New Delhi: Attacking the Government for making "false promises" on creating one crore job opportunities per year, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) today (Dec 23, 2003) demanded in the Lok Sabha that right to work be made a fundamental right and land reforms initiated to give agricultural labourers their due.

"This Government is not addressing the burning problem of unemployment and giving false promises for election purposes," Basudeb Acharia (CPM) said initiating a special discussion on the unemployment situation under rule 193, which does not entail voting.

Claiming that farmers and labourers were committing suicide, Acharia wanted that right to work should be made a fundamental right. "What is needed today are land reforms to allow purchasing power of agricultural labourers to increase."

Regretting retrenching of workers in Maruti Udyog, Balco and Ashok Hotel, Bangalore, by offering them voluntary retirement schemes, the CPM member accused the Government of protecting the interest of owners and multi-national companies instead of those of the working class.

Maintaining that even the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in a newspaper advertisement had recently stated that 70 lakh job opportunities were created as against Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's contention of one crore such opportunities, he said "job opportunities are being destroyed by the Government".

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Yogi Adityanath cited the "successful" family planning programmes being followed by China and said growing population was adding to the unemployment situation.