Urban unemployment: Left parties to protest

Mangalore, May 29 (UNI) The Left parties will launch protests outside and inside Parliament against the failure of the UPA Government at the Centre to come out with any programme on urban unemployment, CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat, said today.

Addressing a public meeting on the concluding day of the three-day 8th State-level conference of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) here, she said that though urban employment issue was part of the common minimum programme of the UPA Government, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram had failed to mention anything in this regard either in his budget or later, as promised to the Left parties.

Though it was happy to note that the country had achieved eight per cent GDP growth, unemployment had also increased in the same rate. During the past two years, over 2,000 companies' balance sheets had shown profit of over 40 per cent, which meant that the GDP growth had benefitted only the big companies, but failed to generate employment. Unless sufficient employment was created, the nation could not progress, she said.

Ms Karat said the party would pressurise the Government to take immediate steps to provide marketing facilities for the products of self employment scheme and fill up all backlog vacancies.

Condemning the strike by medicos on the reservation issue, she warned that the strike would divide the society. Refuting the argument that reservation/quota system would erode the merit system, she said that in the neo-liberal education policy in the country now, money equalled merit in higher education.

Asserting that the CPI(M) favoured 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in higher education, she appealed to the striking students to come for a dialogue with the Government, which had assured to increase the seats so that meritorious students would also be benefitted. The UPA Government at the Centre had taken these steps on the basis of the support extended by all parties in bringing 93rd amendment to remove social injustice in higher education field.

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