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CPI Statewide stir against farm, labour laws today

By Staff Reporter - 15 Sep 2010 12:00 AM GMT

GUWAHATI, Oct 13 - The Communist Party of India (CPI) will organise a Statewide agitation tomorrow against the government�s �failure� to curb inflation, as well as to demand repeal of the new Central laws dealing with the farm sector and rights of workers.

�We are going to observe October 14 as �Dabi Divas� across the State. As part of it, we will hold agitational programmes at all the district headquarters. At some places we will hold processions, while at other places there will be demonstrations or sit-ins. All norms of social distancing will be maintained by the participants,� CPI Assam State Council secretary Munin Mahanta said today.

Along with CPI cadres, members of the All India Trade Union Congress, All India Kisan Sabha and National Federation of Indian Women will also take part in the protests.

�The government has failed in its basic duty to control prices of essential commodities. Common people are having a tough time on account of spiralling inflation, just at a time when millions have lost their jobs or suffered income losses due to the economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic,� Mahanta said.

He alleged that the newly enacted farm laws would not only cause further distress in the agriculture sector but also leave a great majority of Indian farmers destitute.

�Food security of the masses will be under threat. Less than a month has passed since the old law dealing with essential commodities was done away with and we are already witnessing the consequences on the ground. Prices of commodities have shot up further during the last couple of weeks,� he said.

The Farmers� Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, were passed by Parliament during the Monsoon Session.

�The door has now been opened for corporate takeover of the Indian agricultural sector. Farmers, especially the small and marginal farmers who constitute the overwhelming majority, will lose their freedom and bargaining power. The corporate sector will take over the lands, while farmers will become wage labourers. We demand immediate repeal of these three laws,� he said, adding that the new laws would take away the rights of the common workers.

�We also demand that ASHA and anganwadi workers be given the status of government employees and provided with minimum wage as provided by the law for unorganised sector workers,� said the CPI leader. Another demand of the party is for immediate steps to revive the Nagaon and Cachar paper mills. Mahanta said CPI and its affiliated outfits would take the agitation to the subdivisional and block levels soon.