C.P.I. (Maoist)-an assement

Harsh Thakor

[The view presented in this article does not reflect the view of this blog. There are so many debates on the theoretical line of Indian revolution. This article revisits some and opens few.] 

Today, the C.P.I. (Maoist) is carrying out a major movement in the areas of Jharkhand, Bihar and Dandkaraya. Without doubt they have committed serious errors and have serious theoretical flaws, but any Maoist critique must applaud their effort. To have created such bastions of revolutionary struggle in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Dandkaranya is an achievement of historical proportions. In Lalgarh they made great efforts to enhance the movement. Base areas have yet to be created but with great tenacity they have defended their guerilla zones. The fact that they have heroically resisted the enemy forces f or a period of 30 years and form a Central Peoples Guerilla army to become the strongest Maoist party in the World when no Socialist Country in the World exists and when the forces of globalization are acting as tentacles is one of the greatest achievements in the annals of the world Communist Movement.

The merger of the Maoist Communist Centre of India with the Peoples War group was s a remarkable event as Earlier the erstwhile C.P.I.M.L (Peoples War) and Erstwhile C.P.I. (M.L) Party Unity (Before and after they united in 1998) insisted that the 1969 Charu Mazumdar C P.I.M.L. was the re-organised party and not just a revolutionary organization. Now both the Charu Mazumdar C.P.I. (M.L) and the Maoist Communist Centre are recognized as the 2 original revolutionary parties... The most outstanding work of the Maoists has been in Chhattisgarh where they have been able to create alternative democratic Organs..In Lalgarh they merged with the masses like fish in water literally swimming with the tide. Above all they are now working with an All-India perspective spreading all over like wildfire.





History

Earlier Some historic meetings and rallies took place of mass fronts led by such forces like the rally of the 1992 and 1994 rallies of the All-India Peoples Resistance Forum ,the 2000 conference of the A.I.P.R.F., The All-India Revolutionary Student Federation conferences In 1985,1989,1993 ad 1997,as well as the 1985 and 1990 conferences of the Andhra Pradesh Rytu Coolie Sanghams.(Peasants organization)Almost 4 lakh peasants assembled for the Rytu Coolie Sangham conferences and on the day it looked like a red flame burning all over the place. The ‘Go to-Village campaigns of the Andhra Pradesh Radical Students Union will also have a permanent place in history where students integrated with the revolutionary peasant struggles for the first time..The author will never forget the 1994 A.I.P.R.F.rally in Calcutta where the gathering of the road masses looked like a tornado appearing and the 1997 All-India Seminar in Mumbai on the sham of 50 years of independence. I t dealt with all aspects from Democratic Rights to anti Imperialist, to revolutionary Peasant Struggles, Working Class Struggles and Nationality Struggles. What was also unforgettable was their All-India campaign against state repression in Andhra,Bihar and Dandkaranya in 1999,mainly in Bihar and Punjab. They covered area after area like a river flowing and literally lighting a torch against state repression. In earlier phase in Andhra Pradesh(erstwhile Peoples War group) it brilliantly braved the State forces inspite of intensive repression in Andhra Pradesh in 1985 and 1991.A powerful Students and peasants Movement was built and the mass organizations heroically survived working underground in conditions of repression. A series of conferences were staged by fronts combating severe repression. The erstwhile Party Unity group built revolutionary mass movements in a huge range of spheres from Democratic Rights,to land distribution, minimum wages, struggle for fishing rights , International issues, protests against Communalism. Etc.which spread from in Jehanabad and Palamau to other areas like Bhagalpur Gaya,etc.Inspite ofa ban on the their peasant organization, Mazdur Kisan Sangram Samiti, the organization resurrected itself to work under the banner of the Mazdur Kisan Sangrami Parishad.


The Maoist Communist centre survived for 35 years against the onslaught of the Indian State with phenomenal tenacity in Bihar and Jharkhand conducting a series of military actions comparable to the intensity of that of the Chinese Communist Party and forming revolutionary peasant committees..It did remarkable work in building the Nari Mukti Sangh-a classical Revolutionary women’s Front It’s final merger into the C.P.I(Maoist) is a historical achievement.



Defective mass revolutionary approach and military line.

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Several Inter-Group Clashes occurred in the early and mid-1990’sbetween the People`s War Group and other groups like the Chandra Pulla Reddy Group, where the masses were reduced to helpless spectators. Armed Squads combated members from other groups struggling to maintain their bases! This was an incorrect approach to the question of mass line and political struggle. One Group always feared the entry of another group in their area of work..Later the same trend was reflected in clashes between the M.C.C and the erstwhile Party Unity Groups in Bihar. The The major hurdle of historical importance in the revolutionary movement was the period of armed Group clashes between the squads of the Maoist Communist Centre with the Party Unity Group from the mid 1990-s. Group members attacked and killed each other. It showed the wrong understanding towards mass revolutionary line in certain aspects. This had a damaging effect on the revolutionary movement.It reduced the masses to helpless spectators. Peoples War Group maintained that cadres from other groups were killed on entirely tactical grounds and they were not clashes in their statements and documents’

At the conclusion of the decade of the 1990’s 3 important leaders of the People’s war Group were slain in a police encounter. A massive anti-repression programme took place in Andhra Pradesh in December 1999.Such Comrades were truly the best sons of the land heroically laying down their lives for liberation. Various communist Revolutionary Groups belonging to various groups participated...The People`s War Group launched retaliatory Actions to give a severe blow to the Indian State. After the armed Actions the People`s War Group made a self-critical assesment stating"Even when there were ample opportunities to educate and involve the People,our cadres only resorted to protest actions.These are incorrect actions. Because of non-participation of people in such actions,the outcome of such actions, is contrary to the impact we wanted"Thus this group was not aware that such armed actions of Party Guerilla Squads, by themselves cannot succeed in their basis and ultimate objective of defeating the reactionary State.Infact the people have to own such actions and voluntarily participate in them with revolutionary political Consciousness and confidence in their own organized strength.Even in the post encounter Joint Protests the leading rank of the People`s War Group remained pre-occupied with either the representative team protests or armed retaliatory actions.-thus their organized attempts for militant mass attempts for militant mass political mobilisations remained Sparse. True the C.P.I.Maoist has mass support in major areas in Bihar, Jharkhand and Dandakaranya , has guerilla zone s in some respects similar to those of the Chinese Revolutionary period during their armed struggle and have carried out magnificient retaliatory actions in self defence against enemies-t(particularly in Chattisgarh by the P.G.A.) and been the only revolutionary Organization to have ever seriously attempted protracted Peoples Warfare in recent times. However their pockets of revolutionary resistance are dictated by their Armed squads. Even if they partially integrate with mass movements armed squads often are used to give shelter to mass organizations and replace peoples independent actions. They are losing more and more cadre day by day and are unable to consistently replace the fighting forces lost..In West Bengal,Jharkhand and Chattisharh retaliatory actions took place in retaliation of torture and killing of mass sympathizers and cadres, like the blowing up of a police jeep or landmining and killing innocent people .In revolutionary struggle ethics is an important question and revolutionary violence does not justify the killing of innocent people. The C.P.I.(Maoist)have eliminated may people suspected of being police informers who could have been innocent on grounds of their safety.In the authors view this is violation of revolutionary ethics.

Base areas and Guerilla Zones

 It must be noted that nowhere in Andhra Pradesh,Dandkaranya,Jharhand or Bihar has any struggle been developed even half as strong as the Telengana armed struggle.. Quoting the eminent intellectual and critique of Naxalite Movement Sumanta Banerjee ‘It should be pointed out however that despite their survival for almost four decades, the Naxalites do not yet control any large area comparable to the `liberated zone' that the Chinese Communists could establish in Yenan within a decade or so in the 1930-40 period. They have not been able to reach out to the masses of the peasantry in the vast countryside of other parts of India, and have expanded only to a few isolated pockets and stretches of areas inhabited mainly by tribal and landless poor. Closeted in their rural underground shelters, the Naxalite leaders have ignored the task of setting up bases among the large number of workers both in the organized industrial and the unorganized sectors. They have also failed to build up a regular army like the Chinese People's Liberation Army, or the Vietnamese military organization – that helped both the Chinese and the Vietnamese to effectively fight their enemies.. The failure to establish a `liberated zone' has frustrated their original strategy of setting up an alternative order to bring about agrarian and social reforms. Instead, all their energies are now devoted to defensive actions to preserve their pockets of influence, and offensive assaults which are degenerating into acts of terrorism against soft targets like village headmen or junior government employees.’ In the author’s view the military line has shades of Che Guevera’s focoist tendency.. Historically there is a difference between revolutionary base areas and guerilla zones. Quoting Mao’s writings on military line, “When guerilla Warfare began, the guerillas could not completely occupy the places, but could only make frequent raids, they are areas which are held by the guerilla forces when they are present and the by the puppet regime when they are gone. Thus they are not guerilla bases but zones. These zones can be converted into bases by consolidating guerilla warfare and after large portions of enemy troops have been annihilated, and the puppet regime destroyed.The mass organizations also formed as well as people’s local armed forces. The extent to which the enemy is destroyed is the vital factor.” The C.P.I. (Maoist). in implementation of line often confused the difference between forming a guerilla zone and a base area. Today the trend is similar. In their zones they retaliate and defend their areas through their guerilla squad actions and are not able to replenish their losses. They do not have sufficient support of the broad masses. There is insufficient development of mass agrarian revolutionary struggle and revolutionary democratic movement. A maoist mass military line has not been built.For many a action there is lack of adequate preparation of agrarian revolutionary Movement. What was defective was the nature of squad actions not properly evaluating the co-relation of the enemy with the masses..Over-emphasis has been placed on armed struggle without combining effective mass struggles. To a considerable extent the military actions reflect anarchist tendencies and have not adhered to a the maoist mass military line Today it’s all India Front the Revolutionary Democratic Front can hardly function openly like the A.I.P.R.F could earlier. t has been dealt a severe blow In states like Orissa and West Bengal, and is for all moral purposes banned in states of armed Movements. Unable to withstand the counter-onslaught of the state the mass organizations of such groups were virtually crushed and forced to function underground. Now mass struggle is completely substituted by armed Struggle. They have not created the level of preparation for armed struggle which was done In the Telengana Armed Struggle of 1946-1951 where work was initiated in the AndhraMahasabha ,or in the 1924-1927 period in China where Peasant associations were formed and a base was built for mass agrarian revolutionary Movement., or even the preparation period for he launching of armed struggles in Phillipines or Peru I the periods of 1959-1968 a 1968-1980 respectively. A lthough M.C.C built a classically Red Defence corpses, there was hardly adequate development of agrarian revolutionary Movement in many areas to launch all-out struggle against the State.Infact it almost totally neglected open mass work and did not even form a mass based peasant organization. Similarly although Andhra Pradesh had a strong peasant Movement in the late 1970’s often even in the stage before armed Struggle was officially launched in 1980,acts of “Individual annihilation of the class enemy's were initiated. Slogans were raised by the student Organization not compatible with the mass consciousness.”The Party Unity group ‘”in Bihar although forming huge open fronts like the M.K.S.P or Bharat Naujavan Sabha were unable to devise a correct policy in attaching armed wings to peasant fronts. Today the Peoples Guerilla Army has been formed, without the development of base areas or developed Agrarian Revolution. Even in the period of launching armed struggle the C.P.C. gave attention to the building of mass Movements.

Theoretical Weaknesses

On the trade Union Front the C.P.I.(Maoist) has not been able to form democratically functioning trade Unions and often has ended up giving political slogans of revolutionary Armed Struggle not compatible with the political capacity of broad sections of the Working Class.The Working class was not fully explained the link between their interests and the agrarian revolutionary movement but slogans glorifying heroes of Armed squads are raised by the Peoples War Group. The relationship of the movements in the towns with the major cities is like a bark of a tree with its branches. There are strong tendencies of forming mass organizations as front organizations. Only when the major section of a mass organization accepts the politics of the revolutionary party can mass organizations function as front organisations.Although such sections have formed mass organizations there are still tendencies of confusing the mass organizations with the Party. Historically, the ideology of MaoTse Tung thought was introduced in manifestos of mass organisations, which was an erroneous tendency.This was true of organizations like Radical Students Union and All-India League for Revolutionary Culture.Although on the practical plane they lead a powerful mass democratic movement there is still not enough democratization as needed in a mass movement within a mass organization. Mass organisations were used as party platforms. Mao always stressed on separating the role of the mass organisations with the Party .He always stressed that The Chinese Communist Party had to be differentiated from the Youth league and the Peasants Associations. True major rallies have been led containing sympathizers but this is not necessarily mean that the mass line is being carried out..



They have also wrongly replaced the term ‘Maoism’ with ‘Mao Tse Tung Thought.’This is wrong understanding of the present era which is actually the era of ‘Leninism.’Even after the Chinese revolution it was called the “thought of Mao Tse Tung” and not ‘Maoism. Replacing Mao Tes Tung Thought with Maoism means replacing the era of Imperialism or Leninism .To the author this does not make a difference to the practical work but has an implication to the theoretical era.It is significant that C.P.I(Maoist) adopts the thesis that it is the era of the “total collapse of Imperialism”which was adopted by the Charu Mazumdar CPI(M.L) 40 years ago.The C.C.P,always mantained that it was the era of Leninism and Imperialism . A very important question is that of the International Line. and approach towards the formation of a Communist International.....Today the organization still maintains relations with the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, which is defective. The R.I.M.is virtually defunct because it made hasty arrangements for he formation of a new Communist International where the proletarian revolutionary development was most inadequate worldwide .



There is also an erroneous understanding with regards to the Dalit or scheduled caste movements. The Organization has not applied a correct class analytical study and often replaced class struggle with Caste Struggle.Dalit Parties which collaborate with Ruling Class politics have been supported like he Dalit Panther and Republican Party of India. The Dalit Mahasabha has been supported in Andhra Pradesh. Even In Bihar in the agrarian revolutionary movement there has been a strong tendency to support Ruling class Dalit Organisations.Killings have taken place often on caste line instead of implementing class struggle.)It is significant that even in earlier periods the organization (that time Peoples War Group) supported the 1989 Chinese Student Movement as well as the movements in East European Countries toppling the Revisionist Regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989 ,not taking into account the petit bourgeois nature of the agitations ,virtually devoid of proletarian content. Similarly they have supported nationality struggles devoid of proletarian content like the J.K.L.F.in Kashmir,L.T.T.E.in Sri Lanka, the U.L.F.A in Assam Etc.True they have correctly defended the right of nationalities to secede but have not analyzed that the nationality struggles are led by petit-bourgeois ideology . The C.P.I.Maoist regards itself as the re-organised Communist Party and that after the merger of C.P.I.M.L (Peoples War Group. with the Maoist Communist Centre the Proletarian party was formed.This is also wrong as there are other genuine groups in in the revolutionary camp.They ignore the groups from the Chandra Pulla Reddy or Nagi Reddy Line. Another erroneous tendency is accepting Election ‘boycott’ as a strategic slogan and rejecting participation in election throughout the revolutionary Course.Even Comrades Lenin and Mao asserted that in certain situations participation in parliamentary elections could be tactically deployed.There has also been a trend in areas to impose the slogan of ‘Boycott the Election’, instead of stressing on ‘building the revolutionary organs of Peoples Power.”

Final Complement

One of the greatest tributes to the C.P.I. (Maoist)is the courage which they are displaying in openly projecting their struggles, line and policies in journals like Peoples March and on blogs on the internet. They have made an International stamp. ‘Peoples March’ has heroically combated the repression of the State and even come back after facing a ban. Such an open journal of serious revolutionary organization was unheard in the previous decades. It is not for nothing that they have won the hearts of people worldwide including intellectuals like Arundhati Roy or Amit Bhattacharya.A veteran comrade of the Naxalite Movement in India,Com Sunder Navalkar staunchly defends the organization, feeling it is the only serious revolutionary force in India implementing a mass line and defends their practice as being almost perfect. However she disagrees with the organization on the question of upholding ‘nationality struggles’,upholding “Maoism’ and lacking ‘urban’ work.(I have marked all these points earlier )Even Com.Suniti Kumar Gosh acknowledges that they have mass support.

Great efforts have made to rectify the past errors and a serious plan to start urban work with mass-line approach has been launched. In areas where they have faced severe repression they have even floated effective platforms for survival. If they could extricate themselves from their wrong trends it may not be a long time before the India New Democratic Revolution would emerge.The manner in which they have combated the state repression in different junctures through organizing people’s court or famine raids was remarkable as well as their protests in term of armed actions or mass protests. .The C.P.I. (Maoist) is burning a red flame in the annals of International Communist History.

Money in black & white

Rajinder Puri
THE most damaging weakness of India’s political class is its lack of credibility. Regardless of the truth, people at large are convinced that the entire political class is corrupt. The government covers up corruption cases. The Opposition dares not pursue them even when those in the government are involved. The Scorpene deal, the Koda mining scam, the Raja Spectrum scam, the IPL scam ~ the list of unresolved cases that do, or will, gather dust seems endless. The highest leadership in both the government and the Opposition lacks public credibility. This is because of the curious inertia displayed by these leaders even after circumstances cloud their reputations. The biggest scam currently on the radar is of course the Hassan Ali Khan hawala scam.
Readers will recall this scribe had earlier drawn attention to the Hassan Ali scam and the government’s brazen cover-up to bury the truth. Hassan Ali is the owner of a Pune stud farm. He has 10 known illegal Swiss bank accounts, probably more in other tax havens. His money stashed abroad is astronomical. According to the government’s statement he owed Rs 50,345 crore to the tax department as on 31 March 2009. According to accountants that sum would have escalated to approximately Rs 100,000 crore by the time 2010 was presented. On 20 October 2009 this scribe pointed out how according to Swiss authorities while the Indian government publicly sought help in probing Hassan Ali’s Swiss account, privately it sabotaged the probe by submitting “forged” documents asked for by Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice. Swiss authorities wanted to help, but Indian authorities withheld proper documentation. Since April 2007 the Indian government has kept mum on the Swiss request for proper documents.
Tax disputes
ON 18 March 2010 this scribe drew attention to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s statement to the media that the government had recovered the tax dues from Hassan Ali. But the revised estimates for 2009-10 did not accommodate the Rs 100,000 crore due from Hassan Ali in the budget figures. Further, the existing Income Tax Act was amended to waive impediments for tax defaulters like Hassan Ali to approach the Settlement Commission for resolving tax disputes. If Hassan Ali Khan approaches the commission it would enable the government to evade sharing information about Hassan Ali’s undisclosed foreign assets with foreign governments as required by the international tax treaties entered into by the government.
Clearly, Finance Minister Mukherjee is covering up the Hassan Ali probe. Why? The answer may have been given in the Maharashtra Assembly. On 13 April a CD showing Hassan Ali was laid on the table of the House by BJP MLA Devendra Phadnavis. The CD contained Ali’s statement to the police in which he mentioned the names of former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Maharashtra Home Minister, RR Patil, and the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, Ahmed Patel. In the CD, Ali claimed a meeting involving RR Patil and Ahmed Patel at Juhu Centaur Hotel on 11 August 2008 to approve Hasan Gafoor’s name as Mumbai’s police commissioner. Home Minister Patil vehemently denied any association with Ali. “I have never met Ahmed Patel and never spoken to him face to face. The CID will probe if the motive of the CD was to harm Gafoor, me, Ahmed Patel or anybody else”, Patil told the assembly.
The government ordered an inquiry conducted by the Additional Director-General, CID, and the SP, S Yadav. The CD was prepared by the use of spy cam by the Deputy Police Commissioner Ashok Deshbhratar. Predictably, the politicians named have not been questioned. Their denials have been accepted at face value. Instead the CID charged IPS officer Ashok Deshbhratar, who produced the CD, with trying to extort money from Hassan Ali! In its 15-page report the CID stated that Hassan Ali’s confession has been selectively edited. The CID had sent the CD to the forensic lab at Chandigarh. Its report said the audio-visual pieces of interrogation were not inter-linked, but joined together in sequence to appear as if they are part of continuous interrogation. Inter-linked or not, the forensic report does not deny that it was Hassan Ali himself speaking the “disjointed” narrative. CID investigations confirmed that one meeting did take place involving Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ahmed Patel at Juhu Centaur on 15 March 2008. But CID comforted itself with the fact it could not have discussed Gafoor’s appointment because by then he had already been appointed as Mumbai’s Commissioner of Police. Never mind the Police Commissioner’s appointment, how is Hassan Ali’s proximity to Congress politicians including Ahmed Patel, the political secretary of Sonia Gandhi to be explained?
Links with Congress
CIRCUMSTANTIAL evidence reveals, therefore, that Hassan Ali, the nation’s biggest money launderer, is protected by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. And Hassan Ali has links with senior Congress politicians including the party president’s trusted political secretary. During his interaction with Ali was Ahmed Patel representing himself or his boss, Sonia Gandhi? If he was representing himself why has Sonia Gandhi not sacked him? If he was representing the Congress president how does Sonia Gandhi explain her party’s links with the nation’s biggest money launderer who is being protected by the Finance Minister? Connect the dots and the picture that emerges is not pretty. Either the Congress is so stupid that it deserves to be removed from power, or it is so corrupt that it deserves to be removed from power.
Wittingly or otherwise the BJP until now has served only Hassan Ali’s interests. Publicizing the CD will act as a powerful disincentive for the government to act against Hassan Ali. By not pursuing the matter at the national level the BJP has failed to serve its own interests. Therefore, the BJP is either so corrupt that it deserves to perpetually remain out of power. Or it is so stupid that it deserves to perpetually remain out of power.
Corruption has become so widespread and brazen that it is destroying the foundations of the Indian Republic. India can stand on the roof and watch its neighbour’s house in flames. Why doesn’t it look below its feet to realize that its own house is burning?

Source: The Statesman 5 May 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=326987&catid=38

Definition of Poverty: Absence Of A Uniform Statistical Measure

By Ashwani Mahajan

THE government has frequently been providing differing figures about the extent of poverty in India. And this makes it difficult to gauge the extent or even the approximate figure. Periodic changes in the definition of the poverty line make the issue even more complicated. It is obvious that in the absence of a uniform statistical measure of poverty, alleviation programmes cannot be meaningful.
The government adopts various measures to reduce poverty. Kerosene, cheaper grain and other food items are made available through the Public Distribution System. The rural and urban employment programmes and free medical facilities are among the other programmes that have been taken up. The government’s proposed food security legislation is also on the same lines. People below the poverty line would have the right to draw food at subsidised prices.
Ironically enough, the government is yet to identify those living below the poverty line. The report of the Saxena Committee, constituted by the union ministry of rural development, is particularly shocking. In fact, 49.1 per cent of the population, according to this report, exists below the poverty line. An estimated 23 per cent of the poor do not have a ration card, let alone the BPL card. The report has revealed that 17.4 per cent of the cards are held by the rich. The committee has recommended that the government should undertake a national survey to identify the poor.
Poverty Line Baskets
Last December, Prof SD Tendulkar, the former chief economic adviser to the Prime Minister, submitted the report of the expert group to review the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty. The report noted that the existing all-India rural and urban official poverty lines were originally defined in terms of the per capita total consumer expenditure at 1973-74 market prices. It was adjusted over time in keeping with the price fluctuations. But the 1973-74 baseline continued to be the reference points for poverty line baskets (PLB) of goods and services. These all-India rural and urban PLBs were anchored in the per capita calorie norms of 2400 (rural) and 2100 (urban) per day. However, they covered the consumption of all goods and services incorporated in the rural and urban poverty line baskets.
According to Prof Tendulkar’s findings, in 2004-05, 37 per cent of the country’s population was living below the poverty line. This figure is significantly higher than the figure released by the Planning Commission, according to which 27.5 per cent are below the poverty line. Prof Tendulkar’s figure of headcount is higher because of the larger basket of consumption, which includes expenditure on education and health by the poor.
Earlier studies on redefining poverty have also taken note of these variables and have suggested suitable modifications in the definition of the poverty line. Prof Tendulkar’s report is significant as it gives official sanction to the same. He has recommended that the Planning Commission and the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) make suitable changes in their approach in defining the poverty line.
The NSSO, which conducts a sample survey of consumer spending, estimated that the people living the below poverty line constituted only 28.3 per cent of the population in 2004-05. In contrast to this figure, the Arjun Sen Gupta Committee, formed by the government for the unorganised sector, stated that more than 77 per cent of the people are forced to live on Rs 20 or less per day. This is insufficient even for the minimum requirement of a person’s food, health, shelter and clothing. Clearly, more than 77 per cent of the people cannot meet their basic needs. But the government always tries to underestimate the BPL figure. This is only to convey the impression that the number of the poor is constantly declining.
According to official statistics in 1973-74, 320 million or 55 per cent of the population was living below the poverty line. Going by the 2004 projection, it declined to 28 per cent. The task of defining poverty and the poverty line rests with the government economists. Logically, such a definition must identify the rural poor. And the official definition has been widely criticised in the past.
The problem arose in 1993-94 and 1990-2000. The consumer expenditure data, used by the government to estimate poverty, indicated a fewer number of people below the poverty line. And without any significant improvement in the condition of the poor. Critics say that the figures used by the government showed that poverty declined overnight. If the calorie-based definition is truly implemented, then 80 per cent of the rural and 50 per cent of the urban population would be found consuming less than 2400 and 2100 calories respectively. This implies that the government always tries to underestimate the number of the country’s poor. And this is done by juggling the data.
Pangs of hunger
According to the UN, 220 million people in India suffer the pangs of hunger. The problem is prevalent in all age groups... from infants to the old. Food production has been declining, food imports are rising and food insecurity deepening. Whereas the per capita availability of foodgrain was 190 kg per person per annum in 1979-80, it declined to only 186 kg in 2004-05. Since 2004-05, the rising prices of food have made matters worse.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, about 100 million people have already moved to the category of “hungry” all over the world from 2004-05 to 2007-08. Prof Tendulkar’s expert group has rightly recommended that definition of the poverty line be changed and a new methodology be adopted incorporating changes in the price index. The consumption base also needs to be expanded by including the expenditure on health and education.
The definition of poverty will then not be perfect, but it would be a forward progression from a mere starvation line to a better defined poverty line. Thus far, the government’s policies have been based on ill-defined parameters. Second, it will be forced to spend more money on welfare. In the long run, Prof Tendulkar’s report will set a benchmark in determining the methodology for the assessment of poverty.

The writer is Associate Professor, PGDAV College, New Delhi

Source: The Statesman, 22 January 2010

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=317842&catid=38

Politics of the Belly

Shamita Basu

  

Tribal communities in India have historically existed as parceled out sovereignties. This has strengthened ethnicity and made the tribals more self-conscious and politically competitive. State boundaries have had to be redrawn, leading to the creation of Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.  
However, what makes Lalgarh exceptional is that the local tribals have not demanded the right to self-determination. Nor for that matter have they sought a redrawn map of Bengal, like the Gorkhas in the Hills. The movement in Lalgarh began as a discourse on moral ethnicity when the tribals were attacked by the police last November. The movement has now been linked to that of the Maoists. The line that differentiates the tribal from the Maoist is getting increasingly blurred.
The present scenario in the tribal belt is somewhat reminiscent of British India. The colonial ruler in league with the upper caste landlords and zamindars would forcefully usurp the tribal land and resources and evacuate them from their hearth and home ~ the Rajmahal hills. The process, criminalised by the money-lenders and the sexual exploitation of women, eventually culminated in the Santhal rebellion.
India of the 21st century has not substantially altered the colonial policy. Indeed, the lack of development reflects the colonial mindset. Besides, tribal land and resources have been plundered. The Special Economic Zones have been planned on inalienable tribal land without the distribution of economic benefits.
Economic plight
CIVIL society has been largely indifferent to the economic plight of the tribals. It has even been argued that the governmental model of development might simply misfire, even threaten the subaltern perception of “development”. This view has provided a comfortable escape route for the government.
The question of tribal welfare now occupies the centrestage in Bengal. The gradual loosening of state power has opened up the space for democratisation in the form of discord, protest and rebellion. What used to be a shadow line of the Maoist movement has become more prominent. It is becoming progressively difficult to separate the militia from the tribal population. No wonder the state treads nervously.
The political class generally has tried to link tribal disaffection with that of the Maoist militia. The idea is to run down both in the public perception. The other method, resorted to by the administration, is to invoke such stringent legislation as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act to curb what it calls the state of internal terrorism. This is a puerile perception
Maoism historically has its roots in the agrarian and tribal societies in India. Its revival need not be sought in its ideology ~ of the reluctance of the Left radical to join the political mainstream. A close look is necessary to determine what exactly sustains these movements at the popular and grassroot level and why it is able to extract support from the human rights activists and the radical section of civil society.
The obsessive concern with investments in industry is dangerous. Even the West has begun to question what the German sociologist, Ulrich Beck, has called “The Risk Society” ~ a product of the industrial society. “Just as modernisation dissolved the structure of feudal society in the 19th century, modernisation today is dissolving industrial society and a new modernity is coming into being.” By linking up the critique of industrialisation with the cause of the poor and the marginalised, the ideology of the Maoists has been significantly recast.
The contradiction of Indian politics lies in its espousal of a development model that is anachronistic in nature. The paradox of a developing society is that it borrows from a model that has outgrown itself in the West, but is parceled out to the East. Just as under-development in the Third World was once perceived to have been created. The emergence of what can be called the civil society movement in India is largely linked to this new brand of modernity that is beyond the pale of its classical industrial design.
Complex process
THE paradox of this model of development makes both the economic and political solution an extremely complex and elusive process. There may be hope yet if the State jettisons its absolutist stance. It must realise that thoughtless industrialisation can be hazardous for the climate. It can even destroy the natural habitat that had traditionally sheltered man, both physically and psychologically. In this quest for a safe society based on distributive justice and the protection of man’s basic needs, the government must function as a partner of the people. Instead of focusing on markets and breeding consumerism, the government must interact with its impoverished citizens and meet their fundamental needs ~ food, water, medicine and sanitation. Development doesn’t mean only the construction of sprawling industrial townships, multistoried apartments and luxury resorts.
Thus far, the government has not been able to delink development from industrialisation, urbanisation and market-driven resource generation, one that is based on outdated Western models. And if the question of welfare is swept under the carpet by according increased priority to security and terror, the appropriate development model will be relegated. The State can do so at its own peril.
The Maoist ideology is of lesser moment than the material structure that sustains such ideology. What Jean Francois Bayart famously described as “the politics of the belly” sustains Maoism. This happens when the state is impervious to the needs of the subaltern, most importantly his subsistence level. The government has attempted an economic overdrive long after the 19th century industrial development model outlived its utility.
Instead of silencing a people’s movement, the Government of India must be sensitive to the development paradigm. The establishment must reflect on its policies if it wants to silence the subaltern gun.

Source: The Statesman, 16 November 2009

http://thestatesman.in/page.news.php?clid=3&theme=&usrsess=1&id=274554
 

The Corporatised State

D Bandyopadhyay

[An article of D. Bandyopadhyay, a retired IAS officer was published in the Statesman on the land Acquisition Bill and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill. The article which critically analyzed the bills is read worthy. Editorial Board, Red Barricade]

Part I

TRUE to her character, Mamata Banerjee, the railway minister, stood up against the Land Acquisition (LA) Amendment Bill and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) Bill. Her courageous and ethical stand on this issue was resented by the ruling establishment. Predictably, a section of the national print media criticised her position as anti-development and populist. The utter insensivity displayed by this group is at the root of many of our current problems, including what is commonly known as Naxalite extremism.

One could, perhaps, applaud the Government of India for giving teeth to the national R&R policy, 2007, by bringing in the Bill along with the legislation for the comprehensive amendment of the LA Act of 1894. The R&R policy 2007 and the R&R Bill indicate that a section of the establishment is pragmatic enough to realise that in the current scenario of popular awareness and unease, some concessions have to be made before any hard and harsh policy could be put in place. But a larger section among them, committed to total market economy reform measures, is totally averse to any such adjustment and compromise.

The amending LA Bill, instead of being people-friendly, incorporates features which are patently anti-people. Its first and formidable assault is on the definition of “public purpose”, reflecting the dominant philosophy of withdrawal of the State from the economic and social welfare domains. The current LA Act in Section 3(f) defines the expression “public purpose” which includes such features as provision of village sites, provision of land for town and rural planning, provision of land for residential purposes to the poor or landless or to persons living in natural calamity prone areas or persons affected by development projects, etc. There was a definite slant for the poor, the landless and people living in the rural areas.

Three aspects

THE impact of Nehruvian welfare was obvious in the definition of “public purpose”. But the proposed amendment totally negates the concept of welfare of the poor and downtrodden. It has three aspects: (i) Strategic purposes necessary for the state; (ii) Infrastructure projects where benefits accrue to the general public; and (iii) Any other purpose useful to the general public for which 70 per cent of the land has been purchased by “a person” through negotiation, but the remaining 30 per cent is yet to be acquired. The explanation of “a person” includes “any company or association or body of individuals, whether uncorporated or not.”

To take the last point first, a government is not expected to resort to trickery or, chicanery or double-dealing. Unfortunately, this is exactly what the government has done. Having omitted the word “company” from the preamble of the Bill, it brought back not only incorporated companies, but “a person” including association or unregistered body of persons, through a big back door. The law could now be used or abused or misused by any realtor, land speculator, private companies or by any land mafia gang under the cover of any respectable name.

And what is the sanctity of the magic figure of 70 per cent? Why not 80 per cent or 90 per cent or 100 per cent? In fact, it would have been better to allow a person to acquire through negotiated purchase 100 per cent of the land with the government acting as a “regulator” to protect the small and marginal farmers from being coerced, to part with their lands by the strong arm methods of the purchasers. After all what is the bargaining power of even a big farmer against mega corporate bodies whether national or multinational? They could be intimidated, browbeaten, bullied or frightened or induced to part with their land without the fair process of bargaining. In fact, the present law with Chapter VII for the acquisition of land for companies is more transparent, equitable, non-discriminatory and fair than the proposed amendment.

The proposed expression “public purpose” is not acceptable. One is compelled to comment that the State has skilfully withdrawn from welfare activities. The proposed law could be utilised by the government for strategic reasons or by “a person”, which means basically corporate entities. The implications are grave. It would imply that the government wishes to privatise welfare activities. If the private sector were to take up such activities, they would be able to earn a profit. Either they will not take up such activities; or such enterprise will be priced so high that intended beneficiaries will be excluded. “It would seem that the state is entirely fixated on infrastructure, security related concerns and corporate economic growth and is disowning individual oriented development and welfare activities targeted for the poor and weaker sections.” (Saxena, KB ~ The Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2007, Council for Social Development, July 2003, New Delhi, page 29).

A major deficiency of the Bill is that it totally ignores the problems of the Scheduled Tribes, particularly, those living in the scheduled areas. There are many protective laws for the STs and more so for those in the scheduled areas. One could argue that since the original Act did not provide for any special provisions for the STs living in such areas, an amendment to that Act could as well disregard the issue. A look at the map of Central India, where “Naxalism” or “Maoism” is widely prevalent, will reveal that the bulk of the area is covered by Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. Ignoring the problems of the tribals in the proposed amendment would only add fuel to the already raging fire.

Displaced tribals

STATISTICAL data will substantiate the point. According to Walter Fernandes, scholar and social activist, about 60 million Indians were compulsorily evicted from their hearth and home between 1954 and 2004 because of the land acquisition process. They included 20 million members of the Scheduled Tribes. Further, according to government’s own admission only 28 per cent of the ousted ST population was rehabilitated. What happened to the remaining 72 per cent of unrehabilitated tribal people? To put it bluntly, they had become the flotsam and the jetsam of our development process. The displaced tribals constitute 25 per cent of the 80 million tribal population. The map of the area where Maoists are active and the map of the displaced tribal belt broadly coincide. The whole issue needs to be viewed from the internal security angle. The new Bill should incorporate the relevant provision of the Panchayat (Extension and Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 (PESA), the important features of the Supreme Court’s “Samtha” judgment (Civil Appeals No 4601-02 of 1997) and the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. In addition, there are various laws for the protection of the Scheduled Tribes in every state. The Bill should try to harmonise the beneficial aspects of these protective laws. Any attempt to bypass these issues will intensify the Maoist movement in the hills and jungles of Central India. There are several laws for the acquisition of land by different Union ministries and the state governments. The present Bill does not address the incongruities and contradictions that exist among these laws. Either the new amendments should have overriding authority over these Acts or those acts should be amended in conformity with the proposed Bill. It is a difficult task, but it has to be done to avoid future complications.

Part II

THE Rehabilitation and Resettlement policy 2007 lays down the basic principle of “three minima” for the acquisition of land. These are: (i) minimise the displacement of people due to the acquisition for projects; (ii) minimise the total area of land to be acquired for the project; and (iii) minimise the acquisition of agricultural land for non-agricultural use in the project (page 34, para 1.4). Unfortunately the Bill does not make these principles mandatory. It only refers to the discretion of the scrutiny committee to select a site with minimum displacement and minimum acquisition of land. Knowing how the bureaucracy functions, they might consider some dummy sites and zero in on the site preferred by the requiring body. A statutory provision would have been helpful here.

The Bill introduced a new section “1A”. It states: “The provisions of the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2009 shall apply in respect of acquisition of land by the appropriate government under this (LA) Act.” Thus there has been a thoughtful attempt to synchronise the implementation of both the amended LA Act and the new R&R Act 2009. So far so good!

Glaring deficiency

BUT two separate Acts would in all probability necessitate two separate implementation authorities. That might not be the compulsion for implementing both the laws simultaneously or in pari passu. Since the need for resettlement and rehabilitation arises out of compulsory displacement through the LA Act, it would have been better if the basic features of the R&R Bill could be incorporated in the LA Act. This would make the acquiring authority responsible and accountable for proper resettlement and rehabilitation of the people affected by the projects. There should be one basic Act incorporating the LA and R&R policy. To reduce the volume of the text, most of the procedural issues could be featured in the rules framed under this Act.

The most glaring deficiency of the LA amendment Bill is the absence of any “exit policy”. It is common sense that if an authority under certain circumstances can compulsorily acquire land, then under some other circumstances it should have the power to de-acquire the land and return the tract to the original owners or their rightful legatee. Section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 states: “Power to issue to include power to add, to amend, vary or rescind notification, orders, rules or by-laws.” Based on this principle the amending Bill should provide for de-acquisition of land and restoration of the same to the original owners or their rightful legatees. I shall cite three well known cases in West Bengal.

An area of approximately 997 acres of multicrop land was acquired in Singur for setting up a small car factory by Tata Motors. It was taken possession of in December 2006. On 3 October 2008, Tata Motors abandoned the project and decided to shift the factory to Gujarat. What happens to the 997 acres of acquired land when about 30 per cent of the original landowners refused to accept compensation money? The law is silent. The unrest persists.

In the early fifties, Hindustan Motors was given 750 acres for setting up an automobile factory. In the last 50 years the company could use only 300 acres. An area of 450 acres of valuable prime land remained unutilised for over half a century. Why should not that unutilised land be “de-acquired” and handed back to the owners? The law has no answer.

In 1944-45, during the Governorship of RG Casey, several square miles of land were acquired in the Kalyani-Haringhata area of Nadia district for setting up the Greater Calcutta Milk Supply project. The Haringhata dairy farm was set on a small portion of this vast area. Even after 60 years, several square kilometres of land remain unutilised. Neither the government nor the law has an answer.

Complicated situation

NOTHING could be done because the original LA Act did not have an “exit policy”. The Supreme Court judgment in the Bhaskaran Pillai case made the situation even more complicated. The sum and substance of the judgment is that land once acquired for a public purpose has to be used for the same purpose. In case a part of the land is unutilised, it has to be used for some other public purpose. Or else, the land should be put up for auction and the net sales proceeds used for some public purpose. But the land cannot be returned to the original owners.
To get over this problem, the Tamil Nadu government moved a local (state specific) amendment to the LA Act under which the state can return the excess, unutilised land to the original owners.

Provisions will have to be made in the amending LA Bill for the restoration of the acquired land to original owners if the requiring body abandons the project or fails to utilise land within a specified period or when the scope of the project requires less land or for any other eventuality. Without these provisions, land acquisition will continue to be a contentious issue.

There are various other aspects, such as compensation, that need a relook. In the amending Bill, the basic feature of compensation remains unaltered. Loss of livelihood has to be recognised as an issue for compensation. Likewise there are various other loose ends which have to be attended to. If the nation could wait till 2009 from 1894, it could afford another couple of years to make the amending Bill properly respond to the changed situation since 1894 and to become people friendly.

Looking back, it appears that the much abused LA Act of 1894 had a more humane face than the proposed amendment. The amending Bill has, unfortunately, exposed the unlovely face of the corporatised Indian state.

The writer is a retired IAS officer

Source: The Statesman; 4 & 5 August 2009.