Racing With Time and Terror, Agricultural Labourers in West Bengal Approach their Brethren to Vet their Agony on August 9

After a detailed research and for the first time since its formation years ago, the West Bengal State Unit of All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) has decided to reach out to more than 11000 villages throughout the state within a fortnight. Reeling under the anti-Farmer policies of the State and Central Government, this decision is an outcome of taking the call of the Jail Bhoro (Fill up the jails) Programme called by the West Bengal Unit of AIKS against the plight of the farmers.

It can be recalled that all progressive mass organisations in the state like SFI, DYFI, and AIDWA have also joined the AIKS’ call. The AIAWU West Bengal has also joined the movement in order to let the State and the country know about the plight of Agricultural Laborers in West Bengal.

Although there are about 37000 villages in the state, the changed demographics has seen a rapid urbanisation in many of the villages, with agrarian work taking a back seat due to the same. In many other villages, a sustained state of terror has made it impossible for any agricultural labourer to approach others without being mauled by the TMC hooligans. According to the secretary of the West Bengal Unit AIAWU, Amiyo Patra, another yardstick for selecting the villages has been the density of the Agricultural Labourers residing in these villages. Only those villages that have a higher intensity of agricultural workers have been selected to further the call of AIAWU’s ‘jail bharo’ programme.

Tushar Ghosh, the West Bengal State President of AIAWU, pointed out another problem that the organisation is facing. To make the programme successful, only local leaders and agricultural labourers are being involved, since many of the villages involved in the programme are out of bound for the leaders of the agrarian movement. “If we go to these villages, in order to prevent the fomenting anger outburst, the TMC hooligans intervene, issuing Fatwas in order to prevent them from talking about problems that the agrarian population is faced with,” he said.

Not only are the agricultural labourers suffering , the farmers are distressed since most of the TMC village level leaders have turned into middlemen for channelising procurement into the market . Be it in the suburban districts of Nadia or in the rural area of Bhangar, a kilogram of Ridge Gourd, for instance— for which the producers are being paid @ Rs. 8 per Kg — is being sold at an average rate of Rs. 40-45 per kg in the local markets of the state. The Minimum Support Price to be paid by the State Government is not available to the farmers either since the middlemen— most of who are local TMC leaders of the village — are forcibly taking over the peasantry debit cards as well as the Kisaan Credit cards through which MSP is disbursed. As a result, the middlemen reap benefits of the farmers’ hard work while most of the peasants who actually farm the produce are unaware even when thousands of rupees are transacted through their bank accounts but not reflected in their incomes, subsequently making it impossible for them to pay the debts incurred for cultivation. This has also led to a rise in the number of farmer suicides, More than 100 suicides have been reported in Burdwan district itself after TMC came to power in West Bengal, with no compensation offered by the State Government citing the Union Government’s policy of describing agrarian suicides as internal family squabbles; many of the affected families have also been forced to vacate the lands they till. These lands have been taken over by the middlemen, most of who have become local TMC leaders and Village Panchayat functionary, even when no votes were polled in the villages, informed veteran AIKS leader, Amal Haldar .

Due to lack of cold storages and a proper transportation system, the Pineapple growers in Jalpaiguri district face the same problem. Pineapples perish easily and the producer is unable to get a fair price even though it is being sold at an average of more than Rs. 40 per piece. “Even 35 % of that price would enable me to pay all my debts, pay for my daughter’s Higher Studies, for festivities, and even after all these expeses, add on to my yearly income. What we get however, is only about 15 % of that price and this after putting my entire family in heavy debt just to be able to grow the fruit,” Ratan Roy , a pineapple Grower said. He, like many others, is determined to give resonance to the Clarion call of the AIKS to vent their anger, and is also urging his fellow villagers to join the AIKS programme and let the local secretariat know of their plight. Many Tea workers organisations have also offered solidarity with the AIKS call, after they recently succeeded in bowing the Government down to a discussion table by threatening to go on a mass strike., The strike was called off after the government and tea workers agreed upon a discussion with each other.