Press Statement of the All India Kisan Sabha on the order on the Kasturirangan report

Save People’s Livelihoods and Western Ghats; Withdraw the Order on HLWG (Kasturirangan Committee) Report

The All India Kisan Sabha strongly condemns the office memorandum dated 16th November 2013 issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, accepting ‘in principle’ the High Level Working Group (HLWG) popularly known as the ‘Kasturirangan Committee’ Report and restricting agricultural and basic developmental activities in 4156 villages in the Western Ghat region. We demand immediate withdrawal of the same. The authoritarian manner, in which the order was issued, without considering the objections and suggestions made by the peasants and various other sections of the people, is highly objectionable. The HLWG under the leadership of Dr.Kasturirangan, formed to “submit an Action Plan to implement the WGEEP (Western Ghat Ecological Expert Panel popularly known as the Madhav Gadgil Committee) Report in the most effective and holistic manner”, and also to examine the Report keeping in view the “needs and aspirations of the local and indigenous people” has failed to address the grievances raised by the peasants and other toiling sections living in Western Ghat region.

In the context of the two Reports having contradictory recommendations, unilaterally choosing one over the other has only led to pitting precarious human livelihoods in the region against the ecological sensitive nature of the region as though people who have lived for generations in the region are wilful destroyers of the fragile ecosystem. Both the Reports ignore the fact that the people in these regions have been the most effective conservators and have coexisted with as well as actively protected the wildlife and biodiversity of the region. The Reports are at best a bureaucratic exercise without any democratic approach and is also not grounded on scientific assessment of the human-environment relationship in the region. AIKS demands that a scientific assessment by a broad-based Committee of social scientists, environmental experts, organisations of the peasantry and with adequate representation of the varied political opinions from the affected States be set up to look into the matter. Broad based consultations and public hearings with the people and all stake-holders must be held before arriving at a Comprehensive Plan for Protection of Fragile Ecosystems and Livelihoods. 

Unmindful of widespread protests the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has now hastily initiated steps to operationalise Kasturirangan Committee’s recommendations declaring 4156 villages in six States (99 in Goa, 64 in Gujarat, 1576 in Karnataka, 123 in Kerala, 2159 in Maharashtra and 135 in Tamil Nadu) as Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZ) and thereby restricting agricultural and basic developmental activities in the region. The declaration of the ESZs, basing revenue villages as the demarcation, is also unscientific.

The recommendations of the WGEEP on land use prohibiting use of land, for any purpose except for extension of village settlements for increasing populations, in the ESZ which have been endorsed by HLWG, is now by this order accepted by the Government of India. This will restrict even facilitation of basic amenities like hospitals and schools to the people of this most backward region. This is not at all acceptable. Restriction of agricultural activities by banning monoculture plantation which may include coffee, prohibiting chemical fertilisers, mandatory organic farming etc. are unacceptable. All these recommendations are now accepted by the Ministry by its order on 16th November. Hence, the claim by Union Minister Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan that there is nothing in the order that adversely affects the farmers is baseless.

While reiterating its deep commitment to the protection of environment, the AIKS rejects the approach of considering the environmental question demarcating it from humanity and civilization. Environmentally sound development cannot prohibit livelihood and economic options for the people of the region. In its recommendations, the WGEEP Report failed to address the socio-economic aspects of the issue. Both the Reports did not study the impact of the degradation of environment in the life of various social sections. They failed to suggest fruitful solutions to protect life and crops of peasants by solving the man-animal conflicts in forest border areas, to conserve flora and fauna in protected area, and preserve paddy fields and water bodies in the entire Western Ghats.

AIKS rejects the approach of categorising the peasantry at par with the mining and forest mafia as the destroyers of the environment. AIKS believes that peasants are always in the forefront in protecting the environment. The Government of India should understand that the support and conscious intervention of the local peasantry and local people are crucial for the protection of Western Ghats.

The decision of the MoEF to accept the HLWG report in principle has led to widespread protest in these States. AIKS supports the agitations by the people against the anti-peasant, anti-people recommendations of both the Reports and calls upon all its units to join the protest actions.

AIKS demands that the MoEF discuss with the peasant organisations and all others concerned, drop the anti-peasant, anti-people recommendations in both WGEEP and HLWG Reports and take a holistic approach and plan of action to protect the Western Ghats. The doubts and insecurities in the minds of people of the region have been created by the State and Central Governments and effective steps have to be taken to reassure the millions of people that their livelihood security will be ensured and genuine developmental activities in their habitats will be promoted.

Amra Ram
President

Hannan Mollah
General Secretary

Dated 20th November 2013

Resist Injustice and Intensify Struggles: Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch

Vijoo Krishnan

THE central executive committee of the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM) met at Ranchi on November 6-7, 2012. It was in Ranchi that the process towards the formation of the AARM was set rolling at the convention on adivasi rights held in 2002. Even as the adivasi communities have been mobilising for their rights, the attacks on their rights have also intensified. The formation of the AARM and the meeting at Ranchi only reinforces the steely resolve of the adivasi community to organise, build up resistance and fight for their rights. The rally and public meeting on November 6 where over 3000 adivasis gathered from different parts of Jharkhand despite inclement weather in many regions provided further evidence of the tempering of this resolve. The presence of a large number of adivasi women construction workers in the public meeting reflected the coordinated work between their trade union and AARM which is giving a fillip to the struggles of adivasis in the region.

The CEC meeting attended by thirty comrades from twelve states, began with introductory remarks by Baju Ban Riyan, chairman, AARM who noted that the neoliberal policies pursued by the Congress-led UPA government and many state governments have threatened adivasi livelihoods and heightened insecurity. Midiam Babu Rao, joint convenor of AARM who presented the report, mentioned about the abject deprivation and denial of rights in adivasi areas even after sixty five years of independence. He pointed to the looting of resources and indiscriminate land acquisition in tribal areas, deprivation of forest rights and impact of high food inflation on adivasi people. He also outlined the struggles launched by the affiliates of AARM in different parts of India. Brinda Karat spoke on the new amendments to the Rules of Forest Rights Act, the central government decisions on MFP, illegal mining, the coal scam, problem of tiger reserves and the situation in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD) of Assam. The meeting deliberated on these and numerous other issues. Prominent among them were the issue of limitation of LPG cylinders in tribal hostels, anganwadi centres and the escalation in costs for students, illegal mining, indiscriminate land acquisition, BPL cards for all tribals, safeguarding the rights of the tribal people to mineral resources and their land as well as forests, especially in the context of the denial of forest rights, illegal land acquisition and the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act. The central executive committee discussed these issues in detail and decided on the future course of action.

The report highlighted many issues including:

PLUNDER OF RESOURCES

Adivasi communities are directly affected by coal mining as majority of coal bearing areas are in Fifth Schedule areas inhabited by a large number of adivasis. The coal scam unearthed by the report of the CAG raised many critical issues of the entire process of wrongful allocations of coal mines to big corporates and companies linked to political leaders belonging to the Congress and the BJP. During the period when a majority of these allocations took place, the prime minister himself was the minister of coal. A high level inquiry must be held including into the role of the prime minister's office, the wrong allocations must be scrapped and the money recovered. This corruption at such a high level calculated to have cost the exchequer over 1.86 lakh crore rupees could have only occurred because of the basic policy of the central government to reverse the nationalisation of the coal industry and to hand over this precious national resource to corporates, domestic and foreign. AARM strongly opposes privatisation and demands that all coal should be mined and allocated by Coal India.

However, the issue goes deeper and includes the rights of adivasis to their land and livelihood. At present the rights of adivasis are completely ignored. Coal India itself has a most inhuman policy of forcible eviction of adivasi and other communities from their land which has been identified for mining, without any proper plans for consultation, rehabilitation and resettlement. At present under Coal India R and R policy, jobs will be given only in those cases where more than two acres of land has been acquired. Since land holdings of adivasis and dalits may be less than two acres, they are denied compensatory jobs. Proof of occupation is not considered sufficient for provision of jobs. The money compensation is usually pittance. It is shocking that in the richest coal mining areas, the local communities, large numbers of adivasis are reduced to destitution, facing displacement, sometimes multiple displacements. AARM will raise its voice to ensure that the rights of adivasis guaranteed by the Fifth Schedule and PESAA are guaranteed.

The meeting decided to hold a round-table conference at Delhi on the Mining Act and the loot of public resources, problem of illegal mining as well as tribal rights involving broader sections and organisations working for tribal rights. Seminars at state and district levels as well as a study of mining and related issues will precede this conference.

RENEWED ATTACKS

The UPA government has utterly failed to control the price rise of essential commodities. The rate of food inflation was as high as 12 per cent in the month of September. The UPA government dealt a serious blow by hiking the price of diesel by Rs 5 a litre and slashing the subsidy on gas cylinders reducing the number of subsidised cylinders to only six in a year. For the rest, the price will be around 1500 rupees per cylinder. The government while shamelessly making all concessions to corporates and subsidising them in different forms, has so far refused to reverse this disastrous anti-people policy. Anganwadis, Mid-day Meal Schemes and especially adivasi and dalit student hostels will be very badly affected. The meeting decided to conduct a survey to make an assessment of the cost escalation for students due to the limitation of subsidised LPG cylinders and mobilise these sections in adivasi areas and ST hostels demanding an increase in the allocations and subsidies while joining the general democratic struggle to force the reversal of this decision.

The UPA government has refused to universalise the PDS and is still insisting on a targeted system of APL/BPL on the basis of fraudulent estimates. The food minister has announced that 10 million tonnes of foodgrains will be released in the open market. This will only benefit the private traders and not consumers as there is no control of prices in the open market. The AARM has taken up the issue of universalisation of the PDS and giving BPL cards to all adivasis and wherever it has been taken up adivasis have responded and joined the struggles. This struggle will be further intensified.

The denial of minimum wages, rampant corruption and discrimination meted out to adivasis under the MNREGS, the denial of proper health facilities, housing and basic amenities as well as pre/post-matriculation fellowships to tribal students, the dismal state of affairs in Ashram Schools, tribal hostels and such issues were also brought to light by representatives from different States.

DENIAL OF FOREST RIGHTS

The most recent figures on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act once again show the utter callousness of most state governments in implementation of the Act. In reality, the governments at the centre and most of the states are not recognising adivasi rights under the FRA so as to facilitate land acquisition in forest areas.

Till September 30, 2012, at the national level less than 40 per cent of the claims made under FRA have been accepted. In other words 60 per cent of claims have been rejected. It is true that the flaw in the Act itself of including 75 years evidence as a condition to accept the claims of non-tribal traditional forest dwellers is a critical reason in non- acceptance of claims of these sections. However going by the ground level experience, even in the claims by adivasi forest dwellers, the rejection rate is high. It is significant and noteworthy that the Left led state of Tripura tops the list having accepted 65 per cent of the claims. In Tripura when only the applications of adivasis are taken into account, 98 per cent of them have been accepted. The Congress ruled states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan have dismal records of just 51 per cent, 29 per cent and 50 per cent respectively. The BJP ruled states are even worse with Gujarat at just 20 per cent, Madhya Pradesh at 36.5 per cent and Chhattisgarh at around 44 per cent. The latter two states have a substantial adivasi population, so the denial is all the more reprehensible.

At the national level, in terms of total numbers, the total number of claims received till September 30, 2012 was 32,31,078 (of which 60,411 were for community rights). Of these the number of claims accepted and title deeds distributed was 12,72,076 of which only 8348 were for community rights, in other words just around 13 per cent of the claims for community rights have been accepted. The rejection of community rights has to be seen as part of the government policy to hand over the forest areas to so-called projects including mining, which would be hampered if community rights were recognised. The ministry has stated that of the total claims, both individual and community, 86 per cent of the claims have been “disposed of.” In other words, it has accepted the rejections as being final. It is clear from the experience, particularly of Maharashtra and of Andhra Pradesh where concrete interventions on a wide scale have been made by the Kisan Sabha and AARM that in a large number of cases, the rejections are totally illegal. AARM will protest against closing the claims as “disposed” with concrete evidence in the different states and also at the centre.

The Rules under FRA have been amended by a notification on September 6, 2012. The meeting noted that the amended Rules make it more difficult to reject claims on flimsy grounds such as the person not being present when the verification team reached or an individual officer rejecting the claim without going through the recommendation of the Forest Committee etc. But even while the Rules are amended the same ministry accepts that 86 per cent of the claims are already disposed of. AARM demands that the rejected claims be reopened. An important and positive amendment is to permit forest dwellers to transport MFP by “any appropriate means of transport.” It does away with the present restriction of “bicycle or handcart” in the Rules. The amendments also give power to Gram Sabhas to decide the “management plan for community resources”. This can be used as an effective counter to the arbitrary decisions of the government sponsored Forest Management Committees which often deny adivasis their rights.

ISSUE OF MINOR FOREST PRODUCE

The meeting welcomed the declaration of the minister of tribal affairs in May 2012 that a commission would be set up by January 2013 under the tribal affairs ministry to ensure a minimum support price (MSP) for MFP. This has been a long-standing demand for which AARM has been struggling. However, there are doubts as to the extent of implementation of this assurance given the earlier experience in this regard.

Earlier the ministry of panchayati raj had set up the Haque Committee to study the issue of MFP which had submitted its report in May 2011. The Planning Commission also set up a sub-group to look into this issue for the Twelfth Five Year Plan which also submitted its report in September 2011. The sub-group is already on record that the MSP for the 16 minor forest produce items identified by the Haque Committee such as tendu, bamboo, mahua flowers, mahua seeds, sal leaves, sal seeds, lac, chironji, wild honey, tamarind etc will cost at least 4000 crores to 5000 crores rupees a year. The sub-group has recommended allocations of just 2000 crores for the entire period of the Plan, which works out to just 400 crores a year. Thus even before the finalisation, the amount being suggested is just a pittance of what is required.

The issue of a MSP for MFP is urgent and essential. According to the Planning Commission’s own estimates around 275 million people depend on MFP earnings. While 20-40 per cent of the income of forest dwellers depends on MFP, it is estimated that fifty per cent of adivasis are dependent on MFP for a livelihood. The value of the trade is put at over 6000 crores a year, but the actual gatherers get dismal rates while the profits are grabbed by middlemen and business companies. AARM decided to take up these issues and organise a widespread campaign on the demand for an effective commission with adequate allocations.

COURT CASE ON TIGER RESERVES

The meeting discussed on the hypocritical stand of the central government on tourism in tiger reserves and the changing stand of the Supreme Court. This is geared not towards the implementation of existing legislation like the FRA or the Wildlife Protection Act (amended) but only to protect the interests of the resort owners and tourist related big businesses. In July 2012, the Supreme Court banned all tourist related activity in the entire tiger reserve. In October 2012 in the same case, the Supreme Court lifted the ban pending the final judgment and accepted the guidelines for eco-tourism in the tiger reserves as issued by the central government through the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in June 2011. The government and the Supreme Court have protected the interests of the tourism industry. But forest dwellers are being forcibly relocated, being paid a sum of ten lakh rupees. In some areas because of lack of so-called evidence, even this compensation is being denied.

The Supreme Court has also so far not commented on the clauses in the guidelines which state that in all eco-tourist projects, local communities must be given priority in employment. The rights of forest dwellers to full access including for livelihood requirements to the areas must be guaranteed. There can be no forcible relocation. The provisions of FRA and WLPA regarding classification, recognition of rights, relocation must be fully implemented.

LAND ACQUISITION ACT

The Parliamentary standing committee in its recommendations has mentioned the memorandum of the AARM in relation to its conclusions in six clauses and accepted some of the suggestions of the organisation. Significantly, it has suggested that consultation is not enough; consent is required from Gram Sabhas. It has also recommended that no central Act should be exempted from the LARR. It has also accepted our demand that the special provisions for SCs and STs should be reflected in the main part of the Bill. It has also recommended that the Bill should not allow for acquisition or alienation of land in Schedule 5 and 6 areas and if unavoidable there should be increased compensation. However, on the issue of mining, including coal mining, the standing committee has negatively brought it into the definition of ‘public purpose’ as infrastructure, thus not requiring any consent. This will prove detrimental to the rights of the adivasis over mineral resources. Several suggestions made by AARM have been accepted either partially or substantially by the standing committee. However, in response, the government in its recent draft of the official Bill retains all the main obnoxious and anti-tribal provisions. AARM will popularise our objections and launch struggles to protect adivasi rights.

VIOLENCE IN ASSAM:

The meeting noted with concern the continuing violence in Kokhrajar district and adjoining areas of the BTAD. The Congress government utterly failed to intervene in time, leading to the death of around 100 persons, the burning of houses, loot of property and displacement in the first instance of around 3 lakh people, the bulk of who belong to the minority communities. Even today there are over 1.5 lakh Muslims in the relief camps, while majority of the Bodo displaced families have been able to return home. The developments in Assam point to the danger of narrow identity politics which subverts the protection given to tribal communities under the Sixth Schedule of the constitution. AARM rejected the propaganda that all the Bengali Muslims in the region are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Historical circumstances starting from a century ago have led to the settlement of different communities, including Bengali Muslims in the region. While the rights of the Bodo communities must be protected under the Sixth Schedule, it cannot be by forcibly driving out other communities. The meeting condemned the effort of the RSS-BJP as well as right wing Muslim organisations to communalise the situation. Extremist elements from both communities have to be fought back and isolated. Those still in the relief camps must be protected and helped to return to their homes without any conditions. AARM also demands that the Assam Accord be implemented, the Indo-Bangladesh border sealed, the National population register must be speedily updated and the distribution of photo identity cards to all citizens based on the electoral rolls of 1971.

STRUGGLES BY AARM

The members from different states enumerated the spate of successful struggles on important issues. In Jharkhand, our struggles ensured that arrears of around 1.2 lakh rupees was given to adivasi workers in Dumka district. Successful struggles were held against land acquisition wherein in Ranchi the acquisition of 256 acres for Housing Board could be stopped and in Jamtara over 500 acres were returned to adivasis. Struggles against giving away 5000 acres to Reliance in Hazaribagh and 1100 acres to Electro Steel were launched. The struggles by the Girijana Sangham in Andhra Pradesh have led to the tribal affairs ministry cancelling the licenses of Jindal and a Dubai based company for bauxite mining. The united front of over 140 organisations of SC/STs forced the government in AP to set up a sub committee to look into implementation of the sub plan and a special session of the assembly has been agreed upon. In Bengal even amidst extreme violence and attacks on democratic functioning, struggles have been launched on issue of forest rights, food security, ST old age pension, against illegal quarrying and stone-crushing units, unauthorised contracts to open cast coal mines etc. Struggles in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh on PDS, corruption in MNREGS, Odisha struggle for land in Gajapati district wherein a notice to grant four acres to all adivasis has been issued after a movement that spread to 300 villages are all very inspiring. The stay on eviction of 1500 families under the Kuldiha National Park in Balasore district is also a significant gain. Tamilnadu witnessed huge protests against eviction of 3000 families in Ambasamudram for a Tiger Sanctuary. There were protests against the government order banning house-site pattas and land pattas in Hill areas. The government agreed to provision of 90 per cent of the value of trees planted in tribal areas to the tribal people as opposed to the earlier provision that Forest Department will have to get 40 per cent of the value. Kerala has seen massive mobilisation for land rights to adivasis and against police atrocities. In Maharashtra struggles for Forest Rights, on PDS and effective intervention against diversion of foodgrains by local politicians have taken place. Rajasthan has witnessed protests in Udaipur against illegal evictions with thousands participating and launched a campaign against unjust land acquisition in Dungarpur for railway project as well as against eviction of adivasis from Kumbalgarh Tiger Reserve. In Assam, the organisation intervened seeking government intervention to stop the violence in BTAD region and provide speedy rehabilitation.

Jitender Choudhury, minister in the LF government gave a detailed report on the policies towards adivasis in Tripura which was inspiring. In Tripura, the intervention of the Gana Mukti Parishad and Kisan Sabha as well as the Left Front government has ensured the per capita fund flow under MNREGS (wages paid as well as infrastructure created) is as high as Rs 2833.86 in the state while it is as low as Rs 41.16 in MP and Rs 63.90 in Gujarat. The Left Front government has also strived to develop the land given under FRA with agro-forestry, horticultural crops, irrigation and extension of MNREGS under a project to enhance economic viability of these lands. Pension rights to tribals are guaranteed. All efforts are on to ensure the overwhelming victory of the Left Front in the forthcoming assembly election.

Struggles under the aegis of the AARM and its affiliates are continuing and it is also being accompanied by education of cadre and organisation building. AARM will move on to further intensification of struggles and consolidate organisationally in tribal areas as a fighting organisation of adivasis. 

 

AIKS in 2010: A Year of Peasant Agitations in Maharashtra

We present below a short report on the agitations undertaken by AIKS in Maharashtra in the year 2010, since the All India Conference of the AIKS held in Guntur in January 2010.

LOSS OF COMRADE KRISHNA KHOPKAR

On September 15, 2010, we lost one of our stalwarts – Comrade Krishna Khopkar, who was the seniormost state vice president of the AIKS and a former CKC member. His ideological contribution to the growth of the AIKS in Maharashtra was immense. Even at the age of 86, he was alert, active and sprightly till the end. The void created by his loss will be impossible to fill. The AIKS Maharashtra state council has decided to set up the Comrade Krishna Khopkar Research Centre in his memory.

AGITATIONS AND STRUGGLES

Since the Guntur All India conference in January 2010, the AIKS in Maharashtra has been active in struggles around the following main issues: 

1. Against price rise and for food security, including revamping and universalisation of the public distribution system and for BPL ration cards; 

2. For implementation of the Forest Rights Act; 

3. For compensation to the peasantry due to excess and unseasonal rainfall; 

4. For remunerative prices of cotton, sugarcane, paddy and other crops; 

5. On the vesting of temple lands in the name of the tilling peasantry; 

6. Against black marketeering of fertilisers and seeds; 

7. On local issues of irrigation and power; 

8. Opposition to the Maharashtra SEZ Bill tabled by the state government in the assembly.

Statewide Mass Mobilisation in November and Statewide Rally on Assembly in December

On all the above issues, two big actions in Maharashtra recently took place under AIKS leadership. From November 15 to 22, 2010, over 40,000 peasants were mobilised in several district and tehsil centres in Nashik, Thane, Ahmednagar, Nanded, Pune, Yavatmal, Wardha, Buldana, Parbhani, Hingoli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Raigad and other districts in militant actions that succeeded in winning many local demands. The AIKS mobilised 15,000 peasants in Nashik district, 12,000 in Thane district and 13,000 in all the other districts in these actions.

On December 15, 2010, the AIKS Maharashtra state council organised a 7,000-strong statewide rally on the state assembly session at Nagpur in the Vidarbha region on the above demands. The issue of indebtedness and the continuing peasant suicides in Vidarbha and other regions were naturally the main focus of this rally. Actually, the main mobilisation strength of the AIKS in Maharashtra is from Nashik and Thane districts, near Mumbai, over 800 Km from Nagpur. Even so, Nashik district had the lion’s share of the mobilisation in the Nagpur rally, but many other districts in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions also made good efforts. A memorandum was submitted to the state government, but as usual, the government gave vague assurances. So far as compensation to the rain-affected peasants is concerned, the state government declared a package of Rs 1,000 crore for the same on the floor of the state assembly, but did not announce the concrete details of the cropwise compensation per hectare, under the plea that it did not have the statistics of the damaged crops.

From the AIKS state rally during the Nagpur session of the State Assembly, December 15, 2010

Therefore, the AIKS Nagpur rally gave a call for a massive statewide Jail Bharo and Rasta Roko agitation on the above issues and on burning local demands from January 26 to 31, 2011.       

Against Price Rise and for Food Security

In the months of March and April 2010, Maharashtra saw constant large mass actions against price rise and for food security. Although these actions were held under the banner of the CPI(M) and the Left parties, the AIKS participation in all of them was the largest. These include the 2,000-strong state convention against price rise at Solapur on March 3; the statewide ‘Halla Bol’ struggle on March 18, in which nearly 60,000 of the CPI(M) took part, of which the AIKS share was over 25,000; the RLDF state rally on the assembly in Mumbai on March 30 of around 20,000, of which the CPI(M) participation alone was over 10,000, of which again the AIKS share was over 5,000; the nationwide Jail Bharo stir of April 8, in which the statewide Left and secular participation was around 70,000, of which the CPI(M) share was around 45,000, of which again the AIKS share was around 20,000; and the nationwide hartal of April 27, in which thousands courted arrest all over the state in rasta roko and rail roko actions.  

A large 13,000-strong independent tehsil-level mass rally of the AIKS was held on October 13, 2010 at Akole in Ahmednagar district demanding the inclusion of poor farmers and agricultural workers in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list, so that they get BPL ration cards and other BPL benefits. Over 13,000 such BPL application forms were submitted to the tehsildar, who was forced to accept them. Now this struggle has spread to the adjoining Junnar tehsil in Pune district, where another large AIKS rally will be held on December 31, 2010. 

For Implementation of the Forest Rights Act

On February 22, 2010, a delegation of the AIKS and AIAWU met the secretary of the Tribal Development department in Mumbai, which is in charge of the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA). It brought to his notice not only the tardy implementation of the Act all across the state, but also the downright obstructionist stance taken by the bureaucracy and the Forest Department  in districts like Thane, Nandurbar, Ahmednagar, Yavatmal and elsewhere. The secretary was himself an Adivasi and had the reputation of being an upright officer. He immediately took cognisance of our complaints and rang up the concerned officials in the districts, ordering them to remove the bottlenecks in the implementation of the Act. This had a good impact. Later AIKS units in several districts followed up on this issue. In all the mass actions in March and April outlined above, the implementation of the Act was also made a major issue by the AIKS in all the tribal districts. But a few months ago, this officer was transferred.

On August 25, 2010, the AIKS and AIAWU under the banner of the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch, organised two large rallies in Thane and Nashik districts on the question of the implementation of the FRA. The Thane district tribal rally at Jawhar was over 20,000-strong, while the 15,000-strong Nashik rally mobilised tribals from five districts of North Maharashtra, viz. Nashik, Ahmednagar, Nandurbar, Dhule and Jalgaon. Other rallies on the same issue were organised in August in Ahmednagar, Yavatmal and Nanded districts.

From the rally for Forest Rights Act implementation in Akole, Ahmednagar

On October 10, 2010, Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar addressed a massive 35,000-strong predominantly tribal rally organised by the CPI(M) at Dapchari in the Dahanu tehsil of Thane district, where FRA implementation was one of the major issues. The AIKS mobilised in strength. Manik Sarkar’s speech outlining the excellent implementation of the FRA by the Left Front government in Tripura had a very good impact.

Manik Sarkar addresses the Adivasi rally in Dahanu, 10 October 2010

The participants at the Adivasi rally, Dahanu, 10 October 2010

However, the implementation of the FRA in Maharashtra still continues to be extremely unsatisfactory. The lack of political will of the state government and the bureaucracy and the undue interference of the Forest Department is creating numerous hurdles in the way of the Adivasis getting their rights over forest land. Notices have been sent in Nandurbar, Nashik and Ahmednagar districts to thousands of Adivasi peasants rejecting their claims, and appeals are being filed by the AIKS against these rejections with the District Collector. Some eviction notices have been sent to tribals in the Wada tehsil of Thane district. In Yavatmal district, efforts are being made by the Forest Department and the police to actually evict tribals from their land. The January 2011 Jail Bharo call of the AIKS at its Nagpur rally will thus elicit massive response in the Adivasi districts.

For Remunerative Prices to the Peasantry      

On October 20, 2010, a 1000-strong cotton peasants convention was organised by the AIKS at Parbhani in Parbhani district, demanding remunerative prices for cotton. On September 25, a 500-strong joint convention was organised at Parali Vaijnath in Beed district, demanding remunerative prices for sugarcane and fair wages for sugarcane cutters. Dharnas and demonstrations were organised in several districts by the AIKS, independently and jointly with other peasant organisations, on these demands. This was one of the major issues taken up in the November statewide actions and the December statewide rally of the AIKS referred to above. The AIKS is planning to organise a statewide paddy peasants convention in the month of February 2011. 

For Vesting of Temple Lands in the names of the Cultivating Peasants   

All over Maharashtra, there are tens of thousands of acres of temple lands (called Devasthan zamini in Marathi) which, although they have been tilled by poor and middle peasants for the last several generations, are not vested in their names, but are vested in the name of the Devasthan trusts. The tenancy act passed by the state government several decades ago excluded these lands from its purview under pressure of the powerful temple lobby. Since these peasants are not the legal owners of the land they till, they are not entitled to credit and other facilities that are generally granted to landowning peasants.

The AIKS in Kolhapur district has taken up the above issue for the last three years through struggle and several meetings and demonstrations have been held. Seeing the good response, the AIKS took up this issue in the adjoining districts of Sangli and Satara as well. On March 23, 2010 a Western Maharashtra level convention of peasants tilling temple lands was held at Sangli, in which over 600 peasants from three districts took part. It decided to intensify and expand the struggle to newer districts in the days ahead.

Against Blackmarketeering of Fertilisers and Seeds

In Parbhani, Beed, Wardha, Buldana, Nanded, Hingoli, Kolhapur and other districts, the AIKS launched struggles against the rampant black marketeering of fertilisers and seeds. Big demonstrations and gheraos were held and as a result, the administration was forced to take action against many big traders. The fertilisers and seeds so unearthed were sold to the peasantry at reasonable prices.

On Local Issues of Irrigation and Power

In Akole tehsil of Ahmednagar district, the AIKS has taken up the struggle demanding proper irrigation from the Nilwande dam. There have been a number of demonstrations, sit-ins and hunger strikes on the issue led by the AIKS. This has succeeded in mobilising the influential non-Adivasi peasantry in the tehsil also. We already have a base in the Adivasi peasantry there due to our championing of the Forest Rights Act. In Solapur district, the AIKS has been leading a struggle for irrigation water from the Ujni dam and many actions have been held.

In various districts, there have been local struggles on the questions of load shedding of power, massive and unjust electricity bills, the severing of power connections to the peasantry and other related issues.

ELECTION VICTORIES     

In the by-election to a Panchayat Samiti seat in Jawhar tehsil of Thane district that took place in October 2010, AIKS Thane district president Ratan Budhar won the seat by a massive margin. He garnered 51 per cent of the total votes polled and trounced his BJP and NCP rivals, both of whom together polled only 49 per cent votes.

In the gram panchayat elections held over the last few months, AIKS candidates won in various gram panchayats in districts like Buldana, Wardha, Parbhani, Beed, Nanded and Thane. Some of them were also elected sarpanches of their villages.

AIKS STATE CLASS AND WORKSHOP

The statewide class and workshop of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) was held at the Comrade B T Ranadive Smarak Bhavan in New Mumbai on October 25-26, 2010. 134 delegates from 19 districts attended. The hall for the class was named after AIKS state vice president and former CKC member Krishna Khopkar. The state class was presided over by AIKS state president and ex-MLA J P Gavit and the state workshop was presided over by AIKS state working president and MLA Rajaram Ozare. The class was inaugurated by renowned journalist and Rural Affairs Editor of ‘The Hindu’, P Sainath.

AIKS President S Ramachandran Pillai took the class on the AIKS understanding of the agrarian crisis and the decisions of the AIKS Guntur national conference. In the second part of his class, he also stressed the need for a powerful organisation and on how to build it.

For the first time in a state AIKS class, state office bearers and state council members themselves had been asked to prepare notes on burning agrarian issues in Maharashtra on which struggles would be launched. The notes thus prepared were distributed to all the delegates. These comrades then briefly and effectively placed each of these issues before the class.

The nine topics and the comrades who placed them were as follows: 

1. Present agrarian crisis – its meaning, character and solution – Udayan Sharma; 

2. Indebtedness of the peasantry in Maharashtra – Dr R Ramakumar; 

3. Implementation of the Forest Rights Act – J P Gavit and Rajaram Ozare; 

4. The issue of irrigation and bankrupt state government policies – Dr Ajit Nawale; 

5. The question of SEZs and the new Maharashtra SEZ Bill – Sanjay Thakur; 

6. The issue of cotton prices – Yashwant Zade; 

7. The issue of sugarcane prices – Umesh Deshmukh; 

8. The question of temple lands and grass lands – Santram Patil; 

9. The public distribution system and food security – Manoj Kirtane.

AIKS state general secretary Kisan Gujar then placed the future action programme proposed by the state office bearers meeting held the previous night. The delegates then dispersed for group discussion for an hour, in which they concretised these tasks for their own district. One delegate from each district then reported to the class what they had decided. This last workshop session created enthusiasm among the activists to carry out the tasks that had been decided.

The five major decisions taken by the class were: 

1. On November 15, large and militant agitational actions would be organised by the AIKS at tehsil and district centres around specific state level and local demands. 

2. On December 15, the AIKS will organise a statewide march to the state assembly during its winter session at Nagpur. Eight major demands for both the above actions were identified. 

3. The AIKS membership drive will begin immediately and will be completed by the end of December. 

4. AIKS village committees would be activised for these agitational and organisational tasks; 

5. The dates of AIKS district council meetings to carry out these tasks were finalised.      

After the placing of the credentials report, the class was addressed by senior AIKS state vice president and former CKC member L B Dhangar. On the basis of his 60-year experience of working in the AIKS, Dhangar gave valuable suggestions for strengthening the movement. The concluding speech of the state class was made by AIKS state vice president and CKC member Dr Ashok Dhawale.

ORGANISATION

AIKS state office bearers and state council meetings have been regularly held during the last one year since the Guntur conference. Four such meetings were held on February 13-14, May 9, July 31-August 1, and October 25, 2010. The next meeting of the AIKS state council will be held on January 16, 2011.

AIKS state general secretary Kisan Gujar, along with other state office bearers, undertook a tour which covered 15 districts of the state in August and September 2010. AIKS district council meetings were held in each district and in these the planning for the coming year was done. These meetings had a good impact.

The membership drive for 2010-11 is in progress and most of the membership for the current year will be completed by the next AIKS state council meeting on January 16, 2011. This year, we have planned to reverse the membership decline that we suffered last year as a fall-out of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.

Historic: 1 lakh peasants arrested in Maharashtra over Forest Rights Act

Ashok Dhawale

It was the largest peasant agitation led by the AIKS in Maharashtra in recent years. For two weeks beginning Republic Day on January 26, 2011 up to February 8, the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha, affiliated to the AIKS, led a massive statewide Jail Bharo and Rasta Roko stir on burning agrarian issues, in which around one lakh peasants participated in strength. The call for this stir was given in the 7,000-strong statewide AIKS rally on the Nagpur state assembly on December 15, 2010. Earlier, from November 15 to 18, over 40,000 peasants under AIKS leadership had held district and tehsil level rallies on the same demands.

(Photo from the 50,000 strong AIKS Nashik district rally, Kalwan on February 8, 2011 as the culmination of the stir.)

VITAL AGRARIAN ISSUES

The prominent agrarian issues that were taken up in this struggle were: peasant suicides due to indebtedness, compensation to crops destroyed due to excessive and unseasonal rainfall, remunerative prices to all crops based on their cost of production, provision of credit to the peasantry at cheap rates, lowering of costs of agricultural inputs, the load shedding and excessive bills of electricity, inclusion of poor peasants and agricultural workers in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) lists, universalisation of the Public Distribution System (PDS) and expansion of the Doorstep Ration Scheme, vesting of temple lands and pasture lands in the names of the cultivating peasants, opposition to the proposed Jaitapur nuclear plant and the Maharashtra SEZ Bill, a comprehensive crop insurance scheme and completion on a war footing of long-pending irrigation projects with proper rehabilitation.

Space does not permit an analysis of the above burning agrarian issues in Maharashtra. Suffice it to say that as per the reports of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) of the Union Home Ministry, Maharashtra holds the shameful record of having the largest number (41,000-odd) of peasant suicides out of the nearly 2.5 lakh peasant suicides in the country over the last 15 years. This is a clear result of the neo-liberal and anti-peasant policies of successive Congress-NCP and BJP-Shiv Sena regimes in the state and at the Centre. For the last seven years, the Union Agriculture and Food minister has been the NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, who himself hails from Maharashtra! All that he has been interested is the interest of the sugar lobby, IPL cricket and the building of cities for the rich like Lavasa!

Although thousands of peasants were mobilised around the above vital agrarian issues in several districts, the main chunk of participation in this Jail Bharo stir was on the question of the scandalous implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in Maharashtra. This issue had come to a head in recent weeks with the downright rejection by the state government machinery of thousands of FRA applications of Adivasi peasants in many districts.

(Photo from the 50,000 strong AIKS Nashik district rally, Kalwan on February 8, 2011 as the culmination of the stir.)

SCANDALOUS IMPLEMENTATION

As per the status report as on December 31, 2010 on FRA implementation issued by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, a total of 3,35,701 individual FRA claims were filed in Maharashtra. Of these, the FRA village committees recommended 2,82,115 claims to the SDO level committees. Of these the SDO level committees cleared only 1,15,914 claims and sent them to the district level committees. Of these again, 1,04,344 claims were accepted and official certificates (but not actual land rights under the revenue department) were given. Of the 3,988 community FRA claims, only 423 were accepted.

This means that the SDO level committees rejected as many as 1,66,201 FRA individual claims and 3,565 FRA community claims. Even so far as the accepted claims were concerned, certificates granting much less land than that being actually cultivated and claimed by the Adivasis were given. So far as the non-Adivasi traditional forest dwellers were concerned, the draconian requirement of a 75-year (three generations) proof smuggled into the FRA at the last moment dashed their chances of getting any land rights.

One of the main reasons for such en masse rejections of FRA claims has been the illegal and unwarranted interference by the Forest Department, which has been allowed to run amok by the state government and the bureaucracy. Fully aware of the historical antagonism of the Forest Department towards tribals for generations together, the FRA had clearly kept the Forest Department out of the FRA implementation process and had made the Tribal Affairs Department the main nodal agency for FRA implementation.

But on July 18, 2008, the Chief Forest Conservator of Maharashtra State based at Nagpur, issued a 10-page circular laying down the mode of implementation of the FRA in the state. Many of its points flagrantly violated the FRA and its Rules. For nearly two years this circular stayed in force and it was blatantly used to veto thousands of genuine FRA claims.

It was only 20 months later on April 8, 2010, that a state level meeting of the FRA supervisory committee chaired by the then chief secretary, issued another circular generally stating that all circulars and directives of the Forest or any other Department that ran counter to the decisions of that meeting should be considered null and void. But by that time the damage had already been done. However, this same April 2010 meeting committed another blunder. It directed that all pending FRA claims should be disposed off in two months, by May 2010. The result was that the local bureaucracy hastily rushed through the verification process, and “disposed off” the pending claims by rejecting them outright!

The worst aspect of this whole process was that organisations actually working among the Adivasi masses were never taken into confidence at any stage of the FRA implementation. Had that been done, many of these pitfalls could have been averted. But for this, political will - like that shown by the Left Front governments – was required. And it was precisely this political will that was in short supply among the ruling clique in Maharashtra.

MILITANT MASS STRUGGLE

The largest and most militant mass struggle took place in Nashik district, in which over 60,000 peasants courted arrest. In this district, as many as 34,000 of the 51,000 FRA claims had been summarily rejected and this resulted in a mass uproar. The Jail Bharo stir began here on January 26 with over 15,000 Adivasi peasants from Surgana tehsil coming all the way from a distance of over 100 Km to court arrest in Nashik city. Subsequently, there were similar court arrest agitations every day up to February 7 in nine different tehsils.

When the first talks with the state government broke down on February 3, the stir in Nashik district was intensified to block highways. At Karanjali in Peth tehsil, over 4,000 peasants blocked the Nashik-Dharampur (Gujarat) highway for 50 hours at a stretch! The Mumbai-Agra national highway was blocked in Chandwad tehsil, and other highways were blocked by thousands of peasants in Surgana and Tryambakeshwar tehsils till February 7.

In Thane district, as a result of earlier huge mass actions on the FRA and other issues, the administration had not yet dared to reject FRA claims wholesale. Even so, over 25,000 peasants from ten tehsils in Thane district courted arrest on January 31, and it was decided to block all highways if the talks with the state government broke down again on February 7.

In Ahmednagar district, the most militant action in this stir took place at Akole on January 29. Here 526 peasants, including 47 women, refused to accept bail and they spent 11 days in four different jails at Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Pune and Nashik. They were led by Dr Ajit Nawale, Eknath Mengal, Raju Gambhire, Namdev Bhangre and others. Another big rally was held in Akole on February 3 to express solidarity with the comrades who were in jail.

In Nandurbar district, over 3,500 peasants and agricultural workers took part in rallies. Around 1,000 to 2,000 peasants each courted arrest in districts like Nanded, Yavatmal, Parbhani, Kolhapur and Pune. The stir was also carried out in districts like Beed, Solapur, Sangli, Buldana, Raigad and Hingoli. In many of these districts, other issues were taken up.

It was as a result of this statewide struggle, especially the widespread and militant peasant actions in Nashik, Thane and Ahmednagar districts, that the State Home Minister R R Patil invited an AIKS delegation to hold talks in Mumbai on February 7. He was accompanied by the Tribal Development Minister, the State Chief Secretary, Tribal Development Secretary and other senior officials. The AIKS was represented by its leaders J P Gavit, ex-MLA, Rajaram Ozare, MLA, Lahanu Kom, ex-MP, Kisan Gujar, Irfan Shaikh and Hemant Waghere.

In this meeting the state government agreed as follows: 1) All the rejected FRA claims will be reviewed and all those who have submitted any two proofs as per the FRA will be accepted; 2) Forest land up to the FRA limit of 4 hectares (10 acres) will be given to claimants who have it in their possession; 3) Appeals against rejected claims will be accepted even if they are submitted after the 60 day limit; 4) The unwarranted interference by the Forest Department will be stopped; 5) All police cases lodged in the course of this agitation will be withdrawn and all arrested peasants will be released.

The next day, February 8, there was an unprecedented 50,000-strong districtwide rally held by the AIKS at Kalwan in Nashik district to announce the results of the talks with the government and to convey the future line of action. Kalwan town had no ground in which to accommodate so many people, so the public meeting was held on the main road itself. Peasants sat on the road over a distance of over one kilometre to listen to the meeting.

The massive Kalwan rally was addressed by AIKS state president J P Gavit, ex-MLA, state vice presidents Dr Ashok Dhawale and Gunaji Gavit, state general secretary Kisan Gujar, state joint secretary Laxman Gaikwad and state council members Irfan Shaikh and Hemant Waghere. It was also addressed by CITU state general secretary Dr D L Karad, AIDWA state vice president Mariam Dhawale and DYFI leader Hemant Patil. It was presided over by AIKS leader Balasaheb Gangurde. The atmosphere at the rally was one of determination to ensure that the state government pledges are actually implemented. If this was not done, it was vowed that the struggle would be resumed and further intensified.