KARNATAKA

Peasants Throng Silicon City

 Balakrishna Shetty

ON October 8, thousands of peasants and agricultural workers from every nook and corner of Karnataka marched in procession through the main thoroughfares of the capital city, Bangalore, to press their demand for basic necessities. They were determined to assert that Bangalore, which was earlier known as pensioners’ paradise and is now being called the silicon City, IT hub and what not, belongs not to the IT, liquor and education barons but to the downtrodden who are impoverished because of the policies of both the central and state governments. Many of them carried kids on their backs, red banners in their right hands and chapatis in their left hands.

In Karnataka, more than a thousand peasants have committed suicide as they were unable to repay their loans. As the nationalised banks, under the NDA regime, began to refuse loans for agriculture sector, the poor and middle peasants had to go to moneylenders. As the peasants could not repay the loans because of price crash for their produce and the exorbitant rates of interest on the loans, they were threatened by moneyleaders and had to kill themselves. The suicides by peasants in Karnataka are still continuing, although on a lesser degree.

As for agricultural workers who have no land to till, they face severe starvation. About 6 months back, a family of 6 members died of starvation in Raichur district. Lakhs of agricultural workers, mostly Dalits, have migrated to far away cities in search of work.

Thousands of families have been cultivating in the forestlands for more than 10 or even 20 years. But in the name of a Supreme Court verdict, the BJP led NDA regime blatantly issued a circular to all the state governments to evict them and the then Srikrishna government followed suit without giving a thought to the plight of these forest dwellers.

On the other hand, though the state government said it would distribute wheat and rice at Rs 3 per kg, through ration shops, to the people who have an annual income of less than Rs 12,000 in rural areas and Rs 17,000 in urban areas, several thousands of poor families in all the 175 taluks have been deprived of the ration cards. An agricultural worker called Siddu Naik, unable to obtain ration at cheaper rates in the absence of a ration card, committed suicide, leaving behind his wife and three kids. Such incidents are taking place all over Karnataka.

It is this situation of impoverishment the office-bearers of Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (AIKS) and Karnataka Prantha Krushi Kulikarara Sangha (AIAWU) brought to the notice of chief minister Dharam Singh and deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah through a memorandum. The latter incorporated the urgent demands of both peasants and agricultural workers. The leaders apprised the chief minister and his deputy of the urgent need to come to the rescue of the farming community. Both of them assured the leaders about holding a meeting but it never took place.

In this background both the organisations decided to launch a sustained struggle to unite the farming community to fight for survival and development. Hence the massive mobilisation at Bangalore on October 8.

Addressing the rally, AIKS president S Ramachandran Pillai congratulated the members, activists and leaders of both the organisations for mobilising the farming community in such a big number, despite various limitations, and asked them to intensify the struggle against the anti-farmer policies of the central and state governments. He said public expenditure needed to be massively hiked in a country with such a large number of poor peasants and agricultural workers.

Pillai recollected that at the cancun meeting of the WTO, along with other third world countries, India opposed the unequal trade terms imposed by the rich countries. But in the recent meeting held at Geneva, the Indian government has agreed to implement the decisions, which is against the interest of Indian peasants. He said the All India Kisan Sabha and All India Agricultural Workers Union would vehemently oppose the decision taken at the ministerial level meeting at Geneva. He also appealed to the peasants and agricultural workers to decisively defeat the communal forces that are making serious inroads in villages and towns of Karnataka. If they were allowed to grow, they would not only create chaos but break the unity of the toilers that is so important to take the struggle to greater heights.

AIAWU’s state vice president G N Nagaraj asked the state government to implement progressive land reforms to ameliorate the living conditions of the poor. He also asked the government to implement minimum wages, guarantee jobs and social security measures for them.

Maruthi Manpade (AIKS), Nithyananda Swamy (AIAWU) and G V Sriram Reddy, among others, also spoke on the occasion and called upon the peasants and agricultural workers to continue to strengthen the two organisations.

the KPRS and KPKKS are also demanding distribution of yellow cards to all the poor family whose annual income is less than Rs 24,000. On this  demand, besides some others, these organisations picketed all the tehshildar offices in the state on October 29.

The other demands include provision of electricity at cheaper rate to irrigation pumpsets, Bhagya Jyothi and Kutir Jyothi beneficiaries; pressurising the central government for an amendment to the Forest Protection Act of 1980 to safeguard the interests of poor peasants, provision of bank loans at cheaper rate of interest, implementation of minimum wages for agricultural labourers, extension of food for work programmes and provision of jobs for them.

Both the organisations also demanded that the government stop the unhindered attacks on women and Dalits in rural areas.

Now the two organisations are in the process of strengthening their structures down to the village level so as to face the onslaught of the government’s anti-people policies on the one hand and of communal forces on the other.