People's Democracy

BIHAR

Kisan Sabha To Launch Campaign

N K Shukla

BIHAR state kisan council, which met at Rajgir (Nalanda) on February 11-12, 2004, resolved to launch an intensive campaign against the anti-farmer policies of the Vajpayee government and in support of an alternative agricultural policy. This campaign will be held from March 11 to March 31 in various forms. A 10 lakh signatures campaign will be undertaken during this period on the 15-point charter of demands concerning peasants and agricultural workers, which will be submitted to the chief minister of Bihar.

The council meeting, held under the presidentship of Subodh Roy, also resolved to work for the defeat of communal forces and for the victory of the Left and secular forces in the coming Lok Sabha elections.  It decided to continue and expand the agitations on various burning issues of the peasantry while strengthening and defending the land movement.

On organisational front, the council decided to complete the membership enrolment by March 31, i.e., during the campaign period. Concrete efforts have been taken to streamline the functioning of the state center and the coordination of the functioning of district councils.

Earlier, on the afternoon of February 11, a mass meeting was held in Rajgir which was addressed by Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, veteran Kisan leader and CPI(M) state secretary, N K Shukla, AIKS joint secretary, Bijoy Kant Thakur, state secretary of Kisan Sabha, Abdhesh Kumar, Arun Kumar and other leaders.

PEASANTS IN DISTRESS

The peasantry and agricultural workers in this state are facing serious situation due to the LPG policies adopted by the central and state governments. An instance of this was the havoc caused by maize seeds supplied by the MNC, Cargill. When used in the last season, these seeds failed in lakhs of acres of land, ruining tens of thousands of peasants. Neither the Cargill company nor the state or central government is ready to take the responsibility for the loss and peasants are not being compensated. Almost every year, north Bihar is affected by floods and the south Bihar by drought. But no concrete steps are taken to either construct or repair the bunds, desilt the canals and rivers and streamline the power supply.

Sugar cane has been the main cash crop of Bihar’s peasantry. But today sugar mills of Bihar are in severe crisis, with 25 out of the 29 closed for years together. The mills owe crores of rupees as arrears to cane growers. But the central government, after announcing so many false packages for the development of Bihar at the time of partition of state, is not delivering. So, is the condition of jute and banana growers and milk producers in the state.

Even for the producers of paddy and wheat, the number of purchasing centres are negligible. There is lack of timely credit facilities but forcible collection of loan dues with police repression and auction of properties and arrests continuing. Attacks on landless and poor who had captured surplus or government land under the leadership of the Kisan Sabha is continuing. The biased attitude of the police and courts against the poor is clearly visible. Our cadres are defending the land captured and distributed while facing all types of repression and risk to their lives.

The Kisan Sabha units have organised a number of campaigns, agitations and struggles on these burning issues. Notable among them have been the widespread dharna and rail roko actions on the issue of failure of Cargill maize seeds, state level demonstration in Patna on June 12, 2003 braving severe heat wave condition, demonstration at block offices on August 18 and at district headquarters on August 28, 2003; Joint convention for flood and drought relief organized at Darbhanga, which was attended by 192 delegates from 19 districts and the consequent picketing (Gheradalo–Deradalo) at subdivision headquarters on September 23-24, 2003, and massive participation of peasants in the October 15 Patna rally.