PATNA

Kisans, Agricultural Workers Stage Massive Demonstration

THE Bihar unit of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) organised a massive demonstration at Patna on June 12, calling for an immediate solution to the all-pervasive agricultural crisis and warning the government to be prepared to face the repercussion. The call for protest was given in the 31st AIKS state conference held in Supoul district recently.

Addressing the protest rally, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury narrated the all-around crisis created by the agricultural policy, drafted under pressure from the imperialists, which was devastating agricultural and the poor and gave a clarion call to intensify the struggle. K Waradarajan, general secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha, while addressing the protestors, called for a massive agitation for food in the coming times, in accordance with the call given by the Central Kisan Council meeting at Kolkata. Hannan Mollah, joint secretary of the Khet Mazdoor Sabha, said that while the days of employment for agricultural workers were dwindling, the central government has been constantly refusing to enact a comprehensive legislation for them. He strongly castigated the impotence of the Bihar government in not making efforts to curb the increasing atrocities on Dalits.

The protest demonstration was preceded by a massive campaign organised in form of general body meetings, processions and rallies across three districts in the state.

Bihar has been following the new agricultural policy since the beginning of the nineties. As a result, the outlay for agriculture has declined consistently. In the eighties, the expenditure on irrigation and flood control was Rs 1600 crore, but this declined to a mere Rs 400 crore by 1997. Not an inch of irrigation canal has been dug up since 1991. With the sole exception of repair of the Son canal under a World Bank programme, all work on the facilities for irrigation and flood control, canal boring, barrages and cheap dams has been abandoned. It is an irony that property and crops worth Rs 900 crore are destroyed every year. The government has gradually abandoned all relief schemes meant for farmers. According to a report presented by a committee of state legislature, almost all fertilisers, seeds and pesticides sold in Bihar are counterfeit. Most of the traders selling them are BJP supporters, but the state government has not taken any action against them. The maize sold at Rs 135 by Kargil, a multinational, has broken the back of the farmers on the one hand while, on the other, the credit flow from banks and cooperatives has almost dried up.

As a result of reduction of the subsidies, diesel, fertilisers, seeds and agricultural implements have become costlier. This, coupled with a decline in the prices of agricultural produce, has devastated the farmers. Though it declared the support prices for agricultural prices, the government did not procure wheat, paddy, jute, potato or tobacco. Sugarcane sown over lakhs of acres is drying up and farmers, under extreme pressure, have been forced to sell their produce at unrealistic prices. Water is being sold at Rs 10 per litre, dairies are purchasing milk at Rs 7- 8 and farmers have been compelled to sell potatoes at Rs 150 a quintal.

The poverty alleviation schemes are also in a deplorable state due to cuts in allocation. Last year, of the total allocations, the amount spent in Jawahar Rozgar Yojana was 43.7 per cent, in Annapurna 47.6 per cent, in Indira Awas Yojana 73.8 per cent, for guaranteed employment 44.5 per cent, and 51.6 per cent in self-employment schemes. The remaining could not be spent. Only 63 per cent was spent out of total allocation for the 8th five year plan, and same story was repeated in the 9th five year plan. There are no traces of the water distribution system.

The Kisan Sabha has been protesting on various issues related to the all-round agricultural crisis and the June 12 action brought these issues to the forefront.

The rally was presided over by Subodh Roy, president of the Bihar state Kisan Sabha. The rally passed a resolution deciding to observe a protest weak from August 16 to 31 and organising protest actions in blocks on August 18 and at district level on August 28.