COVER

Kisan Sansad at Parliament Street Against LARR Bill  

Hundreds of famers from all over the country gathered at Parliament Street on November 30 to hold a ‘Farmers’ Parliament’ (Kisan Sansad) on policy issues affecting farmers, including the Land Acquisition Bill and FDI in retail. The Kisan Sansad, organized by the All India Kisan Mahasabha (AIKM), was attended by farmers from UP, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand, Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Assam, Odisha and several other states.
Introducing the Kisan Sansad, Rajaram Singh, General Secretary of AIKM, said, “Parliament and Government are pushing through Bills and policies affecting farmers – without even consulting the farmers themselves. This is why we farmers are holding a Farmers’ Parliament – to assert farmers’ own views on laws and policies affecting them.”
The Kisan Sansad was presided by Ruldu Singh, President, AIKM, AIKM Vice Presidents Kartick Pal, Prem Singh Gehlawat, Devendra Singh Chauhan, Rajaram, as well as CPI(ML) CC Member and former Jharkhand MLA Bahadur Oraon.
The assembled farmers debated resolutions on the LARR Bill and the FDI in retail policy. The Kisan Sansad adopted a resolution demanding withdrawal of the UPA Government’s LARR Bill, declaring it to be a blueprint for land grab. Instead they demanded measures to protect agricultural, forest and costal land from land grab.
Addressing the Kisan Sansad, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said, “Land grab threatens not only the survival of farmers but also the country’s food security and environment. The LARR Bill’s provision allowing acquisition of up to 5 percent of multi-crop irrigated area in a district will jeopardize food security. The Government must withdraw the anti-farmer LARR Bill, and instead enact protection for agricultural, forest and costal land in the interests of food security and environment.” He continued, “Land reform laws mandate that government lands be redistributed among the landless. Violating this principle, the LARR Bill paves the way to hand these over to corporates!” He concluded, “The UPA Govt is trying to hand over India’s agriculture and retailing to MNCs and corporates – but the farmers are holding their own Parliament, and tell the Government and Parliament that they will not allow anti-farmer policies to be pushed through.”
The Kisan Sansad also adopted a resolution condemning the Government’s unilateral decision allowing 51% FDI in multi-brand retail. Rajaram Singh, AIKM General Secretary, said, “The PM is claiming that this measure will benefit farmers. In reality, the experience all over the world has shown that giant MNC retail chains tend to source produce mainly from very large farmers and contract farms. Small farmers inevitably lose out, because they cannot match the arbitrary quality standards of these chains. The MNC retailers also arm-twist farmers into selling cheap. Procurement by MNCs will reduce Government procurement, and will mainly divert the produce towards food processing – jeopardizing food security.” FDI in retail will threaten not only small retailers in India, but also small farmers, agriculture and food security, famers felt.
The Kisan Sansad also passed resolutions demanding withdrawal of the anti-farmer Seed Bill. They also demanded the release of activists Afroz Alam of CPI(ML) in Uttar Pradesh and Abhay Sahoo, the anti-POSCO leader from Odisha, who have been jailed while leading struggles of rural poor and peasantry.
The Kisan Sansad was also addressed by CPI(ML)  CCM and AICCTU General Secretary Comrade Swapan Mukherjee and senior journalist Shri Kuldeep Nayyar.
The resolutions passed were submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker as well as MPs of all parties, demanding that Parliament heed the opinions of the Kisan Sansad.

Formula of Destruction
Somak Roychoudhury

If they don’t have bread, why don’t they eat cake? The French queen Marie Antoinette’s infamous words might have been recalled by NOIDA’s working class, as they witnessed the Formula One spectacle unfold at the Buddh International Circuit at Greater NOIDA. 
Why did India’s elite suddenly awaken to motor sports, which evolved in Europe and USA into a race of manufacturer giants and some private entrepreneurs known as privateers of the racing circuit? What prompted Mayawati’s Uttar Pradesh Government, bogged down in corruption scandals and facing the challenges of an upcoming assembly election, to provide special tax benefits to an elite sport? The Buddh International Circuit, set up at the cost of around Rs 1500 crores, may meet international standards but is futile for any promising Indian driver’s practice session!  
Ahead of the London Olympics, Indian athletes, swimmers and the hockey team are struggling to meet international standards due to lack of facilities at Sports Authority of India campuses. The Sports Ministry spends a bare minimum on sports infrastructure in the annual budget. Ace athletes PT Usha and Milkha Singh were right to contrast the standard of the athletics tracks in district, state and national level meets, with the cosmetic glory of the first Formula One circuit.
Ex-skipper of the Indian football team Bhaichung Bhutia remarked, “I am skeptical about the future of Formula One in India. Asked my opinion about the new sports bill, I have spoken about the conditions prevailing in football: the atrocious ground conditions, resulting in injuries that can ruin players’ careers; the fact that we are forced to play in the afternoon in the months of March to May due to lack of floodlight facility.”
But the Sports Ministry’s priorities are skewed and biased. It now talks of sports tourism, leaving the issue of infrastructure to the mercies of corporate giants like Ferrari (that launched its sports car an year back in India) or Vijaya Mallya (the owner of Force India, the Indian F-1 team).
Sebestian Vettel, the winner of the inaugural race at BIC, burns 2 lakh litres of fuel per season, including the practice sessions. And this is true for every Formula One driver. As India’s aam aadmi struggles with petroleum price rise, and the cut-back on the number of subsidised gas cylinders to a meagre four, the spectacle of the fuel-guzzling super sport can only be painful.
After Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna’s mysterious death on the track, certain eyewash measures have been taken to ensure security of the drivers on the track where any accident could be fatal. This resulted in the end of a long tyre war, with Bridgestone emerged as the sole leader in the market of racing car tyres, and the cost of hosting a Grand Prix reached astronomical heights. The prolonged crises of western capitalism took its toll on Formula One, as America failed to meet the financial obligation of hosting it. With European countries in a debt crisis, the future of F-1 in the West became temporarily uncertain. China hosted her first race seven years back on a brand new track at Shanghai, but has shown little interest since then. Now who else can bail out F-1 but India?!

After hosting the first edition, the idea of another money-spinning machine like the IPL has been already ratified. Shahrukh Khan, Vijay Mallya and AIRTEL India are willing to own a team in the new gladiators’ league. While public transport, as well as basic sports infrastructure languishes in neglect, and poor youth are denied access to sports facilities, corporate giants hungry for profits peddle a sport that relies more on technological advancement rather than athleticism, physical labour, individual skill or team game.