THIRTY-TWO members of the Central Working Committee (CWC) of the All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU), that represents nearly 55 lakh organised rural workers from states as far as Punjab and Tripura to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka, met at Chennai on January 29 and 30, 2014, to discuss the unbearable conditions that have been thrust on the mass of the Indian people, eighty four crores of whom live on a paltry Rs 20 a day. These AIAWU leaders noted how the policies of enriching the rich at the cost of the poor, allowing foreign and Indian corporates to plunder our natural resources, and throwing open the land market to foreign buyers while allowing them to buy our assets at throwaway prices, with the result that India rupee has been allowed to fall sharply in exchange with the US dollar, represent the anti-national character of the UPA government at the centre. This was what led the miserable defeat of the Congress party in Rajasthan and Delhi while the BJP was able to retain its governments in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. But the victory of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) over the Congress in Delhi, defeating its three time chief minister Sheila Dixit, with the AAP wresting 28 seats from the Congress and the BJP, reflects how both these parties would be losers in case thee is any credible alternative that appears to be capable of defeating these two main ruling class parties. The AIWAU therefore called on all rural workers to come together and support such alternative forces all over the country in the coming elections, and ensure the formation of an alternative government at the centre. ESCALATING COST OF LIVING The general secretary’s report, presented by A Vijayaraghavan, noted that in the month of November 2013 the prices of food items hit a 14-month high of 7.52 percent, with items like rice, wheat and dal almost double in price in a decade, while potatoes rose by 185 percent and onions by 521 percent. What is shocking is how “there is no shortage of food to account for the price rise and for cereals we have been having good harvest. In fact, on October 1, 2013 some 24 million tonnes of excess wheat were reported to have been procured by various government agencies. Still, the prices of cereals continued to rise. The force behind the price rise was uncontrolled hoarding by different agencies.” The report said: “As regards cereals, the biggest hoarder is the Food Corporation of India (FCI) with grain being eaten up by rats or rotting for lack of storage space. Even when the Supreme Court suggested that rather than destroying the stock it should be distributed to the poor, the agricultural minister of UPA-2 declared he had no constitutional provision to do so. Grain has consistently been exported at throwaway prices or given to breweries, but denied to the Indian masses over 74 percent of whom live on as little as Rs. 20 per day.” As regards fruit and vegetables, the report said, the government itself created a monopoly of wholesalers under the provisions of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act under which a handful of wholesalers control the marketing of even such important items of consumption as onions whose prices soared above 500 percent despite good harvests. Moreover, the minimum support price given to farmers is less than the market price; so the profits go to traders instead of farmers. Another reason for the price rise is the government’s refusal to stop the futures trade in foodstuffs which allows for speculation in the price of commodities that contributes to raising prices notionally even when stocks are there that can lower prices. The report presented to the CEC noted how prices in the public distribution system (PDS) have consistently been raised by the central government which often fails to grant enough grain to states where the PDS is either subsidised or functions properly. The cash for food scheme being proposed by the central government is another step that will raise the food prices as people will not be given grain through the PDS; rather they will be given coupons which they have to use to get grains from the market. DWINDLING RURAL JOBS The falling rate of the rupee is another feature that naturally raises the prices of petroleum products, which affects the prices all round. So it was obvious to the people that they were being looted by artificially raised profit margins to pay for foreign traders, government officials and politicians profiting from this process. However, even this might have been bearable had the government’s policies been successful in providing more jobs and wages. The report quoted the figures released by the NSSO for usual status workers, according to which there is “a continuing trend of falling employment rates and increasing unemployment. The worker-population ratio (WPR), that reflects the first, fell from 420 per 1000 in 2004-05 to 392 per 1000 in 2009-10 and 386 per 1000 in 2011-12. In the rural areas these figures over the same period were 439,408 and 399 per 1000 people respectively. In the urban areas the corresponding figures were 365,350 and 355. This shows clearly that there is no encouraging factor drawing rural workers into the city. Rather, it is desperation that drives them to any available casual work and the life of the slums, which is not only destructive of their creative potential but also will undermine our social fabric as a whole as many of these people are driven to begging and crime for quick earnings. What is disturbing is that for the first time in 90 years more people have been driven to the cities than to other places of work in the rural areas.” The report further stressed that the corresponding unemployment rate clarifies this further. “It fell from 23 per 1000 in 2004-2005 to 20 in 2009-10 and then rose again to 22 in 2011-12. For the rural areas the comparable figures are 17 in 2004-05, going down to 16 in 2009-10 and rising again to 17 in 2011-12, a picture of stagnation. While in the urban areas the corresponding figures are 45 for 2004-05, 34 for 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively.” This rise in the unemployment rate despite a fall in the worker participation ratio is a further pointer to distress migration to the cities, taking the place of rural to rural migration that has been the norm so far. “Another set of figures that highlights this widespread search for a livelihood at any cost is the pillar-to-post existence that is evident from the rise in self-employment of rural men from 53.5 percent in 2009-10 55 percent in 2011-12, while rural women registered a higher figure of 55.7 percent and 59 percent respectively. At the same time urban self-employment to rose from 41.1 percent for both men and women in 2009-10 to 42 percent for men and 43 percent for women in 2011-12 reflecting concealed unemployment as odd jobs and even destitution. In such conditions one cannot be surprised that faced with a price rise and unemployment, the mass of people in the rural areas are failing to get proper wages and even losing their assets, the report said. Further, “What further supports this contention is the changing composition of this agrarian population. It is divided primarily into cultivators and agricultural labour. In 1951 the cultivators constituted 71.9 percent of the workforce in agriculture while labourers were 28.1 percent. By 2011, the percentage of cultivators came down to 41.59 percent while that of agricultural labourers went up to 59.41 percent. From this it is evident that the small producer is losing heavily.” GROWING ANGER Suicides by over three lakh farmers in the last 12 years and their swelling the ranks of rural labour show how farming in the Indian villages is an unviable proposition today. This situation has been accomplished, among other things, by the cutting down of subsidies, arbitrary rises in the prices of foodstuffs by hoarding and by permitting the futures trading and export of essential commodities in these times of scarcity. This callous policy, pursued both by the Congress led UPA government and before it by the BJP led NDA government at the centre, has reduced India’s self-respecting farmers and agricultural workers to destitution. This the AIAWU said is intolerable. In this situation we can see the anger of the people against the neo-liberal policies of the UPA government, resulting in the defeat of the Congress in Rajasthan and Delhi in the recent assembly elections while the BJP retained its governments in MP and Chhattisgarh. But with a credible alternative to both these parties emerging in Delhi, the people voted for the AAP rather than the other two. This can tilt the balance in favour of alternative regional forces including those pursuing alternative policies, like the Left. At the same time, the report noted that “the threat of communal and divisive forces has not receded from areas like UP, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh, with the RSS and similar forced having succeeded in securing the nomination of Narendra Modi as the projected candidate of the BJP for prime minister. This should not be ignored although the number of seats the BJP can secure seems short of the majority they would need to form a government. Also Modi’s candidature has distanced a number of allies from the NDA.” In the given situation, the report said, the AIAWU has an important role in reaching out to the masses with alternative policies for controlling the price rise, improving the functioning of the PDS, ensuring minimum wages and the proper functioning of MNREGA, procuring land and house sites for the landless and homeless, implementing policies and defending the rights of dalits and minorities. The AIAWU General Council meeting had asked each state to conduct at least one effective campaign on these issues between December 15, 2013 and January 15, 2014. From our state reports received to date, it is evident that Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana and UP have taken up these programs effectively. COMING AIAWU CONFERENCE It is in background that the union is going to hold its eighth all-India conference at Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, to be attended by over 750 delegates.. In the last three years the growth of membership has been on an average 9.48 percent with states like Tamilnadu, UP, Haryana, Karnataka and Rajasthan growing even faster, as Punjab has done this year. While Tripura and Punjab have reached close to their membership quotas, other states too may achieve their targets by March 31, 2014. The CWC asked the state units to complete their membership drives for 2013-14 by March 31, 2014, in view of the coming Lok Sabha elections There was an animated discussion after which the CWC unanimously passed the general secretary’s report. The CWC asked the village, tehsil and district units to launch struggles on local demands which will have a crucial importance in the coming elections. Each state unit must popularise the AIAWU charter of demands as part of their election campaign in support of different candidates all over the country. Issues relating to the security of women, dalits and minorities must be addressed and the AIAWU must come forward as the champion of these sections in villages. The AIAWU CWC called upon the vast majority of India’s people to resist the price rise by pressing for dehoarding, control on exports and proper functioning of the public distribution system. It asked them to resist corruption at the workplaces --- in the offices and even in private corporate industries. They must also strive to deal a blow to the practice of bribe giving and bribe taking. The CWC also demanded proper implementation of the Food Security Act 2013, and 250 days of work under the MGNREGA at Rs 300 wage per day. It also demanded house-sites for the homeless, land for the tiller and 35 kg grain per family per month for all. Another demand is of free drinking water and electricity for the mass of the rural workers; strict implementation of Forest Rights Act and land reforms legislation as well as of all laws to protect the rights of the scheduled castes and tribes; and control on corruption through a powerful Lokpal bill. The AIAWU also decided to renew its efforts to bring together like minded organisations on issues including food security, ICDS and mid-day meals.