Tea Workers: Court Orders Alternative Dispute Resolution

A division bench of the Kolkata High Court headed by the Chief Justice today ordered Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS) to seek the intervention of the State Legal Services Authority through Lok Adalats to mitigate the problems of tea workers.

PBKMS had filed a writ petition (WP-4225W/2016) before the High Court highlighting the problems of tea garden worker , arising from the present crisis in the industry as well as long term issues. Shri Bikash Bhattacharya, senior advocate , intervened on behalf of PBKMS.

The petition focused on the non-compliance by employers, State and Central Governments of the provisions of the Tea Act, Plantation Labour Act , Employees Provident Fund Act and Minimum Wages Act. It asked the court to ensure that conditions are created to ensure each tea worker gets a food intake of at least 2400 calories per day. It also asked for immediate relief for tea garden population in the form of Antodaya Anna Yojana, MGNREGA work and wages, health facilities, drinking water and electricity. Respondents were State and Central Governments, the Tea Board and employers such as Duncans India Limited.

The Chief Justice has given a time of two weeks for the petitioner to seek and receive help from the Lok Adalat process. If such relief is not received, the case will be heard once again by the division bench at the end of the month.

PBKMS is hopeful that the Lok Adalats will give some immediate relief to the tea garden population, but it is of the view that some of the problems, such as ignoring of the minimum wage issue by employers and the State Gsssovernment will require further serious intervention by the Court.

  

Uttam Gaine 

General Secretary

Armed Attack on Brickfield Workers

Ashanghatit Khetra Shramik Sangrami Manch (AKSSM) strongly condemns the armed attack on the struggling workers of brickfields in Hasnabad of Basirhat Sub-Division in District 24 Parganas (N) and subsequent police inaction.

On Monday morning (22nd February 2016) at 8.30 a.m. a peaceful rally of the workers was attacked by the hired goons of the owners of many brick-fields with firearms and country made bombs, leading to injuries to several of the agitating workers. Across the state, brick-field owners are systematically violating all existing labour laws, including that of minimum wage. Workers are being forced to live in sub-human conditions. To protest against this, workers of eleven brick-fields under the banner of Shramajibi Samanwaya Committee (SSC), a federation of workers in different micro and small scale industries of Basirhat sub-division, and an active member of AKSSM, unitedly intensified their movement recently to achieve their demand of minimum wage, as per the law of the land.

Backing the assault was Shahanur Mondal, a brickfield owner, who is also a cattle smuggler and a feared local mafia. He is also an Upapradhan from the TMC. Also present were owners of various brickfields, who financed the attack. Chief among these was Ashu Mondal, a brickfield owner and a BJP councillor.

The attack, where bombs and guns were used to intimidate and injure the workers, was fought off by the workers. They also managed to grab once of the attackers and hand him over to the police. Despite this and despite an FIR, the administration has been inactive. It has once again been exposed that the police and the administration are in unholy alliance with the defaulting industry owners.  In response to the inaction on part of police and administration, the workers held protest marches in the morning and evening.

In the meantime, the SDO had already scheduled a tripartite meeting on 24th February 2016 for a settlement of wages in the brick fields in the subdivision. In Shramajibi Samanwaya Committee's experience, all such meetings in the past have ended in the shameful capitulation by the administration, including the Labour Department, and some unions to the owner's demand to pay much less than the minimum wage. SSC's movement has been aimed at condemning such compromises on the part of the Government, where the authority responsible for enforcing minimum wages never enforces the same , but instead actively allows agreements below the minimum wage.

Shramajibi Samanwaya Committee has given the police 24 hours to arrest the attackers, failing which they will begin their protest from noon on 23rd February 2016, starting with blocking of train movements tomorrow morning at Hasnabad railway station for an indefinite period. They will also put forward their demand for minimum wages.

AKSSM calls upon the police administration to immediately arrest the culprits. It also demands that the long-standing issue of minimum wages for brick-field workers be resolved once and for all, with strict punitive action against all owners who do not pay the minimum wage.

AKSSM further calls upon all right thinking people to extend their support to the legitimate struggle of the SSC workers in all ways possible.

Swapan Ganguly, Somnath Ghosh (Convenors)

'Implement Maternity Benefit In Rationing System'

105 representatives from all districts of West Bengal belonging to 35 people’s organisations, NGOs and unions of the Right to Food and Work Campaign West Bengal met on 22^nd and 23^rd February 2016 at Barasat to discuss the issue of food security and the steps taken by the State Government recently to implement and supplement the National Food Security Act. The following is the statement that they have all agreed to release from this meeting.

Responding to the escalating violence and tensions around the issue of the new digital ration cards, the Chief Minister and the Food Minister have stated that everyone will be given rations. While welcoming such a statement, we would like them to now back it up with sufficient funds, food grains and administrative action to ensure that everyone does get cheap rice and wheat.

In a country where reports of hunger and malnutrition are an everyday occurrence, the universal right to food is the only way forward. From our discussions over two days, it is clear that the poorest have either got no rations or have been made part of the RKSY II which provides only 2 kg of food grains per head at the hugest cost, while many rich people have been declared Antodaya or the poorest of poor and are getting the largest amount of rations. Nepotism and faithfulness to the ruling party have put many non-deserving people on the lists while many beggars, homeless people, Adivasis and other deserving categories have been left out. In addition, things have been complicated with 5 categories of cards each of which has different entitlements.

In addition, we have also found that the National Food Security Act (NFSA) remains only partially implemented. Most importantly, the maternity benefit entitlement of Rs.6000 for all pregnant women that has been given under Section 4(b) of the Act has not been implemented at all so far. To stop leakages, the Act has provisions for vigilance committees, social audit, District Grievance Redressal Officers and efficient systems of complaints through help lines, web sites etcetera. None of these are properly in place in the State as yet.    Moreover, in order to actually have food security, this meeting feels that there is the need to go far beyond the NFSA. Therefore we demand

·         Immediate implementation of “Food for All” with only one category of at least 7 kgs of food grains per head at Rs. 2 for the entire population of the State ( by our calculations this involves only an additional amount of Rs. 2896 crores or  2.6% of the total funds available with the State Government)

·         Exclusion of the very rich as per exclusion criteria that are already there in SECC or as per the their voluntary declaration for exclusion

·         Immediate implementation of the maternity benefit entitlements given in NFSA

·         Immediate and effective implementation of all grievance redressal and transparency mechanisms provided for in the Act

·         Ensuring that tea garden management continues to provide rations to the tea garden workers, which is their accepted right as workers, and does not replace these with the Government’s rations under NFSA, which is the right of the tea garden population as citizens of the country

·         Ration shops must be handed over to SHGs and cooperatives , with the stoppage of corrupt ration dealers

·         Gradual expansions of the rationing system to provide other nutritional essentials like pulses and oil at subsidised rates, along with increasing the food grains allocation to the full nutritional requirement of 14 kgs per head.

·         Emphasis on local procurement and local storage of food grains, with such facilities in every GP

·         Emphasis on revival and support for safe and organic agriculture , so that agriculture and development is for food first

The meeting also declares the following as its future programme:-

·         On March 8^th, International Women’s Day, a programme with local meetings and signature campaign centred on immediate implementation of maternity benefits in NFSA.

·         Lobbying by village Right to Food groups and at all other levels in the State to get all parties to include our demands in their manifestos.

·         A people’s convention of Right to Food village groups in July to put forward our demands on the Right to Food to the new Government, preceded by trainings, conventions and meetings in all districts.

Anuradha Talwar              Debojyoti Chakraborty                        Father Jyoti S J

Response to W.Bengal Chief Minister On Digital Ration Cards

Responding to the escalating violence and tensions around the issue of the new digital ration cards, the Chief Minister, Smt Mamata Banerjee has stated that everyone will be given rations. While welcoming such a statement, we would like her to now back it up with sufficient funds, food grains and administrative action to ensure that everyone does get cheap rice and wheat.

In a country where reports of hunger and malnutrition are an everyday occurrence, the universal right to food is the only way forward. Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity has always opposed targeting. As a system of choosing beneficiaries for food and other schemes, it has led to huge inclusion and exclusion errors, with the deserving being left out and the affluent and politically powerful cornering all benefits. The lists that have been prepared for distribution of digital ration cards suffer from many such problems, especially as no public participation, in terms of consultation with Gram Sansads and Ward Sabhas was done while preparing these lists. They are therefore full of errors. Nepotism and faithfulness to the ruling party have put many non-deserving people on the lists while many beggars, homeless people, Adivasis and other deserving categories have been left out. In addition things have been more complicated with 5 categories of cards each of which has different entitlements.

We call on the State Government to allow for only one category under which all people who want rations will get rice and wheat at Rs.2 per kg. As the per head requirement for food grains as per ICMR norms is 14 kg per adult per month, this has been our demand throughout. If it is not able to provide this quantity immediately, we demand that the State Government should ensure half this quantity of 7 kg per head (the Antodaya Anna Yojana quantity) for all citizens as a start.

The State Government was already spending Rs.1,930 crores on cheap food before the implementation of National Food Security Act. It has now plans to spend another Rs.2300 crores to provide everyone under the NFSA with Rs.2 rice and for the two state schemes. By our calculations, extending a uniform system of 7 kg of food grains to the 3 crores uncovered by NFSA would require another Rs.2896 crores. The 2015-16 State budget projects revenue of Rs.46,500 crores, while the Centre has provided the State Government with another Rs.63,578 crores under the 14^th Finance Commission funds. Food for All thus requires only an extra 2.6 % of this total amount.

Getting food to everyone also requires administrative back up in terms of tagging people to ration shops, giving everyone ration cards, arranging for storage etc. We demand that all such steps be taken to make the TMC slogan of “Food For All” (a slogan that is also endorsed by all Left parties ) a reality.

Uttam Gayen, General Secretary

Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity