People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No. 01
January 05, 2014
|
Vol. XXXVIII
No. 01 January 05, 2014 |
Mariam Dhawale THE
Adivasi Adhikar
Rashtriya Manch (AARM) organised its first The
convention and
its concluding rally were addressed by CPI(M) Polit Bureau
member Brinda Karat
and by Jitendra Choudhury, minister of industries and
commerce, rural
development and forests in the Left Front government of
Tripura. The bulk
of the
delegates were from the three stronger traditional districts
of the adivasi
movement in the state, viz Thane (178), Nashik (109) and
Nandurbar (36). But a significant
feature was that there were nearly 40 delegates from 12
other newer districts,
including Ahmednagar, Yavatmal, Nanded, Pune, INAUGURAL
SESSION
Lahanu
Kom, former MP
and former MLA, explained the objectives of this convention
and warmly welcomed
all the delegates. The convention paid homage to the memory
of the legendary
hero Nelson Mandela. A five-member presidium comprising
Rajaram Ozare (MLA),
Gunaji Gavit, Tapibai The
convention was inaugurated by Jitendra Chaudhury. He
recalled the big struggles
of tribal masses from pre-independence days, especially the
Warli adivasi
revolt in The
speaker dwelt upon some of the striking achievements of the
Left Front government
of Tripura. Literacy in the state had increased dramatically
from 20 percent in
1978 to 95.65 percent in 2013, which is now the highest for
any state in the
country. Per capita income which was abysmally low, has now
crossed the
national average. In the implementation of the Forest Rights
Act (FRA) and the MG
NREGA, the central government has had to admit that the
performance of Tripura
is the best in the country. Radical
land reforms, all-round help to the peasantry and the spread
of education were some
of the main factors that made this progress possible. The
government also
encouraged the preservation and enrichment of the culture
and traditions of 19
different scheduled tribes in the state and set up a
separate ministry for this
purpose. The grave danger of extremism and terrorism was
fought politically and
the unity of tribals and non-tribals was maintained and
strengthened. Jitendra
Choudhury then dwelt upon the present situation of the eight
crore tribals in
the country and explained how the neo-liberal policies of
both the Congress and
the BJP-led governments were attacking them savagely in all
spheres. Corruption
was eating into all development programmes meant for them.
All these issues
must be taken up by the AARM in each state. Brinda
Karat, while addressing the convention as the chief guest,
said that although
‘Jal, Jungle, Jameen’ was the main slogan of adivasis, the
aggressive
penetration of capitalism was destroying the livelihood of
tribals. The latest
2011 census data makes this clear. It says that only 37
percent of tribals are
now dependent on agriculture. Thousands are being alienated
from their land and
are joining the ranks of agricultural workers in the
countryside and of labourers
in the cities. Tribals are being thrown into the class of
the proletariat. Migration
is becoming a very serious issue. We must study the
situation in every state
and district concretely and take up the relevant issues for
struggle. Today,
she said, we were greatly impressed to see our Comrade The
AARM was formed as a platform to oppose the tremendous
exploitation of tribals
in our country, and to pressurise the government to change
its policies related
to tribals. While waging militant struggles on tribal
issues, Brinda Karat concluded
by calling upon the delegates to steer clear of identity
politics that tries to
pit tribals against non-tribals and by stressing upon the
need to combat
communal forces like the Sangh Parivar and extremist forces
like the Maoists. She
hailed the historic tribal movement in RESOLUTION AND DISCUSSION J
P Gavit, former MLA, then placed the 18-page draft
resolution before the
convention. It had been given in printed form to all the
delegates. The resolution
placed the problems faced by adivasis in The
resolution pinpoints the myriad problems that tribals face,
linking them to
government policies. They relate to forest land, irrigation,
displacement, employment, minimum
wages, migration, food security, public distribution system,
severe
malnutrition leading to deaths of children, dearth of public
health facilities,
backlog in jobs, bogus caste certificates, lack of access to
education,
miserable plight of tribal hostels and hostel-schools and
tremendous
underdevelopment of all tribal areas in the state in every
sector. The
resolution concludes by setting out eight tasks for the
future. In
the rich discussion that followed, 27 delegates from 15
districts took part.
They recounted not only the various problems faced by
adivasis, but also placed
inspiring accounts of the struggles that they had waged.
They gave several
suggestions for consolidating work in old areas and
expanding work to new
areas. After the reply by J P Gavit, the resolution was
unanimously adopted. Veteran
leader L B Dhangar, who has worked in the tribal belt of
Thane district for
over 60 years, greeted the convention and recounted his rich
experiences of
struggle. He called for launching a struggle on the demand
of a tribal
autonomous region within the state of The
credentials report stated that out of the 362 delegates, 36
were women; 347 of
the delegates were adivasis, and they came from 16 different
tribes. Four delegates
were dalits and 11 came from the non-ST/SC category. Of the
delegates, 212 were
peasants, 130 were agricultural workers, seven were workers,
four were students
and three were teachers/employees. While 216 delegates had
land in their name,
of whom 184 had dry land and 32 had irrigated land, 146 were
landless and 274
delegates were cultivating forest plots. Of these, 93 FRA
claims were accepted
by the government, but 181 were not. This was significant. As
many as 51 delegates were less than 30 years of age while
another 122 were
between 31 and 40 years old. 58 had completed their SSC, 39
had completed their
higher secondary, 36 were graduates and 12 were
post-graduates. 253 delegates
were from AIKS, 37 from DYFI, 27 from AIAWU, 26 from AIDWA,
12 from CITU, five
from SFI and two from the Self-Respect Movement. CONCLUDING SESSION The
convention unanimously elected a 51-member state committee,
which also included
representatives from all mass organisations. It elected J P
Gavit from Nashik
district as chairman, Barkya Mangat from Thane district as
convenor and Jaising
CPI(M)
state secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale said that this successful
AARM convention was
the first in a series of three statewide conventions that
were being organised
to highlight the problems of oppressed social sections and
to launch struggles
on them. The second convention of the Alpasankhyank Hakka
Sangharsh Samiti
(Struggle Committee for the Rights of the Minorities) would
be held at Solapur
on January 8 and the third convention of the Jaati Anta
Sangharsh Samiti
(Struggle Committee for the Annihilation of Caste) would be
held at He
said that the two main bases of the adivasi movement in the
state are in Thane
and Nashik districts, followed by Nandurbar district. But in
the last few years,
work among tribals has spread to districts like Ahmednagar,
Yavatmal, Nanded, In
the immediate future he set out three important tasks. The
first was to launch
big struggles on the burning problems of adivasis in each
district in the month
of February and to make special efforts to involve new,
young and educated
sections among adivasis, who generally remain away from our
fold. The second
was to complete the signature campaign on the SC/ST
Prevention of Atrocities
Act. The third was to organise district and tehsil
conventions of the AARM in
the next six months. He
concluded by stressing the challenge of defeating the BJP
and the Congress and
ensuring the victory of the Left and secular forces in the
coming Lok Sabha and
Vidhan Sabha elections. He called upon the delegates to
launch struggles to
expand our tribal base and increase our political influence. Jitendra
Choudhury and Brinda Karat congratulated all the delegates
for the great
success of this convention and expressed confidence that
work among tribals
would surely grow in the days ahead. J P Gavit congratulated
the Thane district
comrades for having made excellent arrangements to host this
convention. After
the vote of thanks by the new convenor Barkya Mangat and the
concluding remarks
by Rajaram Ozare, the convention ended with great enthusiasm
and resounding
slogans. A
large and spirited public meeting of several thousand people
was held at the
Talasari Naka. The meeting began with the traditional
adivasi Tarpa dance. The
meeting was presided over by Rajaram Ozare and was addressed
by Brinda Karat,
Jitendra Choudhury, Dr Ashok Dhawale, J P Gavit, Jaising
