DRAFT MEMORANDUM ON PEOPLE'S ISSUES OF ASSAM

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The mass signature campaign launched by Assam Mojuri Srameek Union is going on at various districts of Assam  on the basis of this draft memorandum translated to the respective mother-tongue of the people. The final memorandum containing the various demands of the people of Assam will be submitted to the Honourable Governor of assam in due course of time.

ASOM MOJURI SRAMEEK UNION
H.O. C/o N. k. Das, Khudiram Sarani, Sibbari Road, Tarapur, Silchar - 788008
Regd No. 2287
__________________________________________________________________________
Ref :                                                                                                                             Date :


To,
The Honourable Governor
Government Of Assam
Dispur, Guwahati.


Sub – Memorandum.


Sir,
Most humbly and respectfully, we, the leadership of Assam Mojuri Srameek Union, on behalf of the mass of people who have signed the copy of memorandum translated in mother-tongue and containing charter of demands, would like to draw your kind attention to the following facts.

Sir, When CAG audit report on the implementation of MGNREGA has come to the public domain, it has generated lot of uproar and debate. CAG audit coverage was from February 2006 to March 2007 and field audit was done on the basis of relevant records that was not cross-checked through the interaction with the actual beneficiaries. Moreover, the random samples were selected from 25% of NREG-districts subject to minimum two, two blocks from each district, four Gram Panchayats (GPs) from each Block and four works from each GP and thus records relating to 68 districts, 128 blocks within the selected districts, and 513 GPs in the selected blocks were selected for detailed examination. On that basis, audit was performed and enumerated in the CAG report, according to which each registered household received 18 days of employment on average, and only 3.2 per cent of registered households worked for the full 100 days. In response to this, the MRD came out with an alternative calculation, suggesting an average of 44 days of employment per household, with 10 per cent of households getting 100 days of employment. But assumption drawn from the experience of our grassroots activity compel us to believe that in Assam the figures in this respect will be more close to the figures assessed by the CAG. But there may be an addendum that the performance in some GPs where the people are much aware & active, is far better than that of the others within the same Block/District. The GP-wise or Block-wise variation of actual implementation in terms of employment generation as well as asset creation is very high. It is observed that the people’s awareness and popular pressure can alleviate the performance level by reducing the corrupt practice of maintaining fake jobcards or of manipulated entries. Though the fund is earmarked for awareness campaign, lackadaisical approach of the administration to make the campaign ineffective & superficial, and the procrastination & manipulation in holding the gramsabha that empowers the villagers to ensure proper implementation baffles us all. Till date the first Gramsabha of the current financial year has not yet been held. CAG audit report also mentioned that in Assam, attendance of workers was not verified by any authorized official, Certificate of inspecting official was not recorded, there were cases of duplication of workers resulting in overpayment.

It is observed that the grievance redressal mechanism is not functioning properly and so despite repeated complain from the Jobcard-holders vis-à-vis the Union, the concerned authority hesitates to activise the mechanism of transparency and accountability and wraps the process in many layers of beguilement with a view to siphon off the large chunk of money from the fund earmarked for the scheme. When the stipulated days of work and the wage thereof is far less than the actual requirement to cater the need of the villagers and asset generation, the prevarication in accepting and rectifying the administrative inefficacy and murky modus operandi is worrisome and trend-setter to dismantle the very premise of workers rights ingrained in the act.

In the period of 2006-07, the CAG observed that the Gram Sabha meetings were not widely publicized before hand, works were not identified by the Gram Sabhas, copies of MRs were not available for public scrutiny in the GPs. According to the OG, district-wise Schedules of Rates (SOR) must be prepared after undertaking careful “time and motion studies” for the NREGA workforce. The CAG also makes a pointed observation to the effect that the state governments should ensure payment of minimum wages.

Regarding the payment of wages in Assam, the official record in the Govt. website reveals that the number of MRs & the accrued amount thereof against the delayed payment in the financial year 2009-10 & 2010-11 are 95032 & Rs.739283681 and 41643 & Rs.340643000 respectively. But surprisingly enough no compensation has been paid to the Jobcard-holders against the long period of delay in payment.

Regarding the unemployment allowance in Assam, the official record shows that in the period of 2009-10, there are 7328 cases of unemployment allowance due and in the period 2010-11, there are 43675 cases of unemployment allowance due. In 2010-11, the total 2331 cases in Hailakandi district and 347 cases in Karimganj demand a special mention to understand the administrative reluctance and chicanery to avoid recording the genuine claim of unemployment allowance of the Jobcard-holders. In these two districts itself, the Union has to go through a long-drawn-out legal battle to justify the genuine claim of the Unemployment allowance. The honourable High Court heard a PIL-petition of the Union and directed the Deputy Commissioner, Hailakandi, the appellant authority, to pass appropriate order on the appeal filed by the Jobcard Holders for Unemployment Allowance. The Lok Adalat of Karimganj district also passed an order on the case filed by the the Jobcard-holders directing the concerned GP secretary & Patherkandi BDO to immediately seek required budget from concerned Government for payment of the Unemployment allowances entitled by the applicants for the year 2008-09 and on submission of the compliance report by the said officials in persuasion of this order, the court in a subsequent order directed to clear up the dues within two months w.e.f. 25-9-2010. But the Jobcard-holders had to file another petition for non-compliance of the last order. We are sure that the administration is now gearing up to procrastinate and not to budge on the legal obligation so easily and speedily. It is worth-mentioning here that CAG report of Assam states that though no unemployment allowance was paid during the period of 2006-07, the chances that work was not provided within the stipulated period cannot be ruled out as undated applications were being received.

Under the circumstances stated above, we put forward the following demands for your kind perusal and urge upon your good office to prevail upon the concerned ministry vis-à-vis the state Government and also to recommend the same to the Central Government for the fulfillment of these demands --

(1) It must be ensured that the Gramsabhas are held regularly and effectively. The Government grievance redressal mechanism should be put in place as per guideline of MGNREGA and be geared up to address the complain within a stipulated period of time to mitigate the grievances. All the allegations of corruption must be investigated with a high power committee constituted with the members from workers Union & mass organization, people’s representative elected by Gransabhas and experts in different field and headed by a sitting Judge.
(2) The due unemployment allowance must be paid immediately and the state Government should be obliged to initiate due process to ensure payment of unemployment allowance, in case the implementing authority fails to provide jobs to jobcard-holders within the stipulated period of time.
(3) It must be ensured that the compensation is paid to the Jobcard-holders in case of delay in payment of wages.
(4) The minimum wage for the agricultural labourer in assam must be ascertained on the basis of current CPI and must be notified immediately to bring it into effect. The number of days of work and the wage of the MGNREGA workers should be increased to 200 days and Rs 200 respectively.

Moreover,

(5) It is to be noted with utter dismay of all concern that though there was an all India BPL-survey in the year 2007, no field-level BPL-survey has been held after 2002 in Assam. Even BPL-card has not been issued to all those families who are enlisted in 2002 survey. It is quite intriguing to note that the state Government remained in deep slumber and complacent when NSSO BPL-assessment showed a drastic fall of BPL population in Assam in the year 2004-05 in sharp contrast to the all India trend. There were lot of hue and cry from the other state Government for slightest reduction of percentage of BPL families shown in the furnished figures that are at variance with state assessment and thereby effecting the central allocation of food grain for the state, the Assam Government remained unperturbed and unconcerned despite the fact that the record decrease of population shown in the furnished figure is fallacious and unscrupulous compared to all India trend. However, the persistence of considerable differences in the estimation of BPL led the supreme Court to question the norms and method applied for BPL estimation and that is why the planning commission is presently doing sample survey in 12 villages in Assam. The 2011 BPL survey to prepar the list of BPL families is going to be kick-started soon and in that event, we demand that the survey report must be finalized through genuine and effective on-going process of Gramsabhas. Moreover, lot of drama have been orchestrated, lot of APL-BPL manipulation has been designed to hush up easy money, lot of food grains dumped to the houses of well-off having BPL-card when the destitute failed to have one square meal a day for not having BPL card, and all these amply made it clear that the APL-BPL categorization for PDS system is highly ineffectual and unreliable and as such we demand that universal PDS system should be put in place again to eradicate corruption and to ensure the BPL to avail subsidized food grain.
(6) Wages of the tea-workers must be revised and the total equivalent amount of money of the daily wage both in cash & kind for individual worker should not be less than the industrial minimum wage of the state in any case. At present the tea-worker daily wage is less than half of the minimum wage of industrial worker and much less than that of even NREGA-worker. That pathetic sate of affairs and the slave-like treatment meted out to tea-workers should not be continued further.
(7) The land-ownership right should be bestowed on all the tea-worker families, Muslim in CHOR areas, the tribal of forest reserve and the inhabitants who have been residing since last 75 years in the forest reserve areas and the Pacca Patta should be issued to all those people immediately.
(8) The displaced people residing in the refugee camp of Lower Assam in utter destitution and inhuman condition, should be immediately suitably rehabilitated.
(9) Though the handing over of 29 departments has already been notified in the Gazette, but in actual practice the Panchayats are not in a position to act in this direction and so we demand to immediately initiate actual hand over of the charges of all these departments to the Panchayats to ensure grass root democracy and devolution of power.
(10) The beneficiaries of Minority Development Fund should be selected through Gramsabhas.
(11) Considering the earthquake prone zone, the big dam project in NE should be discarded and small scale multi purpose project by constructing small barrages in the main rivers and their tributaries should be initiated.
(12) The long marked D-voter should be omitted from the voter list and the genuine citizens should be provided with voting rights as well as other citizen’s rights.
(13) Last but not the least demand of the Union is that Assam should be restructured in federal basis through multi-layered autonomy with decentralized power and reservation according to population to ensure equal rights and status for all communities and to resolve the deep-rooted identity crisis.

We hope that you will urgently intervene in this matter and do the needful to mitigate the people’s grievances and despair.

Thanking You
Yours faithfully

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EGYPTIAN UPRISING AND THE SOCIALIST PROJECT

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When the ilk of left-leaders like CPM supremo Prakash Karat became vociferous about the working class movement (read left movement) behind Egyptian Upsurge   ( The  Anandabazar- 5 Feb & The Hindu – 6 Feb 2011), he perhaps intends to warm up the domestic dispirited activists in the face of forthcoming election. But the left-camp (camp-members aspiring for radical change) becomes apprehensive of dwelling on the same left-discourse modeled by the erstwhile post-Lenin Soviet Union. It appears to be an endeavour to revive the same vocabulary and its inherent process in verbatim to repeat another failed experiment. However, to some extent he was right, when he mentioned the loosening grip of American Imperialism in Arab World due to popular uprising. But the nationalist fervours behind these uprisings are lost sight of and thus leaving ample space to make same mistake of ignoring and underestimating the role of bourgeoisie in the uprising.

We have the reasons to be apprehensive because it’s the same old regime that Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser created, based on military power with the support of secular elites imbibed with western model of development & progress, after a coup d’etet  against the monarchy and displacing civilian officers in the military and British influence and siding with the Soviet camp. Sadat brought Egypt back into western camp. After Sadat’s assassination, Hosni Mubarak inherited the same statist regime sans Nasser’s socialist outlook and earned the patronage of America-Israel axis power by being a party to the Camp David accord to prop-up Anglo-Saxon hegemony & Zionism.

 In the nineteenth century, the elites of the Muslim world accommodated western ideology of political liberty, ideology of socio-economic change within their ideals of ethico-religious ideology. In Ottoman Empire, these elites used the political control against indigenous despotism and tried to impose the concept of national freedom and development from above with themselves being torch-bearer as well as dominant force. In Egypt, the country of the ancient civilization in Africa and of ancient civilized south Arabia, they never had much credibility owing to manipulation and authoritarianism, transforming them into instrument of domination for the ruling social strata. The rural masses, who were enclosed within the old structure, found them difficult to understand, and as their poverty persisted or even worsened with industrialization, they saw little advantage in them or suspected them of being tools of domination by the elites. The modernizing efforts at the behest of the elites were contrary to the western libertarian process which was the culmination of a social upheaval causing structural change from within, and as such the mass of people of Arab world including that of Egypt remained always subjugated under foreign domination. Later period of Nasser’s socialist regime did not have much difference to the masses. The new elites who formed the new privileged class that was as disagreeable as their predecessor in the eyes of the disadvantaged were brought to power. The change of guard was always in keeping with the vicissitude of the balance of power within imperialistic hegemony. Masses were always mobilized for the ideas of political control and socialism by appealing to deep-rooted feelings of belonging to the Muslim community and so Islam was always the mobilizing core within the ambit of modernization envisioned by the new elites.
  
Though the present Egyptian uprising has overshadowed all its past popular movement, it has actually been triggered by the recent Tunisian popular movement. In this general uprising, 80% of Tunis in many areas including in the capital were out in the street for 45 days and did not give up under repression. Thousands of people in Tunisia were assassinated, arrested and tortured, but the Ben Ali regime, the western powers best friend, never allowed these facts to be known. Both in Tunisia & in Egypt, people revolted for democracy & human rights. The policy of economic liberalization, withdrawing the role of state from economic welfare, patronizing the private profiteers in the name of free competition, and the growth model that increases inequality all throughout the social hierarchy and breeds corruption and nepotism caused a huge socio-economic crisis. The Tunisia’s ‘success story’ based on the dislocation of some light industries from Europe, tourism and mass migration to Libya & Europe have already reached to its point of saturation and started reversing. This liberal economic policy of dictatorial regime in both the countries produced the social unrest and the uprising. The global economic slowdown of capitalism led the neo-liberal market forces in the disadvantaged Muslim countries like Egypt to exhaust its capacity to allure the middle classes. The distressed rural masses were further marginalized due to the neo-liberal drive. Genocide in Palestine, extermination and starving to death of the citizens of Gaza strip especially women & children due to Israeli Blockade, killing – mutilating & arresting the elected Hamas leaders,  languishing of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jail – all these have already
 agitated the minds of middle class especially the educated youths. Israeli military offensive code-named ‘Operation summer Rain’ caused havoc to the life of Palestinians. From a different perspective of strategic interest and to maintain anti-Syrian and pro-Western Government, the propaganda blitzkrieg compelled the Syrian army to pull out. The overenthusiastic Israeli aggression in Lebanon to bring the entire Levant (all countries bordering the E. Mediterranean sea between Greece & Egypt) and Fertile Crescent region under the direct control and scanning of America & Israel got the drubbing in the hands of popular resistance and Hezbollah fighters. In the Lebanese election, the guerilla organization Hezbollah has emerged as a powerful political formation and a mainstream political party. In all these, the regime in Egypt, the centre of gravity of Arab World and a major militarily strategic threat to Israeli domination, remained mere spectator under the Camp David accord signed by Hosni Mubarak, a stooge of American Imperialism. The disgruntled Muslim psyche due to repression and aggression in Muslim countries and the disillusioned educated middle class about the efficacy of neo-liberal policy already set the ground for revolt against regime headed by Mubarak, and after a failed attempt in 2003 due to repressive measures, the Lebanese popular resistance and the recent story of Tunisian uprising triggered the spontaneous mass revolt in Egypt. The zeal that was generated in the event can be gauged by the way Mr. Robert Fisk of Independent magazine captured the mood of the people in Tehri square. He wrote, “It was a victory parade – without the victory. They came in their hundred of thousands, joyful, singing, praying, a great packed mass of Egypt, suburb by suburb, village by village, waiting patiently to pass through the ‘people’s security’ checkpoints, draped in the Egyptian flag of red, white and black, its governess eagle a bright gold in the sunlight. Were there millions? Perhaps across the country there certainly were. It was, we all agreed, the largest political demonstration in the history of its least-loved dictator. Its only flaw was that by dusk – and who knew what the night would bring – Hosni Mubarak was still calling himself ‘President of Egypt’.” Horace Campbell commented “…..the people of Egypt and Tunisia have made their mark on the world stage and they have shifted the balance of power back to ordinary people. They have re-established the essence of popular democratic participation and elevated the issues of the politics of inclusion. This shift is bringing back the sense of power to the exploited all over the world. Oppressed people all over the world now take courage from the new sense of purpose of the demonstrators. This confidence and freedom from fear have been so inspiring that there are already popular uprising and protest in Jordan, Yemen and Sudan. Not far behind are citizens in Algeria, Cameroon and Libya, who are slowly stirring and demanding political and social change.” The meticulous effort of the western imperialist to widen the Shia - Sunni divide is being countered through rising Arab Nationalism.

Though the common masses participating in the Egyptian revolt have a sense of belonging to the Muslim community, the revolt is secular-democratic and anti-imperialist & nationalist in nature. Along with the petit-bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie, a section of comprador class and the national army are taking side with the masses. In this scenario - the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBardei, has already emerged as the consensus presidential candidate of the masses and ostensibly has the backing of Iran and ipso facto that of emerging new axis of China-Russia, the second  in command in Mubarak’s Govt. Omar Suleiman is being projected by the US administration with the backing of Egyptian army to replace Mubarak as an interim truce, the third but not the least formidable force is the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ who has its reach to the rural masses through Muslim clerics and the landed gentry. Though all these forces are not basically averse to neo-liberal economic regime, but to replace Mubarak and its dictatorial policy, there must be some quid pro quo and for that matter a middle road will be traced to back out from the policy of appeasement towards Zionism. If under popular pressure, Camp David accord is abrogated and an election is held to restore parliamentary democracy, it will be a great step forward with immense ramification in the Arab World vis-à-vis for the revival of working class movement world-wide. The socialist forces should take a lesson from all these spontaneous people’s initiatives which are to go a long way for the working class to emerge as the front-runner, participate actively in support of anti-globalisation and nationalist movement and to draft a new socialist program from the experience of these new events unfolding in different part of the world. Then only, the western campaign about moribund ideology of socialism will get a thrashing and the socialist forces world-wide will re-emerge with new vigour, when the global capitalism is in deep crisis and under duress from people’s quarters.

E-mail : baisya_arup@rediffmail.com // swabhimanngo@gmail.com//   

I take the privilege to introduce “THE ARUNODOY, the oldest vernacular tabloid that has been published from Assam’s southernmost town of Silchar since 1950” to the members of  Swabhiman NGO and the readers of Swabhiman Blog as well as facebook friends. The present editor Mr. Chandan Sengupta took the charge in 1992 from its founder editor Sunil DuttaRoy. Though this newspaper is not an organ of any outfit or party, it acts as the mouthpiece of the oppressed, gives voice to the voiceless people, analyses the events and reports that normally do not find prominent place or produced as a half-baked truth in the mainstream media. It upholds democratic values and diversity in opinion.
The Editorial Board-member directed me to give a write-up on Egyptian uprising for the current issue of ARUNODOY and following his direction and considering the space limit and immidiacy, when I sat down to write the essay, I thought it easier to write it in English, as the information and the statement from major sources related with this episode are available in English. So I decided to write it in English anyway and post it in the Swabhiman Blog, and to translate this in Bengali with some updates, if possible, for Arunodoy later.  --- Arup Baisya                            

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