People's Democracy

(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Vol. XXXII

No. 12

March 23, 2008

 


Stop This Price Rise

Left Parties Hold Dharna


THE Left parties organised a day long mass sit in outside parliament to demand that immediate steps be taken to curb the price rise of essential commodities. The continuous rise in prices of food items and other essential commodities is causing a lot of hardship to the people. The Union Budget 2008-09 has failed to address the problems of inflation and price rise. Neither has the central government taken any effective steps to strengthen and expand the public distribution system.


The Left parties demanded that the central government take the following steps immediately:


  1. Strengthen the Public Distribution System by universalizing it so that ration cards are available to all; restore the cut in foodgrain allocations to the states under the PDS.

  2. Ban on futures trading in 25 agricultural commodities as proposed by the Standing Committee of Parliament.

  3. Cut customs and excise duties on oil imports so that the retail price of petrol and diesel is not raised.

  4. Take stringent action against hoarding of essential commodities; restore the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act which were done away by the NDA government.


The dharna was attended by mass deputations from West Bengal and Kerala. It was addressed by Biman Bose, Chairman, Left Front, West Bengal, Prakash Karat, CPI(M) General Secretary, A.B. Bardhan, CPI General Secretary, Debabrata Biswas, AIFB General Secretary, Abani Roy, RSP Secretary, D Raja, CPI Secretary, Brinda Karat, Member, CPI(M) Polit Bureau and A. Vijayaraghavan, MP.