The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Tell Sri Lanka to find a political solution, CPI urges Centre

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Sunday, Mar 02, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tell Sri Lanka to find a political solution, CPI urges Centre

Special Correspondent

Military action is no answer, says conference resolution

PUDUKOTTAI: The State unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) has urged the Union Government to press the Sri Lankan Government to find a political solution to the ethnic crisis in the island nation.

With the cease-fire agreement being revoked by the Sri Lankan Government, internal strife has risen again in the island nation. The CPI strongly believed that military action was no answer and only a political solution, arrived through talks, could end the ethnic strife. A federal set up of self-governance, upholding the democratic rights of Tamil speaking people, should be ushered in, a resolution adopted at the first day of the 21st State Conference of the party said here on Friday.

The party also appealed to the Centre to take steps to check the rise in prices of essential commodities. Common people have been hit hard by the rise in the prices of various essential commodities. The Centre should ban the futures trade in food grains and oil seeds. Import of food grains should be stopped and domestic farmers should be given remunerative prices for their produce.

Welcoming the Tamil Nadu Government’s decision to supply essential commodities through the Public Distribution System, the party urged the government to ensure quality and correct quantity in the commodities supplied.

The party also called upon the Centre to stand firm in executing the Sethusamudram project and condemned the attempts made by communal forces to stall it.

Expressing concern over the crisis facing the agriculture sector, the party observed that the country’s food security has come under threat and a question mark has risen over the future of agriculturists. The Centre should advance agricultural credit at four per cent interest rate without any condition. The minimum support price for paddy should be fixed at Rs.1000 a quintal. Agricultural produces such as sugarcane, paddy, cotton, tea, turmeric, pulses and copra should be procured at remunerative prices. A comprehensive crop insurance scheme, providing for full protection for crops, should be implemented.

Through other resolutions, the party welcomed the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s announcement declaring the first day of Thai as the Tamil New Year’s Day and urged the State Government to expedite the execution of the Hogenakal Combined Drinking Water Scheme.

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