People's
Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) No. 03
January 19, 2003
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) |
Vol.
XXVII No. 03 January 19, 2003 |
SUGARCANE
growers
are
in
a
defiant
mood
today.
In
western
Uttar
Pradesh,
they
squatted
on
the
rail
tracks
and
blocked
the
roads.
Gheraos,
dharnas
and
demonstrations
were
organised.
The
government
resorted
to
barbaric
lathicharges
at
several
places.
Peasants
were
arrested.
The
agitation
ended
only
when
the
government
assured
them
about
opening
the
mills.
In
eastern
UP,
the
government
got
panicky.
Without
any
prior
warning,
the
police
indiscriminately
fired
on
peasants
at
Munderva
mill
in
Basti
district,
killing
three
and
injuring
hundreds.
The
chief
minister
herself
tried
to
cover
up
the
incident,
though
in
vain.
The
commissioner,
district
magistrate
and
SSP
had
to
be
dismissed.
The
question
is:
Why
are
the
cane
growers
so
agitated
today?
During
the
agitation,
the
lobby
of
sugar
mill
owners,
their
paid
scribes
and
the
government
went
on
repeating
three
things
in
differing
languages.
One,
the
mills’
godowns
are
full
of
sugar,
the
commodity
is
not
selling,
and
hence
running
the
mills
in
the
current
crushing
season
is
impossible.
Secondly,
it
is
impossible
to
give
anything
above
the
statutory
minimum
price
(SMP)
as
declared
by
the
centre,
as
it
will
cause
immense
losses
to
the
mills.
Finally,
the
court
has
put
a
stay
on
the
state-advised
price
(SAP)
and
so
the
growers
will
have
to
be
content
with
the
SMP.
(See
our
December
29
issue
for
details
of
the
SMP
and
SAP
---
Ed.)
As
for
godowns
being
full
of
sugar,
the
crisis
is
the
Vajpayee
government’s
own
creation.
At
the
time
of
Kargil
war
and
later,
according
to
Indian
Sugar,
organ
of
the
mill
owners,
23,42,000
tonnes
of
sugar
were
imported
from
Pakistan
and
other
countries
while
there
was
enough
sugar
in
the
country.
True
the
import
was
not
so
big
as
to
push
the
mills
into
a
crisis,
but
the
centre
took
one
year
to
increase
the
customs
duty
on
sugar
and
the
imports
went
on.
Then
started
the
drive
to
liberalise
the
industry.
Implementing
the
Mahajan
committee
recommendations,
the
then
food
minister
Shanta
Kumar
reduced
the
levy
quota
from
40
to
15
per
cent
and
also
indicated
that
this
quota
itself
will
be
eventually
abolished.
The
sugar
barons
went
into
ecstasy
that
this
will
immensely
increase
their
profits
because
they
would
sell
more
of
sugar
in
the
open
market.
And
benefit
they
did
from
the
move.
However,
the
mills
also
hoped
that
for
its
public
distribution
network
the
government
would
buy
sugar
from
the
market,
and
this
would
further
increase
their
profits.
But
this
hope
did
not
materialise.
The
government
said
the
ration
sugar
would
be
given
only
to
the
BPL
(below
poverty
line)
people
and
also
defined
the
BPL
category
in
such
a
way
that
most
of
even
the
poor
got
out
of
its
pale.
This
only
reduced
the
demand,
also
affecting
the
open
market
prices.
On
top
of
that,
the
food
ministry
announced
that
soon
the
system
of
issuing
quota
for
the
open
market
would
also
be
finished.
As
a
result,
the
traders
got
complacent
that
in
future
they
would
be
able
to
directly
deal
with
the
mills
to
get
the
required
amount
of
sugar.
They
thought
there
was
no
need
to
maintain
any
stock
now.
This
caused
uncertainty
in
the
market.
Further,
while
a
government
rule
allows
the
release
of
only
a
fixed
amount
of
sugar
for
the
open
market
every
month,
the
mills
approached
the
court
and
got
an
order
for
selling
more
sugar
in
open
market.
This
pushed
the
prices
further
down.
The
Indian
Sugar
Mills
Association
(ISMA)
also
resorted
to
a
forgery
to
create
the
impression
of
a
glut.
Its
organ,
Indian
Sugar,
said
the
country
had
a
reserve
stock
of
1,07,00,000
tonnes
of
sugar
on
September
30,
2002.
But
the
figure
circulated
by
ISMA
among
members
of
parliament
just
before
the
start
of
the
winter
session
put
the
reserve
stock
at
1,20,00,000
tonnes
as
on
October
1,
2002.
This
increase
of
13,00,000
tonnes
in
stock
in
one
single
day
was
indeed
a
calculated
move
to
win
the
MPs
over
to
the
ISMA’s
demands.
There
is
also
the
news
that
the
corrupt
coterie
of
ruling
politicians,
officials
and
mill
owners
gutted
the
market
with
about
30
lakh
tonnes
of
sugar
in
order
to
push
the
prices
further
down.
This
was
yet
another
move
to
push
the
cane
prices
down
and
also
to
wrest
additional
concessions
from
the
government.
In
May
2000,
the
Vajpayee
government
also
allowed
the
private
sugar
mills
along
the
Western
Coast
to
import
raw
sugar
and
process
it
into
white
sugar
for
export.
This
was
allowed
under
the
Duty
Free
Replenishment
Certificate
(DFRC),
under
which
no
import
duty
is
levied
on
the
commodity
imported.
Moreover,
earlier
the
stipulation
was
that
if
105
tonnes
raw
sugar
is
imported,
exporting
100
tonnes
of
white
sugar
would
be
necessary.
But
now
if
a
mill
imports
120
tonnes
of
raw
sugar,
it
will
have
to
export
only
100
tonnes
of
the
white
variety.
This
gives
the
mills
20
tonnes
of
white
sugar
to
be
sold
in
the
home
market
against
every
120
tonnes
of
imported
raw
sugar.
But
the
most
dangerous
aspect
of
this
license
was
that
some
owners
began
to
dream
of
running
their
mills
on
imported
raw
sugar,
so
as
to
get
rid
of
cane
growers’
demands
forever.
It
is
reported
that,
in
the
current
financial
year
itself,
mills
have
already
imported
about
50,000
tonnes
of
raw
sugar.
This
includes
import
of
35,700
tonnes
by
Shakti
Sugar
and
11,000
tonnes
by
Renuka
Sugar.
Under
public
pressure,
however,
the
Vajpayee
regime
felt
compelled
to
take
raw
sugar
out
of
the
DFRC
and
restore
the
pre-May
2000
situation.
Needless
to
say,
if
the
trend
had
continued,
it
could
have
endangered
the
indigenous
sugar
industry,
besides
harming
the
growers
and
consumers
alike.
There
is
no
doubt
that
the
sugar
industry
is
facing
a
tough
situation
today.
But
it
is
a
creation
of
the
government
itself.
The
government
has
withdrawn
the
quantitative
restrictions
on
the
import
of
sugar
alongwith
other
agricultural
produce,
dismantled
the
public
distribution
system
to
a
large
extent,
is
out
to
implement
the
Mahajan
committee’s
disastrous
recommendations
vigorously,
and
to
delicense
and
decontrol
the
sugar
industry.
All
this
is
in
line
with
the
liberalisation
and
globalisation
policies
being
dictated
by
the
IMF-World
Bank-WTO
trio.
But
all
this
is
being
done
at
a
time
when
the
US
and
other
imperialist
countries
are
caring
a
hoot
for
the
WTO
stipulations.
Most
of
them
are
still
continuing
with
heavy
import
duties
on
cereals,
sugar
and
milk
products.
Evidently,
the
kamandal
brand
government
is
only
playing
havoc
with
the
interests
of
the
nation
and
its
people
in
the
name
of
following
the
WTO
rules.
While
the
government
refuses
to
provide
subsidised
sugar
to
the
mass
of
Indian,
union
food
minister
Sharad
Yadav,
with
a
lotus
on
his
‘socialist’
kurta,
announced
in
parliament
on
December
2
that
the
government
would
give
subsidy
to
private
mills
on
sugar
exports.
As
a
part
of
it,
the
government
would
bear
the
cost
of
transporting
the
exportable
sugar
to
the
ports.
On
the
other
hand,
UP
chief
minister
Ms
Mayawati,
a
self-proclaimed
messiah
of
the
Dalit
community,
has
been
a
vocal
supporter
of
ending
subsidy
on
the
sugar
meant
for
the
public
distribution
system.
It
is
another
thing
that
by
now,
she
has
doled
out
crores
by
way
of
a
subsidy
of
Rs
1,000
per
tonne
for
the
sugar
exporting
companies.
In
order
to
wrest
undeserved
concessions
from
the
government,
mill
owners
are
also
raising
the
bogey
of
overproduction.
For
example,
the
total
sugar
production
in
2000-2001
was
to
the
tune
of
1,85,11,000
tonnes,
and
this
means
that
not
a
grain
of
sugar
will
be
left
if
every
countryman
is
given
1.5
kg
of
sugar
every
month.
According
to
figures
available,
a
US
citizen
on
an
average
consumes
47
kg
of
sugar
every
year
and
the
figure
for
European
countries
is
45
to
46
kg
per
head
per
year.
But
in
India
the
average
annual
consumption
of
sugar,
gur
and
other
sweeteners,
taken
together,
does
not
go
beyond
35
kg
per
head.
It
is
therefore
not
surprising
that
cane
production
declines
for
two
years
at
least
after
every
year
of
high
production.
In
2001-02,
cane
production
could
reach
only
2,992.12
crore
tonnes
in
the
country
as
a
whole;
of
this
the
share
of
UP
was
only
1,065.88
crore
tonnes.
This
is
the
situation
when
cane
accounts
for
only
3
per
cent
of
the
total
cultivable
area
in
the
country.
The
fact
is
that
if
the
government
comes
forward
to
adopt
a
progressive
policy
for
this
sector,
sugar
production
can
still
be
increased
manifold.
In
that
situation,
not
only
can
the
people
be
provided
enough
and
cheap
sugar;
India
can
also
export
this
widely
consumed
article
and
earn
a
lot
of
foreign
exchange.
But
the
BJP-led
regime
is
out
to
leave
this
sector
at
the
private
capitalists’
mercy,
so
that
they
may
slaughter
in
a
day
this
goose
that
lays
golden
eggs.
This
year
the
ISMA
has
adopted
the
adamant
attitude
that
it
would
not
pay
for
the
sugarcane
anything
more
than
the
centrally
announced
SMP.
Nay,
it
has
even
refused
to
pay
the
last
year’s
arrears
on
the
basis
of
the
SAP.
Its
plea
is
that
paying
the
last
year’s
SAP
for
cane
would
cause
an
immense
loss
to
the
mills
in
view
of
the
prevailing
sugar
prices.
The
first
thing
to
note
is
that
the
very
cane,
which
the
mills
want
to
purchase
at
Rs
30
to
35
per
quintal
below
the
last
year’s
price,
has
been
produced
at
a
roughly
30
per
cent
higher
cost.
The
union
government
itself
hiked
the
diesel
price
by
16
per
cent
and
fertiliser
by
10
per
cent
while,
in
UP,
the
power
tariff
has
gone
by
Rs
5
per
horsepower.
Moreover,
the
SMP
declared
by
the
government
is
based
on
the
assumption
of
an
8.5
per
cent
recovery
rate
while
the
average
recovery
in
UP
has
been
9.5
to
10
per
cent.
Some
of
the
cooperative
sector
mills
in
the
state
have
recorded
even
13
per
cent
recovery.
However,
even
if
we
take
an
average
10
per
cent
recovery
rate,
one
quintal
of
cane
gives
us
10
kg
of
sugar,
31
kg
of
khoi,
5
kg
of
molasses
and
4
kg
of
press
mud.
After
they
were
decontrolled
last
year,
molasses,
that
are
used
by
distilleries
and
yeast
factories,
were
sold
at
Rs
400
per
quintal.
Khoi
too
fetched
upto
Rs
70
per
quintal;
it
is
used
as
an
industrial
fuel
and
in
papermaking.
Press
mud
is
selling
at
Rs
16
per
quintal.
It
is
used
as
an
organic
manure
and
as
a
high
grade
fuel
in
brick
kilns.
With
these
ratios,
even
if
a
mill
gives
Rs
110
a
quintal
as
the
cane
price
and
gets
the
minimum
possible
prices
for
sugar
and
the
byproducts,
the
situation
will
be
in
the
mill’s
favour.
According
to
the
ISMA,
the
cost
for
crushing
one
quintal
of
cane
comes
to
Rs
27.58,
taking
the
total
cost
of
crushing
to
Rs
137.58
for
one
quintal.
On
the
other
hand,
one
quintal
of
cane
yields
10
kg
of
sugar
that
would
sell
at
Rs
120
at
a
rate
of
as
low
as
Rs
12
a
kg.
Five
kg
of
molasses
give
the
mills
Rs
10
at
Rs
200
a
quintal
while
the
khoi
would
fetch
at
least
Rs
20.
Now,
even
if
one
does
not
take
the
press
mud
into
account,
a
mill
would
get
at
least
Rs
150
by
crushing
one
quintal
of
cane.
This
gives
the
mills
a
profit
of
Rs
12
per
quintal.
This
is
enough
to
get
an
idea
of
the
profit
a
mill
gets
by
crushing,
on
an
average,
2,000
to
2,500
quintals
of
cane
a
day.
The
permission
being
given
to
sugar
barons
to
establish
their
own
distilleries,
paper
mills
and
captive
power
plants
will
only
increase
their
profits
further.
But
the
reality
of
the
situation
is
that
in
the
past
few
years
cane
has
been
sold
at
Rs
70-72
per
quintal
while
sugar
was
being
sold
at
Rs
16-17
per
kg.
It
is
clear
that
mill
owners
have
been
badly
exploiting
the
cane
growers
on
the
one
hand
and
consumers
on
the
other.
This
also
makes
it
clear
that
the
noises
being
made
by
sugar
barons
and
their
paid
scribes
about
a
crisis
in
the
industry
are
nothing
but
an
attempt
to
push
the
cane
prices
further
down
and
wrest
some
undue
concessions
from
an
obliging
government.
This
is
over
and
above
the
concessions
the
BJP
government
of
UP
has
been
giving
to
the
mills
in
the
last
five
years
in
the
name
of
payment
of
the
SAP.
The
levy
quota
has
been
virtually
eliminated
and
the
mills
are
selling
the
whole
stock
in
open
market.
Molasses
were
decontrolled.
Sales
tax
was
reduced.
Cartage
was
hiked.
The
cane
cooperatives’
commission
was
reduced
drastically.
Recently,
on
December
4,
the
Mayawati
government
announced
an
end
to
the
entry
fee
on
sugar;
this
used
to
be
Rs
30
per
bag.
More
concessions
in
sales
tax
are
in
the
offing.
As
said
earlier,
big
concessions
have
been
given
on
sugar
export.
Under
the
pressure
of
opposition
parties
in
parliament
and
of
the
growers’
agitation,
the
Vajpayee
government
said
on
December
2
that
a
buffer
stock
of
20
lakh
tonnes
would
be
created.
The
money
for
it
will
come
from
the
Sugar
Development
Fund
that
has
a
corpus
of
more
than
Rs
1,000
crore
at
present,
due
to
the
cess
charged
at
Rs
14
per
quintal.
This
will
additionally
benefit
the
mills
by
Rs
4.17
billion.
On
its
strength,
they
will
also
get
an
additional
bank
loan
facility
to
the
extent
of
Rs
3.74
billion.
The
sugar
mills
have
thus
already
wrested
from
the
central
government
about
Rs
8
billion
as
concessions.
And
yet
they
are
not
prepared
to
give
the
growers
the
price
they
had
paid
last
year.
That
these
sugar
barons
care
a
hoot
for
the
government’s
orders
is
evident
from
the
way
they
flout
the
provisions
of
the
Sugarcane
Control
Order
and
Sugarcane
Purchase
Act
of
1969.
(The
act
was
last
amended
on
November
26,
2000.)
According
to
this
act,
a
mill
is
bound
to
pay
the
peasant
the
price
of
his
cane
within
14
day
of
the
purchase.
In
case
of
any
failure,
the
mill
is
obliged
to
make
the
payment
with
interest
for
the
extra
period.
Secondly,
after
production,
a
part
of
the
sugar
is
to
be
deposited
with
the
concerned
mill’s
bank
and
this
portion
is
supposed
to
be
used
for
payment
of
cane
price
only.
The
concerned
district
magistrate
is
bound
to
implement
this
arrangement,
realise
the
arrears
of
the
cane
price
just
as
he
realises
the
revenue
due
to
the
government,
and
pay
to
the
growers
the
money
the
mill
owes
them.
But,
to
date,
there
is
not
a
single
instance
in
which
a
peasant
has
been
paid
the
arrears
alongwith
interest
---
neither
in
UP
nor
in
other
parts
of
the
country.
Sugar
mills
don’t
pay
huge
arrears
to
the
growers
for
years
on
end.
Last
year
they
owed
to
the
peasants
as
much
as
Rs
14
billion.
Out
of
that,
Rs
7
billion
are
yet
to
be
paid
in
UP.
It
is
clear
that
instead
of
paying
the
arrears
to
the
peasants,
mills
are
using
this
money
for
other
purposes,
to
earn
more
profits.
On
the
other
hand,
a
peasant
has
no
relief
regarding
repayment
of
the
loans
he
has
contracted
from
a
commercial
bank,
a
cooperative
society
or
a
cane
cooperative
or,
worst
of
all,
from
a
usurious
moneylender.
He
has
also
to
pay
a
penalty
if
there
is
even
a
slight
delay
in
paying
his
power
bill.
Not
only
that.
Peasants
are
put
behind
bars,
and
their
properties
are
confiscated
and
auctioned,
in
case
of
default.
One
will
recall
that
a
few
years
ago
the
police
under
the
BJP
government
of
UP
opened
fire
on
peasants
at
Ramkola
in
eastern
UP,
killing
three
and
injuring
dozens
of
them,
when
they
were
peacefully
agitating
to
demand
the
payment
of
arrears,
that
is,
their
own
money.
All
this
is
in
sharp
contrast
to
the
way
the
willful
defaulters,
which
most
of
the
big
industrialists
are,
are
treated
with
honour
and
concessions.
(To
Be
Continued)
