Kolkata: Many intellectuals have extended their support to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, amidst allegations by the Vice Chancellor of Visva Bharati University and a notice by the University to Sen that the latter has allegedly occupied University land. Sen has said that he will respond to the University legally through his legal counsel. 

According to PTI, a letter sent to Sen, signed by the Deputy Registrar of the University earlier this week, read, “It has been found from records and physical survey/demarcation that you are in unauthorised occupation of 13 decimals of land belonging to Visva-Bharati…” There have been allegations from certain quarters that the University’s actions may be politically motivated as Sen has been critical of many Central government policies.

Last Wednesday, during the Upasana (prayer) at a Mandir in Shantiniketan, VC Bidyut Chakraborty had sarcastically said, “In Visva Bharati, all are Tagorean, even lawbreakers, encroachers of varsity land are Tagorean, VC baiters are also tTagorean.”  He also claimed that Sen is not a recipient of the Nobel Prize. 

Meanwhile, at his house, Pratichi, Sen on Friday said that he has no clue why this issue has been raked up and whose brain is working behind it. Regarding the VC’s comment that Sen has not won the Nobel Prize, he said that anybody can make comments and he doesn’t have to comment on it.  

“If the VC thinks, that I am not knocking the door of the court out of fear, then one should have a rethink about his mindset,” said Sen. As he met a few students from the university – who spoke about the falling standards at the university – Sen said that he is perturbed to hear that.

Antara Devsen, Amartya Sen’s daughter and renowned journalist, who is also the managing trustee of Pratichi trust, which was set up by Sen, said, “We are talking about land leased 80 years ago to certain people invited by a fledgling Visva Bharati to help contribute to Tagore’s dream — building an abode of peace, Santiniketan, with universal cultural values and education without borders. Each ‘Aashramik’ in their own way helped build that dream and helped make Visva Bharati a truly special educational institute with an extraordinary campus and lifestyle. Casting aspersions on some of them, calling them land grabbers etc, shows a stunning lack of gratitude and taste, and undermines everything that Visva Bharati once stood for. For this is not about Amartya Sen, who inherited the land, it is about a wilful disrespect of history. Besides, the claims are quite ridiculous since we have valid papers for the land.” 

Responding to the allegations, Kaushik Bhattacharya, secretary of Visva Bharati University Faculty Association (VBUFA), said that on three sides of Sen’s land, the adjacent lands are private lands and on the fourth side was adjacent to PWD land. He added that there was no land owned by the University adjacent to Sen’s land.   

“If Visva Bharati University is saying that their land has been encroached upon, then they should try to prove their claim that Amartya Sen has encroached upon their land. This is an unfair game that is being played. The allegation regarding the Nobel Prize of Amartya Sen is even murkier. The VC has said that Amartya Sen has not won the Nobel Prize. Sen has never said that he won the Nobel Prize, but it is the common people and the media all over the world who rejoiced that Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize. Two persons had in the past filed cases in the lower court and in Supreme Court also on this matter, but they were dismissed by the courts,” he said.

Former VC of Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, Pabitra Sarkar, who is also the recipient of the highest civilian award of the Government of Japan, said, “At the time of the inception of the Nobel prize, awards were there only for chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and peace. In 1905, Alfred Nobel died. Later, the Swedish state bank gave money to the Nobel award committee to start an award in memory of Alfred Nobel and it is considered a Nobel Prize in economics.”

On the controversy surrounding his house, she said that the allegations do not stand on any footing as it was nearly 100 years ago that Sen’s grandfather, Khsitimohan Sen, had got that land. “It is a fact that for political reasons, the BJP government does not like Sen and hence, he is being harassed for frivolous reasons,” she added. 

Professor Anjan Bera of Calcutta University said that the allegations are actually an attack on three aspects. “One, it is an attack on the very idea of Visva Bharati, secondly on the very legacy of Visva Bharati, which began 100 years ago as a part of the nationalistic effort as an alternative to the colonial education system. And thirdly, an attack on Professor Sen, who is a global icon. The allegations are a matter of shame and unfortunately, it is demeaning to Visva Bharati’s prestige before the entire world. Even Prof Sen’s Nobel Prize is being challenged – the whole thing is so low in taste. Do these people not want professor Amartya Sen to stay at Shantiniketan with due honour and peace?” he asked. 

Sujan Chakraborty, CPI(M) central committee member, alleged that as Amartya Sen detracts from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS’ philosophy, Modi and the RSS are trying to defame Amartya. “Hence, this sort of attack is being rained down on him and the VC is just an instrument for it,” he said. 

Swapan Pramanik, who is the former VC of Vidyasagar University, told NewsClick: “I heard that the VC of VBU is saying that Amartya Sen has not received the Nobel Prize and these are childlike utterances with criminal intent. To detract Amartya Sen he is raising questions which do not have any grounding or importance.” 

He said that there is a huge mass movement brewing amongst all stakeholders of Visva Bharati and to hide that, the VC has raked up the issue of the land controversy. “However, the VC has not got any iota of support regarding that. According to me, raking up the issue after 100 years of their residence on that piece of land is an offence on the part of Visva Bharati,” he added. 

Renowned economist and columnist, Professor Ratan Khasnobish, said that Sen is one of the top economists in the world and has made India proud in several ways. “The high place that he enjoys in the society is being tried to be lowered for political interests by the Visva Bharati authorities and this is a heinous attempt thoroughly uncalled for and unprecedented in many ways. However, I feel more protests should happen in the society against this, but it is not happening and as a Bengali, I feel bad about it,” he said. 

Professor Ishita Mukherjee from the Department of Economics of Calcutta University said that what the Visva Bharati authorities are doing is unacceptable. “This kind of political vindictiveness has been observed in those who tried maligning historians such as Romila Thapar and Irfaan Habib. Now, they are doing the same with Amartya Sen,” she said. 

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Intellectuals Criticise Visva Bharati VC for Accusing Amartya Sen of Occupying University Land appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Kolkata: It was supposed to be a sprawling campus spread over 288 acres, with infrastructures meant for kindergarten to undergraduate and postgraduate studies. However, the second campus of the famed Aligarh Muslim University at Murshidabad, West Bengal, is now facing a severe fund crunch due to the non-cooperation of the central government.

Presently, because of the fund crunch, even day to day activities of the institute has been affected.

After the institute’s establishment, only about Rs 60 crores have been allotted to the university campus so far, out of the total requirement of about Rs 1000 crores. As a result, the original proposal of having an engineering college, a medical college, and school facilities on the same campus has taken a hit. The university also offers MBA and undergraduate courses in Law and Education.

The campus is divided into two plots bifurcated by an irrigation canal. There was a proposal to join both sides with a bridge, which
has not happened yet.

Currently, only 520 students are pursuing their education on the 288-acre campus. The system of intake of students and professors is entirely done through the main campus. The Left Front government provided the land for this new campus in 2010. Back then, there were plans for the institute’s development, jobs for local residents and benefits to the minority community students in Murshidabad and the neighbouring districts like Birbhum, Burdwan, and Malda; these districts have a sizeable Muslim population.

Speaking to NewsClick, Prof Dr Nigamananda Biswas, Director in Charge of AMU’s West Bengal campus, said that there are indeed fund shortages in the institution and the everyday operation of the campus is affected by it. The second campus does not have funds for providing work to daily-wage workers for cleaning, gardening and security jobs, and all these are being done with a small workforce. He also informed that with an earlier tranche of funds, two hostels — one for boys and another for girls — were constructed.

The Grade A NAAC-accredited institute is now facing a serious challenge in maintaining its quality and keeping the word given to the people of Murshidabad that the campus will have amenities for KG to PG students.

Dr Badaruddoza, former Director during whose time the two hostels had come up, said to NewsClick that the institution’s condition, as far as he knows, is not good due to the lack of funds. Though there are 27 full-time teachers and the quality of faculty is excellent, the condition of the campus is in the doldrums due to the lack of attention from the policymakers at the central level. He added that after 2011, the state government has not been keen on backing the interest of AMU’s second campus before the Union government.

MD Salim, former Minority Affairs minister under the Left Front regime, was closely related to the project. He told NewsClick, “The
bright example set by Aligarh Muslim University in North India in imparting quality modern education to youths of the country’s minority section was supposed to be emulated in other states by setting up AMU campuses in Kerala, Maharashtra, Assam, Bihar and West Bengal.” He continued, “While the Left government of Kerala and West Bengal came forward to establish the centres in their respective states, Maharashtra and Assam relented the proposal. The campus in West Bengal was set up at Murshidabad, a district of historical importance, with its nearest railhead at Jangipur. The university aimed to cater to the students of madrasas and the general boards alike.”

Salim rued that now both the Modi Government in New Delhi and the Mamata Banerjee-led state government are not taking an interest in running that campus. He added that the Left Front would continuously raise the issue of non-funding of AMU’s second campus.

Speaking on the issue, Students Federation of India (SFI) state secretary Srijan Bhattacharya alleged that the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government is secretly pursuing the open agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

SFI state president Pratikur Rehman added that the AMU contributed to India’s intellectual capacity for over 100 years. “Destabilising its second campus can only be done by those aligned with the RSS, which deliberately wants the minority section students to be out of the educational arena. They are in denial of the secular ethos of the country,” he claimed.

Rahman further said, “To deal a blow to the aspirations of the minority section students, steps like cancellation of the Maulana Abul
Kalam Azad scholarships have been taken. In a short period, the number of RSS-affiliated schools has spiked, but the second campus of the AMU is staring at future closure without funds. The TMC and the RSS have a unified agenda to exclude the secular section of society from the scope of higher education.”

Speaking to NewsClick, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, said that he has repeatedly tried to get the attention of New Delhi to the condition of the AMU campus in West Bengal but without success. He added that both the Centre and the state government are to be equally blamed for it; the TMC government has not brought the condition of the AMU second campus into its agenda ever. Chowdhury’s Parliament constituency is Murshidabad, which is next to Jangipur, where the AMU campus is located. He said that Murshidabad, a district of 82 lakhs people, and the minority population of adjoining Malda and Birbhum districts would substantially benefit if the full-fledged campus starts operating.

“Muslims are used as only vote banks, and after the election, the parties just overlook us,” said Imam Shafique Kasmi, imam of Nakhoda Masjid. He said that the education of minority youths of the state is of paramount importance and the condition of the AMU second campus reveals a parody of PM Narendra Modi’s call of “Sabka Sath Sabka Vikash”. “If funds are not given, it will then be a loss for the entire country,” he said while talking to NewsClick.

NewsClick also spoke with MD Gholam Rabbani, Minority Affairs Minister under the West Bengal government, who refuted the allegation that the state is not paying heed to the demands of the AMU second campus in Murshidabad. He said that over Rs 1 lakh crore of state funds are pending with the Centre and the TMC MPs and MLAs are busy asking for it. He gave assurance that the demands of the second campus will be raised by the TMC legislators in future in the state Assembly, and added that his party is against all who are depriving the people of Bengal of their rights.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post No Central Funds, Aligarh Muslim University’s Second Campus in West Bengal Faces Uncertain Future appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Kolkata: Dr Fuad Halim – also known as the ‘people’s doctor of Kolkata’ is the secretary of the People’s Relief Committee (PRC) and one of the outstanding physicians in the city. The CPI(M) leader is also known for his deep understanding of health issues as well as that of the progressive movement in the state. He is the son of the well-known West Bengal Assembly Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim – who considered to be a pillar of constitutional democracy in the country. Dr Halim spoke to NewsClick about a range of issues, including the history of the PRC, the state of the health sector, and the role of the government in regulating it.

Sandip Chakraborty: Can you talk about the context of the PRC’s formation and a little bit about the people who took the lead in the process?

Fuad Halim: The 80-year-old organisation, known as PRC, has got its roots in the latter part of the 1930s when every year, cyclones and floods used to ravage Bengal. The British government had a despotic attitude towards giving service to the people who were at the receiving end of nature’s fury. Then, a permanent Bengal flood and cyclone relief fund came up.  To give a permanent shape to these efforts in 1943, in the Bharat Sabha Hall of Kolkata, the People’s Relief Committee was constituted. The president was Syed Nausher Ali, the then speaker of the undivided Bengal’s legislative Assembly. Amongst the members – also part of the steering committee of the organisation – were ‘Kakababu’ Muzaffar Ahmad and noted Bengali writer Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay (who was nominated twice for the Nobel prize). Bandyopadhyay, in his novel Arogya Niketan, portrayed the state of people’s health for the first time in Bengali literature.

Another noted member was author Manik Bandyopadhyay, whose Putul Nacher Itikatha also focused on health issues. Then, there was A R Malihabadi, who ran a press from where the literary magazine Langol – edited by poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and Muzaffar Ahmad – used to be published. Dr D K Basu and Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis were well-known physicians, who were known for their work in China. All these people brought their progressive thoughts to PRC to lay its foundation.

SC: PRC provides health services often at cheaper rates. For example, you charge only Rs 50 for dialysis when patients would have to pay at least Rs 2,500-3,000 in private hospitals. How is this made possible?

FA: The right to health should be a constitutional right of every person. But sadly, it is still not considered a basic fundamental right here. The right to health still has to be attached to the right to life and under this condition, Kolkata Swasthya Sankalp is doing the wonderful work of providing dialysis to kidney failure patients at Rs 50 only since 2008. About 35 to 50 patients undergo dialysis every day.

We work based on three principles. It is a no-frills service where the patients are given two bedsheets at the time of the start of the procedure. We don’t have lifts or any other amenities like a front desk or receptionists. And the material suppliers are part of our organisation, they supply the material to us at lower prices. There is also a donor pool to keep the service running in Kolkata so that it caters to the needy.

SC: What facilities has PRC made available for this?

FH: We have dedicated outdoor facilities where medical consultations and medicines for three days are provided to patients for a low cost of Rs 10. Then, services like ultrasound, X-ray and diagnostic tests are also arranged at a low cost for needy patients.

There is an eight-bed nursing home called ‘Kimber Nursing Home’ attached to PRC where hernia operations are conducted for Rs 50. This year, we have a target of conducting 80 hernia operations within one calendar year.  There is also an old age home associated with PRC. We have got medical centres in multiple districts and ambulance services attached with us.

SC: How do you see private players in the health sector? Why does one need to stand against privatisation – specifically pertaining to health services?

FH: In 1959, Kenneth J Arrow had written an article where he categorically said that if health becomes a marketable commodity, its characteristics still differ from other commodities. For example, if a buyer goes to the market to buy bananas, then the seller cannot give him guavas and send him home.   However, when health comes to the market as a commodity, the consumer does not know what purchase he is going to make. The whole decision-making process lies with the seller. Hence, when health enters the market as a commodity, the information asymmetry between the consumer and (service) provider acquires wide gaps. The seller has to take decisions on behalf of the consumer/buyer. Here, a moral hazard takes shape. In this case, buyers are in a helpless situation and there is nothing substantially preventing the seller from seeking unlimited profit. Arrow ultimately got the Nobel Prize in 1973 for theorising this and got attributed as the world’s first health economist.

As this was popularised in the 60s and 70s, most of the developing countries made health a government (public) sector. Only a handful of developing countries allowed private entities to be players in the health sector. India, despite its mixed economy, is now heading toward uncontrolled privatisation. We stand against this kind of profiteering.

SC: Do you think governments worldwide that retained control over the health sector have been effective in regulating it?

FH: The successful campaign to eradicate smallpox shows the efficiency of the government-run health sector. In the 60s, the wealthy capitalist nations and the socialist countries came head-to-head during the Bay of Pigs crisis. On one side, the US-led capitalist bloc was professing that all the problems of mankind can be solved through the market economy. While on the other hand, the socialist world led by the USSR remained steadfast in its belief that the market is the main reason hindering development.

In the 60s, the initiative to do smallpox vaccination raised the question of whether it will be done through the market—meaning those who have the purchasing power can purchase it—or through universal no-cost people’s health network. This question was settled in favour of a robust public health network. In the 70s, we were successful in eradicating smallpox and this happened due to the movement by robust public health networks and infrastructure sponsored by the government.

In Alma Ata (1978) all the health-conscious countries of the world met and resolved to achieve ‘Health for All’ by the year 2000. The health ministers of 148 countries agreed to erect a robust public health network in their respective countries to attain that objective. After the 90s, however, due to the neoliberal policies pursued in different countries of the world, the public health network was deliberately weakened.

Institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, in the name of aiding the health sector, started schemes like ‘pay at the point of service’. In the name of financial reconstruction, they started giving tied loans and changed the basic outlook of the whole issue.

As a result, in 2000, the target of ‘Health for All’ could not be reached and this marked the obituary of health for all declaration.

A new term called millennium development goals was coined, which too, later proved to be unattainable. Then in 2014, health for all turned into ‘healthcare for all’. It was a paradigm shift from the tertiary medical facility-oriented social determinant to the only realisation of medical services.

SC: How do you see government-run insurance schemes?

FH: It can be recalled that the great economic depression after the 2000s affected various sectors; the notable exceptions being health and education. Hence, international finance capital started investing largely in these two sectors. Accordingly, we saw in 2013 -2014, that 35-40% of those hospital beds were underutilised as people did not have the economic capacity to avail of services in these hospitals. Now, schemes like insurance have been brought in to transfer patients from government hospitals to private hospitals. In West Bengal, the Swasthya Sathi Card is also a part of it. Through these, the public health infrastructure is further weakened. Vaccination receives low priority now in the government sector. Taxpayers’ money is channelised toward private players. Under this model, government expenditure is mainly channelised toward financing other hospital costs, including their profit.  

According to NHFS (National Family Health Survey) data, when only 13% to 15% of mothers should have a caesarian, at present, in West Bengal, over 83% are having c-sections. This is happening because the charges for c-sections are higher than that for normal delivery. The health of the mother is of the lowest concern here.      

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post India Heading Toward Uncontrolled Privatisation of Health Sector: Dr Fuad Halim appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Kolkata: A sudden dip in the market-driven potato prices has reportedly led to farmers dying by suicide in Burdwan district, which is known for potato farming. A farmer named Saiyad Abdul Momin (57) reportedly consumed pesticide and died after enquiring about potato prices with the cold storage authorities on Friday. This was the second such death in a week in the same district.

Potato prices have touched an all-time low in the state as the opening price of Rs 800 per basta (50 kg) has gone down to Rs 350 per 50 kg in the ongoing season.

Under the free bond system, a farmer pays an advance deposit for keeping his produce in the cold storage  against a free bond that can be sold to a third party, who has to pay the price of storage plus the cost of produce to the farmer concerned while taking out potato stocks for sale in the market . 

“Generally, in November, about 70 % of the produce is unloaded from the cold storage,” said Samar Ghosh, secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha’s Burdwan unit and a resident of the Jamalpur area. “About 15% stocks are kept for seed purposes, only 15% of the potatoes have come to the open market in this month. This year, about 50% of the produce is still in cold storage and there are no takers of free bonds even though the time of arrival of the new potatoes is fast approaching,” he said.

Saiyad Abdul Momin had sown potatoes on seven bighas and had kept 200 bastas of potatoes in the cold storage. On the rest of his land, he had sown the aman variety of rice and had taken a loan of about Rs 6 lakh, according to his family members. The money was being used to deal with pest infestation on his land. His son, Saiyad Allauddin, told NewsClick that his father was under pressure from moneylenders, who were coming home and issuing threats. As a result, he reportedly died by suicide.

There  has been a dip in free bond potato prices which are fetching as low as Rs 12  per kg, whereas the product is being sold at Rs 30  per kg in Kolkata. According to Samar Ghosh, middlemen are reaping profits while farmers suffer.

AIKS state secretary Amal Halder, told NewsClick that immediate intervention by the state and Agricultural Marketing Department was required to prevent such incidents.

Notably, potato growers are dealing with losses of about Rs 7,000 per bigha since last year as well due to the drop in market prices. The market in the state is subject to huge price variations and volatility. As a result, potato farmers are forced to sell their produce at the meagre rate of Rs 1-2 per kg after harvest.

Middlemen, who purchase the produce at such a low rate, then dump it into cold storage. They reap profits when prices eventually rise. Farmers, on the other hand, have been facing losses despite a good harvest this year.

With the steep increase in the cost of production this year, farmers say that a rate of Rs 600 for 50 kilos of potatoes is a fair price. However, the rate at which they are selling currently is between Rs 350 and Rs 380 per 50 kilos. The state government has declared a price of Rs 300 per 50 kg as the stipulated rate for cold storage owners to buy and store the produce.

There are three ways for potatoes to make their way into the market. A portion of the produce is stored by the farmers themselves, another portion by middlemen and yet another by the cold storage owners – who buy the potatoes at Rs 300 per 50 kg from the farmers. Cold storage owners release batches of the produce depending on the market conditions.

West Bengal is one of the largest potato-growing states in the country. Hooghly district is the hub of potato production in the state and contributes over 40% of the total potato cultivation in the state. The district is known for its high-quality Chandramukhi variety. Over 60,000 farmers from the district are dependent on its cultivation to make ends meet.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post West Bengal: Farmers Die by Suicide as Potato Prices Fall appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Tea workers in Bengal are fighting a losing battle against hunger as, one after another, Tea gardens are being overtaken by crony capitalists and microfinance institutions raking the moolah from Kolkata; these new managements often falter in paying the minimum wages to the tea workers of the Dooars region.

At present, such management has taken charge of 22 tea gardens, informed Ziaul Alam, convenor of the Joint Action Forum of Tea Workers.

Tea plantations in the region are spread over 97,280 hectares (240,400 acres). The region produces 226 million kg of tea, accounting for about a quarter of India’s total tea crop. There are 154 gardens in the Dooars out of 283 tea gardens in north Bengal that employ 3.5 lakh workers.

Cultivation of tea in the Dooars was primarily pioneered and promoted by the British, but there was a significant contribution of Indian entrepreneurs. While Goodricke owns and operates 12 tea gardens in Dooars, Duncan company operates about tea gardens.

Prafulla Lakra, from the Jalpaiguri Sadar Tea Workers Union, is also the regional secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). Speaking to NewsClick, Lakra said that the region’s tea workers are being exploited.

“The tea industry is suffering from absenteeism. In the Darjeeling district, where there is scope for 11 million kg of tea production, there is now production of 6.5 million kg of tea because most male workers have gone out of the state to work as migrant workers in other states. Women now comprise over 80% of the tea workers.”

Lakra works as a voucher worker and a night guard in the Denguajhar tea estate. His wife, Silvasa Lakra, works full-time in the same tea estate. He highlighted that the tea garden management gives difficult tasks to the workers during the plucking season, adding that penalties are applied if workers miss the task.

“There are two types of leaves- Fut Patti (seasoned leaves) and Jangli Patti (unseasoned leaves). For Fut Patti, a worker needs to pluck about 26 kg; for Jangli Patti, one needs to pluck around 24 kg to complete the task. About 30% of the leaf pluckers miss the tasks, and a penalty in the form of a wage cut is thrust on them. Everywhere the new generation of tea workers is now disinterested in the profession and are now moving to other states to work as migrant labourers. However, the estate laws state that only those who work in the tea garden can stay in the tea garden area, but seldom are any family ousted from the tea garden area for not working in the tea gardens. Earlier, tea unions used to stand beside the tea workers in case of quarrels with the tea garden management, but in the last 11 years, things have changed with the weakening of tea unions. The ruling party’s tea union colludes with the tea garden owners and does not support the tea garden employees in times of their need.”

Lakra also alleged that the ownership change of tea gardens is happening in Kolkata, leaving the tea garden employees out of the process. Their dues are overlooked when new management takes charge of the tea gardens. When the Left Front government was in power, tea garden workers were consulted before any ownership change.

Alam said the region faced its worst crisis when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the country’s prime minister.

“About 135 tea gardens were closed at that time due to lack of international demand for tea and dumping of Kenyan and East African tea in the country. It was during the time of the 1st UPA government that the tea industry policy was last formulated. In these last 18 years, not one core sector has received its deserving attention from the Central government.”

He also alleged that 22 gardens where shady ownership patterns are being observed are enthused by the present Trinamool government. The tea garden workers are in constant uncertainty over the continuance of the tea gardens. Crony capital and the latest state government notification of allowing 15% of garden land for non-agricultural use is enthusing the shady property dealers to come and invest in the real estate of the garden, Alam said.

“According to the Tea Act 1953, a tea garden must remain open for the public interest, and a tea garden’s closure is not allowed. But bypassing this clause, about five tea gardens in the Darjeeling terai and Dooars regions are now closed, including Roypur of Jalpaiguri, Panighata of Darjeeling district, Goalguch of north Dinajpur district and Dheklapara of Alipurduar district. In the last five months, workers have thwarted the attempt to grab the tea estate’s land by crony capitals in various places of Darjeeling and Dooars. Tea society is in a very vulnerable position.”

Alam pointed out that more than 225 bottle leaf factories have come up in the Doaars region, which source tea from the tea gardens and process tea fit for human consumption but now are suffering due to a lack of demand in the tea market.

NewsClick spoke with Jayram Toppo, a member of the ruling party’s tea union in the Hunterwala tea garden, about 10 kilometres from Madarihaat town, who complained that the tea garden remained closed for years, and upon its opening last year, no dues of the workers have been paid by the tea garden management.

“The management had done a three-year agreement but is defaulting on it; it is not providing the employees with firewood, medical facilities, drinking water facilities or ration components apart from what is obtained under the National Food Security programme. No new labour intake has been made in place of retirees.”

He complained that his union leaders are also keeping stoic silence on these demands of the tea workers. The tea garden has two trade unions- one is associated with Trinamool Congress (TMC), and the other is with Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). Still, no one is looking after average tea workers.

Another problem in the garden is that there are no individual electric meters. As a result, even using one electric bulb, one has to pay Rs 300. Though the woman of the area receives the monthly money allotted to women under the Laxmi Bhunder scheme, the rate of workers’ wage at Rs 232/day is too low for the tea workers community in the state.

“There are about 1800 permanent workers in the Hunterwala tea estate; 70-80 voucher workers are there as contractual workers. About 150 to 200 workers have already retired from their jobs, but the practice of replacement workers known as Badli (replacement) is not being followed,” Toppo said.

CITU leader Pawan Pradhan of Mal area Tea Workers Union alleged that the tea workers movement is facing government and police wrath. There have been cases of arrest when CITU had forged a movement regarding the demand of getting land patta for the tea workers of the region.

“We have been residing here for ages on the tea estate lands, but we still do not have land pattas. The way the chief minister intervened amidst a fruitful wage bargaining process and forced the workers to accept a 15% interim wage increment is also unconstitutional. While Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu get upwardly of Rs 400/day, why are the tea workers paid at the rate of Rs 232/day in West Bengal? With that, they have to maintain their household daily, which is very difficult. The argument that increasing the wage makes the gardens unviable does not hold as gardens in Kerala, Tamilnadu, and Karnataka have shown.”

He also alleged that tea garden owners of several tea gardens had not paid the PF dues to the PF commissioner.

Raja Dutta, Area secretary of the Malbazaar area committee of CPI(M), said that before 2011 during the time of the Durga puja and Diwali, there were regular bonuses to tea garden workers. The business houses of these land ports bore a festive look as there was a large-scale sale of items from these land ports. But now, this festivity is absent, and there is a minimum bonus. As a result, the scope of work in these land ports is also decreasing, and trade and commerce from these areas are shifting their base.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Hingalgunj (Sunderbans): The Centre’s proposed Sagar Mela project and Blue Revolution tantamounts to victimisation of fisherfolk along the entire Indian coastline, according to the  All India Fishers and Fishery Workers Federation (AIFFWF), which  recently met at a mass convention at Hingalgunj in West Bengal.

At an all –India convention, Debasish Barman, president AIFFWF, demanded that the government should improve social security provisions for fisherfolk and adopt a pisciculture-friendly policy. The convention also proposed scrapping of the Sagarmala project, which, they said, would “spell doom for the entire fishing sector across the country.”

Uma Sarkar, another leader of the organisation, highlighted the importance of protecting the environment and forests along with the depth of various river channels in the Sundarbans area of the state. “Protecting mangroves should be a priority currently,” she said.

“The Centre is harming the ecology of the Sundarbans and hampering fishing in the area by allowing passage to ships. Blue Revolution is meant for big corporate entities. We will not benefit from it,” Barman, who belongs to the Hingalgunj Fisherman Community, told NewsClick on the sidelines of the convention.

“The size of the trawlers fixed by the Central government is meant for big companies. Besides, small-scale fishers cannot bear the huge cost of increasing the size of the present trawlers to 20 feet,” he added.

Barman also said that restricting small-scale fishers to 10 nautical miles from 200 nautical miles is also hampering fishing in the country.

The convention also discussed the issue of big Indonesian trawlers allowed to fish in Indian waters under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Agreement using modern solar searchlights to locate and net huge amounts of fish.

Hariprasad Roy, 51, a poor fisherman hailing from the Hingalgunj area of the Sundarban area, said a couple of years ago he had to sell his own boat and the boat license, as fishing has become unprofitable profession in the Sundarban area where about three fourth of the four million residents are dependent on water to earn their living, he told NewsClick.

Now Hariprasad sells fish in the local Hingalgunj market to earn his living. He has been lucky as he didn’t have to venture out of the state as a migrant labourer, like others in his area have had to do after losing their fishing profession.  Nearly one-third of the able-bodied residents of the Sundarbans have left the state to earn their living.

During a visit to Hingaligunj area, NewsClick observed that the prawn culture on a large scale was being run by big capital-oriented firms, after the inundation of farmlands with saline water. They sourced the land from the erstwhile tillers paying them nominally. After rearing prawns in the farmlands for a couple of years, the land becomes barren and fallow and unfit for any other cultivation. So, the big capital-oriented firms reap huge profits and in the process, the erstwhile tillers turn into paupers, as they lose their lands and its cultivability.

Before 2011, West Bengal topped the country in fish production. At present, it is only producing 4,857 tonnes daily, though the daily requirement of the state is 4,940 tonnes, as per a report tabled in the West Bengal Assembly in 2020. To fulfil the state’s demand, fish is being imported from Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, according to reports.

In 2005, an attempt was made by the Left Front government to start big carp fish cultivation in Nayachar and Captain Bheri region, but all that was “looted” in subsequent years after change of governance in the state, as per the report.

Along with this, the Centre’s ‘Blue Revolution’ project is also hampering both inland and marine fishers in the state, AIFFWF said during the convention. The Blue Revolution focuses mainly on increasing fish production and productivity from aquaculture and fisheries resources – both inland and marine. There are about three lakh fisherfolk in the Sundarbans and another 1.5 million residents who are dependent on fishing for livelihood.

Tuhin Ghosh, a scientist and head of the oceanology department of Jadavpur University, who spoke at the convention, called for an immediate ban on the international sea trade route that passes through the river channels of Sundarbans, which, he said, was causing severe damage to the islands. The convention noted that this had led to artificial high waves, while the oil spills – as residuals in the channels – were affecting the fish population of the entire area.

Speaking at the convention, Pritikumar Roy of Jadavpur University, said now puffed rice mixed with poison was being given as a bait by foreign trawlers who, following the Blue Revolution policy, were entering the Indian waters with a valid licence from the Central government and were making a huge catch from the region, thereby hampering the eco-diversity of the region.

The pertinent question of giving identity cards and licenses to all the fisherfolk of the state also came up in the discussion. 

Barman also demanded a ban on the entry of big capital into the cooperative sector. The convention also sought provision of loans at lower interest rates for the fishers – as were offered during the rule of the Left Front in the state.

Another demand was that inland water bodies be leased only to fishers’ cooperatives. Barman also pointed out that of the 103 ports that dot the Indian coastline, 75 had been privatised already and that was harming the fishing community immensely. In West Bengal, the Digha and Shankarpur fishing ports are being privatised.

Sarkar, central executive member of AIFFWF, appealed to the government to reduce land tax, which, she said, had increased manifold in the past few years.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Kolkata: It was a tsunami of people yesterday in Kolkata at the call of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), red and white flag bearers today took virtual control of all thoroughfares in the heart of Kolkata metropolis at Esplanade east.

People from all walks of life especially young people flocked to Kolkata on the account of the Insaaf rally wearing masks of Anis khan (the student leader who was thrown from the roof of his house allegedly by the police on 18th February at midnight). They also sought Insaaf (justice) for the others dead like Barun Biswas of  Sutia, Student leader Sudipta Gupta, DYFI activist  Bidyut  Mondal and others.

Police as usual had dilly-dallied with giving permission for the rally before the Victoria house at Kolkata in the junction of the city’s heart. Ultimately, they gave permission for the rally to be held at Y channel where a stage was constructed. However when the rally started the Y channel was crammed with people, and DYFI leaders announced that the rally will shift to Victoria House despite prohibitory orders by the police in this regard.

The entire crossing of Jawaharlal Nehru road (chowringee) was then thronged with common people carrying red flags or dressed in red attire. Three huge rallies each from Sealdah,  Howrah and from Kolkata south came to the rally venue filling the venue to the brim.

They carried placards seeking freedom from the kingdom of thieves as they said and greeted the SFI-DYFI leadership with constant slogans like Pishi chor Bhaipo chor, Trinamool er sobai chor ( Aunt thief- nephew thief, Trinamools’ are thieves ) in an apparent reference to the number of scams which were unearthed in Bengal implicating Mamata Banerjee and many of their  immediate family in them.

Present in the rally was injured Salman Khan- Anis Khan’s brother who was recently attacked by miscreants as he is a major witness in Anis Khan’s murder. His father Salem Khan, the late Bidyut Mondal’s mother, and Barun Biswas’s sister were also present at the rally.

In his speech, Anis Khan’s father Salem Khan highlighted that one Anis Khan has gone but has given birth to thousands of Anis Khan. He spoke of the police oppression still looming over his family members and requested that they be served justice.

Present at the rally was All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) leader Fullora Mondal who was imprisoned for 2976 days in jail with frivolous charges and has become an icon in the state. She caught a train at 3 am in the wee hours of Tuesday morning to attend the rally today.

NewsClick spoke with  Runu Banerjee, 45, a teacher with Douglas Memorial School of Barrackpore who had come to the venue. She spoke of oppressive conditions that exist in the state. To Sayeed Gurfan Ali of Howrah, a silk screen printer, it is a matter of prestige for the state of West Bengal. 

For Tamal Sil, a daily wage earner who works on a construction site as a mason, today’s rally is an eye opener that so many people want Insaaf together in a disciplined manner. 

Piru Sheikh from ward number 134 of Kolkata corporation area. He, a left activist has been tortured much, in the last 10 years as his son’s shop was attacked as he is a Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M) supporter. To him, “Insaaf means the end of this torturous reign of thieves,” he told NewsClick.  

‘Mamata has surrendered to Modi’

Speaking at the rally CPI(M) State secretary MD Salim who is also the Former General secretary of DYFI said that Mamata is not any soldier against the BJP Government rather she has surrendered to Modi. 

In reference to Mamata’s recent comment in the assembly that she does not believe that Modi is at all bad, he said that Mamata recently has also said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is not bad. 

However, the common people won’t allow the  RSS to rise from the water and they will have a water-borne death in the state.  “How can the next gen of Nathuram Godse  (Gandhi’s killer ) evaluate the next generation of Martyr Khudiram bose?”  he said. “Mamata is now finding good in Modi who is wreaking havoc in the country by giving freedom to the rapists of Bilkis Bano, and taking bulldozer policy throughout the country in the BJP ruled states. RSS has done a BPO through the TMC in the state,” he quipped in the rally.

The rally was presided over by DYFI state President Dhrubojyoti Saha and by Abhas Roychoudhury former secretary of the DYFI state committee who the state Government wrongly imprisoned for taking part in a law violation programme in Burdwan city recently. 

He also saluted the unarmed people of Burdwan that day who fought like war horses that day against the oppressive police with empty hands for over one and half hours in a true valiant manner.

Speaking at the rally  DYFI state President Meenakshi Mukherjee highlighted that the government in the state is a rotten one and in the new Bengal that is going to come the cow smugglers and coal smugglers won’t have any place to live.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Kolkata: Krishna Acharjee, 40, is a contractual worker with Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) at the Bansra opencast project of Raniganj. After nearly 12 hours of duty as an unskilled labourer, he makes around Rs 400/day while his wage on paper is double. The father of a child, Acharjee, is always in pain to make ends meet, being the only earning member of the family.

“On paper, our wages are more than our contractor pays us. Interestingly, when they apply for a tender, they mention the wages-on-paper as workers’ expenses; however, we are paid a meagre Rs 400 as unskilled workers in the collieries,” he told NewsClick.

In recent years, the coal industry saw a decrease of around 50% in permanent workers. In the 1990s, ECL employed around 1,82,000 permanent workers, which has come down to 52,000.

To maintain the production capacity at 100%, ECL is now busy outsourcing its mining operation to outsourced partners. These partners employ contract workers to excavate coal from opencast projects. Contract workers currently carry out more than 70% of production.

The contract workers work 12 hours at meagre wages without any benefits/incentives. They are not eligible for CMPF (Coal Mines Provident Fund) or any statutory benefit. Areas where they are employed, are without any food outlet, toilet, water, or light.

In ECL, 33 outsourcing projects are currently at work where the conditions mentioned above are extremely common. Many workers who work in the collieries are migrant workers, leading to job scarcity for the local workers.

Birju Yadav of the Bansra area, who is also associated with Colliery Mazdoor Sabha (CMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), told NewsClick that the departmental workers are unionised and CMS CITU is is the largest union in the region. However, he explained, the contract workers are still exploited as they cannot even unionise without risking their jobs.

The permanent jobs in the underground jobs are only available for departmental workers. At the same time, jobs like roofing and transporting products are done through third-party outsourcing.

“There are three types of mines in the region. Firstly, there are mines wholly operated by ECL. Secondly, there are mines where outsourced partners work, and lastly are the captive mines where only outsourced parties work through contract workers and excavators,” Yadav told NewsClick.

He further said that in Bansra and North Searsole Opencast projects, most of the coal workers are outsourced.

“According to Coal India, there are about 2.5 lakh coal workers while 75,000 contract coal workers work in the different coal fields of the country. Though Coal India puts the number at 75,000, the real number of contract workers may go up to 3-4 lakh,” Yadav outlined.

After a prolonged battle by the trade unions, the Coal India authority constituted a high-powered committee in 2013 for all its subsidiaries, including ECL, which gave recommendations for wage augmentation of the contract workers of the collieries.

In 2018, the second high-powered committee was constituted, which recommended further enhancement of the wages of the contract coal workers of the subsidiaries of Coal India. However, no recommendation has been given credence. The contractors continue to pay meagre wages to four categories of workers in the collieries.

*Including VDA (variable dearness allowance) added in 2022

This gets even more ridiculous as contractors mention different wages on paper than what they pay the workers.

According to the new wage agreement, contract workers can be members of CMPF and are eligible for medical benefits.

“CITU-affiliated Khadan Thikedar Mazdoor sabha is building up a strong movement in the region with the aforesaid demands of providing just wages to the contract workers of the region,” Yadav said.

NewsClick spoke with Gouranga Chatterjee, organising secretary of Colliery Mazdoor Sabha and presently the secretary of Burdwan West district committee of CPI(M). He pointed out the national monetisation pipeline against which the coal workers are organising themselves.

They are also proposing to shoo away prospective buyers from their vicinity. Additionally, they oppose measures aimed at withdrawing pro-worker legislation, such as the Minimum Wage Act 1942 and the Payment of Wage Act 1936. The four labour codes proposed by the Union government aim to replace these acts.

“Already the management has given four collieries to private parties on profit and loss sharing basis in lieu of that the ECL will get 4% of the profit if there is profit after starting full-fledged operation at those privatised collieries.”

He also spoke against ECL’s steps against land subsidence in the coal mine areas and the coal smuggling issues raking the state. Abhishek Banerjee, number two in Trinamool Congress (TMC), is allegedly involved in these cases.

Chatterjee also pointed out that in 2015, during the passage of the Coal Mines (Special Provision) Act 2015, TMC supported the bill aimed at privatising the coal mines.

“Another issue in the coal mining area is that the ECL gives the land on lease and not against complete land deeds during new land acquisition. A movement against it has already been fostered in the Rajmahal area of neighbourhood Jharkhand. Coal India and ECL have to supply low ash content coal to the power plants, where high ash content coal also works fine, leading to revenue loss for Coal India,” he pointed out.

Kalimuddin Ansari, a coal worker and secretary of the Kunustoria area of CMS-CITU, candidly talked to NewsClick about how a new trade union of TMC is acting as a decoy for the ECL management. Additionally, he said that the TMC union is proving to be a hindrance to the united movement of the coal workers to get their demands met.

The demands include a just relief through the National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA) and wage increment for departmental workers, among other things. The ECL management is dilly-dallying with the demands.

“We are currently fostering a movement in the region against ECL management,” he informed.

Another demand is to cancel the national monetisation pipeline, which has marked 160 mines of Coal India to be handed over to private parties. The coal workers are also decrying the move to demerge the ECL, BCCL (Bharat Coking Coal Limited) and CMPDI (Central Mine Planning and Design Institute ) from Coal India and the 25% share sale of the Coal India subsidiaries.

“The workers have also protested against the deployment of contract workers named Coilabeer to excavate the mines. They are also demanding for immediate payment of 15 days arrear wages of the coal workers,” Ansari told NewsClick.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post WB: Coal Workers Fight for Better Wages, Deplore Labour Codes appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Bhagabangola: Iqbal Hossain (18) had just passed his secondary examination when he got himself registered with a contractor who was working on a project at Patna. On May 31, 2021, the news of his death came to Bhagabangola of Murshidabad district and his father Samyan Sheikh (65) was told that Iqbal along with his friend Rintu Sheikh (19) were found in a hume pipe, where they suffered suffocation.

The Patna deaths had caused quite an uproar at that time and Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Bihar had launched demonstrations before government offices and the contractor’s office, demanding compensation to the kin of the deceased. Ultimately the CITU Patna unit had been able to force the contractor and they paid Rs 9.5 lakh as compensation to the family members of Iqbal.

The father, Samyan Sheikh, with tears rolling, remembered his son who had given up his studies during the lockdown period to become a migrant labourer and thus lost his life. He thanked Murshidabad CITU and Bihar’s CITU unit for standing in his time of need and arranging the compensation for his only son’s death.

Samyan sheikh father of iqbal hossain(18) who died in a hume pipe in patna.

“No compensation can heal my loss but at least the contractor organisation has been penalised and that gives me a good feeling,” he told NewsClick.

Bhagabangola block, located about 30 kilometres away from Berhampore, the administrative capital of Murshidabad district, has seen more than 60 migrant labourer deaths in recent times. This was informed by Kamal Hossain, district president of West Bengal Migrant Labourers’ Union.

In most cases there has been no compensation apart from the cases where CITU has been able to intervene. There has been cases of murder, of death by drowning and many suspicious deaths of migrants from the district, who trudge to many states across India for work after not finding work in their local towns or villages.

Over 1.4 million people of Murshidabad district (the total population is 7.1 million) are currently living in other states for work and can be termed as migrant labourers. Most of them are engaged as menial labourers working as masons, househelps and in various industrial units as daily wage labourers.

A large number of women too migrate to other states from Murshidabad district working as domestic helps and as help of masons in construction work. One such woman, Rejina Beoa (26) told NewsClick that now, she is contemplating to go to Chennai as a help of masons where she will earn Rs 650 daily after 12 hours of work from 6 in the morning to 6 in the evening. Earlier she used to work in Mumbai as a domestic help, earning about Rs 17,000 a month after work for nearly 15 hours in three houses. She left after the communal riots in the city.

Rejina’s brother, Matin Sheikh (24), who was employed with construction firm, was recently murdered in Chennai but the family is yet to receive any compensation.

The family lives in slums on railway land, close to the tracks, and originally they hailed from lands which had been devoured by river Padma.

With no industries of its own, Murshidabad district is economically backward and the main agricultural products are rice and jute, and fruits like litchi and mango.

We came across Sirajul Sheikh (30) and his sister Sumina Khatun (26), who said that as the government was not providing them with work in the home state and due to non-existent 100 days work programme (MGNREGA), they have to leave their homes and to go to other states for work. “Once we go don’t know how we will come back, in coffins or alive upon our return, but still, we have to move to other states under compulsion as hunger burns in our belly.”

Sirajul sheikh(30)along with her married but separated sister Sumina khatun.. Who are moving to chennai as hunger boils in their belly.

Talking to NewsClick, Kamal Hossain of Bhagabangola alleged that “The local block development officer is a thief and do not come in help of the migrant labourers and they do not receive even the paltry compensation of Rs 2,000 that is assured to the deceased family under the Samabyathi scheme of the West Bengal government.

Hossain also alleged that the local MLA had taken a subscription of Rs 10,000 from each of 4 gram panchayats as compensation for Matin Sheikh’s death but they were provided with Rs 10,000 only, and the rest Rs 30,000 went to the MLA as cut money.

At Rambag of Bhagabangola, we came across the family Abdul Matin Mahaldar who lost his life in Orissa. An employee working under contract with the L&T group, the paint worker drowned and his death did not earn any compensation. The Mahaldars are Khotta Muslims, a backward caste in Bihar and West Bengal.

Bearded man is  the father and mother and daughter and widow of Abdul matin mahaldar

On August 15, 2021 the family was informed of the death. Though they have an identity card of the L&T company with them, the family did not get any compensation. In fact, like the Mahaldars most of the deceased families, except those for whom the CITU has been able to stand in the far flung states, have not got any compensation.

The family now live in penury and their widows are now being forced to enrol themselves as migrant labourers and mason helps.

In Bhagabangola, the rate that Bidi workers get is much less even than the state average, and hence it is very difficult even to earn even Rs 100 per day. This is another factor behind the precarious lives of daily wagers here, forcing them to migrate out from the state.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Kolkata: Two tragic starvation deaths in the previous fortnight during the 76th independence day celebrations have rattled the state. Both the two deaths were reported from backward regions of West Bengal – one from Bhulabheda of West Medinipur district and the other from Kranti block of Malbazar in Jalpaiguri district.

The first incident involves the death of Sanjay Sardar died on August 3 due to malnutrition as he was left without food for days. The family has been in dire straits after he contracted tuberculosis in the month of June and Sanjay, a daily wage earner, could not go to work.

Though on paper there are schemes like Laxmi Bhandar and other schemes; however Sanjay didn’t have the required Scheduled Caste (SC) certificate, resulting in his family not receiving the stipulated Rs 1,000.

Based on a report by a Bengali news daily, a team from the Right to Food and Work Campaign visited Bhulabheda recently and surveyed the condition of people living there. In the fact finding report it is stated that the death of the daily wage earner should be seen in the context of the food crisis that has set in the area. Sanjay’s family admitted to the fact-finding team that getting even one square meal for a day was difficult for them. Moreover as the family didn’t have Aadhar card linkage with their ration card, they did not get the stipulated Rajya Khadya Suraksha Yojana (RKSY 2) ration which is monthly 1 kg of rice and 1 kg of wheat.

Sanjay Sardar was a migrant labourer who lost his job during the first lockdown, according to the report. After coming home in March 2020 he did not get any work in the village. Sometimes, he got paid as a farmhand but that was extremely irregular. While the family needed an Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration card, the government instead gave them a RKSY 2 ration card which is meant for relatively better-off persons. It should be noted that in AAY scheme, a family gets 35 kgs of rice and wheat and cereals.

The second starvation death occurred in a closed tea garden where a tea garden worker, Dinesh Orao, lost his life on August 13 due to malnutrition as he was left without food for months.

The name of the tea garden is Raj Project Garden. As the tea garden owner, Dharmendra Thakur arbitrarily closed the plantation on July 10, Orao’s family had been starving for months.

“The owner of the garden is singularly responsible for this death,” family members of the deceased told reporters.

It may be recalled that in the Malbazar area, a number of tea gardens including Nageshwari tea estate, Bagrakote tea estate, Kilkote tea estate and many other tea estates are closed, and this has resulted in widespread hunger among tea garden workers in the area.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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