December 17, 2010
The Japanese Communist Party received more than 10 million signatures in petitions during the 176th extraordinary Diet session that closed on December 3.
Petitions submitted to the Diet through the JCP include a petition with around 7.6 million signatures appealing for the abolition of nuclear weapons and a petition signed by about 540,000 people calling for a reduction of class size to less than 30 pupils in public schools and an increase in government subsidies for private schools.
The total number of petitions submitted to the House of Representatives was 136 and the House of Councilors 146.
Each petition was based on urgent public demands. However, the DPJ and the Liberal Democratic Party voted down the demands of most of the petitions. As a result, the House of Representatives approved the demands of only two petitions and the House of Councilors approved four.
Both houses had unanimously passed a petition calling for an increase in the number of Justice Ministry workers for 30 straight years and a petition demanding additional court staff and an improvement of court facilities for the 14th consecutive year. However, due to the DPJ’s sudden change in its stance, those petitions were rejected by the Diet in its latest extraordinary Diet session.
The reason why so many petitions reflecting urgent public demands have been presented to the Diet is because the DPJ-led government has further reduced budgets relating to people’s livelihoods through its budget-screening process, following the budget cuts already carried out under the former LDP-Komei government.
The Japan Council of Performers’ Organizations (Geidankyo), for the first time since its foundation in 1965, carried out a signature-collection drive urging the government to raise the budget allocated for culture to 0.5 percent from the current 0.11 percent of the total national budget. It plans to submit to the next ordinary Diet session 580,000 signatures it has collected.
The JCP since July held a series of talks with presidents of 20 universities on the government plan to slash university budgets by 10 percent across the board. In the meetings, all the university heads expressed their anger at the government’s plan.
Pressured by the petitions, the Education Ministry made a request to increase the budgets for smaller class sizes at public schools, performing arts and culture, and subsidies for universities. However, the request was shunted aside by the Kan Cabinet’s “policy contest” which was held as a means of screening ministries’ budget requests. The Kan government’s stance conflicts with public demands more and more.
- Akahata, December 17, 2010
Petitions submitted to the Diet through the JCP include a petition with around 7.6 million signatures appealing for the abolition of nuclear weapons and a petition signed by about 540,000 people calling for a reduction of class size to less than 30 pupils in public schools and an increase in government subsidies for private schools.
The total number of petitions submitted to the House of Representatives was 136 and the House of Councilors 146.
Each petition was based on urgent public demands. However, the DPJ and the Liberal Democratic Party voted down the demands of most of the petitions. As a result, the House of Representatives approved the demands of only two petitions and the House of Councilors approved four.
Both houses had unanimously passed a petition calling for an increase in the number of Justice Ministry workers for 30 straight years and a petition demanding additional court staff and an improvement of court facilities for the 14th consecutive year. However, due to the DPJ’s sudden change in its stance, those petitions were rejected by the Diet in its latest extraordinary Diet session.
The reason why so many petitions reflecting urgent public demands have been presented to the Diet is because the DPJ-led government has further reduced budgets relating to people’s livelihoods through its budget-screening process, following the budget cuts already carried out under the former LDP-Komei government.
The Japan Council of Performers’ Organizations (Geidankyo), for the first time since its foundation in 1965, carried out a signature-collection drive urging the government to raise the budget allocated for culture to 0.5 percent from the current 0.11 percent of the total national budget. It plans to submit to the next ordinary Diet session 580,000 signatures it has collected.
The JCP since July held a series of talks with presidents of 20 universities on the government plan to slash university budgets by 10 percent across the board. In the meetings, all the university heads expressed their anger at the government’s plan.
Pressured by the petitions, the Education Ministry made a request to increase the budgets for smaller class sizes at public schools, performing arts and culture, and subsidies for universities. However, the request was shunted aside by the Kan Cabinet’s “policy contest” which was held as a means of screening ministries’ budget requests. The Kan government’s stance conflicts with public demands more and more.
- Akahata, December 17, 2010
