Anti-liquor procession by the members of Shramajivee Mahila Samity (মদ বিরোধি মিছিল - কাটাখাল,উত্তর ২৪ পরগনা)

Around 300 members of the Shramajivee Mahila Samity gathered in the Katakhal centre of the samity, in North 24 Parganas discussing how alcoholism and the sale of illegal alcohol has had an impact on their lives, their children and families. Crime against women and children was already at an all-time high due to the COVID lockdown, which was further fuelled by the consumption of alcohol by the men of the family. It was pointed out how re-opening of liquor shops even during the lockdown, put various families at risk of domestic violence and other forms of harassment and assault. Talking about the co-occurrence of alcohol consumption and abuse, the women felt the need to do something about the issue. This meeting led to a decision of taking out a march from the centre to the villages and other areas around, raising demands like - shutting down of local liquor outlets and imposing restrictions on the sale of illegal liquor. 

Women carrying our trade union flags during the march

The women of the samity, thus took to the streets on 4th November 2020 to assert their right to a safe home, neighbourhood and environment. Demands were raised for the administration to take stringent steps to curb the sale of illicit liquor. Furthermore, no licenses should be provided to liquor outlets. The procession (মিছিল) was an attempt to pressure the local government, which earns a vast sum from the sale of alcohol, to impose restrictions on the same.

A woman carrying her daughter throughout the march, demanding safety for herself and her child, at home and outside

Signature Campaign of Shramajivee Mahila Samity

The members of Shramajivee Mahila Samity have started a signature campaign to bring to the administration’s notice the rampant selling of illegal liquor in various parts of the state; the brunt of which is often borne by the women and children. Incidents of domestic violence, sexual abuse, harassment in public spaces, rising alcoholism amongst the youth, stress on household budget due to non-discretionary spending on alcohol and degradation of familial ties are some of the ill effects that women and the youth have to regularly face. 

An anchal level meeting in progress

PBKMS General Secretary addressing a street corner meeting of SMS

The following demands are being made, requesting the administration’s immediate intervention: 

1. Action must be taken to close down all unlicensed illegal liquor outlets.

2. No further licenses should be provided to liquor outlets.

3. All illegal liquor outlets selling alcohol within a radius of 100 metres of educational institutions, government offices, places of worship and other public places must be shut.

4. Dependence of the state government on liquor revenues should be reduced and the Central Govt should compensate for the same.

5. Non-partisan action by police, particularly regarding cases of violence against women.

The letter in Bengali to be submitted to the block as well as district administrations

Right to Food Campaign Rejects Cuts To Maternity Benefits In Food Act

The Right to Food Campaign expresses deep disappointment over the truncated Maternity Benefits Programme (MBP) that was approved by the Cabinet yesterday. Maternity benefits of at least Rs. 6000 for all pregnant and lactating women (except those working in government/public sector undertakings) have been a legal entitlement for almost four years now, guaranteed under the National Food Security Act (NFSA, 2013).  

Despite this, there was no scheme formulated to deliver this entitlement by the central government. Only the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) a pilot scheme in 53 districts continued to be implemented. The Prime Minister in his speech on December 31^st announced expansion of maternity benefits to all districts without making any reference to the NFSA. Since then there have been indications that there will be a number of exclusions, a fear expressed by the RTFC as well in response to the underfunding of the scheme as reflected in the annual budget.  

The cabinet approved MBP goes against the letter and spirit of the NFSA. Firstly, it is restricted to only the first birth. There is no justification for this other than keeping the financial obligations to the minimum. All conditionalities attached to the current IGMSY scheme such as two child norm and age of marriage have been shown to be fundamentally discriminatory to both women and children affecting the most marginalised and vulnerable women large from socially discriminated communities such as SC, ST and minorities putting their lives to risk. In the process of universalisation rather than withdrawing all conditionalities from IGMSY, the new scheme makes it even more restrictive.  

In another unwarranted move, the MBP has also been linked to institutional deliveries, possibly to further reduce the funds allocated, and therefore merged with the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). The JSY is an older scheme that was started with an entirely different purpose which was to incentivise institutional deliveries whereas the MBP is intended to provide wage compensation, just as it does in the formal sector and has been included in the NFSA as a minimum of Rs 6000 for that purpose alone. Based on data from the latest National Family Health Survey, 21% of children born at home are already ineligible for JSY.

The Maternity Benefits Act (MBA) was recently amended to expand the maternity leave from 17 weeks to 26 weeks. While this was a welcome move, the MBA covers only about 18 lakh women in the organised sector whereas over 2.7 crore deliveries take place in India each year. The maternity benefits act does not include in its ambit more than 95% of women in the country who are in the informal sector. When the requirement of six months of paid leave has been accepted for women in the formal sector (public and private), it is unacceptable that a wage compensation of less than half of minimum wages, that too only for one birth should be the norm for the rest of the women in the country. In fact, the modest maternity entitlements under MBP are barely equivalent to five weeks of minimum wages in Bihar [compared to the more than 6 months of paid leave offered in the formal sector]. Such meagre wage compensation in light of the amendment to the Maternity Benefit Act, would in fact amount to discrimination and inequality of law under article 14 of the constitution.

The campaign demands universal, unconditional maternity entitlements equivalent to wages for a minimum of six months at no less than the prevailing minimum wages. Maternity entitlements must be seen as a right for all women and also as wage compensation for those in the unorganised sector.

Thousands March For Right To Food

Undaunted by the heat and the sun, with temperatures reaching 40⁰C, members of the Right to Food and Work Campaign-West Bengal reached Kolkata on April 27 for a deputation to the Food and Supplies Department. Those participating came from the Himalayan foothills of North Bengal, the islands of the Sunderbans, the burning red laterite soil of western West Bengal, the areas bordering Bangladesh and the green plains surrounding the Hooghly. Those in the processions ranged from sex workers to midday meal cooks, agricultural workers to van rickshaw pullers, housewives to members of self-help groups, domestic servants to tea garden workers etc. 

This huge group of over 5,000 people from 16 districts of the State, along with the urban poor of Kolkata, sent a delegation that met the Secretary Food and Supplies Department, Mr Durga Das Goswami and Joint Secretary and Nodal Officer (for the National Food Security Act), Mr Shubra Chakraborty. Their response was as follows:

Measures would be taken by the Department to segregate Government and tea management rations so that the management does not cheat tea garden workers by replacing its food grain component of wages-in-kind with Government rations.

The Department was already considering the Campaign’s demands to give wheat instead of bad quality atta. It was also in the process of issuing a circular to ensure that the five different types of cards are not used unfairly and to stop many poor families being enlisted as RKSY 2 and many better off families being given Antodaya cards. 

The delegation was assured that Vigilance and Monitoring Committees would be formed and made functional soon and representation from Campaign members in these committees would also be ensured.

The officials said that allotment copies of the amount of food grains transferred to each ration dealer would be provided to the members of the campaign. For this purpose, the delegation was asked to give a list of names with phone numbers in every block to whom they would give the allotment copy. Also the SMS system to provide ration card holders with information about their allotments would be re-started.

Issues such as universalization of the rationing system, formation of the Food Commission, bringing all food schemes under the Food Security Rules and providing all ration card holders with 14kgs of food grains, 1.5 kg pulses, 800 ml edible oil and 1 litre kerosene oil at subsidized prices were policy issues which they would forward to their superiors.

While the Department felt that the PoS machine could be used to stop corruption, they agreed to look at the Campaign’s experience in other states and to see that PoS machines and Aadhar cards do not become a means of exclusion.

The delegation was assured that on giving specific experiences, all food grains due to beneficiaries from their past quotas in the rationing system would be immediately disbursed to the beneficiaries;

The participants from 17 districts came to the Subodh Mullick Square in two rallies from Howrah Station, and Sealdah station. Throughout the rallies their main slogan was “Work in every hand and Food in every plate”, interspersed with songs and dances. 

While the original intention was to go to Khadya Bhawan itself, the police stopped the rallies at SM Square, where many participants made speeches in support of the demands while a delegation of 7 people met the Minister’s representatives.

Amongst the participating organisations, who are all members of the Campaign, were Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, Shramajeevi Mahila Samity, Udayani Social Action Forum’s self help group members, TUCC, Swayam’s Nari Suraksha committees, Durbar Disha Griha Paricharika Union, Durbar Mahila Samanvay Committee, BMCDM etc.

        
RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK CAMPAIGN

JANA SANGHATI KENDRA,1 Shibtala Road,Maheswarpur, Badu, Kolkata 700128

Stop State Violence in Bhangar

The WSS (Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression) is a nationwide platform of various women’s organizations and individuals, whose member Sharmishtha Chowdhury is currently in jail for supporting the peasant movement against a power grid in the villages of Bhangar.  Over the past three days, a 12-member team of WSS has visited the affected villagers and concerned officials to understand the origins and the impetus behind the movement, and the response of the civil society and government functionaries to it.

Inquiries by the WSS team have revealed that since 2013, the peasant families of Bhangar have been repeatedly seeking basic information about the power grid and transmission line project that deeply impacts their lives and livelihoods, but have received no information or have been deliberately misinformed at every step.  They have tried to meet every statutory, legislative and constitutional authority in the area to register their concerns, but no one agreed to meet with them, and when they have demanded talks and dialogue with the administration to resolve their concerns, they have instead faced police encampments, arrests and bullets.

Such an irresponsible and insensitive response from the government has only heightened the tensions in the area and increased apprehensions about the project. This is the sole reason behind the situation today, where the villagers have lost all trust in the government and its intentions towards their well-being, and entire families, including women and children are resisting it despite the enormous hardship and violence they are continuously facing. This was definitely not expected of the current government that came to power on the back of people’s mass movements against large projects, and had thus won the confidence of the very people who are now so vehemently protesting.

Acquisition of Land Irregular, Illegal and Arbitrary

The Bhangar movement started around 2013, when around 13 acres of land were sought to be acquired by the government in the village Khamarait. The WSS team learned that the acquisition happened in a completely arbitrary and illegal manner, and that all processes of acquisition were handled by one person, Arabul Islam of the ruling party. He not only arbitrarily decided how much compensation was to be handed out to whom, but also took a cut from all these compensations. While a case against this forcible acquisition is still pending before the High Court, and 11 people have not yet taken the compensation, the construction of the grid proceeded at full place and was completed within one year. The Award has still not been shown to the villagers.

Not only was the acquisition procedures completely opaque to the villagers, they were even kept in the dark about the purpose of the acquisition – first it was meant for government flats, then for a power sub-station and only after the structure was half-completed, did the villagers learn from a board in front of the construction site that it was actually for a power grid.  And it was not until the last quarter of 2016, when giant transmission towers arrived in their village on the beds of the monstrous trucks did they realize that this project will impact the farms and lands outside of the 13-acre plot as well.

Escalating Violence 

When the villagers of Bhangar started asking questions about the impact of these High Voltage Transmission Lines on their lives, livelihoods, health and environment, the government dispatched police to the village on 3 Nov 2016, who beat up people including many women and terrorized them by arresting 6 people, and occupied the village for 18 days.  Since then, the police have been regularly harassing the local populations to the extent that several families have left their houses and are living with their relatives out of fear of the police.  

The situation further worsened on 16 January 2017, when the police entered the villages, beat up people and arrested villagers. The next morning, the police assaulted people going to work, destroyed homes, picked up more people, ransacked shops, attacked the women who had come to assist the shopkeeper, including the elderly Mayur Jan Bibi whose hand was fractured in three places. Those arrested were badly beaten up and  the hand and finger of one juvenile Zahir Husain, was broken and remained untreated for 6 days. Manwara Bibi was sexually assaulted and her disabled husband was beaten up

In response, the villagers protested and blockaded the roads, demanding the authorities should conduct a dialogue with the people, release the detained villagers, and withdraw the police encampments from the area.  Eventually, after an extended stand-off, the DM and the SP sent separate messages through the SDO and the DSP agreeing to a meeting within two days, promising not to oppose the bail of arrested persons and remove the police.  The organizers used the microphones in the masjid to inform the agitated villagers of this, and requested them to safeguard the safety of the retreating police. But even as the crowd of villagers parted to let the police vehicles go back, the police randomly fired bullets in all directions, killing two villagers, Alamgir and Mofizul Khan, and injuring Akbar.  The villagers recounted to the team how, after Alarmgir fell after being hit with a bullet, the police kicked him repeatedly, and shot him at close quarters in cold-blooded murder.  Maufizul Khan was killed when he was walking home from work. Akbar was shot in the back.

The WSS team witnessed first-hand the continuing violence that the affected villagers have to live with every day, when they were caught in Khamarait on 4 March.  While the team was still in the village, a raucous and a loud rally organized by TMC members tried to terrorize the people by going past the village, bursting bombs, firing bullets in the air and throwing stones. One young boy, Saiful Molla, was badly injured when a brick hit him on his head.

Police Response Lethargic and Incompetent

The WSS team also visited PS Kashipur in order to hear the police version of this violence, however, the ASP and DSP present at the thana refused to discuss these incidents.  It is notable that till date no one has been held responsible for the murders of two young men, and the numerous complaints of physical violence by the villagers against the police have gone completely unheeded.  Moreover, instead of initiating dialogue as promised on 17^th January, on the 25^th the police arrested Sharmishta Chaudhary, Pradip Singh Thakur and a young villager, on very flimsy grounds as shown by the FIR. Later charges under UAPA were slapped on the accused though they are neither members of banned organiations and nor were they shown to be indulging in any terrorist activity.

Unanswered Questions and Concerns

The government has yet to answer basic questions of the villagers as to what are the health impacts of the heightened Electromagnetic Field that permeates the dwellings, the constant loud high frequency humming that emanates from the wires, the static charge build up near the towers that can light a bulb without a power source.  How do these impact the fertility of their soil, the long-term health of the residents, their cattle and their fisheries? More importantly, the towers are being placed without the consent of the landowners, and the one time compensation for their use of land and the right to access is being compensated in a highly opaque and arbitrary manner, at a fraction of the economic hit being forced upon the villagers.

These are valid and genuine concerns and any government accountable to its citizens would rush to allay their fears and enter into dialogue about the costs and benefits of such a project.  The fact that the government is rushing police battalions into the area, instead of trying to win over the confidence of the people by addressing their concerns highlights its complete contempt towards local populations.

DEMANDS

The WSS demands that the authorities de-escalate the situation by holding immediate and unconditional talks with the protesting villagers and their leaders, and undertake confidence-building measures to gain back the trust of the villages. This is in the best interests of a functioning and healthy democracy. The FIRs under which people have been imprisoned include dozens of other names, including those of many WSS members (Nisha Bishwas, Swapna Bannerjee, Anuradha Talwar, Krishna Bandopadhyay), and 500-1,500 others who are unnamed, which has given the police a virtual license to arrest and harass a large number of villagers.  Confidence building measures should include the quashing of such vindictive FIRs.  Immediate action must be taken against police personnel and goons involved in the violence.  Attempts to paint the legitimate and peaceful protest as unconstitutional or “terrorist” must stop. 

Members of the WSS team –

1.      Madhuri Krishnaswamy (M.P.)

2.      Adv.Shalini Gera (Chhatisgarh)

3.      Promila (Odisha)

4.      Swapna Bannerjee (West Bengal)

5.      Urmila (MP)

6.      Fatima Bibi (West Bengal)

7.      Sanchita Mukherji (West Bengal)

8.      Indrani Sen (West Bengal)

9.      Shashwati Ghosh (West Bengal)

10.     Sukanti (Odisha)

11.     Deepa (Chhatisgarh)

12.     Rajkali (M.P)

Maternity Entitlements: A Case Of Too Little, Too Late

A PIB press release today states that the Government of India intends to initiate universal maternity entitlements as per the National Food Security Act from 1 January 2017. However, the figures don’t add up. India’s birth rate is around 20 per 1,000. The current population is around 130 crore. So the number of births per year must be around 26 million.

Thus, at Rs 6,000 per birth, universal maternity entitlements (assuming, optimistically, that 10% births are already covered under the formal sector) would cost Rs 14,000 crore per year.

However, in the plan presented in the PIB press release, the central government’s contribution for the next three financial years is only Rs 7,348 crore, or Rs 2,449 crore per year. With a 60:40 ratio for centre/state contributions, this means a total of barely Rs 4,000 crore per year.

This is a fraction of what is actually required, even assuming that only the first two births are covered by maternity entitlements.”Women’s organizations and the Right to Food Campaign called upon Prime Minister Modi to make maternity entitlements truly universal instead of the extremely weak announcement of cash benefits for pregnant and breastfeeding women on 31^st December 2016. In a country like India where more than 90% of women are outside of organised sector employment, state-provided maternity support becomes a crucial tool for protecting the health of women and their babies.

Kavita Srivastava of People’s Union for Civil Liberties stated, “The Prime Minister on 31 December 2016 has announced a cash entitlement of Rs. 6000 for pregnant women across the country; presenting it as an original idea and also as if it is somehow to mitigate the hardships caused by demonetisation. However this is far from the truth. This entitlement was unanimously passed by the parliament in Septemebr 2013 under the National Food Security Act, but the government had so far not provided the budgetary allocations for the same.”

“Maternity entitlements are women’s rights, and not a reward for good behaviour,” said Jashodhara Dasgupta of SAHAYOG, a women’s organization. With the passing of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013, a universal maternity entitlement of at least Rs. 6000 has been a legal entitlement for all pregnant and lactating women in the country.

Dipa Sinha, of the Right to Food Campaign stated, “The government, in complete violation of the Act, has failed to provide the required budget for its implementation. What is currently on the ground in 53 districts is the 2010 pilot scheme IGMSY (Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana) that provides Rs 6000 provided pregnant women meet certain criteria .

Sudeshna Sengupta of the Alliance for Early Childhood Development mentioned that despite repeated demands by women and civil society organisations  across the country  to provide universal maternity benefits in tune with the NFSA, neither the coverage nor the budget allocated for the scheme has been enhanced, despite the Supreme Court asking for an explanation for the delay in implementation.

Sejal Dand of the Mahila Kisaan Adhikar Manch (MAKAAM) expressed the major concern regarding the inequity in the maternity entitlements available through the MBA (1961) amendments passed by the Rajya Sabha in the december 2016 session of the parliament which guarantees 26 weeks of paid leave to women in the formal sector which is only 5% of women workers in this country.  For the largest number of women workers- namely women farmers and agricultural labour, we will now  have a universal entitlement of a minimal 6000/- rupees.  

Denial of this minimalist entitlement to women who though no choice of theirs bear children under the age of  19 years of age or have multiparous pregnancies will deprive the most at risk women, largely from the   Dalit, tribal and poorest social groups from this essential support. There is an urgent need to ensure that technology is used for ensuring entitlements are made easily and timely available, rather than become one more hurdle to exclude the poorest"

The organizations expressed concern that the government already seeks to restrict coverage by imposing conditionalities on access to this entitlement; similar to the IGMSY. The Prime Minister in his speech mentioned that this is for women who have institutional deliveries and immunise their children. Dr. Vandana Prasad of the Working Group for Children Under 6 pointed out that such conditionalities are likely to further exclude the most marginalised women from much needed financial support, especially given poor availability of good quality maternity services.

The demand for universal unconditional maternity entitlements will be taken by campaigns throughout the year 2017 by the collective that issued this statement, including:Right to Food Campaign, Alliance for Early Childhood Development, National Alliance for Maternal Health and Human rights, Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch, women’s groups, trade unions and a number of other organisations working for the rights of unorganized sector women workers based in small-scale production, construction and brick-kiln workers, domestic workers, agricultural labourers and tribal women collecting forest produce, and so forth.

Women Tea Workers Come Calling

Fifty women from the closed tea gardens of Duncans recently marched into the corridors of powers in Kolkata on a two-day trip to ask for their rights and to highlight the plight of their co-workers, families and gardens.

As one of the world’s leading tea producer and exporter, India’s tea industry employs more than 1.2 million people. Two regions, Assam and Bengal, produce over 70% of India’s tea and are also home to the worst working conditions for the tea plantation workers in the country. In contrast to the images of tranquil, lush green tea gardens presented to the consumers, tea plantation workers are paid poverty wages and endure appalling working conditions. Women, who make up 70% of the workforce, are especially affected.

In this context, a more complex situation has arisen in North Bengal —15 tea estates owned by one of the premier tea companies, Duncans Industries Private Limited, are in a state of limbo. They are neither closed nor open in the usual sense of the terms, with frightening consequences for the workers on the estates. The Central government, with its eye on the Assembly elections, got the Tea Board to take over 7 of these estates — all in the same Assembly constituency — just days before the elections.

They gained from the decision as the constituency has a BJP MLA now. The losers have been the workers in these gardens, with neither Duncans nor the State government nor the Tea Board willing to take responsibility for their conditions. 

The situation has added one more chapter in the shameful history of hunger in the tea industry. Apart from hunger, and being deprived of their livelihood, all of a sudden for no fault of their own, these women are now battling with the lack of basic amenities like water and electricity, lack of any primary health or education facilities. They have been forced into harmful and insecure odd jobs available nearby. Coupled with high rates of migration by the youth and the men of the gardens, the women have been left alone to tackle threats from the local mafia and goons, which is on the rise as these mischievous groups have been encroaching on the tea garden property and resources. 

While many workers have come together to form groups and start plucking by themselves, harassment from all quarters, ranging from middlemen to contractors, is rapidly destroying both the minimum chances of these women to survive and the huge areas of tea bushes, as the lush green tea gardens turn into jungles and women become invisible subjects of injustice.

With neither the government nor the management actively setting out to solve their plight, the women took the resolve of coming all the way from the north of the state to meet and request early effective intervention by the authorities.

Court Acts On Tea Workers' Plight

After a wait of six months, the Kolkata High Court finally decided to take action on a petition filed by Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity on the plight of tea workers. A division bench of the Kolkata High Court headed by the Chief Justice on 29^th July 2016 ordered the State Government, the Tea Board and the Central Government to submit action taken reports by August 12, 2016, clearly stating what they had done to relieve the misery of tea workers.

The Chief Justice expressed extreme displeasure on hunger deaths and the continuing distress of tea plantation workers, especially the plight of workers in the Duncans gardens. Incidentally, Duncans Industries Limited, one of the largest and seemingly most prosperous plantation owners in West Bengal, had abandoned 16 gardens in the Doars and Darjeeling areas in early 2015. The Central Government took over 7 of these gardens through a special notification on January 29, 2016. The Tea Board was subsequently to run these gardens, but it has taken practically no steps to re-open the gardens or to relieve the distress of the workers. The Chief Justice questioned the Tea Board, the Duncans management and the State and Central Government about the predicament of the workers, only to be informed that none of these authorities were willing to say that they were responsible for the workers.

PBKMS had filed a writ petition (WP-4225W/2016) in February 2016 before the High Court highlighting the problems of tea garden workers, arising from the present crisis in the industry as well as long term issues. Mr 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.

In her first verbal order on March 12, 2016 , the Chief Justice had asked PBKMS to seek the intervention of the State Legal Services Authority through Lok Adalats to mitigate the problems of tea workers. The Chief Justice had 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 was to be heard once again by the division bench at the end of the month.

PBKMS had immediately tried to get the Lok Adalat process functioning, submitting 53 complaints from over 500 complainants from 7 gardens in April 2016. However, the District Legal Services Authority is still to respond.

PBKMS’s petition is being heard together with another petition filed by the Darjeeling District Legal Aid Forum.

Please also look at the Bangla links below:

http://www.aajkaal.in/enewspaper/bistaritakhabar/4/10811

http://www.anandabazar.com/business/calcutta-high-court-asked-statement-for-the-condition-of-worker-1.445475#popup

http://www.epaper.eisamay.com/Details.aspx?id=24973&boxid=17649245

http://bangla.ganashakti.co.in/shownews.php?w=665&h=1344&year=2016&month=7&date=30&page=3&dpn=417072

'A Life Without Dignity – The Price Of Your Cup Of Tea'

As one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of tea, India’s tea industry employs more than 1,2 million people. Two regions, Assam and West Bengal, together produce over 70% of India’s tea and are also home to the worst working conditions for tea plantation workers in the country. In sharp contrast to the images of tranquil, lush, green tea gardens, with which consumers are presented, tea plantation workers are paid poverty wages and endure appalling working conditions. Women, who make up 70% of the workforce, are especially affected. This report is the outcome of a fact-finding mission conducted in Assam and West Bengal on behalf of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition(GNRTFN). It investigates and analyses allegations of serious abuses of human rights on India’s tea plantations, in particular how poor working conditions undermine the human right to food and nutrition (RTFN) and related rights. 

The full report can be accessed at the Scribid site:

International Fact Finding Mission Visiting Tea Plantations

An International Fact Finding Mission is visiting and tea plantations in Assam and West Bengal from November 27, 2015 to December 4, 2015. With 18 members from 9 countries, the purpose of the Mission is to understand the status of the human right to food and nutrition - and related rights - of tea plantation workers and to hold central and state governments accountable to their national and international human rights obligations. The mission team has visited tea gardens in the Dooars, Darjeeling and Assam and has had discussions with both tea workers and their unions. It is also meeting concerned officials in Assam and West Bengal such as Mr Amit Mitra, Minister of Industries, Mr Moloy Ghatak, Minister of Labour, the Secretary General of the Indian Tea Association, the management of tea companies, such as Tata, Apeejay.

This is the first Fact Finding Mission to be dispatched under the facilitation of the Global Network on the Right to Food and Nutrition (GNRtFN), a network composed of social movements and civil society organisations worldwide to support and give visibility to the struggles for these human rights. This Fact Finding Mission (FFM) is headed by the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), who is a member of the GNRtFN. Other participating organisations are FIAN International, Pesticide Action Network, Right to Food Campaign (Nepal), Right to Food and Social Security Campaign (Bangladesh) and the Right To Food Campaign (India). The team consists of activists, experts and trade union leaders from Brazil, Peru,Germany, United Kingdom, Moldova, Spain, Bangladesh, Nepal and India.

The Fact Finding Mission will also contribute to current international processes and dialogues relevant for the human right to adequate food and nutrition.

 

This Is No Storm In A Teacup

Guest Post by Harsh Mander

[The sudden withdrawal by some tea plantation managements in North Bengal of not just regular employment, but also all a series of life-enabling services is proving to be nothing short of catastrophic for workers.]

A largely invisible, grim, humanitarian crisis, of mounting hunger, looms over several thousand North Bengal tea garden workers. Duncans, a leading tea company with 15 plantations in Darjeeling and the Himalayan foothills, has plunged its workers into a precarious state of illegal limbo. It has neither formally closed its gardens nor is it running operations normally, with devastating consequences for the survival and future of around 15,000 workers and their families.

The company began tea operations in India in 1857, clearing large swathes of dense forests in North Bengal to establish its extensive tea plantations. With other British plantation companies, it transported industrious tribal people from Chota Nagpur and Santal Parganas as indentured, near-slave labour. After Independence, ownership of these companies gradually passed into Indian hands. Although nominally free now, workers continued to work in near-colonial conditions. The dependence and submissiveness of the workers was partly secured by paying part-wages in kind, as food rations, housing and health services. Until recently, most tea worker households were not even issued Public Distribution System (PDS) ration cards. Instead, State governments supplied PDS grain to companies to issue to workers.

In these conditions, if tea garden managements suddenly withdraw these supplies, workers are left singularly defenceless and precarious. The first such crisis was thrust upon workers of 30 tea gardens in North Bengal in 2003-04, when they were illegally closed and abandoned overnight by owners who no longer found them to be commercially viable. Instead of first securing the interests of the workers and gardens, they simply disappeared. On my visits to the gardens at that time, I found several worker households facing conditions of actual starvation.

A similar situation has arisen today with the illegal semi-closure of 15 gardens by Duncans. Early in 2015, the management abruptly stopped paying wages to its workers. It also terminated food rations. It cut electricity and drinking water supplies to worker colonies. For several years, pensions and provident funds had not been paid. Gardens were not maintained, and ageing, unproductive tea bushes, some a hundred years old, were not replaced. Workers’ houses were not maintained for years. Workers allege both apathy and runaway corruption by the management.

Such illegal semi-closure would jeopardise critically the future of workers in any industry. But tea worker communities have been brought up for generations in forced direct dependence on the management even for basic essentials such as food, clean drinking water, housing and health care. For them, sudden withdrawal by the management of not just regular employment, but also all these life-enabling services, is nothing short of catastrophic.

I found workers surviving by travelling to neighbouring gardens and working at low, piece-work rates. These garden managements are profiting from their distress; they pick them up in buses for which they are charged, and workers are forced to spend longer hours to earn far less in uncertain casual employment, with no job security or additional benefits. Others are mining stones on riverbeds and several younger workers have migrated to Bhutan, Kerala, Delhi and Tamil Nadu. Children are dropping out of school and joining the workforce to bring some food to the table. Adding to worker distress, many are dependent on untreated stream water for drinking. No Duncan tea estate has a functioning hospital since 2000: without doctors, medicine, and occasionally a nurse.

Those we found most threatened by hunger were single women, those ailing and the elderly. Phulo Munda, for instance, is a widow of 57 years. As a permanent worker, she earned around Rs.1,600 a month. But since the undeclared closure, she has received no wages. She has only one meal a day. When strong enough, she trudges to the river bed to break stones, for which she gets Rs.70 a week. For August 2015, she earned just Rs.150. The condition of her house is appalling, with virtually no walls. The wooden pillars to support the tin roof were also bought by her. When it rains, she squats with an umbrella inside the house, awake the whole night. Every day she walks 3 kilometres to fetch drinking water, and collects firewood from the forests nearby. Food, fuel and housing were all guaranteed in the past by the management.

This purgatory situation of semi-closure is patently illegal, but labour officials and trade unions have done little to hold the management and owners accountable. The State government has also not started wage work or restored health care, drinking water or electricity in worker habitations. In the inverse government morality of our times, States defend morally and legally culpable failures by wealthy plantation owners and their corrupt and inept managements. Workers are left defenceless, thrown to the edge of survival. 

Harsh Mander is a human rights worker, writer and teacher

(This article was originally published in The Hindu)

 

Campaign On Alternative Politics Ends With Mock Hanging Of Traitors

The Osongothito Khetra Shramik Sangrami Mancha and Right to Food and Work Campaign- West Bengal jointly organized a mass gathering in Plassey in Nadia on October 9 at the end of their campaign that started on  September 26. The purpose of the campaign was to raise their voice in support of an alternative politics which makes the empowerment of the working class and their demands the moving force of politics and governance.

The campaign focuses on people’s rights and democracy. It calls for the unity of working people above caste, creed and religion. It aims to stop the rule of goons and demands the right to a life of dignity, which includes a universal guarantee for food, health, education, housing and work. A state-wide campaign program,e including motor cycle rallies, street corners, padayatras and mass contact programmes, along with distributing leaflets and posters, took place in different parts of Bengal, starting from September 26.

The participants began motorcycle rallies from the Assam border, Orissa border, Bangladesh border and Jharkhand border from October 1 and made their way to Krishnanagar after facing ruling party hooligans in Keshpur and police harassment in Baruipur on  October 8 .In the process, the campaign covered almost all 19 districts in West Bengal and travelled 1,300-1,400 km in the State.

On the following day, about 2,000 people, including 180 people who had been on the campaign trial, reached Plassey to identify the modern day Mir Jafars. Mir Jafar was originally responsible for India’s defeat at the hand of British at Plassey and is considered one of the great traitors in Indian history. For a symbolic protest, they gathered in a field near Plassey station and took part in a mock trial to penalise the modern day Mir Jafars.

Before the trial started, the leaders of the Mancha addressed the gathering. The Mancha consists of about 20 unions of unorganized sector, which is the largest and most deprived working sector of the country involving 94% of workers. Bela Adak President of PBKMS (Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity) and Jagganath Das, General Secretary of Shramajivi Samanvay Committee spoke about the terror and discrimination faced by unorganised sector workers in their work place as well as homes. 

Anuradha Talwar, leader of PBKMS and Somnath Ghosh, leader of Hosiery Workers’ Union and convenor of the Manch, pointed out the success of the week-long campaign that took place in North Bengal in Doars where the tea garden owners had bowed to the demand of the workers for 20% bonus.

They also spoke of the success with which the participants in the rally had stood against ruling party terror at various places. Sanjay Poria, President and leader of West Bengal Civic Police Association, talked about their plight in not being appointed to the job which they rightfully deserved and the discriminatory behavior on the part of the police department. Sanjay has been under surveillance of the police and intelligence department for his organised protest against the injustice of the government to the civic volunteers. 

The civic volunteers are a huge number of unemployed  youth who have been provided with low wages and face dismissal and police brutality at the slightest attempt to protest about their terrible working conditions. On this day, following his speech, two police vans full of force reached the spot and there was tension that he might be arrested.

Following the speeches which ended with a great round of applause, the assembly participated in the mock trial to identify the modern traitors in politics. As the notion of alternative politics advocates for the right of people to dislodge the elected representatives from power if they are proved to be inefficient in working for the welfare of the people and to keep the elected representative under continuous monitoring, the assembly passed judgment on the basis of popular unanimity that the political leaders, administrators, bureaucrats, police and all the administrative officials had behaved treacherously with them.

Some of them played the role of political leaders, elected representatives, capitalists, bureaucrats and police while some were the people’s judges. The gathering agreed that these people had failed to perform their duty and they hade let the people down, therefore they deserved highest penalty. 

They also expressed their unanimous opinion to hang these modern day Mir Jafars and an act of mock death penalty was performed by hanging a straw effigy. The meeting ended with a pledge to fight these modern day Mir Jafars and to strengthen the unity of the working people.

State-wide Rally Photographs