Red Star Weekly Issue # 8

Volume 4
Issue 8
Intensify movement
against Modi’s Land
Acquisition Bill
12th April -2015
West Bengal:
Party launches
protest against
suicide of
potato farmers
More than 20 potato farmers have already committed
suicide in the state this season and the number is
feared to go up further. Whereas it is customary for
farmers to desire a good harvest, in West Bengal it is
a good harvest that has proved to be a curse to the
farmers, thanks to the government’s policies which
have resulted in farmers not getting a price for their
potatoes. After the latest incident of farmer suicide
in Rangta village in Garbeta block of West Midnapur
district, party state committee members Comrade
Shibu Giri and Comrade Tarun Manna visited the
spot for an investigation. It was revealed that the
deceased farmer had taken 30 bighas of land on
lease, at the rate of Rs 1000 per acre, for sowing
potatoes. He had borrowed both from a local usurer
as well as the Punjab National Bank a total sum of
five and a half lakh rupees to meet expenses towards
seeds, fertilisers and associated costs. However,
despite an excellent harvest, he could not sell his
crop and he took his life to escape from the debt.
It was a clear case of suicide by a desperate farmer
entangled in indebtedness but the shameless state
government has put it down to ‘family problems’.
The West Bengal State Committee has condemned
the state government’s attempt to hush up the real
cause of farmers’ suicides by resorting to deception
and called for a state-wide agitation on the following
demands: 1) The state government must immediately
buy potatoes from farmers at a rate of Rs 800 per
quintal, 2) Bank loans of affected peasants must be
waived and fresh loans arranged for them to cover the
losses, 3) Families of farmers who have committed
suicide must be given proper compensation by the
government.
CONTENTS
Intensify movement against Modi’s Land Acquisition Bill
Odisha protests against Land Acquisition Bill
West Bengal:
Party launches protest against suicide of
potato farmers
Write off loans of devastated peasant families
Condemn fake encounter killings in AP and Telangana
Chhattisgarh:
Anganwadi workers unite for just demands
Condemn the rape of three women
by army jawans in Assam
Denounce extension of AFSPA in more districts
of Arunachal Pradesh
West Bengal:
AIKKS demands action against wild elephant attacks in
Midnapur villages
Modi’s threat
Resist Maharashtra government’s food fundamentalism
Condemn the arrest of Com Khalida Jarrar
w w w. c p i m l . i n
C-141, Sainik Nagar,
New Delhi – 110059, Phone – (011) 25332343
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Website: www.cpiml.in
RED STAR Online Weekly
Volume – 4
Issue – 8
12 April 2015
5th April -2015
01
Intensify movement
against Modi’s Land Acquisition Bill
A glance through the Land Acquisition Bill initiated
by the Modi government shall show that, if the 2013
Land Acquisition Act adopted by the parliament was
also a move for transferring agricultural land to foreign
and domestic corporate forces and land mafias with
some conditions attached to it, the present bill is a
blatant move aimed at large scale land acquisition,
doing away all restrictions of the 2013 Act. This
move against peasant interests and whatever food
security this country has is justified by alleging that
all those who oppose it are indulging in a conspiracy
to undermine farmers’ interests! In the two days’ BJP
national executive meeting at Bengaluru the prime
minister claimed that his government is working for
the poor! But contrary to this claim, the Rajya Sabha
was prorogued and the Land Acquisition ordinance
re-issued before it lapsed on 5th April, in spite of
increasing resistance to it from the vast majority of
the peasants and other oppressed masses.
What was the emergency to prorogue Rajya Sabha
and to impose an Ordinance as done in emergency
conditions? It is to please the corporate forces who
actually financed Modi’s election campaign. If the
2013 Act fully supported by BJP then stipulated
consent of 70-80% of affected families, the present
ordinance has added a new section (10A) increasing
the number in the special category that are exempt
from such consent requirements — industrial
corridors and infrastructure projects, including
projects under public-private-partnership. If the
earlier law required a social impact assessment and
review by an expert group and defined a bar on the
acquisition of multi-crop agricultural land, now it
is removed. If the earlier Act allowed return of the
acquired land if the award had been made five or
more years prior to the coming into force of the 2013
law (i.e. any award passed on or before January 1,
2009) provided either compensation had not been
paid or physical possession had not been taken,
this provision is also reversed now. As a result, the
amount of land that can be now acquired for the
Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor alone is estimated
to be a whopping 17.5% of our agricultural land in
that region.
In this situation, the peasantry and the progressive
forces who are opposed to corporate-mafia raj has
only one option before them: oppose the adoption
of this bill and even if it is adopted by the parliament
or is going to be imposed through re-issuing
ordinances, come out onto the streets and intensify
the struggle to have it revoked. This is exactly what
is happening all over the country. After the CC of
CPI(ML) Red Star gave a call to launch a countrywide
movement against the Land Acquisition Bill from 8th
to 15th April, all party committees have been actively
involved in it. There are reports of campaigns, effigy
burnings, public meetings etc. from many places.
Intensify movement
against Modi’s Land
Acquisition Bill
A militant protest demonstration against the Land
Acquisition Bill was held before the Aska Tahasil Office
in Ganjam District of Odisha. On 8th April activists of
CPI(ML) Red Star and Basti Surakshya Mancha burnt
an effigy of corporate dalal Narendra Modi and a copy
of the Land Acquisition Bill 2015 in Bhubaneswar.
5th April -2015
02
Write off loans of devastated peasant families
There are reports of peasant suicides from practically
all states, especially from the northern states of
Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where the
recent untimely rain, hail storm and even floods
have destroyed or harmed the wheat, potato and
other crops seriously. All these peasant families had
taken loans from banks and usurers; and the fear
of what will happen to their family if the loans are
not repaid is driving them to suicide. Vast majority
of these peasant families are in acute distress. The
central and state governments are trying to belittle
the seriousness of this question by announcing some
subsidies and sops. What is required is the writing
off of all bank loans and help in repaying loans taken
from the usurers. It is the case in UP, Punjab and all
other affected states. Let us raise this demand and
mobilize the peasants for it.
Condemn fake encounter killings
in AP and Telangana
The undivided Andhra Pradesh and present AP and
Telangana police are notorious for hundreds of fake
encounter killings. Most of them were committed
in the name of exterminating Maoists, and the
vast majority of those killed were dalits, adivasis,
agricultural workers and poor peasants in general, or
workers in the urban areas. The latest incidents in AP
and Telegana show that in these states the heinous
culture of fake encounter killings by the police force
continues unabated.
The mass killing of five alleged SIMI men in Telangana
on April on the plea that they had been trying to
escape from custody has already been proved to
be an unprovoked and cold-blooded murder of
undertrials. According to the police, the incident
occurred on a busy highway in the middle of the
morning when the prisoners were being taken from
Warangal jail to a Hyderabad court. According to IGP
Warangal, Naveen Chand, the police convoy of three
vehicles made an unscheduled halt at the request
of under-trial prisoner, Vikaruddin Ahmed. With his
handcuffs off, Vikaruddin allegedly snatched an AK
56 rifle from Reserve Sub-Inspector, Uday Bhaskar
and the remaining four prisoners, Mohd. Zakir, Mohd.
Hanif, Sayed Amjad, and Izhar Khan pounced on two
other policemen. In retaliation, the other policemen,
17 in all, shot all five dead inside the van. However,
photographs of the slain men showing that they were
handcuffed to the car seat when shot have already
come up on the media giving the lie to the police
statement of ‘attempted escape’ and ‘attack on
policemen’. This murder is another example of the
growing communalization and fascisization of the
state.
On the same day, 20 labourers – mostly adivasis
from Tamil Nadu – were gunned down by the police
in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district. The police
claimed that the slain men were smugglers of red
sanders -- a rare wood with huge demand in the
international market – and that the police had opened
fire after coming under attack by the smugglers in
Seshachalam forest in two places within a radius of
one kilometer. This police story too has been proved
to be nothing but a sinister lie, and the 20 workers
were actually barbarously killed by the police not in
self-defence and certainly not on the spot but after
being taken into custody and being brutally beaten
up on the previous day. An eye witness has asserted
that 7 of the 20 killed were picked up by the AP police
from a running bus on the AP-Tamil Nadu border.
Landless tribals from Tamil Nadu are lured by
smugglers into cutting trees. The labourers are not
aware of the risks they have to face and are made to
believe that cutting trees is a petty crime Thus there
are numerous cases of this type in the AP-Tami Nadu
border areas, where hundreds of poor adivasi-dalit
workers are compelled to cut wood in forests by a
powerful mafia engaged in a multi-crore business
and enjoying political support. When caught by the
police they are subjected to rigorous imprisonment
and sometimes even killed. More than two thousand
are now perishing in jails. Instead of taking action
against the king-pins, the police are engaged in
killing and torturing these hapless labourers.
The AP, Telengana and Tamil Nadu committees of
CPI(ML) Red Star have severely condemned these
killings and demanded stringent action against those
responsible for the genocide. The CPI(ML) Red Star
calls on all democratic forces to come out against
these mass killings in the name of fake encounters.
12th April -2015
03
Chhattisgarh:
Anganwadi workers
unite for just demands
The indefinite strike by the Anganwadi Union
(Chhattisgarh Anganbadi Karyakarta Evam Sahayika
Sangh) was called off on 31st March by the office
bearers of the union without taking the workers and
assistants into confidence. The office bearers claimed
to have faced threats from the state government.
Condemning the withdrawal of the strike, thousands
of Anganwadi workers and assistants demonstrated
at Budha Talab, Raipur, against the decision of the
Anganwadi Union and the stance of the Chhattisgarh
government. Based on a unanimous decision by all
the Anganwadi workers and assistants present at
the protest area, a 15-member organizing committee
was formed. The committee met on 5th April at
Raipur and, vowing to carry forward the movement,
outlined the next immediate steps.
Anganwadi workers had been on indefinite strike
from 20th March. During this period three phases of
talks were held between the Anganwadi Union and
the state government but the government merely
went on making false assurances instead of fulfilling
the demands. Last year too when the Anganwadi
workers had gone on strike, similar assurances had
been given in the secretary level talks, but no decision
on the demands was taken. The state government
provides a meagre sum of Rs. 1000 to Anganwadi
workers and Rs. 500 to assistants as monthly wages,
and that too not always on time. Anganwadi workers
and assistants are employed in more than twenty
state government-run schemes. Even in the scorching
days of summer they are forced to work from 9.00am
to 3.00pm in rooms not fitted with fans. Many a time,
the union has written to the related departments
requesting that Anganwadi schools be run from
8.00am to 12.00pm like the other government-run
schools but no attention has been given to this
demand. The state government repeatedly neglected
the genuine demands of the union against which an
indefinite strike was organized, but instead of solving
the demands the government ordered to call off
the strike and issued an ultimatum to the strikers to
resume duties on or before 3rd April and threatened
to dismiss the workers and assistants.
Pragatisheel Anganwadi Karyakarta Evam Sahayika
Sangh, affiliated to Trade Union Centre of India
(TUCI), condemns this anti-people order and calls all
the Anganwadi workers and assistants of the state
to join hands against the oppression of the state
government and take forward this struggle with more
vigor and force.
Condemn the rape of three women
by army jawans in Assam
The rape of three women, including a minor, by
army jawans in Assam on April 6 has once again
brought to the fore the barbarity of the military and
caused women and men in the state to erupt in rage.
According to police reports, a team of 8 jawans
raped three women, of whom one was only 13, at
Khorsim Athor village in Aanjukpani in Assam’s Karbi
Anglong district on Monday. On Monday night, the
patrolling jawans reached the village, picked up the
child and took her to the neighbouring jungle. When
the girl’s mother and a relative followed them into the
jungle, they came upon the jawans raping the child.
Before they could do anything, the jawans pounced
on them and raped them too. Villagers lodged an FIR
at the Dokmoka police station on Wednesday and
produced the three rape survivors before the police.
Deployment of the army in the two hill districts of
Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, on the pretext of
carrying on operations against militant outfits, have
long been condemned by all democratic sections of
society. The rape of the three village women demands
a mighty protest against army deployment in all the
Northeastern states and the severest punishment to
the guilty jawans.
12th April -2015
04
Denounce extension of AFSPA
in more districts of Arunachal Pradesh
Even as the army has again revealed its true colours in
the incident of the rape of three women in Assam, the
notorious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)
has been extended to 12 more districts of Arunachal
Pradesh – all bordering Assam. Even the Arunachal
chief minister Nabam Tuki has taken a strong
exception to this decision of the Centre and asked
it to urgently review the decision taken “unilaterally”
by the latter. The chief minister has declared that the
12 districts brought within the purview of AFSPA are
absolutely peaceful and expressed his concern over
the imposition of AFSPA in fresh areas, well aware
that people’s simmering wrath against this draconian
Act and the military crimes it inevitably brings in its
wake may erupt anytime
West Bengal: AIKKS demands action against
wild elephant attacks in Midnapur villages
Two villagers were killed by an attack of wild
elephants on 8th April in Kadamdiha village of West
Midnapur district of West Bengal. Nepal Lohar,
another villager was also injured. Budhari Mahato
(62) died in Midnapur Medical College Hospital while
Sulekha Mahato died on the spot following the attack
and subsequent rampage by a group of elephants.
All India Krantikari Kisan Sabha (AIKKS) leaders
immediately rushed to the Divisional Forest Officer
(DFO) with the villagers, demanding compensation
and protection against such attacks which are
becoming increasingly common in the area. Initially
DFO Arnab Sengupta was reluctant to assure
compensation for the families of the deceased.
However, after a heated discussion with the villagers
Modi’s threat
The dictatorial character of the Modi government
once again surfaced when Modi himself addressed
a meeting with the senior judges of the country
and warned them not to capitulate to ‘five star
activists’. It is becoming amply clear day by day
that the government wants dictatorial power in its
hands to curb the rights of the people in favour of
the corporates and mafias to plunder the resources
of the country. The Prime Minister’s open threat to
the judiciary clearly shows that the ruling classes of
the country are passing through a severe crisis which
they want to overcome by rejecting even a liberal
democratic atmosphere and resorting to fascistic
tendencies. Quite naturally Modi’s speech has
faced sharp criticism from the judiciary itself, which
indicates an intensification of the contradictions
among the bourgeois institutions of the country.
the Forest Department announced compensation
of 2.5 lakhs rupees each for the families of Budhari
Mahato and Sulekha Mahato. The DFO also declared
that the cost of the treatment of Nepal Lohar would
be borne by the department. AIKKS has put forward
another demand of emergency medical facilities
along with ambulance etc. in the block office, which
the DFO has assured to consider.
Resist Maharashtra
government’s food
fundamentalism
Banning of cow and bull slaughter in Maharashtra by
BJP government is a vicious act against the secular
India concept. Answering a question from the
Mumbai High Court, the state Advocate General had
said that this was the first step to ban slaughter of
other animals like goat. This statement had triggered
a furore with apprehensions looming large that the
government intended to impose vegetarianism
on all people of the state. However, chief minister
Devendra Fadnavis later said that the Advocate
General’s words had been misinterpreted and the
government has no plans to ban slaughter of animals
other than cow and bull. It is evident that the ban
on beef in particular – selling or possessing beef in
Maharashtra can now lead to a 5-year jail term or
fine of Rs 10,000 – is a direct encroachment on the
food habits of some people and is intended to target
certain communities. All democratic and secular
forces and individuals should join hands to resist the
process of growing communalism in Maharashtra
and other parts of the country.
12th April -2015
05
Indian labourers on strike
in Bahrain returned home
Workers of Hertel MSL Construction Co. in Bahrain,
who were on strike since April 1 against the poor
living conditions of the labour camp in Askar were
returned home this week. They were on strike from
01.04.2015, against bad living conditions of the
newly shifted labour camp in Askar. The management
agreed to send them back to India, in a meeting held
on 07.04.2015. There were more than 200 Indian
workers (mostly from Kerala) in who had to use
only 10 bathrooms and consume rotten food. The
workers brought this to the management’s attention
many a time, but in vain. Keralite workers had paid
Rs. 25,000/- to an agent in Ernakulam District to get
this job at a low salary of BD-80/-. Workers from
Bihar had paid Rs-50,000/- to the agent in their state
and BD-80/- to a storekeeper in the same company.
But when they came to work in Bahrain they realized
what was in store for them. Apart from dreadful living
conditions, they were forced to do 4 hours overtime
work almost every day but were never paid overtime
wages. They were told by their agents that they would
be required to do painting jobs at construction sites,
but were made to do all kinds of odd and demeaning
jobs. Finally they went on strike. Expat social
workers intervened in the issue and the management
accepted the workers’ demand to go back home and
paid the pending salary and entitlements as well as
their air fare.
Condemn the arrest of Com Khalida Jarrar
The arrest of Palestinian Legislative Council
member and PB member of the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine Com Khalida Jarrar by
Zionist occupation forces, is be a desperate attempt
to suppress her activity and prominent national role
in defending the rights of the Palestinian people, the
prisoners and their struggle. Her arrest has come in
the midst of wide campaigns against mass killing,
torture of Palestine fighters and masses and is an
endeavor to suppress the increasing exposure of the
plans and crimes of the occupation. The arrest of MP
Khalida Jarrar, along with the arrests of MPs Ahmad
Sa’adat, Marwan Barghouti and many members of
the Change and Reform Bloc, once again confirms
that the Zionist state does not respect any immunity
or agreements. The Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine has urged a quick response to these
arrests targeting various sectors of the Palestinian
people through immediately ending security
coordination and all forms of political and economic
relationship with the occupation state, and rebuilding
the Palestinian national strategy on the basis of
the overall conflict with the enemy. The Bahrain
Progressive Forum has also condemned the arrest
of this leading fighter for the Palestinians’ legitimate
right to return, self-determination and establish their
independent state on their national territory. It has
demanded the immediate release of Com Khalida
Jarrar together with Com Ahmed Sa’adat, General
Secretary of PFLP and Marwan Bargouti, CC
Member of Fatah Party who are now detained in an
Israel prison.
12th April -2015
06