People's Democracy

AIAWU Eighth All India Conference

Reception Committee Formed

CULTURALLY and historically prominent city of Andhra Pradesh, Warangal is going to host the eighth all India conference of the All India Agricultural Workers Union in March 2014. Speaking at a meeting to announce the formation of a reception committee, Vijayaraghavan, AIAWU general secretary, said that the policies implemented by both the central and state governments have ruined both the farmers and agricultural workers. He said the UPA-2 government has failed to control inflation and questioned how an agricultural worker will have his daily staple with skyrocketing prices of food. He criticised the policies of the government which favour only the corporates.

Vijayraghavan explained that under the neo-liberal policies,  cost of living even in the rural areas increased manifold and cultivation has become an unviable enterprise leading to the distress suicide of around three lakh farmers. With these kind of policies, India cannot over come the poverty reduction targets, he said and added that the forthcoming AIAWU conference is going to set a task of mobilising the agricultural workers in struggles to protect their meager social security benefits which are under threat today. He also said in order to achieve some thing substantial, a sense of unity is to be built among all sections of people and the same sense of unity is under threat today with the emergence of Modi as a front runner for the prime ministerial position. He called upon the agricultural workers to support and work towards the goal of keeping communal, fundamentalist forces at bay and change the coalition of rich at the centre and in the state.

Paturu Ramaiah, AIAWU national president speaking on the occasion, said that the time has come to make the agricultural worker aware that whatever the benefits such as PDS and MNREGA are results of hard struggles that AIAWU undertook over the years. The crises in rural India are going to take a serious turn unless the government intervenes urgently and reverses its devastating economic policies.

B Venkat, AIAWU state secretary explained how AIAWU withstood all the attacks on its cadre and leaders while working for the protection of rights of agricultural workers across the country.

A reception committee under the chairmanship of Professor K Nageswar, MLC has been formed with G Nagaiah as general secretary and Ch Rangaiah as the treasurer. The reception committee chalked out a plan for conducting a sustained mass contact programme to reach out to the agricultural workers in the district and mobilise their support for making the conference a success.