety of issues such as India's foreign policy being "congruent to that of the US"

and more specifically India joining US efforts in isolating and even sanctioning Iran,

which is dealt with under Section 104 g (2) E (i) rpt 104 g (2) E (i) of the Hyde Act.

* Two, Indian participation and formal declaration of support for the US's highly

controversial Proliferation Security Initiative including the "illegal" policy of interdiction

of vessels in international waters, as per Section 104 g (2) K rpt 104 g (2) K.

* Three, India conforming to various bilateral and/or multilateral agreements to which

India is not currently a signatory such as the US's Missile Technology Control Regime

(MTCR), the Australia Group, etc, as suggested under Section 104 c E, F, G rpt 104 c E, F,

G.

Mr Karat added: "All of these are a part of the Hyde Act [and the] termination clause is

wide-ranging and does not limit itself to only violation of the agreement as a basis for

cessation or termination of the contract."