People's Democracy

UTTARAKHAND

CPI(M) Runs Campaign On Various Issues

Vijay Rawat

IT was one of those fine sunny days for which the hills and valleys of Uttarakhand are normally known in autumn after a long and severe spell of rains. As per the news that poured in from one town after another, CPI(M) activists and a spectrum of trade unions and other mass organisations organised ‘Chakka Jam,’ ‘Rasta Roko,’ protest rallies and dharnas throughout the state on September 29 --- on Badrinath highway, at Rudra Prayag, on Kedarnath highway, at Pauri, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Lansedowne, Kortdwar, Shaktinagar, Rudrapur, Sitarganj, Haldwani, Bageshwar and Almora.

It was thus a busy day, a successful day, an enthusing day --- the culmination of a long campaign which in fact began soon after the conclusion of the 18th CPI(M) congress in Delhi in April this year. At Dehradun, the capital city of the state,  postal, bank and defence employees, Survey of India Employees and CITU and AITUC activists marched through the Rajpur Road and enforced a chakka jam at the Clock Tower. Another chakka jam was enforced by the CPI(M) at Darshanlala Chowk, in support  of the strike.

This success of the September 29 action in the state may be attributed to the enthusiasm generated by the party congress and the campaign that began in earnest after the state committee meeting, with Brinda Karat present, to chalk out a programme of action.

CPI(M) SURVEY ON FOOD SITUATION

As part of its campaign, the CPI(M) released a questionnaire to study the food and fuel situation in Uttarakhand. A sample of 2500 answers revealed a dismal picture of food and fuel availability in the state. The responses to the questionnaire brought out that families and specially women have to travel four to six kilometres and back to collect wood and leaves and have to face the horrible acts of the forest bureaucracy every day. Procuring a BPL card is difficult and cards are often issued to non-entitled persons due to corruption and callousness. Widows and invalids face all the more difficulty. With the increasing cost of diesel and increased transport burden, the meagre amounts of ration supplied through the public distribution system have gone out of reach for most of the people. In a state which knows no railway system, depriving people of transport subsidy on food is thus the height of cruelty. The party survey strongly conveyed the need of a universal PDS, transport subsidy and increase in kerosene quota for the hills.

FOREST & LAND QUESTIONS

The question of land and its redistribution was looked at in a new way and the forest became a focus of the campaign. A state, which is overwhelmingly covered by forests, revealed a stark picture. With only 7.75 per cent of the total land available for agriculture and other activities, the biggest monopoly landholder came out to be the forest department. The entire population of this hilly state is living in islands surrounded by the landlord, in this case the forest department with its stringent anti-people laws.

In order to understand the problem in its totality, the party held a two-day seminar at the capital. Intellectuals, NGO representatives working on forest issues, retire forest and other officials took part on the first day while representatives of the affected people took part on the second day. The issues included to the forest rights, bureaucratic attacks on Van Panchayats, people living in sanctuaries, parks and biodiversity reserves, the traditional rights and problems of Boksa, Thani and Gujar tribals and other forest dwellers, problem of displacement, and POTA like forest laws, which were discussed in detail. The party also released a folder on the issues of forest and land. The seminar concluded that many problems of the hill people were due to the separation of forests from the people due to erroneous forest policy pursued since the colonial era. This separation broke the unity of agriculture and forests that is the basis of survival of the hill communities.

On the second day, the participants recalled the glorious militant traditions of people and their historic struggles on forest issues. It is ironic that 40 per cent of the land, supposed to be under forests, has no tree at all but even the people’s access to this land has been banned.

The other aspect of the land question relates to the people and peasantry in the plain districts like Udham Singh Nagar, Hardwar, Dehradun and parts of the Terai and Bhabar areas. Here the plots held by bureaucrats, politicians and big farmers are notorious for their size, with Prag Farm, Khurpia Farm and many others being a common sight in Udham Singh Nagar and other areas. Though leases were cancelled, rich farmers are also given time to seek judicial obstructions, thus making a mockery of the system and laws. Big landlords and at times moneylenders forcefully occupy inalienable lands allotted to settlers and lands belonging to tribals. These issues were taken up by the CPI(M) during its campaign in Udham Singh Nagar, notably the exploitation of the poor at Shakti Farm by moneylenders. The issue of lands belonging to Tharu and Boksa tribals and their traditional rights on forests were also taken up.

BENGALI SETTLERS, SC & ST PEOPLE

Another issue taken up during the campaign was the plight of Bengali settlers who came to this part of the country as refugees, after India’s partition. Many of them are Nama Shudras but are denied the scheduled caste status though their counterparts in West Bengal, Orissa etc are listed as SCs. This is causing them tremendous hardships. Their mother tongue, Bengali, has not been recognised as a medium in schools either. They face problems as linguistic minorities and also as dalits but without any protection and relief available to the scheduled castes. Their issues were raised at meetings and with officials at different levels.

The terai, which now forms the district of Udham Singh Nagar, was once the home to Boksas and Tharus, original inhabitants of the land. Over years their way of life was threatened by forces beyond their control and, once the owners of the land, they were made landless through policies, force and fraud. Their land, much of which was inalienable, was lost to big farmers and moneylenders; today they are working on their own land as landless workers. During the CPI(M) campaign on land, sections of these tribal communities came into contact with it. Meetings were held in some villages, specially the Boksa village of Gular Bhoj and Tharu villages near Nanak Matta. The August-September campaign meant valuable experience regarding the tribal dimension of the land question.

ANGANWARI AND PTC MOVEMENT

With the decline of social welfare measure in the state of Uttaranchal, much of welfare work is being done by Anganwari workers. The CITU has made some headway among them and the party is taking up their cause. The plight of Anganwari workers is chilling. They have to walk long distances in a difficult terrain and are being commandeered by the government for all kinds of welfare jobs. In a society with large-scale emigration of males, these women workers are bearing a severe burden. The CPI(M) campaign aims at forcing the government to share some economic responsibility for these workers. During the campaign the chief minister made some tall promises but the government has announced an additional relief of Rs 300 per month only, which is not sufficient.

Uttaranchal has a category of workers, called part time chowkidars (PTC), who are key functionaries of the water supply system in hill areas. They are being paid dismal wages, less than Rs 500 a month. CPI(M) activists took up their problem, and they too took part in the CPI(M)’s protest marches and demonstrations. They are also denied the BPL cards in the state.

NATURAL CALAMITIES

This state is prone to earthquakes, cloudbursts and landslides, causing immense loss of life and property every year apart from the problems of displacement, resettlement, compensation etc. The newly created district of Rudraprayag has often been hit by these natural calamities in the past few years. Compensation for loss of life and land, even in cases are as old as a decade, remain to be paid by the government. Resettlement in new areas is not possible because now all land belongs to the forest department that won’t allow any settlement. Similarly, floods and landslides have become a chronic problem in the state. The disaster management machinery ignores all democratic institutions like village and other panchayats, and therefore corruption and favouritism are rampant.

Van Panchayats have become vital became live issues for an end to eviction of people from wild life sanctuaries, game parks and reserves. The land of the famous “Chipko” and “Rawain” movements demands distribution of the land which is under the forest department but without forest cover. It demands repeal of unjust forest laws which violate all canons of justice principle and rob one of even the right to self-defence in the face of assault by a wild animal. The issue of food, fodder and fuel are issues of existence, and the common man of these hills is fighting with their his back to the wall for his traditional rights in the forest, and for an end to draconian forest conservation and wild life protection laws.

STATE LEVEL CAMPAIGN

The state unit of the party and its activists started on a campaign trail that was about 6000 km long, covering 8 districts in 3 months. The campaign’s pitch reached crescendo on September 19 with the arrival of Brinda Karat at Kathgodam. She started with a press conference and an interview to the TV media at Haldwani, and listed the main features of the all-India campaign and its implication for the people of Uttarakhand. She was appalled to see the apathy shown by the regime in the state and said the discrimination against the hill people remains as before in all matters --- food, land reforms, forest laws and employment --- despite the creation of a new state. The government has failed to provide ordinary necessities like cooking gas, kerosene and water.

Brinda Karat led a 1000 strong march of protestors at Rudrapur, headquarters of Udham Singh Nagar district, amid militant slogans. The march ended in a public meeting demanding recovery of land from moneylenders, enlisting of Nama Shudras as a scheduled caste, payment of arrears for sugar cane, BPL cards for the poor, employment of local people in unskilled and other jobs, and restoration of land to the Tharus and Boksas. Anganwari workers also joined the march.

The next leg of the campaign trail was at Almora, where the CPI(M) held its first ever demonstration and protest march. Brinda Karat and members of the local committee met the district magistrate and impressed upon the administration to sort out the problems of the local people including dalits, the problem of domicile certificates, fraudulent water rates and equally fraudulent electricity meters, etc. A large number of the marchers were women. After a hectic day at Almora, Brinda entered Garhwal at Gair Sen, the place where the Uttarakhandis demand their capital should be. She paid floral tributes at the statue of legendary Chandra Singh Garhwali and addressed a meeting and press conference. At Gopeshwar, headquarters of Chamoli district, it was another protest march, public meeting and an audience with the District Magistrate, assurances from the administration, and the march continued. Rudraprayag, at the confluence of Mandakini and Alaknanda, saw a long column of marchers, red flags, a militant demonstration and public meeting.

From Rudra Prayag to New Tehri, people are facing the problem of displacement, rehabilitation and inadequate compensation. The marchers included Aganwari workers, PTCs, VSNL contract workers, and oustees from the dam.

Brinda Karat’s arrival at Dehradun was greeted by a heavy downpour. Amid meetings with officials of different departments, a delegation of the CPI(M) met the chief secretary of the state for discussion on all the matters that were raised at different places. The protest march and public meeting at the gate of the secretariat at Dehradun continued amid torrential rain. The mall oustees, Divya Pharmacy workers of Hardwar, forest dwellers, IDPL workers and peasants who are going to lose land due to acquisition by the government for its development plans took part. Amid rain, the last meeting was at Hardwar.

The state committee of the CPI(M) is now planning to launch more struggles, with special care that districts that were left out during the campaign this time like Bageshwar, Uttarkashi and Pauri Garhwal will have to be drawn into the fold of our expanding democratic movement. The notable participation of women, sections from the peasantry and youth offers the possibility of expansion. Now the challenge is to see that this possibility is realised in not too remote a future.