MLUpdate
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol. 13, No. 12, 16 – 22 MARCH 2010
No Going Back on 33% Reservation for Women in Assemblies and Parliament
On March 8, 2010 when the whole world observed the centenary of the International Women’s Day, the UPA government tabled the Women’s Reservation Bill (WRB) in the upper house of Indian Parliament. It was a classic case of killing two birds with one stone. Only a week ago the government had presented the annual budget leaving the whole country fuming with rage over soaring prices. The budget had not only added fuel to the inflationary fire, it had refused to extend any relief to the common man while pampering the rich with all kinds of sops. At one stroke, the women’s bill shifted the spotlight away from the post-budget protests and split the emerging unity in the opposition camp down the middle. At the same time there could be no better way for the Sonia-led Congress to try and project itself as the most vocal champion of the women’s cause on the occasion of the IWD centenary!
Even as the likes of Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh and Sharad Yadav raved and ranted against the WRB, Sonia said the Congress was ready to take every risk to change the society! But only a couple of days after the bill had been rushed through the Rajya Sabha, the UPA managers declared that the bill would be presented in the Lok Sabha only on the basis of a consensus. Meanwhile, there are renewed talks of a smaller quota of only 20%. It has taken not even 100 hours for the much-trumpeted Congress readiness for risk-taking to evaporate, and in the name of building consensus, the Congress is now back to its old game of dilly-dallying and putting the bill back into cold storage!
The heated debates over women’s reservation bill have of course helped unmask many political faces. Lalu Prasad has let the cat out of the bag by coming out unabashedly as a desperate defender of male domination in society. Warning the Congress and the BJP that women’s reservation would not secure them the votes of women, he said women would vote only according to the wishes of male members in their families! Hukumdev Narayan Yadav, BJP MP from Bihar, described the WRB as a death warrant he would never sign. Similar views have been attributed, albeit anonymously, to many other BJP and Congress MPs as well. Ironically enough, parties like BSP and TMC which are led by powerful women leaders, also avoided supporting the bill.
While most parties opposing the bill exposed their unmistakably patriarchal political streak, it is no less important to recognize and remember the true face of parties like the BJP and the Congress which would like to be seen as great advocates and promoters of women’s empowerment. The BJP not only has the most conservative and retrograde views on most issues concerning women’s rights and social progress, the Sangh brigade is infamous for perpetrating and justifying the most brutal kind of communal and feudal violence against women. As the oldest ruling party in the country, the Congress too must be held squarely responsible for the historical marginalization of Indian women, which has been further aggravated under the pro-corporate pro-imperialist policy regime promoted by the Congress.
The opponents of women’s reservation have found it convenient to repeatedly stall the bill by pitting caste and community against gender. The progressive women’s movement can call their bluff by incorporating specific provisions for women of backward castes and minority communities within the overall ambit of 33% reservation. The panchayats have long had 33% reservation for women and Parliament has now rightly raised it to 50%. Let there now be no excuse for thwarting or truncating the idea of one-third reservation for women in Assemblies and Parliament. The UPA government must not be allowed to backtrack from 33% reservation for women on any pretext.
Hundred years ago, the communist and progressive forces within the international women’s movement took the lead to launch the International Women’s Day, and over the last hundred years, it is these forces that have pushed forward the battle for women’s liberation and equality of sexes in the face of every obstacle. In India, it was the progressive women’s movement which had raised the demand for women’s reservation in legislative bodies as a means to promote women’s participation in politics as well as to sensitise the process of legislation to the needs and aspirations of women. It was again the women’s movement which sustained the campaign for women’s reservation over the last two decades in the face of crude patriarchal resistance and clever political ploys of ruling class parties.
Today in the centenary year of the International Women’s Day it is ironically the Congress which seeks to paint itself as the pioneer of women’s reservation even as it colludes with the opponents of the bill to once again put it on the back-burner. The progressive women’s movement must again wrest the initiative, push the bill through to the end, and carry forward the larger battle of women’s liberation towards bigger victories.
Condemn Israel's Decision to Approve Construction of Hundreds of New Housing Units in the West Bank
(Statement issued by International Department of the CPI(ML)Liberation)
New Delhi, 13 March 2010: Even as US Vice President Joe Biden is in Israel to launch a much-touted four-month long peace accord between Palestine and Israel, the Israeli Ministry of the Interior has announced a decision to approve construction of 1600 new housing units in Palestine's West Bank. This decision, underlining Israel's occupation of Palestine and its arrogant assertion of a policy of apartheid, exposes the US-brokered peace process as a farce.
It is instructive to recall that the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict headed by Justice Richard Goldstone had in 2009 noted that Israel's 22-day war in Gaza between December 2008 and January 2009 amounted to a war crime, and that the military operations were preceded and followed by several measures to "further deepen Israel’s control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem" including "increased land expropriation, house demolitions, demolition orders and permits to build homes in settlements, greater and more formalized access and movement restrictions on Palestinians, new and stricter procedures for residents of the Gaza Strip to change their residency to the West Bank." According to the Goldstone Report, measures like expansion of Israeli settlements and demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank "point to a convergence of objectives with the Gaza military operations." The Goldstone Report had called for an end to the impunity hitherto enjoyed by Israel and had recommended a punitive process for the "collective punishment" imposed by Israel on the people of Gaza. The Report and its recommendations were rejected by the Obama Administration and used its veto power to block a vote on the question in the UN Security Council.
Israel's decision to approve construction of 1600 new housing units in Palestine's West Bank is nothing but a brazen assertion of the "impunity" (conferred by US patronage) for the "collective punishment" it continues to impose on the people of Gaza – not just through outright war but by daily measures that deepen Israel's control over the West Bank.
CPI(ML) condemns the decision by Israel to construct new housing units in the West Bank. Any genuine peace process in Palestine can only begin with an acknowledgement of the crimes of war and occupation committed by Israel and a process of justice for the same.
More Reports of IWD Centenary Events
Reports of protests and demonstrations by AIPWA and other organisations in various states on the centenary of International Women’s day appeared in the previous issue of ML Update. Following are more reports of similar programmes on IWD.
KARNATAKA
HD Kote, Mysore: As part of the Centenary International Women’s Day celebrations, a Women’s Struggle Day was observed by All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) and Samata Vedike on 14 March. A district level convention on “Agrarian Women Labourers and Gender Awareness” was held at Ambedkar Bhavan in HD Kote taluk of Mysore dist. More than 300 women from Sogalli, Uyyamballi, Sathigehundi, Nanjanathapura and other villages took part. The programme was flagged off with revolutionary songs by Mallamma and team from Uyamballi, and Samata members.
Senior Samata leader Meera Nayak spoke about the relevance of International Women's Day for the rural toiling women. A gender awareness programme in the form of the game of musical chair with each participant holding a placard on a women’s issue – dowry, child marriage, sexual abuse, trafficking, female foeticide, domestic violence and so on, was co-ordinated by Dr Shanthi and Dr Roopa Rao. Nearly 30 women sportively took part in this game from various villages. After the game, Dr Shanthi and Prof Roopa Rao discussed about sexual harassment at workplace.
Dr Rati Rao, VP of AIPWA, initiated an interactive session on 'NREGA- Experiences of Women’ highlighting their struggles for job cards, wages, projects and so on. Many women from AIPWA and All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association (AIALA) shared their experiences of struggles related to NREGA. Women from Sathigehundi shared their struggles for opening a fair price shop and the subsequent struggles against corruption and irregular supply of rations. Mallige, Gowri and Nandini from ‘Mahila Horaata Okkuta’ also participated in the programme and rendered revolutionary songs.
Com. Javaraiah, District Secretary of CPI(ML) spoke on the need for enhancing the political edge of the women’s movement and called upon the women to join the struggle against the communal BJP government in the state. The convention concluded with a revolutionary song by Samata team.
The convention was preceded by preparatory meetings at Uyyamballi on Feb 27 with 80 women, at Sathigehundi on March 3 with 50 women, in which Dr Shanthi and Dr Rati Rao addressed the gathering. Comrades PA Kumar and Kemparaju and panchayat members also actively participated.
Bangalore: Mahila Horaata Okkuta, an umbrella organization of more than 25 women’s organizations in Bangalore, has taken shape to carry out joint programmes during Centenary Women’s Day. As part of the Okkuta, AIPWA, led by Com. Gandhimathi, State Secretary of AIPWA, took part in a convention on unorganized women workers in NGO Hall, Bangalore, on 7 March and a cultural evening at Samsa Bayalu Mandira in Ravindra Kalakshetra on March 8. Okkuta will hold more than ten programmes in the month of March.
Uttar Pradesh: Thousands of women in Lucknow, Varanasi, Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Moradabad marched on the 8th against price rise and spiralling violence against women, and for immediate passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill.
In Lucknow 500 women members of AIPWA marched with their banners, flags and placards from City Station to Shahid Smarak challenging the anti-women forces and shouting slogans also against the Mayawati’s rule under which attacks on women has increased. The AIPWA leaders held Mayawati’s Administration officials responsible for the large number of deaths of women and children in the stampede at an Ashram at Mangarh in Pratapgarh. This march was led by AIPWA’s national VP and UP’s Convenor of Tehrik-e-Niswan Com. Tahira Hasan, CPI(ML)’s CC member Com. Krishna Adhikari and AIPWA’s State President Com. Vidya Rajwar. Women resolved to uphold and take forward the legacy of a century of women’s emancipation struggles.
AIPWA’s State Secretary Com. Premlata Pandey led the 700 strong march in Gorakhpur. Comrades Kusum and Kripa Verma led the march of 350 women in Varanasi, Namrata Tiwari and Shubhra led the march of 400 women in Allahabad and Anita Rajput led the march of 350 women at Moradabad.
In Assam, an AIPWA Rally was held at Guwahati with 1500 women from different districts of Assam. The procession marched through the city and culminated in a mass meeting addressed by AIPWA Assam leaders and leaders from tribal (Missing and Tiwa) women's organisations and CPI(ML) Politburo member Rubul Sarma. A seminar was then held at Guwahati Press Club on 'Globalisation and Women’s Movement' organised by Jonaki Bat (the AIPWA publication).
In Andhra Pradesh, a human chain was organized in Anantpur, West Godavari, and in Vijaywada R Nagmani held a meeting with 50 ASHA workers. Women's Day protests were also held against price hike, violence on women and state terror at 8 mandals of East Godavari.
On the eve of IWD a convention was held at Mylavaram on 7th March participated by 150 women.
Construction Workers' March to Parliament
On 15 March 2010, under the banner of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU)-affiliated All India Construction Workers’ Federation (AICWF), hundreds of construction workers from different states held a March to Parliament against hike in fuel rates, price rise and to demand implementation of the Central Construction Workers’ Act 1996 throughout the country.
The procession was led by AICCTU General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee, the General Secretary of the Federation RN Thakur, President of the Federation S Balasubramanian, V.President SK Sharma, Dashrath Sinhali from Gujarat, Harkesh Bugalia from Rajasthan, several construction workers’ leaders from Bihar, AICCTU Delhi State Secretary Santosh Roy, President NM Thomas, AICWF leaders like VKS Gautam, Ardhendu Roy from Delhi and Anthonymutthu and Iraniappan from Tamilnadu and AIPWA Secretary Kavita Krishnan.
While the Construction Labour Act has not been implemented throughout the country even 14 years after its enactment, the pro-corporate Acts like SEZ are implemented promptly even at gunpoint. Six crore workers of the flourishing construction industry do not even get a living wage and any protection from skyrocketing price rise. As the majority of these construction workers are migrant workers, they face attacks at the hands of regional chauvinistic forces. The March to Parliament gave a call for an all-out protest against the budget 2010 and intensification of movement of unorganized workers including construction workers.
The March also demanded Rs.200/- as national level minimum wage with inclusion of VDA for all unorganized workers, provision of Inter-state I-cards to migrant workers, enacting the Food Security Act, BPL cards to all construction workers, equal wages for women workers and other demands. A 15-point Charter of demands was submitted to Labour Secretary, Govt. of India by a four-member delegation.
More Protests against Price Rise
Tirunelveli: A well attended street corner meeting orgainsed by the Party was held in Suthamalli of Tirunelveli in Tamilnadu against price rise on March 13. At Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh a protest meeting led by Com. Vinod Rawat burnt an effigy of UPA Govt. on 6th March.
Puducherry: A massive demonstration against hike in fuel prices and price rise was organised at Puducherry on 11 March by the AICCTU and the Movement for Protection of the Houseless. It was led by Comrade Udakar, VP of the LPG Cylinders and Distributive Workers' Union (AICCTU). Demands raised by the protestors included: Supply of 50 kg rice/wheat at Rs.2/kg and 5 litres of kerosene at Rs.2/litre to all PDS card holders; Monthly rent subsidy of Rs.1000 to all families who do not own RCC houses or who live in rented houses; Monthly minimum wages of Rs. 11,000 to all trade/industry workers and provision of 14 essential items in PDS shops. Women participated in large numbers in the demonstration.
The demonstration was addressed by Com. Balasubramanium, State Secretary of the CPI(ML) who demanded a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore rupees instead of Rs.1000 crore in the National Commission of Unorganised Workers for their Social Security and CS Sagaraj, President of the Movement for the Protection of the Houseless.
5th March: TUs Protest in Puducherry and Karaikal
As part of nation-wide protest call by central trade unions, on five points charter, namely against price rise, strict implementation of labor laws, against disinvestments of public sectors units, amendments in the unorganized workers social security Act 2009 etc., AICCTU, AITUC CITU, UTUC volunteers blockaded roads in front of post offices and banks at nearly ten places in Puducherry and Karaikal regions on 5th March 2010. Nearly two thousand workers including women, youth, and agricultural labourers courted arrest.
AICCTU Beedi Workers Workshop at Tirunelveli
As a part of the membership drive among beedi workers some macro and micro investigations were taken up and with the findings of these preliminary investigations a workshop was held in Tirunelveli on March 14. A paper was presented which narrated the socio-economic and working conditions of the beedi workers. 65 comrades including 37 women participated. Comrades Kumarasami, NK Natarajan, and KG Desikan attended the workshop.
The following demands were raised in the workshop, and these demands will be highlighted in a campaign in the villages among beedi workers 15 days from April 1 onwards: Include all beedi workers in the BPL list; Scrap loans of beedi workers upto Rs.20,000 per worker; Construct 10,000 houses per year out of the cess fund; Increase salary to Rs 150 per day; Amend Beedi Cigar Working Conditions Act and Tamilnadu Rules suitably at the earliest so that they encompass millions of home workers instead of a few thousand industrial workers; Lakhs of beedi workers are not covered by welfare legislations– conduct a census of beedi workers immediately; Stop spending 65% of cess fund on administrative expenses, let the government bear these expenses; 12 inspectors for 6 lakh workers is a travesty of justice; appoint at least 60 inspectors and implement labour laws strictly and improve sanitation and health conditions in beedi neighbourhoods.
AIALA Demo in Tamilnadu
All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association (AIALA) organized a panchayat-level demonstration in Tamil Nadu (March 5-15) demanding inclusion in BPL list, work under MGNREGA, Rs.200 daily wages under MGNREGA, homestead land and patta. A Signature campaign on these demands was taken up and the signatures were submitted to the authorities through demonstration. These campaigns were held all over TN in 36 panchayats of 15 blocks. 12433 signatures were obtained and 9375 rural poor were mobilized in the demonstrations. In all about 10400 memoranda were submitted by them in Pudukottai (10 panchayats in 4 blocks), Cuddalore (1 panchayat), Villupuram (8 panchayats in 3 blocks), Tanjore (3 panchayats), Nagai and Tiruvallore (4 panchayats in 2 blocks each) and Madurai (4 panchayats).
Demonstrations were organized in front of four Panchayat Offices in Madurai District on March 10. At Ramaiyan Patti Panchayat, more than 200 women assembled in front of the Panchayat Office with empty pots. The village President, a Dalit woman, had sanctioned more private connections (reportedly in exchange for bribes) to high caste people and they were diverting water from the supply line with their motorized connections, causing water scarcity to all the poor people. Protestors demanded immediate disconnection of all motorized connections. The protest followed a week-long campaign on this issue. The powerful households responded by warning the President with dire consequences if she dared to disconnect. Under pressure, the President fled from her office on the evening of 10 March. The protesters demanded that the President personally appear and receive the petition, but she remained adamant. Protestors led by Comrade Usha decided to march to the house of the president, but the police denied permission and warned of severe action. When the protestors declared their intention to violate police orders, the police had no option but to instruct the President to appear in person. The President then came and received the petitions and promised disconnection of all illegal connections; she also demanded that the Party should defend her actions. With assurance from both sides the struggle came to an end.
In Kattakulam more than 100 protestors assembled demanding disclosure of the BPL list and details of NREGA. The protestors demanded that names of the BPL beneficiaries listed should be made available for public scrutiny so that the list commands credibility. The officials agreed to provide a copy of the list within a week.
In Kutaladampatti more than 300 assembled after completing NREGA work. The President of the Panchayat escaped the scene. In Andipatty nearly 100 assembled in the evening in front of the Panchayat Office. The Panchayat President and Clerk met the people and promised to provide the present BPL list and also agreed to provide BPL certificate to the people who apply for any welfare scheme.
IIMS Launched in Kerala
Indian Institute of Marxist Studies (IIMS) launched its Kerala Chapter on 14 March through a meeting at Trivandrum. The meeting also elected Com. KM Venugopalan as the convenor of the Kerala Chapter with a core group to coordinate its activities.
Marxism, a universal philosophy having enough potential to enrich itself through practice is under attack from various quarters as it is generally being viewed through the prism of so-called 'Marxist' party in Kerala- CPI(M), which has made Marxism a dogma to suit its own convenience. Internationally also, many variants of social democracy and revisionism are being peddled in the name of Marxism. In such a backdrop, the meeting felt the need to retrieve the revolutionary essence of Marxism in today's context.
The meeting also felt the need to have a forum for healthy debates and exchange of ideas that can explore Marxism from a revolutionary point of view against the prevalent revisionist and social-democratic viewpoint in the state. The forum will have no pre-conceived notions and will act as a forum for interaction of various revolutionary Marxist and progressive ideas on various fundamental and burning issues of the day. It will also try to interact with all like-minded Left individuals, organisations and the people who want to interact with Marxism.
Annual GBM of RYA at Puducherry
The annual General Body Meeting of the Puducherry unit of Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) was held on 21 February 2010 at Comrade Bhagat Singh Nagar (Muthialpet) in Com. Chandrashekhar Hall. Puducherry and especially the Muthialpet area were decorated with wall writing, banners, festoons and flags. The Hall was decorated with photographs and quotations of communist leaders.
The meeting was inaugurated and addressed by Com. S Balasubramanium, State Sectetary, CPI(ML), who called upon youth to unite with the struggles of the oppressed and defend the country against imperialist policies. Com. P Ravikumar presented the draft document. Youths from all areas of Puducherry and Karaikal regions took part in the GBM and actively participated in the lively discussion.
The GBM unanimously elected a 15-member State Committee and 9 office bearers with P Ravikumar as Secretary and A Alagappan as President. A 20-point resolution was adopted by the house. It was decided to recruit 2000 members organised in 20 branches by the year 2011. A convention will be held on March 23 (Bhagat Singh martyrdom day) with the demand: "Replace the imperialist symbol of the Dupleix statue with one of Bhagat Singh). A signature campaign will be launched on this issue.
AISA-RYA Protest March in Giridih against Greenhunt
On 11 March, AISA and RYA held a Protest March in Giridih, Jharkhand, from Jhanda Maidan to Tower Chowk, where a mass meeting was held. The March raised the slogan – "We want an end to Greenhunt, Corruption and Corporate Loot – We want Education and Employment.' The meeting was addressed by AISA's National Vice President Aslam, AISA's Jharkhand Convenor Hemlal Mahto, RYAState VP Rameshwar Chowdhury and CPI(ML) leaders such as Rajesh Yadav and Parameshwar Mahto and others.
ML UPDATE 12 - 2010.pdf
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Thursday, March 18, 2010
ML UPDATE 11 / 2010
MLUpdate
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol. 13, No. 11, 09 – 15 MARCH 2010
Uphold the Glorious Legacy of International Women’s Day
8 March 2010 marks the centenary of International Women’s Day – a hundred years from the time when the working class women’s movement first thought to observe ‘Women’s Day’ to celebrate their day-to-day struggles and assert the goal of women’s liberation.
International Women’s Day (IWD) inherits and represents the legacy of a glorious struggle for equality, dignity and emancipation that started long before the formal adoption of this day by women’s wings of socialist and communist parties—in fact well before the first socialist/communist parties were born. Even if we leave apart the previous periods of history, we cannot forget that the French Revolution of 1789, that great harbinger of modernity, was started by plebeian and semi-proletarian women of Paris. It was the same contingent that literally woke up and mobilised their men folk in the wee hours of 18 March 1871 against conspiratorial activities of the Versailles government, thereby launching the struggle for Paris Commune.
What communism did to this centuries-old struggle for women’s enlightenment and emancipation was to raise it to a qualitatively new level by consciously integrating it, both politically and organisationally, with the united movement of all the downtrodden for revolutionary transformation of the entire oppressive social order. IWD, a product of this integration, served to mobilise more and more women in the communist movement. The democratic revolution in Russia that overthrew the Tsarist monarchy in 1917 was actually started on IWD, with women workers in Petrograd spontaneously going on strike and demonstration. Guided by their proletarian class instinct, they ignored local Bolsheviks who advised restraint, and started the offensive. In our country we observe Naxalbari Day on 25 May to pay tribute to the eight women comrades who along with two babies they carried and one male comrade became the first martyrs of Naxalbari in 1967.
These are but a few of numerous historic instances of working women playing vanguard roles in epoch-making emancipatory struggles involving both sexes. Today, simultaneously with their growing involvement in productive activities, women are brilliantly carrying forward this legacy -- not just in the arena of various mass movements, but in all walks of life from politics to sports, in academic, artistic, scientific and literary pursuits, and so on. Like in the past – and here lies the great merit, the special significance, of women’s struggles and achievements – they are doing this in the face of tremendous negative discrimination and all sorts of resistance offered by semi-feudal and capitalist patriarchy.
In the centenary year of IWD, the issues and slogans raised by the revolutionary women’s movement a hundred years ago continue to resonate with renewed relevance in the women’s movement of today. The first Women’s Day was marked by militant women workers raising demands for women’s rights at the workplace as well as the right to vote. Today, in the wake of the global economic crisis and policies of liberalisation, women are bearing the brunt of retrenchment and also being disproportionately represented in the most exploitative sectors of the economy.
While women’s political participation has increased, full and equal participation continues to be a far cry. In India, the slogan of enhanced political participation has found expression in the demand for 33% reservation in Parliament and Assemblies that successive governments have betrayed for the past decade, and even on the occasion of the IWD Centenary, the Indian Parliament witnessed a display of violence and patriarchal sentiment against the Women’s Bill.
‘Bread, Land, Peace’ – the rallying cry for Russian women on March 8 1917 – assumes great significance today: not only in the context of women’s resistance against imperialist wars and occupation in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, but also for women in India resisting price rise and hunger, repression in the course of struggles against land grab, and state repression.
In keeping with the growing assertion of women, especially toiling women, their active participation in the communist movement has increased manifold. But has there been a corresponding increase in the role of women in the communist organisation? Do we see larger numbers and enhanced activism of women members, organisers and leaders? In spite of years of efforts and some partial success, we cannot really claim that. The IWD Centenary is an occasion for renewed and energetic efforts in this direction.
A hundred years ago, communists imparted a new revolutionary dimension to the women’s movement of the period. Today, the occasion of the centenary of IWD should serve to highlight and reassert that legacy – and also to take the legacy of IWD and the historical achievements of the women’s movement as a precious resource and inspiration to meet the challenges for the women’s movement today.
Pass Women's Bill Without Further Delay
(Statement issued by the Party on 8 March 2010 in New Delhi)
On the occasion of the centenary of International Women's Day today, the Rajya Sabha has again witnessed unseemly acts like tearing of the Women's Bill (for 33% Reservation) and anti-woman remarks by several political leaders opposing the Bill.
While the tabling of the Bill is welcome, it must be remembered that it was long overdue, and it is only the past 14 years of women's movement that has forced the Congress-led UPA to present the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
Leaders like Laloo Yadav are indulging in blatantly anti-woman propaganda in the name of opposing the Bill, and the RJD and SP have withdrawn their support to the UPA Government on this issue. Laloo Yadav claims that he wants representation in the Bill for OBC women; but his remark that "India is a male-dominated country and here women will vote only where their husbands tell them; ...If I ask my wife, Rabri Devi, to vote for a particular party, do you think she will vote for another party?" reveals the patriarchal basis for his opposition to the Bill. It proves that those opposing the Bill are in fact wishing to preserve the "male-dominated" character of society and deny women an independent political voice. Parties like JD(U) are also displaying rank opportunism on the issue of the Bill, with different leaders speaking in calculatedly different voices. These forces are all banking on the fact that for the past 14 years, Congress and BJP alike have paid no more than lip service to the Bill, and they hope that this time too, aggressive propaganda against the Bill will once again be made an excuse by the Congress to postpone the passage of the Bill.
We demand that the Congress-led UPA ensure the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill without a single day's delay.
Central Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation
On Women's Day Centenary
AIPWA Marches
Against disruption in Rajya Sabha on 33% Reservation Bill
Against Price Rise
Violence and State Repression
On the occasion of the centenary of International Women's Day on 8th March 2010, All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) held militant demonstrations in various states and districts across the Country and raised slogans- 'Salute 100 years of Women's Liberation Struggles! Onwards to Achieve Liberty, Equality and Dignity!' Women also raised spirited slogans against price rise and state repression. Massive protest marches and other events on 8 March were held by AIPWA at New Delhi, Jaipur, Patna, Lucknow, Allahabad, Banaras, Guwahati, Chennai, Madurai, Karnataka and many other places.
New Delhi: AIPWA participated in a March to Parliament from Mandi House organised by the Centenary Celebration Committee. AIPWA mobilised women from various jhuggi clusters, women workers as well as students of All India Students' Association (AISA) from JNU, DU and Jamia Millia in this March, who raised colourful banners and placards and shouted slogans highlighting the legacy of 100 years of Women's Day and women's liberation struggles. Health workers of the All India CGHS Employees Association (Women's Wing) led by the Women's Wing General Secretary Rajkumari Ujjainwal also marched along with AIPWA in the procession. The demonstration here was addressed by AIPWA’s National Secretary Comrade Kavita Krishnan and JNUSU Vice President and AISA leader Shephalika Shekhar among others.
Bihar: On 8th March, huge rally was organised jointly by AIPWA and Parivartan Kendra in Patna. The rally began from Gandhi Maidan and it reached the Legislative assembly gate at R block crossing. Two thousand women from Patna and Vaishali districts participated in the rally. The main demands of the rally were- (1) Pass the Women’s Reservation Bill without any further delay, (2) Police and Judiciary should be alert and sensitive towards the issues of violence against women, (3) Closing down the liquor shops opened by the State government in Bihar and (4) women’s right to property among several other demands. Rally was addressed by AIPWA’s General Secretary Comrade Meena Tiwari and Parivartan Kendra’s Secretary Varsha Bela. The participants in the rally resolved to conduct various different programmes to celebrate the 100 years of Women’s day.
On 9th March, another protest rally was held by AIPWA in Patna to protest the disruption and violent attitude shown to the Women’s Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha. Rally started from AIPWA office on Birchnad Patel Marg and concluded at the Dakbuglow Chowraha. The rally was led by comrades Meena Tiwari, Saroj Chowbey and Shashi from AIPWA and Varsha Jawalgekar from Parivartan Kendra.
West Bengal: The WB unit of AIPWA organized a militant, well decorated procession on 8 March in Kolkata. Slogans like Salute to Hundred Years of Women’s Liberation Struggles, intensify struggles for Equality and Freedom, Pass the 33% Reservation Bill Now, Fight Against Price Rise, Violence and State Repression, Withdraw Operation Green Hunt rent the air as hundreds of working women marched from College Square to Dharmatala.
Jharkhand: More than a thousand women from AIPWA, Hul Mahila Ekta Manch and Mahila Ulgulan Sangh jointly held a militant demonstration in front of the State Legislative Assembly in Ranchi and blockaded the main entrance for 3 hours demanding passage of the Women’s Bill and stop operation Greenhunt. The AIPWA members for the protest here came from three districts- Ranchi, Lohardaga and Gumla. Several protest demonstrations comprising hundreds of women were held in Giridih dist. - in Bagodar, Saria, Birni, Rajdhanwar and Jamua. Deonstrations were also held at Garhwa and Ramgarh. In Dhanbad the AIPWA members sat on a dharna at the Randhir Verma Chowk.
Tamil Nadu: In Chennai, a demonstration was held on March 8, highlighting the issues of working women. Women took part in the demonstration which was led by Com.Devaki, State Vice-President, AIPWA. Com.Kuppabai, State VP, AIPWA, Com.Shenbagavalli of Villupuram spoke in the demonstration. Com.AS Kumar, AICCTU DGS, also addressed the gathering.
In Tirunelveli 75 women held a demonstration demanding homestead patta among other demands. Com. Thenmozhi, State President, AIPWA, addressed the demonstration. The demonstrators raised slogans demanding passage of the Women's Reservation Bill and controlling price rise.
In Kanyakumari, a convention was held in which 200 unorganised women workers participated. Com. Mary Stella, State Secretary, AIPWA, and Com. Anthoni Muthu, State Vice-President, AICCTU addressed the convention.
In Tanjore a demonstration was held in which dozens of rural women participated and demanded passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill and controlling price rise.
Rajasthan: Hundreds of AIPWA members from across the State- Udaypur, Banswara, Ajmer, Kishangarh, Pratapgarh, Chittaurgarh, Bhilwara, Tonk and Jhunjhunu – held a militant demonstration at the Chief Minister’s office in Jaipur. In the morning the women marched in a rally from Shaheed Smarak to CM’s office where they raised spirited slogans and held mass meeting for two hours. AIPWA’s National President Com. Srilata Swaminathan along with other AIPWA leaders led the rally and demonstration here.
Later a delegation of AIPWA also met the CM Mr. Ashok Gahlaut and presented their list of demands which includes among other to- extending NREGA to all the districts and guaranteeing 50 percent employment for women with minimum wage at Rs.200/8hr, NREGA to be extended to town areas and urban centres also with 50 percent jobs for women, those living in unauthorised bastis be urgently provided land pattas and all eviction attempts be curbed immediately, old age pension for all needy women, their name be included in BPL list and they be given ration cards, and Chairperson for the State’s Women Commission be urgently appointed.
Upon assurance from the CM for addressing these demands, the delegation let it known that if there is no progress they will intensify their agitation.
Chhatisgarh: Rally and public meeting was organised by AIPWA at Bhilai in Durg district on 8 March. The women in the rally and mass meeting resolved to intensify their struggle for land, livelihood, peace, equality and dignity. The rallyists also demanded strict implementation of labour laws and re-inducting all retrenched sanitary women workers. The women also condemned the growing violent attacks on women in the name of Maoism.
Meeting was also held at Bungoli vill. in Raipur and Jagdalpur under Bastar districts on 8 March.
MARCH 5 – Central TUs’ Jail Bharo/Satyagraha Day
Tamil Nadu: All India Central Council of trade Unions (AICCTU) participated in the All Trade Union protest on March 5 all over the State demanding to rein in the escalating price rise, expansion of PDS, implementation of worker welfare legislations, no disivestment, extending benefits to the unorganized workers without any pre-conditions. Protests took place at 10 centres throughout the State.
In Chennai and Erode over 300 AICCTU workers participated at 6 centres. In Tirunelveli, 100 unorganised workers participated in the road block held at 2 places. In Kanchipuram and Trichy around 50 workers joined the protest.
Chhatisgarh: AICCTU leaders participated in a joint dharna at the Employment chowk of Bhilai Steel Plant. TU leaders from CITU, AITUC, INTUC, HMKP, HMS and BMS participated in the dharna. A memorandum for the PM was handed over to the DC.
From Circular of Central Committee Meeting
(Chittaranjan, 4-6 March 2010)
The Party Central Committee met at Mihijam (Chittaranjan) in Jamtara district of Jharkhand (bordering Bardhaman district of West Bengal) from 4 to 6 March, 2010. The meeting was hosted by comrades of All India Railway Party Committee in cooperation with other concerned comrades of Jharkhand and West Bengal. The deliberations and decisions of the CC meeting are summarized below.
1. Budgets 2010-11: This year, the budget session came in the backdrop of sky-rocketing prices with food inflation being as high as 20%. Even the economic survey identified the price situation as a big worry. Yet the budget has made absolutely no attempt to extend any relief to the common people. Instead, the hike in petrol and diesel and fertilizer prices and the increase in excise duty and service tax will have a cascading effect on prices of most goods and services adding to the back-breaking burden on the common man. The budget claims to have showered benefits on 60% taxpayers – but the threshold level for tax benefits is an annual income of Rs. 400,000. This then is the government’s real definition of aam aadmi and inclusive growth!
Apart from tax sops for the middle and upper-middle class and the corporate sector, this year’s budgets have also delivered a big push towards privatization or greater opportunities for the private sector. While the railways are promoting public-private partnership in a big way, the setting up of Coal Regulatory Authority and the policy of RBI granting banking license to private banks and NBFCs mark a major reversal of the perspective of bank and coal nationalization.
To suit the neo-liberal market-driven model, the tax system is being relentlessly restructured with further dilution of direct taxes (taxes on income and wealth) and greater accent on indirect taxes (taxes on goods and services) which do not distinguish between the rich and the poor.
We must conduct a sustained campaign against price-rise, for greater allocation for agriculture, rural development and social sectors including health, education, housing, employment guarantee schemes and social security measures and reversal of the pro-privatisation measures announced in the budget. Generally speaking, the central slogan for the campaign against price-rise can be: “Check Prices, Give us Jobs – Carry out Land Reforms.” Apart from demanding a roll-back of price hikes, we must intensify struggles for wage increase and on PDS related issues (struggle for inclusion of all poor families in BPL list, for expansion and strict implementation of PDS, against hoarding and black marketeering, and against the corrupt dealer-politician-bureaucrat nexus responsible for PDS loot) as well as for increased procurement prices and subsidies in all our areas of work.
The CC has called for month-long campaign against price-rise and other related issues throughout the month of March culminating in statewide rallies and demonstrations between 23 and 31 March. Assam will hold decentralized demonstrations in district headquarters on March 23 while Jharkhand will organise a state-level mass rally in Ranchi on the same day. Orissa will organize a state-level programme in Bhubaneswar on March 27 and Bihar will have a state-level Jan Adhikar Rally in Patna on March 30. Delhi and Punjab will jointly organize a protest meeting outside Parliament on March 26.
2. Operation Green Hunt: Operation Green Hunt is the centerpiece of a more generalized campaign of larger state offensive against the democratic movement. In many of our areas of work, we are also facing heightened state repression and administrative harassment and even conspiratorial media coverage at times. While organizing appropriate and timely protests in all such cases, we must send fact-finding missions to some key theatres of Operation Green Hunt, Chhattisgarh in particular. While state repression and Maoist retaliation are escalating, the UPA government and Maoists are both talking about talks. We call for immediate cessation of Operation Green Hunt and initiation of talks in a conducive atmosphere.
3. BPL and Food Security: As many as three official reports (Tendulkar Committee Report, NC Saxena Committee Report and Arjun Sengupta Committee report) have rejected the existing Planning Commission estimate of poverty and the artificial ceiling of 28%. We call for automatic inclusion of all agricultural and rural labourers, small and marginal farmers and unorganized workers in the BPL. The UPA government had promised to enact a Right to Food Act which remains unfulfilled even after the second budget of UPA-II. The government’s draft proposal in this regard is extremely inadequate; we must press for a minimum monthly provision of 50 kg foodgrains at Rs. 2 per kg for every BPL household.
4. Ranganath Mishra Commission Report: The UPA Government is sitting over the Ranganath Mishra Commission Report which recommended reservation in education and employment for deprived sections of the Muslim community and for extension of SC recognition to Dalits who have converted to Islam or Christianity. We call upon the government to accept and implement the Ranganath Mishra Commission recommendations without any further delay.
5. Telengana, Second States Reorganisation Commission and Article 244A: Having agreed to the demand for creation of a separate Telengana state, the Congress is now playing a dangerous game of dilly-dallying and dividing the people on this issue. We call upon the UPA government to immediately fulfil its promise of a separate Telengana state, implement Article 244A to grant Autonomus State status to Karbi Anglong and NC Hills districts of Assam and also set up a Second States Reorganisation Commission for a favourable and time-bound disposal of all other pending popular demands of statehood.
6. Centenary of International Women’s Day: This March 8, the International Women’s Day turns 100. AIPWA has already drawn up some year-long plans for the centenary year. The women’s department and education department and the entire Party organization should also get involved in a planned and concerted manner. For the women’s organization, the focus should be on spreading the IWD message (commemorative programmes should preferably be organized in 100 centres across the country) and AIPWA network with special emphasis on working women and girl students, while for the Party the focus should be on developing and promoting women cadres on different levels and fronts.
7. All India Peasant Conference: As directed by the 8th Congress of the Party, the CC has resolved to launch an all-India peasant organization through a national peasants’ conference. The conference will be held in Patna on May 10 (the 1857 anniversary day).
The main slogan for the conference will be “SaveFarmLand, Farming and Farmers – End the Reign of Plunder and Disaster” and “National Peasant Conference for Dignity, Democracy and Development”. The peasant association will inherit and uphold the anti-feudal anti-imperialist legacy of peasant revolts and communist-led peasant movement starting from the colonial period. In particular, the Patna conference will uphold the radical legacy of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati (founder of AIKS in 1936 who had played a pioneering role in the anti-zamindari peasant movement in Bihar) and his vision of worker-peasant solidarity and thwart the ruling class design of using peasants as corporate and feudal pawns and pitting them against agricultural labourers. In the context of today’s agrarian crisis, the peasant association will fight against feudal remnants and growing corporate domination and imperialist intervention and press for implementation of comprehensive land and tenancy reforms, necessary assistance and facilities for poor and middle peasants, and increased public investment in agriculture.
8. Bihar Assembly Election and Patna Rally: A State level rally – named Jan Adhikar rally (People’s Rights Rally) – has been planned in Patna on March 30. It will challenge the official euphoria of Nitish Kumar’s ‘growth miracle’ and Mahadalit rhetoric by highlighting the key issues of land reforms, employment guarantee, agricultural and industrial development, and the actual conditions and aspirations of the rural poor.
9. Panchayat Election in Jharkhand: Jharkhand is the only state where panchayat election has not been held till date. The Supreme Court has recently cleared the way for panchayat elections. We must insist on, and prepare for, early holding of panchayat elections in compliance with the provisions of PESA (Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas) and 50% reservation for women.
AIALA’s Massive Demonstration in TN
From March 5 to 8, All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association (AIALA) organized panchayat level demonstrations in TN demanding inclusion of names in the BPL list, work under MGNREGA, Rs.200 daily wages under MGNREGA and homestead land and patta. In Pudukottai, on March 5, over 1100 rural poor went to the panchayat offices in 3 panchayats and submitted 1200 memoranda. In Tiruvallore on March 5 over 450 participated in a rally and demonstrations held in one panchayat. On March 8 rally and demonstrations were held in 2 panchayats in the same district in which 500 rural poor participated. In Villupuram, on March 8, demonstrations were held in 3 panchayats with 800 rural poor submitting their memorandum to include their name in the BPL list. In Nagai, on March 6, demonstrations were held in two panchayats in which 400 participated. In Tuticorin, around 100 rural poor participated in demonstrations held in 2 panchayats.
Andhra Pradesh: CPI(ML) Khammam District Committee held a protest demonstration at Sathupalli (Khammam district) near APSRTC Bus stand with nearly 100 members and staged Dharna. They submitted a memorandum to the Tahsildar. Raised slogans against the UPA government and its anti-people and anti-workers budget. The demonstration was led by Bandaru Venkateswararao, Secretary of Sathupalli, Dist. Secretary CK Damodar addressed the meeting.
ML Update -13-11 pdf.pdf
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol. 13, No. 11, 09 – 15 MARCH 2010
Uphold the Glorious Legacy of International Women’s Day
8 March 2010 marks the centenary of International Women’s Day – a hundred years from the time when the working class women’s movement first thought to observe ‘Women’s Day’ to celebrate their day-to-day struggles and assert the goal of women’s liberation.
International Women’s Day (IWD) inherits and represents the legacy of a glorious struggle for equality, dignity and emancipation that started long before the formal adoption of this day by women’s wings of socialist and communist parties—in fact well before the first socialist/communist parties were born. Even if we leave apart the previous periods of history, we cannot forget that the French Revolution of 1789, that great harbinger of modernity, was started by plebeian and semi-proletarian women of Paris. It was the same contingent that literally woke up and mobilised their men folk in the wee hours of 18 March 1871 against conspiratorial activities of the Versailles government, thereby launching the struggle for Paris Commune.
What communism did to this centuries-old struggle for women’s enlightenment and emancipation was to raise it to a qualitatively new level by consciously integrating it, both politically and organisationally, with the united movement of all the downtrodden for revolutionary transformation of the entire oppressive social order. IWD, a product of this integration, served to mobilise more and more women in the communist movement. The democratic revolution in Russia that overthrew the Tsarist monarchy in 1917 was actually started on IWD, with women workers in Petrograd spontaneously going on strike and demonstration. Guided by their proletarian class instinct, they ignored local Bolsheviks who advised restraint, and started the offensive. In our country we observe Naxalbari Day on 25 May to pay tribute to the eight women comrades who along with two babies they carried and one male comrade became the first martyrs of Naxalbari in 1967.
These are but a few of numerous historic instances of working women playing vanguard roles in epoch-making emancipatory struggles involving both sexes. Today, simultaneously with their growing involvement in productive activities, women are brilliantly carrying forward this legacy -- not just in the arena of various mass movements, but in all walks of life from politics to sports, in academic, artistic, scientific and literary pursuits, and so on. Like in the past – and here lies the great merit, the special significance, of women’s struggles and achievements – they are doing this in the face of tremendous negative discrimination and all sorts of resistance offered by semi-feudal and capitalist patriarchy.
In the centenary year of IWD, the issues and slogans raised by the revolutionary women’s movement a hundred years ago continue to resonate with renewed relevance in the women’s movement of today. The first Women’s Day was marked by militant women workers raising demands for women’s rights at the workplace as well as the right to vote. Today, in the wake of the global economic crisis and policies of liberalisation, women are bearing the brunt of retrenchment and also being disproportionately represented in the most exploitative sectors of the economy.
While women’s political participation has increased, full and equal participation continues to be a far cry. In India, the slogan of enhanced political participation has found expression in the demand for 33% reservation in Parliament and Assemblies that successive governments have betrayed for the past decade, and even on the occasion of the IWD Centenary, the Indian Parliament witnessed a display of violence and patriarchal sentiment against the Women’s Bill.
‘Bread, Land, Peace’ – the rallying cry for Russian women on March 8 1917 – assumes great significance today: not only in the context of women’s resistance against imperialist wars and occupation in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, but also for women in India resisting price rise and hunger, repression in the course of struggles against land grab, and state repression.
In keeping with the growing assertion of women, especially toiling women, their active participation in the communist movement has increased manifold. But has there been a corresponding increase in the role of women in the communist organisation? Do we see larger numbers and enhanced activism of women members, organisers and leaders? In spite of years of efforts and some partial success, we cannot really claim that. The IWD Centenary is an occasion for renewed and energetic efforts in this direction.
A hundred years ago, communists imparted a new revolutionary dimension to the women’s movement of the period. Today, the occasion of the centenary of IWD should serve to highlight and reassert that legacy – and also to take the legacy of IWD and the historical achievements of the women’s movement as a precious resource and inspiration to meet the challenges for the women’s movement today.
Pass Women's Bill Without Further Delay
(Statement issued by the Party on 8 March 2010 in New Delhi)
On the occasion of the centenary of International Women's Day today, the Rajya Sabha has again witnessed unseemly acts like tearing of the Women's Bill (for 33% Reservation) and anti-woman remarks by several political leaders opposing the Bill.
While the tabling of the Bill is welcome, it must be remembered that it was long overdue, and it is only the past 14 years of women's movement that has forced the Congress-led UPA to present the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
Leaders like Laloo Yadav are indulging in blatantly anti-woman propaganda in the name of opposing the Bill, and the RJD and SP have withdrawn their support to the UPA Government on this issue. Laloo Yadav claims that he wants representation in the Bill for OBC women; but his remark that "India is a male-dominated country and here women will vote only where their husbands tell them; ...If I ask my wife, Rabri Devi, to vote for a particular party, do you think she will vote for another party?" reveals the patriarchal basis for his opposition to the Bill. It proves that those opposing the Bill are in fact wishing to preserve the "male-dominated" character of society and deny women an independent political voice. Parties like JD(U) are also displaying rank opportunism on the issue of the Bill, with different leaders speaking in calculatedly different voices. These forces are all banking on the fact that for the past 14 years, Congress and BJP alike have paid no more than lip service to the Bill, and they hope that this time too, aggressive propaganda against the Bill will once again be made an excuse by the Congress to postpone the passage of the Bill.
We demand that the Congress-led UPA ensure the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill without a single day's delay.
Central Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation
On Women's Day Centenary
AIPWA Marches
Against disruption in Rajya Sabha on 33% Reservation Bill
Against Price Rise
Violence and State Repression
On the occasion of the centenary of International Women's Day on 8th March 2010, All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) held militant demonstrations in various states and districts across the Country and raised slogans- 'Salute 100 years of Women's Liberation Struggles! Onwards to Achieve Liberty, Equality and Dignity!' Women also raised spirited slogans against price rise and state repression. Massive protest marches and other events on 8 March were held by AIPWA at New Delhi, Jaipur, Patna, Lucknow, Allahabad, Banaras, Guwahati, Chennai, Madurai, Karnataka and many other places.
New Delhi: AIPWA participated in a March to Parliament from Mandi House organised by the Centenary Celebration Committee. AIPWA mobilised women from various jhuggi clusters, women workers as well as students of All India Students' Association (AISA) from JNU, DU and Jamia Millia in this March, who raised colourful banners and placards and shouted slogans highlighting the legacy of 100 years of Women's Day and women's liberation struggles. Health workers of the All India CGHS Employees Association (Women's Wing) led by the Women's Wing General Secretary Rajkumari Ujjainwal also marched along with AIPWA in the procession. The demonstration here was addressed by AIPWA’s National Secretary Comrade Kavita Krishnan and JNUSU Vice President and AISA leader Shephalika Shekhar among others.
Bihar: On 8th March, huge rally was organised jointly by AIPWA and Parivartan Kendra in Patna. The rally began from Gandhi Maidan and it reached the Legislative assembly gate at R block crossing. Two thousand women from Patna and Vaishali districts participated in the rally. The main demands of the rally were- (1) Pass the Women’s Reservation Bill without any further delay, (2) Police and Judiciary should be alert and sensitive towards the issues of violence against women, (3) Closing down the liquor shops opened by the State government in Bihar and (4) women’s right to property among several other demands. Rally was addressed by AIPWA’s General Secretary Comrade Meena Tiwari and Parivartan Kendra’s Secretary Varsha Bela. The participants in the rally resolved to conduct various different programmes to celebrate the 100 years of Women’s day.
On 9th March, another protest rally was held by AIPWA in Patna to protest the disruption and violent attitude shown to the Women’s Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha. Rally started from AIPWA office on Birchnad Patel Marg and concluded at the Dakbuglow Chowraha. The rally was led by comrades Meena Tiwari, Saroj Chowbey and Shashi from AIPWA and Varsha Jawalgekar from Parivartan Kendra.
West Bengal: The WB unit of AIPWA organized a militant, well decorated procession on 8 March in Kolkata. Slogans like Salute to Hundred Years of Women’s Liberation Struggles, intensify struggles for Equality and Freedom, Pass the 33% Reservation Bill Now, Fight Against Price Rise, Violence and State Repression, Withdraw Operation Green Hunt rent the air as hundreds of working women marched from College Square to Dharmatala.
Jharkhand: More than a thousand women from AIPWA, Hul Mahila Ekta Manch and Mahila Ulgulan Sangh jointly held a militant demonstration in front of the State Legislative Assembly in Ranchi and blockaded the main entrance for 3 hours demanding passage of the Women’s Bill and stop operation Greenhunt. The AIPWA members for the protest here came from three districts- Ranchi, Lohardaga and Gumla. Several protest demonstrations comprising hundreds of women were held in Giridih dist. - in Bagodar, Saria, Birni, Rajdhanwar and Jamua. Deonstrations were also held at Garhwa and Ramgarh. In Dhanbad the AIPWA members sat on a dharna at the Randhir Verma Chowk.
Tamil Nadu: In Chennai, a demonstration was held on March 8, highlighting the issues of working women. Women took part in the demonstration which was led by Com.Devaki, State Vice-President, AIPWA. Com.Kuppabai, State VP, AIPWA, Com.Shenbagavalli of Villupuram spoke in the demonstration. Com.AS Kumar, AICCTU DGS, also addressed the gathering.
In Tirunelveli 75 women held a demonstration demanding homestead patta among other demands. Com. Thenmozhi, State President, AIPWA, addressed the demonstration. The demonstrators raised slogans demanding passage of the Women's Reservation Bill and controlling price rise.
In Kanyakumari, a convention was held in which 200 unorganised women workers participated. Com. Mary Stella, State Secretary, AIPWA, and Com. Anthoni Muthu, State Vice-President, AICCTU addressed the convention.
In Tanjore a demonstration was held in which dozens of rural women participated and demanded passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill and controlling price rise.
Rajasthan: Hundreds of AIPWA members from across the State- Udaypur, Banswara, Ajmer, Kishangarh, Pratapgarh, Chittaurgarh, Bhilwara, Tonk and Jhunjhunu – held a militant demonstration at the Chief Minister’s office in Jaipur. In the morning the women marched in a rally from Shaheed Smarak to CM’s office where they raised spirited slogans and held mass meeting for two hours. AIPWA’s National President Com. Srilata Swaminathan along with other AIPWA leaders led the rally and demonstration here.
Later a delegation of AIPWA also met the CM Mr. Ashok Gahlaut and presented their list of demands which includes among other to- extending NREGA to all the districts and guaranteeing 50 percent employment for women with minimum wage at Rs.200/8hr, NREGA to be extended to town areas and urban centres also with 50 percent jobs for women, those living in unauthorised bastis be urgently provided land pattas and all eviction attempts be curbed immediately, old age pension for all needy women, their name be included in BPL list and they be given ration cards, and Chairperson for the State’s Women Commission be urgently appointed.
Upon assurance from the CM for addressing these demands, the delegation let it known that if there is no progress they will intensify their agitation.
Chhatisgarh: Rally and public meeting was organised by AIPWA at Bhilai in Durg district on 8 March. The women in the rally and mass meeting resolved to intensify their struggle for land, livelihood, peace, equality and dignity. The rallyists also demanded strict implementation of labour laws and re-inducting all retrenched sanitary women workers. The women also condemned the growing violent attacks on women in the name of Maoism.
Meeting was also held at Bungoli vill. in Raipur and Jagdalpur under Bastar districts on 8 March.
MARCH 5 – Central TUs’ Jail Bharo/Satyagraha Day
Tamil Nadu: All India Central Council of trade Unions (AICCTU) participated in the All Trade Union protest on March 5 all over the State demanding to rein in the escalating price rise, expansion of PDS, implementation of worker welfare legislations, no disivestment, extending benefits to the unorganized workers without any pre-conditions. Protests took place at 10 centres throughout the State.
In Chennai and Erode over 300 AICCTU workers participated at 6 centres. In Tirunelveli, 100 unorganised workers participated in the road block held at 2 places. In Kanchipuram and Trichy around 50 workers joined the protest.
Chhatisgarh: AICCTU leaders participated in a joint dharna at the Employment chowk of Bhilai Steel Plant. TU leaders from CITU, AITUC, INTUC, HMKP, HMS and BMS participated in the dharna. A memorandum for the PM was handed over to the DC.
From Circular of Central Committee Meeting
(Chittaranjan, 4-6 March 2010)
The Party Central Committee met at Mihijam (Chittaranjan) in Jamtara district of Jharkhand (bordering Bardhaman district of West Bengal) from 4 to 6 March, 2010. The meeting was hosted by comrades of All India Railway Party Committee in cooperation with other concerned comrades of Jharkhand and West Bengal. The deliberations and decisions of the CC meeting are summarized below.
1. Budgets 2010-11: This year, the budget session came in the backdrop of sky-rocketing prices with food inflation being as high as 20%. Even the economic survey identified the price situation as a big worry. Yet the budget has made absolutely no attempt to extend any relief to the common people. Instead, the hike in petrol and diesel and fertilizer prices and the increase in excise duty and service tax will have a cascading effect on prices of most goods and services adding to the back-breaking burden on the common man. The budget claims to have showered benefits on 60% taxpayers – but the threshold level for tax benefits is an annual income of Rs. 400,000. This then is the government’s real definition of aam aadmi and inclusive growth!
Apart from tax sops for the middle and upper-middle class and the corporate sector, this year’s budgets have also delivered a big push towards privatization or greater opportunities for the private sector. While the railways are promoting public-private partnership in a big way, the setting up of Coal Regulatory Authority and the policy of RBI granting banking license to private banks and NBFCs mark a major reversal of the perspective of bank and coal nationalization.
To suit the neo-liberal market-driven model, the tax system is being relentlessly restructured with further dilution of direct taxes (taxes on income and wealth) and greater accent on indirect taxes (taxes on goods and services) which do not distinguish between the rich and the poor.
We must conduct a sustained campaign against price-rise, for greater allocation for agriculture, rural development and social sectors including health, education, housing, employment guarantee schemes and social security measures and reversal of the pro-privatisation measures announced in the budget. Generally speaking, the central slogan for the campaign against price-rise can be: “Check Prices, Give us Jobs – Carry out Land Reforms.” Apart from demanding a roll-back of price hikes, we must intensify struggles for wage increase and on PDS related issues (struggle for inclusion of all poor families in BPL list, for expansion and strict implementation of PDS, against hoarding and black marketeering, and against the corrupt dealer-politician-bureaucrat nexus responsible for PDS loot) as well as for increased procurement prices and subsidies in all our areas of work.
The CC has called for month-long campaign against price-rise and other related issues throughout the month of March culminating in statewide rallies and demonstrations between 23 and 31 March. Assam will hold decentralized demonstrations in district headquarters on March 23 while Jharkhand will organise a state-level mass rally in Ranchi on the same day. Orissa will organize a state-level programme in Bhubaneswar on March 27 and Bihar will have a state-level Jan Adhikar Rally in Patna on March 30. Delhi and Punjab will jointly organize a protest meeting outside Parliament on March 26.
2. Operation Green Hunt: Operation Green Hunt is the centerpiece of a more generalized campaign of larger state offensive against the democratic movement. In many of our areas of work, we are also facing heightened state repression and administrative harassment and even conspiratorial media coverage at times. While organizing appropriate and timely protests in all such cases, we must send fact-finding missions to some key theatres of Operation Green Hunt, Chhattisgarh in particular. While state repression and Maoist retaliation are escalating, the UPA government and Maoists are both talking about talks. We call for immediate cessation of Operation Green Hunt and initiation of talks in a conducive atmosphere.
3. BPL and Food Security: As many as three official reports (Tendulkar Committee Report, NC Saxena Committee Report and Arjun Sengupta Committee report) have rejected the existing Planning Commission estimate of poverty and the artificial ceiling of 28%. We call for automatic inclusion of all agricultural and rural labourers, small and marginal farmers and unorganized workers in the BPL. The UPA government had promised to enact a Right to Food Act which remains unfulfilled even after the second budget of UPA-II. The government’s draft proposal in this regard is extremely inadequate; we must press for a minimum monthly provision of 50 kg foodgrains at Rs. 2 per kg for every BPL household.
4. Ranganath Mishra Commission Report: The UPA Government is sitting over the Ranganath Mishra Commission Report which recommended reservation in education and employment for deprived sections of the Muslim community and for extension of SC recognition to Dalits who have converted to Islam or Christianity. We call upon the government to accept and implement the Ranganath Mishra Commission recommendations without any further delay.
5. Telengana, Second States Reorganisation Commission and Article 244A: Having agreed to the demand for creation of a separate Telengana state, the Congress is now playing a dangerous game of dilly-dallying and dividing the people on this issue. We call upon the UPA government to immediately fulfil its promise of a separate Telengana state, implement Article 244A to grant Autonomus State status to Karbi Anglong and NC Hills districts of Assam and also set up a Second States Reorganisation Commission for a favourable and time-bound disposal of all other pending popular demands of statehood.
6. Centenary of International Women’s Day: This March 8, the International Women’s Day turns 100. AIPWA has already drawn up some year-long plans for the centenary year. The women’s department and education department and the entire Party organization should also get involved in a planned and concerted manner. For the women’s organization, the focus should be on spreading the IWD message (commemorative programmes should preferably be organized in 100 centres across the country) and AIPWA network with special emphasis on working women and girl students, while for the Party the focus should be on developing and promoting women cadres on different levels and fronts.
7. All India Peasant Conference: As directed by the 8th Congress of the Party, the CC has resolved to launch an all-India peasant organization through a national peasants’ conference. The conference will be held in Patna on May 10 (the 1857 anniversary day).
The main slogan for the conference will be “SaveFarmLand, Farming and Farmers – End the Reign of Plunder and Disaster” and “National Peasant Conference for Dignity, Democracy and Development”. The peasant association will inherit and uphold the anti-feudal anti-imperialist legacy of peasant revolts and communist-led peasant movement starting from the colonial period. In particular, the Patna conference will uphold the radical legacy of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati (founder of AIKS in 1936 who had played a pioneering role in the anti-zamindari peasant movement in Bihar) and his vision of worker-peasant solidarity and thwart the ruling class design of using peasants as corporate and feudal pawns and pitting them against agricultural labourers. In the context of today’s agrarian crisis, the peasant association will fight against feudal remnants and growing corporate domination and imperialist intervention and press for implementation of comprehensive land and tenancy reforms, necessary assistance and facilities for poor and middle peasants, and increased public investment in agriculture.
8. Bihar Assembly Election and Patna Rally: A State level rally – named Jan Adhikar rally (People’s Rights Rally) – has been planned in Patna on March 30. It will challenge the official euphoria of Nitish Kumar’s ‘growth miracle’ and Mahadalit rhetoric by highlighting the key issues of land reforms, employment guarantee, agricultural and industrial development, and the actual conditions and aspirations of the rural poor.
9. Panchayat Election in Jharkhand: Jharkhand is the only state where panchayat election has not been held till date. The Supreme Court has recently cleared the way for panchayat elections. We must insist on, and prepare for, early holding of panchayat elections in compliance with the provisions of PESA (Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas) and 50% reservation for women.
AIALA’s Massive Demonstration in TN
From March 5 to 8, All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association (AIALA) organized panchayat level demonstrations in TN demanding inclusion of names in the BPL list, work under MGNREGA, Rs.200 daily wages under MGNREGA and homestead land and patta. In Pudukottai, on March 5, over 1100 rural poor went to the panchayat offices in 3 panchayats and submitted 1200 memoranda. In Tiruvallore on March 5 over 450 participated in a rally and demonstrations held in one panchayat. On March 8 rally and demonstrations were held in 2 panchayats in the same district in which 500 rural poor participated. In Villupuram, on March 8, demonstrations were held in 3 panchayats with 800 rural poor submitting their memorandum to include their name in the BPL list. In Nagai, on March 6, demonstrations were held in two panchayats in which 400 participated. In Tuticorin, around 100 rural poor participated in demonstrations held in 2 panchayats.
Andhra Pradesh: CPI(ML) Khammam District Committee held a protest demonstration at Sathupalli (Khammam district) near APSRTC Bus stand with nearly 100 members and staged Dharna. They submitted a memorandum to the Tahsildar. Raised slogans against the UPA government and its anti-people and anti-workers budget. The demonstration was led by Bandaru Venkateswararao, Secretary of Sathupalli, Dist. Secretary CK Damodar addressed the meeting.
ML Update -13-11 pdf.pdf
ML UPDATE 10 / 2010
MLUpdate
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol. 13, No. 10, 02 – 08 MARCH 2010
Budget 2010:
Big Bounties for the Corporate Biggies,
Empty Rhetoric and Soaring Prices for the Aam Aadmi
This budget belongs to the aam aadmi,” said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget speech. But what really is the UPA’s yardstick for the aam aadmi? Pranab Mukherjee has defined the aam aadmi for our benefit. The aam aadmi is not one of those 80 crore Indians living on a daily budget of less than Rs. 20, he is one with an annual taxable income of Rs. 400,000 or more. The 60% tax-payers who were handed out tax benefits in this year’s budget all belong to this bracket. In fact, the ones to get an annual tax reduction of more than Rs. 50,000 belong to the Rs. 800,000-plus club. While direct taxes fell by Rs. 26,000 crore, indirect taxes which do not distinguish between the rich and the poor, rose by Rs. 45,000 crore. An aam aadmi budget indeed!
While the budget has done nothing to check soaring prices, it has done everything to add fuel to the inflationary fire. The hike in petrol and diesel prices coupled with the pre-budget 10% hike in urea prices is sure to trigger a widespread upward push in prices affecting common consumers and small agricultural producers alike. The government has also announced the policy of decontrolling fertilizer prices leaving big fertilizer companies free to fix prices, while the Kirit Parekh panel report on deregulation of fuel prices is very much under consideration. With fertilizer and fuel prices continuing to be pushed upward, food prices too can only go up.
Any serious attempt to tackle the growing problem of food insecurity and food inflation should involve a two-pronged approach – expanding and improving the public distribution system to provide immediate relief to the needy and addressing the structural roots of persistent agrarian crisis. The budget does neither. None of the Finance Minister’s cosmetic measures and ‘bold’ announcements – extension of debt repayment period by six months or talks of promoting green revolution in the eastern states of Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa with a budget of Rs. 400 crore or developing ‘pulses and oilseed villages’ – go beyond the familiar realm of tokenism. While agriculture and peasants continue to get a raw deal, agribusiness and food processing industry have plenty to celebrate.
As usual, the corporate biggies are the biggest beneficiaries of the Finance Minister’s generosity. The amount of revenues foregone – and much of it translate directly into corporate gain – has reached a phenomenal Rs. 500,000 crore. This means a whopping Rs. 57 crore every hour or nearly 1 crore a minute (P Sainath in The Hindu, March 2, 2010)! There is of course much more for the corporate sector in this year’s budgets than these concessions and sops – a clear push towards faster and wider privatization. Public-private Partnership is the keyword in the railway budget and the railway’s “Vision 2020” and the General Budget too has opened major new avenues for the private sector. Disinvestment sale target has been raised to Rs. 40,000 crore, coal sector has been further opened up and most crucially, the RBI has been directed to hand out banking licenses to private players including NBFCs.
The budget makes noisy claims about rural employment, rural reconstruction and social security, but once again the claims find no reflection in allocations. A Social Sector Security Fund has been launched with an outlay of only a paltry Rs. 1,000 crore. The NREGS, now peddled in the name of Mahatma Gandhi, has a modest allocation of only Rs. 40,000 crore, and if the poor are lucky enough to get an Indira Awas sanctioned, the allocation is only Rs. 45,000 in plain areas and Rs. 48,000 in hilly areas (and this includes the mandatory commission deducted by the nexus of panchayat representatives, block officials and sundry middlemen). Contrast this to the relentlessly rising defence outlay which now stands at Rs 147,000 crore and the mother of all allocations – tax exemptions and revenues foregone that add up to Rs. 500,000 crore, and you know how serious the government is about its new-found catchphrases of employment guarantee and social security!
Budget 2010: Promoting Inflation and Putting the Burden on the Aam Aadmi
UPA-II’s Union Budget 2010 does nothing to rein in runaway inflation – rather, it proposes to promote inflation and make sure that the lion’s share of the burden of inflation is disproportionately borne by the poor and working people. Meanwhile, the ‘Sensex salute’ that followed the Budget announcement is a testimonial tribute to the Budget’s policy of promoting privatisation and continuing with generous tax sops to the corporate sector.
While announcing an excise hike of Re 1 per litre of petrol and diesel, the FM also indicated that proposals for steep rice in fuel prices in the Kirit Parekh report on fuel price deregulation will be taken up by Petroleum Minister Murli Deora in due course. The Damocles sword of even sharper rise in prices thus continues to hang over the people.
The budget does nothing to tackle the pressing issue of food inflation either by way of strengthening and expanding the public distribution system or by addressing the structural roots of the persistent and deep agrarian crisis which lies at the heart of food insecurity and food inflation. The Budget makes no move to hike public investment in agriculture or irrigation, or to increase the inflow of rural credit. Apart from some token announcements – such as Rs. 400 crore for ‘green revolution’ in some Eastern Indian states, and some talk of developing ‘climate resilient agriculture’ and developing ‘pulse and oilseed villages,’ or extending the deadline for farm loan repayment by another 6 months, the budget has no initiative on the agrarian front.
The increase in allocation for rural and social sectors is also extremely inadequate. NREGS has got just Rs 40,100 crore. The Indira Awas Yojana scheme's unit cost has been raised only marginally to Rs 45,000 in plain area and Rs 48,500 in hilly areas – while agricultural labourers across the country have long been demanding a minimum grant of Rs 1 lakh for housing. A ‘Social Sector Security Fund’ has been announced – but backed with a meagre allocation of just Rs 1000 crore.
In contrast to the inadequate and token allocations for agricultural investment, rural development and social security, the allocation for defence is a whopping Rs 147,000 crore.
Meanwhile the Budget goes full steam ahead with the agenda of privatisation. The government will raise Rs 25,000 crore from disinvestment of its stake in state-owned firms; banking privatisation is being promoted with RBI to give license to some more private sector players and NBFCs; “a firm view on opening up of the retail sector” has been recommended; and gradual coal sector privatisation is also clearly on the agenda what with the setting up of the Coal Development Regulatory Authority.
A particularly disturbing aspect of the budget lies in the field of tax revenue. Direct tax yield is set to decline by Rs. 26,000 crore (corporate surcharge has been reduced from 10% to 7.5%) while indirect tax revenue is estimated to increase by Rs. 45,000 crore (thanks primarily to an across the board excise hike of 2%). This makes the tax system in India further regressive because the brunt of indirect taxes is always borne disproportionately by the poor and low-income consumers who constitute the overwhelming majority of buyers in Indian markets.
The CPI(ML) calls upon the Finance Minister to withdraw the hike in petrol and diesel and excise duties, expand the public distribution system, provide at least Rs. 10,000 crore for the social security fund, and increase rural and social sector allocations while reducing the defence outlay and increasing corporate tax. The CPI(ML) appeals to the working people and mass organisations of the rural poor and peasants as well as trade unions and student-youth and women's organisations to exert pressure on the government to withdraw inflationary measures and corporate sops and ensure immediate relief for the common people.
Dipankar Bhattacharya
General Secretary, CPI(ML)(Liberation)
Protests against anti-people Union Budget
Delhi: CPI(ML) Delhi State Committee, All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) and the All India Students’ Association (AISA) jointly held a protest demonstration on Parliament Street in New Delhi and burnt an effigy of the UPA Govt. on 3rd March for its inflation stoking budget. The demonstration was addressed by Com. Santosh Rai of AICCTU, Com. Aslam from AISA’s Jamia unit and Com. Sandeep Singh from JNU.
Tamil Nadu: AICCTU, CITU and AITUC jointly held a demonstration on 2nd March in Ambattur Estate. Over 150 workers participated in the demonstration and raised slogans against the UPA government and its anti-people and anti-workers budget. The demonstration was led by Com. Munusami, AICCTU State Council Member. Com. AS Kumar, DGS, AICCTU, Com. Baluchami of CITU and Com. Jagannathan of AITUC spoke in the demonstration.
Uttar Pradesh: State-wide demonstration was held by the CPI(ML) in UP on 27th February to protest the Union Budget and hike in the prices of petrol and diesel. Effigy of the budget was burnt in many towns and cities including Lucknow. Speakers addressing the demonstration in Lucknow accused the UPA Govt. with making no effort worth the name to address the agrarian crisis which is the root cause of food insecurity and spiraling inflation of food prices.
Anti-budget demonstrations were also held in Gorakhpur, Jalaun, Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Mau, Maharajgunj, Balia, Ambedkar Nagar, and Khiri apart from many other places.
People's Long-Suppressed Anger against Crminal-Police Nexus Erupts
The area under Vijaipur police station in Gopalgunj Dist. of Bihar has been witnessing all sorts of crimes perpetrated by locally strong and dominant feudal elements and not only protected but supported by the local police. The arrogance of these elements and the police had reached a level which made them think they could do anything and nothing would happen. They were right in context of the Nitish Kumar’s administration and policing, but they learnt a whole new lesson in people’s justice. People led by CPI(ML) leader Com. Amar Nath Yadav (also an MLA from Darauli in Siwan) showed them that oppressive and intimidating quantum of force lying with the nexus of police and criminals is no match to people’s force when they are united.
Here are just a few recent examples of their crime and blatant arrogance:
=On 10th January Babloo and Mannu Pandey of Parsauni village under this police station badly beat up a 15 year old Suman Sharma and her mother because they were opposing sexual harassment of the teenager by them. Despite FIRs, protest marches, dharna at the District Headquarters and even demand from the District Magistrate the Police did not arrest them.
=Village mukhiya has been controlling the NREGA work and getting it done as per his desires. Police in nexus with hooch mafia Munna Pandey implicated eight Party members in false cases when they tried to stop this illegal control and functioning of NREGA employment.
=Poor villagers somehow earn their livelihood by extracting sand from the Chakhni bank of Gandak river. Munna Pandey began with extorting Rs.60 from these poor labourers per vehicle and increased the mount to Rs.500. Despite extorting such obscene amount, he used to beat them up frequently. He also supplied his toxic hooch to distant places under the police protection and in return the police got Rs.30,000 per month. Munna Pandey’s income could be imagined from the fact that in a year he acquired a SUV and illegal firearms. Meanwhile he has murdered quite a few innocent people.
=Lumpens and feudal elements hanging around his poultry farm on the outskirts of the village would everyday pass lewd comments at the school going girls.
When even after 20 days of the FIR the culprits in Suman Sharma case were not arrested the Party decided to hold a Women’s court on 14th February. Munna Pandey, who also has allegiance to crime’s bigger Satish Pandey gang, tried to attack a preparatory meeting in progress at Gurumia Tola in the village. Next day the Party organised thousands of people and completely razed his illegal liquor business. Not only local Police but even the Sub-Divisional Plice, being the patron of this business rushed to the site (poultry farm) to protect Munna Pandey and his illegal business. The irony is that the police slapped false cases of robbery on 18 Party members despite thousands of assembled people demanding from them to arrest the harassers of Suman Sharma. Next day when 25 Party activists set out for people-to-people contact programme, Munna Pandey’s goons opened fire on them. By the time hundreds of CPI(ML) members organised to beat the goons back, they found that the police force had arrived to save its protégé. Despite repeated demands for their arrest and search of their houses for illegal weapons the police always acted contrarily thus openly demonstrating that Nitish Kumar’s police has fully become protector of criminal elements. The long accumulated anger of peasants and labourers against blatant injustice and daily humiliation gradually reached a point where it erupted in severe thrashing of the entire lot on 6th February with Police Station incharge being the main recipient of people’s justice. His personnel, seeing the severe thrashing fired 14 rounds to intimidate people, which only helped in intensifying people’s anger. Party leaders intervened to appeal to the people to spare the Police officer’s (Ugranath Jha) life. Later huge police force arrived along with senior officers- DM and SP, who were quick to sense people mood. They also had to release Prajapati, who was forcibly and illegally arrested earlier.
The immediate catalyst for this heroic action by the people was a sudden and mindless attack by the police led by Ugranath Jha on the villagers of Parsauni on the morning of 6 February. They spared no one- old, children, women, youth, no one. Everyone was beaten black and blue. To terrorise them the police also took away one Premsagar Prajapati with them to the police camp. Soon the word spread and Party mobilized people (who shed their minor differences among them) from several nearby villages and marched to the Police Camp.
Latest reports are that no liquor business or shops are functioning in the area legal or illegal after the razing of Pandey’s business. The extortion amount at the Gandak’s bank from where sand is extracted has also come to an end. The obstacle (large speed breaker, where the school going girls had to get down from their bicycles and suffer the lewd remarks) constructed in front of the poultry farm has been razed too (by the administration) and the police camp has been removed too from the school.
Police officer Ugranath Jha has been suspended, still Babloo and Munna have not been arrested. Party is preparing for a bigger struggle.
Women’s Court: was held as scheduled on 14th February, addressed by All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA’s) National General Secretary Com. Meena Tiwari, who congratulated the assembled women and people and said that people have already given their verdict on 6th February that whether it be criminals, feudals, rapists, police or the Administration and State Governments supporting them, they would also face the same fate as Ugranath Jha if they continue with their blatantly anti-women, anti-people, anti-peasant, anti-worker attitude. She also urged the people to punish those still at large who harassed teenager Suman Sharma. Other women speaker said that women and people should unite to punish the rapists and harassers if police fail to act. In the end the Jury gave a five-point verdict.
AIPWA’s Reports from Gaya
Recently, the AIPWA successfully launched a campaign for the arrest of a rapist in Gaya Dist. of Bihar. One Lalji Yadav, who is local strong man of Manpur area, raped a 20 year old and pregnant Rinku Devi of Village Goga when she had gone out to collect dry woods and twigs for cooking fuel. The victim is from a mahadalit caste. Under public pressure the police lodged an FIR but deliberately delayed the medical test of the victim to help the accused. The victim lay in wounded condition at the Govt. hospital for many days. The AIPWA and CPI(ML) intervened and pressurized the Administration and Dist. Civil Surgeon for a proper and unbiased medical test. In the past several incidents of massacre and rapes has kept the dalit and mahadalit family in terror of further retaliation by feudal forces if they protest such incidents of rapes. This time AIPWA’s initiatives and fact-finding got wider coverage and AIPWA also declared of SP’s gherao and huge demonstration on 5th February if the rapist was not arrested. The rapist Lalji Yadav surrendered one day before the gherao of the SP. However, the demonstration was held with large participation of women from Goga village. The Mukhiya of Goga village, who is herself from mahadalit family, has also expressed her desire to join the Party, while many mahadalit families in and around Goga village are joining the Party. During all this, the local units of JD(U), BJP, RJD and the congress MLA made attempts to scuttle the whole issue and were pressurizing the police for it. However, AIPWA’s militant initiatives have ensured the rapist was sent to the jail.
In another incident a woman in Gaya who had been abandoned by her husband and forced to live in difficulty away from him was rehabilitated by AIPWA in the man’s house. The man had been pretending to be an unmarried single.
AIPWA VP and PUCL VP Dr. Rati Rao Booked Under Charges of ‘Sedition’ and ‘Spreading Rumour’
Dr E Rati Rao, a senior scientist, long-standing activist of the women’s rights movement, Vice-President of PUCL-Karnataka and Vice President of AIPWA has recently been served with a police notice under IPC Sections 124A and 505, and Sections 14 and 15 of Press & Regulations Act by the Mysore police.
Rati Rao was Editor of an in-house PUCL-Karnataka Kannada language bulletin (called PUCL Varthapatra) for private circulation among PUCL members – and the basis for the notice is apparently the fact that a copy of this bulletin was found by the police during a raid on the home of a suspected ‘Maoist’ a couple of years ago.
Rati Rao has been singled out on a weak pretext because she has been active in exposing the atrocities against Dalits in Chitradurga, in mobilising the rural poor women to demand their rights in Karnataka, and has recently participated in a National Convention against sexual violence and state repression in Raipur.
The charge against Dr. Rati Rao is part of a calculated campaign of harassment of civil liberties and democratic activists and crackdown on dissent that has marked the BJP regime in Karnataka and the ‘Operation Greenhunt’ of the central government. Recently, various human rights activists and groups including PUDR, PUCL, APDR have been named and branded as Maoist front outfits in an FIR against Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police.
The sections under which Dr. Rati Rao has been booked are Section 124 A (Sedition), Section 505 (False statement, rumour, etc., circulated with intent to cause mutiny or cause communal discord) and sections of the Press Act that do not apply to the PUCL bulletin since it was only for in-house circulation. It is ironic that the Karnataka police does not book the Sangh outfits for spreading rumours galore of ‘love jehad’ and ‘forced conversion’ etc to target Muslims and Christians nor for violating the Constitution – while people who have devoted their lives to defending constitutional liberties are accused of sedition and activists seeking to bring facts to light are booked for ‘spreading rumour’!
CPI(ML) condemns the trumped up charges against a respected member of the democratic rights and women’s movement and demands that the charges be immediately withdrawn. CPI(ML) also demands that the names of human rights groups and activists be removed from the FIR against Kobad Ghandy.
CPI(ML)’s State-wide Campaign in Bihar to Expose Nitish’ Mahadalit-mockery
CPI(ML) organised a week long State-wide campaign in Bihar “Nitish Kumar’s anti-Poor Betrayal” from 15-20 February asking the Nitish Govt. to stop the political-drama of Mahadalit and EBC love and fulfill the demands of all the poor and Mahadalits of Bihar. On the last day of the campaign militant demonstrations were held at the block and divisional headquarters throughout the State. Rejecting Nitish Kumar’s false promises and political mockery, on 20 February tens of thousands of Mahadalits and other members of rural poor demonstrated in front of block and subdivisional offices of Bihar. Their slogans were: “Check Prices, Give us Jobs – No Escape from Land Reforms” and “We want Land and Housing – Not Crumbs of Deception but Guaranteed Rights.”
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol. 13, No. 10, 02 – 08 MARCH 2010
Budget 2010:
Big Bounties for the Corporate Biggies,
Empty Rhetoric and Soaring Prices for the Aam Aadmi
This budget belongs to the aam aadmi,” said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget speech. But what really is the UPA’s yardstick for the aam aadmi? Pranab Mukherjee has defined the aam aadmi for our benefit. The aam aadmi is not one of those 80 crore Indians living on a daily budget of less than Rs. 20, he is one with an annual taxable income of Rs. 400,000 or more. The 60% tax-payers who were handed out tax benefits in this year’s budget all belong to this bracket. In fact, the ones to get an annual tax reduction of more than Rs. 50,000 belong to the Rs. 800,000-plus club. While direct taxes fell by Rs. 26,000 crore, indirect taxes which do not distinguish between the rich and the poor, rose by Rs. 45,000 crore. An aam aadmi budget indeed!
While the budget has done nothing to check soaring prices, it has done everything to add fuel to the inflationary fire. The hike in petrol and diesel prices coupled with the pre-budget 10% hike in urea prices is sure to trigger a widespread upward push in prices affecting common consumers and small agricultural producers alike. The government has also announced the policy of decontrolling fertilizer prices leaving big fertilizer companies free to fix prices, while the Kirit Parekh panel report on deregulation of fuel prices is very much under consideration. With fertilizer and fuel prices continuing to be pushed upward, food prices too can only go up.
Any serious attempt to tackle the growing problem of food insecurity and food inflation should involve a two-pronged approach – expanding and improving the public distribution system to provide immediate relief to the needy and addressing the structural roots of persistent agrarian crisis. The budget does neither. None of the Finance Minister’s cosmetic measures and ‘bold’ announcements – extension of debt repayment period by six months or talks of promoting green revolution in the eastern states of Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa with a budget of Rs. 400 crore or developing ‘pulses and oilseed villages’ – go beyond the familiar realm of tokenism. While agriculture and peasants continue to get a raw deal, agribusiness and food processing industry have plenty to celebrate.
As usual, the corporate biggies are the biggest beneficiaries of the Finance Minister’s generosity. The amount of revenues foregone – and much of it translate directly into corporate gain – has reached a phenomenal Rs. 500,000 crore. This means a whopping Rs. 57 crore every hour or nearly 1 crore a minute (P Sainath in The Hindu, March 2, 2010)! There is of course much more for the corporate sector in this year’s budgets than these concessions and sops – a clear push towards faster and wider privatization. Public-private Partnership is the keyword in the railway budget and the railway’s “Vision 2020” and the General Budget too has opened major new avenues for the private sector. Disinvestment sale target has been raised to Rs. 40,000 crore, coal sector has been further opened up and most crucially, the RBI has been directed to hand out banking licenses to private players including NBFCs.
The budget makes noisy claims about rural employment, rural reconstruction and social security, but once again the claims find no reflection in allocations. A Social Sector Security Fund has been launched with an outlay of only a paltry Rs. 1,000 crore. The NREGS, now peddled in the name of Mahatma Gandhi, has a modest allocation of only Rs. 40,000 crore, and if the poor are lucky enough to get an Indira Awas sanctioned, the allocation is only Rs. 45,000 in plain areas and Rs. 48,000 in hilly areas (and this includes the mandatory commission deducted by the nexus of panchayat representatives, block officials and sundry middlemen). Contrast this to the relentlessly rising defence outlay which now stands at Rs 147,000 crore and the mother of all allocations – tax exemptions and revenues foregone that add up to Rs. 500,000 crore, and you know how serious the government is about its new-found catchphrases of employment guarantee and social security!
Budget 2010: Promoting Inflation and Putting the Burden on the Aam Aadmi
UPA-II’s Union Budget 2010 does nothing to rein in runaway inflation – rather, it proposes to promote inflation and make sure that the lion’s share of the burden of inflation is disproportionately borne by the poor and working people. Meanwhile, the ‘Sensex salute’ that followed the Budget announcement is a testimonial tribute to the Budget’s policy of promoting privatisation and continuing with generous tax sops to the corporate sector.
While announcing an excise hike of Re 1 per litre of petrol and diesel, the FM also indicated that proposals for steep rice in fuel prices in the Kirit Parekh report on fuel price deregulation will be taken up by Petroleum Minister Murli Deora in due course. The Damocles sword of even sharper rise in prices thus continues to hang over the people.
The budget does nothing to tackle the pressing issue of food inflation either by way of strengthening and expanding the public distribution system or by addressing the structural roots of the persistent and deep agrarian crisis which lies at the heart of food insecurity and food inflation. The Budget makes no move to hike public investment in agriculture or irrigation, or to increase the inflow of rural credit. Apart from some token announcements – such as Rs. 400 crore for ‘green revolution’ in some Eastern Indian states, and some talk of developing ‘climate resilient agriculture’ and developing ‘pulse and oilseed villages,’ or extending the deadline for farm loan repayment by another 6 months, the budget has no initiative on the agrarian front.
The increase in allocation for rural and social sectors is also extremely inadequate. NREGS has got just Rs 40,100 crore. The Indira Awas Yojana scheme's unit cost has been raised only marginally to Rs 45,000 in plain area and Rs 48,500 in hilly areas – while agricultural labourers across the country have long been demanding a minimum grant of Rs 1 lakh for housing. A ‘Social Sector Security Fund’ has been announced – but backed with a meagre allocation of just Rs 1000 crore.
In contrast to the inadequate and token allocations for agricultural investment, rural development and social security, the allocation for defence is a whopping Rs 147,000 crore.
Meanwhile the Budget goes full steam ahead with the agenda of privatisation. The government will raise Rs 25,000 crore from disinvestment of its stake in state-owned firms; banking privatisation is being promoted with RBI to give license to some more private sector players and NBFCs; “a firm view on opening up of the retail sector” has been recommended; and gradual coal sector privatisation is also clearly on the agenda what with the setting up of the Coal Development Regulatory Authority.
A particularly disturbing aspect of the budget lies in the field of tax revenue. Direct tax yield is set to decline by Rs. 26,000 crore (corporate surcharge has been reduced from 10% to 7.5%) while indirect tax revenue is estimated to increase by Rs. 45,000 crore (thanks primarily to an across the board excise hike of 2%). This makes the tax system in India further regressive because the brunt of indirect taxes is always borne disproportionately by the poor and low-income consumers who constitute the overwhelming majority of buyers in Indian markets.
The CPI(ML) calls upon the Finance Minister to withdraw the hike in petrol and diesel and excise duties, expand the public distribution system, provide at least Rs. 10,000 crore for the social security fund, and increase rural and social sector allocations while reducing the defence outlay and increasing corporate tax. The CPI(ML) appeals to the working people and mass organisations of the rural poor and peasants as well as trade unions and student-youth and women's organisations to exert pressure on the government to withdraw inflationary measures and corporate sops and ensure immediate relief for the common people.
Dipankar Bhattacharya
General Secretary, CPI(ML)(Liberation)
Protests against anti-people Union Budget
Delhi: CPI(ML) Delhi State Committee, All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) and the All India Students’ Association (AISA) jointly held a protest demonstration on Parliament Street in New Delhi and burnt an effigy of the UPA Govt. on 3rd March for its inflation stoking budget. The demonstration was addressed by Com. Santosh Rai of AICCTU, Com. Aslam from AISA’s Jamia unit and Com. Sandeep Singh from JNU.
Tamil Nadu: AICCTU, CITU and AITUC jointly held a demonstration on 2nd March in Ambattur Estate. Over 150 workers participated in the demonstration and raised slogans against the UPA government and its anti-people and anti-workers budget. The demonstration was led by Com. Munusami, AICCTU State Council Member. Com. AS Kumar, DGS, AICCTU, Com. Baluchami of CITU and Com. Jagannathan of AITUC spoke in the demonstration.
Uttar Pradesh: State-wide demonstration was held by the CPI(ML) in UP on 27th February to protest the Union Budget and hike in the prices of petrol and diesel. Effigy of the budget was burnt in many towns and cities including Lucknow. Speakers addressing the demonstration in Lucknow accused the UPA Govt. with making no effort worth the name to address the agrarian crisis which is the root cause of food insecurity and spiraling inflation of food prices.
Anti-budget demonstrations were also held in Gorakhpur, Jalaun, Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Mau, Maharajgunj, Balia, Ambedkar Nagar, and Khiri apart from many other places.
People's Long-Suppressed Anger against Crminal-Police Nexus Erupts
The area under Vijaipur police station in Gopalgunj Dist. of Bihar has been witnessing all sorts of crimes perpetrated by locally strong and dominant feudal elements and not only protected but supported by the local police. The arrogance of these elements and the police had reached a level which made them think they could do anything and nothing would happen. They were right in context of the Nitish Kumar’s administration and policing, but they learnt a whole new lesson in people’s justice. People led by CPI(ML) leader Com. Amar Nath Yadav (also an MLA from Darauli in Siwan) showed them that oppressive and intimidating quantum of force lying with the nexus of police and criminals is no match to people’s force when they are united.
Here are just a few recent examples of their crime and blatant arrogance:
=On 10th January Babloo and Mannu Pandey of Parsauni village under this police station badly beat up a 15 year old Suman Sharma and her mother because they were opposing sexual harassment of the teenager by them. Despite FIRs, protest marches, dharna at the District Headquarters and even demand from the District Magistrate the Police did not arrest them.
=Village mukhiya has been controlling the NREGA work and getting it done as per his desires. Police in nexus with hooch mafia Munna Pandey implicated eight Party members in false cases when they tried to stop this illegal control and functioning of NREGA employment.
=Poor villagers somehow earn their livelihood by extracting sand from the Chakhni bank of Gandak river. Munna Pandey began with extorting Rs.60 from these poor labourers per vehicle and increased the mount to Rs.500. Despite extorting such obscene amount, he used to beat them up frequently. He also supplied his toxic hooch to distant places under the police protection and in return the police got Rs.30,000 per month. Munna Pandey’s income could be imagined from the fact that in a year he acquired a SUV and illegal firearms. Meanwhile he has murdered quite a few innocent people.
=Lumpens and feudal elements hanging around his poultry farm on the outskirts of the village would everyday pass lewd comments at the school going girls.
When even after 20 days of the FIR the culprits in Suman Sharma case were not arrested the Party decided to hold a Women’s court on 14th February. Munna Pandey, who also has allegiance to crime’s bigger Satish Pandey gang, tried to attack a preparatory meeting in progress at Gurumia Tola in the village. Next day the Party organised thousands of people and completely razed his illegal liquor business. Not only local Police but even the Sub-Divisional Plice, being the patron of this business rushed to the site (poultry farm) to protect Munna Pandey and his illegal business. The irony is that the police slapped false cases of robbery on 18 Party members despite thousands of assembled people demanding from them to arrest the harassers of Suman Sharma. Next day when 25 Party activists set out for people-to-people contact programme, Munna Pandey’s goons opened fire on them. By the time hundreds of CPI(ML) members organised to beat the goons back, they found that the police force had arrived to save its protégé. Despite repeated demands for their arrest and search of their houses for illegal weapons the police always acted contrarily thus openly demonstrating that Nitish Kumar’s police has fully become protector of criminal elements. The long accumulated anger of peasants and labourers against blatant injustice and daily humiliation gradually reached a point where it erupted in severe thrashing of the entire lot on 6th February with Police Station incharge being the main recipient of people’s justice. His personnel, seeing the severe thrashing fired 14 rounds to intimidate people, which only helped in intensifying people’s anger. Party leaders intervened to appeal to the people to spare the Police officer’s (Ugranath Jha) life. Later huge police force arrived along with senior officers- DM and SP, who were quick to sense people mood. They also had to release Prajapati, who was forcibly and illegally arrested earlier.
The immediate catalyst for this heroic action by the people was a sudden and mindless attack by the police led by Ugranath Jha on the villagers of Parsauni on the morning of 6 February. They spared no one- old, children, women, youth, no one. Everyone was beaten black and blue. To terrorise them the police also took away one Premsagar Prajapati with them to the police camp. Soon the word spread and Party mobilized people (who shed their minor differences among them) from several nearby villages and marched to the Police Camp.
Latest reports are that no liquor business or shops are functioning in the area legal or illegal after the razing of Pandey’s business. The extortion amount at the Gandak’s bank from where sand is extracted has also come to an end. The obstacle (large speed breaker, where the school going girls had to get down from their bicycles and suffer the lewd remarks) constructed in front of the poultry farm has been razed too (by the administration) and the police camp has been removed too from the school.
Police officer Ugranath Jha has been suspended, still Babloo and Munna have not been arrested. Party is preparing for a bigger struggle.
Women’s Court: was held as scheduled on 14th February, addressed by All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA’s) National General Secretary Com. Meena Tiwari, who congratulated the assembled women and people and said that people have already given their verdict on 6th February that whether it be criminals, feudals, rapists, police or the Administration and State Governments supporting them, they would also face the same fate as Ugranath Jha if they continue with their blatantly anti-women, anti-people, anti-peasant, anti-worker attitude. She also urged the people to punish those still at large who harassed teenager Suman Sharma. Other women speaker said that women and people should unite to punish the rapists and harassers if police fail to act. In the end the Jury gave a five-point verdict.
AIPWA’s Reports from Gaya
Recently, the AIPWA successfully launched a campaign for the arrest of a rapist in Gaya Dist. of Bihar. One Lalji Yadav, who is local strong man of Manpur area, raped a 20 year old and pregnant Rinku Devi of Village Goga when she had gone out to collect dry woods and twigs for cooking fuel. The victim is from a mahadalit caste. Under public pressure the police lodged an FIR but deliberately delayed the medical test of the victim to help the accused. The victim lay in wounded condition at the Govt. hospital for many days. The AIPWA and CPI(ML) intervened and pressurized the Administration and Dist. Civil Surgeon for a proper and unbiased medical test. In the past several incidents of massacre and rapes has kept the dalit and mahadalit family in terror of further retaliation by feudal forces if they protest such incidents of rapes. This time AIPWA’s initiatives and fact-finding got wider coverage and AIPWA also declared of SP’s gherao and huge demonstration on 5th February if the rapist was not arrested. The rapist Lalji Yadav surrendered one day before the gherao of the SP. However, the demonstration was held with large participation of women from Goga village. The Mukhiya of Goga village, who is herself from mahadalit family, has also expressed her desire to join the Party, while many mahadalit families in and around Goga village are joining the Party. During all this, the local units of JD(U), BJP, RJD and the congress MLA made attempts to scuttle the whole issue and were pressurizing the police for it. However, AIPWA’s militant initiatives have ensured the rapist was sent to the jail.
In another incident a woman in Gaya who had been abandoned by her husband and forced to live in difficulty away from him was rehabilitated by AIPWA in the man’s house. The man had been pretending to be an unmarried single.
AIPWA VP and PUCL VP Dr. Rati Rao Booked Under Charges of ‘Sedition’ and ‘Spreading Rumour’
Dr E Rati Rao, a senior scientist, long-standing activist of the women’s rights movement, Vice-President of PUCL-Karnataka and Vice President of AIPWA has recently been served with a police notice under IPC Sections 124A and 505, and Sections 14 and 15 of Press & Regulations Act by the Mysore police.
Rati Rao was Editor of an in-house PUCL-Karnataka Kannada language bulletin (called PUCL Varthapatra) for private circulation among PUCL members – and the basis for the notice is apparently the fact that a copy of this bulletin was found by the police during a raid on the home of a suspected ‘Maoist’ a couple of years ago.
Rati Rao has been singled out on a weak pretext because she has been active in exposing the atrocities against Dalits in Chitradurga, in mobilising the rural poor women to demand their rights in Karnataka, and has recently participated in a National Convention against sexual violence and state repression in Raipur.
The charge against Dr. Rati Rao is part of a calculated campaign of harassment of civil liberties and democratic activists and crackdown on dissent that has marked the BJP regime in Karnataka and the ‘Operation Greenhunt’ of the central government. Recently, various human rights activists and groups including PUDR, PUCL, APDR have been named and branded as Maoist front outfits in an FIR against Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police.
The sections under which Dr. Rati Rao has been booked are Section 124 A (Sedition), Section 505 (False statement, rumour, etc., circulated with intent to cause mutiny or cause communal discord) and sections of the Press Act that do not apply to the PUCL bulletin since it was only for in-house circulation. It is ironic that the Karnataka police does not book the Sangh outfits for spreading rumours galore of ‘love jehad’ and ‘forced conversion’ etc to target Muslims and Christians nor for violating the Constitution – while people who have devoted their lives to defending constitutional liberties are accused of sedition and activists seeking to bring facts to light are booked for ‘spreading rumour’!
CPI(ML) condemns the trumped up charges against a respected member of the democratic rights and women’s movement and demands that the charges be immediately withdrawn. CPI(ML) also demands that the names of human rights groups and activists be removed from the FIR against Kobad Ghandy.
CPI(ML)’s State-wide Campaign in Bihar to Expose Nitish’ Mahadalit-mockery
CPI(ML) organised a week long State-wide campaign in Bihar “Nitish Kumar’s anti-Poor Betrayal” from 15-20 February asking the Nitish Govt. to stop the political-drama of Mahadalit and EBC love and fulfill the demands of all the poor and Mahadalits of Bihar. On the last day of the campaign militant demonstrations were held at the block and divisional headquarters throughout the State. Rejecting Nitish Kumar’s false promises and political mockery, on 20 February tens of thousands of Mahadalits and other members of rural poor demonstrated in front of block and subdivisional offices of Bihar. Their slogans were: “Check Prices, Give us Jobs – No Escape from Land Reforms” and “We want Land and Housing – Not Crumbs of Deception but Guaranteed Rights.”
ML UPDATE 9 / 2010
MLUpdate
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol. 13, No. 09, 23 FEB – 01 MARCH 2010
Nitish Mission of Mahadalit Mockery Versus
Bihar Poor’s Struggle for Dignity and Development
With Assembly elections round the corner, Nitish Kumar has pulled out all stops to play his social engineering cards. Just a day before the inauguration of the budget session of the Assembly, Kumar accompanied by his deputy from the BJP, Sushil Modi, addressed a Mahadalit unity rally in Patna. The rally was convened and conducted by none other than the Speaker of Bihar Assembly, Uday Narain Chaudhary, who is projected by Nitish Kumar as a Mahadalit leader. Chaudhary, on his part, thanked Kumar for making a Mahadalit the Speaker of the Assembly and for ‘looking after’ the Mahadalits in the state.
The rally has been in the news on several counts. The role of the Speaker in openly calling upon a group of people to recognize the Chief Minister as their biggest benefactor has predictably created a major controversy. Apart from flaunting his partisan identity, Chaudhary was also involved in an unseemly row with another Mahadalit leader of the JD(U), former minister in RJD government, Shyam Rajak, over the seating arrangement on the stage. Denied a front row seat on the stage, Rajak had reportedly left the venue in a huff before being pacified and ‘rehabilitated’ by Nitish Kumar. A bigger embarrassment was reported on the evening prior to the rally when television cameras showed JD(U) MLA from Jeeradei in Siwan district (the ancestral place of India’s first President Rajendra Prasad) participating in vulgar dances in his MLA flat ostensibly to provide entertainment to Mahadalits from his constituency who had come to attend the Patna rally!
The RJD-LJP combine has demanded the resignation of the Speaker for violating the dignity and neutrality of Speaker’s office. Nitish Kumar on the other hand is happy with this allegation for this gives him the opportunity to project the Speaker and his government as a victim of anti-Mahadalit social prejudice! They had also cleverly organized the Mahadalit rally under the banner of a so-called Mahadalit morcha and not formally as a JD(U) or NDA show. Instead of questioning the propriety of the Speaker’s conduct, the very content of Nitish Kumar’s ‘mission Mahadalit’ should be subjected to serious scrutiny.
When the move was first initiated, 18 among Bihar’s 22 Dalit sub-castes were identified as Mahadalits. In two successive revisions, all Dalit sub-castes except Paswans were brought under the Mahadalit category and in the February 21 rally, Nitish Kumar also expressed his readiness to examine the case of bringing Paswans under the Mahadalit umbrella. Mahadalit has thus become just another name for Dalits and this clearly exposes the essential political gameplan underlying the Mahadalit campaign. Nitish has also reduced the agenda of land reforms to Mahadalit tokenism, the Land Reform Commission’s recommendation of one acre cultivable land for every landless family and 10 decimal homestead land for every homeless family has been reduced to a token assistance of Rs. 20,000 to Mahadalit families with which they are supposed to ‘buy’ homestead land!
Nitish and his deputy also talked about mandatory inclusion of all Mahadalit names in the BPL list, but the precondition for this promise is that the Centre should first accept Bihar government’s estimate of 1.40 crore BPL families in the state Bihar! Instead of taking responsibility for the criminal exclusion of millions of deserving Mahadalit families from Bihar’s existing BPL list, Nitish cleverly plays Centre-state political football with the rights of Mahadalits. He should also answer what has been stopping his government from ensuring that all Mahadalit families got jobs and proper wages under NREGA.
In yet another gem of shameless hypocrisy, Nitish Kumar asked Mahadalit women to guard the funds provided by the government so their men-folk did not squander it in drinking! It has been his government’s signal achievement that liquor shops have mushroomed in every panchayat even as the Excise minister has had to face dismissal for demanding a credible probe into large-scale excise theft by the liquor mafia!
Rejecting Nitish Kumar’s false promises and political mockery, on 20 February tens of thousands of Mahadalits and other members of rural poor demonstrated in front of block and subdivisional offices of Bihar. Their slogans were: “Check Prices, Give us Jobs – No Escape from Land Reforms” and “We want Land and Housing – Not Crumbs of Deception but Guaranteed Rights.” Class-conscious Communist organizers in Bihar villages will have to assert the supremacy of the Bihar poor’s glorious legacy of struggle over Nitish Kumar’s attempts to woo Mahadalits with vulgar dance and empty rhetoric.
Stop Operation Greenhunt, Start Talks
The CPI (Maoist) has reportedly proposed a ceasefire and talks to the Central Government. The Home Minister, by refusing to respond to this offer on the pretext that it is 'conditional,' has made it clear that the UPA Government is not interested in peace and is loath to call a halt to Operation Greenhunt. We demand that the UPA Government heed the democratic opinion in the country, and respond positively to the Maoist offer of ceasefire and talks by declaring a ceasefire on its part and initiating dialogue. The recent reports that an activist of the PCPA at Lalgarh has been killed in a fake encounter is disturbing. The saga of witch-hunt, fake encounters and state repression must end if talks are at all to be possible.
The Maoists too must desist from their dastardly attacks on the people – such as the recent attack on Phulwaria-Korasi village in Jamui district in Bihar, where they killed at least 12 people, including 2 women and a child and injured at least 50 villagers, most of them adivasis. Such attacks are described by them as 'retaliatory' – but no 'retaliation' can justify such a shameful massacre of innocents from the most vulnerable section of the people. Such massacres only go to prove that it is not just the state but often the people too who are finding themselves at the receiving end of Maoist actions. The act has justifiably earned widespread condemnation from democratic forces.
CPI(ML) Participation in Rajasthan Panchayat Polls
The CPI(ML) candidate won the seat for Panchayat Samiti member in Ward Number 5 of Bahuna Panchayat Samiti of Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan. The Party contested panchayat polls from three wards of the Jhunjhunu Zila Parishad, one ward of Jhunhunu block and three wards of Bahuna block. One independent candidate had also been supported on one ward of Bahuna block. Com. Ranchandra Kulhari, the candidate from Ward No 5 of Bahuna block defeated the Congress candidate by 218 votes. Com. Ramkumar Yadav lost the Ward No 28 Zila Parishad seat by 90 votes. The independent candidate supported by the Party – Sharbati Devi from Ward No. 20 of Bahuna block, also won. While Com. Ramesh Kulhari, the panchayat samiti member elected from the CPI(ML), boycotted the election for Pradhan of Bahuna block on the grounds that there were only Congress and BJP candidates, the two independent Zila Parishad members supported by the CPI(M) and two who had been elected on a CPI(M) symbol all supported the Congress candidate in exchange for securing the Zila Pramukh seat.
Protest March against Price Rise in Bhind
The CPI(ML) held a protest march against price rise in Bhind from Galla Mandi to the Collectorate, where they submitted a memorandum via the Collector to the Governor of Madhya Pradesh. AISA, AIPWA, AIALA and the Hammal-Palledar Union joined the procession. The procession was held to highlight the demand for 200 days of work at Rs.200 per day under NREGA and to protest against the exclusion of the poor from the BPL lists, rampant corruption in the PDS.
The public meeting at the gate of the Collector’s office was conducted by Com. Bhagwan Das, and the meeting was addressed by many comrades including District President and National Council member of AIPWA Surajrekha Tripathi, National Council member of AIALA Janved Singh Kushwaha, Subhash and Bittu Singh of AISA, Vinod Suman, President of the Hammal-Palledar Union, Mansingh Baudh of the Building Workers’ Union, Dharmendra Singh of the Vegetable Sellers’ Union and Com. Sadina Sengar. Addressing the meeting, Com. Devendra Singh Chauhan, District Secretary of the CPI(ML) condemned the anti-people policies causing price rise and also called for an end to state repression in the name of fighting Naxalism.
6th Conference of Paschim Banga Krishak Samiti
The Paschim Banga Krishak Samiti (West Bengal Peasant Association) held its 6th Conference with an open session in Barddhaman followed by a 2-day delegate session on 15-16 February. The conference took note of the acute agrarian crisis and resolved to impart a fresh impetus to the peasant movement in the State. Com. Dipankar addressed the open session while Com. Rajaram Singh, convenor of AIKSS (All India Peasant Coordination Committee) inaugurated the conference. Com. Kartick Pal, PBM and several other leaders of the Party’s West Bengal State Committee also attended and addressed the conference.
The delegates at the Conference included those who have come to us from the ranks of the CPI(M) in recent times. There were also signals that the rural poor who had gone over to the TMC in reaction to the CPI(M)’s betrayal of the peasantry, are getting fast disillusioned by the TMC’s approach to the peasants’ questions. Among those who addressed the Conference was a leader of the Singur movement, who reminded that the whole Singur struggle had centred around the demand that 400 acres of land that had been grabbed without consent be returned to the peasants. Now, even the TMC which had made political capital from the struggle had shelved this demand – a demand that continued to move the peasantry to struggle.
On the eve of the Conference, a delegation of Krishak Samiti leaders had met State Agriculture Minister Naren De to demand fixing of the procurement price for potato at Rs.6 per kg, to address the distress of potato farmers who were now selling at an extremely low price even as potato prices in the market were high.
The Conference took up the issue of the reversal of land reforms in the State, whereby diversion of agricultural land and eviction of peasants was a state-wide phenomenon. Delegates discussed, in particular, how sharecroppers were being evicted in Dinajpur and in South 24 Parganas too, sharecroppers were being evicted to make way for prawn farming. The Conference demanded security of tenure and land ownership for sharecroppers, lowering of land ceiling as recommended by the report of the Expert Committee on Land Reforms appointed by the Ministry of Rural Development, as well as agricultural credit, irrigation, fertilizer, electricity and other kinds of support for sharecroppers and small peasants.
The Conference elected a 63-member state council and a 21-member state executive including Com. Annada Prasad Bhattacharya (President), Com. Altaf Hussein (Vice President), Com. Subimal Sengupta (General Secretary), as well as five secretaries.
Implementing a call given from the Conference, the Krishak Samiti held a state-wide road blockade demanding fixing of Rs.6/kg as procurement price for potato and protesting the rise in prices of fertilizer.
Street Vendors in Delhi Hold Convention
The Delhi Rehri-Khokha-Patri Mahasangh held a Convention on 21 February demanding guarantee of livelihood and licence for every street vendor under the new National Vendor Policy. They demanded democratisation of the Town Vending Committees through elected representation; enhanced representation of vendors and removal of representatives of market associations and RWAs. Because identity cards are being made a precondition for issue of licences, many poor and migrant vendors are in danger of losing their livelihood since the Delhi Government has made sure they get no identification.
The Convention was addressed by Shyam Kishore Yadav, President of the Delhi Rehri-Khokha-Patri Mahasangh, Vice President Ramsevak, Secretary Md. Shakil, treasurer Md. Shafi, Sanjay Sharma, State Secretary, CPI(ML), as well as AISA activists from Jamia Millia Islamia and JNU. The Convention was conducted by Uma Gupta of AIPWA. Through the Convention, the street vendors submitted a memorandum to the Delhi CM, opposing the plans to evict them from the streets in preparation for the Commonwealth Games, and demanding guarantee of livelihood.
Construction Workers' Workshop in TN
Tamil Nadu Democratic Construction Labourers’ Union organised a day’s workshop at Tanjore on 14th February, attended by 62 cadres from 10 districts. Workshop was conducted by a 3-member presidium comprising comrades Murugaiyan, Ponraj and Kuppabai. Com. S. Balasubramanian, President, AICWF, gave the inaugural address. Four papers were presented in the workshop: (1) Construction Industry - 21st Century Technology and 19th Century Labour Relations- presented by Com. NK Natarajan, (2) Migrant Labourers from Other States in the Development of Chennai - by Com. Desikan, (3) Functioning of Labour Welfare Board (with details of Corpus available and number of beneficiaries on various Schemes with disbursed money) and (4) Status of Various Decisions of the Union & Future Plans - by Iraniappan
After deliberations on all four papers, workshop concluded with two main action plans: (a) to launch a month long campaign in March and (b) forming 50 branches with 500 members in each branch.
A press conference held later was attended by comrades Balasubramanian, NK Natarajan, Iraniappan and Desikan. Com NK Natarajan reiterated the demand for a white paper on the condition of 4000 migrant workers involved in the construction of New State Assembly and Secretariat. Also we demanded doubling of welfare benefits with increase in cess from 0.3 to 1 percent immediately. Leaders also condemned Police’ manhandling of Com. Anthony Muthu, State Honorary President of the Construction Union, while demanding house site pattas for the labourers in Kanyakumari dist. Workshop concluded with a resolve to achieve 50000 membership by the end of March. Com. Asai Thambi, SCM of CPI(ML) also spoke on the occasion.
AIPWA Foundation Day Observed In AP
AIPWA foundation day programmes were held in East Godavari, Krishna and Ananthpur Districts. 150 AIPWA members attended the Flag hoisting at Dharmavaram village of Prathipadu mandal in East Godavari and later took out a rally. In Kodavali village 80 women conducted a padayatra after hoisting the Flag. In Eleswaram town dozens of women marched in a rally after Flag hoisting. Flag was also hoisted at Kattipudi. In krishna dist. a dharna was organised before the mandal office at Vissannapeta town in which 40 women participated. In Anantapur town AIPWA Flag was hoisted at Pressclub in which 150 women participated. The programme concluded with a rally marching 2 km in the town.
AIPWA Team Meets Tribal Victims of Police Rape
In yet another incident of tribal women being raped by the security forces, the ‘Greyhounds’ special force personnel raped four women on 22 January in Bhalluguda village of Munchangipattu mandal which is a remote part of Visakha District bordering Orissa. These personnel had entered the village at midnight on pretext of 'combing operation' for Maoists. The police also dragged the men out of the village and destroyed property. This bloody act was blatantly denied by the police officials, who alleged that ‘Maoists’ cooked up this false story. Meanwhile women's groups, democratic organisations and some political parties have condemned the incident and demanded a judicial enquiry. A team of AIPWA leaders met the victims at Visakhapatnam's King George Hospital when they were brought there for medical tests. Later, an AIPWA team comprising R.Nagamani, T.Aruna, K.Ratnakumari, B.Vijaya, P.Sundaramma,and Appalaraju submitted a memorandum to the Collector.
Protest against Repression by Coaching Institutes in Bihar
The All India Students’ Association (AISA) took up several initiatives against the repression unleashed on students protesting against coaching centres in Bihar and against the loot in the name of Nitish's boasts of turning Bihar into an 'education hub.' On 12 February protest demonstrations and burning of Nitish's effigy took place at Ara, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Bhagalpur, SItamarhi, Nawada and other district HQs. At Patna, students marched from the local radio station to Dak Bangla Chauraha where they held a protest meeting and burnt the CM's effigy. Addressing the gathering, AISA National VP Abhyuday demanded compensation for the two students – Sachin Sharma and Krishnakant Jha who died in the violence against protesting students, confiscation of the immense ill-gotten wealth and weapons of those who run coaching institutes, a pro-student coaching policy, and end to political patronage of the coaching mafia and an end to the policies of privatisation and commercialisation of education, of which the worst example are the coaching institutes.
On 13 February, AISA called for a state-wide bandh in universities. AISA held a militant march and ensured success of the bandh at Lalit Narayan Mithila University and Tilkamanjhi University, Bhagalpur. At Sitamarhi, AISA's bandh call not only resulted in shutting down of the government colleges but also private coaching institutes. At Patna University, classes remained fully suspended in Darbhanga House, Patna College, Science College; university offices remained shut and students boycotted exams. Teachers and karmacharis also supported the bandh. The Bandh was also successful at Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, and many colleges in Samastipur, Nawada, Jamui, Vaishali and Jehanabad.
Through the bandh, AISA demanded that maximum fees for any course be fixed at Rs. 1000, a cap of 60 students per batch, a high-level enquiry into the nexus of coaching institutions with politicians, confiscation of the wealth of coaching centre operators, compensation of a crore each to the students who were killed, and fixing of room rent at Rs. 500 in private hostels. AISA warned of a state-wide protest demonstration and hunger strike outside the Bihar Assembly if the Government failed to introduce a bill to rein in the coaching institutes on the first day of the Assembly session.
DU Students Defy Diktats of Moral Police
AISA and AIPWA held a public meeting on ‘Love in Our Times’ (Hamaare Samay me Prem) on February 15 in Delhi University, in which students, poets, writers, singers and intellectuals raised their voice against the attempts by Sangh Parivar outfits and 'khaap panchayats' to attack people who love and marry by choice. Hundreds of students participated in the meeting to assert their freedom of expression and speech. The public meeting was organised at Vivekananda Statue (Arts Faculty) - the entire area around the statue was decorated with posters made by students. Women students had taken the initiative to organize the event. On the previous day (February 14), students under the banner of AISA had held a March in the Kamala Nagar market area near DU, to protest threats and attacks by Sangh Parivar outfits on people celebrating Valentine's Day.
At the public meeting, Rukmini Bhaya Nair (English poet and professor, IIT) and Anamika (Hindi poet) read their poetry. Rukmini Bhaya Nair also spoke about the need to resist communal forces that try to dictate terms about 'culture' and 'way of life.' Anamika spoke about how patriarchy affects relations between men and women. Noor Zaheer (writer and activist) spoke of the need to challenge those who force women to marry young and called for young people to assert their right to live and love in freedom. Pankaj Bisht (editor, Samayantar) talked about how capitalism distorts 'love.' Arbind Jain (Supreme Court advocate and author of 'Aurat Hone ki Saza') spoke about the anti-woman nature of the Indian laws relating to family, marriage and property, as well as rape and crimes against women. Nandini Chandra, (Department of English, DU) said that 'love' and sexuality was often alienated and commercialised by the market; yet in spite of that, there continues to be something about love that presents a threat to the social order - resulting in attacks by khaap panchayats etc. Kavita Krishnan, Secretary, AIPWA read from the writings of Periyar and Engels and stressed that the struggle to defend the freedom to love can only be part of the struggle for a society free from oppression in the name of caste, gender and class. Revolutionary people's poet Ramashankar 'Vidrohi' recited several of his own poems which powerfully attacked patriarchy.
Many students of DU spontaneously participated in the event, singing songs and reciting their own poems. Some read out selections from the writings of Margaret Atwood, Jeannette Winterson, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Alok Dhanwa, Kishwar Naheed, Habib Jalib, Lehar Zaidi and many others.
The large number of students who participated in the public meeting is testimony to the fact that young people are outraged by and determined to reject and resist the diktats of moral police brigades.
Panchayat Gherao at Tripura
The CPI(ML) and AIALA held protest gheraos of five panchayats in Udaipur, South Tripura – on 29 January at Salgara, 2 February at Amtali, 8 February at Murapara, 10 February at Khilpara, and 17 February at Dakshin Maharani ADC village. The main demands raised included implementation of 100 days work under NREGA, implementation of the Tripura Agricultural Workers Act 1986, and legislation for registration of names of bargadars (sharecroppers) in panchayats. Protestors participating in the gherao were detained and released later. The South Tripura District Secretary Partha Karmakar, AIALA State VP and CPI(ML) State Committee member Gopal Roy, and RYA leader Badal participated in all the gheraos. On 25 February, the 30th anniversary of the Hurua Martyrs (marking the day in 1980 when the first LF Government unleashed police repression and killed 7 leaders of the agricultural poor including Com. Gobind Teli.)
Building Workers' Union Conference in Lucknow
On 22 February, the Building Workers' Union held its 11th annual conference at Gomti Nagar, defying attempts by the police to create difficulties. AICCTU State President, addressing the Conference, said the Mayawati Government was trying to crush the workers' movement. The law for building workers had been kept in cold storage. The Conference was inaugurated by AIPWA VP Tahira Hasan. A 15-member executive was elected from the Conference, with Raghunath Prasad as President, Baburam Kushwaha and Naumilal as VPs, Balmukund Dhuria as Secretary and Surendra Prasad and Santosh Kushwaha as Joint Secretaries.
ML UPDATE 09 - 2010.pdf
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol. 13, No. 09, 23 FEB – 01 MARCH 2010
Nitish Mission of Mahadalit Mockery Versus
Bihar Poor’s Struggle for Dignity and Development
With Assembly elections round the corner, Nitish Kumar has pulled out all stops to play his social engineering cards. Just a day before the inauguration of the budget session of the Assembly, Kumar accompanied by his deputy from the BJP, Sushil Modi, addressed a Mahadalit unity rally in Patna. The rally was convened and conducted by none other than the Speaker of Bihar Assembly, Uday Narain Chaudhary, who is projected by Nitish Kumar as a Mahadalit leader. Chaudhary, on his part, thanked Kumar for making a Mahadalit the Speaker of the Assembly and for ‘looking after’ the Mahadalits in the state.
The rally has been in the news on several counts. The role of the Speaker in openly calling upon a group of people to recognize the Chief Minister as their biggest benefactor has predictably created a major controversy. Apart from flaunting his partisan identity, Chaudhary was also involved in an unseemly row with another Mahadalit leader of the JD(U), former minister in RJD government, Shyam Rajak, over the seating arrangement on the stage. Denied a front row seat on the stage, Rajak had reportedly left the venue in a huff before being pacified and ‘rehabilitated’ by Nitish Kumar. A bigger embarrassment was reported on the evening prior to the rally when television cameras showed JD(U) MLA from Jeeradei in Siwan district (the ancestral place of India’s first President Rajendra Prasad) participating in vulgar dances in his MLA flat ostensibly to provide entertainment to Mahadalits from his constituency who had come to attend the Patna rally!
The RJD-LJP combine has demanded the resignation of the Speaker for violating the dignity and neutrality of Speaker’s office. Nitish Kumar on the other hand is happy with this allegation for this gives him the opportunity to project the Speaker and his government as a victim of anti-Mahadalit social prejudice! They had also cleverly organized the Mahadalit rally under the banner of a so-called Mahadalit morcha and not formally as a JD(U) or NDA show. Instead of questioning the propriety of the Speaker’s conduct, the very content of Nitish Kumar’s ‘mission Mahadalit’ should be subjected to serious scrutiny.
When the move was first initiated, 18 among Bihar’s 22 Dalit sub-castes were identified as Mahadalits. In two successive revisions, all Dalit sub-castes except Paswans were brought under the Mahadalit category and in the February 21 rally, Nitish Kumar also expressed his readiness to examine the case of bringing Paswans under the Mahadalit umbrella. Mahadalit has thus become just another name for Dalits and this clearly exposes the essential political gameplan underlying the Mahadalit campaign. Nitish has also reduced the agenda of land reforms to Mahadalit tokenism, the Land Reform Commission’s recommendation of one acre cultivable land for every landless family and 10 decimal homestead land for every homeless family has been reduced to a token assistance of Rs. 20,000 to Mahadalit families with which they are supposed to ‘buy’ homestead land!
Nitish and his deputy also talked about mandatory inclusion of all Mahadalit names in the BPL list, but the precondition for this promise is that the Centre should first accept Bihar government’s estimate of 1.40 crore BPL families in the state Bihar! Instead of taking responsibility for the criminal exclusion of millions of deserving Mahadalit families from Bihar’s existing BPL list, Nitish cleverly plays Centre-state political football with the rights of Mahadalits. He should also answer what has been stopping his government from ensuring that all Mahadalit families got jobs and proper wages under NREGA.
In yet another gem of shameless hypocrisy, Nitish Kumar asked Mahadalit women to guard the funds provided by the government so their men-folk did not squander it in drinking! It has been his government’s signal achievement that liquor shops have mushroomed in every panchayat even as the Excise minister has had to face dismissal for demanding a credible probe into large-scale excise theft by the liquor mafia!
Rejecting Nitish Kumar’s false promises and political mockery, on 20 February tens of thousands of Mahadalits and other members of rural poor demonstrated in front of block and subdivisional offices of Bihar. Their slogans were: “Check Prices, Give us Jobs – No Escape from Land Reforms” and “We want Land and Housing – Not Crumbs of Deception but Guaranteed Rights.” Class-conscious Communist organizers in Bihar villages will have to assert the supremacy of the Bihar poor’s glorious legacy of struggle over Nitish Kumar’s attempts to woo Mahadalits with vulgar dance and empty rhetoric.
Stop Operation Greenhunt, Start Talks
The CPI (Maoist) has reportedly proposed a ceasefire and talks to the Central Government. The Home Minister, by refusing to respond to this offer on the pretext that it is 'conditional,' has made it clear that the UPA Government is not interested in peace and is loath to call a halt to Operation Greenhunt. We demand that the UPA Government heed the democratic opinion in the country, and respond positively to the Maoist offer of ceasefire and talks by declaring a ceasefire on its part and initiating dialogue. The recent reports that an activist of the PCPA at Lalgarh has been killed in a fake encounter is disturbing. The saga of witch-hunt, fake encounters and state repression must end if talks are at all to be possible.
The Maoists too must desist from their dastardly attacks on the people – such as the recent attack on Phulwaria-Korasi village in Jamui district in Bihar, where they killed at least 12 people, including 2 women and a child and injured at least 50 villagers, most of them adivasis. Such attacks are described by them as 'retaliatory' – but no 'retaliation' can justify such a shameful massacre of innocents from the most vulnerable section of the people. Such massacres only go to prove that it is not just the state but often the people too who are finding themselves at the receiving end of Maoist actions. The act has justifiably earned widespread condemnation from democratic forces.
CPI(ML) Participation in Rajasthan Panchayat Polls
The CPI(ML) candidate won the seat for Panchayat Samiti member in Ward Number 5 of Bahuna Panchayat Samiti of Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan. The Party contested panchayat polls from three wards of the Jhunjhunu Zila Parishad, one ward of Jhunhunu block and three wards of Bahuna block. One independent candidate had also been supported on one ward of Bahuna block. Com. Ranchandra Kulhari, the candidate from Ward No 5 of Bahuna block defeated the Congress candidate by 218 votes. Com. Ramkumar Yadav lost the Ward No 28 Zila Parishad seat by 90 votes. The independent candidate supported by the Party – Sharbati Devi from Ward No. 20 of Bahuna block, also won. While Com. Ramesh Kulhari, the panchayat samiti member elected from the CPI(ML), boycotted the election for Pradhan of Bahuna block on the grounds that there were only Congress and BJP candidates, the two independent Zila Parishad members supported by the CPI(M) and two who had been elected on a CPI(M) symbol all supported the Congress candidate in exchange for securing the Zila Pramukh seat.
Protest March against Price Rise in Bhind
The CPI(ML) held a protest march against price rise in Bhind from Galla Mandi to the Collectorate, where they submitted a memorandum via the Collector to the Governor of Madhya Pradesh. AISA, AIPWA, AIALA and the Hammal-Palledar Union joined the procession. The procession was held to highlight the demand for 200 days of work at Rs.200 per day under NREGA and to protest against the exclusion of the poor from the BPL lists, rampant corruption in the PDS.
The public meeting at the gate of the Collector’s office was conducted by Com. Bhagwan Das, and the meeting was addressed by many comrades including District President and National Council member of AIPWA Surajrekha Tripathi, National Council member of AIALA Janved Singh Kushwaha, Subhash and Bittu Singh of AISA, Vinod Suman, President of the Hammal-Palledar Union, Mansingh Baudh of the Building Workers’ Union, Dharmendra Singh of the Vegetable Sellers’ Union and Com. Sadina Sengar. Addressing the meeting, Com. Devendra Singh Chauhan, District Secretary of the CPI(ML) condemned the anti-people policies causing price rise and also called for an end to state repression in the name of fighting Naxalism.
6th Conference of Paschim Banga Krishak Samiti
The Paschim Banga Krishak Samiti (West Bengal Peasant Association) held its 6th Conference with an open session in Barddhaman followed by a 2-day delegate session on 15-16 February. The conference took note of the acute agrarian crisis and resolved to impart a fresh impetus to the peasant movement in the State. Com. Dipankar addressed the open session while Com. Rajaram Singh, convenor of AIKSS (All India Peasant Coordination Committee) inaugurated the conference. Com. Kartick Pal, PBM and several other leaders of the Party’s West Bengal State Committee also attended and addressed the conference.
The delegates at the Conference included those who have come to us from the ranks of the CPI(M) in recent times. There were also signals that the rural poor who had gone over to the TMC in reaction to the CPI(M)’s betrayal of the peasantry, are getting fast disillusioned by the TMC’s approach to the peasants’ questions. Among those who addressed the Conference was a leader of the Singur movement, who reminded that the whole Singur struggle had centred around the demand that 400 acres of land that had been grabbed without consent be returned to the peasants. Now, even the TMC which had made political capital from the struggle had shelved this demand – a demand that continued to move the peasantry to struggle.
On the eve of the Conference, a delegation of Krishak Samiti leaders had met State Agriculture Minister Naren De to demand fixing of the procurement price for potato at Rs.6 per kg, to address the distress of potato farmers who were now selling at an extremely low price even as potato prices in the market were high.
The Conference took up the issue of the reversal of land reforms in the State, whereby diversion of agricultural land and eviction of peasants was a state-wide phenomenon. Delegates discussed, in particular, how sharecroppers were being evicted in Dinajpur and in South 24 Parganas too, sharecroppers were being evicted to make way for prawn farming. The Conference demanded security of tenure and land ownership for sharecroppers, lowering of land ceiling as recommended by the report of the Expert Committee on Land Reforms appointed by the Ministry of Rural Development, as well as agricultural credit, irrigation, fertilizer, electricity and other kinds of support for sharecroppers and small peasants.
The Conference elected a 63-member state council and a 21-member state executive including Com. Annada Prasad Bhattacharya (President), Com. Altaf Hussein (Vice President), Com. Subimal Sengupta (General Secretary), as well as five secretaries.
Implementing a call given from the Conference, the Krishak Samiti held a state-wide road blockade demanding fixing of Rs.6/kg as procurement price for potato and protesting the rise in prices of fertilizer.
Street Vendors in Delhi Hold Convention
The Delhi Rehri-Khokha-Patri Mahasangh held a Convention on 21 February demanding guarantee of livelihood and licence for every street vendor under the new National Vendor Policy. They demanded democratisation of the Town Vending Committees through elected representation; enhanced representation of vendors and removal of representatives of market associations and RWAs. Because identity cards are being made a precondition for issue of licences, many poor and migrant vendors are in danger of losing their livelihood since the Delhi Government has made sure they get no identification.
The Convention was addressed by Shyam Kishore Yadav, President of the Delhi Rehri-Khokha-Patri Mahasangh, Vice President Ramsevak, Secretary Md. Shakil, treasurer Md. Shafi, Sanjay Sharma, State Secretary, CPI(ML), as well as AISA activists from Jamia Millia Islamia and JNU. The Convention was conducted by Uma Gupta of AIPWA. Through the Convention, the street vendors submitted a memorandum to the Delhi CM, opposing the plans to evict them from the streets in preparation for the Commonwealth Games, and demanding guarantee of livelihood.
Construction Workers' Workshop in TN
Tamil Nadu Democratic Construction Labourers’ Union organised a day’s workshop at Tanjore on 14th February, attended by 62 cadres from 10 districts. Workshop was conducted by a 3-member presidium comprising comrades Murugaiyan, Ponraj and Kuppabai. Com. S. Balasubramanian, President, AICWF, gave the inaugural address. Four papers were presented in the workshop: (1) Construction Industry - 21st Century Technology and 19th Century Labour Relations- presented by Com. NK Natarajan, (2) Migrant Labourers from Other States in the Development of Chennai - by Com. Desikan, (3) Functioning of Labour Welfare Board (with details of Corpus available and number of beneficiaries on various Schemes with disbursed money) and (4) Status of Various Decisions of the Union & Future Plans - by Iraniappan
After deliberations on all four papers, workshop concluded with two main action plans: (a) to launch a month long campaign in March and (b) forming 50 branches with 500 members in each branch.
A press conference held later was attended by comrades Balasubramanian, NK Natarajan, Iraniappan and Desikan. Com NK Natarajan reiterated the demand for a white paper on the condition of 4000 migrant workers involved in the construction of New State Assembly and Secretariat. Also we demanded doubling of welfare benefits with increase in cess from 0.3 to 1 percent immediately. Leaders also condemned Police’ manhandling of Com. Anthony Muthu, State Honorary President of the Construction Union, while demanding house site pattas for the labourers in Kanyakumari dist. Workshop concluded with a resolve to achieve 50000 membership by the end of March. Com. Asai Thambi, SCM of CPI(ML) also spoke on the occasion.
AIPWA Foundation Day Observed In AP
AIPWA foundation day programmes were held in East Godavari, Krishna and Ananthpur Districts. 150 AIPWA members attended the Flag hoisting at Dharmavaram village of Prathipadu mandal in East Godavari and later took out a rally. In Kodavali village 80 women conducted a padayatra after hoisting the Flag. In Eleswaram town dozens of women marched in a rally after Flag hoisting. Flag was also hoisted at Kattipudi. In krishna dist. a dharna was organised before the mandal office at Vissannapeta town in which 40 women participated. In Anantapur town AIPWA Flag was hoisted at Pressclub in which 150 women participated. The programme concluded with a rally marching 2 km in the town.
AIPWA Team Meets Tribal Victims of Police Rape
In yet another incident of tribal women being raped by the security forces, the ‘Greyhounds’ special force personnel raped four women on 22 January in Bhalluguda village of Munchangipattu mandal which is a remote part of Visakha District bordering Orissa. These personnel had entered the village at midnight on pretext of 'combing operation' for Maoists. The police also dragged the men out of the village and destroyed property. This bloody act was blatantly denied by the police officials, who alleged that ‘Maoists’ cooked up this false story. Meanwhile women's groups, democratic organisations and some political parties have condemned the incident and demanded a judicial enquiry. A team of AIPWA leaders met the victims at Visakhapatnam's King George Hospital when they were brought there for medical tests. Later, an AIPWA team comprising R.Nagamani, T.Aruna, K.Ratnakumari, B.Vijaya, P.Sundaramma,and Appalaraju submitted a memorandum to the Collector.
Protest against Repression by Coaching Institutes in Bihar
The All India Students’ Association (AISA) took up several initiatives against the repression unleashed on students protesting against coaching centres in Bihar and against the loot in the name of Nitish's boasts of turning Bihar into an 'education hub.' On 12 February protest demonstrations and burning of Nitish's effigy took place at Ara, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Bhagalpur, SItamarhi, Nawada and other district HQs. At Patna, students marched from the local radio station to Dak Bangla Chauraha where they held a protest meeting and burnt the CM's effigy. Addressing the gathering, AISA National VP Abhyuday demanded compensation for the two students – Sachin Sharma and Krishnakant Jha who died in the violence against protesting students, confiscation of the immense ill-gotten wealth and weapons of those who run coaching institutes, a pro-student coaching policy, and end to political patronage of the coaching mafia and an end to the policies of privatisation and commercialisation of education, of which the worst example are the coaching institutes.
On 13 February, AISA called for a state-wide bandh in universities. AISA held a militant march and ensured success of the bandh at Lalit Narayan Mithila University and Tilkamanjhi University, Bhagalpur. At Sitamarhi, AISA's bandh call not only resulted in shutting down of the government colleges but also private coaching institutes. At Patna University, classes remained fully suspended in Darbhanga House, Patna College, Science College; university offices remained shut and students boycotted exams. Teachers and karmacharis also supported the bandh. The Bandh was also successful at Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, and many colleges in Samastipur, Nawada, Jamui, Vaishali and Jehanabad.
Through the bandh, AISA demanded that maximum fees for any course be fixed at Rs. 1000, a cap of 60 students per batch, a high-level enquiry into the nexus of coaching institutions with politicians, confiscation of the wealth of coaching centre operators, compensation of a crore each to the students who were killed, and fixing of room rent at Rs. 500 in private hostels. AISA warned of a state-wide protest demonstration and hunger strike outside the Bihar Assembly if the Government failed to introduce a bill to rein in the coaching institutes on the first day of the Assembly session.
DU Students Defy Diktats of Moral Police
AISA and AIPWA held a public meeting on ‘Love in Our Times’ (Hamaare Samay me Prem) on February 15 in Delhi University, in which students, poets, writers, singers and intellectuals raised their voice against the attempts by Sangh Parivar outfits and 'khaap panchayats' to attack people who love and marry by choice. Hundreds of students participated in the meeting to assert their freedom of expression and speech. The public meeting was organised at Vivekananda Statue (Arts Faculty) - the entire area around the statue was decorated with posters made by students. Women students had taken the initiative to organize the event. On the previous day (February 14), students under the banner of AISA had held a March in the Kamala Nagar market area near DU, to protest threats and attacks by Sangh Parivar outfits on people celebrating Valentine's Day.
At the public meeting, Rukmini Bhaya Nair (English poet and professor, IIT) and Anamika (Hindi poet) read their poetry. Rukmini Bhaya Nair also spoke about the need to resist communal forces that try to dictate terms about 'culture' and 'way of life.' Anamika spoke about how patriarchy affects relations between men and women. Noor Zaheer (writer and activist) spoke of the need to challenge those who force women to marry young and called for young people to assert their right to live and love in freedom. Pankaj Bisht (editor, Samayantar) talked about how capitalism distorts 'love.' Arbind Jain (Supreme Court advocate and author of 'Aurat Hone ki Saza') spoke about the anti-woman nature of the Indian laws relating to family, marriage and property, as well as rape and crimes against women. Nandini Chandra, (Department of English, DU) said that 'love' and sexuality was often alienated and commercialised by the market; yet in spite of that, there continues to be something about love that presents a threat to the social order - resulting in attacks by khaap panchayats etc. Kavita Krishnan, Secretary, AIPWA read from the writings of Periyar and Engels and stressed that the struggle to defend the freedom to love can only be part of the struggle for a society free from oppression in the name of caste, gender and class. Revolutionary people's poet Ramashankar 'Vidrohi' recited several of his own poems which powerfully attacked patriarchy.
Many students of DU spontaneously participated in the event, singing songs and reciting their own poems. Some read out selections from the writings of Margaret Atwood, Jeannette Winterson, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Alok Dhanwa, Kishwar Naheed, Habib Jalib, Lehar Zaidi and many others.
The large number of students who participated in the public meeting is testimony to the fact that young people are outraged by and determined to reject and resist the diktats of moral police brigades.
Panchayat Gherao at Tripura
The CPI(ML) and AIALA held protest gheraos of five panchayats in Udaipur, South Tripura – on 29 January at Salgara, 2 February at Amtali, 8 February at Murapara, 10 February at Khilpara, and 17 February at Dakshin Maharani ADC village. The main demands raised included implementation of 100 days work under NREGA, implementation of the Tripura Agricultural Workers Act 1986, and legislation for registration of names of bargadars (sharecroppers) in panchayats. Protestors participating in the gherao were detained and released later. The South Tripura District Secretary Partha Karmakar, AIALA State VP and CPI(ML) State Committee member Gopal Roy, and RYA leader Badal participated in all the gheraos. On 25 February, the 30th anniversary of the Hurua Martyrs (marking the day in 1980 when the first LF Government unleashed police repression and killed 7 leaders of the agricultural poor including Com. Gobind Teli.)
Building Workers' Union Conference in Lucknow
On 22 February, the Building Workers' Union held its 11th annual conference at Gomti Nagar, defying attempts by the police to create difficulties. AICCTU State President, addressing the Conference, said the Mayawati Government was trying to crush the workers' movement. The law for building workers had been kept in cold storage. The Conference was inaugurated by AIPWA VP Tahira Hasan. A 15-member executive was elected from the Conference, with Raghunath Prasad as President, Baburam Kushwaha and Naumilal as VPs, Balmukund Dhuria as Secretary and Surendra Prasad and Santosh Kushwaha as Joint Secretaries.
ML UPDATE 09 - 2010.pdf
ML UPDATE 7 / 2010
MLUpdate
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol. 13, No. 07, 09 – 15 FEBRUARY 2010
Price-rise: Assault on Food and Livelihood of Aam Aadmi
midst record-breaking rise in food prices, the UPA government continues to shed crocodile tears. Worse, in the name of tackling prices, the government is trying to use rising prices as a pretext to shower more concessions on big capital. The latest instance was the meeting of Chief Ministers in Delhi on February 6, in which the Prime Minister called for advancing retail sector reforms to tackle the surge in retail prices – a clear hint to push for greater and faster corporatization of the retail sector.
The conference of Chief Ministers was preceded by a meeting of the Congress Working Committee in which the Congress blamed the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for ‘talking up’ prices. Pawar had invoked the doctrine of ‘collective responsibility’ of the UPA government for the failure to control prices; the Congress accuses him of creating a scare by talking of shortages. While the government thus plays its own little blame game, the fact remains that the problem of shortage is quite real, partly because of falling production and partly also because of unwarranted export, what to talk of aggravating factors like distribution bottlenecks and hoarding.
Take the case of sugar for example. Production is estimated at 16 million tonnes while consumption estimates are of the order of 23 million tonnes. Instead of trying to meet this shortfall by increasing production, the central government talks of launching nationwide campaign to dissuade consumption! “No one dies due to not eating sugar,” argues the NCP mouthpiece Rashtravadi, while in a key sugar-producing state like Bihar, where sugar mills are lying closed for years, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is interested only in opening sugar mills that will produce not sugar but Ethnol!
While prices have been rising continuously, the UPA government has been busy rationalizing it as a veritable feature of economic growth, hoping to silence all inflation-related worries by invoking the loud rhetoric of double-digit growth. The statistical practice of measuring inflation through movements of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) has also helped the government in understating the real impact of inflation. In WPI, food and primary articles have a weightage of only 22%, which is just a third of the importance assigned to manufactured items. Thus, a near 20% rise in food price index remained conveniently hidden throughout the last one year in WPI increases of the order of 6-7%.
But this grim reality can no longer be hidden under any statistical carpet. Over the 52-week period ending on January 23, 2010, the composite food price index rose 17.56% while prices of potatoes and pulses rose by nearly 45%. The impact of this steep rise in food prices is felt all the more acutely by people with low and even moderate income who spend a high proportion of their earnings to buy food. For the 800 million people identified by the Arjun Sengupta committee with a daily expenditure of Rs. 20 or less, a near 20% rise in food prices can only mean a push to severe malnutrition and semi-starvation. To add insult to injury, Congress leaders would have us believe that the rise in prices is due primarily to increased mass consumption resulting from increased purchasing power of the rural poor and the peasantry!
The least that a government must do in the face of such a severe crisis is to ensure delivery of subsidized food and other primary articles of mass consumption to the needy. Yet, large numbers of the poor find themselves excluded from the BPL list, and the rations meant for BPL families are often diverted to the open market with the government looking the other way. Meanwhile, even as the country awaits the 2010 annual budget, the Kirit Parikh panel appointed by the government to examine fuel pricing has recommended a hike of Rs. 100 per LPG cylinder and Rs. 6 per litre of kerosene oil and freeing of petrol and diesel prices in tune with international standards!
Far from trying to check price-rise and mitigate its impact on the aam aadmi, the UPA government is working hand in glove with the market to wage an all-out price war on the people. We must resist this assault by all means and fight for the people’s basic right to food and livelihood with all our might.
Crooks, Conmen, & Counter-insurgents: Padma Awards in the Time of Nuke Deal & Greenhunt
The recipients of the country’s highest civilian honours – announced on Republic Day this year – included one NRI crook with several criminal cases pending against him, and one leader of a private militia in Kashmir notorious for torture and killings.
The Padma Bhushan to these two, while proving to be an embarrassment to the Government, is actually symbolic of the Indian State’s priorities at this juncture. Both reflect on the character of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Sant Singh Chatwal is an NRI hotelier with several cases of fraud pending in courts, complaints of criminal intimidation with the NHRC and a CBI investigation which was hastily closed, against the advice of the top investigators. His son’s wedding was attended by no less than Bill and Hillary Clinton and Manmohan Singh and Gurcharan Kaur.
What did he do to deserve the Padma award?
The Ministry of Home Affairs, defending the award in the face of questions about the aborted CBI enquiry, gave him a clean chit, and explained that he (Chatwal) had “been an active member of the NRI community in the US in securing support for the nuclear deal among members of the US Congress.”
Ghulam Mohamamd Mir, another recipient of the Padma award, is notorious as Muma Kanna, surrendered militant who used to run a private counter-insurgent militia. His name was synonymous with brutal terror and torture in the service of the State terror, and he also stands accused of illegally occupying land and timber smuggling.
It is no accident that the UPA Government, in times of Nuke Deal and Greenhunt, should choose to reward a crook who is basically a ‘fixer’ for Indo-US relations in general, and a man associated with what, in other words, was a Kashmiri version of Salwa Judum – complete with torture, killings, land grab and smuggling. However, these awards also reveal the unsavoury underbelly – marked by fraudsters and torturers – of Indo-US relations and of counter-insurgency.
Running with the Hare & Hunting with the Hounds
Rahul Gandhi declared in Bihar that people from Bihar and UP ought to be welcome in Mumbai; he followed this up with a visit to Mumbai in which he travelled in local trains and engaged in verbal duels with the Shiv Sena and MNS.
But his words cannot exactly heal the wounds inflicted on North Indians – wounds which owe themselves to the Congress-led State Government’s tacit encouragement of the MNS in Maharashtra. When the MNS terror was at its height, the Congress refused to act decisively to punish those indulging in violence. And not long before Rahul’s ‘defiance’ of the Shiv Sena-MNS, Maharashtra’s Congress CM Ashok Chavan took a leaf from the Shiv Sena-MNS book, declaring that fluency in Marathi must be a qualification for plying a taxi in Mumbai. He withdrew this fiat, but not before adding fuel to the regional chauvinists’ fire. When both the Senas rampaged against Chavan’s withdrawal of this order, the State Government and its machinery watched.
Not long ago, P Chidambaram belatedly condemned the orchestrated refusal of IPL teams to hire Pakistani players – but not before serious questions had been raised that this was done in response to tacit directives from the Home Ministry itself. Chidambaram’s talk carries as little weight as Rahul’s - when it is clear that the Congress Government of Maharashtra is unwilling to walk this talk; the Government failed to punish the troublemakers when the Shiv Sena threatened to attack theatres that screened Shah Rukh Khan’s latest film after he spoke out against the failure to hire Pakistani players.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s recent visit to Azamgarh is yet another instance of the Congress’ attempt to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Even as Digvijay Singh met families of boys arrested as terror suspects and even suggested an enquiry by the NIA into the Batla House ‘encounter’, another youth was arrested and his custodial ‘confession’ made the basis for the claim that he was one of those who allegedly ran away during the Batla House ‘encounter’. It is the Union Home Ministry in a Congress Government that has scotched the demand for a judicial or CBI enquiry into Batla House – and all Digvijay Singh’s piety and wit cannot wash out this inconvenient fact.
Token gestures, when juxtaposed with the Congress’ failure to take action in real time to uphold democracy, stand exposed as hypocrisy and dishonesty.
Demand an Impartial Enquiry Into the Custodial Death of Swapan Dasgupta
Swapan Dasgupta, publisher and editor of the Bangla People’s March, died in jail custody recently. This periodical was registered under the Government of India’s Registration of Newspapers Act and was not banned. Yet Dasgupta was arrested in October 2009 under the UAPA. Newspapers report that senior police officials have admitted that they had no evidence against Dasgupta – he was in effect an ideological prisoner in the war on democracy in the name of countering ‘Maoism’ declared by Central Government as well as WB Government.
Known to be a sufferer of various illnesses, it is unclear if he received medical attention in custody.
We condemn the arrest of citizens based on their ideology, and demand a judicial enquiry into the circumstances of Swapan Dasgupta’s death.
Anti-prise rise Protest in Pithoragarh
CPI(ML) activists in Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand) burnt effigies of the Centre’s Congress as well as State’s BJP Govt. on 3rd February holding both equally responsible for the skyrocketing prices of food grains and essential items. The Party members assembled at Gandhi Chowk led by CPI(ML)’s District in-charge Com. Govind Kaphalia and shouted slogans against the anti-people policies of these two parties. Various comrades of the Party and AISA addressed the gathering.
Jute Mill Workers' Strike
Since 14th December, 2009, workers of 54 jute mills of West Bengal are on strike. All trade unions, except the one affiliated to the Trinamool Congress, are participating in the strike. BCMA affiliated to All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) is part of the agitation. The workers are demanding that the mill owners clear dues of PF, ESI and gratuity, which run into crores of rupees and that casual labourers be made permanent. Also dearness allowance has been stopped and the mill owners intend to scrap it altogether. Negotiation with the management is on without any breakthrough so far. On 28th January, striking workers held a rally in front of the office of the Indian Jute Manufacturers Association (IJMA).
AIPWA’s Demonstration Against TN Women’s Commission
All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) organized a demonstration in Chennai on February 5 against the Tamil Nadu State Women’s Commission. The demonstrators demanded that the report submitted by the one-woman commission appointed by the Commission to enquire into the police witch-hunt of Pricol’s Women workers be scrapped as it is completely biased in favour of the Pricol management and anti-worker. The demonstrators also demanded that Ms. Vanitha, IPS, who conducted the enquiry and submitted the one-sided report be dropped from the Women’s Commission.
The demonstration was led by Com. Kuppabai, TN’s AIPWA Vice President. Comrades Devaki, VP of AIPWA, Usha, AIPWA’s TN Gen.Sec., Thenmozhi, AIPWA’s TN President, Bharati, AISA’s State President and Bhuvana, State Dy.GS AICCTU addressed the demonstration. Around 100 women from Pricol, Chennai, Tiruvallore, Kanchipuram, Villupuram, Namakkal districts participated in the demonstration.
A delegation led by Com. Thenmozhi met the Women’s Commission chairperson and submitted a memorandum. She has promised to order a fresh enquiry and she would discuss with the Social Welfare Ministry the demand for dropping IPS officer Vanitha from the Commission.
PRICOL UPDATE: On 5th February, 300 Pricol workers, including 200 women workers held a demonstration at the Pricol gate demanding scrapping of the report of the TN Women’s Commission.
KARNATAKA
AIALA Activists Meet at Kottur
State level Cadre Convention of All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association (AIALA) was held at Kottur on 4 Feb. More than 75 representative-activists from Bellary, Davanagere, Koppal and Mysore districts participated in the convention. The convention decided to intensify struggles at panchayat level and to develop and concentrate work, at least, in 10 panchayats in each taluk. The meeting also discussed reorientation of our work among agricultural labourers that included organising struggles of more militant nature depending on the intensity of the issue and regularizing organizational structures at grassroots.
Com. Shankar, CPI(ML)’s Central Committee member (CCM), called for intense and more profound struggles of agricultural labourers who are the most neglected lot in the State. Struggles of ‘Raitha Sangha (farmers associations)’ (various factions of KRRS) in Karnataka thus far has represented only the interests of rich farmers, despite overwhelming participation of small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers in their struggles. Organising agricultural labourers and small and marginal farmers as a class under the banner of AIALA is the sole initiative of CPI(ML) (Liberation) and no other party, including the Left, has taken any initiative in that direction in the State. No other party has any organization for agricultural labourers but for their own brands of ‘Raitha Sanghas’. He also said that developing struggles on the burning issues of agricultural labourers can only be the fitting reply to the communal, corrupt and non-performing BJP government in the State.
Com. Ramappa, State Secretary of the Party called for building struggles against the domination of mining and real estate mafia in the region and in State politics. He also outlined that AIALA has inherited the legacy of Bhagat Singh and other revolutionary and progressive strands of movements against the status-quo. He greeted the cadres for organizing the convention at Kottur in Bellary, for the first time, the hotbed of mining mafia and one of the most backward taluk in the State.
Com. Bharadwaj, State President of AIALA who chaired the convention called upon the cadres to intensify struggles at grassroots and to develop certain areas to be that of AIALA. He declared that AIALA will turn 2010 into year of struggles of agricultural labourers.
Comrades Javaraiah, State Secretary of AICCTU, Chowdappa, State Secretary of AIALA, Lingan Gowda, Vice-President, joint secretaries Devendrappa, Hanumanthappa and Parasuram also addressed the gathering.
New AIALA Unit at HPHalli
AIALA formed its new unit at Aracknahalu village in HP Halli taluk on 21 January and the inaugural meeting was addressed by Com. Ramappa, Party Secretary, AIALA leaders Chowdappa, Parasuram, Devendrappa and Mylappa. AIALA name-board was also opened at Hullikatti village in the same panchayat. More than 150 people, including large number of women, participated in the programme.
SWO Suspended
All progressive organizations of HD Kote taluk, including CPI(ML) and DSS, came together and organized a two-day dharna in front of taluk office on 5-6 February demanding suspension of taluk Social Welfare Officer who was responsible for discrimination against dalits in various places in the taluk, including student hostels. Following the protest and the people’s pressure, the taluk social welfare officer was suspended by the higher authorities. CPI(ML) and AISA played a major role in the struggle.
Contract workers’ Partial Victory despite LabourDepartment and Army Authority’s Betrayal and Apathy
Defence Sector topping the list of budget allocation, also surpasses others in corruption and labour repression. Anybody going deep into any serious study of the ongoing industrial relation pertaining to this sector can easily see “19th century mindset in this 21st century” defence industry. The immutable attitude of Garrison Engineers (GEs), being the principal employers of Dinjan Military Station, Chabua and Dinjan Air Force Stations of Dibrugarh District of Assam, that was experienced in a recent strike of contract workers there, amply justifies the charge.
The contract labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, if implemented even with little seriousness can still give some relief to the contract workers in terms of wage and other welfare and health care measures like- provision for canteen, rest rooms, facilities for supply of drinking water, latrines, urinals, first aid facilities for dignity of human labour, etc. Even the Supreme Court has time and again spoken about the appalling conditions of the contract workers. But the laws and the notifications are routinely trampled by the ALC (C) and the principal employer- the garrison engineer (GE).
There are more than 1500 contract workers engaged in regular and almost perennial nature of works in military and Air Force Stations of Dinjan, Chabua, Mohanbari in Dibrugarh and Lekhapani in Tinsukia District of Assam. In these military and air force stations, there are four categories of contract workers, viz., unskilled, semi-skilled/unskilled supervisory, skilled/ clerical and highly skilled.
The experience gained so far reveals that lack of conscious, strong and pro-worker trade union culture amongst contract workers is the main hindrance on the way of developing struggle for realizing their just demands. The “All Assam Contract Workers’ Union” affiliated to AICCTU has just started taking primary but conscious initiative to organize contract workers of military and air force stations in the two upper Assam districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia. Presence of the organization is just felt in Dinjan military and air force station and partly in Chabua air force station. There are also defence establishments spreading over the rest of Assam Districts – like Sonitpur, Jorhat, Kamrup, Cachar, etc. where thousands of such workers remain unorganized and untouched. As a result, these stations remain paradise of exploitation, loot and plunder by the unscrupulous contractors being patronized by the Govt. Central Labour department and the principal employers.
Even during these days of unprecedented price-rise, the majority of the contract workers belonging to unskilled and the semi-skilled category get only 70-80/- rupees and the skilled ones get only 120 rupees a day, and in spite of there being another legislation, namely the- “Equal Remuneration Act, 1976” the female workers still get 10 rupees less than their male counterpart, to be sure, in the military and air force stations.
However the Regional Labour Commissioner (C), Guwahati, on the basis of various notification No. S.O.1284 (E), S.O.1285 (E) & S.O.1286 (E) dated 20.05.09 issued by the Union Minister, Labour and Employment, issued a Circular No. 41R.93 (C).96.Cor.L.s-11 dated 16.10.09 Wherein it was fixed that the minimum daily wage of Contact workers working in various categories in central sphere in schedule employment in Assam will be Rs.135/- for unskilled, Rs.158/- for semi-skilled/supervisory, Rs.192/- for skilled/clerical and Rs.225/- for highly skilled.
The circular had to be implemented from 1.10.09 but the contractors of the above installations concealed it deliberately and so to say were pick-pocketing the workers by making less payment to unskilled, the semi-skilled and the skilled workers respectively by Rs.55/-, Rs.83/- and Rs.72/- per day.
As per rule still in force, the daily wage of contract workers is enhanced per every six months. So, it becomes the responsibility, first of all, of the Labour Deptt. to see for itself whether the workers are being paid at the enhanced rates or not. Moreover, the Principal employer and here, the Garrison Engineer (G.E) in his official and authoritative capacity has to ensure payment of wages as per notification or at the enhanced rates whatsoever, to the workers.
But it was a matter of grave concern that the ALC (C) Dibrugarh neither made it sure that the contractors made payment as per instruction of the circular issued by his superior the RLC (C), Guwahati, nor he sent his labour enforcement officer to the spots for any enquiry regarding whether the circular was being implemented, nor he, till the union took initiative for building up movement, and in this process staged a demonstration before his office at Dibrugarh on 17.12.09 ( strike notice was served on 02/12/09), took any initiative to compel the G.E. to follow the legal procedures to redress the grievances of the workers. Also the GE abstained till date from making any formal commitment that he would take initiative as per direction of the Act.
Later, the Union held many programmes of action before going on strike, the major ones of which were- (I) addressing a letter of request to the G.E. to compel the contractors to make the enhanced payment at the enhanced rates on 17.11.09; (2) gate meetings were held both in Dinjan and Chabua twice at each place and a workers’ mass meeting was held at Mohanbari to form a union branch. But the G.E. remained adamant and did not respond; (3) on 4.12.09 strike notice was served. Still, the ALC (c ) and the principal employer remained quite indifferent; (4) a militant demonstration of 400 plus workers was staged before his office; (5) on being compelled, the ALC (C), invited a meeting at his office on 21.12.09 which was attended by the Union representatives, the representative of the G.E. Dinjan but the contractor Union and the G.E. Chabua abstained; (6) still, in order to avoid strike another effort was made to involve the G.O.C. and a letter was also addressed to him on 30/12/09. But all the above efforts failing to bear any fruit, the strike became inevitable from 4.01.2010.
The strike was total on 4th January in Dinjan Military and Air Force Station in which more than 600 workers participated. The contractors of the Dinjan Military Station having given an assurance that they would make payment of Rs. 110/- to the unskilled and semi-skilled workers (instead ofRs. 70-80/- as was being paid earlier and Rs.135/- and 158/- as in the new circular with enhanced rates) and Rs.140/- to the skilled workers (instead of Rs. 120/- as was being paid earlier but instead of Rs. 192/- as per the new circular.) Major Section of the workers agreed to the above enhancement and the strike was temporarily withdrawn there. But the strike in Dinjan Airforce Station continued till 12th January, i.e. for 9 days and there the contractors were compelled to respect the new circular. But the same contractors except 4 of them betrayed the workers of Dinjan Military Station not sticking to their commitment there and on the next payment day being Saturday, (on 09 .01. 2010) made payment of Rs.80/- to a section, Rs.90/- to some others and again Rs.100/- to another section in order to create division, anarchy and industrial unrest and also to utilise one Section of the workers against another. As a result, the workers there again got furious and from 11th January the workers again resorted to strike at their own decision and continued up to 17th with the demand of full implementation of circular and the Union fully supported it.
It is interesting and worth mentioning that the contractors are all the same in all the military and Air Force Stations spreading over Assam and the North East. But the same contractors who agreed to abide by the new circular in Dinjan Air Force Station did not agree to do so in case of Dinjan Military Station. They had to surrender before the resoluteness of the workers of the Dinjan Air Force Station where the number of workers were, though less, say only one hundred but were conscious and resolute both in organizational and ideological sphere.
During the strike period the Contractors Union adopted their conventional practice of utilising police force against the strikers. Besides lodging a false ejahar against the General Secretary of All Assam Contractor workers’ Union, Com. Subhash Singh, who also happens to be one of the national councillors and Assam State Committee member of AICCTU, threatened his life, sending the police to his residence time and again and resorting to other form of harassment in order to make other leaders panic. They also engaged hired goons and lumpens for intimidating in many other ways by way of hiring workers from other places but failed.
In order to foil their evil designs, the Union also adopted various measures and the important ones were as follows: (1) Holding meetings of workers at the rural and tea garden spots from where the workers come to their duties in the field of the military and air force station; (2) an effective leaflet was published targeting and condemning the police-contractors nexus, appealing to stand firmly to realize the demands of enhanced wage as notified by the Govt.; (3) holding gate meetings frequently; apart from various other initiatives
To conclude, in order to consolidate the gains, the organization needs to be strengthened, daily life of the union which is now almost nil, has to be regular and membership drive to be undertaken with all earnestness.
MLU-13-07.pdf
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol. 13, No. 07, 09 – 15 FEBRUARY 2010
Price-rise: Assault on Food and Livelihood of Aam Aadmi
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midst record-breaking rise in food prices, the UPA government continues to shed crocodile tears. Worse, in the name of tackling prices, the government is trying to use rising prices as a pretext to shower more concessions on big capital. The latest instance was the meeting of Chief Ministers in Delhi on February 6, in which the Prime Minister called for advancing retail sector reforms to tackle the surge in retail prices – a clear hint to push for greater and faster corporatization of the retail sector.
The conference of Chief Ministers was preceded by a meeting of the Congress Working Committee in which the Congress blamed the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for ‘talking up’ prices. Pawar had invoked the doctrine of ‘collective responsibility’ of the UPA government for the failure to control prices; the Congress accuses him of creating a scare by talking of shortages. While the government thus plays its own little blame game, the fact remains that the problem of shortage is quite real, partly because of falling production and partly also because of unwarranted export, what to talk of aggravating factors like distribution bottlenecks and hoarding.
Take the case of sugar for example. Production is estimated at 16 million tonnes while consumption estimates are of the order of 23 million tonnes. Instead of trying to meet this shortfall by increasing production, the central government talks of launching nationwide campaign to dissuade consumption! “No one dies due to not eating sugar,” argues the NCP mouthpiece Rashtravadi, while in a key sugar-producing state like Bihar, where sugar mills are lying closed for years, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is interested only in opening sugar mills that will produce not sugar but Ethnol!
While prices have been rising continuously, the UPA government has been busy rationalizing it as a veritable feature of economic growth, hoping to silence all inflation-related worries by invoking the loud rhetoric of double-digit growth. The statistical practice of measuring inflation through movements of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) has also helped the government in understating the real impact of inflation. In WPI, food and primary articles have a weightage of only 22%, which is just a third of the importance assigned to manufactured items. Thus, a near 20% rise in food price index remained conveniently hidden throughout the last one year in WPI increases of the order of 6-7%.
But this grim reality can no longer be hidden under any statistical carpet. Over the 52-week period ending on January 23, 2010, the composite food price index rose 17.56% while prices of potatoes and pulses rose by nearly 45%. The impact of this steep rise in food prices is felt all the more acutely by people with low and even moderate income who spend a high proportion of their earnings to buy food. For the 800 million people identified by the Arjun Sengupta committee with a daily expenditure of Rs. 20 or less, a near 20% rise in food prices can only mean a push to severe malnutrition and semi-starvation. To add insult to injury, Congress leaders would have us believe that the rise in prices is due primarily to increased mass consumption resulting from increased purchasing power of the rural poor and the peasantry!
The least that a government must do in the face of such a severe crisis is to ensure delivery of subsidized food and other primary articles of mass consumption to the needy. Yet, large numbers of the poor find themselves excluded from the BPL list, and the rations meant for BPL families are often diverted to the open market with the government looking the other way. Meanwhile, even as the country awaits the 2010 annual budget, the Kirit Parikh panel appointed by the government to examine fuel pricing has recommended a hike of Rs. 100 per LPG cylinder and Rs. 6 per litre of kerosene oil and freeing of petrol and diesel prices in tune with international standards!
Far from trying to check price-rise and mitigate its impact on the aam aadmi, the UPA government is working hand in glove with the market to wage an all-out price war on the people. We must resist this assault by all means and fight for the people’s basic right to food and livelihood with all our might.
Crooks, Conmen, & Counter-insurgents: Padma Awards in the Time of Nuke Deal & Greenhunt
The recipients of the country’s highest civilian honours – announced on Republic Day this year – included one NRI crook with several criminal cases pending against him, and one leader of a private militia in Kashmir notorious for torture and killings.
The Padma Bhushan to these two, while proving to be an embarrassment to the Government, is actually symbolic of the Indian State’s priorities at this juncture. Both reflect on the character of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Sant Singh Chatwal is an NRI hotelier with several cases of fraud pending in courts, complaints of criminal intimidation with the NHRC and a CBI investigation which was hastily closed, against the advice of the top investigators. His son’s wedding was attended by no less than Bill and Hillary Clinton and Manmohan Singh and Gurcharan Kaur.
What did he do to deserve the Padma award?
The Ministry of Home Affairs, defending the award in the face of questions about the aborted CBI enquiry, gave him a clean chit, and explained that he (Chatwal) had “been an active member of the NRI community in the US in securing support for the nuclear deal among members of the US Congress.”
Ghulam Mohamamd Mir, another recipient of the Padma award, is notorious as Muma Kanna, surrendered militant who used to run a private counter-insurgent militia. His name was synonymous with brutal terror and torture in the service of the State terror, and he also stands accused of illegally occupying land and timber smuggling.
It is no accident that the UPA Government, in times of Nuke Deal and Greenhunt, should choose to reward a crook who is basically a ‘fixer’ for Indo-US relations in general, and a man associated with what, in other words, was a Kashmiri version of Salwa Judum – complete with torture, killings, land grab and smuggling. However, these awards also reveal the unsavoury underbelly – marked by fraudsters and torturers – of Indo-US relations and of counter-insurgency.
Running with the Hare & Hunting with the Hounds
Rahul Gandhi declared in Bihar that people from Bihar and UP ought to be welcome in Mumbai; he followed this up with a visit to Mumbai in which he travelled in local trains and engaged in verbal duels with the Shiv Sena and MNS.
But his words cannot exactly heal the wounds inflicted on North Indians – wounds which owe themselves to the Congress-led State Government’s tacit encouragement of the MNS in Maharashtra. When the MNS terror was at its height, the Congress refused to act decisively to punish those indulging in violence. And not long before Rahul’s ‘defiance’ of the Shiv Sena-MNS, Maharashtra’s Congress CM Ashok Chavan took a leaf from the Shiv Sena-MNS book, declaring that fluency in Marathi must be a qualification for plying a taxi in Mumbai. He withdrew this fiat, but not before adding fuel to the regional chauvinists’ fire. When both the Senas rampaged against Chavan’s withdrawal of this order, the State Government and its machinery watched.
Not long ago, P Chidambaram belatedly condemned the orchestrated refusal of IPL teams to hire Pakistani players – but not before serious questions had been raised that this was done in response to tacit directives from the Home Ministry itself. Chidambaram’s talk carries as little weight as Rahul’s - when it is clear that the Congress Government of Maharashtra is unwilling to walk this talk; the Government failed to punish the troublemakers when the Shiv Sena threatened to attack theatres that screened Shah Rukh Khan’s latest film after he spoke out against the failure to hire Pakistani players.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s recent visit to Azamgarh is yet another instance of the Congress’ attempt to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Even as Digvijay Singh met families of boys arrested as terror suspects and even suggested an enquiry by the NIA into the Batla House ‘encounter’, another youth was arrested and his custodial ‘confession’ made the basis for the claim that he was one of those who allegedly ran away during the Batla House ‘encounter’. It is the Union Home Ministry in a Congress Government that has scotched the demand for a judicial or CBI enquiry into Batla House – and all Digvijay Singh’s piety and wit cannot wash out this inconvenient fact.
Token gestures, when juxtaposed with the Congress’ failure to take action in real time to uphold democracy, stand exposed as hypocrisy and dishonesty.
Demand an Impartial Enquiry Into the Custodial Death of Swapan Dasgupta
Swapan Dasgupta, publisher and editor of the Bangla People’s March, died in jail custody recently. This periodical was registered under the Government of India’s Registration of Newspapers Act and was not banned. Yet Dasgupta was arrested in October 2009 under the UAPA. Newspapers report that senior police officials have admitted that they had no evidence against Dasgupta – he was in effect an ideological prisoner in the war on democracy in the name of countering ‘Maoism’ declared by Central Government as well as WB Government.
Known to be a sufferer of various illnesses, it is unclear if he received medical attention in custody.
We condemn the arrest of citizens based on their ideology, and demand a judicial enquiry into the circumstances of Swapan Dasgupta’s death.
Anti-prise rise Protest in Pithoragarh
CPI(ML) activists in Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand) burnt effigies of the Centre’s Congress as well as State’s BJP Govt. on 3rd February holding both equally responsible for the skyrocketing prices of food grains and essential items. The Party members assembled at Gandhi Chowk led by CPI(ML)’s District in-charge Com. Govind Kaphalia and shouted slogans against the anti-people policies of these two parties. Various comrades of the Party and AISA addressed the gathering.
Jute Mill Workers' Strike
Since 14th December, 2009, workers of 54 jute mills of West Bengal are on strike. All trade unions, except the one affiliated to the Trinamool Congress, are participating in the strike. BCMA affiliated to All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) is part of the agitation. The workers are demanding that the mill owners clear dues of PF, ESI and gratuity, which run into crores of rupees and that casual labourers be made permanent. Also dearness allowance has been stopped and the mill owners intend to scrap it altogether. Negotiation with the management is on without any breakthrough so far. On 28th January, striking workers held a rally in front of the office of the Indian Jute Manufacturers Association (IJMA).
AIPWA’s Demonstration Against TN Women’s Commission
All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) organized a demonstration in Chennai on February 5 against the Tamil Nadu State Women’s Commission. The demonstrators demanded that the report submitted by the one-woman commission appointed by the Commission to enquire into the police witch-hunt of Pricol’s Women workers be scrapped as it is completely biased in favour of the Pricol management and anti-worker. The demonstrators also demanded that Ms. Vanitha, IPS, who conducted the enquiry and submitted the one-sided report be dropped from the Women’s Commission.
The demonstration was led by Com. Kuppabai, TN’s AIPWA Vice President. Comrades Devaki, VP of AIPWA, Usha, AIPWA’s TN Gen.Sec., Thenmozhi, AIPWA’s TN President, Bharati, AISA’s State President and Bhuvana, State Dy.GS AICCTU addressed the demonstration. Around 100 women from Pricol, Chennai, Tiruvallore, Kanchipuram, Villupuram, Namakkal districts participated in the demonstration.
A delegation led by Com. Thenmozhi met the Women’s Commission chairperson and submitted a memorandum. She has promised to order a fresh enquiry and she would discuss with the Social Welfare Ministry the demand for dropping IPS officer Vanitha from the Commission.
PRICOL UPDATE: On 5th February, 300 Pricol workers, including 200 women workers held a demonstration at the Pricol gate demanding scrapping of the report of the TN Women’s Commission.
KARNATAKA
AIALA Activists Meet at Kottur
State level Cadre Convention of All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association (AIALA) was held at Kottur on 4 Feb. More than 75 representative-activists from Bellary, Davanagere, Koppal and Mysore districts participated in the convention. The convention decided to intensify struggles at panchayat level and to develop and concentrate work, at least, in 10 panchayats in each taluk. The meeting also discussed reorientation of our work among agricultural labourers that included organising struggles of more militant nature depending on the intensity of the issue and regularizing organizational structures at grassroots.
Com. Shankar, CPI(ML)’s Central Committee member (CCM), called for intense and more profound struggles of agricultural labourers who are the most neglected lot in the State. Struggles of ‘Raitha Sangha (farmers associations)’ (various factions of KRRS) in Karnataka thus far has represented only the interests of rich farmers, despite overwhelming participation of small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers in their struggles. Organising agricultural labourers and small and marginal farmers as a class under the banner of AIALA is the sole initiative of CPI(ML) (Liberation) and no other party, including the Left, has taken any initiative in that direction in the State. No other party has any organization for agricultural labourers but for their own brands of ‘Raitha Sanghas’. He also said that developing struggles on the burning issues of agricultural labourers can only be the fitting reply to the communal, corrupt and non-performing BJP government in the State.
Com. Ramappa, State Secretary of the Party called for building struggles against the domination of mining and real estate mafia in the region and in State politics. He also outlined that AIALA has inherited the legacy of Bhagat Singh and other revolutionary and progressive strands of movements against the status-quo. He greeted the cadres for organizing the convention at Kottur in Bellary, for the first time, the hotbed of mining mafia and one of the most backward taluk in the State.
Com. Bharadwaj, State President of AIALA who chaired the convention called upon the cadres to intensify struggles at grassroots and to develop certain areas to be that of AIALA. He declared that AIALA will turn 2010 into year of struggles of agricultural labourers.
Comrades Javaraiah, State Secretary of AICCTU, Chowdappa, State Secretary of AIALA, Lingan Gowda, Vice-President, joint secretaries Devendrappa, Hanumanthappa and Parasuram also addressed the gathering.
New AIALA Unit at HPHalli
AIALA formed its new unit at Aracknahalu village in HP Halli taluk on 21 January and the inaugural meeting was addressed by Com. Ramappa, Party Secretary, AIALA leaders Chowdappa, Parasuram, Devendrappa and Mylappa. AIALA name-board was also opened at Hullikatti village in the same panchayat. More than 150 people, including large number of women, participated in the programme.
SWO Suspended
All progressive organizations of HD Kote taluk, including CPI(ML) and DSS, came together and organized a two-day dharna in front of taluk office on 5-6 February demanding suspension of taluk Social Welfare Officer who was responsible for discrimination against dalits in various places in the taluk, including student hostels. Following the protest and the people’s pressure, the taluk social welfare officer was suspended by the higher authorities. CPI(ML) and AISA played a major role in the struggle.
Contract workers’ Partial Victory despite LabourDepartment and Army Authority’s Betrayal and Apathy
Defence Sector topping the list of budget allocation, also surpasses others in corruption and labour repression. Anybody going deep into any serious study of the ongoing industrial relation pertaining to this sector can easily see “19th century mindset in this 21st century” defence industry. The immutable attitude of Garrison Engineers (GEs), being the principal employers of Dinjan Military Station, Chabua and Dinjan Air Force Stations of Dibrugarh District of Assam, that was experienced in a recent strike of contract workers there, amply justifies the charge.
The contract labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, if implemented even with little seriousness can still give some relief to the contract workers in terms of wage and other welfare and health care measures like- provision for canteen, rest rooms, facilities for supply of drinking water, latrines, urinals, first aid facilities for dignity of human labour, etc. Even the Supreme Court has time and again spoken about the appalling conditions of the contract workers. But the laws and the notifications are routinely trampled by the ALC (C) and the principal employer- the garrison engineer (GE).
There are more than 1500 contract workers engaged in regular and almost perennial nature of works in military and Air Force Stations of Dinjan, Chabua, Mohanbari in Dibrugarh and Lekhapani in Tinsukia District of Assam. In these military and air force stations, there are four categories of contract workers, viz., unskilled, semi-skilled/unskilled supervisory, skilled/ clerical and highly skilled.
The experience gained so far reveals that lack of conscious, strong and pro-worker trade union culture amongst contract workers is the main hindrance on the way of developing struggle for realizing their just demands. The “All Assam Contract Workers’ Union” affiliated to AICCTU has just started taking primary but conscious initiative to organize contract workers of military and air force stations in the two upper Assam districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia. Presence of the organization is just felt in Dinjan military and air force station and partly in Chabua air force station. There are also defence establishments spreading over the rest of Assam Districts – like Sonitpur, Jorhat, Kamrup, Cachar, etc. where thousands of such workers remain unorganized and untouched. As a result, these stations remain paradise of exploitation, loot and plunder by the unscrupulous contractors being patronized by the Govt. Central Labour department and the principal employers.
Even during these days of unprecedented price-rise, the majority of the contract workers belonging to unskilled and the semi-skilled category get only 70-80/- rupees and the skilled ones get only 120 rupees a day, and in spite of there being another legislation, namely the- “Equal Remuneration Act, 1976” the female workers still get 10 rupees less than their male counterpart, to be sure, in the military and air force stations.
However the Regional Labour Commissioner (C), Guwahati, on the basis of various notification No. S.O.1284 (E), S.O.1285 (E) & S.O.1286 (E) dated 20.05.09 issued by the Union Minister, Labour and Employment, issued a Circular No. 41R.93 (C).96.Cor.L.s-11 dated 16.10.09 Wherein it was fixed that the minimum daily wage of Contact workers working in various categories in central sphere in schedule employment in Assam will be Rs.135/- for unskilled, Rs.158/- for semi-skilled/supervisory, Rs.192/- for skilled/clerical and Rs.225/- for highly skilled.
The circular had to be implemented from 1.10.09 but the contractors of the above installations concealed it deliberately and so to say were pick-pocketing the workers by making less payment to unskilled, the semi-skilled and the skilled workers respectively by Rs.55/-, Rs.83/- and Rs.72/- per day.
As per rule still in force, the daily wage of contract workers is enhanced per every six months. So, it becomes the responsibility, first of all, of the Labour Deptt. to see for itself whether the workers are being paid at the enhanced rates or not. Moreover, the Principal employer and here, the Garrison Engineer (G.E) in his official and authoritative capacity has to ensure payment of wages as per notification or at the enhanced rates whatsoever, to the workers.
But it was a matter of grave concern that the ALC (C) Dibrugarh neither made it sure that the contractors made payment as per instruction of the circular issued by his superior the RLC (C), Guwahati, nor he sent his labour enforcement officer to the spots for any enquiry regarding whether the circular was being implemented, nor he, till the union took initiative for building up movement, and in this process staged a demonstration before his office at Dibrugarh on 17.12.09 ( strike notice was served on 02/12/09), took any initiative to compel the G.E. to follow the legal procedures to redress the grievances of the workers. Also the GE abstained till date from making any formal commitment that he would take initiative as per direction of the Act.
Later, the Union held many programmes of action before going on strike, the major ones of which were- (I) addressing a letter of request to the G.E. to compel the contractors to make the enhanced payment at the enhanced rates on 17.11.09; (2) gate meetings were held both in Dinjan and Chabua twice at each place and a workers’ mass meeting was held at Mohanbari to form a union branch. But the G.E. remained adamant and did not respond; (3) on 4.12.09 strike notice was served. Still, the ALC (c ) and the principal employer remained quite indifferent; (4) a militant demonstration of 400 plus workers was staged before his office; (5) on being compelled, the ALC (C), invited a meeting at his office on 21.12.09 which was attended by the Union representatives, the representative of the G.E. Dinjan but the contractor Union and the G.E. Chabua abstained; (6) still, in order to avoid strike another effort was made to involve the G.O.C. and a letter was also addressed to him on 30/12/09. But all the above efforts failing to bear any fruit, the strike became inevitable from 4.01.2010.
The strike was total on 4th January in Dinjan Military and Air Force Station in which more than 600 workers participated. The contractors of the Dinjan Military Station having given an assurance that they would make payment of Rs. 110/- to the unskilled and semi-skilled workers (instead ofRs. 70-80/- as was being paid earlier and Rs.135/- and 158/- as in the new circular with enhanced rates) and Rs.140/- to the skilled workers (instead of Rs. 120/- as was being paid earlier but instead of Rs. 192/- as per the new circular.) Major Section of the workers agreed to the above enhancement and the strike was temporarily withdrawn there. But the strike in Dinjan Airforce Station continued till 12th January, i.e. for 9 days and there the contractors were compelled to respect the new circular. But the same contractors except 4 of them betrayed the workers of Dinjan Military Station not sticking to their commitment there and on the next payment day being Saturday, (on 09 .01. 2010) made payment of Rs.80/- to a section, Rs.90/- to some others and again Rs.100/- to another section in order to create division, anarchy and industrial unrest and also to utilise one Section of the workers against another. As a result, the workers there again got furious and from 11th January the workers again resorted to strike at their own decision and continued up to 17th with the demand of full implementation of circular and the Union fully supported it.
It is interesting and worth mentioning that the contractors are all the same in all the military and Air Force Stations spreading over Assam and the North East. But the same contractors who agreed to abide by the new circular in Dinjan Air Force Station did not agree to do so in case of Dinjan Military Station. They had to surrender before the resoluteness of the workers of the Dinjan Air Force Station where the number of workers were, though less, say only one hundred but were conscious and resolute both in organizational and ideological sphere.
During the strike period the Contractors Union adopted their conventional practice of utilising police force against the strikers. Besides lodging a false ejahar against the General Secretary of All Assam Contractor workers’ Union, Com. Subhash Singh, who also happens to be one of the national councillors and Assam State Committee member of AICCTU, threatened his life, sending the police to his residence time and again and resorting to other form of harassment in order to make other leaders panic. They also engaged hired goons and lumpens for intimidating in many other ways by way of hiring workers from other places but failed.
In order to foil their evil designs, the Union also adopted various measures and the important ones were as follows: (1) Holding meetings of workers at the rural and tea garden spots from where the workers come to their duties in the field of the military and air force station; (2) an effective leaflet was published targeting and condemning the police-contractors nexus, appealing to stand firmly to realize the demands of enhanced wage as notified by the Govt.; (3) holding gate meetings frequently; apart from various other initiatives
To conclude, in order to consolidate the gains, the organization needs to be strengthened, daily life of the union which is now almost nil, has to be regular and membership drive to be undertaken with all earnestness.
MLU-13-07.pdf
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