People's Democracy

EVEN as prime minister Vajpayee and his government are whipping up a pro-war jingoistic campaign, it seems the working people are being forced to bear the consequences of the government’s disastrous foreign policy, in the name of patriotism. This is what the bitter experience of hundreds of Rajasthan villages on the Indo-Pak border suggests. The army has heavily mined the agricultural fields in these villages, so that the kisans are unable to access their fields where they have standing crops, leading to huge losses for the landowning community.

The government has so far refused any compensation. On the contrary, there have been numerous cases in which the army has requisitioned tractors and trolleys owned by farmers, without any payment. There have been several cases of injuries and even death of those who accidentally stepped into a mined area. But no compensation has been paid, nor any measure taken to protect the people. These kisans have held big demonstrations under the banner of various organisations, including the Kisan Sabha.

The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) has membership in ten such affected villages in Ganganagar district. The main membership is among Dalit women who are agricultural workers. For two weeks in January, AIDWA teams toured these villages, holding meetings. The women were extremely angry over the terrible situation they have been forced into, with no help forthcoming from the government. In one such meeting, a woman called Sardaro queried, "Are we not Indian citizens? Are our lives worth less than the territory the government wants to protect?" Another asked, "Can this country be strong if its people are weak with hunger?"

Because of these mines, there is absolutely no work in the area. Women who used to earn Rs 20 to 25 a day, although well below the minimum wage, could at least ensure that their families did not starve. The situation is so critical today that women said in every single meeting that they had been unable to lift the ration quotas as they had no money. They asked, "What is the use of BPL (below poverty line) cards when we do not have even enough money to buy one third of the ration quotas?" It is another matter that the godowns are filled with rotting foodgrains today.

The cattle owned by some of the families were another means of these women’s income. But, again, there are no grazing fields available for these cattle. The prices of fodder have shot up, so that the cattle are starving, and those owned by the poorer sections are being sold at distress prices.

Those having homes in the affected areas had to abandon them and seek shelter in others homes or migrate to other villages.

Children’s education has been severely affected; children of worker families are unable to attend their schools. In a most insensitive action, even electricity connections to the houses of the poor have been cut because they have been unable to pay the bills.

It was in this situation that the Ganganagar unit of AIDWA organised a series of demonstrations, dharnas and gheraos of government officials. Seven such programmes, led by Gomti Shakya and Jamuna Lekhawat, were held, which hundreds of women joined. On January 24, about a thousand women from different villages surrounded the office of the district collector (DC) in Ganganagar and demanded immediate relief. When Durga Swamy gave the DC the demands charter, his first response was that such demonstrations would "only help the enemy." The women strongly protested and demanded to know whether the government had any responsibility towards its citizens. After heated discussion the DC gave an assurance about supplying fodder and food grains to the affected families. The struggle continues.

In another big struggle, affected by flooding of their area due to heavy rains, women in Suratgarh tehsil sat on a dharna for 20 days before the SDM office, demanding relief. It was for the first time that the area witnessed such a struggle, when hundreds of women literally blockaded the SDM’s office for almost three weeks. Ultimately, the women succeeded in getting BPL cards and subsidised ration. The dharna was led by the AIDWA unit and its secretary Bhandu Devi who herself sat on the dharna for the entire period.