People's
Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) No. 06
February 09, 2003
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) |
Vol.
XXVII No. 06 February 09, 2003 |
THE
Bengal
Left
Front,
meeting
in
Kolkata
at
the
Muzaffar
Ahmad
Bhavan
on
January
30,
has
called
for
a
statewide
movement
to
strengthen
the
demand
for
a
thorough
reorganisation
of
the
ongoing
pattern
of
centre-state
relations.
The
Bengal
LF
believes
that
under
the
BJP
dispensation,
the
union
government
has
organised
a
planned
assault
on
the
states’
rights
and
is
bent
upon
wrecking
the
federalist
structure
of
the
country,
which
was
affecting
every
state
of
India,
and
that
it
is
imperative
to
mobilise
the
people
on
the
basis
of
the
demand
for
a
restructuring
of
the
present
relationship
between
the
union
government
and
the
state
governments.
The
crux
of
the
issue
affecting
the
financial
condition
of
the
state
governments,
including
Bengal,
has
to
do
with
the
fact
that
the
union
government
has
proved
extremely
reluctant
to
emote
the
role
it
is
expected
to
play
according
to
the
Indian
Constitution.
Before
the
crisis
deepens
further,
believes
the
Bengal
Left
Front,
the
mass
of
the
people
must
be
made
to
get
involved
in
a
statewide
movement
calling
for
a
reorganisation
of
centre-state
relations.
Later,
speaking
to
the
media,
Left
Front
chairman,
Biman
Basu
accused
the
union
government
of
“acting
like
a mahajan
(or
money-lender),
lending
money
to
the
state
government
at
12
per
cent
while
getting
the
RBI
to
loan
the
amount
to
the
union
government
at
7
per
cent.”
Biman
Basu
also
noted
that
in
the
face
of
severe
discrimination,
most
state
governments
had
had
to
cut
down
on
payment
of
salaries,
and
that
Bengal
LF
government
was
an
exception
in
this
regard.
The
Bengal
government,
Basu
pointed
out,
was
working
towards
the
maximum
utilisation
of
its
limited
resources
in
an
endeavour
to
keep
up
the
ongoing
and
wide-ranging
developmental
work.
Elsewhere
at
the
Writers’
Buildings,
Dr
Asim
Dasgupta,
finance
minister
of
the
Bengal
LF
government
released
a
booklet
that
outlines
the
problems
and
prospects
of
the
state
government
in
financial
matters.
The
booklet
notes
that
the
assault
on
the
states’
rights
has
been
orchestrated
as
a
direct
fall
out
of
the
policy
of
liberalisation
adopted
by
the
union
government.
It
highlights
the
manner
in
which
the
union
government
has
of
late
been
keen
on
interfering
with
the
welfare
programmes
of
the
Bengal
LF
government
and
how
it
has
sought
to
cut
down
on
the
states’
rights
in
general.
The
booklet
specifies
the
manner
in
which
the
state
government
has
engaged
itself
to
mobilise
resources
towards
achieving
its
goal
of
maintaining
an
8
per
cent
growth
of
the
state
domestic
product
while
keeping
up
efforts
to
further
increase
employment
generation.
The
booklet
underlines
health,
education,
power,
and
communications
as
the
priority
areas,
especially
in
the
rural
stretches.
Later,
Dr
Dasgupta
told
the
media
representatives
that
the
state
government
was
keen
to
protect
its
plan
and
non-plan
budgetary
targets
in
large
measure.
However,
as
the
booklet
underlines,
the
present
financial
crisis
towards
which
the
union
government
appeared
determined
to
push
the
state
governments,
could
only
be
resolved
if
the
present
structure
of
centre-state
relations
could
be
decentralised
in
a
thoroughgoing
manner.
This
would
benefit
the
mass
of
the
people
of
all
the
states,
the
booklet
points
out.
