Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Dec 17, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Dec 17, 2005 |
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Government
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Politics Money & Banking - Pension Plans Industry & Economy - Social Security CPI(M) opposes Pension Bill, wants reworking of provisions Our Bureau
New Delhi , Dec 16 THE CPI(M) today opposed any move to privatise the pension fund and sought restoration of 9.5 per cent interest on Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and urged upon the Government not to abandon its responsibility of protecting the working class. Speaking to newspersons after the three-day Central Committee meeting of the party, the CPI(M) General Secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, said that Left parties would not support the Pension Bill in its current form. He called for reworking of certain provisions in the Bill. "The Bill in its present form is not acceptable. We have told the Government not to privatise the Pension Fund and not to abandon its responsibilities towards the working class and the common people. The Bill also does not assure any minimum return," he added. On the EPF issue, the CPI(M) General Secretary said that party leaders would take up the demand for restoration of the 9.5 per cent interest rate on EPF. On foreign policy issues, he said that the party would step up its campaign against the role of US imperialism in different parts of the world, including its "hegemonic moves" in Iraq, Iran, and Syria. He also hit out at the US "outsourcing torture" by abducting people of various countries with suspected terror links and transporting them secretly by CIA planes to Europe and torturing them. Opposing divestment of some profitable public sector units to fund social sector programmes, Mr Karat said that the Government should tax luxury consumption and take steps to increase the tax-GDP ratio, which alone can generate resources for rural development and social sector expenditure. He added that the burden on the common man has increased due to the rise in prices of essential commodities such as onions, vegetables, and edible oils, besides medicine. "The Government claims that inflation has been brought down but this does not reflect where shortages and black marketing are pushing up prices," he added.
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