The Glorious Legacy of the Kisan Movement in Maharashtra

Ashok Dhawale

Maharashtra is among the states that have a long and glorious legacy of the Kisan movement, and a rich history of several peasant and tribal struggles against landlordism and feudalism. The peasantry of Maharashtra was also in the forefront of the struggle for independence against British imperialism.  Thousands of peasants were martyred in all these valiant struggles.

From 1826, the peasants of Pune district led uprisings which forced the British authorities to cede to them land holdings for low revenue charges. In 1844, Kolhapur and Sawantwadi witnessed a large-scale peasant revolt provoked by the British decision to increase land revenue in order to pay tribute to the princes. In 1848, the Rohillas of Nagpur took up arms. Around the same time, the peasants of Khandesh region rose up in protest against the land settlement which resulted in the increase of land tax. In protest against the British take-over of jungles and their effort to evict the Adivasis from forests, there were large struggles led by the Bhil, Koli, Ramoshi and other Adivasi tribes.

The peasantry of Maharashtra played an important role in the First War of Indian Independence in 1857. Among those who led the revolt, were renowned figures like Nana Sahib Peshwa, Tatya Tope and, of course, Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi. All of them hailed from Maharashtra. Very few know that Rani Lakshmibai’s maiden name was Manikarnika Tambe, and she was the daughter of Moropant and Bhagirathi Tambe, whose native village was Parola in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra.

One of the most radical social reformers of Maharashtra in the nineteenth century, Mahatma Jotirao Phule (1827-1890), was a great champion of the peasantry and he bitterly attacked landlordism and all forms of caste oppression. His book ‘Shetkaryacha Aasood’ (Peasant’s Whipcord) was, and still remains, a classic. The ‘Satyashodhak Samaj’ that he founded had a major impact in the state.

Phule’s influence was yet another factor that inspired the peasantry to fight against landlords and money-lenders. In the famous ‘Deccan Riots’ of 1875, the drought-hit peasants of Pune and Ahmednagar districts barged into the houses of rapacious money-lenders, ransacked all papers related to peasant debt and publicly burnt them on the streets to destroy all evidence. Due to this uprising, in 1879 the British Government was forced to enact the Deccan Agricultural Debt Relief Act.   

Peasant struggles in Maharashtra on various issues continued in the first part of the twentieth century. They were joined by struggles of the working class. In the 1920s, massive strikes and other militant struggles of the textile workers of Mumbai were spearheaded under the Red Flag of the famous Girni Kamgar Union (GKU) which was led by the Communist Party. One of the most memorable of these strikes was the six-month strike of textile workers in 1928. It was as a result of these bitter class struggles that the working class of Mumbai and Maharashtra won several of its rights and demands. Among the legendary first generation leaders of these working class struggles were Comrades B T Ranadive, S A Dange, S S Mirajkar and others. From Mumbai, these struggles spread to other textile mill centres in districts like Thane, Solapur, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nagpur and so on.

Two cardinal features of these Communist-led working class struggles in Maharashtra were that they mobilised the workers in the freedom struggle against British colonialism; and they also championed the cause of secularism and working class unity against the reactionary forces of communalism.

In 1930, the working class and the people of Solapur rose up in revolt against British rule. For a few days, they ousted the British rulers and took control of the administration of Solapur city. This became known as the Solapur Commune. The British clamped down and imposed a most draconian Martial Law. There was massive repression. Four leaders of this struggle – Mallappa Dhanshetty, Shrikisan Sarda, Qurban Husain and Jagannath Shinde - were hanged on January 12, 1931.

On March 23, 1931, the British hanged three other illustrious and revolutionary martyrs – Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. Of these, Shivram Hari Rajguru hailed from a peasant family of Khed in the Pune district of Maharashtra. Khed has since been renamed as Rajgurunagar.

In the historic struggles against caste and against landlordism that were led by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in the 1920s and 1930s, R B More and Shamrao Parulekar were two prominent leaders who participated. Both of them later joined the Communist Party. R B More was one of the main organisers of the famous 1927 Chowdar Lake Satyagraha at Mahad in Raigad district that was led by Dr Ambedkar. It demanded the basic right of Dalits to draw water from that lake. Dr Ambedkar and Shamrao Parulekar led a huge 8000-strong peasant demonstration on the Mumbai Assembly in 1938 against the ‘Khoti’ system of landlordism that was then prevalent in the Konkan region. Remarkably, the peasants had all come to Mumbai by boat from the then Ratnagiri district of Konkan region.

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) was formed at its foundation conference at Lucknow on April 11, 1936. Some delegates from Maharashtra attended it. The second conference of the AIKS was held at Faizpur in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra on December 25-26, 1936. M A Rasul, in his detailed work ‘A History of the All India Kisan Sabha’, has recorded that, “About 500 kisan marchers led by V M Bhuskute and J Bukhari started from Manmad on 12 December and marched over a 200-mile trek and reached Tilaknagar, Faizpur at noon on 25 December carrying the Red Flag and shouting kisan slogans. On arrival there they were received by Jawaharlal Nehru (Congress president), Shankar Rao Deo (Congress Reception Committee chairman), M N Roy, Maniben Mulji, Narendra Dev, besides kisan leaders like Swamiji, Ranga, Yagnik, Jaiprakash Narayan, Bankim Mukherji and Shibnath Banerji, also S A Dange, M R Masani, Yusuf Meherali and other Congress, kisan and labour leaders.”        

Peasant struggles on various issues intensified in the mid-1930s in Thane, Nashik, Ahmednagar and other districts. The AIKS had chosen Shamrao Parulekar to be its organiser in Maharashtra. In 1942, after their release from a two-year British jail term for leading the anti-war campaign, Shamrao and Godavari Parulekar began work in the AIKS in right earnest. In 1943-44, the Kisan Sabha was started by them in the Kalyan, Murbad and Shahapur tehsils of Thane district. Shamrao and Godavari met P Sundarayya and M Basavapunnaiah, the future leaders of the historic Telangana armed peasant struggle, with whom they continued to have very close relations throughout their lives.     

The foundation conference of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha was held on January 12, 1945 at Titwala in Thane district.  Godavari has recorded that she, along with other activists, covered over 700 villages on foot and addressed 160 public meetings for this conference. More than 7,000 poor and middle peasants and agricultural workers from several districts attended this first state conference of the Kisan Sabha. Among the top leaders who addressed the conference were P Sundarayya, P Krishna Pillai, B T Ranadive, M A Rasul, Teja Singh Swatantra and N M Joshi. The conference elected a 33-member state kisan council. Buwa Nawale from Akole tehsil of Ahmednagar district was elected the first president, Shamrao Parulekar the first general secretary and Godavari Parulekar the first joint secretary of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha, among other office-bearers.

It was this conference that unleashed the historic Adivasi Revolt led by the Communist Party and the Kisan Sabha in Thane district. This revolt which began in May 1945, continued for over two years. It abolished all forms of slavery and bonded labour, increased wages of agricultural labourers and succeeded to an extent in giving land to the tiller. This struggle is documented in detail in Shamrao Parulekar’s book ‘Revolt of the Warlis’ and in Godavari Parulekar’s book ‘Adivasis Revolt’. The Adivasi Revolt gave its first five martyrs on October 10, 1945, when the British police, who were in league with a plot hatched by the landlord lobby, fired mercilessly on a peaceful gathering of over 30,000 Adivasis at Talwada, near the Talasari tehsil of Thane district. Comrade Jethya Gangad was among those who were killed in this state repression. There have been a total of 60 martyrs of the Communist Party and the Kisan Sabha in Thane district since 1945, and 3 martyrs in Nashik district.

The foundation of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha and the Warli Adivasi Revolt were the culmination of the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle waged by Shamrao and Godavari in the pre-independence era. However, space does not permit a detailed analysis of these events.

From 1943 to 1946, in another historic occurrence, British rule was overthrown for three and a half years and a ‘Parallel Government’ (Prati Sarkar) was established in Satara and Sangli districts of Western Maharashtra. It had the full support and backing of the peasantry. This revolt was led by ‘Krantisinha’ Nana Patil, who later joined the Communist Party and was also elected AIKS national president in the 13th AIKS Conference that took place at Dahanu in Thane district in May 1955.

On August 15, 1947, independence dawned over India at last. But on that day, over 600 Adivasis from Thane district owing allegiance to the Red Flag of the Communist Party and the Kisan Sabha woke up to freedom in Congress jails, as did thousands of other Communists all across the country. The most famous among them was, of course, another legendary leader of the Indian people – A K Gopalan, who was to lead the AIKS as its national president for several years.

The liberation of large parts of Dadra and Nagarhaveli from Portuguese rule from July 24 to August 3, 1954, under the armed leadership of the Communist Party and the Kisan Sabha in Thane district, was a major event in the post-independence period. This struggle was directly led by Shamrao and Godavari. L B Dhangar and hundreds of Adivasi comrades participated in this liberation struggle.

The holding of the 13th national conference of the AIKS at Dahanu in Thane district from May 19-22, 1955, braving all manner of repression and obstacles by the government, was another significant event in the history of the Kisan movement in Maharashtra. Towering leaders of the AIKS like P Sundarayya, A K Gopalan, E M S Namboodiripad, Hare Krishna Konar, N Prasada Rao, M A Rasul, Bankim Mukherjee, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Dasharath Deb, B Srinivas Rao, Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri and others attended the conference which was accompanied by a massive rally. Shamrao and Godavari were the moving spirits behind this conference and Nana Patil was elected as AIKS president.

Another leader from Maharashtra, Godavari Parulekar, would also be elected national president of the AIKS at its 25th Conference, which was its Golden Jubilee session at Patna. She is the only woman to have held the post so far. In earlier times, Shamrao Parulekar had also been an AIKS central office-bearer for many years.

In the 1950s, democratic movements for the formation of linguistic states were unleashed in many parts of the country. The ruling Congress Party went back on its pre-independence pledge to form such states. This was the reason for the movements like Aikya Keralam, Vishal Andhra, Samyukta Maharashtra and Maha Gujarat that swept these states in the decade of the 1950s. The Samyukta Maharashtra movement, from 1956 to 1960, was led by the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, which comprised four main parties – the Communist Party, the Praja Samajwadi Party, the Peasants and Workers Party and the Republican Party. It engulfed the state, with the peasantry and working class both joining it in huge numbers. In the massive repression that followed, 106 martyrs were killed in police firing. Most of them were from the working class in Mumbai and the rest were peasants.

This movement dealt a massive blow to the Congress Party in the 1957 elections to parliament and the state assembly. Several leaders of the above four parties won the elections. Among those elected to parliament were AIKS leaders Shamrao Parulekar and Nana Patil and another towering RPI peasant leader Dadasaheb Gaikwad. Many AIKS leaders were elected to the state assembly. Eventually, the central government was forced to concede the demand, and the state of Maharashtra was formed with Mumbai as its capital on May Day - May 1, 1960. 

In 1958, a big joint statewide struggle for land was launched in Maharashtra. The significant aspect of this struggle was that blue flags of the Republican Party led by Karmaveer Dadasaheb Gaikwad and red flags of the Communist Party led by Shamrao, Godavari, Nana Patil, R B More and others came together in it. Thousands of Dalits, Adivasis and other landless took part in the satyagrahas and filled the jails. The government was forced to make some concessions.

In 1960, the Kisan Sabha led by Shamrao and Godavari took up the vital demand of vesting forest plots in the names of the Adivasis who have been cultivating them for decades. Thousands of acres of land were vested in the names of Adivasis as a result of this struggle, until the draconian Forest Conservation Act of 1980 put a stop to the entire process. Ever since then, large struggles of Adivasis have been led by the AIKS in several districts of Maharashtra to press this demand. The Forest Rights Act (FRA) passed by Parliament in December 2006, although it marks an important advance on paper, leaves much to be desired as regards its implementation. Massive struggles of the Adivasi peasantry have been waged by the AIKS in Maharashtra in recent years towards this end.

On August 3, 1965, Shamrao Parulekar, who was in detention in the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, suddenly died due to a massive heart attack. It was a shattering blow for Godavari, who was also in the same jail at the time. It was an equally shattering blow for the AIKS and for the Kisan movement.
 
In 1968, the AIKS split at the All India level, and in 1969 the 7th state conference of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha was held in the village called Moha in the Beed district of Marathwada region, with the initiative taken by Gangadhar Appa Burande. AIKS general secretary Hare Krishna Konar attended this conference which decided the future course of the Kisan Sabha in Maharashtra. Godavari was elected its president and continued in that post for more than two decades.

In 1972-73, an extremely serious drought hit Maharashtra and the Kisan Sabha, led by stalwarts like Godavari Parulekar, Gangadhar Appa Burande, Narendra Malusare, Ramchandra Ghangare, Vithalrao Naik, L B Dhangar, Krishna Khopkar, Lahanu Kom and others led big peasant struggles for drought relief. The CITU in Maharashtra extended fraternal help and this illustrated the concept of worker-peasant unity in action. Joint struggles on this issue were also launched along with peasant organisations led by other Left parties. Police firing led to the death of peasants at Islampur in Sangli district and at Vairag in Solapur district.  This led to a statewide uproar.  It was as a result of these struggles that the state government was forced to start two important schemes – the Employment Guarantee Scheme (the precursor to the NREGA) and the Monopoly Cotton Procurement Scheme.      

In the struggle against the hated Emergency imposed by the Congress regime from 1975 to 1977, several opposition party leaders were arrested and detained for 19 months. But in the general elections of 1977, the authoritarian Congress was routed. In that election, three Left leaders – Ahilya Rangnekar from Mumbai, Lahanu Kom from Thane district and Gangadhar Appa Burande from Beed district – were elected to the Lok Sabha as part of a united front. The latter two were prominent AIKS leaders. In the 1978 state assembly elections, 9 MLAs of the Left were elected on an anti-authoritarian platform. They also included AIKS leaders. During the Emergency itself, Godavari led a successful struggle for the release of over 1000 debt slaves in the Wada tehsil of Thane district.

Several statewide and local struggles on burning issues of the peasantry were led by the AIKS in the post-Emergency period, especially in the post-1991 era of imperialist globalisation in the wake of its severe attack on agriculture and the peasantry. Space does not permit a detailed account of all these struggles in this piece. Only a few major struggles led by the AIKS recently may be briefly mentioned.

• A massive independent statewide Jail Bharo stir in January 2011 for the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and on burning issues like peasant suicides, in which over 1 lakh peasants courted arrest.
• Revival of the same struggle for FRA implementation and on the question of severe drought in April 2013, in which over 50,000 peasants conducted Rasta Roko at several centres for over 40 hours. The state government was forced to concede several demands on April 17.
• Independent statewide demonstrations of 1.25 lakh rural poor in 2012 for their demand for inclusion in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) lists. The struggle was successful in some districts, where the names of thousands of rural poor were included in the BPL lists.  
• A joint and militant struggle from 2007 to 2010, in alliance with the PWP against the proposed 25,000-acre MahaMumbai SEZ allotted to Mukesh Ambani. It entailed two huge rallies of over 50,000 peasants each and a referendum. The state government was finally forced to denotify the MahaMumbai SEZ, which was a major victory for the peasantry.    
• Two independent statewide rallies of thousands of peasants to the Nagpur state assembly on a set of burning peasant demands on several vital issues.
• Struggles on the vital issue of remunerative prices for crops like cotton and sugarcane, and also on the burning issue of bank credit.
• Struggles against the severe load-shedding of power and fantastic power bills, and also against the proposed disastrous Jaitapur atomic power plant.
• Campaigns and struggles for getting temple lands, pasture lands, waste lands etc vested in the names of the cultivating peasants.
• Statewide campaigns against price rise, for food security and universalisation of the PDS.
• Statewide campaign against the irrigation scam and other corruption scams.
• Intervention in cases of social atrocities against dalits, adivasis, minorities and women.
• Organising of mass marriage programmes of thousands of Adivasi couples in Nashik district.
• Regular holding of AIKS state camps for activists and publication of literature.

It is as a result of these struggles and campaigns that the membership of the AIKS in Maharashtra has generally been above the 2 lakh mark in the last few years. Of course, much more needs to be done to intensify struggles, increase the membership and strengthen the organisation.

51 years after Thane district hosted the 13th national conference of the AIKS in May 1955, it was Nashik district that hosted the 31st national conference of the AIKS in January 2006, with an unprecedented one lakh-strong peasant rally representing 30 districts of Maharashtra. Godavari Parulekar would have been the happiest had she lived to see it.
 
Unfortunately, she passed away at the ripe old age of 89 on October 8, 1996. The day on which she was cremated at Talasari in Thane district on October 10 was also the day 51 years ago in 1945 when the first five martyrs of the historic Adivasi Revolt were mercilessly gunned down by the venal nexus of the landlords and the imperialists. Thus, October 10 is observed every year in Thane district as Martyrs’ Day and also as the Godavari Parulekar Death Anniversary Day.  
 
Today, there are many formidable political challenges before the AIKS in Maharashtra. The 21th AIKS state conference that is being held from July 11-13, 2013 at Amravati in the Vidarbha region will take up all these challenges and will chart out the future course of mass struggles and our advance.

(Ashok Dhawale is Vice President, Maharashtra State Kisan Sabha; CKC Member, All India Kisan Sabha)

AIKS organises mass marriage of 825 Adivasi couples in Surgana, Nashik

J. P. Gavit and Hemant Waghere

On May 21, 2013, thousands of people attended a mass marriage ceremony of 825 Adivasi couples at Alangun village in Surgana tehsil of Nashik district. This remarkably enthusiastic function was organised by the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) Surgana tehsil unit, in association with the CPI(M)-led Adarsh Samata Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, an educational institution that runs several schools and hostels for Adivasi children in Nashik district.

The chief guest at this function was CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat. The other two guests of honour were AIKS state working president Rajaram Ozare, who is the sitting CPI(M) MLA from the Dahanu (ST) seat in Thane district; and AIDWA state president Mariam Dhawale – both of them state secretariat members of the CPI(M). Among the main organisers of the mass marriage function were AIKS state president, CPI(M) state secretariat member and former MLA J P Gavit, AIKS state general secretary Kisan Gujar and AIKS state council members Hemant Waghere and Irfan Shaikh – all three being state committee members of the CPI(M) - and many others.

While addressing the huge public meeting of several thousand people who had come to witness the mass marriage ceremony and to bless the newly-wed couples, Brinda Karat congratulated the AIKS for starting and continuing the tradition of holding this remarkable function for the last three decades, which saved lakhs of rupees of wedding expenses for the poor Adivasi people. She referred to the positive aspects of Adivasi culture and said that these should be defended against the attacks of neo-liberalism and communalism. For instance, there is no dowry system among Adivasis, and women enjoy a better status in tribals than in most other communities.

Among those who also addressed the large meeting were Rajaram Ozare MLA, Mariam Dhawale, J P Gavit, Kisan Gujar, Hemant Waghere and Irfan Shaikh.

A LONG AND RICH TRADITION

The AIKS in Nashik district began the tradition of holding mass Adivasi marriages 32 years ago in 1981, under the leadership of veteran leader Narendra Malusare and with the efforts of Adivasi activists of Surgana tehsil – Rama Mahale, K K Pawar, J P Gavit and Hari Mahale. Surgana tehsil has a 98 per cent Adivasi population. Adjoining Gujarat, this hilly region dependent only on rain-fed agriculture, is extremely backward, both economically and educationally.

Due to dire poverty, the age-old custom here was that, instead of an expensive marriage ceremony, a simple engagement ceremony called ‘pen’ used to be performed, after which the bride used to go and live at her in-laws’ place. Later on, if the economic situation improved, a wedding would be organised. But due to poverty, thousands of poor couples used to spend their entire life together without any marriage ceremony being ever performed. However, such couples and their offspring were socially looked down upon and had to face humiliation within the Adivasi community.

Taking all this into account, the AIKS organised the first mass marriage ceremony of 32 Adivasi couples at Rakshasbhuvan village in Surgana tehsil in 1981. The chief guest at this function was the then Commissioner for Adivasi Development, Sadashivrao Tinaikar, an IAS officer renowned for his uprightness. The expenses for lunch and for the mandap were carried out through contributions collected by the AIKS from the people of the village. The AIKS collected additional funds and presented the newly-wed couples with utensils and other such necessities. Over 1000 people attended this first-ever mass marriage ceremony in Surgana tehsil and Nashik district.

The success of this small function gave a boost to such social efforts. The next year in 1982, a mass marriage ceremony of 351 Adivasi couples was performed at Alangun village in the same tehsil. The chief guests at this function were the renowned Marathi poet and playwright Kusumagraj (who later won the Jnanpith Award), CPI(M) central committee member Ahilya Rangnekar and AIKS state general secretary Narendra Malusare. After that, mass weddings were regularly organised in several villages and became very popular. In 1995, in another huge function, 1276 couples were married.

In 2002, with the then CPI(M) state secretary Prabhakar Sanzgiri and Suman Sanzgiri as chief guests, another such function was held. In this function, both the son and daughter of J P Gavit got married. That was, indeed, one of the specialities of this movement – that many CPI(M) and AIKS leaders and their children themselves got married in the mass marriage functions. Other leaders who got married in this way were Hemant Waghere, Savliram Pawar, Ramji Gavit, Ananda Chavan and so on.

On May 20, 2005, a mass wedding of 501 Adivasi couples was held at Alangun. The two chief guests at this function were the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh, and the CPI(M) state secretary and central committee member Dr Ashok Dhawale. After this function, J P Gavit, who was then an MLA, raised the demand in the state assembly for government help to be given to couples who got married in mass marriage functions. Since the chief minister had himself attended the function and had actually seen the situation, the demand was conceded. A ‘Kanyadaan Yojana’ was started, wherein a cheque of Rs 10,000 is given to each such newly-wed couple. Brinda Karat in her speech called for a substantial increase in this amount due to the massive price rise.

The CPI(M) and the AIKS have also taken the lead in various other fields in Surgana tehsil. For instance, they initiated the novel Doorstep Ration Scheme which is now being implemented in 123 out of 291 revenue villages in the tehsil. This scheme has controlled the large-scale corruption in the PDS and has succeeded in reaching food grains regularly to the people. In the Old Age Pension Scheme, Surgana tehsil has taken the lead in Maharashtra, with over 14,000 old women and men getting a regular pension of Rs 500 per month, which amounts to nearly Rs 5 crore per year. So far as the Forest Rights Act is concerned, out of the 12,000-odd land claims made by Adivasis, over 7,300 claims have been accepted by the state government and a statewide AIKS struggle is going on for the rest. (See report in People’s Democracy, May 6-12, 2013 and in Loklahar, 20-26 May, 2013).

As a result of all this work, in 2012, the CPI(M) won all the 3 Zilla Parishad seats and 5 of the 6 Panchayat Samiti seats in Surgana tehsil, and also several Gram Panchayats. The Party has been winning the Surgana Panchayat Samiti for over 25 years, a record that is surpassed only by the Talasari Panchayat Samiti in Thane district, which the Party has been winning continuously for the last 50 years. The Party lost the state assembly seat here in 2009 after winning it six times earlier, mainly due to the delimitation of constituencies and the unprincipled gang-up of all political forces –secular and communal - against the CPI(M). In the year 2013, the AIKS has completed a membership of 35,000-odd in Surgana tehsil alone, out of the total 75,000-odd membership in Nashik district and the 2,00,000-odd membership in the state. This has set a new record for any tehsil in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra: 50,000 peasants' stir on drought and forest rights

Ashok Dhawale and R Ramakumar

Over 50,000 peasants in Maharashtra rallied under the banner of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) from April 11 to 15, 2013 and conducted a massive road blockade stir on the two burning issues of drought and implementation of the Forest Rights Act. April 11 was chosen to begin the struggle since it is the foundation day of the AIKS; and it is also the birth anniversary of Mahatma Jotirao Phule, one of the earliest and foremost champions of the peasantry and of social justice in Maharashtra.

MASSIVE RASTA ROKO STIR

The epicentres of the struggle were the two bastions of the AIKS in Maharashtra, viz Nashik and Thane districts. Over 45,000 peasants in these two districts peacefully blocked the state highways at 20 centres in 15 tehsils from the crack of dawn on April 11 and simply refused to move – 25,000 people at 9 centres in 8 tehsils of Nashik district and 20,000 people at 11 centres in 7 tehsils of Thane district. The stir in Thane district was led jointly by the AIKS, AIDWA and DYFI. A large majority of the participants in the agitation in these two districts were Adivasis, and they included thousands of Adivasi women and also youth. Effective Rasta Roko actions were also led by the AIKS in other districts like Yavatmal, Ahmednagar, Buldana, Solapur, Parbhani, Nanded, Jalna, Sangli and others.

Rattled by the stir that blocked all traffic in the rural areas of Nashik and Thane districts for over 40 hours at a stretch till the evening of April 12, the Congress-NCP state government finally saw reason and conceded the demand to invite an AIKS delegation to meet the Chief Minister, along with other concerned Ministers, the Chief Secretary and other senior officials at the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai on April 17, when the state assembly was still in session. It was only after this meeting was fixed and confirmed that the road blockade was withdrawn by the AIKS on the evening of April 12.

A three hour meeting was accordingly held on April 17. For two hours detailed talks were held with the senior officials, after which Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam, Adivasi Development Minister Babanrao Pachpute and his Minister of State Rajendra Gavit participated for over an hour along with the Chief Secretary and other officials who included the district collectors of Nashik and Thane districts.

The AIKS was represented by its state president and former MLA J P Gavit, state working president and MLA Rajaram Ozare, vice presidents Dr Ashok Dhawale and Ratan Budhar, general secretary Kisan Gujar, joint secretaries Dr Ajit Nawale and Barkya Mangat, and state council members Hemant Waghere and Irfan Shaikh, among others. Important concessions were made by the state government in this meeting, and these are given later in this report.
 
But first, let us take a quick look at the two main issues that were focused by the AIKS statewide stir. 

THE ISSUE OF DROUGHT

Maharashtra is today facing a drought situation that is more acute than the 1972 drought. This time there is an unprecedented shortage of water, which was not the case in many earlier droughts. For the last two years consecutively, the State has been facing deficient rainfall. This has seriously affected over 10,000 villages in 186 tehsils in 13 districts in Marathwada and parts of Western and Central Maharashtra. The worst affected districts are Jalna, Aurangabad, Beed, Usmanabad, Nanded, Hingoli, Dhule, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Pune, Solapur, Sangli and Satara. Combined with total state inaction, the situation has spiralled into a serious crisis of livelihoods in these regions.

The Deccan plateau constitutes about half of the drought-prone area of Maharashtra. About 12% of Maharashtra’s population lives in drought-prone areas. Historically, Maharashtra has experienced deficient rainfall once every five years. Further, severe drought conditions are experienced once in every 8-9 years. Between 1972 and 2013, there have been major droughts in 1982, 1992 and 2004 in addition to more frequent rainfall shortages.
 
In the present case, the crisis started with the failure of the monsoon in 2011. As a result, the Government of Maharashtra declared drought in 7,753 villages in 15 districts of the state on October 15, 2011 and on 26 March 2012. In 2012 also, the monsoon was inadequate. The first half of the 2012 monsoon received extremely low rainfall as compared to “normal rainfall”. The small improvement in the second half was not enough to repair the damage. This led to further deterioration, falling crop productivity, drying up of drinking water sources and shortage of fodder.

The district-wise position of the shortage of rainfall in 2012, as on 30th of September 2012, is given below in Table 1.

If we look at the taluk-wise data also, the acuteness of the situation is evident. The rainfall was 25-50% below normal in 50 talukas and 75% below normal in 136 talukas. In 102 talukas, the rainfall was 75-100% below normal.

Decline in sowing

The first important impact of the deficient rainfall was on the extent of sowing in the kharif season and the growth of already sown kharif crops. The most affected districts have been Pune, Satara, Sangli and Ahmednagar (all in Western Maharashtra) and Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed and Usmanabad (all in Marathwada).

Usually, 50 lakh hectares of area is sown with cereals in Maharashtra; in 2012-13, the area sown was only 37.7 lakh hectares. In the case of pulses, only 19 lakh hectares of area was sown as compared to the normal area of 24.4 lakh hectares. For all food grains, the normal area is 74 lakh hectares, while the actual area sown was 56.8 lakh hectares. For jowar, the normal area sown is 14.5 lakh hectares, while the actual area sown was 7.5 lakh hectares.

The situation was not different for rabi crops, though the data is still not fully collected by the government. In the rabi season, about 50% area is usually sowed with jowar. Due to deficit moisture and moisture stress, the area under rabi jowar has also reduced. Further, due to early harvest, the production of grain and fodder was also adversely affected.

Fall in water levels in the reservoirs

As a result of poor rainfall, the levels of storage in most irrigation projects in the region have rapidly depleted. The biggest dam in Maharashtra is Jayakwadi in Aurangabad; it has almost zero live storage. Similar is the case with the Ujani dam in southern Maharashtra. Depletion of live storage has affected both the water available for irrigation as well as water available for drinking. As on 4th March 2013, it is estimated that the total average storage level in all the reservoirs was only 35% of the total capacity. This is lower than the figure of 40% in March 2012 and 55% in March 2011.

The region-wise situation of water storage in the dams is given in Table 2 above.

Response of the government

The response of the government has been one of inaction. The government has been reacting to the drought, and not proactively addressing the drought, leave alone its root causes. It has been reacting mostly by deploying water tankers, opening cattle and fodder camps and moderately expanding the NREGS. However, on all three grounds the reaction has been largely inadequate.

First, going by the data of the government itself, one village may be receiving one water tanker only once in 5 days. Most of the water tankers are owned by local politicians or their cronies. Owning water tankers has become one of the most profitable businesses in the State today. Secondly, the opening of cattle camps has largely been in some regions only. Thirdly, the NREGS is a monumental failure in the State. Consider the following data:

• Only 13% of the households in Maharashtra have a NREGS job card, while the share is 35% in India and 71% in Rajasthan.
• Among Dalit households, if 45% in India and 74% in Rajasthan had job cards, the share for Maharashtra was 12%.
• Among Adivasi households, if 54% in India and 83% in Rajasthan had job cards, the share for Maharashtra was 21%.
• Only 4% of the households have received employment under NREGS, while the share is 25% in India and 62% in Rajasthan.
• Among Dalit households, if 34% in India and 65% in Rajasthan had received employment under NREGS, the share for Maharashtra was 2%.
• Among Adivasi households, if 42% in India and 82% in Rajasthan had received employment under NREGS, the share for Maharashtra was 6%.
• The average number of days of employment for a household under NREGS was 34 days in Maharashtra and 71 days in Rajasthan.
• The share of households who received more than 10 days of work under NREGS was 3% in Maharashtra and 35% in Rajasthan.

Principles of drought proofing

What is required in Maharashtra today to address drought? Clearly, there are steps required in the short-term, medium-term and long-term. In the short-term, the government urgently needs to ensure that three forms of security are ensured in the drought-affected regions: “food security”, “water security” and “employment security”.

First, the government should immediately declare that all ration cards in the drought-affected talukas would be considered as Antyodaya cards and provided with 35 kg of rice and wheat at Rs 2 per kg. At a time when the food godowns of India are over-stored and food grains are rotting, this should not be a problem at all. Secondly, the supply of water tankers to the villages should be directly handled by the government and the number of tankers significantly increased. The diversion of tankers from villages to industries and to the elite of the region should be cracked down upon. All beer and liquor manufacturing factories in the drought-hit areas should be closed down. Thirdly, the coverage of NREGS should be immediately stepped up. Employment should be provided to people in the drought-affected regions on a war-footing, and the possibility of providing wages in kind should also be explored. Thus, if the availability of food, water and employment are improved in the drought-regions, there will be relief, at least to some extent.

However, focussing only on the short-term is not enough. In the medium-term and long-term, the government should aim to totally drought-proof the State. Drought-proofing implies that the government aims to weaken the conditions that create a drought and also reduce its impact on the people. First, there has to be renewed focus on the development of drought-resistant crop varieties and hybrids that are grown in the dry regions. The focus has to be specifically on crops like jowar, bajra, pulses and oilseeds. Secondly, all the ongoing irrigation projects in the state have to be completed in a time-bound manner, and a social audit of these projects undertaken to correct design errors. There has to be a stern crackdown on the massive and chronic corruption in the Irrigation Department. Further, it has to be ensured that during all the droughts, all irrigation projects in a river basin get access to the same amount of water. Thirdly, a land use plan needs to be put in place, whereby the cultivation of water-intensive crops is strongly discouraged in regions prone to droughts. Such a water-use pattern should be an integral part of the drought proofing plan. Finally, a permanent social security programme has to be instituted in the drought-prone regions, covering the spheres of food, water and employment in a comprehensive manner.
 
None of these plans would become a reality in the absence of political will. However, the situation in Maharashtra is that none of the leading political formations – the Congress-NCP or the Shiv Sena-BJP-MNS - have either the will or the vision to implement such a programme. Without long-lasting political change, plans to drought-proof the state would only remain a dream.

This is further underlined by the thoroughly callous and shameless remarks made recently by the state deputy chief minister, former decade-long irrigation minister and current finance and electricity minister Ajit Pawar at a meeting in Indapur in his own Pune district. These remarks, which rubbed salt into the wounds of the victims of drought and power load-shedding, were roundly condemned by all sections of people. These remarks come from a politician who is at the centre of the massive irrigation scam that was recently unearthed and which is now sought to be suppressed. An idea of the scam can be had from the fact that while Rs 70,000 crore was spent by the Irrigation Department of the state in the decade between 2001-2010 (when Ajit Pawar was the state irrigation minister), the Economic Survey of Maharashtra officially states that the proportion of the land under irrigation in the state rose from 17.8 % to 17.9% in the same period, i.e. an increase of just 0.1 %!

The AIKS memorandum that was submitted to the Chief Minister on the issue of drought listed out a series of demands around the vital questions analysed above.

THE ISSUE OF FOREST RIGHTS

The other major issue taken up by the AIKS in this stir was that of the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA). In this case also, the actual situation on the ground is thoroughly unsatisfactory.

According to the official state government figures for February 2013 that were presented in the April 17 meeting, out of the 3,39,100 individual claims and 5,048 collective claims (total 3,44,148 FRA claims) that came to the Gram Sabhas, a total of 3,41,177 claims, i.e. 99.10 % have been disposed of. Of these, 1,04,758 individual claims and 2,796 collective claims (total 1,07,554 claims) were accepted. Later, at the SDO level, 43,342 appeals were received, out of which 19,252 appeals were accepted and 23,077 were rejected. At the district level, 95,643 appeals were received, out of which only 36,023 appeals were accepted and 16,485 were rejected. 1,013 appeals at the SDO level and 43,135 appeals at the district level are still pending.

Hence, according to the official state government claim itself, out of the total of 3,44,148 FRA claims, only 1,43,577 claims have been accepted, leaving a massive number of 2,00,571 claims either rejected or pending. The state government further claims that land titles have been distributed in respect of 1,35,032 claims and the total forest land distributed as such titles is 8,39,193 acres. Thus, the government claims that on an average, a 6.21 acre patta has been given to each FRA claimant.

The AIKS memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister on the FRA issue made the following main points: 1. First, it strongly questioned the massive rejection of over 2,00,000 FRA claims in the state. 2. Second, it equally strongly questioned the amount of land that was given in respect of most of the accepted claims, asserting that in most cases the land pattas that were given were of an area that was far less than what had been claimed and was actually being cultivated by the Adivasi peasants. 3. Third, it charged that this serious situation had arisen because the administration had relied solely on the Forest Department, which has historically been against the Adivasi peasantry and which was hence specifically kept out of the implementation process of the FRA by the Act itself. 4. Fourth, it pointed to the tremendous obstacles that were being faced by non-Adivasi traditional forest-dwellers with regard to getting forest lands vested in their names. 5. Finally, the AIKS demanded that the entire process of FRA implementation in Maharashtra be reviewed and radically overhauled.

Some of the other memorandums submitted by the AIKS at this meeting concerned the vesting of the massive amount of temple lands, enami lands, pasture lands, government fallow lands and varkas lands (meaning those lands that are being cultivated by tribals for generations but that are still in the names of the old absentee landlords, an issue which has become a burning one in Thane district due to the rapacious drive of the land mafia and its agents) in the names of the cultivating peasants; and one opposing the plan of joining of rivers that is likely to lead to the submergence of several Adivasi villages, at the same time proposing an alternative to conserve that water.

Response of the government

On the issue of drought, the Chief Minister accepted all the immediate demands concerning water, fodder, employment, grain, waiving of debts, electricity bills and student fees etc. that were made in the AIKS memorandum. He also agreed to consider the other issues of land, river waters etc.

On the question of FRA implementation, he agreed to review the entire implementation process as follows: 1. All the rejected FRA claimants can re-submit their appeals to the district collectors along with the re-submission of any two of the nine proofs as laid down in Article 13 of the FRA itself. 2. As regards the question of lesser area of forest land allotted, this will also be reconsidered, the relevant proofs of the area of land actually being cultivated by the claimant will be checked, and such land up to 4 hectares as provided for in the Act, will be given. 3. As regards non-Adivasis, submission of residential proof in the forest area of 75 years ago will be adequate for accepting their claims. 4. Fresh FRA claims will be considered after the completion of review of the old claims as given above. 5. Instructions will be given to the Forest Department to desist from unnecessary interference.

The AIKS Maharashtra state council has decided to tenaciously pursue the gains that it has made in these talks with the state government as a result of struggle. The AIKS Ahmednagar district council has already decided to organise an indefinite dharna before the District Collectorate from May 14.  Other districts are also making their own preparations for a campaign. If needed, the AIKS will later take up the matter with the Union Minister for Adivasi Development.

Right now, AIKS district and tehsil conferences are going on as preparation for the 21st AIKS state conference to be held at Amravati in the Vidarbha region from July 11 to 13, 2013. The gains of the recent struggle are being reported and the need for a renewed struggle on other burning issues like peasant suicides and the debt trap, remunerative prices for agricultural produce based on the cost of production etc. is being stressed in all these AIKS conferences, along with the great necessity of strengthening the Kisan Sabha organisation manifold all over the state. 

Comrade T. N. Seema's dissent note on the Food Security Bill

The National Food Security Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 22, 2011. The Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution presented its report on January 17, 2013. It made recommendations on key issues such as the categorisation of beneficiaries, cash transfers and cost sharing between the centre and states. A dissent note was presented by one MP from the CPI (M), Dr. T.N. Seema. We are happy to publish the dissent note below:
 
I wish to record my disagreement and dissent on some recommendations of the Committee as well as on some recommendations not made by the Committee which 1 feel should have been made. I have expressed these views in the course of the discussions in the Committee also. However, the final report in my opinion is not satisfactory on these issues fundamental to the question of food security; hence this note of dissent.

1. The entitlements in the Bill should be universal in nature with no caps artificially decided. However the Committee has recommended only a uniform entitlement not a universal one. Thus the numbers of those to be covered by even a uniform entitlement will be subject to the arbitrary caps put by the Planning Commission of 75 per cent (rural) and 50 per cent (urban). In fact the committee specifically recommends these caps in paraa 2.5. This undermines food security in a fundamental way. The recommendation of the Committee is only that the State Governments if they want can increase the coverage at their own cost. This is both meaningless and unfair. At present, the Bill specifically states that all foodgrains provided by the centre to the States have to be distributed as mandated. This means that the States which are using the foodgrains at present to ensure near universal coverage will no longer be able to do so. They will now have to buy the extra foodgrains required at the market price. This will mean the elimination of the effective food programmes being run by several State Governments. The committee has failed to take these factors into account.

2. The uniform entitlement recommended by the Committee at 5 kgs per head is quite unacceptable as it would reduce even the present entitlement for BPL and AAY families of 35 kgs effectively by 10 kgs for a family of five. This cut in entitlement will be creating food insecurity for 6.52 crore families (presently identified as BPL/Antodaya). This will only help the Government to contain its subsidy but not provide food security which is the aim of the Bill. It would have been better to have kept the entitlement to 7 kgs per individual for all with a minimum of 35 kgs ensured by law. Larger families would in any case be covered through the individual entitlement.

3. The Committee has correctly recommended a uniform price for all. However, it has adopted the prices of three rupees, two rupees and one rupee, for one kg of rice, wheat and millets respectively. While this is beneficial for those who would have been categorized as "general sections" in the Government Bill, it is not doing justice to the Antodaya sections who are getting their allotments at two rupees per kg, which has also been adopted as the price norm for non-Antodaya sections in many States. Thus, the committee's recommendation should have taken into account the present situation in the States and suggested a uniform price of 35 kgs (minimum) at two rupees a kilo.

4. The Bill has been rightly criticized by many of the representations being highly centralized. This is more so as far as the cost sharing issue is concerned. In a central Bill the centre must bear the major share of the cost. Many State Governments said that the entire cost should be born by the centre. However, the committee has recommended categorization of States. This is opening up a pandora's box and will lead to giving the centre even more powers to pick and choose the categories. States with a particular problem of transportation, such as the north-east States should get the benefit of the centre paying for the full amount. In any case, no cost sharing can be decided by central Government arbitrarily as is being done with many schemes and laws. The relevant clauses in the Bill which deal with this topic must be deleted; otherwise, it is extremely unfair to the States and moreover undermines the federal character of the constitution.

5. On the issue of direct cash transfers the recommendation of the committee is that "at this juncture" it should not be introduced as the infrastructure is absent. While this note of caution should be taken seriously by the Government, the committee however has failed to recommend, as it should have, that reference to cash transfers in the Bill should be removed altogether. I believe it is essential to emphasise in the recommendation that cash transfers instead of food at a time of high food inflation is bound to lead to food insecurity. The increase in market prices of foodgrains will mean that the cash subsidy will not cover the entire cost of 35 kgs entitlement. Further, since there is no guarantee as to how the cash will be spent, it may lead to further malnutrition. Retaining the cash transfer clause in the law would mean that a Government would have the legal right to enforce it.

6. I think it is wrong for the committee to make a specific recommendation to limit the allowance of 1000 rupees to a pregnant woman for only the first two children. This is imposing a two child norm which is objectionable. The problems she faces will be the same, if not more with a third child. Why should we make the woman suffer, when she rarely has the power to take the decision about the numbers of children she should bear. As far as anganwadis are concerned, the committee has wrongly absolved the Government from providing free meals and added nutrition for pregnant mothers. There are other points such as fixing control prices for pulses, edible oil and other essential commodities which should be included in the Bill.

Stop transferring people’s cash to corporate pockets!

All India Kisan Sabha condemns the decision of the Congress-led UPA Government to decontrol diesel prices and allow oil marketing companies to arbitrarily hike prices. This will lead to hike in prices of all essential commodities, increase irrigation costs and costs of transport. The poor, the cultivating peasantry and the masses will be adversely hit by this move. Within no time the oil companies have hiked the price of diesel by 45 paise per litre excluding taxes.

The Indian Oil Corporation has also announced that subsidies will no longer be available to bulk diesel consumers and the prices will be determined by the market forces. This implies an increase by Rs.9.25 Ps per litre excluding taxes. The effective hike of around Rs.10.80 Ps a litre for bulk diesel consumers like railways, transport undertakings, power sector and many other sectors will only spark off an overall hike in transportation costs, costs of power generation and in many other sectors. Already the rail fares have been hiked and the Railways has immediately claimed that this move will lead to an additional 30 percent increase in fuel costs or effectively an annual burden of Rs.2700 crores. Oil companies are seeking to bring Indian diesel prices at par with international prices. This betrays logic as India imports crude oil which is then refined here. There is no way that this price can be at par with global price of diesel.

The oil marketing companies have also raised the price of the domestic non-subsidised LPG cylinder by Rs. 46.50 paise. While the demand has been to remove the unjustified cap on number of cylinders for domestic use, the Government has capped it at 9 cylinders per year. The cost of the subsidised cylinders will be Rs.410.50 Ps while a non-subsidised cylinder will cost not less than Rs.942. The move will only further burden the common masses. AIKS demands the withdrawal of the decision to cap subsidised cylinders for domestic use.

Deregulation in petrol and fertilisers in the recent past have led to an arbitrary and uncontrolled rise in prices of petrol and fertilisers. The present decision will ensure that this would be the order of the day for diesel also from now on.  Irrigation costs for the peasantry will only keep rising. The prices of gas cylinders for domestic use will also see a similar trend. This Government which has been resorting to farcical “cash transfers” by resorting to deregulation is actually transferring people’s money into the pockets of profiteering private companies. On the pretext of cutting down fiscal deficit it is doing away with subsidies which provided some relief to the poor even as massive tax concessions are being given to the rich and the corporate sector.
 
AIKS calls upon all State Units to hold massive protests against these anti-people moves.

Press Statement, 19th January, 2013.

Condemn the brutal attack on Abdul Rezzack Mollah by TMC goons

The All India Kisan Sabha condemns the brutal attack on Comrade Abdul Rezzack Mollah by Trinamool Congress goons led by former MLA and history-sheeter Arabul Islam. We demand immediate arrest of the perpetrators of the crime.

Rezzack Mollah is a senior leader of the Kisan Sabha and member of the Central Kisan Committee. He has been a popular leader who has been elected 8 times to the West Bengal Assembly and also held important ministerial responsibilities during different Left Front Governments.

Comrade Mollah had gone to visit Kantatala in South 24 Paraganas District where the Trinamool Congress goons had burnt down a office of the CPI (M) on 5^th January when the Trinamool goons made the murderous attack on him. The police officials were mute spectators to the violent attack on him. He suffered serious injuries in the attack and is undergoing treatment.

The Trinamool Congress is grossly mistaken if they believe they can stifle voices of protest through violent attacks and politics of physical annihilation. Kisan Sabha and the democratic forces will build resistance to the politics of violence and intimidation and respond with a wave of protests against the brutal attack on our leader. AIKS calls upon our units to protest against this attack and call upon all democratic sections to respond as well as isolate the perpetrators of the heinous attack.

Talasari, Thane: New Building of Godavari-Shamrao Parulekar College inaugurated

B A Rajput

On December 27, 2012, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and Leader of the Party in Parliament, Sitaram Yechury, inaugurated the three-storeyed new building of the Comrade Godavari Shamrao Parulekar (GSP) Senior and Junior College of Arts, Science and Commerce in the predominently Adivasi area of Talasari in Thane district. The inaugural programme also commemorated two other happy events.

The first was the completion of the golden jubilee year of the Adivasi Pragati Mandal (APM), the educational institution founded by Shamrao and Godavari Parulekar in 1961 in the presence of two stalwarts of the progressive movement in Maharashtra – Balraj Sahni and Acharya P K Atre – for the express purpose of the spread of education amongst the then largely illiterate Adivasi population. The second was the completion of the platinum jubilee (75th) year of the founder president of the Adivasi Pragati Mandal, Lahanu Shidva Kom, veteran leader of the CPI(M), ex-MP and also ex-MLA.

Three months ago on October 10, Sitaram Yechury had inaugurated the new spacious office of the CPI(M) Thane district committee at Talasari, called the Comrade Godavari Shamrao Parulekar Bhavan. The foundation stone for this new office had been laid two years ago by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and Tripura Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar. The Party state committee meeting held there three months ago had culminated in a massive 50,000-strong districtwide rally.

The inaugural programme on December 27 marked the culmination of a three-day student cultural festival from December 24-26. In this festival, the Adivasi students of the schools, junior colleges and senior college run by the APM presented various cultural items in which they displayed their talents. The annual issue of the college magazine called ‘Godavari’, which had a number of good articles and poems written by the students themselves, was released at the function by Sitaram Yechury.   

Apart from the senior and junior college at Talasari, the APM runs schools and hostels for Adivasi students in villages like Udhva, Vasa, Kochai and Vevji in Talasari tehsil and Ashagad in Dahanu tehsil. It also runs two junior colleges in Udhva and Ashagad respectively. The total student strength in all the APM-run institutions is 8000, and the total staff strength is 200. Over 90 per cent of the students in these schools, hostels and colleges are Adivasis, and many of them are first generation learners.

Comrade Godavari Shamrao Parulekar senior college is affiliated to Mumbai University and it also runs a centre for the Yashwantrao Chavan Open University. Apart from the three main streams of Arts, Science and Commerce, the college runs special courses ranging from modern computer science to traditional Warli Adivasi painting. Many other social and constructive activities include mass marriages to save expenses, eradication of superstitions, water conservation, cleanliness campaigns, women’s empowerment, health camps, educational improvement and so on. The GSP college has won a number of awards and prizes at the university and inter-collegiate levels.

At the inaugural function, Sitaram Yechury warmly felicitated Lahanu Kom and the entire team of the Adivasi Pragati Mandal for the great efforts and the progress that they had made in providing education to the tribals who had always been deprived of it. He said that in the country as a whole, with the drive towards privatisation and commercialisation, education was being sold to the highest bidder. While on the one hand, Indian youth with its intelligence and hard work was excelling in computer software in the most competitive places like the Silicon Valley, the youth in India were facing the grim prospect of unemployment. Due to government’s wrong policies, the great potential of our country was not being realised. He denounced the heinous attacks on women as seen in the gruesome Delhi gang-rape case. Finally, he called upon the students to retain and deepen their sensitivity, and to always stand firmly on the side of truth and justice, come what may.

The elegant function was presided over by CPI(M) MLA Rajaram Ozare, and it was addressed by CPI(M) state secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale, Secretary of the Rayat Shikshan Sanstha Dr Arvind Burungale, veteran leaders Lahanu Kom and L B Dhangar, secretary of the APM B V Mangat and Principal of the GSP College B A Rajput. Students, staff and well-wishers attended in large numbers.