People's Democracy

MAHARASHTRA

AIKS Holds State Conference in Peasant Suicide Region

Ajit Nawale

THE All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) held its 21st Maharashtra state conference at Amravati, from July 11 to 13, 2013, with the spirit of unity and determination. Amravati is in the centre of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, a region that has seen a spate of peasant suicides. The AIKS had held its 20th state conference held in January 2009, at Selu in Parbhani district of Marathwada region.

The venue was named after veteran AIKS leader Krishna Khopkar; the public meeting venue after veteran CITU leader M K Pandhe; the conference hall after AIKS leader Vinayak Gaikwad; and the stage after another AIKS leader Narendra Kavishwar.

Renowned journalist P Sainath inaugurated the conference that was attended by AIKS president S Ramachandran Pillai and AIKS joint secretary Vijoo Krishnan; both remained present on all three days. The conference was attended by 257 delegates from 23 districts of Maharashtra, representing a membership of 2,13,331 for 2012-13.

INAUGURAL

SPEECH

On July 11 morning, after the flag-hoisting by veteran AIKS leader L B Dhangar, floral tributes to martyrs, condolence resolution and welcome address by reception committee chairman Udayan Sharma, P Sainath inaugurated the conference.

Referring to the fact that the conference was being held in Vidarbha which has gained notoriety for peasant suicides, Sainath said as per the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau, a total of 2,84,694 farmers committed suicide in India during the last 18 years. Of these, the largest number (over 57,000 peasant suicides) is from Maharashtra. The main reason is of course indebtedness. In addition, there are lakhs of peasants who have, for the same reason, simply quit agriculture. These are some of the major symptoms of the deepening agrarian crisis as a result of the neo-liberal policies of our rulers.

Sainath then analysed the factors behind this crisis --- massive increases in the cost of inputs and consequently of the cost of agricultural production, sharp fall and fluctuations in the price of agricultural outputs and the crunch in institutional credit to the peasantry. All these factors are policy-emanated. While banks give loans to buy a luxury Mercedes Benz car at seven per cent interest, a farmer has to buy a tractor at 14 per cent interest! About 50 per cent of agricultural credit in Mumbai is being given to corporates!

Recommendations of the National Commission for Farmers headed by Dr M S Swaminathan are gathering dust for the last six years. They included many seminal pro-farmer steps like a price stabilisation fund, farm output price to comprise cost of production plus 50 per cent profit, agricultural credit at four per cent interest etc. But union agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, said Sainath, was more interested in Lavasa than in taking these steps!

Sainath sharply criticised the new central scheme of doling out Rs 7,000 crore to corporates in the name of so-called training of ten lakh farmers; the growing concentration of land and water resources in the hands of a few; the trend towards corporatisation of agriculture; the skewed viewpoint as regards irrigation; and withdrawal of the public sector in agricultural research which is now fast becoming a monopoly of the corporates.

To increase agricultural production and productivity, Sainath suggested steps like concerted agricultural research, scientific testing of soil and water, cooperative management of agriculture and so on. At the same time, he stressed that the paramount need is to build a powerful struggle against the anti-peasant policies of the ruling classes. He concluded by saying: “Mass Movements, not Mass Suicides!” must be our slogan in the days ahead.

PUBLIC MEETING AND   

CONFERENCE REPORT   

Held on July 11 afternoon, the public meeting was presided over by AIKS state president J P Gavit; the main speaker was AIKS president S R Pillai. Others who spoke were AIKS joint secretary Vijoo Krishnan, CKC member Dr Ashok Dhawale, AIKS state general secretary Kisan Gujar, veteran leader L B Dhangar and state office-bearers like Dada Raipure, Udayan Sharma, Shankarrao Danav, Yashwant Zade and Arjun Adey.

The public meeting was a success despite constant rains for the preceding few days. Peasants, agricultural workers and unorganised workers came from tehsils of Amravati district and also from adjoining districts like Yavatmal, Wardha and Buldana.

The conference report was placed in the delegate session on July 11 evening by AIKS state general secretary Kisan Gujar. The 88-page printed report comprised the following main sections: 1) current political challenges; 2) the crisis in Indian agriculture; 3) the agrarian situation in Maharashtra: 4) work report; 5) organisational report; 6). future tasks.

The report said the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha has led a number of struggles in the last four years:

1) A massive independent statewide Jail Bharo stir in January 2011 for implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and on burning issues like peasant suicides. Over one lakh peasants courted arrest.

2) Revival of the same struggle for FRA implementation and on the question of severe drought in April 2013. Over 50,000 peasants conducted Rasta Roko at several centres for over 40 hours. The state government was forced to concede many important demands on April 17 after negotiations with the AIKS.

3) Independent statewide demonstrations of 1.25 lakh rural poor in 2012 for their demand for inclusion in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list. The struggle was successful in some districts, where the names of thousands of rural poor were included in BPL lists.  

4) A joint struggle from 2007 to 2010, in alliance with the PWP, against the proposed 25,000-acre Maha Mumbai SEZ allotted to Mukesh Ambani. It entailed two huge rallies of over 50,000 peasants each and a referendum. The state government was finally forced to denotify the SEZ, which was a major victory for the peasantry.    

5) Two independent statewide rallies of thousands of peasants before the Nagpur state assembly on a set of burning peasant demands on several vital issues.

6) Struggles for remunerative prices for crops like cotton and sugarcane.

7) Struggles on the burning issue of bank credit to the peasantry.

8) Struggles against severe load-shedding of power and exorbitant power bills.

9) Struggles for getting temple lands, pasture lands, waste lands etc vested in the names of the cultivating peasants.

10) Campaigns against price rise, for food security and universalisation of the PDS.

11) Statewide campaign against irrigation scam and other corruption scams.

12) Successful local struggle on the issue of canals of the Nilwande dam in Nagar district.

13) Mass marriage programmes of thousands of Adivasi couples in Nashik district.

14) Active support to all-India working class strikes and to the Sangharsh Sandesh Jathas.

15) Regular holding of AIKS state camps for activists and publication of literature.

After group discussion in their district delegations, 43 delegates from 23 districts spoke on the report on July 12 and enriched it with their experiences, suggestions and criticisms. After the general secretary’s reply, the report was unanimously adopted amidst cheers.

GENESIS & CONTOURS

OF AGRARIAN CRISIS

While addressing the conference, AIKS president S R Pillai congratulated the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha for the struggles it has led and the expansion it has achieved in the last few years. However, he underlined that in view of the severity of the agrarian crisis in the country, there is much more that the AIKS must do all over the country.

He said the roots of today’s agrarian crisis must be traced to the immediate post-independence period. The refusal of the ruling classes under successive Congress regimes to carry out radical land reforms led to the concentration of land in the hands of the landlords and rich peasants, and thus to inequitable distribution of rural wealth and incomes. The green revolution helped mainly the irrigated areas, further accentuating the gap between the rural rich and the rural poor, and also between irrigated and dryland areas.

With the neo-liberal policies that were unveiled two decades ago, things only got worse. The government withdrew from its responsibilities in agriculture, slashed public expenditure, cut subsidies to the peasantry, embarked on privatisation, encouraged multinational corporations and indigenous corporates, and surrendered to the unjust WTO regime.

As a result of all this, said SRP, the share of agriculture in the country’s GDP is now down to just 14 per cent. Agriculture is increasingly becoming an unviable option. Along with peasant suicides, innumerable farmers are being driven into the ranks of landless agricultural workers. Land acquisition by corporates and other sections of the land and real estate mafia is sharply increasing, displacing thousands of peasants from their land and livelihood.

The government says it does not have any money for agriculture. But it has enough money to squander on massive tax concessions to corporate houses year after year, and for the stinking corruption scams that are being unearthed everyday.  

To change this situation, concluded SRP, massive and consistent struggles of the peasantry are the need of the hour. These must be directed towards ensuring that alternative agrarian policies are put in place. For this, the right issues must be selected at the right time, local struggles must be intensified and the organisation strengthened. He expressed confidence that all this would be carried out in Maharashtra.

AIKS joint secretary Vijoo Krishnan made an effective intervention on the last day, dealing with various important agrarian and organisational issues.

SOME OTHER

HIGHLIGHTS

CITU state secretary Amrut Meshram, AIAWU state joint secretary Maroti Khandare, AIDWA state president Mariam Dhawale, DYFI state president Bhagwan Bhojane and SFI state joint secretary Balaji Kaletwad greeted the conference.

One of the highlights of this conference was the placing of a 35-page document titled The Question of Irrigation in Maharashtra. After discussion in the AIKS state council, this document was prepared and placed by AIKS state joint secretary Dr Ajit Nawale. Printed copies were given to all the delegates. One delegate from each district placed his views on this document. This document will soon be finalised in the light of a wider discussion and become the basis of future struggles on this vital issue.

The other highlight was a reporting on the “Current Agrarian Situation in China” by AIKS state council member Dr R Ramakumar, who recently went to China in a delegation. He provided very interesting insights into the agrarian situation of a socialist country. The presentation was not only informative but also provided inspiration to the delegates.

The first issue of the revived journal of Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha, Shetkari Sangharsh, was released in this conference. It was decided to bring it out regularly as a bimonthly. After discussion in district delegations, it was decided to enrol over 8000 subscribers to this journal in advance. It was also decided to enrol over three lakh members of the AIKS in Maharashtra in the coming year 2013-14, and district targets were finalised in the conference itself.

Several resolutions on important issues were unanimously adopted. The drafts were circulated to delegates in a 44-page booklet.

The conference unanimously decided to observe August 3 every year as Peasant Day all over Maharashtra. August 3 happens to be the birth anniversary of former AIKS national president Comrade Krantisimha Nana Patil and also the death anniversary of founder general secretary of Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha, Comrade Shamrao Parulekar.

Amidst great enthusiasm, S R Pillai felicitated four veteran leaders of AIKS who had devoted their entire lives to the cause --- L B Dhangar (Thane), Nanasaheb Pokle (Beed), Sarangdhar Tanpure (Ahmednagar) and Prabhakar Nagargoje (Beed). He also felicitated two young comrades, Irfan Shaikh (Nashik) and Sonu Kakwa (Thane), for extraordinary work in different areas of struggle.

AIKS state joint secretary Arjun Adey placed the credentials report which had many interesting features.

Progressive literature worth over Rs 20,000 was sold during the AIKS state conference; literature worth an equal amount was sold during the 23 district conferences of AIKS that took place earlier. Also, subscriptions worth over Rs 18,000 to progressive journals were collected during the state conference.

The conference unanimously elected a 77-member state council, which in turn unanimously elected its office-bearers --- president: Dada Raipure; working president: Arjun Adey; general secretary: Kisan Gujar; treasurer: Sanjay Thakur; vice presidents: L B Dhangar, Dr Ashok Dhawale, J P Gavit, Lahanu Kom, Rajaram Ozare, Nanasaheb Pokle, Udayan Sharma, Ghanashyam Patil, Jaisingh Mali, Ramkrishna Shere, Ratan Budhar, Gunaji Gavit; joint secretaries: Shankarrao Danav, Pandurang Rathod, Yashwant Zade, Barkya Mangat, Uddhav Poul, Manoj Kirtane, Dr Ajit Nawale, Sidhappa Kalshetty, Hemant Waghere, Irfan Shaikh, Radka Kalangda, Umesh Deshmukh, Dr R Ramakumar.

After inspiring concluding speeches by the new president Dada Raipure, veteran leader L B Dhangar, CKC member Dr Ashok Dhawale and outgoing president J P Gavit, leaders felicitated all the activists and volunteers of the AIKS, AIAWU, CITU, AIDWA, DYFI and SFI from Amravati district who had spared no efforts to make this conference a great success, with rose flowers amid resounding cheers and slogans. The state conference of the AIKS thus ended in an atmosphere of unity, enthusiasm and determination.