Thiruvananthapuram: The CPM has decided to ensure 25 per cent representation for women, more representation for Dalits, adivasis and minorities in higher party committees, a scientific policy for sustaining retired party whole-timers and bring in more youth.
These are some of the tasks that have been finalised for implementation in a time-bound manner at the plenum which is currently in session at Kolkata. While the representation of Dalits in the general membership of the party is satisfactory at around 15 per cent, it is significantly low when it came to higher committees. “We are trying to correct this mismatch,” said politburo member Prakash Karat.
The other focus area is youth. At present, 20 per cent of party members are below 31 years of age. But in many states, their representation is much below than 20 per cent. “In sum total, the youth representation is not that low because it takes two to three years to become a party member. We need to have a platform to appeal to the youth,” he said.
Karat said some of these steps were being defined following a detailed exercise. “We have conducted a detailed examination of class and social composition in the central committee, state committees and district committees. We have collected figures at every level and the discussions are being held based on the factual position,” he added.
The party is also coming out with a retirement policy for its whole-timers. It is felt that many leaders and workers continued to work till age and health fail completely. They try to remain active to sustain themselves since there is no retirement scheme to take care of them.
“Very little is provided to them at the moment which is not enough to sustain. They have no savings, no property. We are working out a scientific policy for their benefit,” Karat said.
