Disbursement of festival bonus by tea garden collectives

Tea garden workers are successfully and very efficiently running tea gardens themselves after management abandoned them. Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity took steps in Madhu, Birpara and Raipur tea gardens by setting up and supporting collective groups to run the tea gardens after the management abandoned these tea gardens. The tea garden workers were devastated after the management abandoned these gardens as the tea garden workers were completely dependent on tea gardens for their survival. These tea gardens are now running successfully by the collectives and even saving a surplus amount.

The collective members preparing to distribute the bonus  

1. The Birpara tea garden was abandoned by the management for many years. In August 2019 a collective was formed and 1300 workers started working on 405 acres. These workers would usually earn Rs 180 per day for plucking tea leaves and the collective sells these leaves to brokers according to whoever gives the highest price. The collective started saving right from September 2019 and now has successfully saved Rs 1 crore  and 65 thousands by selling tea leaves. The collective has decided to distribute surplus savings among all the members Each tea garden worker of Birpara has received Rs 11280 as bonus from the surplus savings on October 7,2020.

The workers collecting their bonus(s) from the collective office

2. Madhu Tea Estate  was abandoned by management in 2014. In January 2019, a collective was formed by some of the women to run the tea garden. This garden has 75 women members who started working on 25 acres and they would earn Rs 10 per kg for tea plucking. This ensured that these women could earn Rs 200-250 per day and even Rs 400 on some days.The collective would then sell these leaves in the wholesale market.  The collective ran the garden so efficiently that they successfully started saving a surplus amount. The collective saved Rs 1,88,955 till September 2019 and distributed these savings as bonus among tea garden workers. Continuing their successful campaign of the previous year the Madhu Bagan Collective saved Rs 2.5 lakhs till September 2020. The collective has decided to distribute a surplus amount of Rs 2 lakhs equally among all the members of the Madhu tea garden as a bonus and to invest the rest amount to run the garden.

 

3. Raipur tea garden also was abandoned by the management in September 2018. On 12 September 2018 tea workers formed a collective to run the tea garden. This garden has 617 members who started working and they would earn Rs 150 per day for plucking tea leaves which the Operating Management Committee(OMC) sell to wholesalers.  The OMC started saving and they have successfully saved Rs. 32 lakhs and13 thousands. The collective has decided to run the tea garden through their savings.

 

PBKMS is now exploring the possibility of making and selling hand made tea in Madhu and Birpara, so as to ensure value added and higher incomes for the workers.

করোনা পরিস্থিতি এবং গ্রামীণ মানুষদের জীবিকার দুরাবস্থা

COVID মহামারী এবং লকডাউন মানুষের জীবিকাকে অপূরণীয় ভাবে ক্ষতি করেছে। মানুষের মধ্যে ব্যাপক ক্ষুধা রয়েছে এবং আমরা আগামী দিনগুলিতে আশঙ্কা করছি যে অপুষ্টি ব্যাপক ভাবে বৃদ্ধি পাবে। অন্যদিকে কিছু বড় কোম্পানী এই পরিস্থিতিতেও বিশাল মুনাফা অর্জন করছে।

সরকারের কাছে ক্ষুধা নিবারণের জন্য পশ্চিমবঙ্গ ক্ষেত মজুর সমিতি বারবার রেশন ব্যবস্থা দ্বারা সকলের জন্য চাল, ডাল এবং রান্নার তেল বিনা মূল্যে যাতে পায় সেটা নিয়ে বলছে। আমরা বেশি মজুরি নিয়ে নারেগা (NREGA) অধীনে আরও কাজ করার দাবি জানাচ্ছি এবং সরকারের কাছে সর্বজনীন  ন্যূনতম আয়ের জন্য বলছি।

এর পাশাপাশি আমরা গঠনমূলক কার্যক্রম গ্রহণেরও পরিকল্পনা করি। তাই পশ্চিমবঙ্গ ক্ষেতমজুর সমিতি  তার সদস্যদের উঠোনে পুষ্টি বাগান শুরু করতে সহায়তা করার জন্য একটি প্রোগ্রাম শুরু করেছি  , যাতে প্রতিটি পরিবারের জন্য তাজা শাকসব্জি সরবরাহ নিশ্চিত করা যায়। 

বড় বড় কোম্পানীগুলি যারা বিশাল লাভ করার জন্য জিনিসগুলি আমাদের জোর করে নেওয়া  করায় , আমরা আমাদের বড় কোম্পানীর উপর নির্ভরতা হ্রাস করার জন্য আমরা কোন জৈবিক সার ও বীজ তাদের থেকে কিনব না। আমরা যে বাগান টি বানাবো সেটাই কোন রাসায়নিক সার বাবহার হবে না, সেই বাগান এ জৈবিক সার ও দেশী বীজ বাবহার করা হবে।

১০/১০/২০২০ থেকে ১২ /১০/২০২০ তারিখে  জন সংহতি কেন্দ্রে (বাদু ,মহেশ্বরপুর বারাসাত-৭০০১২৮) একটি ৩ দিনের প্রশিক্ষকদের প্রশিক্ষণের  আয়োজন করা হয়েছিল । প্রশিক্ষণের লক্ষ্য হলো  COVID 19 সঙ্কটের সময় জৈব পুষ্টি বাগানের মাধ্যমে আমাদের সদস্য পরিবারগুলির খাদ্য সুরক্ষা কিছুটা সুরক্ষিত করা।  

এই প্রোগ্রামের জন্য 5 টি জেলা  থেকে ২৬ জন প্রশিক্ষক প্রশিক্ষণে ভাগ নিয়েছিল , জেলা গুলি হলো দক্ষিণ ২৪ পরগণা, নদিয়া , উত্তর ২৪ পরগণা,  বাঁকুড়া এবং পুরুলিয়া। আমাদের লক্ষ্য হচ্ছে এই জেলাগুলিতে আমাদের সমস্ত সদস্য পরিবার গুলিকে পুষ্টি বাগান করতে সাহায্য করা। প্রথমে ৬০০০ পরিবার কে জৈব পুষ্টি বাগানের মাধ্যমে পুষ্টি সুরক্ষা প্রশিক্ষণ দেওয়া ও তাদেরকে পুষ্টি বাগানের জন্য ভাল বীজ দেওয়া হবে যাতে তারা ভালো ফলন পেতে পারে । প্রত্যেক প্রশিক্ষক প্রথমে ২০০ পরিবারকে প্রশিক্ষণ দেবে  এবং তাদের তদারকি করবে।

প্রশিক্ষণের লক্ষ্য হলো নিম্নলিখিত বিষয়গুলি:

•ভালো গুণমান সব্জি ফলন। 

•দীর্ঘ মেয়াদী মাটির উর্বরতা বজায় রাখা । 

•বর্জ্য পুনরায় ব্যবহার করা। 

•দূষণ মুক্ত পরিবেশ। 

•বাজার নির্ভরতা হ্রাস

•খাদ্য নিরাপত্তা

The rescue of Mr Gulu Mardi

A very heart touching and emotional story came to light of a bonded labourer from West Bengal reuniting with his family members after 20 years. He was forced to work for twenty years as a bonded labour in Fatehpur village of Uttar Pradesh without wages.

It should be noted that the West Bengal Government consistently denies that any citizen from this state is in bondage in other states. It also denies that migrant workers are bonded in its state, even though bondage of migrant workers is a common occurrence in Bengal brick fields. A result of this denial is that it takes years for the Government to take action in any bonded labour case. PBKMS has been pursuing the case of Krishna Das (http://khetmajoorsamity.blogspot.com/2020/09/lockdown-woes-case-study-on-family.html) and his family for the past 3 years and we are yet to help them get rehabilitation funds under a Central Scheme. In the present case, mass organisations and NGOs had to step in to help the bonded labourer because the West Bengal Government denies the problem and therefore takes no action to help such people.

Mr. Gulu Mardi (on right) at the Kanpur Railway Station 

The incident is as follows. Gulu Mardi, a resident of Balurghat in Dakshin Dinajpur, moved to Kanpur 20 years ago in search of work. He started working in a factory and became very friendly with a supervisor named Bhupendra Singh, a Thakur from Fatehpur.  Gulu used to deposit all his earnings with this man. After 2 years when Gulu Mardi asked for his money, the supervisor told him that he had sent the money to his village and they would have to visit his village to take out the money.      

When Gulu Mardi went to his village, Bhupendra Singh began beating him. He forcefully made him a bonded labour and refused to give any money. His enquiry about wages were met with threats from Bhupendra. At one time, Gulu alleges , Bhupendra Singh even hung him in a well for some hours when he asked for his money. Gulu tried to flee 2-3 times but got caught and got beaten so much that he lost all hope. Gulu Mardi was held for twenty years and made to work without any pay and was only given food twice a day. 

During Covid-19 lockdown, Mr Prabhas Chandra, a resident of Ghatampur, needed a gardener for his school. Bhupendra sent him there to work on the condition that he (Bhupendra)  would come every month to collect his wages, on the pretext of sending the wages to Gulu’s home. After a few months , one day, in July,  when Gulu Mardi was crying, his co-worker, a security guard at school asked him the reason and Gulu Mardi told him the complete story. The security guard told this to Mr. Prabhas Chandra, who unsuccessfully filed a criminal complaint against Bhupendra Singh. However Bhupendra Singh proved too powerful , and no action was taken against him, but he at least stopped threatening Gulu and taking away his wages. They also contacted the Police station of Gulu Mardi's village near Balurghat. When police contacted his family members, they could not believe it as they thought him to be dead.  His wife had even started wearing the garments of a widow . It was only after they saw him through a video call that they believed that Gulu Mardi was  alive.

Ujjiban , an NGO in Dakshi Dinajpur, in the meantime was approached for help by the family who did not know how to bring him home. Gulu was too scared to come in a train himself and the family was also nervous about traveling to Kanpur. Paschim Banga Khet Majoor  was approached by Ujjiban and then we took help from Mahesh, a social activist from Kanpur associated with NAPM. Mahesh arranged for Gulu to be enlisted as a bonded labour there and for criminal action against Bhupinder Singh.  By this time , Ujjiban had organised for fund collection from amongst the villagers. To and fro train tickets were bought for his son and brother to pick up Gulu.  They went to pick him up from Kanpur on 14th of October and they reached their village back on 17th October.      

   

Mr. Gulu Mardi on his return to Balurghat, West Bengal 

Gulu Mardi's son was very emotional on seeing his father's face after so many years and said that he didn't even remember his father's face as he was only six years old when his father left home in search of work. The people of his village welcomed him very happily and gave him a warm reception on his return after 20 years.

Mr. Gulu Mardi with his son

PBKMS declares its action plan for Purulia

PBKMS organizes a day long event to chart out its roadmap for the district of Purulia

Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity through a day long event begins a dialogue on the nature of our involvement in Purulia and the way forward for our district team. The event saw the participation of our senior leadership and activists from all blocks of the district. Lately, we have faced significant interference in our work from the police administration and some of our full time activists have faced intimidation and threats on organizing campaigns against irregularities in implementation of rights based legislations. The senior leadership used the platform to strongly condemn such behaviour and reiterated our unwavering commitment in ensuring food and work for the vulnerable people of Purulia.

                                             

    Uttam Gayen, General Secretary, PBKMS addressing the gathering

Calls were given to begin a 'work demand' campaign wherein our members across all the gram panchayats will demand work under MGNRGA, 2005 and apply for new job cards. We will also be demanding greater transparency in disbursal of the wages and increased allocation for the programme, which has the potential to support rural households in a significant manner. A food aid distribution programme has also been flagged off to reach out to more than ten thousand vulnerable households in the district. Rice, pulses and edible vegetable oil feature in a food package.

                                       

Inauguration of the food aid programme

Shri Moloy Ghatak, the Hon'ble Labour Minister of the Govt. of West Bengal has sent a letter expressing his support to our initiatives and apologized for being unable to attend the programme.

Media Announcement of the programme

The senior leadership and guests on the stage

People attending the event with strict adherence to norms of physical distancing

A memorandum bearing the demands of marginal farmers, sharecroppers and agricultural labourers has also been prepared by our members. We demand social security benefits for marginal farmers, sharecroppers and agricultural labourers along with better implementation of government guidelines on payment of minimum wages. The senior leadership plan to submit the memorandum on meeting the Hon'ble Labour Minister in the coming days. The demands raised have been declared below:

• Extending benefits of the SSY (SamajikSurakshaYojana) to all the members of PBKMS.
• Extending benefits of the SSY (SamajikSurakshaYojana) subsequently to all agricultural labourers, marginal farmers and sharecroppers.
• Formulating a social security scheme for agricultural labourers, marginal farmers and sharecroppers.
• Extension of ESI (Employees’ State Insurance) scheme to all the members of PBKMS.
• Extension of ESI (Employees’ State Insurance) scheme subsequently to all agricultural labourers, marginal farmers and sharecroppers.
• Provision of a minimum wage inspector for each and every block in the district of Purulia.
• Providing necessary directions to the bureaucracy for regular inspection of work sites by minimum wage inspectors.
• Increasing the number of posts of Assistant Labour Commissioners in the district of Purulia.

Deliberations on the nature of implementation of rights based legislation(s) are being facilitated during the event and the impact of our advocacy efforts will also be taken up during the discussions.

Our event has received widespread coverage from the correspondents of district media houses and a few of the posts have been shared below:

https://public.app/video/sp_s7mdzeky3iyvn

https://www.etvbharat.com/bengali/west-bengal/state/purulia/west-bengal-land-labourers-committee-demands-job-cards/wb20201003223711561