new democracy, april 2015

Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)

April, 2015April, 2015April, 2015April, 2015April, 2015April, 2015April, 2015April, 2015April, 2015April, 2015

NEW DEMOCRACY

1 2

Oppose Hashimpura Verdict

CPI(ML)-New Democracy expresses its grave concern at the acquittalby the Sessions Court of all the accused of the cold blooded killings of 42Muslims of Hashimpura (Meerut) on May 22, 1987 by UP Provincial ArmedConstabulary. This verdict, 28 years after, has clearly demonstrated thedeep communalism seeping through different wings of the state. It is notmere miscarriage of justice but systematic annihilation of justice to theminorities, particularly Muslims. The way the killings were carried out, theway the case was dealt, the way prosecution was conducted and thejudgement itself brought into sharp focus the utter contempt of rule of lawand justice to the citizens of minority community.

These cold blooded killings were carried out by the PAC on the ordersof Union Home Ministry which ordered that lesson should be taught to theMuslims protesting against opening of locks of the then Babri Masjid inApril 1987. This was the period when Congress, then ruling both at theCentre and in UP, was unleashing Hindu communal frenzy to garner votesof majority community. The then Union Minister of State for Home isreported to have ordered crush them. Every protest by Muslims againstthe communal act of opening the locks of Babri Masjid was converted intoriots with indiscriminate police attacks on the protesting Muslims. Muslimswere rounded up from Hashimpura locality from their homes by the Armydeployed there since opening of the locks of Babri Masjid to crush theprotests by Muslims against this blatantly communal act. Those soapprehended were handed over to Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC)which took them to Muradnagar Ganga canal and killed some in cold blood.The rest were taken to Makanpur on Hindon river and shot dead leaving thebodies there. Some pretended to be dead to tell of this horrific crime by thestate agencies.

The whole handling of this crime clearly brings out the deep conspiracyto shield the perpetrators who were carrying out the orders. Among theaccused, names of many of the real perpetrators were not included. ThePAC truck in which the victims were carried and many killed was cleaned.The investigation was more of a cover up. The case lingered and it wastransferred by the Supreme Court to a Delhi Court. Many of the witnesseshad died during the long duration of the trial, those surviving were shownthe accused in helmets precluding identification. The whole trial is a saga

of travesty of justice to send a clear message that minorities should notexpect justice in this country. The delivery of the verdict was the final nailin the coffin of Justice.

Hashimpura verdict brings out in bold relief that communal killingsinvolving the ruling dispensation and state agencies do not receive justice.Justice is yet to be done in the genocide of Sikhs in Delhi and other citieseven 31 years after. Victims of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 andthe victims of similar violence in Mumbai in 1992 are yet to get justicewhile the perpetrators of these killings have enjoyed and continue to enjoypower. There have been a number of such mayhems in different parts ofthe country. The records are doctored to exonerate the real culprits whocontinue to remain in the position of doctoring the evidence and threateningthe witnesses. Such verdicts are part of a systemic failure. A number ofenquiries at the time into Hashimpura killings had brought out the horrificnature of the crime but the verdict has whitewashed the crime.

All mechanisms to secure justice in such cases which are manned andconducted by the state agencies have proved futile in securing justice. Somany judicial commissions have failed the victims of genocide of Sikhs in1984. Supreme Court constituted SIT (Special Investigation Team) gaveclean chits to the masterminds of anti-Muslim pogrom of Gujarat in 2002.These go to prove very deep seated communalism in the state agenciesand the futility of expecting justice from them in their various incarnations,judicially supervised or otherwise. Limitations of demanding such exercisesshould be clearly understood in the context of their performance in securingjustice to the victims of minority communities.

CPI(ML)-New Democracy calls upon all the justice loving and secularforces and individuals to strongly protest against this verdict and demandthat guilty be brought to book. A powerful movement should be built so thatvictims of these custodial killings get justice and perpetrators of this crimeare punished. CPI(ML)-New Democracy Central Committee calls upon allparty committees to take initiative to organize programmes and mobilizethe people for securing justice to victims of Hashimpura.

(Statement issued by the Central Committee of CPI(ML)-New Democracy on March 27, 2015)



NEW DEMOCRACY

3 4

Srirampur- West Bengal

6th All India Conference of Indian

Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU)

Calls for Intensifying Struggle

The sixth All India Conference of IFTU was held at Srirampur, Hoogly,West Bengal on 12th and 13th April, 2015. It was preceded by a rally on 11th

April evening through the town which is known for the India Jute Mill situatedthere. The union of the workers here is led by IFTU. The rally was followedby a public meeting addressed by leaders of National Committee (NC) ofIFTU at Saifuddin Grounds (Mahesh Sanpiri Ground renamed for the rallyin memory of Com. Saifuddin Vice-president of IFTU).

Delegates coming for the conference were greeted by a huge red archwaymarking the entrance to Com. Paltu Sen Nagar, wherein the Maya Bhawan(and an adjoining building housing delegates) or the residential complexwas called Ram Naresh Tyagi Hall, named after Treasurer of IFTU whodied in an accident in 2013. The common eating space for all delegateswas named in the memory of Com. H.M. Upadhyay (Vice-president of IFTU).327 delegates from different unions affiliated to IFTU along with 17 observersattended the Conference. The delegates were from Telengana, Punjab,Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Delhi, Odisha, UttarPradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra apart from the members of NC. Thus11 states where IFTU has work were represented in the Conference.

The delegates were drawn from mining (coal and uranium), jute, textileand electronics industries, bidi and construction industries, power plantsand transport sector, industrial workers including of engineering,pharmaceuticals, automobile, steel, biscuit and other industries, hospitals,airport and other sectors including agricultural research, paper industry,brick kilns besides representatives of auto workers, loaders and hamalis.The delegates included representatives of regular and contract workers.The representatives were of the workers engaged in Govt. and public sectorundertakings as well as private industries. Workers from different sectorsof economy and different types of employment were represented at theSixth All India Conference of IFTU.

On 11th April evening, a Rally began from outside Ram Naresh TyagiBhawan. Led by NC members holding aloft towering red flags, the delegatesfollowed with the banners of their state committees, raising rousing slogansin different languages. They were followed by IFTU members from Srirampurand other areas of the host state. The Rally marched to Com. Saifuddingrounds next to Netaji Hall, where a public meeting was held, presidedover by Com. D.V. Krishna, President of IFTU. Com. Ravi Joshi invitedhim and other speakers to the dias. The speakers were Com. Pradeep(General Secretary IFTU), Com. V.K. Patole (Secretary IFTU), Com. P.Prasad (Secretary IFTU) and NC members Com. Aparna, Com. Raj Singhand Com. Sujan Chakravorty. Com. Meghnath from West Bengal andmembers of Arunodaya from Telengana also helped in marking the occasionwith their revolutionary songs.

On 12th April 2015, the Inaugural Session beginning at 11 AM. markedthe start of the Conference at Com. Paltu Sen Hall (Gopal Das Nag Bhawan).It began with flag hoisting by the IFTU President Com. D. V. Krishna to

IFTU leaders at the head of the Rally



NEW DEMOCRACY

5 6

rousing sloganeering by delegates in honour of martyrs. Songs rememberingmartyrs and in honour of the red flag were sung by Meghnath and Arunodayacomrades.

The delegates then seated themselves in the Hall while General SecretaryCom.Pradeep invited IFTU President Com. D.V. Krishna, Chairman of theReception Committee Dr. Punyabrata Gun, Chief Guest- JNU ProfessorEmeritus and renowned economist, Dr. Amit Bhaduri as well as fraternaldelegates from AIKMS, NTUI, TUCI and NDLF onto the dias. Homage waspaid to martyrs with a minutes silence and then the Chief Guest andChairman of the Reception Committee garlanded the photographs of Com.Paltu Sen and Com. Saifuddin.

Chairman of the Reception Committee Dr. Gun, welcomed the delegatesto the All India Conference and outlined the challenges before the working

class. He also spoke about the campaign by West Bengal based ShramjiviSwasthya Udyog for Health for All, with which he is associated. Then theChief Guest Dr. Amit Bhaduri delivered the inaugural address. Copies ofthe synopsis of his address in different languages had earlier been given tothe delegates. He stated that there is a systematic attack on employmentall over the world and contractualization of jobs is not only a means to cutcosts of production but a means to disorganize the workers as well. Hesaid the issue of land acquisition by amending provisions of LARR Act of2013 was of serious import.

After the inaugural address, Com. Vijay Kumar of NDLF (Tamilnadu),Com. Vasudevan President of NTUI and Com. Aneek Chakravorty of TUCIaddressed the delegates. General Secretary of All India Kisan MazdoorSabha (AIKMS) Com. Sushanta Jha gave a clear and detailed expositionof the attacks on the peasantry and opposed the Ordinance of the ModiGovt. to facilitate forcible land acquisition by amending provisions of LARRAct, 2013.

After lunch began the business session of the Conference. GeneralSecretary Com. Pradeep proposed a five member Presidium consisting ofComs. D.V. Krishna, Raj Singh, Byas Tiwari, Aparna and Sujan Chakravorty,with NC acting as the Steering Committee. As the House accepted theproposal, he announced that the old NCs tenure was completed. ThePresidium then called on Com. Aparna to present the document Call tothe Working Class before the delegates.

The Call of the Conference outlined the current situation of the workingclass, attacks against the working class and the current tasks emanatingfrom this situation. It had been discussed in all area, district and stateconferences and was now presented here with an addition. The NC hadadded a central slogan to the Call- Oppose the attacks on labour laws,Fight for their implementation. The Call called for struggle for regularizationof contract labour, for equal wages for equal work, for union registrationwithin 45 days of application, for universal social security to all workersand against privatization and disinvestment. It also called for buildingstruggles against pro-imperialist policies, extending solidarity to revolutionarypeasant movement and for working class to speak out againstcommunalization, caste exploitation, upper caste chauvinism, againstoppressive laws and repression on peoples struggles and in support offulfillment of democratic aspirations of people of Jammu & Kashmir and

Inaugural Session: Chairman of the Reception Committee Dr. Gunwelcoming the delegates. Others on the dias Sushanta Jha, GeneralSecretary of AIKMS (far left), D. V. Krishna (fourth from left), Chief

Guest Dr. Amit Bhaduri (fifth from left). Representatives of NTUI, NDLFand TUCI are also seated



NEW DEMOCRACY

7 8

North East. After the Call was presented, the Presidium announced a shortbreak while those who wanted to speak on the document gave their names.

Delegates from various states offered various suggestion to improveand strengthen the Call. After the Steering Committee deliberations, Com.Aparna explained its position on the various proposals along with the list ofaccepted suggestions. Following this the Call was adopted by theConference.

This was followed by an authoritative presentation by Com. Pradeep ofthe All India Organizational Report of the National Committee covering along period since the last conference held in Eluru in 2006. The Report hadearlier been circulated in different languages among the delegates. Heparticularly stressed the Review points presented in the document andexplained them to the delegates. With this the session was declared closedfor the day.

The second day, 13th April, was the anniversary of the Jallianwala Baghmassacre by British colonialists. The Conference reconvened and held aminutes silence in tribute to the anti-colonial martyrs, following which Com.Avtar from Punjab sang a rousing tribute in Punjabi. Then the delegatessettled down to business and several delegates offered their commentsand suggestions on the Organizational Report. These were considered bythe Steering Committee and Com. Pradeep announced the comments ofthe Committee which accepted most of the suggestions to strengthen theReport. The Report was passed amidst thunderous applause and sloganshouting. One of the points accepted was to work towards forming an allIndia organization of construction workers.

Then the delegates proceeded to elect the new National Committee. Onbehalf of the outgoing NC, Com. Pradeep presented the proposal for thenew panel. He proposed a new NC of 21 members with 18 members to beelected at the Conference. The panel consisted of Com. Aparna asPresident, three Vice-presidents, Com. D.V. Krishna, Com. V.K. Patoleand Com. Byas Tiwari; Com. Pradeep as General Secretary; Coms. P.Prasad, Com. Raj Singh and Com. Sujan Chakravorty as three secretaries,and Com. Animesh as Treasurer. The proposal included as NC membersCom. Kulvinder (Punjab), Com. Ravi Joshi (Maharashtra), Com. RadheyShyam (Uttar Pradesh), Com. Polari (Andhra Pradesh), Coms. V. Krishna,Com. Suryam and Com. T. Shrinivas (Telengana), Com. Suresh Das Kanojia(Bihar) and Com. Ashish from West Bengal. The proposed panel was elected

as the new NC amidst resounding slogan shouting.

Com. P. Prasad then proposed several Resolutions before theConference against the attempts of the government to amend labour laws,for the implementation of these laws, against the Ordinance modifying LARRAct of 2013, on Minimum Wages, on Bidi workers, against Road Safety Bill2014, against privatization of coal mines, demanding security for womenworkers at work place and in to and fro transportation to work and back innight shifts, on Construction Workers, demanding protection of Jute sector,supporting struggle of workers of Aurobindo Pharma, and on several otherissues.

The Conference issued a Call for May Day to be observed by all IFTUunits across the country on the central slogan of the Call document.

The Conference came to an end to the strains of the Internationale.Inspired by the successful conclusion of the Conference, delegates leftfilled with enthusiasm to build more struggles, organize more workers,extend IFTU and strengthen workers movement throughout the country.

National Committee elected by the 6th All India Conference



NEW DEMOCRACY

9 10

Progressivism versus

Religious Sectarianism

P. Nadkar

Ideology in social life is, for human beings, as important as oxygen forlife. The shared beliefs and values common to social communities are partof the intangible culture of the given social communities. These socialbeliefs and values sometimes need to be questioned and even challenged.When they are challenged, it becomes uncomfortable for the vested interestslinked to the ruling classes in the society. These vested interests linked tothe economically powerful sections of the society act in their service toeffectively propagate and mould the social thought system of the society.Communal sectarianism is on the rise in our country. This phenomenonhas paid rich electoral dividends to a section of ruling classes. They aredoing everything to boost and defend this way of thinking in our society.

CPI leader Govind Pansare (popularly called as Com. Pansare) hadembarked on the path of confronting this phenomenon. He challenged themyths floated and lies told about the social and political history ofMaharashtra. His murder by unknown hitters who fired bullets at him andhis wife Uma Pansare was a reaction to his bold mission to challenge theobscurantist notions prevailing in society and his opposition to the politicalpatrons upholding those values. In the book by the title Who was Shivajihe gave an alternate narrative about the most iconic figure in the socialand political history of Maharashtra. He wrote in this book, Those who areusing Shivaji in order to obtain peoples consent will have to answer forthis historical truth. If there are any buyers for their hatred for Islam theyshould sell it on their own merit. They should not sell their commodity inShivajis name. They should not sell that commodity under the brand ofShivaji. At the same time, the Muslims should not equate Shivaji with hisimage created by these so-called Shivabhaktas. They should look at history;they should appreciate his attitude to Islam religion. Then only they shouldmake their opinion. The book, originally published in 1984, sold more than150,000 copies with 24 editions in Marathi. It was also translated intoKannada, Urdu, Gujarati, English and Hindi.

Pansare had launched an aggressive campaign to expose the Modigovernment ever since it came to power in May last year. His continuousand systematic exposure of the historically regressive role of NathuramGodse was being well appreciated by people in general and also sizablesections of the academic community in particular. He countered thepropaganda that Gandhi was killed by Hindu fanatics because he wasresponsible for the partition of India and had pressurized the IndianGovernment to dole out a sum of Rs. 50 crores to Pakistan. He pointed outthat Narayan Apte, who was a participant in the murder of Gandhi in 1948,had also attempted to kill Gandhi in a bomb attack way back in 1934 whenthere was not even a demand for Pakistan. In 1934 during Gandhis touragainst untouchability, while proceeding towards Municipal hall in his carat Pune, a bomb was thrown by these fanatics at Gandhis car but it was afailed attempt . Pansare recounted another attempt by Nathuram Godse tokill Gandhi in a knife attack in 1944 at Panchgani in Satara district ofMaharashtra. He thus exposed the pseudo Hinduists' claim that Gandhiwas a victim of his pro Pakistani stance. Pansare's extensive campaignthroughout Maharashtra's towns and cities under the banner of AnnabhauSathe Sahitya Sammelan was effective in propagating a scientific, logicaland rational way of thinking in opposition to the new wave of obscurantismand religious sectarianism.

Com. Pansare was born in a village named Kolhar in Ahmednagar Districtof Maharashtra. His parents had lost land to the money lenders during hischildhood. His mother worked as a farm hand and his father as a handyman. His first brush with a social movement came through his associationwith the Rashtriya Seva Dal in his village. He was very young at that time.Later, yet in his school days, he got introduced to the Communist Party.He finished his school education and then moved to Kolhapur for his highereducation. He worked there as a newspaper vendor and a peon in thebeginning. Later on in life he practiced labour law and was the President ofthe Bar Association for many years. He was very active on the labourfront. He taught at the Shivaji University at Kolhapur as an associateprofessor. He had worked as a member of the National Control Commissionof the CPI and also as state secretary of the party. During his participationin the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement, Goa freedom struggle and otherpolitical struggles he was jailed many a times. Over a period of time hebecame widely known for his sharp criticism of the right wing forces in thecountry and the socially regressive practices in our society.



NEW DEMOCRACY

11 12

As he went about with his aggressive campaign against the pseudo-Hindu outfits and their outdated program of the so called Hindu Rashtra, hereceived continuous threats from that section which now stands emboldenedby the recent electoral success of the BJP. He did not care about it. Kolhapurcity of Maharashtra is well known for its past King Shahu Maharaj who isknown for progressive social reforms in the social history of the state.Com. Pansare chose to speak about his tradition and its relevance to thepresent day social scenario. He wrote a book about it which was well receivedand his interpretation of the relevance of the iconic Shahu Maharaj projectedthe Hindu bigots on the opposite side of the social discourse of ShahuMaharaj.

In the recent elections in Maharashtra, BJP won a stunning victory inthe district defeating the traditional leaders of the Maratha lobby from theCongress and NCP. BJP has got this opportunity of ruling the most powerfulMaratha lobby of Western Maharashtra for the first time in history. Thecadres from the right wing Hindutvavadi forces who ensured this victorywere becoming increasingly disturbed by peoples growing acceptance ofCom. Pansares ongoing campaign for rational and scientific interpretationof history and the need for progressive changes in society. In the recentpast, there was an attempt in western Maharashtra to incite a riot likesituation by circulation of posts on whats-app demeaning the iconic figuresof political significance in the state. Com. Pansare was a prominent leaderamong those who had successfully averted the crisis. This success againdisturbed the comfort zone of the locally regressive forces backed by thepowerful vested interests in the area.

In a meeting held in Kolhapur district on 13 January 2015 he spoke onthe subject Murder of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar and Rationalist Movement,Hindu Janjagran Samiti had openly warned Pansare against any critique ofthe Snatan Sanstha and other so called Hindutva outfits. Hindu Jana JagrutiSamiti had lodged a police complaint about the program in advance andthe police too had warned Pansare to desist from mentioning the so calledHindutva organizations in his speech. These right wing organizations hadthreatened to stage demonstrations at the venue of that meeting and theycongratulated the Police in the state for its co-operation. Com. Pansarehowever did not pay any heed to the threats. People in the area say thatthis could have been one of the important triggers for the cowardly attackthat followed later.

However one more reason that could have provoked the murderous attackcould have been his latest attempts to initiate public discussion on thebook written by retired Police Officer Shamsuddin Mushriff about the killingof Hemant Karkare the late Chief of Maharashtra State anti-terror squad.In October 2008 the ATS had arrested alleged Hindu terrorists, including aVHP leader Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur , Swami Amritanand aliasDayanand Pandey, a retired Major Ramesh Upadyay and a serving Armyofficer Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit. Karkare was heading theseinvestigations and this fact is mentioned in this book titled Who killedKarkare? The fanatic Hindu organizations were upset about the attempt atlinking the Karkares killing to his role in investigation of the above mentionedaccused. Pansare had organized a meeting to discuss the book in whichretired Justice B.G. Kolse Patil had also spoken. There was an agitationby the pseudo-Hinduists to cancel this discussion. Pansare receivedthreatening letters from Pune after the program.

The police are investigating few local municipal corporators linked tothe builders' lobby for their role because Pansare held briefs against thebuilders in a few cases. They are also investigating from the angle thatCom. Pansares role in the agitation against the toll in the city of Kolhapurcould have instigated the attack. This may be an attempt to divert theinvestigations from the right track but even if it turns out to be true, onecannot rule out the role of the extreme right wing Hindutvavadi forces inthe murder of Com. Pansare. The present Chief Minister of Maharashtraexpressed grief over the death but was hesitant to pay condolences in theAssembly to Com. Pansare. When Narendra Dabholkar was killed, thepresent CM was in the opposition and he had then demanded the resignationof the Home Minister for the failure in nabbing the culprits. Now he himselfis in charge and we neither have the culprits in the Dabholkar case arrestednor is there any progress in the investigation of the Pansare murder case.

The very fact that the regressive forces in the state had to resort tomurders to stop the spread of the progressive thoughts propagated byPansare and Dabholkar, shows their inability to deal with the issues raisedby the two on the ideological plane. These murders have in fact given moreexposure to the progressive role played by these activists. It has alsohelped to bring about a larger realignment of the progressive sections againstthe new wave of saffronization in the state. Thoughts cannot be defeatedby physical attacks but at the same time the progressive movement too



NEW DEMOCRACY

13 14

has to take seriously the task of defending its own rank and file from suchattacks. In the present circumstances it is necessary to continuecampaigning on the issues touched upon by Com Pansare, especially thatof de-mystyfying Nathuram Godse and encouraging discussions on thebook Who killed Karkare? If these two actions of Com. Pansare couldhave triggered his murder then we all should take this campaign seriouslybecause carrying forward the progressive campaign unleashed by him willbe a real service to the cause for which he paid with his life.

Railway Budget 2015-16 pitches for

Foreign Technology, Private Funding

Railway Budget for 2015-2016 presented by Union Minister for Railways,Suresh Prabhu, is short of any idea of how to address the woes faced byIndian Railways. He highlighted minor details while obfuscating the majoraspects of the problems faced by the railways. He has prescribed a panaceaof mobilization of funds through PPP mode, joint ventures, multilateralfinancial institutions and even pension funds. The Railway Minister evensought to dig into MPLAD funds and state budgets. With low budgetarysupport for plan expenditure all the plans announced by him sound hollowand only an act of playing to the gallery. Imitating Modis vacuous style bycoining 4 goals, 5 drivers and 11 thrust areas, the Minister was woefullyshort of details of how to achieve them. In an attempt to mislead he comparedhis figures of plan expenditure with last year's, which was a year of planholiday.

Railway Budget reflects the deep economic crisis plaguing Indianeconomy in meagre allocations despite crying need for improvement inpassenger services by Indian railways. While lopsided emphasis has beenplaced on some select routes, the plight of passengers has been increasingon major passenger routes. Lack of adequate coaches force overcrowdingto the physical extreme. There has been little increase in railway connectivitywith only 20% of the routes added over the last 67 years since 1947. TheUnion Minister has not announced any new train or increase in frequencyof existing trains despite severe passenger load on a number of routes

which shows utter disregard for the concerns of common people. Theexpenditure on passenger comfort and safety is minimal while all theservices like catering including base kitchens, modernization of stations,dedicated freight corridors etc. are being privatized. Modi Govt. hasoutsourced all plans of development including that of railways to privateplayers.

Union Minister has not announced any increase in passenger fares toavoid public anger. However, over 6000 crore rupees increase in freightcharges has been affected in the name of slab adjustment. The increaseaffects iron ore and steel (0.8%), 6.3% is the increase in coal movementand an increase in freight rates for grains and pulses by 10%. This isbound to result in increase in prices of essential commodities. Modi Govt.had also affected sharpest ever increase in passenger fares and freightcharges last year. This had resulted in lowering passenger traffic anddecrease in railways share in freight transportation. While crude priceshave fallen steeply in the world market, this fall has not been transferredby Modi Govt. to the people. Govt. cited increase in these prices for affectingincrease in fares and in freight charges but fares have not been reduceddespite sharp fall in their prices. Moreover, Railway Minister has not madeany commitment not to further increase fares or freight charges during theyear, a practice which has become a norm over the years.

Union Minister has announced speed enhancement on certain routesbut with low investment on new tracks, track maintenance and repairs, thiswould only be either merely an announcement or an invitation to increasedaccidents. Railway Ministers announcement of increasing axel load i.e.load per carriage, is also a recipe for increasing load on already poorlymaintained tracks and smacks of a mentality of short term results whileincreasing long term liability.

Railway Budget for 2015-16 shows utter contempt of Modi Govt. towardsthe problems faced by the people. the issue is not the bankruptcy of railwaysbut bankruptcy of Modi Govt. which only parrots private funding as panaceafor all ills. Technology from abroad and funds from corporate may havepropelled Modi to power but cannot propel the growth engine of the countrynor can address problems of Indian people.

(Issued by the Central Committee, CPI(ML)-New Democracy onFebruary 26, 2015)



NEW DEMOCRACY

15 16

Union Budget 2015-'16Ashish Mital

This years Union Budget and Economic Survey once again exposedeep economic crisis, falling revenue receipts, decreasing plan expenditureand decreasing expenditure on welfare schemes. The Hindu Rashtra ofBJP is determined, as was its predecessor Govt, to continue on the pathof destroying agriculture, depriving people of their livelihood and basic rightsand granting more concessions to foreign MNCs and domestic corporate.Ruining peoples economy and productivity and crude exploitation of nature,cheap labour power and markets continues. It is driven by corporate hungerfor dollars. Its benchmarks remain FDI and Forex and the Sensex is itsmain monitor.

The Budget displays total lack of concern for the needs of the poor andlabouring masses. With lower tax collections and sluggish domestic demandthe Finance Minister has changed the GDP calculation methodology andbase year to project a 7.4 % growth rate. He has taken the excuse ofdrastic reduction of fiscal space and burdened the poor and middleclasses. Modi Govt. has tried to pay back its corporate patrons by grantingthem several benefits.

Revenue Deficit, Decrease in Plan Expenditure, False claims ofHigh Growth Rate and Concessions to the Corporate and Rich

Total budgeted tax collections are estimated to be Rs 14,49,490 crores.Of these Rs 4,70,628 cr will come from Corporate while Rs 9,78,862 cr arenon corporate taxes, i.e. the amount taxed from the people. Of this twothirds, i.e. Rs 6,47,164 cr comes from indirect taxes, the burden of whichis much more on common people.

Non-plan expenditure of Rs. 13.12 lakh crores is more than central shareof taxes and non-tax revenue of the Govt. So the Govt. has to borrowmoney even to manage its routine expenses. The plan expenditure of theGovt. is about Rs 1,09,723 crores less than last year. It is Rs 2,200 croreless than even the Revised Estimate of last year, or what was spent out ofthe budgeted plan last year. This pattern of budgeting more and spendingless continues year after year. It is meant to present a good picture of the

economy and project the govts willingness to spend on plans during thebudget presentation and then to spend less and manage the deficit. InFY13 the govt spent 20% less than it had budgeted and in FY14, 18%less. The govt. has obviously claimed that the economy is good. But forthe first time the absolute amount of plan expenditure has been reducedand this exposes the limitations of the govt. to plan any modules of growthand development.

Union Budget reflects a deep economic crisis with the revenue deficitalone running to 2.8%. Even while the revenue tax collections were notmatching up, Mr Jaitely made tall claims of a 7.4% growth rate. This explainswhy immediately after coming out of parliament the govt. embarked onraising tax collection from fuel tax hike, nailing the lie in Mr. Jaitelys claim.The good picture is actually to further accelerate the very policies whichare responsible for this crisis and which will deepen it further with this fuelprice rise. The govt. has announced several allocations which are obviouslybogus and it has no intention to implement them.

Interestingly the Economic Survey had already proposed increasedtaxation on fossil fuels including petrol and diesel. This along with upwardrevision of freight charges in the Railway budget will have a chain effect onprices of all commodities, including essential commodities, particularly theworking class and other poor and it will also directly burden the peasantryand agricultural operations.

While Revised Estimate of Corporate tax collections this (FY15) year isRs 4,26,079 cr, it is estimated to be 4,70,628 crores in FY16. In thebudget speech the Finance Minister stated that effective collection ofcorporate tax is about 23%, meaning thereby that remaining tax amountingto 7 % are not paid. He explained that this has to be exempted due topressure groups and litigation. So he has reduced corporate taxes from30 % to 25%, @ 1% reduction per year, without explaining how this willprevent pressure groups and litigation. The total corporate income this yearhas been around Rs 20 lakh crores, of which at the rate of 30% per annum,total tax dues are around 6 lakh crores. Now each year for 5 years they willget additional tax relief of Rs 20,000 crores which at the end of 5 years willbe an annual relief of Rs 1 lakh crore. This had actually been a long standingdemand of the corporate houses and MNCs which has now been granted.But no relief has been given to salaried class tax payers. There are 3.5 crIncome Tax payers in the country.



NEW DEMOCRACY

17 18

Concessions to the corporate bodies in terms of revenue foregone havebeen almost 4 to 5 times higher than the total subsidies given by the govt.for the poor over the years. In FY14 it was Rs. 5,72,923 crores whilesubsidies were Rs 2,20,972 crores (Fertilizer 65972 crores, Food 90,000crores and Petroleum 65000 crores). The Revenue foregone/ total subsidiesin crore rupees for FY13 were 5,66,235/ 1,79,554, for FY12 were 5,33,563/1,34,211, for FY11 were 4,59,705/ 1,08,667 and for FY10 were 4,82,432/1,05,579.

It is also interesting to note the rise in interest payments made by theGOI on previous loans taken to cover up the fiscal deficit. In FY14 it wasRs 3,70,684 crores, in FY15 it was Rs 4,27,011 crores while this year,FY16 it is Rs 4,56,145 crores. This 4.56 lakh crores is out of a totalexpenditure of Rs 17,7 crores, or more than 25%.

This Budget has taken another big step to help big corporate houses,including foreign investors. Under the head of Major Challenges it statesthat With private investments in infrastructure via the PPP mode still weak,public investment needs to step in, to catalyze investment, in Para 18 ofthe budget speech; Manufacturing has declined from 18% to 17% of GDPand manufacturing exports have remained stagnant at 10% of GDP inpara 19; The PPP mode of infrastructure development has to be revisitedand revitalized. The major issue involved is rebalancing of risk. Ininfrastructure projects, the sovereign will have to bear a major part of therisk without, of course, absorbing it entirely in Para 47. Obviouslydevelopment and infrastructure have been largely left to the private sectorthrough PPP mode, even while admitting failure of PPP mode ininfrastructure. The FM has now proposed that the Govt. will take major rolein PPP enterprises, to absorb their risks, thus enhancing private profits atthe cost of social deficit. FM also said that along with routine disinvestments,Public sector ports could be privatized by turning them into companies.

Small BusinessIn comparison, small businesses, constituting 5.77 cr units, have been

given an extremely short shrift. They are the second biggest employersafter agriculture and they are generally suffering from lack of credit andmarket support. The budget has provided them with a PM Mudra Yojnafund. But this will have only Rs 3000 cr for credit, i.e. @ Rs 520 perenterprise. 62% of these enterprises are of SC/ST and OBC. According to

a TOI report, NSSO data shows that these setups employ on an average 2persons including the owner, i.e. cater to a population of 25 to 30 crores.They have fixed assets, on an average of Rs 2 lakhs, 30% are engaged insome manufacturing, 34% in services and 36% in trading.

The Budget made several announcements to create an impression ofhuge plan outlay. But most of them are for a distant future, again provingthat the Govt. is bankrupt. For the energy sector five ultra large powerprojects of 4000 MW each, known to cause big displacement and seriousenvironmental damage, are planned though no fund has been allotted, whilethey may require more than a lakh crore rupees. Similarly several socialwelfare schemes are to be fulfilled by 2022, 3 years after next dueparliamentary elections. These are a roof over every family, a toilet forevery household, round the clock power supply, clean water for every house,an economic opportunity for one person in every family, medical facilitiesin every village, upgrading of 75,000 Junior schools to Senior secondarylevel and 80,000 secondary schools to facilitate skill development.

Similarly the Jan Dhan Yojna implemented with opening of 10 craccounts on a single day has a very small allocation from the govt and ismainly dependent on Public Sector Banks.

Modi Govt. has demonstrated its comprehensive bankruptcy in meetingthe aspirations of the people of the country.

Measures to woo Foreign Investments and boost the ShareMarkets

The FM was so obsessed with foreign investors that he used the wordinvestors 60 times in the 95 minute speech. He introduced several measuresto grant them relief from paying taxes, from being made accountable foravoiding taxes and in terms of repatriation of profits and investments made,etc.

a. GAAR (General Anti Avoidance Rules) will be postponed by twomore years and would apply only to prospective investments on orafter April, 1, 2017. That means till then the investors can continue touse loopholes in the law to avoid paying dues of govt. taxes. Vodafonewas stuck with one such tax fraud, which the BJP govt. waived. Now,Cairns is facing another such tax notice. Mr. Jaitely's logic is thatGAAR would create panic in share markets. When GAAR was



NEW DEMOCRACY

19 20

introduced, several FIIs and MNCs threatened to pull out theirinvestments as the law gave GOI tax authorities the right to scrutinizetheir deals which had been structured to avoid taxes.

b. The govt has also clarified that the Foreign Portfolio Investors,FPIs, would not have to pay Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT). MAT islevied on companies which show book profit, but claim depreciationand other exemptions to bring down their taxable income substantially,even to zero. Such book keeping to avoid paying tax was taken careof by imposing a MAT of 18.5% on the book profits shown initiallywhile declaring dividends. Earlier this year the Tax department hadissued notices to several FPIs, this year beginning, triggering a panic.

c. The govt. has also made it easier for foreign fund managers toestablish shops in India by doing away with the earlier requirement ofhaving a Permanent Establishment in India. Now foreign funds canoperate from here with just a manager. Along with the Double TaxationAvoidance Treaty, this measure will help foreign companies to avoidpaying taxes out of incomes they generate from Indian share markets.

d. Mr Jaitely announced that difference between FII and FDI havebeen removed. FDI was a direct investment in production and theinvestments made could not be withdrawn up to a certain time andrepatriation of profits too had limitations. This now means more freedomto investors to repatriate their profits earned here. FIIs are institutionalfunds, like mutual funds, which generally invested in the share marketand could withdraw freely. With differences between two removed,the foreign investors will not, any more, be bound to invest in production.So all the benefits of foreign investments propagated by ruling classes,that they will increase manufacturing, industry and create jobs is abig hoax. This diversion to and increase in share market investmentis an attempt to increase extraction of surplus from value alreadycreated, allowing MNCs to milk the existing enterprises rather thaninvest and create new ones. Neither it will bring in new technology,nor increase production, nor create any new value.

e. Rules for FIIs setting up shop in India too have been relaxed. Theyhave been allowed to invest in Alternate Investment Funds (AIF) toavoid taxation. They claim that this will help in procedures. AlternativeInvestment Funds, AIF, were pooled in investment vehicles for real

estate, private equity and hedge funds. The single biggest benefit tothem is that foreign venture capital and portfolio investments will notbe taxed in India. Also a lot of funds for MNCs and Indian corporatewill be available for real estate investments, Smart Cities, IndustrialCorridors etc.

f. GST, Goods and services tax, will now be implemented by April 1,2016. This will become an internationally competitive tax regime withoutexemptions. It will benefit those who are part of corporate chain,avoiding taxation on intermediaries and will be harmful to smallproducers and small business.

g. Taxes on technical services sought from abroad have been cutfrom 25% to 10%.

h. Black Money: Modi Govts. claim that it would bring back blackmoney stashed abroad has been virtually ruled out with the Budgetonly rolling out measures to prevent black money generation througha proposed act. The FM repeated the Congress Govt.s refrain aboutagreements with foreign countries, a bogus alibi to protect owners ofblack money. Further Mr. Jaitley proposed that off-shore companieswill not forego such status even if they operate from the country.

Earlier the Economic Survey had laid emphasis on providing subsidiesto industry, lowering cost of capital and creating SEZs for some or allmanufacturing. With agriculture at about 13% of GDP and manufacturing ataround 17%, it is obvious that in a developing country like ours, nearly70% of the economy (GDP) comes from sectors which are neither majoremployers nor a big source of basic value generation.

Social SectorThe approach to social sector was highlighted in the Economic Survey.

It questioned passenger fare subsidy in Railways which, according to it,amounts to Rs 51,000 crores when bottom 80% of households constituteonly 28.1 % of the passengers through fare; Rs 1.29 lakh crore food subsidywhen 15% of PDS rice and 54% of PDS wheat is lost as leakage; Rs33,000 cr sugar subsidy when 48% of sugar is lost as leakage; Rs 20,415cr Kerosene subsidy when 41% is lost as leakage; Rs 32,300 cr in electricitysubsidy when only 10% of the total electricity subsidy is used by lowerconsumption households.



NEW DEMOCRACY

21 22

Voicing concern about rationalizing subsidies, Mr Jaitely targeted themthrough cash transfer schemes. These schemes puts a lot of pressure onthe poor who have to pay high prices first before receiving the subsidy, ifthey do. It also leads to general rise in cost of food and fertilizers.

a. Social Sector spending has been reduced substantially. Severalanalysis have appeared regarding reduction in spending on Govt.ssocial spending. Data from one reads as under: MGNREGA spendingis marginally up (down considering market wage rate) from Rs 34,000crores to Rs 34,699 crores; Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheriesdown by Rs. 683 crores; for land resources down by Rs 2122 crores;Ministry of Textiles down by Rs 1308 crores, School Education andLiteracy down by Rs 12,790 crores; Women and Child Developmentdown by Rs 10,813 crores; Drinking water and Sanitation down by Rs9,024 crores; Rural Development down by Rs 8,401 crores; PanchayatRaj down by Rs 6,906 crores; Health and Family Welfare down by Rs6,096 crores; Agriculture and Cooperatives down by Rs 5,663 crores;Higher Education down by Rs 1,045; Ministry of Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises down by Rs 714 crores; and so on. Another articlesaid that allotment for Tribal sub-plan is down by Rs 13,000 croresand SC sub-plan down by 20,000 crores. On Health sector only taxincentives have been increased in order to increase money flow fromthe middle class to private hospitals and drug industry.

b. The total subsidy bill is down by more than 10% from 2,53,913 crto 2,27,000 cr. Fuel subsidy is down from Rs 60,270 crores in FY15to Rs 30,000 crores in FY16. Allotment for LPG subsidy is Rs 22,000crores, Rs 8000 crores for kerosene and Rs 1,24,419 cr for food.

Agriculture and Retail Trade SectorRural India, particularly rural poor have been given a raw deal. Despite

rising indebtedness and continuing suicides by farmers there is no reliefon input prices while farm credit has been raised to Rs. 8.5 lakh crore.This actually is a declaration of bank credit policy, not a budget. NowMGNREGA coverage will go down further. Total Rural development budgetis only Rs 79,526 crores which includes MGNREGA funds of Rs 34,699crores. This is a pittance for the nearly 70% rural people. The problem ofrural poor and backwardness of the countryside has been left unansweredwhile making meagre allocation to irrigation and other development works.

It includes Rs 5300 crores of PM Gramin Sichai Yojna which is to promotea per drop more crop plan with possible emphasis on the costly dripirrigation program. Disregard of the peasant masses along with seriousdrive to forcibly displace them from land and livelihood is another messageof this Budget.

The Economic Survey stated that agriculture grew only at 1.1% lastyear though 49% workforce works in it and that grain output this year islikely to drop from 265.5 mt last year to 257.7 mt this year. It recommendedaggressive liquidation of food grain stocks. It also recommendedinvestments in farm R&D, mechanization and irrigation but not of reducinginput costs to bail out farmers who will suffer from sliding prices.

The Economic Survey further recommended FDI in Retail Sectoremphasis of which should be on removing fruits and vegetables from APMCand persuade state govts to provide policy support for infrastructure makingavailable land for alternate markets in private sector. It has alsorecommended liberalization of FDI in retail to fill the massive deficit ininvestment and infrastructure which results in supply chain inefficiency.This will move these commercial crops initially into the corporate sector asthe Govts. have been unable to push privatization of entire APMC so fardue to resistance from farmers.

Transfers to States and Union TerritoriesShare of states and UTs in central tax pool has been raised from 32%

to 42%. It will be Rs 5.24 lakh crores. According to one analysis this hasgone up by Rs 1.36 lakh crores while central plan assistance to statesunder various heads has gone down by Rs 1.34 lakh crores. This showsthat net transfer to states has only gone up by Rs 2000 crores.

According to a TOI report, net transfer to states and UTs in FY15 BudgetEstimates (BE) was Rs 7,78,966 crores which in current year has beenraised to Rs 8,42,963 crores i.e. a raise of Rs 63,997 crores only. Thesocial schemes are now divided into category A,B,C in which A is totallycentrally funded, B is funded jointly by both and C only by states. Thisreport states that the total transfers last year were higher than has beenallotted this year by Rs 2,226 crores.



NEW DEMOCRACY

23 24

NSSO Agricultural Survey 2012-13 (70th Round)

Attack on Agriculture

cannot be concealed

Aparna

On 19th December 2014, the NSSO released its Situation AssessmentSurvey of Agricultural Households for Crop Year 2012-13, conducted throughthe period Jan 2013 to December 2013. Such surveys, conducted everydecade by NSSO, are supposed to be an attempt to capture the situationof agricultural households. While several types of figures have beenpresented by the survey, they call for interpretation against the overallsituation. For instance, the Survey has stated that a mere 39.5% of ruralhouseholds are dependent on agriculture as the maximum source of income.How should this figure be assessed? many commentators have seizedon it to say that it reflects that the Indian peasantry is no longer the largestsection of people, that India is no longer a predominantly agricultural country,that land hunger is not the principal and emotive issue of our countryside,that the peasants are no longer the main force of struggle for revolutionarychange. What would be the factual interpretation?

The NSSO Survey 2012-13For this Survey, 35,200 households were surveyed in the first round

and of these 34,907 were resurveyed. This is out of a total of 15.61 crorerural households in the country.

The Survey states that 57.8% of rural households (according to the2011 Census, rural area houses 68.8% of the population of India) wereengaged in farming, which contributes not even 60% to their averagemonthly income.

57.8% rural households work out to 9.2 crore rural households out of atotal of 15.61 crore. These have been termed agricultural, whereagricultural is defined as at least one member being self employed infarming either in principal or subsidiary status during the last 365 days and

whose value of agricultural produce is more than 3000 rupees. The termself employed means that they work on their own land and that, of thegamut of agricultural workers (who are landless or small peasant / marginalpeasant primarily), a large section has been dismissed from the categoryof agricultural households. Of these 9.2 crore (92 million) households, 45%were OBC and 13% ST households.

Even within this 57.8% (or 9.2 crore) agricultural households only 68.3%reported farming as a principal source of income i.e. a mere 39.5% of ruralhouseholds are shown to be dependent on agriculture as a maximum sourceof income. This figure may be representing that peasantry which has beendeemed by surveyors to have produce worth more than 3000 rupees.However this is not to deny the severe crisis which agricultural householdsin India are facing. The desperate situation of Indias peasantry where only40% of area is irrigated; where costs of inputs are back breaking and theprice of output (when taken to the market; a large section subsist on theproduce) low; where crops are subject to weather vagaries with govt. reliefa drop in the ocean of debts owed to mostly non institutional sources. It isno wonder that the National Crime Records Bureau has recorded 2,96,438peasant suicides between 1995 2012 (years of new economic policies,WTO and globalization, with their deadly impact on agriculture) or 45 suicidesper day. Those working on GM seeds have brought out a fact which hasreceived less than needed attention that these seeds have forced theneed for peasantry to have cash to procure seeds for every crop.

According to the Survey, net receipts from cultivation and raising animalsaccounted for 59.8% of the average Indian agricultural familys monthlyincome. The remaining income was from wage / salaried employment, non-farm business, other sources (dividends, interests, remittances etc). Thusstill agricultural activities (cultivation along with livestock rearing) arereported to be the principal source of income for majority of agriculturalhouseholds in all major states. Only in Kerala, 61% of agriculturalhouseholds received maximum income from sources other than agriculturalactivity. Incidentally, Rajasthan is recorded as having the highest percentageof agricultural households in rural households (78.4%).

The Survey states that 90% of farmers have less than 2 hectare ofland. The figures are: less than 0.01 ha = 2.65%; 0.01-0.4 ha = 31.89%;0.41-1 ha = 34.9%; 1.01-2 ha = 17.19%; 2-4 ha = 9.35%; 4-10 ha = 3.66%



NEW DEMOCRACY

25 26

and 0.41% above 10 ha. The average monthly income per agriculturalhousehold is estimated at Rs. 6,426 (cultivation Rs. 3,078, wages or salaryRs. 2069 and the rest from other sources.)

More than half of the marginal farmers (56%) have less than 0.01hectares of land and are not relying on agriculture as a principal source ofincome. The survey does not specify if those surveyed in this categorywere agricultural workers or otherwise.

The households which possess 0.4 ha (i.e. one acre) of land claimedthat agriculture is the principal source of income for them. This is the sectionthat would be included in small peasant (i.e. less than 2.5 acres or onehectare) and which also must be doing some stint as agricultural labour.

Change in Definition ItselfThe earlier survey of agricultural households by NSSO was conducted

in its 59th round in 2003. However, at that time, agricultural householdswere defined as those possessing some land and the members engagingin agricultural activities throughout the year. While this too did not includeagricultural workers, it did not put in any clause about value of the produce.The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation cautioned in arelease on the current Survey in context to the 59th round, Due to changesin the coverage and difference in some important concepts and definitionsfollowed in this survey viz a viz the 59th round survey, the results of thetwo are not strictly comparable.

Another issue must also be recalled. While analyzing the 66th NSSOround "On employment" which reported a huge section of missing womenworkforce, many experts had pointed to the fact that contractual workerswere actually doing the survey, and they were unable to nuance questionscorrectly. For instance, in context to the current Survey, the issue ofmigration must also be discussed the practice is, quite routinely, thatthose who seek employment in cities return to the villages in sowing andharvesting seasons. This itself indicates that in the villages are householdswhich look after the other operations concerned with agriculture. Wherewomen are carrying on routine agricultural operations, with the men migratingand returning to help with sowing and harvesting, would these householdshave been enumerated as agricultural or left out because the produce wasnot worth Rs. 3000 or were just not counted as doing any agriculture at all?

Most likely the fact that the men have migrated would ensure that thesurveyors would not pursue the question whether the women were engagedin agriculture. It is an accepted fact that a large section of agriculturaloperations are traditionally women's work, including sowing, transplantationof saplings, weeding, winnowing as well as the routine care of their crops.A constant criticism of census figures has been that even when womenwork on family land they are not classified as peasants. This also happensbecause women equate work on family fields as domestic work unlessspecifically questioned. Another documentation is that 58% of all maleworkers but 78% of all female workers and 88% of all rural female workersdepend on land. Secondly many families substantially consume their ownproduce. Thirdly how did the Survey evaluate whether the produce wasworth three thousand rupees or not? This additional qualification wouldhave played its role as a major distorter even in the hands of experiencedsurveyors.

The question arises, why did it become necessary to add value of produceas a qualifying factor for agricultural households? A theoretical ground isbeing created to show that India is moving away from agriculture usingfacts which actually prove that Govt. policies have created a serious crisisin agriculture. No doubt this is also to justify the attempts of successiveGovts. in both Centre and states to handover land and resources in thecountryside to corporate. In 1996, the World Bank suggested the demiseof agriculture. Many economists, including former PM Manmohan Singhtheorize that this is necessary for what they term development. Whateverdemise of agriculture is occurring is thanks to the policy framework. Hereis a single fact to show that agriculture has been given stepmotherlytreatment. The 11th plan budgetary support for agriculture was 1 lakh crore.In the 12th plan period it was 1.5 lakh crore. In 2014-15 it was only 24,000crore whereas industrial sector got tax concessions of 5.73 lakh crore forthe same period.

Thus those who are quoting this Survey and talking about the peasantryturning its back on agriculture and migrating for jobs must take into accountthe changed definition of agricultural households and the other factorsmentioned above. Financial Express (22 Dec. 2014) published an articleThere is less of Krishi in Bharat now which makes out that now rural isnot synonymous with agricultural and which relies on the 70th round NSSOsurvey. This does not capture the whole truth. Also much emphasis is laid



NEW DEMOCRACY

27 28

on agriculture giving 13.7% of GDP (2012-13) but not enough on the factthat over 60% India lives and works with it.

Worsening Agrarian SituationIn fact the latest survey has been spoken of as being a bitter reminder

that things have worsened for the peasantry in the ten years since the lastsurvey.

Take debts. Though formal credit flow has multiplied four times, butthere were no benefits for the small and marginal farmers (also refer RuralIndias Debt Profile (ET, 24th April). Nearly 52% agricultural householdsare indebted and the average amount of outstanding loan per agriculturalhousehold was Rs. 47,000. Levels of debt were as high as 92.9% (proportionof indebted agricultural households) in Andhra Pradesh, 89.1% in Telengana,61.8% in Rajasthan, 57.5% in Odisha, 53.2% in Punjab, 51.5% in W. Bengaland 42.5% in Bihar, to name a few states.

On sources of credit, there is high dependence on non institutionalchannels. The distribution of outstanding loans of agricultural householdsby sources of loans is Banks 42.9%, agri / professional Money Lenders25.8%, Cooperative loans 14.8%, Relatives and friends 9.1%, shopkeepersor traders 2.9%, landlord 0.8% and others 1.6%. Marginal landowners suffermaximally with only 15% credit from Institutional sources (govts, banks,co-ops.). For households with highest land class (more than 10 ha) thisfigure is 79%. These figures reflect how the large sections of peasantrycontinue to be in the grip of private money lenders while Govt.'s institutionalcredit goes to landlords and other big land owners. It is yet another exampleof how the bulk of Indian peasantry continues to be exploited and oppressedby the semifeudal agrarian relations.

After Gajendra Singhs suicide in Delhi, on 23rd April 2015 EconomicTimes recorded that 80% of peasantry has no crop insurance and 2/3 farmsin India were less than one hectare (2.5 acres) i.e. small (and marginal)peasants. The NSSO survey (70th round) shows that maximum peasantrywas not aware of MSP. Of those who were, less than half sold their cropsto agencies i.e. of those households reporting sale of paddy only 32%were aware of MSP and only 13.5% sold to procurement agencies (July toDecember 2012). Peasantry remains far removed from new technologiesand guidance by state research institutions. Most agricultural households

were unaware of crop insurance. 59% of agricultural households got noassistance from either govt. or private assistance services. Of the 40.6%who received extension assistance, only 11% came from physical govt.machinery (extension agents, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, agri. universities).Most peasants depended on other peasants who knew some programmes,on media (also radio) 19.6% and private commercial agents (7.4%).

While MSP is hardly applied, while it increased in three years by justRs. 50 per quintal every year, but now the Commission for Costs and Priceshas recommended to stop MSP. Only 8% benefit every year while 92%depend on private trade and are ruthlessly exploited. Punjab gets MSP,Bihar does not. Private traders desperately want that Punjab like Biharshould do distress sale. The Food Ministry has already directed state govts.to give no bonus above MSP.

MGNREGA gets higher budgetary support than agriculture (DevinderSharma, 24th Dec. 2014). But the Survey also records that 44% of totalagricultural households have MGNREGA cards. Only 38% in the lowestland class (less than 0.01 ha) have these cards.

Census 2001 & 2011The 2001 Census recorded 127.3 million cultivators (85 million men, 42

million women) and 107 million agricultural labour (57 million men, 50 millionwomen). The 2011 Census recorded that the number of cultivators haddecreased from 127.3 million to 118.6 million but the number of agriculturallabour rose from 107 million to 144.3 million. Thus the number of peopleinvolved in agriculture rose from 234.6 million to 262.9 million. (2011 censusspecified that 14% women and 3.2% males accounting for 8.6 million leftfarming whether they left or were pushed into landless peasantry isanother matter). The 2011 Census also states that in the past fifty years,the decrease in the number of cultivators is not significant as populationgrowth has decreased.

The agricultural census 2010 11 showed that operational holdingsincreased in India from 2001 to 2011 from 119.9 million to 137.7 million. Itactually decreased in three categories large, medium and semi medium but in small and marginal categories increased by 8.8% and 22.4%

Rise in total operational holdings are primarily due to increase in marginal



NEW DEMOCRACY

29 30

farmers (in fact 95% rise is due to this). Yet marginal holdings are only35.4 million hectare out of 159.1 million hectare of cultivable land in 2010 '11. Actually total acreage of land under cultivation shrank by 0.16% in thisperiod. The census figures actually underline the crying need for land reformsin India.

Disparity in Live Stock Counts tooThe NSSO survey has recorded that 23% agricultural households depend

on live stock as the prime source of income. However, there is a hugedisparity in the numbers in this NSSO survey and those of the 19th LivestockCensus (figure drawn from Down to Earth, 2nd Jan 2015).

Census 2012-13 NSSO (2013)

(millions) (millions)

1. Cattle 190 135

2. Buffalo 108 69

3. Thus Bovine (1+2) 299 204

4. Poultry 729 225

5. Sheep & Goat 200 99

The Livestock Census was released in Sept 2014. The trends depictedare also different. NSSO surveys show that sheep, goat and pigs comparedwith 2003 survey have increased. (Sheep and goat from 95 million to 99million and pigs from 5 to 6 millions). The census said there was a decrease;sheep and goat went from 211 million in 2007 to 200 million and pigs from11.2 million to 10.2 million. Several writers have commented that suchdiscrepancies have happened before but ministries could not care less.Others say the difference is due to seasons goats and poultry fall duringfestivals! If nothing else, these arguments underline how difficult it is to donumerical census and the need for trained personnel who can extract theaccurate situation.

Three lakh peasants committed suicide in the past 17 years this isthe recorded number merely and this is linked to agriculture becoming

uneconomical due to govts policies. Peasantry is under tremendouspressure to abandon agriculture and migrate to other occupations.Successive Central and States' Govts' hope this will drive them to give uptheir lands for acquisition. Govts. are servitors of land sharks and realestate barons and this is true across the gamut of ruling class politicalparties. Yet the peasantry including the tribals is fighting over every inchof land. This is not symptomatic of a people who are abandoning agricultureas the NSSO makes out.

Economic Times (Delhi) on 24th April 2015 tried to capture the grimreality of the crisis in agrarian sector due to the sudden changes in weatherthis March and April. One commentator (Madhvi Sally) forecast that 2/3 ofthe population which depends directly or indirectly on agriculture will be hitby a weak monsoon. Successive Central Govts earlier Manmohan Singhsand now Modis - found out the hard way that it is no cakewalk to force landacquisition. One of the chief issues which has hit the Modi Govt is theallegation of being anti peasant when he tried to fiddle with the landacquisition law. It is not only because the parliamentary opposition raisedthis issue they only seized on the anger which was anyway present.Ruling class parties had earlier seen this anger when they attempted forcibleacquisitions the changes brought in the Land Acquisition Law in 2013 byUPA were no act of charity. The suicide by a farmer in Delhi in April 2015,in whatever circumstances, struck an echo across India and this was thematerial reason why corporate darling Modi had to talk of mistakes andadmit the problems of the peasantry. Is the mood of the country one ofsorrow and anger at the crisis in agriculture or is this an issue which seemsto concern only a periphery of the people?



NEW DEMOCRACY

31 32

AIKMS Dharna Against Land Acquisition Amendment Ordinance

Peasants vow to defeatModi govt.s attempts to

take their landAll India Kisan Mazdoor Sabhas

(AIKMS) campaign against ModiGovt. s efforts to forciblydispossess peasants from theirland and hand over their land toMNCs, domestic corporate and realestate mafia reached capital Delhion April 24th 2015. AIKMS organizeda big Dharna at Jantar Mantar,Parliament Street to protest againstLand Acquisition (Amendment)Ordinance which was re-

promulgated by Modi Govt. on April 3, 2015. Modi Govts Ordinance seeksto undo the changes which were incorporated in the land acquisition law byUPA Govt. by LARR 2013 and in effect restores the colonial Land AcquisitionAct, 1894. AIKMS has launched a countrywide campaign against this attackby Modi Govt.

Around 2,500 activists took part in the Dharna. They were drawn fromten states- Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telengana, Odisha, AndhraPradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and West Bengal.Participants in the Dharna included leaders and activists from a number ofanti-displacement movements- from Anti-Vedanta movement in Niyamgiriand anti-Posco movement from Odisha, Anti-Polavaram struggle fromTelengana and AP, from movements against thermal power plants andcoastal corridor in AP, from anti- thermal power plant and anti smart citystruggles in Allahabad (UP), from anti-displacement movements in Punjaband also from Maharashtra.

The day long Dharna started with the activists marching to the bedecked

AIKMS SecretaryCom. Ashish Mital

Addressing theDharna

A view of Dharna(Activists from

Punjab)

Another view ofDharna (Activists

from Odishaalong with

participants fromother states)



NEW DEMOCRACY

33 34

Dharna site in two large rallies from the railway station. Soon the Dharnasite was packed with slogan shouting participants. Many women peasantsand activists including from among tribals of Niyamgiri, Telengana and UPparticipated.

The programme started at 11 AM with AIKMS General Secretary Com.Sushanta Jha taking the stage. Com. Ashish Mital, secretary AIKMS,informed the shocked gathering of the death of one Adivasi activist fromAllahabads Karchana tehsil, Com. Shail Kumari, who fell off the train whilecoming to participate in the Dharna. She was an AIKMS activist who hadparticipated in a number of local struggles. Participants paid homage toCom. Shail Kumari by observing a minutes silence in her memory. Com.Rama Rao (Arunodaya) sang a song in the memory of martyrs.

The protest Dharna began with rousing slogans No Industry, Nourbanization, No Smart City, No Thermal Power Plants on Agricultural Land,No Land to Multinational Companies. Raising their fists and red flagsprotestors demanded, Withdraw the New Land Acquisition AmendmentOrdinance. Slogans were raised against acquisition of agricultural landand a variety of other issues related to peasantry. The pitch on ParliamentStreet was set on, Our movements forced out the British Land AcquisitionLaw. We stand for No to the Ordinance, No to Forced Displacement.The leaders of the Central Executive Committee of AIKMS and of the antidisplacement struggles were called on to the dais.

First AIKMS General Secretary, Com. Sushanta Jha explained theretrograde and anti farmer changes being made by the BJP Govt. in theLand Acquisition Law of 2013. He condemned the Ordinance and demandedits withdrawal. He explained that all clauses of making social impactassessment, environment assessment, bar on taking over irrigated multicrop land, were annulled by the ordinance. Drawing upon the incident of afarmers suicide in full public view on 22nd April 2015 at Jantar Mantar hesaid it only shows the deep crises facing the peasantry. Failure of BJPGovt. to ease their burden by waiving their debts and by reducing highinput costs and only indulging in blame game exposes its anti farmer rule.He raised the demand to decrease input prices, to grant adequate return insale of crops, to develop agricultural infrastructure especially dig deepponds and canals to guarantee irrigation and to develop the purchasingcapacity of peasantry including the tribals.

Thereafter the leaders representing various ongoing anti displacementmovements addressed the gathering. The leader of anti Vedanta struggleHaribandu Kadraka and leader of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti PrashantPaikray explained how they are continuing their struggle despite continuousattacks by the govt. and the agents of the companies. They opposed theordinance, vowed not to give up their land and appealed for all movementsto come on to one platform.

Leader of the movement to Stop Polavaram, Com K Rangaiah, explainedthat more than 2.7 lakh people will be displaced by Polavaram; that thisproject is being built in the name of irrigation, but most of the land to beirrigated is already irrigated; that this project will transfer Godavari water toKrishna basin and it will ultimately be used for industrial and coastal corridor.

Com. M. Durga Prasad spoke of the ill effects of A.P. Govt.'s plan tobuild a cluster of Thermal Power Plants at the cost of agriculture, fishingand peoples life, of the impact of ash pollution and how people foughtagainst the Kakrapalli plant as it would have destroyed their livelihood. Healso explained that lakhs of acres of agricultural land are being taken overin coastal regions for building the coastal corridor, petrochemical industrialregion and for building a new capital.

Ex MLA of CPI(ML)-New Democracy from Yellandu (Telangana), ComG Narsaiah, also addressed the gathering highlighting how the newTelangana govt is not fulfilling the promise to oppose Polavaram and isbent on allowing transfer of 7 mandals to AP to facilitate the constructionof the dam.

KKU Punjab President Com Nirbhai Singh said that in Gobindpura 850acres of land was taken over for establishing a Thermal Power Plant andTrident was taking over land for new industries. People led by Ujara VirodhiSangharsh Samiti, Punjab, opposed these en mass, were injured in theprotests, had cases foisted against thousands, they went to jail also, butthe land was taken over. Yet no industry or plant has come up while peopledisplaced are facing extreme hardships.

Com Ram Kailash Kushwaha spoke on behalf of the Taap BijligharVirodhi Manch formed against three TPPs in Allahabad. He highlighted thefacts of each plant taking over thousands of acres of land, burning tens ofthousand quintals of coal, producing upto 60,000 to 1 lakh quintals of ash



NEW DEMOCRACY

35 36

per day and consuming more than 12 to 18 crore litres of river water perday each to dry up the rivers and destroy life of villages along the river. Hesaid though even the HC has annulled one plants land acquisition the govtis not willing to give up and is forcing the people to leave. He said peopleare struggling and they even blocked the New Delhi Howrah rail route tooppose the plant.

Leader of anti NEPA struggle of Moradabad, Com. Dharampal Singh,explained how the govt took over about 900 acres of land of 4 villages in1989 for a paper plant, then sold it to Birlas at 15 times the cost ofacquisition, and now despite 26 years having passed the land is lying vacant.The only development Birlas did was to try and build a nursery, which thepeople uprooted.

A message was received from Konkan Bachao Samiti opposing Nuclearpower plant at Jaitapur (Maharashtra), extending its support to the Dharnaand the issues raised here.

The gathering was addressed by special guest, Com. Aparna fromCPIML-New Democracy from Delhi who lambasted the govt. policy of sellingIndias natural wealth and depriving the people of their valuable livelihoodresource in the name of development of industrial production. She highlightedthat one third of the installed production capacity is lying idle as exportmarkets are in crises and Indian markets stagnant. She asked why 63% ofland acquired for SEZs is still lying unused and why more Thermal PowerPlants are being built when 1 lakh MW of capacity is lying unused. Shereminded the Govt that peasants struggles against forcible displacementhad forced UPA Govt. to make changes in the colonial land acquisition lawand said these peasant struggles will consign BJP Govt.s effort to resurrectthat law to the dustbin.

AIKMS CEC members Ram Briksh Ram from Bihar and Dev Rao fromMaharashtra castigated the govt. for accentuating the already grave crisisfacing Indian agriculture at the behest of foreign and domestic corporate,to grant them windfalls in real estate and cheap mineral resources andprovide them with cheap labour power. Uprooting peasantry will increasethe food crises, food inflation, hunger and destitution and suicides bypeasants and agricultural labour they asserted.

CEC member Com. Bhalachandra drew upon the various anti-

displacement struggles to explain the importance of bringing all thesestruggles on a common platform and how after several tribals and peasantslaid down their lives and militantly defended their land, the UPA Govt. wasforced to partly retrace its steps of capturing the peoples resources forcorporate development. He called upon the Govts. to stop lodging falsecases, arresting, conducting false encounters of peasant movementactivists and deploying Para Military forces against peasants struggles.He said that compensations paid to the displaced is always several timeslower than the market rates of land and never affords any respectableexistence. Jobs are never provided and people work in abysmal conditionsat extremely low wages.Social contacts and cultural life are destroyed.

Com Prabhu Dayal from Rajasthan explained that the Rajasthan Govt.has not provided any safeguards to farmers and even irrigation security isnot maintained. He highlighted the struggle of farmers for this and againstforceful acquisitions of land for urban clusters.

National Secy Com. Ashish Mital highlighted the new plan to hand overcities like Allahabad to US MNCs through the USTDA, the new plan forriver ghats made of concrete which will uproot several hundred villagesand river bed farmers and fishermen. He explained how SP govt and JanataParivar speak of taking farmers' consent but their Govt. has unleashed themost brutal terror few days back on tribal and dalit peasants, women andchildren in Kanhar, Sonbhadra. He said, like BSP, SP too is taking overfarmers' land for various urbanization programmes resulting in growth ofmafia and builders. He attacked BJPs posing of being pro peasantry andsaid its anti people character is clear from all its claims. For irrigationcanals, rural houses and roads no acquisition is necessary. He said thetruth is Narendra Modi ke Man ki Bat, Corporate ka Saath, Kisano ko Lat.He criticized the BJPs drama of Jandhan and said they are only emptyaccounts, like the empty stomachs of their owners. BJP is fooling thepeople by talking of development while in essence it is being done only inorder to hand over land, water and mineral resources to MNCs, create newcities, develop real estate havens for builders and mafia, etc. He saidpeasants have reiterated their resolve to fight back the BJP govts offensiveand not give up their lands.

Convenor of Janhastakshep, Delhi, Prof Ish Misra and Dr Qamruzammanfrom West Champaran also addressed the gathering and exhorted them to



NEW DEMOCRACY

37 38

firmly resist forced takeover of their land. All speakers expressed theirresolve to fight back this Ordinance and forced displacement resolutely.

A memorandum to the Honble President of India demanding withdrawalof the Ordinance was read out and submitted.

Several participants presented songs of the peasants struggles. Theyincluded veteran Arunodaya leader Rama Rao, Srinivas from AP, PyaraSingh and Succha Singh from Punjab, Ramnath Singh from EastChamparan, Ram Vilas Paswan from Haridwar, Dharampal Singh of UPand Gyanendra and his team from JNU. These songs expressed thedetermination of peasants to save their land from being handed over tocorporate by the Govt. They hailed the supreme sacrifices of peasantsincluding tribals of Kalinga Nagar, Nandigram and numerous other antidisplacement struggles. They exposed the subservience of rulers to foreignexploiters and their Indian dalals. They decried the grant of their land,forests, water resources and mineral wealth to Corporate labeling them asenemies of people.

Com. Tarsem Peter, CEC member from Punjab and President of PMU,Punjab thanked the participants for their participation in the Dharna andexpressed resolve to continue the struggle for withdrawal of the Ordinanceand against forcible displacement.

A martyrs resolution was passed by the gathering paying homage tothose who had sacrificed their lives opposing forcible displacement due toacquisition of land and vowing to continue the struggle with the resolve toGive Lives, Not Land. Homage was also paid to those peasants who hadbeen forced to commit suicide during the continuing and intensifying crisesof agricultural production due to govt. apathy towards the problems of thepeasantry.

Changes in the new Land Acquisition

Ordinance are only to fool the people

( In the last issue of New Democracy (February 2015) we hadpublished an article on Land Acquisition Amendment Ordinancepromulgated by Modi Govt. in December 2014. That article dealt

with the changes made by Modi Govt. in LARR 2013. After its failureto get that Ordinance made into an Act, Modi Govt. has

repromulgated the Ordinance. Govt. has claimed that in the re-promulgated Ordinance it has addressed concerns expressed by

peasant organizations and other forces about the first Ordinance.Com. Bhalachandra who had written the earlier article published in

New Democracy, is here dealing with changes made in therepromulgated Ordinance. -Editor)

Narendra Modi Govt. is trying to sell its new Ordinance on LandAcquisition saying that it has accommodated the concerns of peasantorganizations and Opposition parties. However, Modi Govt. has only madecosmetic changes for the purpose of fooling the people while continuingwith the substantive changes to serve the interests of foreign and domesticcorporate, for the exploitation and plunder of the natural resources of thecountry. Obviously the peasant organizations opposing the amendedOrdinance have condemned these tricks of Narendra Corporate Modi Govt.and continue to oppose the Ordinance.

In the original Act of 2013 there was a provision for the determination ofsocial impact and public purpose before acquiring any land for a project.The Act made it mandatory that for land acquisition for public purpose, theGovernment Shall consult the local Panchayat or Municipal Corporationas the case may be and carry out Social Impact Assessment Study inconsultation with them. The notification for consultation and social impactassessment shall be made available in local language to the Panchayat,Municipality or Municipal Corporation. But on the contrary, the first Ordinancestated that these provisions will not apply for five broad categories ofprojects. Thus the Ordinance did away with the Social Impact Assessmentand need of consent of the people to be displaced which were central to



NEW DEMOCRACY

39 40

the 2013 Act.

The amendment in the first Ordinance meant that social impactassessment, food security assessment and consent of 80% (in case ofprivate companies) and 70% (in case of PPP projects) of land ownerswould not be required before acquiring land for projects like defense,industrial corridors, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and anyinfrastructure including social infrastructure in PPP mode.

But after facing pressure from different quarters, the Modi Govt in itslatest Ordinance, in the name of addressing the issue, only tried to fool thepeople once again. Instead of restoring the SIA provision it has only providedfor receiving the reference of the affected people under section 64 andafter giving notice of all such references to all parties concerned, holdingthe hearing in the district where the land acquisition takes place.

Similarly instead of restoring the provision of taking consent of 70%and 80% land owners in land acquisition for PPP and privately ownedinfrastructure projects, the Govt in its latest Ordinance has said, The landshall be acquired up to one Km on both sides of the designated railway lineor roads for such industrial corridor.

Facing criticism about the provision for acquisition of multi crop land,this new Ordinance has inserted The appropriate Govt shall, before theissue of the notification, ensure the extent of land for the proposedacquisition keeping in view the bare minimum land is required for suchprojects. The appropriate Govt shall undertake a survey of its waste landincluding the arid land and maintain a record containing the details of suchland in such manner as may be prescribed by the appropriate Govt. Thisis nothing but to hoodwink the people and it has not barred the acquisitionof agricultural land particularly the multi crop land.

Regarding the liability of the Government officials committing offencein the process of land acquisition, Section 87 of the 2013 Act provided that(i) Wherever an offence under this Act has been committed by anydepartment of the Government, the head of the department shall be deemedguilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punishedaccordingly. Section 87(ii) states that Where any offence under this Acthas been committed by a Department of the Government and it is provedthat the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, oris attributable to any neglect on the part of any officer, other than the head

of the department, such officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of thatoffence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punishedaccordingly. But in the first Ordinance this had been substituted by Wherean offence under this Act has been committed by any person who is or wasemployed in the Central Government or the state Government, as the casemay be, at the time of commission of such alleged offence, no court shalltake cognizance of such an offence except with the previous sanction ofthe appropriate Government. Through this amendment the Govt. had triedto protect the officials who commit offence in land acquisition in connivancewith the corporate houses. In the latest Ordinance Modi Govt. has resortedto trickery by substituting the italicized part with the following, . theCourt shall take cognizance of such offence provided the procedure laiddown in Section 197 of Criminal Procedure Code 1973 is followed. Thesaid Section 197 requires previous sanction of the Govt. in such cases.The servility to corporate interests could not be more blatant and shameless.

Other anti-peasant aspects of the first Ordinance have been retained inthe latest Ordinance. This Ordinance is an all out attack against peasantsand the country which must be opposed by all patriotic, democratic,progressive and revolutionary organizations.

Read and Subscribe

CPI(ML) OrgansNew Democracy EnglishPratirodh Ka Swar HindiPrajapandha TeluguBiplabi Ganaline BengaliInquilabi Sada Rah PunjabiLok Yudh MarathiSangrami Ekta Oriya



NEW DEMOCRACY

41 42

Life & Death Question for Tribes

new democracy, april 2015

Documents