UTTAR PRADESH KISANS ON STRUGGLE PATH

Rajendra Sharma

WITH its two-day Kisan Padav (stay-in) at the administrative headquarters of the affected districts, the Uttar Pradesh unit of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has again picked up the thread of struggle against reckless and forced acquisition of agricultural land for huge commercial projects centred around the Yamuna Expressway. Post-Bhatta-Parsaul repression that left two peasants dead and dozens injured in police firing, this was the first major initiative to organise peasantry for protecting their interests.

The all-India president of AIKS and CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, S Ramchandran Pillai, inaugurated the Kisan Padav at Mathura on June 17 in front of the District Collector's office at Mathura. The Padav, with participation of hundreds of ordinary kisans and rural poor, continued on June 18 despite untimely rains. Bulandshahar, Aligarh and Agra districts also saw similar Kisan Padavs. In Noida, a Kisan Padav could not be organised as authorities denied permission for the same.

D P Singh, president of the UP state unit of Kisan Sabha, explained that now that land acquisition for Yamuna Expressway was practically over, the main struggle is on the question of large scale land acquisition for commercial development projects. The idea is to develop the world’s largest city, running along the entire 165 km length of the new highway. In all, 1400 villages spread over seven districts have been notified for the purpose. These include 489 villages in two tehsils (subdivisions) of Mathura district.

In an effort to unify all the village poor who will get affected by the land acquisition process, the AIKS has formulated two sets of demands. For the land-losers, the Kisan Sabha has further concretised its demand of market rate and is also demanding pre-acquisition conversion of landuse and payments according to the market rate. Other demands are that a peasant must get a definite share in the profit earned on the sale of his land, in form of annuity or any other form, and that he must have full rehabilitation before his separation from his land.

On the other hand, for the landless and other people engaged in agriculture related work, the Kisan Sabha is demanding proper and not token compensation.

While inaugurating the Kisan Padav at Mathura, S R Pillai explained in detail these demands of the Kisan Sabha. Criticising the so-called new land acquisition policy announced by the UP chief minister, Ms Mayawati subsequent to the Bhatta-Parsaul confrontation, the AIKS leader called it a “cure worse than the disease itself.” Emphasising urgent need for radical changes in land acquisition law, including provisions for rehabilitation, Pillai emphasised that leaving the land acquisition process in the hands of corporates can only prove disastrous --- both for peasants and the country.

Beside the local Kisan Sabha leaders, UP Kisan Sabha president D P Singh and vice president Karmpal Singh also addressed the Kisan Padav at Mathura. District Kisan Sabha leader Digamber Singh presided.

Courtesy: People’s Democracy

CHICAGO TRIAL: SPOTLIGHT ON PAKISTAN

Yohannan Chemerapally

THE trial of Chicago businessman Tahawwur Rana, accused of helping David Coleman Headley in the planning of the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008, has once again focussed attention on Pakistan and the terror networks that are still active within its borders. The Chicago court, which delivered its judgement in the second week of June, found Rana, a minor accomplice of Headley, guilty on two out of the three charges against him. Rana has been acquitted of the main charge that he was involved in the Mumbai terror attacks. The jury in the Chicago trial court agreed with the argument of the defence that the accused was misled by Headley and was in the dark against the plot to stage terror attacks against Mumbai. Rana was, however, found guilty of plotting revenge attacks in Denmark along with Headley against those responsible for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. The court also found Rana guilty of delivering materiel help to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the group held responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks.

ARRANGEMENT OF CONVENIENCE

Headley has been in American custody for more than a year and has since become a star witness for the prosecution. To escape the death penalty, the man who claims to have played a key role in the Mumbai massacre has negotiated a plea bargain with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The arrangement apparently suits both the parties. As the proceedings in the Chicago trial court showed, Headley only talked about the alleged complicity of Pakistani intelligence agencies in the terror attacks against India. Headley’s past as an agent for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which has close links with the CIA, has been conveniently glossed over.

During his five days of testimony on the witness stand, Headley provided no new information. But the trial, coming as it does in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden and the terror attacks against a Pakistani naval base in Karachi, brought more unwelcome attention to Pakistan. The Obama administration is deeply suspicious about sections of the Pakistani army and intelligence services after the Al Qaeda leader was discovered living in the balmy cantonment town of Abbotabad, near the capital Islamabad, undisturbed for around six years. “Rana is on trial, but in many ways the Pakistani army and the Pakistani intelligence is on trial,” Bruce Riedel, a former senior CIA official and currently working at the Brookings Institute, told the New York Times.

In the open court room, Headley once again named “Major Iqbal” as his ISI contact in Pakistan and Sajid Mir, as his handler from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Headley, however, did admit that he had no contacts with any senior officials from the ISI. The Pakistani government denies the existence of the mysterious “Major.” Headley admitted under cross examination from the defence lawyer, Charles Swift, that he could neither identify Major Iqbal nor help in the efforts to locate him. The well known American lawyer reminded the court about Headley’s track record. Headley, he said, was working for the DEA when he started training with the LeT and allegedly started taking orders from the ISI. He described Headley as a “master manipulator” who had pleaded guilty on earlier occasions in order to escape severe sentences. Swift is the lawyer who successfully got the US Supreme Court to strike down the military commissions set up under the Bush administration to try the Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Despite his continuing anonymity, the US authorities have already put Major Iqbal on its “most wanted” terror list. Headley also told the court that he had met with Ilyas Kashmiri, the leader of the Harakat-ul-Jihad during his frequent trips to the Indian subcontinent. Kashmiri, according to Headley, had wanted militant groups to target the offices of Lockheed Martin, the American armaments company which manufactures the drones that have been running havoc all over Pakistan. Kashmiri has been held responsible for many acts of terror in India as well as Pakistan. He had claimed responsibility for the attack avenging the death of Osama on the Pakistani naval base in Karachi. A few days after Headley named him in the Chicago court, he was reportedly killed in a US drone attack in Southern Waziristan. Pakistani authorities claim that they helped the US forces locate his whereabouts. “I understood these (militant) groups operated under the umbrella of the ISI and Lashkar,” Headley had told the Chicago trial court.

HEADLEY MADE STICK TO SCRIPT

The LeT has now become the common enemy of both the US and India. A recent US government report describes the LeT as one of the most dangerous and well organised terror groups that considers American targets as legitimate. According to Headley, both the ISI and Lashkar wanted him to conduct surveillance on targets in India. During his plea bargain hearings, Headley admitted to having visited India for five reconnaissance missions between 2006 and 2008. On all the five occasions, he returned to the US via Pakistan after “meeting various co-conspirators, including but not limited to the LeT.” The Obama administration has so far not officially acknowledged Headley’s contention that the ISI top brass was involved in planning the Mumbai attacks. Nor has Washington accepted the suggestion that at the most only a handful of rogue elements from Pakistan’s security establishment were involved in the Mumbai terror attack.

Headley, from all available accounts, is not a credible witness. He is an admitted drug user who has spent more than six years in an American prison. He was only released after he agreed to work as an undercover agent for the DEA. He has admitted to lying to the FBI and has been diagnosed by psychiatrists as suffering from “mixed personality disorder.” Under relentless defence cross examination, Headley had admitted that on more than one occasion he had used Rana for his nefarious activities, while keeping his friend from his school going days in the dark. The defence is arguing that Rana was unaware of Headley’s terror links.

The Indian prime minister as well as the home minister have both said that no new actionable information has emerged from Headley’s testimony. The American authorities had allowed Indian investigators to politely question but not interrogate Headley on his role in the Mumbai terror attacks. The information he provided first to the American authorities and then to the Chicago court tallied with the information that was already in the hands of the Indian government and was already in the public domain. The American authorities have ensured that Headley sticks to the script he has been given and not divulge details about his role as a double agent working both for the American and Pakistani secret services. Many American reporters covering the Chicago court proceedings got the impression that Headley’s deposition was a tutored one.

The agreement between the US federal agencies and Headley stipulates that no evidence on his links with American intelligence agencies are brought under the ambit of the court. Headley’s links with US intelligence will remain classified secrets.

AMERICAN DUPLICITY

The FBI has also made it clear that it will not allow Headley to be extradited to India to face justice for the massacre of 166 people during the Mumbai terror attack. The FBI has also not bothered to share “actionable intelligence” with India. Close cooperation in counter-terrorism is at the heart of the close US-India strategic ties forged by the UPA government. But so far, the US has refused to share much of the information it has on the terror networks in Pakistan with New Delhi as it continues to walk the diplomatic tight rope with Pakistan. American interests seem to supersede that of Indian national interests when it comes to terrorism related issues affecting the continent. There is speculation that Washington knew about Headley’s repeated visits to India and had enough information to forewarn India about the imminence of an attack on Mumbai.

All this has, however, not stopped the Indian government from further deepening the existing counter-terrorism links with the US. The US homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitino, was in Delhi in the last week of May to hold talks with the home minister, P Chidambaram. After the end of what was billed as a “homeland security dialogue,” the two sides issued a statement reaffirming their common resolve to defeat terrorism and called for effective steps by all countries to eliminate “safe havens of terror.” Napolitino said that the two governments had agreed to “strengthen our strategic partnerships, to share best practices and to identify future areas of collaboration.” The US homeland secretary told the media in Delhi that she viewed the LeT as equal in danger to the Al Qaeda network. She also held forth a promise that the Indian law enforcement agencies would be given further access to Headley.

Courtesy: People’s Democracy

POSCO PLANT: ORISSA: FACING RESISTANCE, GOVT STOPS LAND ACQUISITION

Dusmanta Das

JUNE 21, 2011 will remain a Red Letter Day for the democratic movement in Orissa, and more particularly for the people who have been opposing the forcible occupation of their lands by the government of Orissa near Paradeep for a POSCO plant. Finding no other way in face of the stiff resistance from the local people of Dhinkia, Govindpur and Nuagaon, supported by the democratic people of the state and outside, the government of Orissa declared that it would to stop the land acquisition process, albeit temporarily, from June 21, 2011.

On the day, Basudev Acharia, leader of the CPI(M) group in Lok Sabha, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta and Forward Bloc leader Narahari Mahato, along with the CPI(M)’s Orissa state secretary Janardan Pati, state committee member Suresh Panigrahi, Cuttack district secretariat member Ullash Swain and the state level leaders of the CPI and FB, marched to Dhinkia in Govindpur area where the people’s protracted resistance was continuing for quite a long time. Of late there were a human chain programme and a dharna by women and children in face of the onslaught of a heavily armed police force.

Addressing the mass comprising the poor farmers, agricultural labourers, small shopkeepers, people from different walks of life and more so the women and children who have been on a continuing dharna while braving the scorching sun, incessant rain and bad weather, Basudev Acharia expressed support to their cause and demanded that the POSCO site should be shifted from the present one and that the forcible occupation of land for the POSCO should be stopped immediately. He also pointed out that there was no need of another port, to be constructed by POSCO, at a distance of only 8 to 10 km from the Paradeep port since the latter is quite capable of handling the increase in cargo including that of the POSCO. He criticised the central government’s ministry of forests and environment for giving environmental clearance to the POSCO while two of its own committees have recommended negatively. He sharply criticised the BJD state government also for its false report to the centre and its attempts at forcible occupation of land through the use of police force.

Others who addressed the meeting included Gurudas Dasgupta and Narahari Mahato (both MPs), Ajay Sahoo (president of the POSCO Pratirodha Sangram Samiti), Janardan Pati and other leaders of the CPI, CPI (M) and FB. The visit of the leaders enthused the people. Earlier, people from Dhinkia & Govindapur came in procession, and the people of Nuagaon joined them soon. A motor cycle procession of CPI(M) workers came to the meeting’s venue from Paradeep after covering a stretch of about 15 km.

Ultimately the district administration perforce made the announcement that it was going stop the acquisition of land for the POSCO. Even though the land acquisition has been stopped only temporarily, the announcement brought cheers to the people. It boosted the sense of confidence among the people who have been opposing the forcible occupation of land for years and will also enthuse the people who are fighting for just democratic causes else

Courtesy: People’s Democracy

TRADE UNIONS ORGANISE CHAKKA JAM ALL OVER PUNJAB

Ashanand

PUNJAB witnessed complete Chakka Jam for two hours by the working class on the joint call of all trade unions, viz the CITU, AITUC, INTUC, NTUI, HMS and CTU Punjab. The action, full of enthusiasm, succeeded in giving a message to the ruling classes that the working class would not continue to bear their atrocities for long. Thousands of industrials workers, MNREGA workers, forest workers, FCI workers, contract workers of different government and semi-government departments, Anganwari workers and helpers, Asha workers and mid-day meal workers participated in this action. The action took place at more than 100 places covering all the 20 districts of the state. At about 50 places, CITU workers alone blocked the roads and railway tracks.

The call was given to focus the government’s attention on demands like increasing the minimum wages to Rs 10,000 per month for the unskilled, Rs 15,000 for the semi-skilled and Rs 20,000 for the skilled workers. Minimum wages of the MNGREGA and agricultural workers too must be brought in the ambit of minimum wage legislation. All contract workers and employees must be regularised; contract system in the government, semi-government, public and private institutions must be abolished. Equal wage for equal work must be ensured; strong actions must be taken against the industrialists, contractors and government officials who violate the labour laws. Black laws must be repealed, false police cases filed against trade union leaders must be withdrawn, misuse of the police and section 144 must be stopped. Another important demand was that Anganwari workers and helpers must be paid monthly allowances on the Haryana pattern to the tune of Rs 5000 and Rs 2500 respectively.

The police arrested about 1,000 workers at Amritsar in order to foil the action. They also attacked Anganwari workers and misbehaved with the district AIFWH president.

The leaders who addressed the protest actions at various places were state CITU general secretary Ragunath Singh, its president Vijay Misra, state AITUC general secretary Bant Brar and president Nirmal Dhalilwal, NTUI general secretary Chander Sekhar and president Tarsem Jodhan, CTU general secretary Natha Singh, Inderjit Singh, HMS general secretary S D Kapoor and president Kulwant Singh Bawa, among others.

While addressing the protestors, the leaders said bourgeois landlord parties cheat the working masses in order to get votes but impose upon the latter the burden of escalating prices after wining the elections, on the excuse of empty government coffers. Their central and state governments are slave to the exploiting classes whose interests they serve. These governments are giving the bourgeoisie Rs 2.5 lakh crore as tax subsidy while making the essential commodities increasingly costly. Government enterprises are being privatised and given to capitalists very cheaply. The trade union leaders said the labour laws are being amended in favour of the capitalists. The working class can defend itself from the capitalist onslaughts only by its class unity and united struggles for their rights.

The trade union leaders warned the central and state governments that the struggle would continue till the demands of the workers were fulfilled. They also condemned police action against the workers at various places and demanded immediate action against the police officials responsible. They also demanded immediate release of the arrested workers and withdrawal of the false cases against trade unions leaders.

Courtesy: People’s Democracy

MAHARASHTRA: FARMERS TAKE THE BULL BY HORNS

Uday Narkar

THE company under the name Indiabulls is virtually a bull let loose in the china shop of super profits. The aim of the company, founded by some Indians in collaboration with a few foreigners, is to loot the Indians. The company has begun an enterprise to earn super profits by trampling the rights and livelihood of workers, farmers and agricultural workers. The governments, both at the centre and in the state of Maharashtra, have been more than benign towards the company's deeds of commission and omission. Peasants and agricultural workers in the Nashik district of Maharashtra have risen spontaneously against the oppression of this company. The police have happily come ahead to protect the vested interests of this company: 105 villagers, along with their woman sarpanch (president of village panchayat), Saralatai Sanap, were incarcerated in the Nashik jail.

To protest this oppression, thousands of farmers of the village Gulwanch and the surrounding villages came together and formed a ‘Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti’ (Farmers’ Struggle Committee). They organised a march to the Nashik Collectorate in which farmers and agricultural workers participated in thousands. The march was led by CPI(M) state secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale, secretariat member Dr D L Karad, former CPI(M) MLA Jiva Pandu Gavit, AIAWU joint secretary Kumar Shiralkar, AIKS state secretary Kisan Gujar, former High Court judge Justice Kolse-Patil, Haribhau Tambe, Haribhau Shinde, Advocate Ugale, Deshmukh and others. The agitation originated in the Sinnar taluq of Nashik is likely to spread to the others parts of the district and beyond into the districts of Dhule, Nandurbar and Amaravati because the ambitious Indiabulls company is very much eager to spread its tentacles to other areas.

GENESIS OF INDIABULLS

Two young men from Delhi, Samir Gehlot and Rajiv Rattan jointly took over, in 1999, a defunct finance company and started trading in shares under its auspices. One Saurabh Mittal joined them in a few months. It was the first share broking company in the country that traded on the internet. They started, in January 2000, a company called “Indiaulls Financial Services.” L N Mittal and Harish Fabiani supplied capital to the company in June the same year. The company started a subsidiary, Indiabulls Securities, towards the end of 2000. By 2003, they had opened their offices in many cities in the country. Their internet broking trade grew in geometric proportions. The Indiabulls Financial Services introduced its shares in the market for a price of Rs 19 per share. The company also entered the consumer loan market and poured huge funds into it.

Realising that low aim is a crime, the company started looking for greener pastures. The government of Maharashtra was inviting any number of bulls to ransack the desolate lands of the closed textile mills of Mumbai. No surprise that this bull was drawn to it. It formed a company, Indiabulls Properties Private Limited, to purchase textile mill land that is being auctioned. The National Textile Corporation (NTC) has a lot of land which belongs to the mills that it has taken over. It decided to auction 11 acres of Jupiter Mills in Lower Parel area of the metropolis. By the way, the Lower Parel, which prided itself as a working class district for ages, is now fast becoming a swanky township. The workers, who gave glory to the city of Mumbai, are being thrown, bag and baggage, into oblivion in the neo-liberal India. It is the same area where Mukesh Ambani of the Reliance has constructed his 28-storey palace. Anyway, the Indiabulls purchased these 11 acres of the Jupiter Mills in auction. The company lost no time to enter the lucrative business of the real estate. It formed the Indiabulls Real Estate Company Pvt Ltd which bought the land of the Elphinstone Mill as well, that belonged to the same NTC. The Indiabulls paid a huge amount of Rs 2,150 crore to grab the land of the Bharat and Poddar Mills. Well, they were not doing anything out of the ordinary. The business of buying land on the pretext of development and then selling it for super profits is rampant all over the country. The Indiabulls are just following the suit. Well, not exactly. It is actually one of those who are leading the pack. The company has purchased 2.4 million sq ft in the last three months alone (supposedly for development)! It has acquired not less than 6 crore sq ft of prime land so far.

DEVELOPING LAND: AT WHO’S COST?

What, however, is their idea of developing land? It is simply to level down all existing structures and build in their place monstrous malls, ugly palaces for the equally obscene rich and five-star hotels --- actually black-holes where black money is sucked in. All these are further embellished with designer gardens, Olympic-style swimming pools and multiplexes. Their advertisements promise no less than American dream-world amidst the squalor of migrant populace. The Indiabulls have been displaying the ad, ad nauseum, of their paradise constructed at Gurgaon near Delhi. The Indiabulls walks an extra mile to welcome the ministers, highly placed bureaucrats, mafia dons and sundry capitalists who have all amassed huge amounts of money by dodging tax authorities in creative ways. These people don’t have to go to Swiss banks to seek tax havens now. Moreover, the Indiabulls readily supplies loans to those who deal in developed properties too.

The central government’s policies of privatisation and liberalisation come in handy to the ones like the Indiabulls who are looking to make quick bucks. The government detests putting any controls on these companies. It also becomes generous enough to dole them out huge tax concessions. The companies thus amass wealth on an unprecedented scale. As if this were not enough, the government has come forward to award a special economic zone (SEZ) to this company. The Indiabulls is thus grabbing agricultural land to promote their SEZs. It has already announced the selling price of such land --- from Rs 2,500 to 20,000 per sq ft. These are the prices before the land was developed. It is anybody’s guess what the actual price of the developed land will be.

One need not guess who the buyers of this land would be. The Adarsh scam has already revealed who these super rich are. Just cast a glance at the people who are displacing those who have built Mumbai by their toil: Morgan Stanley (yes, you are right, the infamous American thug company), Bloomberg, Bain, Marsh – Mclennan, Deloitte, Reliance, Birla, NDTV, Yes Bank etc. These are the elite customers who are buying land from the Indiabulls.

BULL ADDS TO ITS (MUSCLE) POWER

In 2007 the company opened a new venture: Indiabulls Power. It decided to install two thermal power plants, one each in Nashik and Amaravati districts, totalling 5400 MW of electricity. The Indiabulls Power company entered the share market in September 2009. After having purchased land in the metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, it has now turned to the hinterlands of Maharashtra. It set its eyes on the fertile land in Sinnar taluq of Nashik district. It identified 2,500 acres of agricultural land from village Gulvanchi; 900 acres of this land is reserved for its power plant. It tried to trap farmers with attractive words such as construction of a ‘golden corridor’ connecting Delhi – Mumbai – Nashik for the sole benefit of the farmers! The trap will further extend to engulf the farmers of Dhule, Nandurbar and Amaravati districts.

The Indiabulls is supposedly operating on two terrains --- an industrial region and an investment region. But it has now become as clear as sunlight that this company is not established to either bring in industrial development to the region or create jobs. The Maharashtra government has loyally pursued the same neo-liberal policy of deindustrialisation and, to use Professor Utsa Patnaik’s words, “job-loss growth.” We are all too aware as to how the land is being given away to capitalists for a pittance. The union government is out to disinvest to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore in the public sector. This is the solemn promise given by our finance minister to the capitalists in his budget speech. More than 31,000 small scale industries are closed in Maharashtra and 1,60,000 workers have lost their jobs. Rubbing salt into their wounds, the state government has submitted 233 SEZ proposals to the central government. The latter has sanctioned 143 and has readily notified 63 SEZs.

The Congress-NCP government in the state is no fool to truthfully explain to farmers the implications of the SEZ. Cultivation of land is the sole source of livelihood for farmers. Land is the only source of employment for the rural population. Apart from farmers, the livelihood of rural workers depends on agriculture only. Not only that; the livelihood of village craftsmen and petty traders too is organically attached to farming activity. It is more than obvious that productivity of land should be enhanced if the life of this populace is to be improved. Rural development is in all respects connected to the uses of land and water. In rural areas employment can be generated only on the basis scientific and equitable, people oriented watershed development strategy. Adequate supply of drinking water, roads, sewage, sanitary facilities, education and public health are the indices of real human development. It is imperative for a government to invest in these.

It is also incumbent on a government to facilitate decentralised industrialisation by encouraging small-scale industries. For this, the villagers should be taken into confidence and plan accordingly. The planned and proper development cannot come about unless people’s participation is ensured.

RENEGING ON PROMISES

The state of Maharashtra was formed in 1960 as a result of the people’s successful agitation for the united linguistic state. The first steps that the early administration took were substantially in consonance with the people’s developmental aspirations. The concept behind establishing the Maharashtra State Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) was to achieve such decentralised industrial development. However, the objectives of MIDC underwent drastic changes in the wake of the onslaught of imperialist globalisation. The shadows of finance capital started blackening the industrial horizons of the state. The MIDC shamelessly started consorting with finance capital like that of Indiabulls. The MIDC thus, at the behest of the Indiabulls, buys land from farmers for meagre Rs 2 lakh an acre and earns thirty crores by selling it to the Bulls. The Bulls, in their turn, ‘develop’ that land and charge about Rs 2 crore per acre from the prospective buyers. The MIDC lied to the farmers saying that it needs this land to establish small scale industries which would ensure employment for them. The ‘political touts’ of the bourgeois parties saw to it that the farmers did not see through these lies. The gullible farmers lost the land that would give them at least roti for generations together. They lost land and did not get jobs. The Bull expelled the tiller from their land into a virtually no man’s land! Now they had nowhere to go. The SEZ has pushed the villages of Gulwanch and Musalgaon into an enclosure, hanging in a limbo. Now the railway ministry is acquiring land to lay a new railway track solely for the Indiabulls.

One used to read, as a child, a slogan on the train compartments: ‘Indian Railways – People’s Property.’ Well, no more in the era of imperialist globalisation. Railways and electricity are in fact infrastructural facilities essential for development. The policy of investing in these from the government treasury, adopted precisely after independence, was given a go bye in the nineties. Privatisation became the buzzword. Monopoly capital was allowed to enter the sector of power generation. It is true that the private capital has always been given concession by the railways for cheap transport. Even so, the railways helped a great deal to strengthen the public sector. Now the central government has taken upon itself the task of providing the rail services for power generation of the Indiabulls. The government of Maharashtra has taken the responsibility of acquiring land from Sinnar, Niphad and Nashik taluqs for laying railway tracks. For its thermal power project, the Bulls have managed a too willing central government to sign a contract to supply coal at a cheap price. The Water Resource Department at Nashik has already granted the use of water for the project and the Nashik Municipal Corporation is giving away its waste water. The company has already pocketed all the necessary no-objection certificates (NOCs). How has the company managed to get this done so quickly? Raising such a question is an affront to the integrity of the corrupt administration!

GROWING STRENGTH OF THE BULLS

The Indiabulls are also constructing a 1,350 MW power plant (phase I) in Amaravati district. The Bulls are the biggest private sector company who have bought machinery for power generation from Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd (BHEL). There are about 4,000 workers working on the plants at Sinnar and Amaravati. Since both the plants fall within SEZ areas, no labour laws are applicable. Worker get neither minimum wages nor any welfare benefits. They have no right to form their trade union. Although the workers are Indian citizens, they do not have civil rights on a piece of land that falls within the sovereignty of India. Farmers might have owned in the past the land that the Bulls now lord over. But by the virtue of the ownership of the Bulls, it has become a ‘foreign’ territory. And which are the companies that have been given contracts to supply machinery? They are Gannon Dunkerley, L&T, ABB and Areva. The last named is the apple of the government of India’s eye. It is to sell untested nuclear reactors for the Jaitapur power plant, the biggest nuclear plant in the world. The Indiabulls will sell its electricity thus generated. The profit, at the rate of one rupee per unit, that the company will earn in the year 2013-14 will be a whopping 60 crore US dollars. Anybody is free to buy this costly electricity. But Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company has already given a guarantee that it will take the responsibility of distributing it.

Indiabulls Power Limited Company has applied to Maharashtra Electricity Controlling Authority for a distribution license. It has asked for permission to distribute electricity in the suburbs of Mumbai. What the company says in the application is very revealing:

Indiabulls Power Ltd (IPL) is a front ranking company of the Indiabulls Group looking after power industry. The company is indexed at both NSE and BSE. The company is developing two thermal power projects of a total 5400 MW capacity at Nashik and Amaravati. The Indiabulls Group has shown, several times, its skill in erecting industries and executing projects. With a substantial investment in immovable properties, infrastructure and power and a long experience of providing financial and other services to petty customers, the company is capable of facing the challenge in Mumbai.....

This clearly shows that Indiabulls is not a power generating company. It has not provided a single proof of exhibiting a skill of erecting an industry and executing a project. It is a company of financial agents. It has not contributed, anywhere in the world, to the people’s welfare by generating even one MW of electricity. They are a group of thugs, looting gullible people in the free market, in the garb of gentlemen. The anti-people governments, in the state and at the centre, are protecting their interests and giving them a free hand to grab the sources of livelihood of thousands of farmers and workers. The Bulls are allowed to roam unhindered in search of super profits, ignoring efficient public sector power industry (The seven thermal power plants in Maharashtra are under public sector undertaking) and the proven skill and knowledge of technicians, engineers and workers. Moreover, the government is unleashing repression to thwart popular agitation for asserting democratic rights. One wonders whether we are living in a sovereign, independent country or in a banana republic under imperial dominion. Indiabulls is a glaring example of how big finance capital in India is joining hands with imperialist capital. Take a look at the list of the friends of Indiabulls.

FRIENDS OF INDIABULLS

The total number of shares that Indiabulls group possesses is 202.30 crores. Out of them, 118.50 crores, i.e. 58.58 per cent, belong to the Indiabulls Real Estate. Financial institutions and banks own 1.64 crore (0.81 per cent), foreign institutional investors own 22.19 crore (10.97 per cent) and foreign speculative capital investors own 26.27 crore (12.99 per cent). The finance and loans are provided to the Indiabulls by 20 nationalised banks as well as 9 Indian and foreign banks, mutual funds, provident funds, pension funds and insurance companies.

The meaning of all this is more than clear. Indiabulls is completely tied to international finance capital. The very nature of finance capital is to make quick bucks in speculative investment. The shareholders of Indiabulls do not have an iota of interest in promoting the welfare of Indian farmers, farm labourers, workers, artisans or small traders. On the contrary, they are anxious to rob people’s livelihood and natural resources of our country. Indiabulls are working as a promoter of the vagrant free market.

PEASANTS RISE IN UNISON

It is against this backdrop that the peasants and labourers, workers and artisans, men and women have risen to protect the source of their livelihood. The struggle waged by the farmers of Sinnar is not a small one. It is a struggle against the powerful owners of finance capital. It is a struggle against neo-colonisation being imposed on Indian peoples by imperialism. It is a struggle against the anti-people and pro-big bourgeoisie, Indian and foreign, policies of the government of India. This is a struggle in the interests of all toiling people. It is struggle to defend independence and sovereignty of India. The fighting villagers are determined to take this struggle to other areas, to the districts of Dhule, Nandurbar, Amaravati and beyond.

Courtesy: People’s Democracy