Navin Patnaik’s Killer Government Will Have to Go
Orissa, a showpiece of NDA-style governance and comprador ‘industrialisation’, is fast turning into a chilling case study of mafia-police raj. On the second day of the new year, the police gunned down at least a dozen adivasis who were demanding adequate compensation for the agricultural land that the government has acquired from them for a Tata Steel plant. The incident took place at Kalinganagar in Jajpur district near Bhubaneswar. The Navin Patnaik government had acquired 2,000 acres of cultivable land from the local adivasis by paying a meager compensation of Rs. 37,000 per acre. Even as reports of more deaths kept pouring in from Kalinganagar, the Chief Minister was sitting pretty at capital Bhubaneswar, awaiting reports from his bureaucrats without bothering to visit the place for a first-hand survey of the situation.
The smugness with which Navin Patnaik has received the news of the Kalinganagar massacre is rooted in the very policy of industrialization adopted by his government. In the name of rapid industrialization of the state, his government has virtually begun leasing out the entire state to foreign multinationals and Indian monopoly houses. This means massive transfer of land – cultivable and/or rich in forest and mineral resources – and eviction of the existing inhabitants, most of whom are poor tribal masses who depend on their land for their livelihood. From Kalinganagar to Kashipur, it is the same story everywhere – while the people are trying to defend their land and livelihood, the government is busy bulldozing every resistance. People depending on water for their livelihood are not being spared either. Not long ago the fighting fisherfolks of Chilika had also fallen prey to the barbaric bullets of Orissa’s trigger-happy police.
Like Orissa, BJP-ruled Jharkhand is also being used as another laboratory for enacting a similar script of mass eviction and police barbarity, all in the name of ‘development’. In February 2001, less than three months since the formation of the new state, the Jharkhand police had slaughtered nearly a dozen adivasis who were demonstrating against the government’s attempt to resume work on the disastrous Koel-Karo project. While the government has not since dared resume work on the project, it is desperately trying to tamper with the Santhal Pargana and Chhoanagpur Tenancy Acts so as to legitimize the process of usurpation of tribal lands. Attempts are also on to subvert the Panchayati Extension to Scheduled Areas Act so that the panchayats cannot obstruct the process and the affected adivasis and other local inhabitants cannot have any say.
The campaigns of mass eviction that are camouflaged behind the smokescreen of ‘development’ are however not confined to only tribal belts or mineral-rich states like Orissa and Jharkhand. Almost all over the country, key natural resources including most fertile agricultural land, are being transferred in a big way to corporate control. Tens of thousands of acres of land are being diverted away from agriculture in the name of creation of ‘special economic zones’. In West Bengal, the Left Front government’s proposal to hand over 5,100 acres of multi-crop agricultural land to the Salim group of Indonesia may have been temporarily stalled in the face of strong protests and the impending Assembly elections, but no less a person than the land revenue minister of the state government tells us that an estimated 50,000 acres of agricultural land are diverted every year for non-agricultural purposes. In Andhra Pradesh, the Congress government led by Rajsekhar Reddy is handing over 25,000 acres of land near Hyderabad to the Ambanis for a special economic zone. Similar moves are afoot in East Godavari district as well.
In the first three decades after Independence, a number of major industries and mines had been set up under the public sector. This first wave of ‘development’ had created a huge army of refugees, evicting them from their traditional dwellings and sources of livelihood. Some of these people have since been absorbed into those industries and mines, but effective rehabilitation still remains a far cry for many of these ‘development refugees’. The current era of economic neo-liberalism has unleashed a second major wave of mass eviction, but this time the prospect of rehabilitation looks far gloomier. The plants being set up are predominatly in the private sector and the scale of possible direct employment in these plants is likely to remain low in today’s high-tech era. In the absence of adequate compensation and effective rehabilitation, eviction now threatens to mean nothing short of extinction. It is thus not difficult to understand why adivasis are offering such a determined resistance. Genuine democratic forces must all rally in support of the fighting tribal people and challenge the eviction-loaded script of neo-liberal ‘development’.
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CPI(ML) Observes Statewide Protests against Raghopur Carnage
Investigation Team Visits Rampur-Shyamchak
Even as Nitish Kumar was busy wooing MBCs through populist measures, 6 persons of extremely backward community were burnt alive on the eve of the New Year. Against this barbaric carnage where a woman and her 5 minor children were burnt alive, CPI(ML) observed statewide protests on January 3. Party demanded action against DM and SP of Vaishali as well as dismissal of Raghopur SHO. Earlier, a CPI(ML) investigation team led by Party MLAs and state committee members Arun Singh and Amarnath Yadav, visited Rampur-Shyamchak village, which incidentally, is located in the assembly segment represented by Rabri Devi. The assailants were reported to be RJD supporters, though Laloo Yadav rushed to the spot only to shed crocodile tears.
Protest programmes were held at almost all the district headquarters and capital Patna. A mass meeting was also held after the protest in Patna which was addressed by Party's State Secretary Ramjatan Sharma and Central Committee member Saroj Chaube. Speakers criticized the Nitish Kumar govt. for failing to protect the lives of the poor. Protester included a large number of rural poor who shouted slogans 'hang the killers of this heinous massacre' and ''dissmiss the DM and SP of Vaishali' and 'arrest the SHO of Raghopur'. Similar marches were also held in Siwan, Gopalganj, Gaya, Jahanabad, Arwal, Darbhanga, Mujaffarpur, Samastipur and many other places.
CPI(ML) alleged that the administration was shielding SHO, whose complicity in the gruesome massacre was apparent from the fact that despite repeated prior informations many times, also on the eve of the incident, about the life threats, he did not take any preventive measures. Party has demanded that DM and SP of Vaishali too should be held responsible and action must be taken against them. The protesters rediculed Nitish Kumar's claim of good governance and end to criminalisation in the state.
Navin Patnaik Must Resign
CPI(ML) Holds Orissa Government Responsible for Kalinga Nagar Killings
CPI(ML) holds Orissa Government responsible for Kalinga nagar genocide, wherein more than a dozen tribal people were mercilessly butchered by the police. In a press statement issued from Party's central office, Comrade Swadesh Bhattacharya, Member, Polit Bureau, has demanded resignation of Chief Minister Navin Patnaik.
Expressing shock over the gruesome massacre, he said that it shows the extent to which our rulers can go in benefitting the big business houses like TISCO's, even at the cost of merciless eviction of adivasis and the lives of the common men and women. He demanded that criminal cases for killing innocent people must be lodged against the police officers as well as TISCO personnel. A Bandh has been called by the CPI(ML) and other organisations on 7 January '06 in Orissa.
AIALA General Secretary Rameshwar Prasad Writes from Jail to Rural Development Minister
Comrade Rameshwar Prasad, General Secretary, AIALA, who is currently in Beur Central Jail, recently wrote a letter to Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Central Rural Development Minister, demanding extension of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) to all districts of Bihar , inquiry into the irregularities in Food for Work Programme and immediate payment of pending wages to the labourers.
He highlighted the main drawbacks in the NFFWP as follows:
o No people's participation in selection of projects. Selection of the projects is completely in the hands of contractors and officers. Even the panchayats or Gram Sabhas are not involved. As a result, a lot of corruption starts from the very beginning - fake projects, many projects for a few villages while none for others, many projects with changed names for the same work, etc.
o Inflated project estimates are made to siphon out money from the scheme.
o Opened employment opportunities for contractors and tractors but not for the rural labour.
o Discrimination against women.
o Low wages / pending wages.
o Fake muster rolls - legal document for loot.
And in the conclusion, he presented a five-point demand charter as follows:
i. Extension and implementation of the Act in all districts of Bihar .
ii. For enhancing transparency, proper implementation and propagation of the scheme, the Central Employment Guarantee Council must include all major agricultural labour organisations. Same procedure should be adopted and district and block levels.
iii. A comprehensive inquiry into the irregularities in NFFWP in Bihar should be conducted and apart from punishing the culprits, district magistrates of those districts should be made accountable.
iv. Necessary steps must be taken to break the hold of contractors-mafia-corrupt officials and politicians in these schemes.
v. Wages under this Act must be raised to a minimum of Rs. 100 per day.
vi. Family unit to be considered at par with nuclear family and job cards to be issued to every endividual worker.
CPI(ML) Delegation Meets Chief Election Commissioner
A CPI(ML) delegation comprising of Swadesh Bhattacharya, Member, Polit Bureau, Jayanta Rongpi, Ex-MP and Member, Central Committee, and Prabhat Kumar, Member, Central Committee met the Election Commission on January 3 and apprised it of the current situation in Karbi Anglong and North Cachar districts of Assam which witnessed recently an unprecedented spate of Congress engineered violence that took nearly a hundred lives and rendered thousands homeless. The tension is still prevailing in the region.
The delegation presented a documentary proof of an 'agreement' between the so-called Commander-in-Chief of one of the extremist outfits, Dima Halam Daogah (DHD). This outfit was involved in perpetrating current violence. This document was prepared just before the last Parliamentary Elections and is signed by two elected representatives, K.S. Ingti, Cheif Executive Member and G. Millick, Chairman of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council on behalf of the Indian National Congress Party. This 11-point written agreement assures the DHD of and pledges to “abide by the conditions laid down by the DHD in any eventuality”. Which was a blatant violation of Election Code of Conduct by the Congress party and an explicit proof of the nexus of Congress with the armed outfits of the region. The DHD, as well as many other outfits of the region namely UPDS, KLNLF, BLT, etc., in return, provided muscle and fire-power to the Congress candidate for terrorising and preventing the voters and over-powered many booths.
CPI(ML) had already informed the Election Commission that most of its election offices in 2004 Parliamentary elections in Socheng and Chinthong blocks under Baithalangso LAC were destroyed by AK-47 wielding armed groups. Party leaders and polling agents were threatened by these extremists. Five CPI(ML) supporters were killed by extremists immediately after 2004 elections for voting in favour of the our Party. The killers are still not been nabbed.
Recent spate of violence was one of the worst kind of outcome of such practices by the ruling parties in the region. The whole of Karbi Anglong district is left to live under the reign of terror and thousands of people are still in refugee camps and sporadic incidents of killings and threats continues till date.
Party has demanded from the EC to take Suo motu action to disqualify the present Congress MP from the Autonomous District constituency for malafide practices and gross violation of election rules.
The memorandum presented to the EC says that "this is a definite indication, not mere apprehension, that the ruling Party in Dispur and Diphu is gearing up to overpower the electoral process under gun-power. Keeping in view the conduct of the said party in the past elections in the region, the present grave situation and the forthcoming Assembly elections 2006, we hereby reiterate our request to you for immediate intervention and preventive measures to create a situation conducive for the conduct of free, fair and fearless elections".
"Moreover, the immunity provided to the militant outfits through ‘cease-fire agreement’ with the central government is proving fatal for every democratic initiative taken in favour of the local people. Members of these outfits can roam freely with their dreaded arms and ammunition and terrorise common people to serve the political interests of their patrons in the Congress and other ruling parties."
The CPI(ML) has requested to take immediate steps in order to give a stern message to the perpetrators of electoral crimes and open up the avenue for a democratic atmosphere. Besides declaring the last election to the Parliament from Autonomous District (ST) constituency null and void, Party demands fresh election and appropriate action against Congress party for indulging in gross malpractice. Party has also requested, for the forthcoming elections, a special EC team for Karbi Anglong to have an on the spot assessment and an officer directly from the EC especially assigned for Karbi Anglong and NC Hills. It has also been demanded to disarm the militants and confine them to their designated camps. And also the relocation of booths to accessible areas so that militants can not take advantage of inaccessibility.
Activities
Militant Protest Forced DM to Make a Retreat
On Dec. 14, CPI(ML) and RYA activists forced the Rohtas DM to retreat without inaugurating BRC building in Karakat Block HQ, Godari. The DM was invited to inaugurate the stone plate for the building. The MLAs name was conspicuous by its absence in the list of invitees, though, as per the convention the local MLA should have been invited to inaugurate the building. Since MLA belonged to CPI(ML) so his name was left out. Similarly, the name of BDO too, who happened to be a dalit, was also absent. The names of District Council President, a BJP leader, and Block Pramukh were present on the foundation plate itself.
Against this conspiracy symbolising discrimination of CPI(ML) and domination of corrupt mafia nexus in the district, it was decided to hold a protest. When DM reached the spot CPI(ML) and RYA activists organised a powerful protest raising slogans 'DM Go back' and 'Stop ignoring and humiliating CPI(ML). The DM couldn't face the protest and fled away without inauguration. This militant protest was appreciated widely by the masses. The protest was led by Party's Block Secretary Bhaiyaram Paswan, Mukhiya Dharmendra Singh, and RYA leader Upendra Singh.
National Executive Meet of AIALA
The National Executive of AIALA met in Kolkata on 28 December and reviewed the preparations for the forthcoming National Conference which will be held in Rajamundry on 30-31 January 2006. There will be a massive rally at the beginning of the Conference on 30 January which will be attended by agricultural labourers from states including Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.
The Conference will focus on the issues of Development and people’s control over the representative institutions and elected representatives, especially at grass-roots level, in addition to the basic issues of Land, Wage and Social Dignity. Conference will also take up the issues propping up on the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Recently our initiatives in Karbi Anglong and Sitapur have exposed inherent weaknesses leading to scams/corruption in Food-for-Work programme/ NREGA.
The propaganda campaign for the Conference is going on at all levels including village level campaigning. It is expected that more than a thousand delegates from all over the country will attend the Second National Conference of AIALA besides a number of guests and observers.
AIPWA Assembly March in Jharkhand
On Dec. 21, AIPWA organised an Assembly March in Ranchi. Hundreds of women took part in the protest raising slogans 'Arrest the rapist police officer Natarajan and Parvej Hayat', 'Arrest the rapist CRPF Jawans of Palamou', 'Rape-culture down-down', 'Take measures to stop women's migration', 'Enact laws for the job guarantee for the women', etc. The march was led by AIPWA State President Gunni Oraon, State Secretary Sunita and Chinta Singh.
Speakers alleged the Munda Govt. is unwilling to arrest Natarajan and Parvej Hayat, while Palamou DM was protecting the rapist CRPF Jawans. Women's Commission has not been constituted in the state despite Cabinet's approval. It was demanded to enact laws for women's job guarantee and ensuring equal wages to stop the migration from the state.
Protesters expressed anger over the BJP Govt.'s protection given to the then BJP Minister Ravindra Rai and SP Deepak Verma instead of arresting them and others responsible for murder of Comrade Mahendra Singh even after one year.
AISA Organises Parallel Students' Senate
Demanding restoration of Students' Union, Central University status for Patna University and eradication of criminalisation from the campus, AISA organised parallel senate of students on Dec. 22 to make students cautious about the insensitivity and anti-student character of yet another government in Bihar. Students in large number participated in the programme.
A ten-point resolution was adopted demanding recruitment on three and a half lakh vacant posts in the state government services, written test for the selection of Police Inspectors, end to academic anarchy, etc., in addition to the restoration of students unions and Central Univ. status for Patna University.
New Year's 'Message' !
As the proverb goes, 'coming events cast their shadows before'. Amidst New Year celebrations here is a brief list of some news items appearing in media on the morrow of New Year Day, which provides a glimpse of the New Year 2006 that awaits us, courtesy the 'great Indian Rulers':
Ö Labour on PM's '06 (hit-)list: In the name of labour reform UPA Govt. prepares to further squeeze the working class codifying anti-labour laws in tune with the era of 'Liberalisation-Privatisation-Globalisation'.
Ö More than a dozen tribals gunned-down by police in Kalinga Nagar in Orissa to vacate land for gifting to TISCO.
Ö Six of a family including a woman and her five minor children burnt alive in Bihar (Raghopur).
Ö One killed in Old Bhopal police lathicharge.
Ö And in National Capital, Delhi:
Another rape in car.
Women beaten and left nude in the cold.
Five year old molested by landlord.
Ö Cases lodged against those riot victims whose relatives' mass grave was found in Lunawara, Gujarat.
Ö Dacoits share poll spoils. (Lucknow).
Ö School without teachers, desks. ( Delhi )
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