People's Democracy

AIKS & AIAWU Plan Joint Campaign

MEETING at Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) on December 28 and 29, with AIKS president S Ramachandran Pillai in chair, the All India Kisan Council (AIKC) has decided to organise a joint nationwide campaign of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU). The campaign will focus on the issues affecting the peasantry and agricultural workers due to the policies of liberalisatioon, privatisation and globalisation. During this campaign, the AIKS will seek to popularise the alternative policies put forward by the two organisations. A total of 105 members attended the meeting.

At the outset, the council condoled the demise of the following comrades: L B Gangadhara Rao (former president of the AIAWU and former member of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau), Prasanna Panigrahi (vice president of Orissa state Kisan Sabha and former AIKC member), Anjali Ghosh and Anand Banerjee (former members of the AIKC), Ataur Rahman (former member of West Bengal state committee of AIKS), Nandeshwar Talukdar (former member of the CPI(M) Central Committee), K Adinarayan (general secretary of the All India Postal Employees Federation), Bhisham Sahni (eminent writer), Indradeep Sinha  (former general secretary of the AIKS Ajoy Bhawan), veteran trade union leader Dr Ranen Sen, and R S Kurup (a veteran writer of Kerala). It also condoled the death of thousands of victims of earthquake in Iran, and adopted a separate resolution on martyrs. 

While adopting the general secretary’s report unanimously, the AIKC decided the following.

• Each state committee of the AIKS will organise, jointly with the AIAWU, the campaign for a fortnight. The dates will be decided, depending on the local situation.

•  At each of the district or subdivisional headquarters or in tehsils where the organisation is strong, protest rallies will be planned in such a way as to ensure the presence of a minimum of 1000 people.  

•  The AIKS and the AIAWU will plan to organise rallies in at least 1000 places throughout the country, with a minimum participation of 1000 people in each rally.

•  During the preparation process for these rallies, padayatras, jathas, jeep jathas, processions and dharnas etc will be planned.

•  Meetings of the AIKS state committees and district committees must be immediately planned for the success of   the March campaign and also for completion of the membership enrolment.

The AIKC approved the target of membership as proposed by the different state committees. The AIKS units will try to complete the membership drive along with the campaign, because the parliamentary elections are expected to be held in April or May 2004.

The AIKC also decided that each state committee might send two of its representatives to attend the World Social Forum, being held at Mumbai from January 16 to 21. From the AIKS centre, general secretary K Varadha Rajan and joint secretaries Mehboob Zahedi and N K Shukla will participate in the event. The expenses of boarding and lodging have to be met by the participants.

The AIKC decided to take up the issue of tribals being evicted or affected due to the implementation of the 1980 Forest Act on priority basis and organise a resistance movement. The AIKS centre must be contacted immediately with the copies of the representations and details given to local authorities.

Another important decision was about taking up the problems of milk producers. An all-India convention will be organised, possibly at Bangalore, on a date to be decided later. The AIKS state committees were asked to take up the milk producers’ issues and send reports to the AIKS centre about the situation and the problems of milk producers in their states.

The AIKC also discussed the draft for updating the document on Alternative Agricultural Policy and authorised its office bearers to finalise it. These office bearers will meet at Hyderabad on January 30 and 31 for this purpose. The AIKC members may send to the AIKS centre written amendments or suggestions to the draft circulated in the AIKC meeting by January 15.

The AIKC co-opted N Murugesan as its member from Tamilnadu, in place of G Mani who has joined a sister organisation. The AIKC also co-opted Ramchandra Ochil from Karnataka for the vacant seat from the state.

In the end, the AIKC congratulated the Kerala state units of both the AIKS and AIAWU for successfully organising the seminar on alternative agrarian policies.

AIAWU’S DECISIONS

THE All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) has decided to launch a mass campaign in January and February on the question of employment for rural labour, of their wages, and against the eviction of Adivasis and Dalits from the lands they occupy. This campaign would be a concrete one, incorporating the local demands as well, and geared to obtaining relief for agricultural labourers.

The decision was taken by the AIAWU general council at its meeting at Thiruvananthapuram on December 28. It was the first meeting of the general council after the fifth all-India conference of the AIAWU held at Thrissur in April 2003.

The campaign will thus synchronise with the campaign programme the CPI(M) has announced to run from February 1 to 15, against the NDA government’s policies.

The meeting was attended by 76 general council members from all over the country. They discussed the crisis in agriculture that means less work for agricultural labour, no increase in wages, and the general falling standards of their living, threat to food security, and nothing for the class to feel good about.

This campaign will be based on independent actions as well as joint actions with the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) against the WTO dictated policies on agriculture, and seek to put forward an alternative to these policies. The AIAWU also plans to organise a minimum of 1000 people in 1000 places each.

In view of the good harvest in the recent kharif season, the AIAWU felt the poorest sections must get their full share of the production they have contributed to. It will seek to link the issue of employment with the demand for government spending on rural development projects in particular areas. The struggles on wage issues can be more easily organised as the harvest has been good. The struggle against evictions is also a pressing problem that requires a concrete response.

The general council also decided that the AIAWU should have its presence during the World Social Forum in Mumbai, being held from January 16 to 21. It was decided that AIAWU joint secretary Hannan Mollah would be present at the forum on January 16, the opening day, while Suneet Chopra, another joint secretary, would be present there on January 20 and 21.

The general council instructed all its cadres to launch membership campaigns immediately as the announcement of early elections would otherwise disrupt the campaign. The membership quota must be completed by the beginning of April this year.

The AIAWU has divested its vice president Chand Singh Chopra of his post and expelled him from primary membership of the union unanimously for anti-organisation activities.

Nripen Dutta of Tripura, G Mani of Tamil Nadu and Ram Adalat Verma of UP were co-opted to the general council of the AIAWU.