Movement for People’s Rights to Employment, Food Security, Health Care, Quality Education and Pension: (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka) AN NGO COALITION OF RIGHTS IS BORN:

Movement for People’s Rights to Employment, Food Security, Health Care, Quality Education and Pension: (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka)

AN NGO COALITION OF RIGHTS IS BORN:

It is very rare that NGOs from three States ( Andhra, Karnataka, and Telengana )  come together to discuss how one of the States has managed to get the Government to establish a GO/NGO partnership called APNA. It is even more rare that in Andhra, through this partnership, the NGOs have been made responsible to organise Gram Panchayat Samakhyas ( GPS, which literally means an organisation at the Gram Panchayat level) of MGNREGA  job card holders. Here is the most unique point of this partnership, as it is through these GPS monthly meetings  the NGOs work with MGNREGA workers to demand and receive their rights. 

Yet, this meeting between NGOs from these three States did happen in Andhra on the 30 – 31st of May 2015, organised by APVVU, PRAXIS, and YIP. The meeting resulted in a revolutionary decision, to make each GPS a Rights Based GPS. Through these Rights Based GPSs, NGOs will help MGNREGA workers access all rights legislated for them, including right to work, health and education. Furthermore, this movement would be promoted across all the three States. 

In this recent posting we share the main points from the meeting and what actions we hope to take forward as NGOs who believe in ensuring that rights are not just legislated for the rural poor, but that they are able to access and benefit from these rights.  

MAIN ISSUES DISCUSSED ON 30^th AND 31^st MAY MEETING AT Young Indian Project (YIP) CENTRE  ANANTAPUR  DIST.

1         Eight NGOs from Telangana, 4 from Karnataka, 8 from Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Raj Sekhar from Action Aid, and Mr. Anandam, APD MGNREGA , Kadapa met for two days to discuss how to replicate in Karnataka and Telengana what NGOs have done in Andhra Pradesh making the Govt create an active partnership of Govt and NGOs called Andhra Pradesh NGO Alliance (APNA), and through APNA organise MGNREGA job card holders into Gram Panchayat Samakhyas (GPS ) and enable them to access all rights given them by the Act.

2         Because of success of APNA/GPS thanks to APNA and the Community Resource Persons(CRPs) appointed for each mandal by the NGOs, Andhra Pradesh has become the best State in implementing MGNREGA, and the only State in which Workers are organised by  NGOS  into GPSs to demand and receive their rights. At present the government used to pay Community Resource Persons Rs. 3500/ per month for their work.  This amount is grossly insufficient for the CRPs who have to travel to all the villages, conduct meetings and look after their family needs. Increasing their salaries would mean taking away from MGNREGA budget.  This would result in cutting down working days of the people.  To remedy this some representative of the NGOs from Andhra Pradesh met the Principal Secretary RD and made some recommendations.  According to the recommendation Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vrittidara Union (APVVU), Young India Project and others have decided to make APNA and the GPS responsible for all rights and benefits of the MGNREGA families (more than 51 % are women, and between 50 to 60 % are dalits).  The job card holder families will have to pay Rs. 5/ per month or Rs. 60 per year to their respective GPS to pay for the services of the two CRPs who are now being paid by APNA. This proposal has been submitted to Mr. Tucker (Principal Sec. Planning and R.D.), and to Mr Ramanjanyelu  CRD, and both have responded positively. Over the next four months we will have to develop a Government Order (GO) with the help of Mr. Chiranjivi (Planning),and  Mr. Narayan Reddy Secretary  APNA ,to enable our proposal to be implemented. APVVU and YIP will be responsible for this. In addition APVVU and YIP will do the following:

1. a) Hold a meeting with 6 NGOs per district from Chittoor,Nellore (Raja Reddy will be responsible for selecting them), Kadapa (Shiva Reddy will select them), Kurnool and Anantapur (YIP will be responsible for selecting them).

b) All NGO CRPs should start a signature campaign with their GPSs asking for all rights and benefits to be accessed through their GPSs and their willingness to pay Rs 60 per year per job card to support their CRPs.

c)  APVVU and YIP will work with the Govt to develop the GO.                                                                  

2. Anandam, APD MGNREGA Kadapa offered to host the meeting for 40 participants, this will include food and lodging, and if possible travel. Bedi will write to Mr. Balasubramaniam, PD Kadapa. The meeting will be from lunch on the 4^th of July to after lunch on the 5^th of July at Kadapa .  Mr. Anandam will communicate to us about the venue.                                                                                                                                                   

3.  The Karnataka participants made the following decisions : a) Alex and Shantha will talk to Vimochna and  an NGO headed by Prabhavati, to adopt 4 Gram Panchayats in Kolar district and with the help of YIP start forming GPSs with 200 job card holders per GPS. B) Edwin said he will talk to the activists he has worked with and organise a meeting to discuss which of them would be interested in working with MGNREGA workers. Praxis, APVVU, and YIP will be invited to the meeting.                                                                                                                                      

4.  Telengana made two decisions : a)They will try to get NGOs from Telengana State NGO’s Association ( TSNA ) to join the movement, and  b)They will train their own groups in our way of working and get them into TSNA.   Charles Wesley and Nilaiah will be responsible for Telangana.                                                                                                                                                             

5.  It was decided that this rights movement promotion group will meet every three  months to review the progress made in each of the three States.                                                                                                                      

6.  It was also decided that a training and guidance cell be formed to respond to any request from any of the three States. The cell will comprise of Alex Tuscano, Mamtha, Ganesh, and Narendar Bedi.                                                                                                                                                                      

7.  The meeting was concluded with thanks to the  three hosts: APVVU, PRAXIS, and YIP.                                                                                                                                                      

MAKE IN INDIA

MAKE IN INDIA

BY ALEXTUSCANO

The NDA government struggling to amend the Land Acquisition law to ease the process of land acquisition.  Labour reforms are the second step to promote rapid industrialization

COPYCAT SARKAR

      Modi's `Plans'                                                  Truth

1. Industrial Corridor                                   1 Four Corridors started by UPA

2. Invest India                                                2.Started by UPA in 2010

3. Make in India                                            3.Contains features already given in'

               ‘National Manufacturing Policy’

4. Government to Business                           4. Launched by the UPA

    (G2B) Portal                                                  Government in January 2013

0ur Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been very creative in coining new slogans, 'Minimum government and maximum governance', 'swachha Bharat Abhiyan', 'Congress mukt Bharat'.  The latest invention of Modi is the slogan, 'Make in India'.

It is not clear what he really means by 'make in India'.  To the best of my understanding the term 'Make in India' is deliberately kept vague by Modi to prevent him from being caught by his own words.   He can escape from any interpretation of the term.  Is he asking the Indians not to import foreign goods and instead 'make in India'?  In that case he will find himself at home with the 'Swadeshi Jagran Manch' and the RSS who are always clamouring for being swadeshi.  When he is trying to open the doors tall and wide for foreign investments to kick start growth he cannot talk about ‘Swadeshi’.  Hence one should safely understand that by ‘'Make in India’ Modi is inviting foreign capital to manufacture in India.

To invite foreign investments to the country the Modi government is thinking of several measures.

Number one measure is amending the ‘land acquisition law’.  This law was passed under the UPA government with a strong support from the opposition in the parliament.    The industrialists are now crying foul as the land acquisition law is creating difficulties for them to easily acquire land.  To meet this demand of the industrialists Modi sarkar wants to remove the bottle necks in the law, such as ‘consent clause’,  ‘environment clearance’ and ‘Impact assessment’.  One should keep in mind that the BJP, which was in opposition in the previous parliament had contributed a lot in making land acquisition difficult for the industrialists by demanding four times of the market value of land as compensation to the farmer.

The second measure that Modi wants to take is 'labour reform'. Obviously this will help the industries to function with peace and without workers resorting to frequent strikes.  In Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje has already taken the so called, bold step in bringing about labour reforms.

Land owners or wage earners?

Both in pursuit of foreign investment and rapid industrialization, the state is acquiring land of the farmers to establish ‘special economic zones’.  The NDA government is now trying to dilute the Land Acquisition law to ease the process of land acquisition.  In this manner more and more farmers will become landless.  Even the environmental clearance will be put on fast track to build industries on the environmentally sensitive areas.

Often the economists have argued that land acquisition for industrialization will generate employment.  The farmers who lose their land will get employment.  Some even say that employment will give the farmers more income than what they would earn by cultivating their land.

The economists miss a crucial point.  They do not realize that when a farmer loses his land he loses his capital, his address, his identity and his food sovereignty.  The farmers have a stake in their land. By ownership of land they are owner of capital which gives them a guaranteed source of earning livelihood.  Once they lose their land they lose their capital; they become wage labourers; they lose their employment guarantee.  They even lose their citizenship.

As a wage labourer one does not have any stake in the capital owned by the capitalists. They are alienated from the capital and the product of their labour.  They get alienated from the mainstream socio-economic and political life of the society.  Politics for them becomes only voting once in five years.

Once his land is lost he becomes just a landless labourer.  He would not be qualified enough to get good quality employment. Most of the people from farming communities get very poor quality of employment.

The hope of getting employment in exchange of land should also be seen in the light of the scenario in employment in India described by Ashok Kumar Panda.

"With the advent of liberalisation and globalization on the dictates of world capitalism the country has witnessed the marginalisation of a substantial section of the working class whereby jobs of perennial nature in government and industrial establishments are managed by contract labour.  On the pretext of following the new economic policies, political parties of various hues have gone for substitution of regular work force with contract labour.  In the country's premier health institution, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), thousands of contract labourers are employed in place of workers who are required on a permanent basis.  Contract labourers have no security of tenure and are paid only the minimum wage payable to unskilled labour for doing the work of regular employees, who are paid higher wages."  (Ashok Kumar Panda, Front Line November 14, 2014.)

"Contract labour is exposed to severe exploitation, which is marked by a lack of stability and durability of employment; insecurity of tenure; denial of overtime wage; absence of facilities and amenities; absence of safety devices giving rise to accidents; and denial of employment compensation payable to regular employees in the event of their death or disability.  This has pushed a substantial segment of the marginalised working class to penury and abuse of their human rights while private industries have reaped huge profits and unjust enrichment."  (Ashok Kumar Panda, Front Line November 14, 2014.)

Recently it had been reported that R Com put off 34% of their workers (6000 workers) to boost profitability.  And Microsoft terminated 18000 staff. This is a good indication of how the security of land ownership, employment in farmer's own land and food sovereignty will be bartered for insecure employment in industries.

In recent years our economy has boomed to a great level. But the base of ownership of capital has greatly diminished.  Wealth gap is widening.  For the aspiring middle class wages alone are not enough to prosper.  Merely as wage earners they cannot participate in the wealth they create for their owners.  They would like to have a stake in the capital itself.

Gross  Domestic Product or National Income?  ‘Make in India’ or Make for India?

Modi s main agenda is to kick start growth.  In all interviews conducted by electronic media the neoliberal economists talk about how Modi will succeed in his pursuit for growth.  Opening the doors for foreign investments by increasing the limits of foreign invest from 26% to 49% and 51%  is perceived as the way to go forward. If the foreign investors do bite this bate we will have more investments flowing into the country.  This will lead to what they call GROWTH, growth in 'Gross Domestic Product' (GDP).

We need to have a second look at the concept of ‘growth’ in GDP, particularly when it

happens through foreign investment.

Gross Domestic Production (GDP) is defined as total goods and services produced in a given year within the boundary of a nation. There is no distinction made between goods and services produced by foreign capital invested in the country and those produced by the indigenous or national capital owned by the citizens of the country. GDP includes production by national capital and foreign capital.

Here we must speak about another reality called ‘National Income’.  This is a distinct reality from GDP. 'National Income' is what is produced by the national capital.  ‘National Income’ is the wealth of a particular nation.  ‘National income’ does not include product produced by foreign capital. If an industrialist of a foreign country has invested capital in India the product of their industry belongs to the foreign industrialists and is repatriated to their country of origin.  This will be included in the national income of their country.

Hence  National income is GDP minus production by foreign capital.  If Indian industrialists have invested in other overseas countries their product will be repatriated to India and it will include in the 'national income' of India.  In India National income will be calculated as GDP minus production by foreign investment, plus production carried out by Indian industrialists in foreign countries.

To illustrate this further let us take an example.  American Ford or General Motors have invested in India.  The production done by these companies will be included in the GDP of India.  But it will not be included in the 'National Income' of India. Similarly, India's Tata Motors have invested in Nigeria.  The production carried out by Tata Motors in Nigeria will not be included in the GDP of India, but their production will be calculated in the National income of India.  Ford and General Motors repatriate the proceeds of their production to America and it will not be considered as National Income of

India. Similarly the proceeds of Tata Motors' production will be repatriated to India and therefore it will not be considered as part of the National Income of Nigeria.

National Income is equivalent to income from the production of national capital and Indian capital invested abroad.  Hence it means 'National Income is equal to GDP minus income paid to foreign investors, plus income received from Indian investment abroad.

If foreign investment in India is larger than Indian capital invested abroad (in foreign countries) then we have a situation of imbalance in the inflow and outflow of income.

Therefore we can safely say that GDP is not such an impressive category to evaluate the health of a nation's economy.  It is the 'National Income' that will be the wealth of the nation.  The National Income may be much less than the GDP if there is large scale foreign investment in the country compared to its own investment abroad.

If we evaluate the slogan 'Make in India' what we need to examine is whether 'Make in India' is done by the national capital or foreign capital.  If it is done by foreign capital then it will have to be deducted from GDP to arrive at the National Income figure which would be the national wealth.

Another important issue is the outcome of ‘Make in India’.  If make in India is meant for export then the products of make in India will not cater to the needs of the Indian consumers.   If Make in India is done by the foreign capital and for foreign market, then India becomes only a production venue; that will only be polluting Indian environment.

‘Make in India’ will give employment for sure but that will be done at some cost of land acquisition and labour reform.  The so called enabling governance of Modi will acquire land from the farmers and transform them into landless labourers.  Whether these land owners, who would be turned into landless labourers, will be employed in these foreign manufacturing industries, which will employ most sophisticated and automatic technology is a big question.  Then there will be labour reforms to take away the bargaining power of the working class.

It is in this context we should evaluate Modi s pompous slogan 'Make in India'.

GDP is not such an impressive category to evaluate the health of a nation's economy. It is the `National Income' that will be the wealth of the nation

Towards Alliance for People’s Rights

Dear friends,

Towards Alliance for People’s Rights

The nation is set on its trip towards Neo Liberal path of development.  Every effort of the government is focused on making it easy to do business by the corporate houses and the multinational corporations.   The nation is made to get hungry for foreign investments.    Growth in private industries is equated with development.   Jal, Jangal and Jameen will be owned by the industrialists.  The industrialists will have right over the lands of the farmers.  And they are believed to be ones who will take care of all whose lands will be alienated from them. The fate of the poor, the farmers, dalits, and aadivasies is handed over into the hands of the industrialists.  The industrialists will give jobs to the farmers who will have to go through the contractors to work for their daily bread.

On the other hand the Constitution of India, the supreme document of our nation speaks about the rights of all the citizens of India.  The United Nation’s Declaration on Human rights and several international covenants that our country has singed become the basis for the rights of the people.  People have right to life, livelihood, employment, food security, health care and quality education.  But these rights will soon be like a pie in the sky.  While people’s rights are pious wishes of the nation and the governments of the day the people are left high and dry.  They have to struggle and fend for themselves.  In this situation the only way ahead is to fight for the rights of the people.

In this context we need to work with people to ensure that they get their rights.  MGNREGA, food security, right to health, right to education have been legislated.  Yet people see these rights only as a mirage.  I feel there is a need for the right thinking persons, particularly for the NGOs who work for the welfare of the poor to come together to ensure that the rights of the people become property of the people;  that the government makes it possible for people to get their right in fair and transparent manner.

In Andhra Pradesh there is a mechanism called Andhra Pradesh NGO Alliance (APNA).  This alliance is promoted by the government because of the incessant struggle of the NGOs and activists in Andhra.  In Andhra Pradesh the NGOs in the alliance are monitoring the implementation of the MGNREGA and MGNREGA is implemented in a fair and transparent manner.

The situation in Karnataka is pathetic.  Contractors’ lobby has high jacked MGNREGA.  They have deprived the people their right to employment through fraudulent methods of fabricating documents and false bank accounts in the name of the poor.

There is a possibility if all the right thinking people and NGOs come together to bring about a change.  We can come together to remedy the corruption in the implementation of MGNREGA and ensure that people get their right to work.  We have another important legislation on Food Security.  We can also monitor the implementation of Food Security Act.

I would like to invite individuals and NGOs to come together and form an “Alliance for People’s Rights”.  We can learn from Andhra Pradesh and evolve a mechanism to ensure that people get their rights.

I appeal you to respond to this message showing your willingness to consider this idea of forming an alliance.  We can come together and give shape to this alliance and search for a way to go about in ensuring that the poor get their rights.  I think the NGOs as well as individuals can be part of this alliance.  All those, NGOs and individuals in Karnataka who feel strongly to work to ensure that the poor get their rights should join hands together and work.

I would suggest that we can hold our first meeting either in Bangalore or in Mysore depending on the convenience of the people.  I await your response.

You can respond to me on my email which is alextuscano@gmail.com.  Please indicate your preference for both the date and the venue of the meeting.  Your board and lodge will be taken care of.  You will need to look after your travel only.

Yours sincerely,

Alex Tuscano

BEGINNING OF NEW ERA FOR THE LEFT?

Bangalore, June 8, 2015

BEGINNING OF NEW ERA FOR THE LEFT?

Will the Left with the leadership of Sitaram Yechuri make up for their failure towards the poor farmers, worker and all marginalized people of India?

When Aam Aadmi Party first came to power in the state of Delhi and was reducing the rates of electricity and water and showing the way to expose corruption Prakash Karrat, who was then the General Secretary of the CPM party commented, “AAP is doing what we should be doing”.  This may be an admission of the fact that CPM probably does not do what it should be doing. 

Three and odd decades of Left Front government in West Bengal, led by CPM, has vanished.  It is on the receiving end in Kerala. It faced two defeats in succession. Left Front seat share in the Parliament also has come down rapidly.  It is absent in the urban or rural areas where the working class and farmers are facing hardship.  The trade unions in the organized sector have become ineffective.  Much of the organized work force in the industries has been replaced by contractors who employ even professionals on temporary basis with no benefits which workers would get under normal conditions, such as yearly increment, bonus, gratuity etc.  The CPM has not taken any corrective measures to revitalize the trade union movement.

If Prakash Karat is honest in his admission that the left parties are not doing what they are supposed to do, then we should see some changes in the party and its functioning.

In 1989 – 90 when the Soviet Union collapsed and the left was being viewed as spent force, several political commentators considered left to be still relevant in Indian context.  But today we see it declining rapidly.

What had gone wrong with the left?

·        

      The left had got mired in the electoral politics.  Number of seats in the Parliament and power at the states is important to play its political role.  But the political role the Communist Party had envisioned for itself was to deliver socialistic benefits to the masses; to strengthen the working class and peasant movement and to stand for the cause of all the poor and the exploited people.  This politics, the party believed, would bring about transformation in the society and put it on the path of socialism. But the left party gave up its larger role in the social movements and the struggles of the poor, farmers and the working class and got engaged with running the state for the bourgeois class.

·        While it is important to get elected to the Parliament or to the state assemblies the party had to pay a price for this.  The party had to tone down its militancy in order not to antagonize the ruling classes to gain their support and votes during election.  Creating a vote bank within the wealthy class in the long run becomes counterproductive.  After getting elected with the support of the wealthy class the party could not defend the interests of the toiling masses whole heartedly.  When the left opted for running the government for the bourgeois class the party lost its political base among the toiling masses.  Nandigram and Singur are the examples of this. It was stated in the 21^st Congress of the Party, “The party leadership in many states was averse to taking up the problems of the socially oppressed people.  It also stated that there was a serious discrepancy in the social composition of party members, the composition of leaders on the top committees, and proportional representation of women in the top committees.” (“Guarded Hope” Front Line - May15, 2015)

·         “It stated clearly that there was no way to avoid the fact that the electoral setbacks had brought down the party’s political influence and mass base.  It was also pointed out in the resolution that the party had failed to identify urgent and local issues to which people reacted collectively and that it had not organized campaign to mobilize people.”  (“Guarded Hope” Front Line - May15, 2015).  Indeed it an honest admission on the part of the party of their failures.

·          In the rural areas we did not find CPM cadres on the side of the farmers while they were in distress and even committing suicide.  From 1985 the action groups and voluntary organization were fighting to get the government to legislate ‘right to work’ for the rural poor.  The communists were nowhere to support them. CPM claims credit for supporting the legislation of MGNREGA.  But apart from this their cadres have done nothing to ensure that MGNREGA is implemented without corruption.  If the party does not stand by the poor, workers and farmers how can they expect to keep their mass base intact?  When mass base gets eroded automatically there will be electoral set back.

·         Even now the Communist cadres are not found organizing farmers against Modi’s land acquisition bill.

·         “The CPI(M) leadership was compelled to admit intermittently during this period that negative tendencies such as factionalism, individualism, financial irregularities and moral turpitude had become notable feature of the party in various parts of the country.” (“Guarded Hope” Front Line - May15, 2015)

·         The CPM cadres in West Bengal were functioning like parallel police force brutalizing people to force their support for the party.  They were handling the handing over of the government benefits to the people at their will and discretion.

The 21^st Congress of the CPM party has just been concluded.  The communist party’s redeeming culture was “self criticism”.  In the spirit of this principle there has been some introspection within the party during this Congress. The election of Sitaram Yechuri to succeed Prakash Karat to the post of General Secretary of the party could be one sign of the change.

The 21^st Congress has exuded a great hope of reviving the Party.  All the members of the congress have not only realized their follies and weaknesses but they have also realized that in the present juncture where communalism and neo liberal policies are asserting there is a great need for the Left party like CPM to bring the country on the path of democracy, secularism and socialism.

In this context Sitaram Yechuri becoming general secretary is a very positive development in the CPM.  He considers ‘to be with the cause and purpose of the toiling masses’ is the purpose of his life. He also has a tremendous capacity to relate to all political forces without compromising his principles.  He has decided to strengthen the ‘independent identity of the Communist party’.  He is looking for strengthening Left unity which does not merely mean strengthening alliances with Left parties but also with a large number of Left sympathizers who are associated with the civil society organizations.”  We are looking forward to an era where CPM will shed its sectarian mind set and open itself to recognize the struggle of all sections of the poor which is carried out by the intervention of action groups and voluntary organizations.  Given their conviction and commitment the civil society organizations should be seen as natural allies of the CPM.

There are many civil society organizations who take up issues which go a long way in defending the rights of the poor.  Left forces are not just left parties or what is traditionally known, ‘the sympathizers’ of the left parties.  There are civil society organizations, voluntary organizations and NGOs who have dedicated themselves to fight for the rights of the marginal farmers, unorganized workers, dalits and adivasies with the perspective of bringing about change in the political and economic organization.  Without aligning with these forces the Left cannot strengthen itself both in terms of building mass movement and electoral politics.

What we would like to see is that the Communist party should come up with 21^st century vision for Democracy and Socialism.  It should be done along with all civil society organizations, action groups who are committed to the cause of the toiling masses and for a positive change.

MODI AND THE IDEA OF INDIA

MODI AND THE IDEA OF INDIA:

2014 general elections have been most difficult elections. It is a departure from all early elections.  The voters have voted not only for a change and a new government.  They have voted for a new idea of India

Modi has sold to the youth of our nation a dream larger than the universe.  More than 50% of youth have stood with Modi and voted for him. 

The promise Modi has made to all will be fulfilled through ‘development and good governance’.  He will bring about good governance.  But the good governance and development will be brought about through neo liberal path of development.  In this respect Modi hass not come out with any new idea.  UPA has been following exactly the same path, in spite of their slogan of “inclusive growth”.

UPA, however did not enjoy the kind of luxury that Modi will enjoy in having an absolute majority on his own.  UPA allies were opposition within. The prime minister’s cabinet was formed by the allies and not by his prerogative. When there was a need to raise railways fares after several years Mamata Banergy changed the railway minister.  UPA’s attempt to introduce FDI in multi brand retail was opposed even by the congress government in Kerala, not to speak of TMC and DMK who were their big allies.  At the end Congress lost both these allies on one pretext and the other.  It was relying on the outside support of BSP and SP.  But their outside support functioned as vehement opposition than anything else.  SP and BSP might have had some vested interests to give the outside support.  Good governance needs good numbers in the parliament.

The development by neo liberal ideology essentially means mobilizing resources from all parts of the country, particularly from the remotest tribal areas to promote growth.  It will exploit all the mineral wealth from the tribal areas depriving them of their assets, livelihood and displacing them to live on wages under contract labour.  The formation of special economic zones through land acquisition will take away the lands of the dalits, adivasies, farmers handing over to private industrialists.  Another important aspect of neoliberal ideology is to globalize the national economy to the maximum extent.  This includes inviting foreign direct investments and opening the market to the international producers.  At one level this leads to what is called growth.  More foreign capital flows in and there will be growth in employment in short run.  When growth of any economy depends on the flow of foreign capital it is a growth on borrowed money.  When the tides begin to change the flow of capital takes reverse direction.  Before this happens the foreign capital would have made huge profits and repatriated to their base outside our country.  Foreign direct investment will leave our country high and dry at the end of the story.  This would cause crisis in our economy.  This is precisely what happened towards the latter part of UPA II rule.

A word about private public partnership, Modi has added one more P to it to run it like people, private public partnership.  This is a formula meant to make use of public assets to be used by private interest to make more profits.  To add to this Modi will also involve the people to join the band to be exploited for private profit.  The net result of this will be all the common property and public assets will go under the control of private industrial interests. This formula fits into the picture of neo liberal policies that aims at mobilizing public and people’s resources into the hand the private industries.  Neo liberal ideology believes in privatizing social assets, just opposite to what we would desire, socializing the wealth for common good.

The good governance that Modi speaks of is governance that will facilitate growth of capital, foreign investment and industrial peace.  Good governance will give free hands to all to expand capital and deregulate the market.  Liberalization or deregulation is a mantra of good governance.  The private capital will have unfettered access to the common wealth and free market.

Modi has assured that he will revitalize agriculture.  Given his pro industry enthusiasm one will have to imagine what kind of attention he will give to agriculture.  One would not be surprised if by this he means industrialization of agriculture. Contract farming would be another way out to meet short fall of food production. If agriculture is viewed only in terms of producing more food then this approach would be found suitable in the Modi’s frame work of things.    In either case there would be growth in food production but rural population would have no money to buy food as their livelihood would be usurped by the industrial agriculture or contract farming.  We will land up with agriculture that will not be sustainable.  One does not need to talk about the harm it will cause to the environment.

Modi wishes to revitalize the economy through good governance and neo liberal policies.  However the extent to which he will succeed in globalizing our economy to that extent our economy will under the influence of global economy.  The impact of global crisis and swings in global economies will get reflected in our economy.  Will Modi have any control on this situation?  Will his development not come under the sway of global ups and downs?

What will be the social impact of the Modi government?  Almost every BJP leader has come to politics through rigorous RSS indoctrination and drill.  RSS’ nationalist and Hindutwa agenda is expected to be part of the mission of every BJP.  Under NDA I BJP had a reduced strength and hence they were constrained in their militant ideology.  Now BJP on its own enjoys absolute majority, will it be constrained in their militancy? BJP did not given ticket to a single Muslim candidate in the recently concluded elections.  The only Muslim who got elected from NDA to the parliament was a candidate put up by Mr. Paswan LJP.

Many like Mr. Gurucharan claim that majority of the youth who voted for Modi did not vote for Hindutwa but for development.  Those who voted for Modi for development may make a distinction between Hindutwa and development.  But how will BJP and its militant cadres at the ground interpret the mandate?  Will they implement Modi’s election promise to send Muslim immigrant back to Bangladesh and welcome Hindu immigrant?  One must remember that apart from the youth reposing their faith in Modi the RSS cadres have put immense efforts in ensuring Modi’s victory.  How will they act under the absolute majority of BJP?

Sudheendra Kulkarni has asked Modi, “You should pledge that your government would work towards the goal of a riot-free India.”  He reposes responsibility for riot free India in the lap of Modi.  We have seen how he conducted Raj Dharma in Gujarat in 2002.  Would he be able to restrain militant RSS-Hindutwa cadres?

What is even more serious risk we are facing is gradual safranization of Indian state.  There will be a fair chance that more pro saffron officials, army and police personnel, judges and bureaucrats will be recruited in to the state machinery.  We have experienced safronization of school curriculum in the past.  In this case the state will not be able to respond to the aspirations of multi racial, multi religious and multi ethnic population of our country.

Modi and the youth, the first time voters are looking anxiously to their future.  They would like to carve out their future along the lines of their aspirations.  Modi seems to have struck a chord in the lives of the youth.  These young people will make their own history. 

But these people cannot make their own history in a historical vacuum.  By the very definition making history is in the context of our past and our vision for the future. Their efforts, no matter how innovative at finding solution to their problems in the present and charting out their future, are guided and circumscribed, moulded and conditioned by their respective histories, their inherited economic, political and ideological structures.

India set on its path on its own as it were after independence, i.e., from 1947.  But this path has deep roots in the struggle of the people for independence.  The political and ideological features, which have had a decisive impact on the post independence development, are largely a legacy of the freedom struggle.  It is a legacy that belongs to all the Indian people, regardless of which party or group they belong to now, for the party which led this struggle from 1885 to 1947 was not a party but a movement.  All political trends from the Right to the Left were incorporated in this movement.

What are the outstanding features of the freedom struggle? A major aspect is the values and modern ideals on which the movement itself was based and the broad socio economic and political vision of its leadership. This vision was that of a democratic, civil libertarian and secular India, based on self-reliant, egalitarian social order and an independent stand as against the rest of the world.

The movement popularized:

• Democratic ideas and institutions in India:  The Indian National Congress was organized on a democratic basis and in the form of a parliament.
• From the beginning the nationalists fought against attacks by the state on the freedoms of the press, expression and association and made the struggle for these freedoms an integral part of the national movement.  The defense of civil liberties was not narrowly conceived in terms of one political group.  It was extended to include the defense of other groups whose views would be politically and ideologically different.
• From the initial stages, the movement adopted a pro-poor orientation which was strengthened with the advent of Gandhi and the rise of the leftists who struggled to make the movement adopt a socialist outlook.
• The national movement was, from its early days, fully committed to secularism.  Its leadership fought hard to inculcate secular values among the people and opposed the growth of communalism.  Despite the partition of India and the accompanying communal holocaust it did succeed in enshrining secularism in the constitution of free India.

Modi has a herculean task to deliver on the promise of dream taller than the Mount Everest made to the youth and all the people of our nation.  Any short fall on this will be very hard for Modi.

WILL THE OUTCOME OF ELECTIONS HELP US TO MOVE FORWARD?

WILL THE OUTCOME OF ELECTIONS HELP US TO MOVE FORWARD?

In the current elections we are faced with two options.  Option no one is whole sale Neo Liberal economy or directionless opportunist politics.  In the first option we have two political parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.  In the second option we have all and sundry parties at regional level, which at one time come under third alternative, another time federal front or united front.  We do not know where these parties stand.  While standing alone they are no different from the Congress and the BJP. 

BJD in Odisha, while it has parted company with BJP supports neo liberal policies as much as the Congress and the BJP.  Their support to POSCO, exploitation of mineral wealth, and displacement of the adivasies they are more efficient than these two national parties. 

Chandra Babu Naidu of TDP called himself as CEO of the liberal agenda.  He had totally forgotten the rural masses and paid not even lip service to the interests of the farmers.  He was shown the door by the voters and he is out of power for last ten years.

Nitish Kumar has become a new face of efficient champion of growth model of development.  He was credited to have shown growth more than the national average rate of growth.

Samajwadi party of Mulayam Singh is Samajwadi only in name.  His party rides on politics of caste and minority.  There is nothing that can be said about his achievement either for the weaker section and minorities or for the growth.

Trina Mool Congress (TMC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), DMK and AIDMK fall under the same categories as other regional parties.

All these small and sundry parties are known for their opportunism. There are deep contradictions between them. SP and BSP are opposed to each other as they are in UP; DMK and AIDMK are opposed to each other; TMC cannot stand CPI, CPM and the left oriented parties.  Neither as individual parties nor as an in alliance do they exhibit any strength to come to power at the centre.  Except for Samajwadi party all of these parties at one time or the other, have been in alliance with BJP.  SP has given outside support to the UPA government.  But one does not miss noticing their open hostility to the Congress Party.

All these parties recently opposed UPA for opening a path for FDI in retail.  But that does not characterize them as opposing ‘Neo Liberal Policies’.  There seems to be one character they all share and that is being opportunist parties.  They have always aligned with the winning coalition.  Ram Vilas Paswan has shown this very well.  He was in NDA coalition government under the leadership of Vajpayee.  In 2002 he came out of the coalition under protest because of the killing of Muslims when Modi was ruling in Gujarat.  But he has no problems in joining NDA even though they have projected the same Modi as their prime ministerial candidate.

What is apparent in the political drama that is being unfolded before us is that there is one very strong trend represented by two opposing parties, BJP and INC, i.e. strong support for Neo liberal Ideology.  The only difference between them is that one follows out right communal, Hindu nationalist agenda and the other follows pseudo secularism.  The regional parties reflect the micro image of these two national parties.  But they have a luxury of opposing both these parties and when needed align with any one of these.  This summarises the political drama of our country.

The dream of the common people on the road is different. It is sad to say that all the political parties are playing on the dreams of aam admi.  The people want to see that there is over all development taking place, development that ensures people right to employment, food security, education, health care, right to land and housing.  Nobody wants to live in or see poverty around. All believe that this could be achieved by good governance which can be guaranteed by efficient and corruption free politics.  There is nothing new in this dream of the common people.  But it is a far cry!  Whether it is the opposition parties or the ruling political dispensation, not body has done a mighty little to ensure this to the common citizens.

How does one explain this?  It is not very difficult to find answer to this.  Throughout the history of India since independence, specifically from the second generation politics of our nation, the political system has existed and functioned for the interests of the capitalist class.  Growth has been the mantra of development.  It is believed that once growth is attained the benefits of growth will percolate to the people at the bottom.  By growth we should realise that it is not growth in common wealth over which all have right.  Growth is the growth of the capital of the capitalists.  In other words development is equated with the growth of capital of the capitalists.  Since independence what has percolated to the people at the bottom is absolutely nothing. Now under the neo liberal ideology the government has been shedding its responsibility for social welfare.  We have seen massive drive towards privatization.  Privatization was taken so seriously that NDA had instituted a ministry for disinvestment, (another name for privatization). Education is being privatized, health is privatized in such a way that even in government hospitals the poor have to pay bribe to get health care.  The government is asked to be responsible only for governance.  What does governance means?  It means being a facilitator for the growth of investment, creating mechanism for smooth functioning of capitalism by insuring industrial peace.

As long as we follow Neo Liberal path of development neither the health of our politics will improve nor the health of our nation. 

Our nation is situated at the fringe of the global capitalist system.  Our efforts to develop into a growth oriented economy are taking place in the context of the global economy.  This necessarily gives rise to unequal development both in the context of international economy and also within our nation state.

The growth story of India is fired mainly by foreign investors.  To attract foreign investments the government has to create favourable conditions for foreign capital to function in India.  Creating conditions that would facilitate foreign investment means our government would curtail democratic rights of the workers to organize and fight for job securities, just wages and better working conditions.  There is large scale out sourcing of jobs, employment of contractors who employ people without job security and even without fair wages.  The glorified soft ware professionals do not have any organization, no benefits like bonus, or even security of job.

On the other hand there had been large scale corruption emanating from the corporate.  The 2G scam is fundamentally driven by the corporate who wanted to buy spectrum at easy terms.  Coal gate too was primarily for the benefit of the steel and power industries who wanted to buy cheap coal without any concern for environment.  The attempt to double the price of gas was solely done for the benefit of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Company.  It has been argued that since this price rise of gas is on hold it will lead to retard the flow of foreign capital to India.

When there is an attempt to deal with corruption it sends shivers in the spine of the foreign capital.  When the Supreme Court cancelled the 2G licences there was a hue and cry as it would drive foreign capital away from India.

India signed the great Civil Nuclear Treaty with United States of America.  Manmohan Singh had personally attached a great importance to it even at the risk to his Government.  Because of this treaty the Congress lost the valuable left allies once and for all.  But with all the drama that surrounded this treaty Manmohan Singh did not see any investment coming to Indian from America.  The single reason for total failure of the nuclear treaty is Nuclear Liability Act.  When a major liability of disaster is fixed on the suppliers of nuclear equipment the foreign investment shies away.  Like in Bhopal gas tragedy the investors in the nuclear plants want to wash their hands from the consequences to people after nuclear disaster.

Foreign investment has become very crucial for Indian Economy not only for growth. It is also linked up to management of current account deficit or balance of payment.  We need to import goods from foreign countries and we also export goods to foreign countries.  If our import is higher than export then we have negative balance of payment or higher current account deficit. Government tries to meet the gap in CAD by using the flow of foreign capital.  A safe level of CAD is considered to be at 2.5% of GDP.  But this level shoots up to above 5% of GDP.  To correct this imbalance there should be more export and less import.  But our imports shoot above our export.  Hence the foreign trade is unsuccessful in managing our CAD at the permissible level.  Therefore we look to the foreign investments.  But this money that comes to India through foreign investments belongs to the investors.  In times of difficulties this foreign capital flies away from our country.  Foreign investment or flow of foreign capital is so whimsical that every turn of event or even at rumours it tends to fly away from the country.

The impact of being integrated in the global capital puts our economy under pressure from international capital.  We begin to move away from our real economy and take shelter in the very uncertain and risky capital flow in to our country.  Whether it is matter of growth, employment or stability of our economy the whimsical flow of capital in and out does not help.  We need to rely on the domestic wealth to organize our house.  In 1971 Indira Gandhi understood the value of building strong domestic economy.  She declared that her goal was to move away from import dependence to domestic production.  Whether it was in the case of arms or any other commodity our country can become strong by moving from import dependence to self reliance.  If we fail to make this move away from import dependence and foreign investment we will continue to remain under pressure of foreign capital and will put the fate of our population at risk.

To make this shift we require a political will.  But when our political dispensation is stuck in the slush of neo liberal ideology there will not be any move towards that.  The regional parties make a lot of noise but their noise is too opportunistic.

The coming elections do not offer us any hope in this direction.  Almost all the parties have no clue about the path our nation should take.  They cry foul by repeating the curse of licence raj or inefficient and loss making public sector.  They should try to set this system right.  Instead they run after neo liberal ideology.  Our economic advisers are drawn from the United States of America, such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley.  We are worried about how Moody’s credit rating agency will evaluate our economy.  They not only offer advice to us and rate our credit worthiness; they also dictate to us what kind of government we should have.

THE CHURCH OF THE POOR AND THE CHURCH FOR THE POOR

THE CHURCH OF THE POOR AND THE CHURCH FOR THE POOR

Alex Tuscano

Pope Francis has come 800 and odd years after St. Francis of Assisi. Relatively long period has passed between the great reformer Pope John XXII and the Pope Francis. His choice of name, Francis of Assisi for himself is the announcement of his mission for the Papacy.

St. Francis of Assisi emerged at a time when the Church needed reform.  The Cross in the Church of St Damiano urged Francis to repair the Church which was falling in ruins. Jesus meant not the building of St Damiano's church, but the Church, the people of God.

During the times of St. Francis the Church was a militant Church. After triumphant Byzantine entry into the humble, persecuted Church of the early Christians the Church entered the mode of celebration and projecting Christ the King. Crucifixes used to be studded with diamonds. Monarchies were assuming leading role in the Church. It helped the Church to spread across in a rapid way. The militant Church was more a religion of power than the faithful following the life of the Gospel.

Emergence of St Francis of Assisi brought back to the centre of the Church the Jesus of Nazareth. By his first crib Francis reminded the Church that Jesus was born in a manger. The human Jesus, poor Jesus, the self emptying, kenosis of Jesus was brought to the forefront.

Today the Church Pope Francis has found is also in a deep crisis. For the Europeans Christianity is matter of culture. Wearing a cross round the neck is a symbol of cultural identity rather than a religious and spiritual aspiration. The majestic churches are empty.  Many of them are turned into museums or halls for cultural programmes. The monasteries and seminaries are turned into home for the aged. There are no vocations to the priesthood, much less to the religious life. Youngest religious nuns or priests are in their early seventies. There are no priests to celebrate Eucharist for a few Christians who believe in going for Sunday masses. The paedophilia scandal has hit the sky.  Priests have become unpopular.

Church has also become a political and financial power.  Vatican is a recognized sovereign state having its ambassadors all over the world. It has the best communication system.  Even during primitive stage of communication what was promulgated in The Vatican reached the remotest villages and tribal hamlets.  This is a power of tremendous organization and dedication.  It needs to be hailed on one side.  But on the other side it is an indication of tremendous power and a tight grip on the entire Catholic world, without direct political and military control.  Church excels in its capacity of mobilizing money from the remotest corner of the world.  Vatican bank is perhaps the richest bank on earth.  But it is also rocked by scandal of financial irregularity.

In the face of women's awakening and quest for gender equality there is a demand for women priests.  The protestant Church has heeded to this. Along with women priests there is cry for married priests.  In the light of rampant sex scandal paired with acute shortage of priests this demand seems to be justified.

Pope Francis has begun on the right foot. He speaks of “Poor Church for the poor”.  He knows poverty and the struggle of the poor.  He was caught in the midst of political crisis that sprang from the powerful to stamp out the revolt of the poor against injustice and exploitation.

If Pope Francis calls the Church poor it reflects his desire that the Church should be poor. But it is by no means a poor Church given its wealth and power.

The Church is conceived as a second Israel, the people of God, the people with whom God made a covenant and Jesus sealed this new covenant with his blood “This cup is the new covenant in by my blood.  Whenever you drink it do it in memory of me” (1Corinthians 11:25-26).

Who were the people of God?  In the Old Testament it has been made clear again and again.  It is the poor, the oppressed, those who are treated unjustly.  They are the people of God.

The Old Testament is based on the theology of ‘the people of God’, a history of the oppressed people struggling successively to reach the kingdom of justice, love and brotherhood.

Moses appeared in the midst of the people as their leader.  He fought with Pharaoh and led the people out of slavery into the land of freedom. God made a covenant with these poor slaves who had nothing left to carry with them.  These people became the “people of God”.  “You shall be my people and I will be your God”.

The Prophets who spoke in the name of God sided with the poor and for justice. They condemned exploitation of the poor.  The Bible gives the prophet more prominence than it gives to the kings of Israel. 

Prophets Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel were strong against the evils in the kingdom of Israel.  Prophet Isaiah declared himself as the one sent by God.  He announced as “The spirit of the Almighty Lord is with me because He has anointed me to deliver good news to humble people.  He has sent me to heal those who are broken hearted, to announce that captive will be set free and prisoners will be released … to comfort all those who grieve.”   It was Isaiah, who challenged the authorities in the Jewish society by asking them, “Yahweh asks what you mean by crushing my people”.  The phrase ‘my people’ is synonymous to the ‘chosen people of God’.  Here we see that the poor, the suffering and the exploited came to be identified with ‘the people of God’.

The language of Prophet Amos against the rich who lived by exploiting the poor is unparalleled.  He exposes the crimes of Israel against the poor.  “How terrible it will be for you who sprawl on ivory beds surrounded with luxury, eating the meat of tender lambs and choice calves.  You sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and you fancy yourselves to be great musicians, as King David was.  You drink wine by the bowlful, and you perfume yourselves with exotic fragrances, caring nothing at all that your nation is going to ruin.  Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives.”  “The people of Israel sell the righteous for money and the needy for pair of sandals.  They stomp the heads of the poor into the dust.  They push the humble out of the way… You have turned justice into something deadly and what is righteous into poison.  Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan who live on Mount Samaria.  You women oppress the poor and abuse the needy. You say to your husbands, “get some wine! Let us Drink!”  Israel, you hate anyone who speaks out against injustice.  You are disgusted by anyone who speaks the truth.  You trample the poor and take their wheat from them for taxes.  You build houses from hand cut stones, but you will not live in them.  You plant beautiful vineyard but you will not drink their wine.  I know that your crimes are numerous and your sins are many.  You oppress the righteous by taking bribes.  You deny the needy access to the courts.”

On January 15, 588 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Jerusalem Temple, the centre of Israelites.  The monarchy came to an end. The Israelites were taken as prisoners in the Babylonian captivity.  All this happened because the kingdom did not live up to the covenant made with God by honouring justice.  They spent long years in Babylon.  Many settled down there and established big businesses and became rich.  They did not long to return to Israel, their homeland.  Only those who worked as wage earners, who were poor and did not have permanent shelter in Babylon, returned to their homeland, Jerusalem.  These people, the holy remnant, eventually were considered ‘the people of God’.

Pope Francis’ focus time and again is on building a "poor church for the poor", “the poorest, the weakest and the least important". Time and again the Pope has urged his fellow church men to leave their comfort zones and reach out to those who live at the margins of society. He demonstrated his desire to be with the people on the margin by washing the feet of 12 juvenile in mates, including two girls, during a visit to a Rome prison during the holy week.  Responding to the scandal in the Vatican bank Francis recalled that neither St. Peter nor St. Paul had any bank accounts. When Peter had to pay taxes, the Lord sent him to the sea to catch a fish and find the money in the fish.

Francis has repeatedly denounced consumerism and what he called the "culture of waste" of modern economies. He had been denouncing capitalism time and again for it focuses exclusively on profit.  He says that he is engaged in a spiritual fight for renewal and salvation.