CPI(ML) has a glorious record of people’s struggles for transformation, and we reiterate our commitment that every MP elected from CPI(ML) will carry forward the people’s movement for the following Charter of Change.
1. Effect a pro-people shift in economic policies:
a) Enact a new law to protect farmland and stop all private acquisition of forest land, coastal areas and traditional fishing zones
b) Increased public investment in agriculture and all kinds of institutional support including debt-waivers to the crisis-ridden peasantry
c) Greater emphasis on small and medium enterprises to strengthen domestic manufacturing
d) No FDI in retail and strategic sectors, protection of all labour-intensive sectors from adverse foreign competition
e) Stop privatisation of key infrastructure and financial sectors and bring key resources like oil and gas and minerals under public control
f) Increase tax revenue by strengthening the system of corporate taxes and levying inheritance tax on the rich
g) Increased public investment and health, education and scientific research
2. Curbing price rise and improving the conditions of the toiling masses
a) Prices of essential commodities and services must not be allowed to escalate beyond the reach of the common people
b) Food Security Act must be strengthened to ensure monthly supply of at least 50 kg foodgrains for a family of five along with sugar, milk, pulses and edible oil
c) Provisions of MNREGA must be expanded to guarantee at least 200 days of work at a minimum daily wage of Rs 300, municipal areas must also be brought within the purview of the Act
d) BPL irregularities must be stopped – non tax-payers and landowners owning less than 5 acres of land must all be considered BPL for benefits meant for the poor
e) Land ceiling should be lowered and standardised and land, tenancy and other pro-peasant agrarian reforms must be accomplished on war-footing and homestead land should be guaranteed for the labouring people in agriculture and plantation sectors
3. Reorient Development Strategy to Guarantee People’s Rights and Protect Environment
a) Reorient the strategy of development, making distributive justice, people’s rights and environmental sustainability its three core principles
b) Stop forcible acquisition of land and return all acquired land that is lying unused to the original owners
c) Stop all projects that violate environmental norms
d) Stop nuclear projects and GM crops that pose a threat to public health and safety
e) Ensure 24×7 supply of electricity at subsidised rates for rural and urban poor and for small enterprises, shops and agriculture
f) Rural electrification
g) Ensure quality education and healthcare for all, education up to 12th standard must be free and imparted through the common school system
4. Equal pay for equal work, regularisation of contract labour and increase in minimum wages
a) Workers employed in work of perennial nature must be regularised, the principle of equal pay for equal work must be upheld in every field, women workers must get equal wages as their male counterparts,
b) ASHA, Anganwadi, mid-day meal workers must be treated as regular employees with proper pay scales
c) Minimum wages must be raised to Rs 15000 per month
5. Guarantee People’s Rights in Every Sphere
a) Right to food, shelter, health, education and work must all be incorporated into the Constitution as fundamental rights
b) Educated unemployed youth must be given a minimum monthly allowance of Rs 5000 till they get proper employment
c) Implement the recommendations of Sachar Committee and Ranganath Misra Commission to improve the conditions of Muslims and other minority communities
6. Repeal of draconian, archaic and anti-people laws and Justice for all
a) UAPA, AFSPA, Sedition Law and Section 377 must be revoked
b) Operation Green Hunt and Salwa Judum must be stopped and all issues related to adivasi rights and development must be sorted out expeditiously
c) SEZ Act 2005 and Electricity Act 2003 must be repealed
d) Special Tribunals must be set up to make sure that the guilty of all caste massacres, communal riots, ethnic killings and extra-judicial killings are brought to book
e) Prevention of SC/ST Atrocities Act must be strengthened and law enacted to stop racism and attacks on minorities and migrant workers
f) Witch-hunt of Muslim and Adivasi youth must be stopped, trials must be expedited and those languishing in jail for years without conviction must be released and compensated for the damage caused to their life and reputation
7. Women’s Rights and Freedom
a) Secure, dignified, remunerative employment must be ensured for women
b) Access to clean toilets for all women, in homes as well as in public spaces, and access to regular, safe public transport must be ensured
c) One-stop, 24-hour crisis centres and safe shelters must be instituted in each police district for women survivors of violence
d) Compensation and rehabilitation be ensured for survivors of rape and acid attacks
e) Gender-sensitive police and prosecutorial procedures must be strictly followed, and the number of judges and courts expanded to ensure speedy justice in every case
f) Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha be enacted
g) Code of Conduct be adopted to disqualify electoral candidates who have committed offences of gender-related violence, end misogynist comments and behaviour in the Lok Sabha, and ensure zero tolerance of moral policing by State/non-State actors
h) Special Tribunals be set up to ensure justice in long-pending cases of custodial rapes
8. Federal Restructuring and Reorganisation of States
a) Backward states and regions must be granted special status and provided with all kinds of institutional support to end regional disparity
b) Set up Second States Reorganisation Commission for sympathetic and holistic consideration of various statehood demands
c) Implement Article 244 A to ensure Autonomous State status for Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts
9. Electoral, Legal and Police Reforms
a) Introduce proportional representation in elections, stop corporate funding and ensure level playing field for all parties and contestants
b) Strengthen RTI, enact Jan Lokpal legislation to provide for a powerful and autonomous anti-corruption watchdog, bringing all levels of the state including ministers, bureaucrats, the armed forces and the judiciary, corporate houses, media organisations and NGOs within its ambit
c) Withdraw the controversial ‘Aadhar’ scheme and ‘cash transfer’ plans
d) Policing must be thoroughly overhauled to stop human rights violations and atrocities on peaceful democratic activities and struggles
e) The NIA and IB must be made accountable to Parliament and the operation of all kinds of security forces and intelligence agencies must follow the letter and spirit of the Constitution and the tenets of the rule of law
f) The jail manual must be updated and strictly enforced, bails should be made the norm to stop overcrowding in jails and make sure that people do not spend years in jail without conviction
g) Death penalty should be done away with, and life imprisonment declared as the highest degree of punishment
10. Reorient India’s Foreign Policy Ensuring Independence and Friendly Relations
a) Indian foreign policy must be freed from the interests and priorities of US foreign policy
b) India must have friendly relations and close cooperation with all neighbouring countries, big or small
c) India must play a pro-active role to bring all perpetrators of war crimes to justice
d) India must work relentlessly for removal of all foreign military bases in the world
Friends,
We appeal to you to vote for CPI(ML) candidates in the 2014 LS polls, to ensure that the voices of people’s resistance can resound in Parliament, and challenge the regime of plunder and corruption. Resist the devious design of the forces of corporate and communal fascism, and strengthen the democratic unity and struggles of the people by all means for a better tomorrow.
– CPI(ML) Liberation
Fix Prices, Ensure Work, Ensure Full Wages for Work!
Change the Regime and Rule of Corruption and Plunder!
Down With Communal Poison, Ensure Peace and Justice!
Save Farmland, Agriculture, Farmers, End the Regime of Corporate Loot!
Half the Population Demands – Safety, Dignity, and Freedom!
We Want Employment and Electricity, Rations and Housing, Not Liquor!
