Janhavi Mittal

Sharmila Joshi

Editor

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Relishing a moment of quiet in the midst of the rally, M. S.
Shantkumar seems to be wisely named. A former employee of the Bhilai Steel Plant
in Chhattisgarh and a seasoned activist of the Central Indian Trade Union (CITU),
he has a gentle but steely resolve. “I have nothing personal against Narendra
Modi. Nor against Rahul Gandhi,” he says. “I do, however, have a problem with
policies that dehumanise people.” 

If the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government continues to follow
an anti-poor template of development in Chhattisgarh and the neighbouring
states of Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, Shantkumar points out, “they will be
taught a lesson in the forthcoming election.”

He expresses concern about the privatisation of public
sector undertakings and inadequate wages, as well as concern for defenders of land
rights in Chhattisgarh. Shuffling about as he talks, he ensures that he isn’t
obstructing  a poster condemning the
arrests of human rights activists. 

In
doing this, he highlights two important aspects of the September 5 rally in
Delhi – the growing workers’ and farmers’ alliance, as well as the importance of
jointly defending civil liberties and economic rights. As Hannan Mollah, the
general secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), one of the organisers of
the September 5 Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally, observes, “This rally will mark
a turning point over time. It will gradually transform the farmers’ struggles into a
people’s movement.”

The rally was called for by
three major unions – AIKS, CITU, and the All India Agricultural Workers’ Union
– and supported by various other groups and federations. Its 15-point charter
covers a wide spectrum of demands, which reiterate long-standing calls for loan
waivers and remunerative prices as specified by the National Commission on
Farmers; universal social, food and nutritional security; a minimum wage of not less than Rs. 18000 per month for all workers; as well as the need to strengthen and expand the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act to urban areas.

Mollah
is hopeful that the sight of 300,000 workers from 26 states of the country,
marching from Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan to Parliament Street in the rain that day, will break the apathy of the “consuming
classes” and urge them to support a call for a 21-day special session of
Parliament that focuses on the persisting agrarian crisis and the growing
livelihoods crisis in the country.

The diversity of the participants at the rally speaks of the
webs of alliance-building that are already underway, with support and
solidarity being extended across union and federation lines. 

Akshay Birwadkar of Mumbai, the
acting secretary of the Forward Seamen’s Union of India, describes the many
ways in which seafarers all over the country are being impacted by policies –
the opening up India’s seas to foreign registered vessels is diluting economic
protections and creating massive job insecurity for Indian seafarers. He also
expresses concern for fishermen: “Instead of trained seafarers, fishermen are
being hired as undocumented seamen to cut costs. As a result, they have no
health or risk cover in hazardous situations.”

Support
and solidarity at the rally are not just being extended across union and federation
lines. Muruganidhi, a former fauji, is here as his wife Tamilarasi’s
photographer and translator. He proudly introduces her as ‘the queen of Tamizh&#39; (Tamil).
 Tamilarasi, a
leader of the Pondicherry Anganwadi Staff Association, is representing anganwadi workers from all four districts of the union
territory – Puducherry, Mahé, Yanam and Karaikal. She
expresses their mounting concerns: “ I have been an anganwadi teacher myself for over 30 years. Can
you believe that all we get after
retirement, in our old age, is only a lump sum of Rs. 3 lakhs in the form of an
Employees Provident Fund payment, and no pension?” she asks.

Many of the anganwadi teachers with her at the rally,
express, through Muruganidhi’s translations, a “fear of helplessness even in our
old age, after working for inadequate and irregular wages all our lives.” Though
the chief minister of Puducherry (in a press release) recognises them as the ‘torch-bearer
of welfare measures’, Tamilarasi points out that the government hasn’t regularised
anganwadi
workers and helpers as government employees. They are still listed as
contractual scheme workers of the Integrated Child Development Services, and
get only an honorarium of Rs. 3,000 a month, and the helpers get just Rs. 1,500. 

The 3,000 rupees rankles Arjit Kaur too, who has come from Fatehgarh Sahib district of
Punjab. She beams at a passing Kolkata contingent of marchers of the Life
Insurance Corporation’s Agents Organisation of India, who are demanding a fair
pension and raising slogans of ‘BJP bhagao, desh bachao’ (‘Drive out the BJP, save
the country’). Kaur is the president of the Punjab unit of the All India
Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers, and she has a challenge for Prime
Minister Narendra Modi: “You made many promises before being elected in 2014 to
anganwadi workers. Nothing has changed, which is the reason
we are here in Delhi today. You expect us to run households on the pittance
given to scheme workers…We would like to see you try subsisting on Rs. 6,000 a
month.” Despite her anger, she has generously asked the prime minister to
manage on double the salaries the “<a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles/foot-soldiers-of-the-nations-literacy">foot
soldiers of the nation’s literacy</a>” receive.

By the end of the rally, Soma Majhi, an anganwadi worker from Tongi
village, in  Dadi block of Hazaribagh
district in Jharkhand, seems tired but hopeful. 

She is accompanied by her husband and two children. This is
their first time in Delhi, and four-year-old Aayushri is visibly excited as she
their ‘vacation’ itinerary. This is possibly the only family holiday Majhi’s
schedule has permitted. “I’ve worked as an anganwadi worker
for many years and never received an increment. We get neither paid maternity
leave nor sick leave. I spend hours attending to the needs of other people’s
children. It is very precious – this little time that I have got to spend with my
own children after so long.”

Meanwhile, preparations for the next event on Parliament
Street are underway – a protest meeting against the detention of human rights
activists. Soma wonders aloud if she can attend it. Her husband, Jagdish Chandra, a member of CITU, says, “She
labours all day and yet the government doesn’t count her as a formal employee.
The government’s policies are destroying the families of labourers and farmers.”

Will they protest again if their demands are not met after this rally? “It
would be difficult to come to Delhi again, but if the union gives the call, we
will come,” he says. “We are not unruly citizens, but have no other option except
to fight for our rights.” Cover photo: Sanket Jain

‘This rally will mark a turning point’

‘இப்பேரணி திருப்புமுனையாக அமையும்’

‘यह रैली एक नई दिशा तय करेगी’

’یہ ریلی ایک نئی سمت طے کرے گی‘

‘বাঁক ঘুরিয়ে দেওয়ার মতো একটি ঘটনা এই সমাবেশ’

‘ଏହି ରାଲି ଏକ ଭିନ୍ନ ମୋଡ଼ ନେବ’

Delhi

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‘This rally will mark a turning point’

On September 5, Teachers’ Day, over 3 lakh farmers and labourers converged on the capital to teach the government a lesson about an egalitarian democracy that ensures fair wages and other rights

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