People's Democracy

CKC MEETING TAKES STOCK

Kisan Sabha Plans Still More Intense Struggles

K Varadharajan

THE nature and extent of the current agrarian crisis, its causes and the possibilities for peasants’ mobilisation against the agricultural policies of the government formed the major themes of discussion during the two-day meeting of the Central Kisan Committee (CKC) of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) in Delhi, on July 1 and 2. AIKS president S Ramachandran Pillai presided over the meeting while its general secretary K Varadharajan, vice president Benoy Konar and joint secretaries Suryakant Mishra and N K Shukhla, among others, attended it.

The struggles conducted all over India in the last five months since the 31st AIKS conference in Nashik, the peasants’ response and the lessons drawn were discussed in the CKC meeting. It noted that instead of implementing the commitments made in its CMP, the UPA government has stepped up its efforts to push the various new-liberal policies through. The government is also not prepared to implement the major suggestions given by the National Commission for Farmers, headed by M S Swaminathan. Instead of implementing the commission’s suggestions like crop loans with 4 percent interest, protection from imports, proper insurance policies, etc, the government of India (GoI) is doing just the reverse.

FATAL FOR PEASANTRY

The CKC noted that the people are experiencing an all round rise in prices of essential commodities like wheat, pulses, edible oils, vegetables and medicines, while the rise in prices of petrol and diesel has added fuel to the fire. The announcement of import of wheat and sugar has exposed the government’s ulterior motives. Though wheat production this year is 72 million tonnes which is enough for the Indian people’s consumption, the government has gone in for import at Rs 10,000 per tonne which is Rs 3,000 more than what the government is paying to the wheat farmers. The government deliberately delayed procurement and allowed private parties to enter the market and purchase maximum amount of wheat that came to the market.

Now, instead of taking action against the hoarders, the government is not only going in for import but has also allowed some parties to import wheat. This shows that the UPA government wants to impose a liberalised import policy for agro commodities, which has proved fatal for peasants and consumers in many other countries. Especially in India, the worst affected is the peasant community, which is 62 percent of the population, as it is not getting proper prices for its produce and also due to the rise in prices because peasants are not only producers but consumers also.

The UPA government’s recent agreement with the US, called the “US-India Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture (AKI),” is an instrument to subjugate the Indian agriculture to the US imperialist designs in general and to the US corporate interests in particular. The AKI board comprises government officials, university representatives and the private sector. There are three private sector representatives from the US: one each from Monsanto, WalMart and Archer Daniels Midland Company (one of the biggest agricultural processing companies in the world). It is learnt that now the GoI is planning to give permission for Bt brinjal in near future. The AIKS, various other organisations and individuals have already cautioned the government that Bt brinjal will create more harmful effects than Bt cotton did, which was the root cause of thousands of suicides in India. The recent agreement with US on knowledge initiative is almost like handing the key over to the thief.

The CKC also discussed the implementation of rural employment guarantee act (REGA) in various states. The discussions highlighted the scheme’s unsatisfactory implementation in various places where the Left movement has not intervened. The experience has proved that the scheme, which came into existence after struggles and under pressure from the Left forces in India, can be implemented properly only through the intervention by Kisan Sabha and other organisations.

The CKC also discussed the plight of the tribals in India and the proposed Tribal Act. It decided to conduct an all-India struggle starting from July 18.

WIDENING STRUGGLES

The overwhelming response of the peasants evoked by various struggles conducted in this period in various states reflects the crisis in agriculture and the peasants’ anger against the government’s policies.

In Rajasthan, struggles for remunerative prices for mustard and onion, for power and irrigation water and for implementation of REGA were the important struggles in this period. The mustard production was more than 40 lakh tonnes this year. The price in open market was only Rs 1,300 to 1,400 per quintal whereas the MSP is Rs 1,715. There was no mechanism for procurement. The Kisan Sabha took it as a serious matter and a massive struggle started in February. Big dharnas, demonstrations, rail roko and rasta roko were conducted in the month of June. Due to the continuous struggle, the government was forced to procure 14 lakh tonnes of mustard.

In Haryana also, big struggles were conducted for procurement of mustard, in which hundreds of people participated. Big participation of women is an important factor.

Agitations and movements were organised again for proper distribution of relief and fodder in Siwani subdivision, which saw an 11-day padav at the district headquarters (Bhiwani) on February 20 last year. There was a big demonstration before the commissioner at Hissar. Then a dharna was held at the SDM office in Siwani on June 14, which culminated in a road blockade. On June 22 it forced the SDM to come out and assure the agitators about proper distribution of relief and fodder. Out of the thousand strong contingent of squatters, more than one third were women.

A 10-day continuous dharna was organised at Cheeka in Kaithal district against the attempts at eviction and for permanent pattas, which concluded on May 10. Agitations by our units for purchase of mustered at the MSP forced the government to accept this demand.

A march to Chandigarh was organised to demand relief for the frost-affected crops. More than 2,000 peasants including hundreds of women staged a continuous dharna throughout the night of March 9, forcing the chief minister to talk to the delegation and give an assurance on relief.

Struggles for compensation to wheat growers in major parts of north Bihar were organised in March and April. Mass fasting on April 27 and road and rail blockade on May 11 were organised in 23 districts and the response from farmers was massive. It was followed by a 24-hour mass fasting on May 13 at Patna, which forced the government to announce Rs 3,000 per acre as compensation for the damaged crops.

In Jharkhand, demonstrations were organised at 32 block headquarters in 9 districts on the demands of irrigation and relief to the drought-affected people etc.

In Uttaranchal, an agitation against eviction of Bengali refugees is going on. Some moneylenders turned land mafia have grabbed the land of the poor with the help of police and officials. The lands, which cannot be sold legally, were occupied by the moneylenders. The Kisan Sabha organised demonstrations and the government reluctantly started the negotiation. The demonstrations were conducted on April 16 and 26 against the moneylenders attacking the peasants who participated in demonstrations, when a terror like situation was created. After continuous struggle, some arrests were made and some officials dismissed.

In Madhya Pradesh, agitations were organised in Moreina and Bhind districts for restoration of lands to dalits who were forcibly occupied by some local mafias.

In Punjab, under the banner of “Save Land Morcha,” Kisan Sabha and 8 other organisations undertook joint actions against the forcible acquirement of 376 acres of agriculture land by the Punjab government in three villages near Barnala in Sangrur district for a private industrial house, Trident. This struggle, conducted in various forms in March and April, ended with a massive rally and demonstration at Barnala on May 23. More than 30,000 kisans participated in it. The struggle continues.

Notable among the struggles in Himachal Predesh are --- a 51-day agitation with huge rallies, meetings etc for the opening of a college in Aani and a 40-day agitation in Chamba district. Farmers sat on a dharna for 55 days for compensation to the damaged houses due to blasting in the Chamera project in Rampur and Nathpa Jhakri areas, and against the illegal felling of forest trees.

Notable among the struggles in Tamilnadu is the picketing conducted on February 25, demanding housesites. Nearly 30,000 people courted arrest. It was decided that after the elections the AIKS would intensify the struggle for housesites and pattas as well as for wasteland distribution.

A “Maha Sangamam” conducted on March 6 on the agrarian situation in Kerala and to demand basic changes in the central government’s policies was organised on March 6 before the state secretariat and at district collectorates. Thousands of farmers participated in the Maha Sangamam, many of them walking down from the interior villages to the spots of struggle. Nearly 75,000 leaflets were distributed in relation with this campaign. 1,50,000 posters were printed and pasted far and wide.

In Karnataka also, a struggle for housesites was conducted in Bangalore and Gulbarga in the month of March, wherein thousands of peasants participated.

STRUGGLE TO INTENSIFY

Taking into consideration the experiences of these struggles and the response from the peasantry to our movements, the CKC has decided to widen and deepen the peasant struggles independently as well as jointly with other kisan organisations. As a part of it, all-India jathas from the north, south, east and west have been planned for the months of October and November. These will culminate in a huge rally in Delhi on November 15, in which more than one lakh peasants are expected to participate. These all-India jathas will be combined with hundreds of sub-jathas in various states, which will take up the local level issues apart from demanding changes in the central government’s policies. The jathas and rally are meant to highlight the alternative policies of the AIKS and to demand implementation of the UPA government’s commitment in its CMP and of the positive recommendations of the National Commission for Farmers.

The CKC elected Noorul Huda as the AIKS finance secretary and Madan Ghosh and Amra Ram as vice presidents. 

The CKC also adopted a resolution on the prime minister’s visit to the Vidarbha area in Maharashtra where thousands of peasants have committed suicide in the last two years.