New Democracy, December 2015

8/20/2019 New Democracy, December 2015

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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)

December, 2015December, 2015

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Comment

Turkey shoots downRussian military aircraftWar in Syria escalated with Turkey downing a Russian military plane on

the Syria-Turkey border. The incident has brought into focus t he turmoil inthe Middle-East which has become the most troubled region in the world.The incident shows the intensification of contradictions among imperialistpowers and the regional powers aligned to them. All these powers, whichare claiming to fight the Islamic State, are pursuing their own agenda.Turkey, which had initially refused to join the US led coalition against IS,later joined it bombing the Syrian Kurds who were holding their own againstthe IS and had carved out an area of self -rule. Western imperialist powerssupport anti-Assad Jihadis while Russia is bombing all anti-Assad militant

groups including the Islamic State. Iran is supporting Basher Assad regimewhile Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are f inancing and supporting their own groupsof Jihadis. The scramble to secure influence in Syria is resulting in highcasualties mainly of civilians. More than half of the population of Syria (20million) have been forced to leave their homes and take shelter elsewhere,half of these inside Syria and another half outside Syria. Every imperialistpower and regional power aligned to it is trying to secure its foothold inSyria through militant groups to be a stakeholder in the negotiations onSyria’s future.

Turkey’s downing of a Russian military plane is obviously a deliberatemove to send a message to Russia to desist from attacking the forces

aligned to Turkey. Nothing more, nothing less. Turkey's Foreign ministryhad called the Russian Ambassador in Turkey to protest against the Russianbombing of Turkmens aligned with Turkey. Earlier Turkey had proposed toUS and other western powers to impose a no-fly zone and create a safehaven for anti-Assad forces in this region of Northern Syria which did notfructify and with Russia’s direct participation in the Syrian war, is nowbeyond the pale. Erdogan and his AKP had fought the recent parliamentaryelection on national chauvinist platform targeting Kurds’ struggle and alsoattacked the secular sections of ruling classes asserting its religious andsectarian identity. So defending Turkmens in northern Syria serves AKP’s

domestic agenda as well as its expansionist designs. Downing of the Russianmilitary plane was no accident nor a result of ‘miscommunication’ as latertermed by Turkish Premier, as even according to Turkey’s version theplane remained in Turkish airspace only for 17 seconds. Shooting down amilitary aircraft is obviously a serious act and Turkey cannot be unaware

of that. First asserting its right to punish violators of its air space and latertoning down of its rhetoric by Turkey is due to advice of caution administeredby NATO brass. Any talk by Turkish rulers of defending sovereignty is allthe more misplaced as Turkey has organized flow of militants, arms andsupplies into Syria to overthrow Basher Assad regime. Turkey has beenblatantly and regularly violating the sovereignty of Syria.

Turkey was also piqued with coming together of Russia, US and Francein their war against Islamic State. After the Paris killings, the FrenchPresident has vowed to wage a ‘pitiless’ war against the Islamic State. Hehas met US President Obama and is set to meet Russian President Putinwith his message. In fact Russia and US have been cooperating in Syria toan extent and Hollande’s efforts are geared towards sorting out thecontroversial points. Turkish action is a reaction to these efforts and ismeant to at least secure that Turkish concerns be taken on board whilethis front if forged.

Putin called Turkey’s act as a “stab in the back by accomplices ofterrorists”. Russia also pointed out the involvement of ruling AKP politiciansand family members of President Erdogan in the trade of oil from the areasunder the control of the Is lamic State. However, Russian rulers will like touse this incident to bolster their military presence in the area rather thantake immediate retaliatory action against Turkey. Russia has moved its S-400 aerial missile defence system which will enable it to target Turkishplanes with high degree of precision. Russia will give time to westernimperialist powers to restrain Turkey from disrupting developing yet fragilecooperation between Russia and other western powers in Syria. Obviouslyregional allies of western powers, like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, arenot at all pleased with this limited cooperation as it comes with increasingrole of Iran and its allies and has pushed the question of ouster of Assadon the backburner.

Besides direct participation in the Syrian civil war, Russia is alsodeveloping close military cooperation with Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and alsoIraq. US had manoeuvred in Iraq to replace Maliki with Abadi. However,


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given the composition of Iraq Govt. and the pressure of fighting the IslamicState which controls sizable part of Iraq, Abadi Govt. is coming underincreasing pressure to align with Russia. Russia is trying to increase itsrole in the region utilizing the overextended nature of US interests whichare often contradictory. Abadi govt. is resisting the pressure to forge close

relations with Russia despite setting up a centre for sharing intelligence,but the developments are making it difficult for Abadi to resist it for long.

Turkey’s downing of a Russian military plane is being utilized by differentactors, particularly different imperialist powers, to further their aims in theregion. While they pretend about their unity on fighting the Islamic State asit rules over a vast swath of territory in Iraq and Syria, their differencescame to the fore during Vienna Summit as well as in reactions to Turkey’saction. Saudi King laid the entire responsibility of rise of IS on westernpowers’ refusal to take military action to depose Basher Assad. Turkeyand Saudi Arabia are parroting this line to buttress their case for removingAssad from power. However western powers have to admit that it was themilitary occupation of Iraq by US imperialists and their allies which wasresisted by Iraqis and which ultimately led to rise of the Islamic State.Tony Blair, self-confessed poodle of George Bush, admitted as muchrecently. The events of Libya, where western imperialist powers had militarilyintervened to overthrow Gadaffi regime, have also exposed western powers’claims about their military action. Basher Assad on the other hand hasdenied that IS had its origin in Syria, instead pointing to Iraqi roots of itsforces and leadership. Rise of Islamic State in Syria is partly due to largescale movement of Iraqi refugees to north eastern Syria after US occupationof Iraq. According to a report over 1.3 million Iraqis had taken refuge in thatpart of Syria by the year 2007.

Rise of Islamic State has its origin in the resistance by Iraqis to the US

occupation of Iraq. Military, intelligence and administrative officials ofSaddam Hussein regime are playing the main role in military successes ofthe Islamic State as also in stably administering the large territory underits control. Based on documents, Speigel’s Christopher Reuter repor tedthat senior Iraqi officers f rom Saddam Hussein’s regime constructed a planto use AQI (Al qaeda in Iraq) as a vehicle to retake Iraq. Their documentsdetailed a strategy uncannily similar to what ended up happening: The groupwould use Syria as a launch platform for a massive invasion of Iraq.According to a report by Josy Joseph published in Hindu (November 17th2015) “The interrogation details paint the emergence of a highly militarized

state, where everyone seems to have basic military training. It also showsthe IS is operating more like a modern nation state than a medieval unrulyentity, which may have been much closer to the bloody ideology theybelieve in.”

Confronting Islamic State has been the new holy cause of imperialist

powers in pursuit of maintaining and increasing their stronghold in the region.Decline of US imperialism, particularly its unwillingness to commit largemilitary forces after catastrophic occupation of Iraq, has led to abrogationof the borders drawn by British and French imperialists after the First WorldWar. Russian Czar too was party to that agreement and was going to getsome European parts of Turkey and total control over Black Sea. Thanksto Bolshevik Revolution, the Russian Govt. repudiated the Treaty, rather itwas Bolsheviks who published this ‘secret’ treaty. New Czars of Russiawish to correct that ‘mistake’ and stake their claim to parts of Middle-East.In this they are coming into conflict with new Ottomans ruling Turkey.Descendants of Sykes and Picot are trying to bomb their way to relevance

in the region once controlled by them. However, this churning has given anopportunity to the Kurds to advance their national aspirations and they areseizing it, offering sacrifices to realize their longstanding aspiration fortheir homeland.

A new Middle-East is rising among the wars unleashed in its differentparts. While most of the attention is focused on the war in Syria, Gulfmonarchies are conducting continuous air strikes against Houthis and YemenArmy to put their nominee, Hadi, into power. Nearly 10 thousand peoplemostly civilians, have died in this war where gulf monarchies led by SaudiArabia have failed to wrest control of the capital while their troops arefacing casualties. Saudi rulers have invested much in this war where they

are facing tough situation. In Palestine, Palestinians are waging anotherIntifada against Zionist Israeli rulers whose brutal annexationist drive isencountering determined resistance from the Palestinians. This resistanceis threatening to upset the efforts of US imperialism and its allies.

Conflicts in the Middle-East are a complex interplay between thecontradictions between imperialism and nations of the region as well asamong imperialist powers along with their regional reactionary allies. Theway these contradictions are expressing themselves has made the wholeregion extremely unstable and shaky. The petroleum cake is bound to beincendiary.

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The Reality of ‘The Rising

Power Syndrome’

Pravin Nadkar

The process of globalization seeks to pave the way for a free movementof international capital without any restrictions and significant tax burdens.The brazen neoliberal policies dictating the course of economic developmentin India during eighties and nineties were characterized by a similaremphasis on minimizing regulatory controls on capital by the state.Announcing of the program of ‘Make in India’ by the Indian Governmenttoo is one more step. This program assures the international financialoligarchies that their investments in India will be given a smooth passage

for the ease of doing business. Actually, it means taxes will be waived,environmental clearances will be given flouting the existing norms, landacquisition will be made easier without a thought to the related public interestissues and in general all hurdles in their pursuit of making super profits inour country will be cleared. The global experience shows that these typesof measures do not significantly help improve the fundamentals of economyin any country.

Apologists of the neoliberal model of development see the role of theregulatory authorities of the state as an obstacle in the process of economicdevelopment of the country. A section of media, justifying this trend, createsa negative opinion about the public sector undertakings as well as all other

initiatives in the economy aimed at self reliance. Anna Hazare type ofNGOs helped mobilize public opinion against the role of governance itselfby equating governance with corruption. Privatization could then be justifiedeasily and the foreign multinational companies then started to look likerespectable agencies of growth.

Black money today is encouraged to be laundered and brought backinto the country, in the name of encouraging investments. In fact it was theformer finance minister Mr. Chidambaran who scrapped the compulsorysubmission of Tax Residency Certificates (TRC) for the companies bringing

foreign capital in India. It was done in order to help the crony capitalists inIndia dodge taxes and launder the money. The present government continuesto carry on the legacy of Mr. Chidambaram by sticking to the scrapping ofthe requirement of TRCs for foreign investments. It appears as if the mainsolution to India’s economic woes lies in roping in maximum foreign capitalinvestments. The Government on the one hand is promising concessionsto the international capital and on the other, taking away even the minimumsocial benefits and legal protections available to the working people. Theneo-liberal model adopted by the Government thus treats the working peopleas villains and the capitalists as heroes in the process of economic growth.

The tax dodgers in India transfer money to a country like Mauritius andlaunch a company in that country. This company then brings back thesame money in the name of foreign investment to India. Black moneytransferred illegally to a country like Mauritius is thus brought back to Indiaas white money. This method of money laundering is called round tripping.These types of foreign investments in India account for 43% of total foreigninvestments. These investments are made into the tertiary sectors ofeconomy having very little impact on the health of our economy. The growthresulting from such investments is of temporary nature and does not haveany stable impact. Even in China, such type of large investments weremade from countries like Hongkong and British Virginia which are known toencourage practices of tax dodging and facilitating round tripping. Theseinvestments are generally not made in the core industries responsible forstrengthening the fundamentals of any economy.

The neo-liberal model of development framed by the previous regimeand now touted by the present Government has shown 8% to 9% averagegrowth rate in the last decade. However, it has not helped to better thelives of the poverty stricken Indians. There is no growth in agriculture. The

number of billionaires in the country is on the rise but the gap between therich and poor is widening. There is no improvement in the numbers ofemployment. Prices of essential commodities are rising to the skies. Itappears that the growth in the economy is benefiting the International capital,Banks, Multinational Companies and the people with black money in ourcountry.

The Mantra of attracting foreign corporate giants to set up companiesin India is not merely a brainwave of the BJP Government. Westerncountries are in fact pushing for such arrangements. As the developed

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western countries are facing economic crisis arising out of diminishingprofits on the one hand and rising costs of production on the other, theyhave started to look for destinations in developing countries in order tosubstantially cut production costs. All lollipops offered by the Governmentto the Multinationals to set up industries in India are aimed at guaranteeingthem that the country is ready to compromise with its national interestslike labour protection, fair land compensation, protection of Nationalindustries, raw material prices etc. The rich developed countries patronizecountries like China, India, Brazil as ‘ rising powers ‘ or ‘emergingeconomies' and use them to pursue the main goal of protecting their ownrespective economies. The final sale and use of the commodities producedin the so called ‘rising power’ developing countries, takes place in thedeveloped countries. These figures of production, sales and profits arefinally included in the Gross Domestic Production of those developedcountries.

Our Prime Minister, when he visits foreign countries, is cheered by theNRI crowds because they know that he is helping the Governments of theirresidence. The heads of their Governments also hug him because they pinhopes on him in their attempts at rescuing their own economies from thecrisis. The P.M. then tries to convince Indians that he is improving theprestige of India internationally. These visits and invitations to foreigncapital are touted as attempts to improve Indian economy. Actually it isnothing but deception of Indian people. A program like’ Make in India’ helpstransfer the wealth created by labour in the developing countries to thedeveloped countries in the form of finance.

Let us take a look at the specific example of Shenzhen, a ‘specialeconomic zone’ region allocated for production by foreign countries, in China.

In 2006, the production cost of all the individual components of an I-Padproduced in this region of China was just 144 US Dollars. This I-Pad wassold in the market for the price of 296 U.S. Dollars in that year. The profitsarising out of it was shared by the vendors, distributors, Governments ofthe market countries. However the profits made by Apple were included inthe calculation of the American GDP. American economy thus benefitsfrom the exploitation of cheap labour and other concessions offered tothem in China. This type of production in China, as in this case, does notmainly improve China’s economy in the long term but benefits the foreigncapital from U.S. tremendously. We can see how China is already suffering

a set back to its economy on account of the unreliable and unstable modelof economic growth adopted by it in the recent past. While China is alreadynursing bruises from its negative experience, India is the next target in theline of onslaught of foreign capital. The ‘Rising Power Syndrome’ soughtto be popularized by the symbol of a lion for ‘Make in India’ is thus, actuallya symbol of subservience to the developed countries and they will havethe leash of the lion in their hands.

Internationally the capitalists of the developed countries have been usingWorld Bank, IMF and Investment agencies to indulge in financialirregularities. Many investment Banks have committed well planned frauds.A term ‘Financial Engineering’ is used for innovating financial instrumentslike Mortgage Bank Securities. One example of this is the subprimemortgage crisis, popularly known as housing bubble which was caused bythe complacency of investment agencies like Lehman Brothers, MorganStanley and others. Total losses from this crisis were estimated in trillionsof U.S. dollars globally [as per the IMF loss estimates]. The financialengineering activities using such devious methods in the pursuit of superprofits [in background of slowing down of the global economy] haddevastating effects on the economies of many countries in the last twodecades. Banks in India like HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, BCCI Bankand City Bank also came into focus for allegations of swindling money byusing fraudulent methods.

Our media is constantly pointing at the Sensex indicators to showeconomic development in the country. It is a common practice of the giantcentralized Wall Street Banks and Financial Institutions to invest money inthe markets of developing countries and inflate the prices of shares andproperties in those countries. They indulge in large scale speculativeactivities to earn profits in those markets. Once the potential for earningprofits from those markets is seen to be exhausted, they withdraw theirinvestments from those countries and take the money home. This methodof creating a bubble in the market and withdrawing investments later aftermaking sufficient profits had disastrous effects on countries like Poland,Russia and certain Asian countries in the nineties. Sensex indices thereforecannot be taken as true indicators of economic growth of any country.Thus, the policy of encouraging foreign investments in the share marketsis also not really in the long term interest of the Indian economy. The sharemarkets can be easily manipulated by the Wall Street giants.

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Agricultural production in India has a significant impact on the state ofour economy. The share of agricultural production in the total domesticproduction may be less but the size of population dependent on agriculturerelated activities is significant. Therefore, poor agricultural production hasa negative impact on the state of our economy. However, the new model ofeconomic development in India seems to be favouring industries overagriculture. Boost to agriculture can reduce the numbers of unemployeddrastically. Unless the economic well being of the working population isconsidered as a main challenge for economic planning, it is very difficultto achieve a strong domestic and self reliant economic growth of our country.Since the launching of the neo-liberal model of economic development linkedto the Globalized imperialist economy, till now we have not seen anysignificant improvement in the exports, employment situation and eventhe core industries. Real estate is also under a gloom. What have we thenachieved from this much touted shining model of development of the presentGovernment?

Governments have given maximum tax concessions to the corporatesector in the last six years. But the corporate sector has not been able tomake any significant contribution to the Indian economy despite thepampering. The core industries like coal, steel, cement, fertilizer, electricity,crude oil, Natural Gas, and refinery products are not performing very well.The share of the workers in the national income is declining, says thereport by Arjun Sengupta. Farmers are forced to commit suicides due toneglect of agriculture by this Government. Asian Development Bank hasgiven a warning that the rising disparities in income are likely to result in acivil unrest. Public sector banks are not doing very well due to the non-performing assets' (NPA) liabilities. The mounting burden of foreign loanson the central as well as state Governments is causing a debt trap like

situation for the Governments. Devaluation of the rupee in relation to theU.S. dollar seems unstoppable. In this situation how can we say that Indiais rising as an economic super power?

The monetary policy unveiled by the RBI has supported the government’sgrowth projection of 7.4% for 2015. However it has also noted that ‘Outlookfor agriculture is subdued in view of both rabi and kharif crop prospectsbeing hit by monsoon vagaries’. The weak rural demand arising out of thissituation is bound to be an impediment for economic growth. The estimated7.4% growth rate is based on the assumption that the manufacturing sector

is headed for a robust growth in capital goods and passenger car sectors.A revival of service sector activities is also supposed to boost the economy.But, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) pointsto a dip in the manufacturing activity in November 2015, in contrast to thegovernment’s report of 9.3% growth in the same period (Q2GDP). The weakexternal demand and higher import expenditure are certainly going to beformidable impediments in an economic growth model relying heavily uponexport market expectations and foreign direct investments.

GDP of a country is calculated on the basis of income arising fromproduction and services in the country and abroad, on account of domesticand foreign investments. Deducting the expenditure on imports from theabove income, the percentage figure of GDP is calculated. Growth in GDPtherefore has nothing to do with the just distribut ion of the wealth, meansof production and total national income. It is professed that ‘trickle downeffect will automatically benefit the economically lower strata of the society.This trickle down theory is only a justification for ignoring the concerns ofthe lower and middle sections of the society at the outset of framing theeconomic policies. The globalization process led by the imperialists dictatesto the world economies to protect and develop capitalism without payingany heed to the concerns and well being of the ordinary citizens. OurGovernment is self complacent in playing a servile role to their dictates inthe economic planning of our country and therefore it is pushing anti-peopleand pro rich policies without caring for the consequences. The obsessionwith GDP indicators for judging economic performance is thus mainly forimpressing the lending organizations of International capitalists, like WorldBank and IMF. This type of dependence on foreign loans for temporaryand virtual economic growth can never take India on the road to becominga strong world economy. The ‘Rising Power Syndrome’ of those in power

makes them take this ‘GDP figure obsessed’ road for economic growth.Driving on this road, our government will never be able to raise the standardof living of the ordinary citizens of our country or achieve a long lastingsustainable people oriented economic growth.


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Land reforms in West Bengal

during Left Front Regime –

Propaganda and Reality

Tapas Roy

(“Land reforms in West Bengal during Left Front regime – Propaganda and Reality” will be published in two parts. The first part discusses the claims of numerical achievements of the Left Front. The second part will analyze the social phenomena produced by the LF Govt. through its land reforms.)

The much propagated Land Reforms in West Bengal during Left Frontregime deserve assessment in the current period also. It has been stampedas the most successful in the arena of land reform measures not only bythe CPI (M) and its allies but also by some sections of bourgeois forumsand even by some intellectuals of revolutionary camp.

Surya Kanta Mishra (Land Reforms Minister during Left Front regime)and Vikas Rawal, in their vivid article ‘Agrarian Relations in contemporaryWest Bengal and Tasks for the left’ stated, “Eviction and threats of evictionhave become a thing of the past. Notably, this is true not only for registeredbargadars but also for those who have not registered. The politicalenvironment in post-land reform West Bengal – in the state as a whole andin a majority of the panchayats – and the local - level power relations havechanged so significantly in favour of the poor and the working people thateviction of even unregistered bargadars in inconceivable. In particular, thepossibility of registration by as yet unregistered bargadars remains a verycredible threat for landowners not to attempt eviction of sharecroppers.”(P-342; Agrarian Studies. Essays on Agrarian Relations in Less DevelopedCountries, edited by V.K. Ramchandran & Madhura Swaminathan).

Think of it and see the phrase ‘post–land reform West Bengal’ ! Thearticle was presented at the International conference on ‘Agrarian Relationsand Rural Development in Less Developed Countries’,held from 3 to 6January 2002 in Kolkata. That is, within twenty five years of CPI (M) led

Left Front regime in West Bengal, the state entered post-land reformscenario! This is only on example of the overrating by the revisionistsregarding the land reform measures in West Bengal.

Actually, the propaganda of the CPI (M) regarding the land reformactivities and measures in West Bengal is far from the truth. The facts

reveal the limitations.

The late sixties and early seventies produced several peasantmovements in West Bengal. The pioneer of course was the heroic Naxalbarimovement, which, though attacked brutally by the Indian Government,forced the ruling classes to adopt some pro-people, pro-peasant measures.Moreover the then political and social atmosphere in Bengal isolated theCongress Party, i.e. the ruling party, from the social life and this was reflectedin the 1977 Assembly Election where CPI(M) and Left Front got absolutemajority defeating both the Congress and Janata Dal and formed thegovernment. Actually, the peasant movements in late '60s and early '70s,the democratic movement, the undemocratic, inhuman and fascist attitude

of ruling party, i.e., Congress and hatred of the people against Congress(not only in Bengal but throughout India) and the dogmatic attitude ofJanata Dal towards seat adjustment with the Left Front were the main causesfrom this overwhelming majority for the Left . Moreover, the people of Bengalhad experienced a series of democratic and peasant movements whichresulted in a natural inclination towards the left forces. Although CPI(M)adopted revisionism in full gear it was not revealed to the desirable limit tothe people in general although the Naxalbari movement threw a massivechallenge to the CPI(M)’s revisionism. The above factors brought CPI(M)led Left Front to the government in the year 1977, in the election afterlifting of the Emergency and after Indira Gandhi and her Congress -whoseEmergency marks the most dark episode of Indian history after 1947- wasdefeated convincingly in the Lok Sabha election.

The period was a glorious one for the movements in favour of landreforms. Though Naxalbari and other peasant movements had to facesetback as they could not ultimately combat the ruthlessness of the statemachinery but still the legacy of the ideologies and questions regarding thestate's character had great potentials in society and the ruling classes hadto self analyze, of course with a view to minimize the growing discontentand had to offer some concessions to the poorer and weaker sections andparticularly to the peasantry. It was more or less established that the


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agrarian question is the determining factor of Indian society.

In the year 1967, the Congress Party had faced a debacle in eight stateswhere non-Congress governments were formed. West Bengal was one ofthe eight states. Analysis of the defeat and debacle by the Congress Partyconcluded that the land reform's agenda should have been included. In

1969, after the split of the Congress, the faction led by Indira Gandhi adopteda resolution which stated', “The Congress recognizes the crucial importanceof land reforms, both as a measure of social justice and as in importantinput of agricultural development.”

Meanwhile the Ministry of Home Affairs analyzed the causes and natureof agricultural tensions since 1966 and pointed out that class contradictionsbetween tenants and landlords, between landlords and poor peasants andbetween agricultural labourers and employers had sharpened and increasedand may cross break point. The report also stated, “Not surprisingly theconsciousness of injustice and wide prevalence of land hunger have beenused by certain political parties to organize agitations”, and also ,“the

problem has to be talked on a wide front effectively and imaginatively.Failure to do so may lead to a situation where the discontented elementsare compelled to organize themselves and the extreme tensions buildingup within the ‘complex molecule’ that is the Indian village, leading to anexplosion.”

Indira Gandhi became harshly critical about the land reform measuresadopted and arrived at the conclusion: “The land reform measuresimplemented have failed to match the legitimate expectations which werefirst fostered amongst millions of cultivators during the national movement.”

Thus the ruling Party vis-à-vis the ruling classes was suffering from

fear psychosis that the lack of land reform measures and the way theclass contradictions were sharpening would lead to the destruc tion of thepower of the ruling classes and would hit the safety of the state machineryin the long run. To avoid that situation Mrs. Gandhi adopted some measuresto restore the stability of the ruling classes. The measures included (a)enforcement of land ceiling (b) barring jurisdiction of civil courts (c) updatingof record - of - rights (d) implementation of family ceiling (e) lower ceilinglimits (f) village committee of landlords, tenants and labourers.

Thus it became a political agenda for the ruling party to adopt some

measures for land reforms and accordingly some positive steps wereintroduced. The land laws in several states were amended and modifiedwith the insertion of pro-peasantry sections. In West Bengal, the LandReform Act (1st and 2nd amendment) was introduced in the year 1971 – 72.The rights of the sharecroppers were made hereditary, protective provisionsfor the bargadars were introduced. Family ceiling was introduced reducingthe ceiling limit for an individual (25.00 acres) in the West Bengal EstateAcquisition Act 1953. Now the ceiling limits prescribed were

Irrigated Area Non-irrigated area

(a) Adult unmarried person or sole 2.50 Hectares 3.5 Hectares

surviving member of the fami ly (6.18 acre) (8.65 acre)

(b) Fami ly of 2 to 5 members 5 Hectares 7 Hectares

(12.35 acre) (17.30 acre)

(c) Family of more than 5 members 0.50 Hectares 0.70 Hectares

(about 1.24 acre) (1.73 acre)

for each for each

additional member additional member

subject to a total subject to a total

area of 7.30 hc area of 9.80 hc

(~ 17.30 acre) (About24.22 acre).

(d) Family of 9 or more 7 Hectares 9.80 Hectares

surviving members (about 17.30 acre) (about 24.22 acre)

(e) Any other raiyot —do— —do—

The Left Front government accepted the Act, i.e. the Land Reform Actenacted during Congress regime. So, throughout its tenure, the Left Front


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implemented its land reform measures simply sitting on the back of Congresslegislations!

The Left Front government took land reforms as the primary task andfor implementation, adopted a twin programme, viz recording of bargadarsand determination and distribution of ceiling surplus land. They had the

experience! The experience of the great Tebhaga movement whichhighlighted the bargadars' agony, lack of safety and social helplessnessand the experience of the peasant movements to capture the excess andbenami lands of the landlords and jotedars. They had experienced theNaxalbari movement which was not only a threat to the state machinerybut also a challenge to revisionism. They also had experience of the firstand the second United Front governments where there were some militantactivities including detection of benami land. The peasantry occupied morethan 4 lakh acres of benami and khas land. The state power did not allowcontinuation of such militancy within the framework of state machinery.Both the United Front governments fell within very short period. The statepower did not allow them to continue.

After the Naxalbari movement and also its ruthless suppression by thestate, West Bengal experienced fascist aggression on democraticmovements by Congress Govt., the brutal nature of President’s Rule andof course the dark days of Emergency. At the first opportunity they defeatedCongress in the state election and CPI(M) led Left Front was elected topower.

But this time, having the experience of two United Front governments,CPI(M) tried to keep the social stability intact from the very beginning.

What were the aims and objectives of the Left Front government?

According to H.S. Surjeet it was as follows :1. Formulation and passing of a Land Reform (Amendment) Bill

plugging the loopholes in the earlier Acts.

2. Operation Barga and the recording of Sharecroppers as a movementof beneficiaries.

3. Further acquisition and distribution of surplus land.

4. Providing necessary infra-structure and support to assignees ofland and sharecroppers.

5. Democratic decentralization of institutions in the administration ofland reforms.

6. Permanent titles to homestead land to landless agriculturallabourers, artisans and fishermen.

(Land Reforms in India, H.S. Surjeet P. 145- 146)Nothing new ! It was almost identical to the measures suggested by

Indira Gandhi and Congress govt. appointed Central Land ReformCommission and Task Force. The measures taken by the Left Front Govt.were already suggested by the other sections of the ruling classesthemselves, to combat explosion and to restore social stability.

However, the Left Front government tried to implement the twinprogramme, that is recording of bargadars and determination and distributionof ceiling surplus land.

Regarding the number of bargadars, the CPI(M) leaders' statements are

full of contradictions.

Harekrishna Konar, the Land Minister during UF regime and a prominentCPI(M) leader, claimed that the number of Bargadars in West Bengal was30 lakhs (Swadhinata (daily), 22 & 23 Aug. 1995), whereas H.S. Surjeet, inhis Land Reforms in India claimed it was 15 to 20 lakhs (P-147).

According to H.S. Surjeet, the number of recorded sharecroppers inWest Bengal was as follows : (Land Reform in India, P-147).

Upto 31.01.1979 – 5,72,694

(This figure is the number recorded during Congress regime. H.S.Surjeet did not mention this).

Upto 31.12.1981 – 11,25,826

Upto 31.12.1986 – 13,61,680

Upto 31.12.1990 – 14,20,000

The figures clearly show that the recording of bargadars decreased


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gradually. Another interesting feature was stated by H.S. Surjeet “Thismeans almost cent percent of sharecroppers have been recorded" (ibid, P-147). Totally misleading and deceiving. Not only H.S. Surjeet, the entireCPI (M) believed & propagated that all the sharecroppers in West Bengalhave been recorded, disowning their previous statements. In fact, thestatistics given by the administration reveal the number of recorded bargadarto be 15,38,495 upto 15th January, 2011. This shows that during last 20years of Left Front government in West Bengal, only 78,495 bargadarshave been recorded. This clearly shows the apathy of the Left Frontregarding land reforms measures !

A similar thing happened in the case of determination and distributionof ceiling surplus land.

During enactment of West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act in fifties, thethen Land Revenue minister claimed that the ceiling surplus land will be 18lakh acres. Thereafter, in the year 1972, family ceiling was introduced andit was officially expected that the surplus land will be 30 – 35 lakh acres.

Benoy Chaudhary, the Land Reform Minister in LF regime and a CPI(M)leader, also accepted this figure. While commenting during introduction of2nd amendment bill in 1981 he expected that additional 10 lakh acres ofagricultural land will be vested to the state: that is, according to BenoyChaudhary vis-à-vis the LF govt. the total surplus land in West Bengal is40 - 45 lakh acres, if not more.

CPI(M)’s Organ in Bengali-Marxbadi Path in 2008 declared that uptoJanuary 2008 the land vested to the state was 13,90,000 acre and the landdistributed to the pattadars was 10.98 lakh acres.

It may be noted that prior to formation of LF govt, 6 lakh 17 thousand,

215 acres of land was distributed. On this Benoy Chaudhary commentedthat only 5 percent of land has been distributed.

Arithmetically : 6 lakh 17 thousand 215 acres land distributed duringCongress regime.

Arithmetically : 10,98,000 – 6,17,215 = 4 lakh 80 thousand 785acres of land have been distributed during 31 yearsof LF regime (according to Marxbadi Path)

And upto 15th January 2011 the quantum is 11.33 lakh acre (officialstatement of CPI(M) in its Kon Pathe Paschim Banga (West Bengal – OnWhat Path? P-20). So the entire figure during LF regime is 5 Lakh 15 thousand785 acres, even below the amount distributed during the Congress regime!

So, numerically it can be proved that the land reform measures during

the LF regime were totally limited and its achievement has been exaggerated.In fact CPI(M) was and is still representatives of the ruling classes inIndia. Throughout its revisionist activities and being the part of the statemachinery, it tried to keep the stability in favour of the ruling classes,denied and defied class struggle and built up an atmosphere of classcollaboration in rural Bengal. It did not take any steps to make bargadarsowners of the land they cultivate nor did it undertake any attempt to reduceceiling limits to enable further prospect of vesting and distribution. I t alwaystried to restore the stability in favour of the ruling classes and remained faraway from the radical land reforms aspired for by the peasantry.

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ONE OF THE YOUNGEST MARTYRS

OF ANTI–BRITISH STRUGGLE :

KARTAR SINGH SARABHA

S.S. Mahil

There is a widely propagated and believed myth that India got“independence” through peaceful means without shedding a drop of blood.This is nothing but a lie, a big hoax. The struggle of people of India againstthe British Raj in any meaningful way started as an armed uprising in 1857which was termed as Sepoy Mutiny by British colonialism. Karl Marxdesignated it as the First War of Indian Independence in which lakhs ofsoldiers and peasants were killed. Some people try to downgrade it bycalling it an effort by feudal kings to regain their lost power. But this is notthe essence of the matter, it was the peasants and peasants in uniform

who fought and sacrificed their lives. This uprising was popularly knownas Gadar. Though this Gadar was brutally suppressed but it echoed af ter56 years in the land of America, with peasants from Punjab forming itsbackbone. Kartar Singh Sarabha was hanged by British imperialists whenhe was only 19 years of age. Sarabha was a role model for Shaheed BhagatSingh.

In 1849 British colonialists occupied Punjab and brought it under theirrule. It drastically disturbed the economic fabric of Punjab. According toV.V Lilly, “We gave land to every male member of the community andimposed heavy revenue on it. We brought the individual ownership of land.”“This cash collection of revenue brought large quantity of grains into the

markets. Because of the cheap rates of grain, large quantity fetched verylittle amount of money, small peasants and other toiling people facedshortage of grains.” (History of Gadar Party—G S Sehnsra) This was theimpact of British land policy in Punjab. “Very soon these two things,individual ownership of land and cash revenue, proved to be very disastrousand resulted in money lending in the village society.” (Social backgroundof Indian Nationalism, p-162 -163) This had further very harmful impact onthe peasantry of Punjab. “Peasants started taking loans for payment ofheavy cash revenue and for other social needs, thus they were heavilyindebted. The high–handed collection of cash revenue and prolonged

litigation in the civil courts resulted in breaking the strength of the villagecommunity and alienation of peasants from land thus throwing them intopoverty.” (Punjab in The times of War and Peace, page 230-231) Moneylenders refused to lend because of the fear of non recovery of debt. Thisled to the practice of mortgaging of land and ultimately sale of land. “Thepractice of mortgaging land was which very rare during Sikh Raj becamevery wide-spread. By 1887, 7% of total land of Punjab was mortgaged.”(Ibid, page 231 ) Civil courts invariably helped money lenders. According tothe Agrarian report of Punjab 1901, two lakh cases came to the civil courtsevery year. As a result 4 lakh 30 thousands acres land was sold on thiscount by 1901 and between 1901 and 1909 two and half crore acre of landwas mortgaged. (ibid) Even British were forced to accept this hard reality.Charles Reewaje said in the Governing Council of Governor, “The questionof debt in Punjab is very important politically." (Report of Punjab governmenton Rachna doab) Lord Curzon accepted in his Council, “Agricultural debt inPunjab has reached very dangerous limits and is the negative result of thepolicy we introduced here.” This situation forced the peasants especially

poor peasants to migrate to foreign lands to earn some money for theirfamilies.

These peasant migrants mainly went to North America i.e. Canada andUSA and also to south east Asia. Those who went to North America mainlytook to the delta and river side of river Columbia, which flows throughAmerica and Canada. Those migrant peasants started working in BritishColumbia state of Canada and in Washington, Oregon and California statesof America. Those who could not get work in farms started working in sawmills. Those who had migrated somewhat earlier also purchased their ownfarms and provided work to the needy migrants. Apart from it some studentshad gone to USA for the purpose of studies and some were called by Indian

patriots. Kartar Singh Sarabha was a student studying chemistry at BerkleyUniversity. Though many details are not available about the early life ofKartar Singh but as per available information, he was born on 23 May 1896in village Sarabha, district Ludhiana. His father was a peasant named MangalSingh and his mother was Sahib Kaur. He had an only sister named DhanKaur. His parents died in his early childhood and the responsibility of hisupbringing fell on the shoulders of his grandfather, Bachan Singh. He wantedKartar to study and get a decent job. So he was sent to the village primaryschool and after completing primary education, he joined vernacular middleschool at Gujranwala. Later he joined Malwa Khalsa High school in Ludhiana.


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But he left his study there and went to his uncle, Bakhshish Singh, forstudy in Odisha. There he not only completed his studies but also studiedEnglish Literature. Bengal at that time was a centre of politicalconsciousness and this was having effect on Odisha too, so Kartar wasalso influenced by political consciousness. This broadened the vision ofSarabha. He, with the consent of his family, decided to go to America forstudying chemistry. So he started his journey on 2nd July 1912 from HongKong and reached America on 28th July 1912.

When Sarabha arrived in America, Punjabi peasant migrants there werealready getting political consciousness. In India they were living not onlyin abject poverty but also under slavery of the British, but once in Americathey were exposed to bourgeois democracy besides some improvement intheir economic conditions. They realized the real value of freedom. Americanimperialism, which was emerging as the contending imperialist power withBritain, was also interested in Indians fighting their colonial masters and italso tried to make them realize that Indians were not free. They had noexistence as an country and they had no flag of their own. This helped

Indians to organize themselves. Though already there were someorganizations like India League, but their orientation was to promote westernvalues to achieve parity with whites, but this new effort of Indians toorganize themselves was with a completely different orientation, i.e. ofcomplete independence from England.

Three centres of organization of Indians emerged in America. One wasthe political centre of Saint John. Indians there were working in saw millsand constructing railway tracks in Austoria, Tokoma, Monark, Linton, SaintJohn, Portland, Wana, Bridewil, Fairy Oak, Willhem, Woodland, Welinghametc. cities. Students studying in California came here for work. New entrantsfrom India also thronged this region for work. Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna,

who became the founding President of Gadar party, Harnam Singh Tundilat,Udham Singh Kasel, Bhai Eshar Singh Marrhana and Ram Rakha Saroawere active here. Guru Datt Kumar, Babu Harnam Singh Sahri and TarakNath Das also regularly visited this area and propagated the ideals offreedom. Papers published by Indians in America were also available andfrom there Tark Nath Das shifted to Seattle and started a paper namedFree India under the editorship of Surender Mohan Bose in 1911. Theyinvited Bengali students for study. They set up a hostel for students namedIndia House. A large number of migrant Indians and students from Bengalwere staying there. Guru Datt Kumar and Babu Harnam Singh Sahri also

stayed here. In 1911 an organization named, “East India Society’ was formed.Its aims were self government, national education and progress of agriculture,industry and trade. The third centre was at Berkley University. The centralpoint was Lala Hardayal, a moving spirit behind the formation of Gadarparty and who became founding General Secretary of Gadar party. KartarSingh Saraba landed in America and joined Berkley University for studyingchemistry. He instantly came in contact with Lala Hardayal and was greatlyinfluenced by him and his ideas of independence.

Here in Berkley university were some 30 Indian students, most of themPunjabi. Sarabha was one of them. Punjabi students lived in one hostelwhereas students from other states lived in different hostels. Apart fromSarabha was another revolutionary student. He was from Bengal and hisname was Jatin Lahiri. Hardayal and Bhai Parma Nand of Jhansi played avery important role in organizing these students. They studied the writingsof Russo, Mazzini, Prince Koropotkin and Sun-yat-Sen. Apart from thisSarabha read the life history of Savarkar and Guru Gobind Singh. Thoughall of them were firmly for the independence of India there were differences

among them. Sarabha and other Punjabi students were strongly of the opinionthat independence can be attained only through armed struggle. LalaHardayal called a meeting to sort out these differences, D. Chencheyafrom Andhra Pardesh who was present in that meeting, wrote, “Views ofHardayal were logical, forceful and impressing.” He said, “Prepare yourselflike an untiring patriot and fearless fighter, you can even die for thisrevolutionary cause but death is a hundred times better than the slavery ofBritish.” Jatin Das Lahiri and Sarabha asked Hardayal many questions.

Representatives of the various organizations in different parts met on21 February, 1913 in Austoria and decided to form an organization of NorthAmerica. It was to be called “Indian Association of Pacific Coast.” Baba

Sohan Singh Bhakna was elected its President and Lala Hardayal wasmade its General Secretary. Sarabha alongwith his co-villager, Rulia Singh,was present in this meeting. The meeting decided that the organizationshall have a central headquarter which will be situated in San Franciscoand will be called Yugantar Ashram. The organization will bring out a papernamed Gadar in Punjabi and Urdu. Hardayal was to be responsible forbringing out the paper and Sarabha was to assist him. “The aim of the partywill to free India from British through armed struggle, will establish democraticrepublic based on universal suffrage. Persons practicing or believing inuntouchability cannot be its members, religion be considered as private


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matter of every individual and religious discussions and preaching will notbe allowed and will be strictly prohibited.” (Unturned pages of Gadar partyhistory –by Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga) The thinking of the party was greatlyinfluenced by Gadar (as it was called by British), the Sepoy Mutiny. Theirthinking was that soon World War would start and England would be involvedin that war and would be forced to send its armies from India to the warfront and little armed force would be there in India. Utilizing this situationthey would organize a revolt in the army on the lines of army revolt in 1857and thus liberate the country from the clutches of slavery. That is why thename of the party organ was decided as Gadar which later on became thename of the party itself. With this thinking and considering the role of airforce in war, Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna proposed that Sarabha, being welleducated, should be sent for training as a pilot. Baba Bhakna writes, “AfterHardayal left I started giving most of my time to Yugantar ashram (partyHq). Our military commission started practical preparations for revolutionand felt the importance of an air force and prepared a programme of militarytraining. Two Generals, Kartar Singh Sarabha and Udham Singh Kasel,

were selected. Sarabha was sent through the German councillor of SanFrancisco to an air company for training.” There he learned to pilot andmaintain a plane.

Party decided to publish Gadar and the whole responsibility was givento Hardayal but time was passing and the paper was not coming out. Thereis controversy about the delay in the paper. Some people say that thoughHardayal was very enthusiastic in the beginning but he lost interest in thepaper as time passed. They attribute this to the mood swings of Lala whichwas characteristic of his personality. Apart from controversy, Sarabha wentto him, persuaded him and took up main responsibility upon his shoulders.Bhagat Singh Bilga says that Sarabha and Harnam Singh Tundilat came to

permanently stay in Ashram. They both printed Gadar, distributed it andSarabha also wrote for the paper. His comrades used to call him a machine.He was also considered a one man army, as along with publishing thepaper, he was actively engaged in organizational work. Party brancheswere set up in a number of cities in America and Canada. Not only that itsbranches were active in Panama, Argentina, Manila, Singapore. Hong Kong,Shanghai and also in Kabul and in the Middle East. Parma Nand Meerustarted organizing cells in the army in different cantonments. Sarabhaorganized a cell in Ferozpur cantonment. He established contacts in thecantonments of Meerut, Benares, Agra, Faizabad, Kanpur and Allahabad.

He made contacts in Lahore too. Apart from it Gadarites worked in 56platoons in Hongkong, Punjabi Municipal Police in Shanghai, Balochregiment in Singapore, Sargodha, Peshawar, Bannu, Kohat etc. Theystarted propaganda in the villages. They organized a group of students inLudhiana. Sarabha arranged a cyclostyle and published propaganda materialand distributed it among the people.

Gadarites started coming to India in jathas (groups). Wherever theirships stopped they held public gatherings and calls for going to India forrevolt were given openly. Indian government was alerted and those wholanded at Kolkata port were arrested. Some of them were put in jail andothers were sent to their villages and were confined to the village limitsand had to mark their presence in police stations daily. Those who landedat Madras port reached their destination safely. Sarabha played a pivotalrole in reorganizing the ranks. They had enthusiasm but no experience oforganizing a secret setup. Sensing this weakness, Sarabha travelled toBenares for contacting Ras Behari Bose and bringing him to Punjab forguidance. But seeing his age no one believed him and he had to return

empty handed. Parma Nand Jhansi had acquintance with Bengalrevolutionaries, so he took Parma Nand along with him. Bose did notcome but sent Sachindra Nath Sanyal to study the situation. Sanyal sawtwo weaknesses; one was lack of clearly defined leadership and secondwas lack of secret structure. So a nine member council was formed. Sarabhawas one of them. Secondly a building was rented in Amritsar. But Bosewanted headquarter, at Lahore provincial capital, so two buildings wererented. Those days renting a house for a single man was not possible. Sothe wife of Lala Ram Saran Talwar accompanied Bose as his wife. Onetailoring shop and a timber shop were set up as outposts.

There was very acute shortage of money with Gadar Party. Bose

proposed some money actions. Some money lenders and rich personswere raided, but this proved counter productive as the British painted themas dacoits, using their stooge Sikh clergy who issued an edict calledhukmnama from Akal Thakht, the supreme temporal authority of Sikhs,declaring Gadarites as dacoits and expelling them from the faith. Onedacoity in Amritsar district proved very disastrous as an important leader,Ram Rakha, was arrested. State got important clues from the site. Gadariteslearned methods of leadership and secret functioning from Bengalrevolutionaries and the latter, in turn, learned to work among the militaryand people from Gadarites. That was positive but Bengal experience of


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money action proved particularly harmful.

The plan was that two revolutionary detachments would be formed. Onewould go to Ferozepur cantonment. It was to be led by Sarabha and thesecond would go to Mian Meer cantonment, Lahore. Before revolution thearmy would revolt and after that they would attack the nearby cantonments

and revolutionary soldiers there would join the rebels. Meantime the secretcore established by Parma Nand Jhansi at Meerut would revolt and wouldmarch to Delhi and put the Gadar party's flag on the parapet of Red Fortand declare the Republic of India. Then, revolutionary forces in othercantonments would join the revolt. Seeing this, masses too were expectedto rise. This was the war plan of revolution. But the colonial Govt. was nota silent spectator, it succeeded in putting a mole in their ranks. His namewas Kirpal Singh, who was successful in visiting the Hq. Twenty firstFebruary was fixed as the date for the uprising. Kirpal came to know aboutthe date and he passed it on to the Government. Party also came to knowabout this and they changed the date to 19 February. But he was againable to know about the changed date and the state became aware of this

date too. So when the Gadar detachment under the leadership of KartarSingh Sarabha reached Ferozepur, they found that their men had beensummarily dismissed from service and forcibly sent home. Rest of Indiansoldiers were disarmed. So no one came out and the detachment had toreturn. The same thing happened in Lahore too. Despite this some mountedsoldiers along with their weapons were roaming in Patti area of Amritsar tocontact Gadarites but were arrested. With the failure of the attempted revolt,a cycle of arrests and repression stated. Sarabha and two otherrevolutionaries, Harnam Singh Tundilat and Jagat Singh Sursingh, escapedand went toward Kabul. Perhaps their aim was to get time to reorganizeand regain strength and again start revolution. They had barely reached

Peshawar and were staying with some well to do Sikh shopkeeper when,one night, Sarabha started singing a poem from the Gadar paper in Punjabi,“pai sir sheran kithe jana bhaj ke”. In English means "when it comes onyour head, lions don’t run away". Next morning they decided to return.

When they were coming back, they were arrested from Sargodha, nowin Pakistan. They were tried. While delivering the judgment the Judge saidthat the age of Kartar Singh deserved lenient behavior and light punishmentbut after examining his role in the conspiracy he could not but give himdeath sentence. He along with others was hanged when he was only 19years of age thus becoming the youngest martyr of Gadar Party.

Amendments To The Juvenile Just ice Act

Fascicization In The Name Of

‘Women’s Security’

The BJP led Central Govt., backed to the hilt by the AAP Govt. of Delhiand a major section of corporate media, has unfortunately succeeded. Ashort, hysterical, baseless campaign fanning popular fears was conductedfielding Women Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, Delhi CM Kejriwal,the Chairman of Delhi Commission of Women (herself an AAPactivist),activists of ABVP and later the NSUI and using the parents ofthe victim of Dec.16th 2012 as a front. This was almost one-sidedly reportedby the corporate media, with other points of view hardly getting any spacetill after the Bill was passed. As if bowing to this campaign, the RajyaSabha precipitously passed the amendments to the Juvenile Justice Actwithin days of deciding to refer it to a Select Committee. This passage

would have been impossible without the co-operation of major oppositionparliamentary parties like the Congress and the Trinamool. The BJP hadanyway got the Bill through the Lok Sabha in May 2015. Children’s rightshave been attacked in the name of women’s security-pitting the rights ofone against the rights of the other while fanning an overall fascist mood.The fears of society, created by nongovernance, were fanned and weresuccessfully distracted from the total failure of all governments on bothchild rights and protection and women’s security.Retributive vigilantismhas prevailed.

Democratic Vision Ousted

The issues involved actually took birth in the people’s upsurge following16th Dec.2012 itself. As a movement burst forth focused on patriarchy andits manifestations in all areas of the state, on issues of non governance,on the need for surety of punishment in crimes against women, one smallgroup was sidelined. This competed within itself on how brutal thepunishment to the guilty of gang rape should be, how harshly juvenileoffenders should be treated and distracted attention from the failures ofgovernments and society. They carried posters displaying nooses, cried‘hang’ and were backed by similar hysterical cries from several womenMPs. Sonia led Congress demanded chemical castration to provide a


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‘different’ take on harshest punishment. However this fringe failed to singethe clarity on systemic failure which the movement was highlighting. Underthe movement’s relentless pressure, the three -member Verma Commissionsimply reflected its viewpoint on many recommendations. The Reportcommended women’s organizations, academics and a large number of‘thinking people’ on their mature position on juvenile justice keepingcriminological and societal realities in mind.

This did not mean that the right wing patriarchal understanding thatprevails in several major parliamentary parties and a large section of middleclass, was defeated. It undermined several of the pro-womenrecommendations of the Verma Commission in formulating the SexualHarassment at Workplace Bill. The MNCs and big business houses forceddilution of clauses and inclusion of a shocking provision to punish thecomplainant if she failed to prove her charge before an in-house committeechosen by the management. Today that section has prevailed on the questionof women’s security, with the attack on child rights and revival of theslogans of hanging and harshest action.

AAP Delhi Govt. Smoothens Path For BJP’s Bill

The current push for revisiting the Juvenile Justice Act as well as thelaw on punishment for gang rape began with the rape of two minor childrenin Delhi in the fourth quarter of the year. As CM Kejriwal began his criticismof the police and Central Govt., organizations pointed out that the DelhiGovt. had done nothing about street lights, adequate buses at night forwomen to return safely from duty, crèches where mothers could leavechildren. These issues were on agenda since 2012 and in Delhi nothinghas changed.

DeIhi Govt. promptly diverted attention by announcing a referendumon whether gang rape should be punished by hanging and whether the agefor juveniles committing heinous crimes should be lowered to 16 years. Italso raised the issue of the juvenile convict of 2012 who was in the care ofthe Delhi Govt. in a juvenile home and who was scheduled to be releasedin December2015.Delhi Govt. released no status report of the child, did notpresent any evaluation in any court, but rumours ran rife that he ‘had noregrets’ and BJP MP Subramanium Swamy even went to court assertingthat the boy had become a ‘terrorist’ as he was housed in the Home with aKashmiri boy (the premise being that any Kasmiri was a terrorist). When all

this did not work, Delhi Commission of Women Chairperson made a midnight appeal to the Supreme Court while Central Govt. and sundry othercampaigners kept drumming for changes in the Juvenile Justice Act bypassage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha immediately. Probably the referendumdid not yield the desired result, because nothing of it was heard thereafter.In the entire campaign, the Delhi Govt. got away with silence on the concretesteps taken to reorient the juvenile in the course of his stay in its JuvenileHome and what, if at all this tool was used, was the scientific evaluationby psychologists. It did not even clearly make out any case that the juvenilemight need further psychological monitoring. In fact, the only output of thisGovt. as of the Cente, was to make populist cries for instant, vigilante'justice'.The world view of both is restricted to 'law and order' on questionsinvolving women's security.

In fact, in the third quarter of the year,the Delhi Govt. of AAP held aspecial Assembly session and a much publicised meeting of the CM withwomen's organizations to show its concern with this issue. But the solepurpose was to secure rights over the Delhi Police and to announce

proposals for increased survelliance over women-which all derive from thefeudal patriarchal outlook of the ruling classes of India.

Amended Provisions

The amendments of concern are that in cases of juveniles between 16and 18 years of age, the Juvenile Justice Board will decide whether thechild will be treated as a juvenile or as an adult to be subject to adultpunishment. This will be in the case of accused of ‘heinous crimes’ i.e.crimes entailing imprisonment of seven years or more. It has been pointedout that this includes charges of sedition (i.e. political cases) and alsoforgery. It needs also be kept in mind that in cases where minors of 16-18

years elope,the charge of rape is almost routinely slapped on the boy. TheJuvenile Justice Board will observe the child for three months before comingto a decision. Its result will be open to review by courts. Thus this givesscope for corruption, polit ical pressure and also means that media publicityis likely to decide the fate of such juveniles.Convicted children will be keptin a Place of Safety till they turn 21 years of age and attempts will be madeto reform them. If they reform they will be freed, otherwise shifted to anadult prison. There is a fundamental flaw in this. The Juvenile Justice Act2000 said children will be reformed in the juvenile homes. The entirediscourse of the Delhi and Central Govts. on the juvenile involved in the


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Dec. 2012 incident makes no mention of reformation processes. When theAct of 2000 could not put this in place,why will the current amendmentssucceed in doing so? Moreover, those in the Places of Safety will all bethose convicted of heinous crimes,so what will happen is obvious.

In the background was a frenzied campaign that crimes by juveniles

are on the rise. This was repeated by several TV anchors and by MenekaGandhi herself on the floor of Parliament. However, according to the NationalCrime Records Bureau, the figures of cases in which juveniles are involvedare static over the last three years at 1.2%. The editorial piece in TheHindu the day after the passage of the Bill stated that though claims werebeing made that juvenile crimes had risen over time, they still representedless than 2% of the total crime figures. Their crimes were mostly non violentin nature and usually associated with vagrancy. Figures were cited thatrapes by juveniles were 3.7%,4.4% and 4.7% in the last three years.Still,94% of rapes are by adults, in 90% cases the victim is known to the rapistand the conviction rate for 2014 is 24%. In 2014, out of 44 crorechildren,33526 total children were arrested for any kind of crime.Distortions

of facts has been used to rake up support.

Which brings up the question of the usual profile of the juveniles againstwhom criminal cases are registered - this being a home truth of India thatcases are rarely registered against money and power, no matter what thecrime. As quoted above, they are mainly of very poor, often broken homes.These juveniles usually are forced to seek employment from a very smallage and are usually themselves the victims of exploitation. There is usuallyclear evidence of their being manipulated by adults (on whom they aredependent) in committing crimes or doing the same in association withthem.

In India, the earlier age for juveniles was 16 years but it was raised to18 years in keeping with UN standards. The standard is based on scientificevaluation of brain function and growth and is not an arbitrary figure. WithPresidential consent having been given to the amendments,already thereare questions about when India is going to lower the voting age to 16 yearsand also the age of consent for marriage. The experiences of other countriescan be educative. America had changed the definition of juvenile- severalstates have since reversed this process in the past few years. India'sexperience is similar- by making punishment for rape harsher after 2012,have the number of rapes come down?

The issue of the state of juvenile justice homes is also related to theclass of the usual inhabitants. Cases abound where poor food, terriblehealth and absence of medical intervention,beatings,gang wars,horribleconditions of living, sexual exploitation have led to children running awayfrom these homes or openly protesting . These cases point to the terribleconditions of these homes and the corruption and callousness associatedwith their functioning. Even those who are congratulating the Modi Govt.for this Bill are forced to talk about the lack of adequate Govt. funds for thechildren and about the need to select meritorious people to the Boards,thereby implying that that this is not so.

There is also the question of the state of implementation of ChildProtection Acts, of laws against traf ficking of women and children. Thereare legions of missing children of whom the police across the country canfind no trace and also the oranizers of organ trade which the police areforced to arrest from time to time under public pressure. All these underlinehow vulnerable are the rights of most children in India apart from thesystemic violence by this society in denying the vast majority of themadequate food, essential services and other basics of life.

Finally, what are the examples that society is putting up before theadolescents? That gang rapes against Muslim women in Muzzafarnagarare not punishable and one can be MPs and Central Ministers for bothinstigating and condoning the same. That morality is not violated whenArmy gang rapes women in Kashmir and that AFSPA is a pro womensecurity law. That landed upper caste men of any age are allowed to gangrape landless dalit women and girls as in Haryana and elsewhere. Thatarmed forces and police can gangrape tribal women as part of actionsagainst movements. That women who complain against sexual abuse standno chance with the law when high profile Editors, Supreme Court judges orlauded heads of institutions are involved. They may not even be able toget an FIR lodged.

The next follows from the above. Justice in India is not blind– and herview is coloured by class. Admiral Nanda’s grandson may have driven ared car but the killer was a red truck. High profile film stars have driverlesscars which run amuk when they find people who dare to sleep on the roads.The recent amendments to Juvenile Justice Act only serve to deraildiscussion on the real issues involved.


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Spain: Anti-austerity mood grows

among the people

People’s opposition to austerity policies being imposed by the troika of

European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fundon Latin European countries continues to reflect in the electoral arena,deepening the political crisis in these countries. Recent elections in Spain,fourth largest economy of the Eurozone, held on December 20, 2015, haveproduced a fractured mandate with pro-austerity parties facing reduction intheir vote share as well as in the number of seats in the Parliament. RulingPopular Party (PP) and the main opposition Socialist Party (PSOE) whichhave been alternating in power for decades, both lost in terms of votes andseats in the new parliament. The elections threw a verdict where formationof a govt. itself is quite diff icult. Neither PP nor PSOE are in a position tocobble together a coalition to form the government.

Spain has been one of the South European countries which have beenseverely affected by the world financial-economic crisis. Though itssovereign debt was not very high at the time of crisis, flight of foreigncapital in the wake of the explosion of world financial economic crisis in2008, led to several balance of payment crisis and undermining of thebanks. European Union held out a bailout with severe conditions in termsof austerity measures. Though Spain could avoid a melt-down like Greece,the burden on the people rose sharply. After a few years of negative growth,economy has become stagnant. On the other hand unemployment hassoared to 27 percent while youth unemployment is running at over 50percent. As part of austerity measures imposed by the European Union,Govt. expenditure was cut down and wages of workers and their social

security was slashed. On the other hand tax burden on the people rosesharply. Thus, increasing unemployment, lower incomes of the vast laboringmasses and higher tax burden meant a clear deterioration in the livingconditions of the people.

People of Spain rose in protest. Masses of people gathered in hugenumbers in protest against these policies. Hundreds of thousandsparticipated in these protests. However the main ruling parties – PP andPSOE - supported and implemented these policies. But with the growth ofanti-austerity protests throughout European countries, particularly countries

of south Europe, people’s mobilization started getting reflected in theelectoral arena. Syriza, a coalition of different forces in Greece dominatedby Eurocommunists, benefitted from this mood of the people and couldemerge as the main electoral force in Greece over a short period of time onan anti-austerity platform. The rapid rise of the strength of Syriza in thebackdrop of rising resentment against austerity policies, particularly itsgood electoral showing, led to the formation of Pedemos in Spain (we can-Spanish word for what was Obama’s campaign slogan in 2008) and it toogained strength rapidly. After Syriza’s election victory in early 2015,Pedemos held one of the largest rallies in Madrid which attracted over 3lakh people. In mid 2015, Pedemos was polled as the most popular partyin Spain and was widely accepted as the likely winner if elections wereheld at that time.

However, the political situation in Spain underwent significant changeafter Syriza leadership’s betrayal of the anti-austerity platform on which ithad risen and Syriza becoming the new vehicle of imposition of austerityby the European Union over Greece. This capitulation by Syriza, thoughnot unexpected, undercut support for Pedemos whose programme is evenmore nebulous and vague. Pedemos, like Syriza, is trying to ride on people’sanger against austerity policies but has no programme of defying theEuropean Union and being prepared for its consequences. Its ‘left’ rhetoricis devoid of any left programme nor is it prepared for struggle againstcapitalists whose interests are tied to the European Union. It taps intopeople's anger without offering any alternative outside the system. Such'alternatives' are projected as 'hard left' or 'radical left' by the mainstreamcorporate media to glorify these alternatives which do not challenge orpropose to change the system. In Greece, however, despite implementationof bailout conditions, the economy has further contracted by 2% while the

conditions of the people has further deteriorated.

Though the surrender by Syriza before the t roika of European Union,International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank undercutPedemos's support but the anger of the people yet propelled it to prominencein the eletoral arena. Pedemos polled over one fifth of the total votes polledand secured 69 seats in the 350 member parliament. Ruling PP was reducedto 123 seats while the main opposition, PSOE, secured 90 seats. Thegood showing by Pedemos shows people’s opposition to austerity policiesbeing pursued by the Govt. of Spain on the one hand and lack of


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preparedness to break with the big capital of Europe and America on theother. It shows weakness of the revolutionary left and it also shows thedefensive nature of the anger building up among the people i.e. to preserveconditions of life prevailing earlier. This development also demonstratesattempts by the ruling class to keep this anger within the confines of thesystem.

The growing mood against austerity policies was also ref lected in thereplacement of the Govt. in Portugal where a pro-austerity Govt. wasreplaced by a coalition of parliamentary left parties. This growing anger ofthe people of Spain against the austerity policies is preventing socialists(PSOE) from joining hands with Popular Party in a grand coalition out offear of losing its base.

Besides growing anger of the people against worsening conditions oftheir lives, the deepening crisis has also intensified struggles of people ofCatalonia and Basque regions in Spain. In Catalonia region recent localelections led to the formation of a govt. of the parties supporting separation

of Catalonia from Spain. On this question, the main ruling class parties,PP and PSOE, are opposed to independence of Catalonia. Among Catalanparties supporting independence there are sharp differences on economicand social policies. While Catalan parties supporting independence havegained some seats in parliament and may enable PSOE and Pedemos toform a coalition govt., there is a difference among them on the attitudetowards Catalan independence. While Pedemos supports holdingreferendum on the issue, PSOE is opposed to it.

Deepening contradictions in Spain amidst worsening conditions of thepeople are aggravating political instability in that country. While Europeanpowers are straining to keep in place austerity policies, Spain is a much

larger economy that Greece. The impact of deepening crisis in Spain isgoing to much more widespread. Failure of the parties like Syriza andPedemos to chart out any different course despite being propelled bypeople's anger may also create ground for ant i-system struggles, as wellas for the rise of fascist forces. Opportunity is mixed with challenge.

Agriculture in Odisha

Bhalachandra Shadangi

Odisha is basically an agrarian state where 70% of its 4.2 crore

population is dependent on agriculture. About 65% of the state’s totalworkforce is engaged in agriculture. But despite plenty of workforce alongwith abundant land, forest, water and mineral resources, majority of itspeople are living in poverty and hunger. Every year lakhs of people,particularly a major chunk of the rural poor, are forced to leave the state asmigrant labourers. While peasant suicides have become a commonphenomenon nowadays, incidents like starvation deaths are also beingreported in the state occasionally. Due to lack of proper land reforms, lackof state investment in agriculture and rising cost of inputs, more and morepeasantry of the state is being pushed into indebtedness, poverty andlandlessness. The Socio Economic & Caste Census 2011 states that 87.8%

rural households in Odisha have the highest paid member earning lessthan Rs. 5000 per month.

Indebtedness of the peasantry is on the rise in Odisha as in the rest ofthe country. The source of loans for marginal and small peasants is fromnon institutional sources. The NSSO Agricultural Survey 2011 records thatfor the country, though formal credit flow has multiplied four times therewere no benefits for the small and marginal peasants. While 52% agriculturalhouseholds in the country are indebted, the proportion of indebted agriculturalhouseholds in Odisha is 57.5%. Non institutional loans entail backbreakinginterest rates.

Though agriculture contributes the major share in people’s income, inproviding employment, in commodities for export, in supplying food grainsand in providing raw materials for industries, its share in the state GDP iscontinuously shrinking. While agriculture’s share in state GDP in 1950 was70%, in recent years it has reduced to 15.1%, 13.1% and 12.3% of GDP in2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively. But although the agriculturalincome is declining, the number of people dependent on agriculture is notdeclining. From 1950 till today nearly the same percentage of people isdependent on agriculture. This has brought about a huge gap betweenagricultural and non agricultural income.


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The state has about 64.09 lakh hectares of cultivable area out of a totalgeographical area of 155.707 lakh hectares, i.e. accounting for 41.61%.About 40.17 lakh hectares of cultivable area has acidic soil, approximately4 lakh hectares suffers from salinity and about three lakh hectares ofcultivable area suffers from water logging. While the small and marginalfarmers constitute 83% of the peasant community, the average size of

holdings in the state is 1.25 hectares. Due to different factors the per capitaland is declining rapidly. After the onset of policies of Globalization, theper capita land availability rapidly declined. The 2012-13 Economic Surveyrecords that due to rapid industrialization, urbanization and other nonagricultural activity the amount of agricultural land is shrinking rapidly. By2011-12 the total cultivable land in the state was reduced to 52.92 lakhhectares. Similarly the area under food grain production also decreasedfrom 53.19 lakh hectares in 2010-11 to 47.44 lakh hectares in 2011-12 i.eby 10.8%. The Agricultural Statistics report says that while the area underfood grain cultivation is also declining, the area under cultivation of cotton,maize, floriculture and bio-fuel has increased by 106%, 150%, 800% and

50 thousand hectares respectively. This increase in export oriented cashcrop production at the cost of food grain production may create foodinsecurity in the coming days.

The growth rate of Odisha during the two decades immediately after1947 was 1.9%. At that time the agricultural growth rate of the country was2.24%. Immediately after 1947, consecutively for three decades theagricultural growth rate remained at 2.8%. But during the last two decadesthe growth rate in agriculture fell to 0.67%. I f we take the average growthrate in agriculture in the last six decades, it is 1.3% which is verydisappointing. Before the start of so called ‘green revolution’, though thegrowth rate was slow there was a steady increase in agricultural production.

While food production was 40 lakh metric tonnes in 1950 it increased to 58lakh metric tonnes by 1978. By 1990-91 the food grain production hadreached 72 lakh metric tonnes. While the increase in the first phase wasdue to more areas coming under cultivation, the second phase is the resultof ‘green revolution’.

Though Odisha has more than the national average rainfall i.e 1452 mmand nearly 12% of the water resources of the country, due to the callousattitude of the ruling elite its agriculture basically remained rain fed. Despitesix decades of so called self rule, 70% of its lands are still not irrigated.Due to lack of emphasis on irrigation and lack of state investment and

water management, there has been stagnation in the irrigation sector ofthe state. In spite of all the tall claims by the successive Govts, the declaredirrigation potential of the state remained at 33.2%. While it was 12% in1960 it increased to 20% in 1980. Even in the irrigated areas, due to poormaintenance of the reservoirs and canals in spite of depositing of watercess, peasants in the tail end areas of the canals are deprived of water to

their fields. Apart from declining sanctions for agriculture, the neo liberalpolicies have wrought havoc with the state’s agriculture. Under the guidanceof World Bank the state Govt has reformed the irrigation sector by bringingin privatization. The Odisha Lift I rrigation Corporation was dismantled in2001 and repairing and maintenance of canals and water bodies were handedover to water users’ associations. Due to rapid boom in the real estatesector, more and more traditional water bodies were encroached by mafiasand rich people.

Although under the impact of ‘green’ revolution the use of chemicalfertilizers, hybr id seeds and pesticides increased over the last two decades

but it is still below the national average (129 kg per hectare). In 1990-91per hectare use of chemical fertilizer in the state was only 20 kg. It reached41 kg, 52 kg and 57.11kg in 2001-02, 2011-12 and 2013-14 respectively.As per the Govt’s Economic Survey 2013-14, the number of tractors soldto farmers increased from less than 200 tractors during 1999-2000 to morethan 5000 in 2011-12. Odisha became the largest consumer of power tillersin the country. But despite a steady increase in the use of chemicalfertilizers and pesticides and despite mechanization there was no substantialrise in food grain production in the last two decades. While the averageannual food grain production during 1990-91 to 1999-2000 was 66.14 lakhtonnes, the average annual production during 2000-01 to 2011-12 was 68.25lakh tonnes only. That means the percentage of growth in food grain

production is 0.26%. Per hectare production of food grain is also lowerthan the national average and also that of many states. While the nationalper hectare production of food grain is 19.21 Quintal, in Odisha it is 14.42.

Procurement of agriculture produce, particularly of paddy, has been abig issue for peasants in the state. The powerful rice millers-Govt officialslobby has been creating distress conditions for peasants and forcing themto sell their paddy at low rates.

Documents

New Democracy, December 2015