FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION
Prepare for the Coming Revolutionary Storms
People's Voice
Organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party
Volume 29 – Issue 5 Contribution – Rs. 5/- March 1-15, 2007
Condemn the terrorist attack on the Samjhauta Express!
Statement of the Central Committee of Communist Ghadar Party of India, 25 Feb, 2007
The Communist Ghadar Party of India
condemns the dastardly firebombing of
the Samjhauta Express near Panipat on
the night of 18 February as a criminal
act against the peoples of both India
and Pakistan. Most of the victims were
Pakistani individuals and families who
were returning home after spending
time visiting their relatives in India.
The fire killed about 70 passengers,
including several children, in a most
gruesome manner. Dozens of others
lie injured with severe burns in various
hospitals, far removed from their homes
and families.
Along with the bombing itself, the
Communist Ghadar Party of India also
International Women's Day 2007:
Empowerment of people is the road to liberation of women!
On 8 March 2007 women all over the
world will take a pledge to put an end to
exploitation, oppression, and hypocrisy,
and to take forward the struggle for
the liberation of women. Whether it
is the struggle in America and Europe
against war and occupation, or struggle
against price rise, destruction of
agriculture, acquisition of land by force,
displacement, increasing unemployment,
rape, and state terrorism, they are
at the forefront. Everywhere they
are raising their voices for a society
where the wellbeing of all women and
men is primary and not the interest
of a minority big bourgeoisie and their
profits.
It is well known that under the all round
offensive of the ruling bourgeois class
against all working people, the women
condemns the callous treatment of
the victims and their relatives by the
governments of both India and Pakistan.
In the aftermath of the attack, both
governments are playing their cynical
political games, using the unfortunate
suffering people as pawns in their
battles at great risk to these people's
lives and health. This only confirms that
these governments do not have the
interests of the people at heart.
The majority of victims in this instance
were Pakistanis traveling on the “peace
train”, and the attack took place just
one day before the arrival of Pakistani
Foreign Minister Kasuri in New Delhi.
Because of this, there has been
become special targets. In addition
to this offensive, women are targets
of the most backward customs and
prejudices. One the one hand, under
the name of privatization, liberalization
and globalization, women are being
deprived of labour rights and have to
toil for 12-14 hours daily, besides
other dangers that follow with working
late; on the other, they are the target
of female foeticide, using the most
"modern" techniques, apart from being
victims of rape, sexual violence, and
malnutrition.
There are many laws supposedly for
protection of women, including the
recently enacted Domestic Violence Act.
In spite of all the laws, the oppression
and exploitation of women has not come
down, it has only increased. Time and
much speculation in the media in both
India and Pakistan about who were
its perpetrators and what was the
intention behind it. The fact, however,
is that this is not an isolated incident,
but only the latest instance of a
phenomenon that has been recurring
with ever greater frequency in this part
of the world.
Every terrorist attack in India has a
very predictable political outcome. It is
used by the state to confuse the people
about who their real enemies are. It is
used to discredit particular movements,
or particular communities, or particular
Continued on page 2
again, those guilty of crime against
women go scot-free, they are never
punished. After a long ordeal of going
Continued on page 6
In this Issue
World 2
 US aggression on Iraq...
Economy 3
 No Solution to Inflation
Letters to Editor 3
Voice of Toilers & Tillers 4-8
 Workers' Council meeting
 Traders, Hawkers come together
 National Convention of Farmers
 Mumbai garment workers' struggle
World
Growing opposition to US aggression:
Iraq and Somalia and preparations to attack Iran
Opposition is growing both within and
outside the United States to the wars
being waged in Iraq and Somalia, and to
the US war preparations against Iran.
Among the slogans which reverberated
during the anti–war protests this
January in the US were those calling on
the Democratic Party to respect the will
of the people and act against the war,
or become exposed as collaborators.
Under pressure from public opinion,
the House of Representatives passed
a resolution on 16th February, 2007,
against the troop increases proposed
by the Bush administration.
On the streets of Iraq, patriots continue
to fight bravely and score gains over the
heavily armed US and allied troops,
determined to free their nation of
foreign occupation. At the end of
January 2007, US military sources and
their Iraqi allies killed or injured over 500
people in the city of Najaf. The targets
of the attack were the al-Hatami and
al-Khazali tribes, both of which oppose
the US occupation and the puppet Iraq
regime under American control.
In early January, US military planes
bombarded southern Somalia. This
was aimed against the Union of Islamic
Courts in Somalia, which had succeeded
in removing warlords and bringing about
Condemn the terrorist attack...
Continued from page 1
countries. It is invariably used to justify
beefing up the intelligence and police
and armed forces of the state, as
well as to strengthen legislation and
other repressive measures to deny
the democratic rights of the people in
the name of fighting terrorism. These
facts cannot be ignored when people
try and understand what is the motive
behind this or some other incident of
terrorism.
It is equally true that the real truth
about who carries out such attacks,
 March 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 5
peace and stability in most of Somalia.
While the US imperialists presented it
as a “war on terror”, the peoples of
Africa can see that it is a war to deny
sovereignty to the people of Somalia, to
bring Somalia back under US control.
The peoples of Africa and of other
continents have condemned the US
bombardment of Somalia.
Even while the lies concocted about
Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass
destruction are fresh in people’s memory,
the US imperialists are trumpeting a
new justification for aggression and
war, aimed at Iran. Recent news reports
clearly point out that the claims of
“secret weapons sites” in Iran, provided
by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence
agencies, have proved to be false when
investigated by IAEA inspectors Despite
this, the imperialists continue to spread
their lies and isolate Iran. They claim
that the weapons and explosives used
by the patriotic forces in Iraq are of
Iranian origin. In order to intimidate
Iran, heavily–armed US aircraft carriers
have been sent into the Persian Gulf.
Detailed US plans to attack Iran have
been revealed recently, including the
targeting of naval and military bases, the
cities of Isfahan, Arak and Bushehr, and
the Natanz nuclear power station. The
Government of Iran has vowed that the
and at whose behest they are carried
out, is never allowed to come out in
the open. Various individuals are killed
outright by the police and intelligence
agencies and then charged with being
terrorists. Recently, it has come
out that a large number of people
in Kashmir have been falsely labeled
and killed as terrorists over a number
of years. At other times, various
individuals are arrested and charged
with terrorist activities, but invariably
the actual facts are never revealed
through open trials in a court of law,
but are hushed up in the name of
“security”. The people continue to be
left in the dark about the facts.
US imperialists would have to pay a very
heavy price if they dared to implement
these plans.
Facts and developments show that the
‘war on terror’ being championed by
US imperialism is an unjust imperialist
war against nations, peoples and
their sovereignty. Caught in the
deep economic crisis of the monopoly
capitalist system, with the supremacy
of the US Dollar under threat, the ruling
class in the US is relying on war, plunder
and occupation of other peoples’ lands
as the preferred way to retain its
dominant position in the world.
Imperialism is the source of war and
terror in the world. It is a system
that has outlived its time, and cannot
prolong its life without spreading
death and destruction on the global
scale. The ‘war on terror’ slogan of
US imperialism and other imperialists
is aimed at turning the truth upside
down, so as to justify a completely
unjustifiable course.
The times are calling on the people to
stick to the course of uncompromising
struggle against imperialism and
imperialist war, in general, and the
US imperialist led ‘war on terror’ in
particular. n
The truth is that state terrorism and
what passes for individual terrorism
in this part of the world are closely
linked, they are two sides of the same
coin. Along with the politics of lies and
deception, they serve the interests
of reactionary ruling classes and
imperialism in keeping the people fearful,
disoriented and confused about the real
state of affairs and the actual source
of their problems. The people must
refuse to be cowed down, and must
be vigilant against this kind of criminal
politics. They must demand thorough
and credible investigation into all acts
of terrorism, and insist that the full
facts are placed before the public. n
Economy
No Solution to Inflation can come from this Capitalist Government
When people complained about rising
prices of essential commodities
some months ago, Finance Minister
Chidambaram claimed that it was
temporary and would soon be reduced.
However, data for the last few months of
2006 show that inflation has continued
to rise (see chart below). The rate of
increase in the official wholesale price
index has crossed 6% per year, while
the consumer price index has crossed
7% per year, and both rates continue
to rise till today. As is well known, the
official indices under-state the extent
of the problem that people face.
We cannot expect any solution to
the problem of inflation from the UPA
Government because it is committed
Letters to Editor
Tata-Corus deal
Sir,
For some time now, the party has been
observing that the Indian bourgeoisie
has oriented its strategy to emerge as
a big player on the international scene,
with the concomitant emergence of India
as a regional power in collusion with the
Anglo-American camp. In this regard,
one cannot ignore the major moves of
atleast two of the big industrial houses in
the very recent past, i.e., the acquistion
of Corus steel by Tata Steel which now
makes the latter the fifth biggest steel
manufacturer in the world, and the
acquisition of Novelis by Hindalco, one
of the flagship companies of the Aditya
Birla group. One cannot ignore the fact
that these developments have come at
a time with the Anglo-American camp
itself is mired in deep crises especially
in the international political scene. It has
been pointed out in one of the recent
party statements that there is the
distinct possibility of the US economy
entering an `economic abyss' and also
that of the collapse of the dollar. The
Indian bourgeoisie is working overtime
to consolidate its strength at this time.
The bourgeoisie has finally come out with
to defend the capitalist system, which
is the root cause of inflation. The
great vigour, after having overcome the
setback it received from the collapse of
social imperialism in 1989.
In the meantime, the Finance Minister
Mr. P. Chidambaram has gone to town
expressing his great delight at the
Tata-Corus mergre and stated that his
Government would be ready to help the
Tata group if approached, to complete
the formalities of the merger and did
not commit himself to whether or not
financial help would be extended. Such
generosity has never been forthcoming
from Mr. Chidambaram or any of his
colleagues in the UPA Government, or
any officials of the state Governments
when confronted with the problems of
farmers who are on the brink of physical
extermination from the adverse winds
of the market forces. There has been no
offer of help to the farmers to overcome
their debts resulting from loans accrued
to cultivate their fractured farmlands.
Therefore, there should be no doubt in
any one's mind as to whose Government
the UPA Government really is.
The working class must take note of all
the developments above. It must ask
why it has not been able to overcome
the debacle that it faced with the
March 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 5
system of production and the policy of
the government are geared towards
Continued on page 4
collapse of the Soviet bloc. It must
combat the assault against socialism
and communism that is being carried
out by the world bourgeoisie and also by
the Indian bourgeoisie. It must carry out
the ideological struggle and must equip
itself with the tools needed to prevail in
the struggle. The Indian working class in
particular must show to the world that
the plan that the Indian bourgeoisie has
in its mind cannot be for the benefit of
the Indian or the international working
class. Its track record over the last
century first in undivided India and
later in `independent' India is there
for everyone to see. It has developed
it economic muscle at the expense of
the working class and the devasated
peasantry. Its policies spell nothing
but disaster for the Indian people and
that of its neighbours --- it envisions a
chauvinistic India which is a threat to
the peace in the neighbourhood.
The working class and the communist
movement are faced with the challenge of
combating this vision and that of putting
forth their own vision of that future for the
working class as well as all the peoples of
India and indeed that of the world.
Sincerely, A. Narayan, Banglore

Voice of Toilers & Tillers
Important milestone:
Workers Council meeting in Nagpur
On Feb 15-17, 2007, the All India
Workers Council held its Conference
in “Aantar Bharati Aashram”, Dabha,
near Nagpur city. The Conference was
inaugurated by Prof Jhite. Delegates
from different regions of the country
participated in the deliberations of
the Conference. They came from
Surat, Kanpur, Lucknow, Basti, Patna,
Kolkota, Bangalore, Ranchi, Delhi,
Mumbai, UlhasNagar, Nagpur, and other
centres in different states of India. They
consisted of activists in the communist
and workers movement drawn from
different parties and groups who were
seriously concerned about establishing
mechanisms to forge the political unity
of the working class. At the end of the
Conference, the delegates approved the
political and organizational reports, and
elected a 35 member All India Executive.
Comrade OP Sinha was elected as the
President of the All India Executive.
No Solution to Inflation...
Continued from page 3
maximization of plunder – that is, to
take out as much as possible and put
back as little as possible into the human
productive forces. Inflation is one of
the ways in which this takes place.
Rise in commodity prices reduces the
purchasing power in the hands of the
working people. With the same income
they can buy less, so they consume
less. They become poorer.
As part of the drive of the Indian
bourgeoisie towards becoming a global
power, production is being geared
more and more towards the world
market. As part of the drive towards
globalisation, the Reserve Bank of
India has been buying dollars in the
market, creating artificial demand to
prop up the value of the US Dollar.
This has been a conscious policy for
the benefit of those capitalists who
export and earn in dollars, and those
who bring dollars to invest in Indian
 March 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 5
The Conference discussed the necessity
for the Indian working class to have
a political organization, in which it
could unite for its broad political aims
of opposing the capitalist offensive
of globalization, liberalization and
privatization, and for coming into the
center stage of Indian polity as a class
with its own class aims.
The Conference discussed various
problems confronting the working class
movement, including contract labor,
working hours, minimum wages, the
violation of the labor laws as well as their
inadequacies, unemployment, Special
Economic Zones, as well as problems
faced by workers on a daily basis. It
was also discussed that any political
organization of the working class can
never ignore the burning questions
of oppression of women, the caste
question, or national oppression.
assets. Every time the RBI purchases
one dollar, it injects 45 rupees into
circulation. It increases the quantity
of money in our economy without a
corresponding increase in goods and
services. This is one of the factors
fueling the rise in inflation rate.
Workers’ and peasants’ incomes are
being further squeezed for the sake
of keeping high the rates of profits
enjoyed by the capitalists.
Speculation in commodities, through
forward trading, is another factor
that has led to greater volatility in
commodity prices. Militarization and
debt servicing add to the problem, as
they take massive wealth out of the
economy without giving anything in
return. Hoarding by private trading
interests further aggravate the
problem.
The solution to inflation lies in changing
the orientation of the economy. Rather
than the maximization of private profits
being the overriding motivation and
driving force of the economy, it must
It was decided that state and district
committees should be established
wherever possible immediately. May
Day shall be celebrated with a common
call throughout the country. The
Council decided to develop all India
campaign to put an end to contract
labour as well as to the Special
Economic Zones. The Council decided
to extend its support to all the
ongoing struggles of the working
class and working people. The Council
decided to extend its full support
to the campaign around the 1857
Ghadar launched by the Ghadar Jaari
hai… Abhiyan.
People's Voice considers the Conference
of the All India Workers Council
held in Nagpur as a contribution to
strengthening the political unity of the
working class. n
be replaced with the fulfillment of the
growing material and cultural needs of
the working population. More must
be put back into the human productive
forces – the workers, peasants and
all the toilers – than is taken out of
them.
Immediate measures that must be
taken in order to tackle the problem of
inflation include the following:
• Stop RBI purchasing US Dollars in
prop up its value and keep the Rupee
cheap
• Moratorium on interest payments
by central and state governments
– redeploying the money saved to
provide for people’s needs
• Immediate halt to forward and
futures trading in commodities
• Social control over trade to ensure
adequate supply of essential
commodities at affordable prices
for all. n
Voice of Toilers & Tillers
Traders, Hawkers and others unite
Opposition to the monopolisation of retail trade
Over a hundred people attended a
recently organised workshop to discuss
the entry of big businesses in the
retail sector. Participants included
representatives of traders’ associations,
hawkers’ unions, cooperative stores,
people's organisations, trade unions,
professors, students and others.
There was unanimity of concern that
the entry of large companies, due to
their monopolistic practices, will make
the businesses of a very large number
of small retailers, hawkers and farmers
unviable and will be very detrimental to
the interest of Indian society. It was
therefore felt necessary to stop the
government from permitting such a
move by Indian and foreign multinational
companies.
The representative of the Communist
Ghadar Party of India addressed the
gathering towards the conclusion of the
meeting and said that two visions of how
India should develop are clashing. On the
one hand we have the interest of a billion
people and on the other the interest of a
handful of Indian companies who want to
make India a imperialist power. They want
to turn Mumbai and Delhi into Shanghai
and Washington. The imposition of the
vision of the handful by the government
is leading to clashes in cities and
country-side as seen in Nandigram and
Singur. We have made a good beginning
and we will have to bring all oppressed
sections together and strengthen a
united opposition. We will not only have
to fight for our existence today but also
fight for bringing a fundamental change
in this oppressive system for a brighter
tomorrow.
In his opening remarks, the chairperson of
the Federation of (Traders’) Associations
of Maharashtra (FAM) pointed out that
during the Vajapayee government, none
other than Mr. Manmohan Singh had
said that foreign direct investment
(FDI) in retail will be harmful. Today,
when Manmohan Singh is heading the
government, he is doing an about-turn.
He said that their association has
already challenged the back-door entry
by Shoprite and Metro using “cash-N-
carry” route. He also pointed out that
the Mckinsey report on FDI is misleading
as it is silent on the number of people
employed in existing retail sector that
will lose their livelihood.
The Honorary General Secretary of FAM
emphasised that all political parties in
power are helping the big capitalists.
With the help of the government, the
ten richest companies in India want to
acquire tens of thousands of acres of
land that will lead the ruination of the
livelihood of millions of people.
A representative of the Apna Bazaar,
which runs a chain of cooperative stores
in Mumbai, said that shopkeepers,
traders, cooperative shop owners and
farmers must come together.
The General Secretary of the National
Hawkers Federation characterised the
hawkers, traders and coops coming
together as historic. He mentioned that
their experience with the West Bengal
government has not been any different
than the experience elsewhere in India. He
concluded that there was no other way
but to get on to the streets to protest
and resist if the Centre and the State
governments are working against the
interest of the people. He also mentioned
the recent ruling of the Supreme Court
that bans street hawkers from selling hot
foods was a direct attack on the livelihood
of lakhs of food vendors as keeping the
food hot prevents it from spoiling.
A short documentary film was also
screened that showed the difficult
times that people faced with the coming
of the mall and big retail stores in their
neighbourhood.
A professor from Mumbai university
pointed out that with the coming of
the big players, there may not be any
immediate closing of businesses. What
studies have shown is that in the
vicinity of a mall, the incomes of the
shopkeepers start to decrease and over
a period of a few years, it becomes clear
March 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 5
to the shop owners that they will not be
able to sustain their businesses.
A representative of CITU pointed out
that the government policy today is being
dictated by the commitments made several
years ago in signing the GATS agreement.
The Chairman of Foreign Trade Committee
of FAM said that their federation has had
discussions with various political leaders
including the leaders of left alliance and
found that these leaders are only able to
shed crocodile tears, as the government
is unable to resist pressures from the
big players.
The Secretary of of Mumbai Mahanager
Vyapari Seva Parishad emphasised that it
was necessary to mount the pressure on
the elected representatives. He felt that
it was necessary to write to all MPs and
MLAs and demand that they oppose the
entry of big corporations in retail sector.
He declared that the people will defeat in
the next elections those representatives
who do not fulfil this demand.
The representative of Lok Raj Sangathan
summed up the experience of various
speakers about the role of the elected
representatives. He focused on the need
for basic changes in the electoral and
politial system in order to make elected
representatives accountable to the
people. He strongly felt that the battle
for such changes must be waged side by
side the struggle against the antipeople
policies of the government. He felt that
it was not enough to defeat the elected
representative in the next election, but
the elected representatives must be
subject to reccall at any time if they did
not represent the interest of the people.
He also questioned the wisdom of the
parliamentary left in accepting the dictat
of the ruling class for fear of toppling the
government. He opined that it was good
to bring down the government on this
issue as it had grave implications for the
majority of the population of India.
A resolution opposing the entry of big
companies in the retail sector was
adopted. n

Voice of Toilers & Tillers
International Women's Day...
Continued from page 1
through a legal battle, and facing social
discrimination, many of our sisters
never ever get justice. Why is this the
case? What must we do to change this
situation?
Under the present system, state
power is not in the hands of working
women and men. Neither do we have
the right to take decisions on matter
closely related to our life nor does
anybody care to ask us our opinion.
When it comes to acquisition of land
and natural resources, and depriving
people, peasants and tribal people of
their livelihood, to ensure maximum
profits for the big bourgeois, closing
down of factories and throwing out
people to fend for themselves, denying
labour rights, deploying goons and armed
forces to rape and kill women who are
fighting for their rights, the state
machinery performs this tasks with
great efficiency. But when it a question
of guaranteeing basic right to education,
life, housing, health, water, sanitations,
and so on to all people, there are no
mechanisms to enforce this.
This is the basic reason why those guilty
of economic, administrative, political,
social and domestic crimes, against
women are never punished. We have
no means, no mechanism to affirm our
rights.
What kind of democracy is this, where
people have no means to enforce their
rights? Under the name of democracy,
elections are held every few years to
various institutions at different levels
including panchayat, municipality,
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 March 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 5
state assemblies and lok sabha; but
what kind of candidates stand for
elections? Established parties of the
bourgeoisie field their candidates
and the role of people is limited to
electing the "lesser of the evils". To
make sure that their candidate wins,
these parties shamelessly make use of
money and muscle power. The elected
representatives then implement the
agenda of their political party and its
high command, and not the programme
to fulfill the needs of all. People who
have elected the candidate have no
control over the representative, since
they cannot recall the representative.
In practice, they are representatives
of their parties or "party pratinidhi"
and not representatives of people or
janapratinidhi.
This year 8 March International
women's day is coming at a time when
a number of states including Punjab,
Uttarakhand, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Manipur,
and Mumbai have just held or are going
in for elections for state assemblies,
municipal bodies, or panchayats.
In numerous places, people have taken
various initiatives challenging the
dominance of big political parties. During
panchayat elections in Tamil Nadu and
Municipal elections in Mumbai, people
took up initiatives to select and put up
their own candidates, challenging the
candidates of big political parties. In
the ongoing elections for the Municipal
Corporation of Delhi, people across
Delhi are setting up local sangharsh
samitis (fighting organizations), and
constituency committees in various
localities and slums. They are holding
public meetings to select the candidates
Request to Readers
We request our readers to send in reports / articles
on the life and struggles of workers, peasants,
women, youth and every section of the working
people.
This will contribute to strengthening the political
unity and struggles of workers and peasants for the
renewal of Indian society
from amongst the people. They are
setting conditions that candidates
must fulfill for standing. They are
coming up with practical solutions to
ensure that the control remains firmly
in the hands of people, like provision
to recall a representative if she or he
fails to deliver on the commitments
made to the people. They are taking
steps to ensure that the elected
representative is not "party pratinidhi"
but janapratinidhi.
If at all levels of governance, the elected
representatives are under the control
of those who have elected them, it
would be an important step towards
empowerment of people. The demand
for 33 percent reservation for women in
elected bodies will not solve the problem
if the elected representative continues
to remain a party representative and
is not accountable to the people. It is
a demand of the times that those who
are committed to empower women and
put an end to injustice and oppression
of women must organize to build such
mechanisms that would break the
dominance of big political parties, and
ensure that the elected representative
are accountable to people.
On the occasion of 8 March, the Delhi
Committee of Communist Ghadar Party
of India appeals to all working women
and men to break the dominance of big
political parties and organize to take
power in their own hands. Only under
such condition would we be able to
make the state work in the interest
of women, to ensure their rights and
punish those guilty of various crimes
against women. This is the only road
to the liberation of women! n
Voice of Toilers & Tillers
National Convention of Farmers asserts the Rights of the Tillers
Thousands of peasants from all over India
gathered at the National Convention of
Farmers at Erode in Tamil Nadu during
16-18th February, 2007. The Convention
was organized by the Federation of Tamil
Nadu Agriculturists Associations, Bharat
Krishak Samaj, Thamizhaga Vivasayigal
Sangam, and many other peasant
organizations. Besides Tamil Nadu,
peasants came in large numbers from
Orissa, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Assam,
Punjab, Maharashtra and other states.
The extreme anger of the peasants with
the anti-peasant policies and activities of
the central and state governments and
the big capitalists and multinationals was
strongly reflected in the interventions of
the activists. Speaker after speaker
condemned the blatantly cynical attitude
of the Indian state to the plight of the
peasantry. They pointed out that while
the Indian government has been gloating
over the high rates of GDP growth, the
peasants are losing everything that they
have, and are being driven to desperate
measures such as suicides. Even after
Mumbai garment workers on the path of struggle
The workers of garment industry have
to face extremely difficult conditions. A
large part of this industry comes under
unorganised sector and the factory
owners impose numerous restrictions
on the workers. For instance, the wokers
are made to work on piece rate basis and
are not paid even the minimum wages.
Whereas, as per the law, the owner of
a factory has to take out an insurance
policy for the workers, if the number of
workers exceed 10, and the workers are
entitled to various other facilities as a
matter of right, the factory owners try
to destroy any evidence that such laws
are applicable to their workers; they use
every means to prove that these workers
are not under regular employment. The
owners use various means to deprive the
workers of their rights and the workers
are forced to wok under conditions of
extreme exploitation.
However, the garment workers are
getting organised and waging struggle
to change these conditions. The workers
the temporary waiver of loans and
interest on loans in Vidharbha, Andhra
Pradesh and other places, the suicides
have not stopped. This indicates that
there is a profound crisis in agriculture
and piecemeal waivers or subsidies are
not the answer to the crisis.
Participants at this convention pointed
out that the government of the capitalists
is not interested in the well-being of the
peasantry. They called on the peasants
to end their marginalization and take an
active part in the political process. The
massive landgrab of agricultural land in
the name of industrial development, or
for setting up Special Economic Zones,
came under severe fire. The peasants
demanded, as a right and not as a
privilege, that they should be provided
with agricultural inputs at affordable
prices and the state should ensure
that their products are purchased at
remunerative prices through a properly
organized procurement mechanism.
The convention condemned the wasteful
of Tomma Exports Company located on
Reay road had dared to demand their
rights and protest work stoppage
by the management. In the month of
January 2007, the workers staged
a demonstration at the factory gate
under the leadership of Ladaku Garment
Kamgaar Union. The factory owner was
forced to take back the workers and
agreed to compensate for the loss
of wages due to stoppage of work.
However, on the day the workers were
to join he refused to keep his word.
On February 5, the workers along with
comrades from Kamgaar Ekta Chalwal
again staged a demonstration at the
factory gate. The management people
ran away from the factory and called
the police. The police reached the venue
in two vans to intimidate the workers,
who were not more than 30-40. The
workers did not retreat, and continued
their demonstration.
The case of Radium Ink factory is also
similar, where the owners want to move
March 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 5
expenditure of the central and state
governments on defence, interest
payments and the bureaucracy. They
demanded that the state should allocate
more funds for irrigation, transport and
post-harvest facilities for the peasants.
Peasants from Tamil Nadu demanded
that the state take immediate measures
to halt the alarming depletion of ground
water levels by drawing water for
wasteful purposes such as for Colas,
and look at the feasibility of interlinking
river waters.
The National Convention has given
a fillip to the growing struggles and
political unity of peasants against the
capitalist imperialist orientation of the
economy. n
the workers from regular job to piece
rate system. The owner has thrown out
many workers as they have refused to
work on piece rate. The owner is also
angry that the workers have dared
to organise and demand their rights.
These workers decided to join Ladaku
Garment Kamgaar Union and comrades
from LGKU distributed leaflets at the
gate informing all workers about the
machinations of the factory owners
against the workers and appealed
to them to organise in the union to
fight for their rights and against the
atrocities of the factory owner. The
workers decided to unite in the struggle
for their rights and join the Union.
The experience of workers demonstrates
that under capitalism, various arms of
the state favour the factory owners, and
turn a blind eye to the factory owners
flouting every law in the book in running
their factories. It is necessary that the
workers unite and wage the struggle for
their rights in an organised way. n


Voice of Toilers & Tillers
Delhi Municipal Corporation elections:
Delhi citizens campaign for ‘people’s
candidates, not party candidates’!
With the announcement of April 5 as the
date for the Delhi Municipal Corporation
elections, all the major political parties,
such as the Congress, BJP and others
are busy looking for candidates to put
up for the elections. In the light of the
huge attacks that have been taking
place on the residents of Delhi in recent
months -- demolition of slums and
eviction of people from their homes,
sealing of shops and small commercial
establishments, etc., and the inability
of both the Congress Party government
in Delhi and the opposition BJP to
defend the interests of the people, both
these parties have become extremely
unpopular in the eyes of the residents
of Delhi. It has been reported that both
these parties are have difficulty finding
candidates ‘acceptable’ to the people.
Meanwhile, in several wards, residents
are proposing to field candidates
selected from amongst themselves,
through the citizens’ committees
in their respective areas. Rather
than voting for the ‘least evil’ of the
candidates put up by the big political
parties, these residents are planning
to come together and campaign for
their own selected candidate, on an
independent platform, with the full
support of the community and without
the use of money power and muscle
power, as is normally rampant with the
big party candidates.
One such initiative is that of the
Jan Pratinidhi Manch -- a common
platform of several political and social
organizations, representing men and
women from diverse strata of society.
These include Sangharsh Samitis of
several slum and resettlement colonies
spread all over Delhi as well as Resident
Welfare Associations of many middle-
class colonies. These groups have
come together with a common aim
of intervening in the Delhi Municipal
Corporation elections, by fielding
candidates selected by the residents of
each ward, from among themselves,
Lok Awaz Publishers & Distributors,
E–392, Sanjay Colony, Okhla Phase-II, New Delhi - 110020
through their area committees, as
opposed to candidates selected by the
established political parties.
The constituents of the Jan Pratinidhi
Manch include Lok Raj Sangathan,
Nagrik Shasan, Bharat Punarnirman Dal,
Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha, Rangbhoomi
Natya Samooh, Sanjay Colony Niwasi
Sangharsh Samiti, Transit Camp Bachao
Sangharsh Samiti, J.J.Colony Madanpur
Khadar Sangharsh Samiti and others.
At a Press Conference held on February
22, the representatives of the JPM
explained that their aim is to bring
the concerns of the people of Delhi
to the centre-stage, by involving
the residents themselves directly in
governance, through their own selected
political representative. This will be
an important step in challenging the
domination of the narrow partisan
interests of the established political
parties over the politics and lives of the
people of Delhi. All candidates of the Jan
Pratinidhi Manch will have to agree to
abide by the standards set by the JPM.
They have to render accounts to the
residents and also take an oath that
the candidate, if elected, will resign
if the residents of the ward find his/
her work unsatisfactory. The election
campaign of these candidates will be
funded entirely by contributions from
the residents themselves.
As reported in the last issue of PV,
the Jan Pratinidhi Manch has already
begun its campaign in many wards
of Delhi where it will be fielding its
candidates. The residents’ committees
and sangharsh samitis in the local areas
have an important role to play in the
selection of the people’s candidates. It
is through these committees that the
residents will exercise their choice and
also raise their common concerns to be
taken up with the MCD and authorities
in Delhi.
Residents of Dwarka, Masjid Moth,
Defence Colony, IP Estate and several
colonies have met to form the residents’
committees in their respective areas
and are discussing the issue of selection
of people’s candidates.
At a public meeting attended by more
than 200 people in J.J.Colony Madanpur
Khadar, on February 25, more than a
hundred men, women and youth came
forward to become members of their
Sangharsh Samiti. The meeting had been
called by the Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha
(HNES), a youth organization that has
been actively working to organise the
youth of this colony for social change.
Activists of Lok Raj Sangathan spoke to
the residents about the significance of
the Sangharsh Samiti as a forum in which
all the residents will come together,
irrespective of their community, region
or political affiliation, with the common
aim of taking forward the struggle for
their rights and for a life of dignity. The
Sangharsh Samiti will have to meet
regularly, take decisions collectively
and then work collectively to implement
them, they explained. Members of the
Jan Pratinidhi Manch spoke of the
need to reject the candidates of the
big political parties and select our own
people’s candidates. Several residents,
especially the youth spoke with great
excitement of the prospect of building
their own Sangharsh Samiti and putting
up one of their own as a candidate for
the MCD elections, because they are
fed up of being fed on false promises
by the politicians and want to take the
initiative themselves. On this occasion,
young activists of the Rangabhoomi
Natya Samooh performed a play ‘Faisla
aapke ke haath mein’, exposing the
political process and calling for people’s
representatives. n