Shameless On A Day Of Shame

On February 2, Lajja Diwas, a day of shame, a shameless NREGS Commissioner, Dibyendu Sarkar, was forced to meet about 30 members of the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, who barged into his office. When hearing complaints about late payment, Mr Sarkar claimed triumphantly that he had almost cleared wages for 2013 -14. When asked whether he would also pay the workers compensation for late payment of wages, he claimed it was not his responsibility because the Centre was causing the delay. He also claimed that Central guidelines absolved him from such responsibility even if the guidelines were against the law.

  

When the activists told him about unpaid wages, he again complained about the lack of central funds. He said that though the National Employment Guarantee Act gives a guarantee of 100 days of work, the Central government had wanted to give only 54% of the labour budget demanded by states. He shamelessly admitted that the Central Government's action was against the law.

In further mockery of NREGA workers, he took no responsibility for the fact that his officials at the block and Panchayat level were refusing to receive applications for further work. He also gave a long explanation about bank accounts, FPOs etc. and blamed banks for delays in transfers to accounts of beneficiaries. Those in the protest found it difficult to understand why bank and Government coordination had still not become possible after 10 years of NREGA.

February 2 is NREGA Diwas, the day in 2006, when after 18 years of struggle all over the country by rural workers unions and other people’s organisations, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed. NREGA Diwas is used by the State and Central Government to flout their acheivements. Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, on the other hand, uses the anniversary and the month of February to highlight the problems being faced by rural workers in this programme.

PBKMS, as part of its programme also met the officials and district magistrates of Purulia, Bankura, South and North 24 Parganas and Nadia district with black badges. Black badges were also given to officials in blocks and Anchals of Paschim Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura, South and North 24 Parganas and Nadia district. There was a special march to Nabbana, the seat of the West Bengal Government, on the February 11.

Day Of Shame, Rural Employment Scheme Under Attack

February 2 is NREGA Diwas- the day in 2006, when after 18 years of struggle all over the country by rural workers unions and other people’s organisations, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed, guaranteeing 100 days of work to all rural workers.

NREGA Diwas is used by the State and Central Government to flout their acheivements. Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, on the other hand, uses the anniversary and the month of February to highlight the problems being faced by rural workers in this programme.

According to PBKMS General Secretary, Uttam Gayen “a good programme would have helped us to stay in the villages and to stop distress migration to Kerala, Andaman islands and Kashmir for work. But, since 2006 we have seen only crocodile tears for NREGA workers and little genuine effort.”

Some of the problems that workers are facing are as follows:

·         Despite a decade of this Act, workers’ rights such as timely payment, work on demand, compensation for late payment of wages and unemployment allowance are only on paper.

·         Workers receive only about one third of the 100 days employment. These are the figures for the state of West Bengal.

Year                  Person days per family

2006-07                  14

2007-08                  25

2008-09                  26

2009-10                  45

2010-11                  31

2011-12                  27

2012-13                  35

2013-14                  37

2014-15                  28

·         Funds spent on MGNREGA have been reduced from Rs.40 thousand crores in 2009-10 to Rs.34 thousand crores in 2014-15.
·         To make matters worse, in these six years, prices have risen and wages in MGNREGA have doubled from Rs. 81 per day in 2009 to Rs. 169 today. So, with less money available, the Government creates less than half the number of person days it used to create in 2009.

·         In these six years, our country has become richer, with production (GDP) increasing from 45 lakhs crores to 57 lakhs crores. But MGNREGA money has decreased from 0.9% of the GDP to O.5% of the GDP.

·         Worse still, the new BJP Government has said that more of MGNREGA funds should be spent on material cost (bricks, sand and cement) and less on giving people work. It has changed the material: labour ratio in works from 40:60 to 49:51.

As part of our efforts to draw attention to the problems faced by NREGA workers, we are organising a series of programmes in Anchal offices, block offices and district offices to give black badges to Government officials for the poor performance in NREGA.

Related Reading:  Work generated in MGNREGS declines in West Bengal (The Hindu)

'The Rulers Have Changed But Not The System'

 “Shashak bodleche, shahsan ek-e acche (the rulers have changed, the system hasn’t)”, said Shri Partha Chatterjee, Deputy Chief Minister of West Bengal, when he received the delegation of the Ashanghit Kshetra Shramik Sangrami Manch (AKSSM) on 11^th February 2015, agreeing with their frustration at the insensitivity of the TMC regime, that had ridden to power in a massive mandate and promises of Paribartan  or change.

Members of the AKSSM found themselves confronted by a huge police force of about 700 policemen just when they started their march to Nabanna to meet the Chief Minister on 11^th afternoon.  Many of them were reminded eerily of the Singur, Haripur and Nandigram struggles, when similarly large police contingents had been used to subdue protestors by the Left Front regime.

Women police and women members of the AKSSM got into scuffles repeatedly when the procession of about 1500 people who had come from South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Kolkata and North 24 Parganas tried to break through the barricade at a major crossing outside Raja Subodh Mullick Square. The police kept asking for time to contact the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary’s office.

The slogan shouting and singing crowd was joined after an hour by another 500 people who marched from Howrah station and then blocked Lenin Sarani, one of the most important roads in Kolkata. The procession from Howrah with people from Paschim Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia had with them a group of dancers and drummers from Bankura. The IPS officer, Shri Devender, leading the police contingent began using his public address system to threaten them with arrest and lathi charge, but found himself flummoxed when they began dancing on the road. After some negotiation he allowed them to join the other part of the procession.

An hour of sloganshouting, dancing and singing followed, with the procession declaring its intention of staying there overnight. A play was also performed by some members from South 24 Parganas and Bankura.The police found themselves in an awkward situation, as the protestors began to make arrangements to cook their dinner and to stay on the road. With rush hour approaching it became imperative for them to clear the road. After an intervention with AKSSM members directly calling the administration, the Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister agreed to meet a delegation of 5 people.

The problems the delegation put forward before Partha Chatterjee were on the non-implementation of the Minimum Wages Act, especially for biri workers and hosiery workers. Special concern was expressed at the hand in glove relation of Government with the tea industry owners, leading to the Labour Department’s reluctance to declare a minimum wage. Partha Babu took a note of areas where AKSSM reported delayed payment of NREGS wages. In addition, we objected to the trivialisation of the problems of unorganised sector workers by organising “melas” for them, without any serious implementation of social security measures. We also objected to social security cards being issued to non-workers. The issue of sexual harassment at the work place of women workers and the absence of complaints committees was also brought to his attention. No selection of beneficiaries for the National Food Security Act has taken place despite two years of the Act being passed, we complained.  And, in the end we complained of police high handedness, which is when he remarked “Shashak bodleche, shahsan ek-e acche (the rulers have changed, the system hasn’t)”.

Partha babu forwarded the memorandum to the Chief Minister immediately and promised to organise a meeting with the concerned Ministers after 16^thFebruary. We came away after informing him that we looked forward to his keeping his promise and to returning to the city with a longer and more defiant protest in three months if our demands were not met.

Somnath Ghosh, Swapan Ganguly, Convenors     

Hindutva Goons Attack Maharashtra Trade Union Leader

 Joint Statement by AICCTU, IFTU, NTUI and the TUCI:

We condemn the dastardly attack on Comrade Govind Pansare and his wife in Kolhapur yesterday (February 16). Com. Pansare, a veteran CPI leader and also a long time leader of the AITUC in Kolhapur and in Maharashtra, was always known for his progressive and outspoken scientific views. His book on Shivaji is one of the best-known short expositions of the Maratha King from an objective and scientific historic viewpoint as opposed to the jingoistic communal colour given by the Hindutva brigade. He has worked tirelessly for the trade unions in the Western and Southern part of the state of Maharashtra both as a responsible office bearer of various unions and as a respectred senior advocate in the Labour and Industrial Courts.

Of late, though 78 years of age, he continues to be active in politics. He was at the forefront of the struggle against toll tax in Kolhapur since the past six months. About 15 days ago he gave a talk at the Shivaji University in which he exposed the real thinking of Nathuram Godse and showed how there was nothing to glorify there. This was not liked by a section of the audience. About a week ago he gave a talk about the 26/11 incident in Mumbai where he made certain remarks about the ATS chief Hemant Karkare which were also not liked by a section of the audience. That signifies Com. Govind Pansare. He was never one to shy away from courting controversy if the truth demanded it.

Yesterday, as he and his wife got home from their morning walk, while some celebrated with crackers over a world cup match, the shooters used that sound as a cover to shoot them. This is in continuation of a spate of incidents against minorities and social activists in Modi's reign. It is clear that the worms are crawling out of the woodwork to bask in the sun of Hindutva which invigorates neo-liberal policies everywhere.

Com. Govind Pansare is in hospital in Kolhapur having been shot in the neck and chest while he wife suffered a head injury. Our wishes go out to both his wife and him and his family and friends at this critical time. There has already been a spate of demonstrations all over the country to condemn this shooting of Com. Pansare. We call upon all democratic and progressive forces to come out in force to condemn this shooting. The shooters must be apprehended and brought to book. The Modi Government's and Fadnavis Government's apathy and, at least implicit, collusion in such incidents has to end. We call upon the working class to take a lead in organising all the democraticc and progressive forces against such fascist trends prevalent in India today.

Bring the shooters of the Pansare's to book immediately!

Down with Hindutva Fascism!

Long Live Working Class Unity!