Trade unions protest NDA’s ‘extreme market-friendly policies’, call them ‘rich man’s food’

Hassan: The Joint Struggle Committee of the Karnataka Trade Unions comprising farmers, workers, Dalits, students, youth, women, and popular organizations has written to President Draupadi Murmu saying that workers and farmers are jointly protesting across India seeking redress of their problems and are demanding solutions to them.

“We are sending you this appeal with the hope that you will kindly intervene on behalf of these two major productive forces of the country.  The trade unions are on a nationwide strike against the four labour codes recently pushed by the Centre. Farmers in 2020 had vociferously protested against the three farm laws legislated in 2020 and the struggle for dignity still continues. We would like to put before you some facts about the pitiful situation as mentioned below and seek your intervention,” their letter reads.

They said the working class people of India are facing a deep crisis owing to the policies of the National Democratic Alliance government, which they allege is aimed at enriching the rich and the super rich alone.

They allege that to further help MNCs, the government is imposing digitisation of land records and crop data through the Digital Agriculturist Mission-DAM as announced in the Union Budget 2024-25.

Plans are afoot to promote contract farming and shift the cropping patterns from growing foodgrains to cash crops, they said, adding that this will aid the corporate market supply. 

The GST imposed in 2017 and the creation of the Central Ministry of Cooperation in 2019 have encroached upon the powers of the state governments and trimmed their tax rights. The National Cooperation Policy announced in the Budget 2024-25 is a proof of this plan. The National Cooperative Policy announced in the Budget 2024-25 aims to corporatise post-harvest operations and divert cooperative sector debt to corporates. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has signed many agreements with MNCs in this regard. In the public sector, FCI storage, Central Warehouse Corporation and APMC market yards are being leased to corporates, they allege.

“The persistent deficit in agriculture is also leading to high farmer debt and high displacement of labour from the sector. The acute agrarian crisis is forcing lakhs of rural youth to migrate to cities and is increasing the reserve army of labour. This will have a serious impact on workers in the industrial and service sectors. The four labour codes being imposed by the Central government abolishes any guarantee of a minimum wage, secure employment, social security, fair working hours and the right to unionize, while the freedom to privatise, contract and dismiss labour is near absolute,” they said, alleging that it is dangerous for a country with so many people who are still suffering from the curse of backwardness.

“Such schemes only end up pushing the youth seeking employment into virtual slavery. We trade unions resolve to fight to protect the fundamental rights of employees to form trade unions, seek revival of the old pension scheme, restoration of retirement rights, food and health security, an effective legal machinery for redress of grievances among others. We believe that building labour-peasant unity and strengthening it is the key to emancipating farmers from poverty and the agrarian crisis and winning the workers over. The rights of workers are of utmost importance in national interest,” they said.

They also expressed the fear that privatization of all strategic production including defence and basic, yet critical services such as railways, electricity and other modes of transport will completely undermine the self-reliance of the country and affect the revenue of the government.

They also said that agricultural land was being forcibly acquired by the government in the name of industrialization, but in reality, they were being used as recreational facilities for the super rich, commercial use, tourism, and real estate among other uses. 

They also alleged that the culture of digitization was only aimed at helping the corporate, who they claim get more revenue from smart meters, higher recharge tariffs of mobile networks, rising road toll charges, higher cooking gas, diesel and petrol prices and extension of GST for electricity.

They alleged that the working people – farmers, industrial and agricultural workers – and the middle class continue to bear the burden of debt, while the landless are forced to take self-help group loans at high interest rates to just survive. The wages of contract workers in rural India were very low, they said, and observed that the government had waived off more than Rs 16.5 lakh crore in loans of corporate houses, but have refused to free farmers and agricultural workers from their debt.

It is owing to these reasons that farmers, the rural poor and industrial workers are staging massive protests in districts across India on November 26 to mark the momentous occasion of the fourth anniversary of the great struggle against the three draconian farm laws in 2020.

They have urged the President to take a relook at these schemes and ensure justice for the marginalized sections.