Note on “Challenges faced by Forces Struggling to
Paper by CPI Change Present System in India”
- Suravaram Sudhakara Reddy, Former MP
General Secretary, CPI
Dear Comrades,
Let me greet you all on this occasion who has
assembled in this August house. My special thanks
on behalf of CPI to the organizers of the Seminar on
this subject “CHALLENGES FACED BY FORCES
STRUGGLING TO CHANGE SYSTEM IN INDIA”.
The economic crisis the world is facing is not the
cyclic crisis of capitalism. It is the specific crisis of
finance capital can go to any low to maximize its profit.
Wars and clashes with in the countries among the
neighbours and within the regions are being
shamelessly promoted. To push through its agenda
of neo-liberalism country after country is being forced
to surrender to the dictates of tools of finance capital
like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and
World Trade Organization.
Under the impact of Globalization and liberali-
zation changes are taking place in the employment
profile in the country. Outsourcing, downsizing,
contracting out, home working, casualization etc. have
seriously cut into regular employment at work places.
In addition there are workers in the in organized sector
and informal sector within the formal sector, only seven
percent of the work force, is in the organized sector,
the rest is in unorganized sector. The present policies
are only adding to the latter number. The share of
self employment is also shrinking. The country is in
the grip of jobless growth. Even government health
facilities are being privatized. Scheme workers are
also launching struggles throughout the country.
Urban youth have been taking part in struggles against
rape and atrocities on Dalits, women and minorities.
Students’ community is up in arms and campuses are
in turmoil in order to defend fundamental right of
freedom of expression.
Agrarian Scene :
In trying to grab farmers land, the bourgeois
government has used the Land Acquisition Act of
colonial era and justified indiscriminate use of force
against peasantry by insisting that it is necessary step
for development. In the process, several lakh acres
of land have been acquired and millions of peasants
and other dependent on land have been evicted and
deprived of their livelihood. It is calculated that
between 1992-93 and 2002-03, as much as 18 million
hectares of arable land has got transferred to non
agricultural uses. During the decade between 1991
8
and 2001, over 70 lakhs people i.e. nearly 2000
people a day for whom cultivation was the main source
of livelihood, quit farming. This is a crude and brutal
offensive of the bourgeois state led by the corporate
houses and big business. The development of
capitalism in Indian agriculture is based on a
compromise with feudal remnants on the one hand,
and collusion with foreign capital on the other. While
semi feudal relations still dominate many parts in rural
India. The door has been opened for the multinational
corporations to enter the field and assume cardinal
positions in certain areas. The government has
signed Indo-US Agricultural initiative where represen-
tatives of Monsanto, Cargill and other multinational
companies participate in joint committees to take
important decisions on research and new initiatives
in Indian agriculture. In 2004-05 around 43 percent
of rural households had no land to cultivate. In addition
22% households cultivated less than 1 acre of land,
which is insufficient to meet basic needs. More than
two lakh farmers have committed suicides. The number
increases everyday. Agriculture growth has stagnated.
The share of agricultural in National income has come
down to 12% whereas its share in work force still
remains as high as 58%.
Crony Capitalism:
The relentless pursuit of neo liberal economic
reforms has propped up strata of powerful corporate
within bourgeois class. Helped by the government
policies of pampering this section the corporate houses
have accumulated unprecedented wealth and come
to wiled tremendous economic power. Under Modi they
have emerged as private monopolies in several vital
sectors, such as power, oil, telecommunication and
even retail and pose serious challenges to the public
sector units in these spheres. Narendra Modi govern-
ment furthers the interests of this tiny group of
capitalists. It has already started to hand over the
PSUs and their reserves like oil and gas of ONGC to
Ambanis. With their economic and financial clout they
are able to influence policies not only in the economic
but also in political matters. Corportae capitalism in
league with MNCs has created conditions for large
scale corruption and the play of money power in
National life. The Panama leaks, Wiki leaks and
Paradise papers have clearly shown the extent the
Class Struggle