THE CONFERENCE began with the hoisting of the flag of AIKS by Md. Abdullah Rasul, Vice-President of AIKS and one of the founders of the organisation, followed by the placing of wreaths by leaders at the martyrs’ column.

The formal session began with a condolence resolution, specially mentioning P. Sundarayya, former General Secretary of CPI(M) and one of the leading organisers of AIKS, Promode Das Gupta, another prominent leader associated with the kisan struggle, and also a member of the Polit Bureau of CPI(M), M.R. Venkatraman, former M.P., Desraj Chadha, Ghasi Ram, and other leaders of the peasants and democratic movement, who gave their lives to the cause of the peasants and the common masses. The resolution was moved by Santimoy Ghosh, General Secretary of AIKS.

The Chairman of the Reception Committee, Krishan Kant Singh, welcomed the delegates. The greetings received from various organisations were then read out, including the following : Trade Union International of Agricultural, Forestry and Plantation Workers (TUIAFPW), Bulgarian Agrarian Party, Pakistan Kisan Committee (who are also celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Kisan Sabha), Ceylon Workers Union, All China Federation of Trade Unions, Agricultural Food Processing and Forestry Workers Union of German Democratic Republic, Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union, The Collective Farmers Association of Vietnam, Janwadi Lekhak Sangh, and All India Plantation Workers’ Federation.

U. Ramam then delivered his speech as outgoing President. H.S. Surjeet then proposed the name of Godavari Parulekar as President for the coming term, seconded by Santimoy Ghosh. This proposal was passed unanimously. Godavari Parulekar and three Vice-Presidents—H.S. Surjeet, Benoy Chowdhry, Abdullah Rasul—took their seats. Godavari Parulekar delivered her presidential address.

Santimoy Ghosh, General Secretary, then proposed the Steering Committee for the conference, to consist of all the office bearers of AIKS. This proposal was also unanimously accepted.

B.T. Ranadive, President of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions and a member of the Polit Bureau of CPI(M), then greeted the conference, followed by P.K. Kunjachan, General Secretary of All India Agricultural Workers Union. Kunjachan referred to the atrocities being committed against the agricultural labourers, particularly the recent killings of 50 labourers at Arwal in Bihar. He expressed the solidarity of the agricultural labourers with the rest of the peasants.

Then the following three resolutions were passed :—

1. In defence of world peace : proposed by Achintya Bhattacharya (Assam) and supported by Sankaraiah (Tamilnadu).
2. Against imperialist designs in Asia : proposed by Ram- chandra Rao (Karnataka) and supported by P.K. Tandon (Uttar Pradesh).
3. Solidarity with the liberation struggle in Africa : propo­sed by K. Satyanarayana (Andhra) and supported by Krishan Kant Singh (Bihar).

In the second session on May 17, Santimoy Ghosh, General Secretary of AIKS, introduced the report on the activities, issues and problems faced by the organisation during the period since the last conference in 1982. While presenting his report he highlighted the danger to world peace from the threats of nuclear war emanating from the United States imperialists, and urged the Kisans to make themselves aware of such developments and campaign for peace and against imperialist conspiracy. He also pointed out the growing danger of separatism, communalism and secessionism within the country, inspired by the imperialist powers, which are seriously undermining the unity and integrity of the country and disrupting the unity of the peasants against exploitation and oppression. He particularly mentioned separatist activities in Punjab and Assam. His report also emphasised on the intensified attacks of the Indian government on the peasantry by way of high taxes, deficit financing, hike in the prices of essential products supplied by the state enterprises as also in the railway fares, higher charges on electricity and water rates, and sharp increases in the prices of agricultural inputs. All these are making serious inroads into the levels of living of the peasantry, and thereby passing on the burden of the deepening agrarian crisis on to the shoulders of the peasantry. His report also noted the imbalance between high costs of agricultural inputs and the low and fluctuating prices of agricultural produce, and demanded remunerative prices for agricultural produce which would allow for such costs and risks, and compensate for the higher costs of industrial products consumed by the peasants. He particularly mentioned the crash in the prices of jute, cotton and coconuts. He strongly condemned the mass murder in Arwal and demanded an end to semi-feudal exploitation and state repression of landless. He pointed to the spectacular growth in the membership of the organisation, which has reached a figure of 83 lakhs, and has made AIKS by far the largest mass organisation in the country. Yet, he pointed to areas where the movement has not spread and the organisation has not grown despite the growing disenchantment of the rural masses with policies of the Indian government. He also emphasised on the need for all round peasant unity in the face of mounting assaults from the rural vested interests and the government.

In the discussion which followed, representatives of four states spoke in that session. Sheopat Singh of Rajasthan drew attention to falling agricultural prices and higher costs of inputs. He then described the recent Kisan movements in Rajasthan against higher taxation and electricity charges. There was an anti-tax campaign from November 1985, which faced government repression leading to the deaths of two Kisan comrades. Had it not been for the vacillations and treachery of bourgeois- opposition parties, the movement could have achieved more gains. He also referred to severe droughts in recent months and the failure of the government and the need for peasant unity. Mohan Singh Tapiola of Punjab gave an account of the extremist Khalistani danger facing the peasant movement and then added that the Kisan movement is determined to fight this danger and maintain communal harmony even at the cost of death of its cadres. He then mentioned the importance of the issue of remunerative prices for the Kisans of Punjab. The movement has succeeded in organising a strike in the Mandis in first week of March 1986 and forced the government to pay a bonus of Rs. 5 per quintal. While joining with other forces to fight extremism in Punjab, Kisan Sabha is determined to maintain its separate existence. Samar Chowdhry from Tripura mentioned about attempts to foment communal disharmony by Upajati Juba Samiti supported by Congress, and Amra Bengali and also the legislative and administrative actions taken by the government to protect the interests of the sharecroppers, landless labourers, tribal shifting cultivators and other peasants. He referred to the distribution of land to 80,801 allottees and to 14,464 homeless and landless labourers, and the restoration and distribution of 3000 acres of land. He also mentioned that 5262 sharecroppers have been recorded.

The following were the resolutions passed in that session :

1. Arwal massacre—proposed by Santimoy Ghosh (W. Bengal) and supported by N. Sankaraiah (Tamil- nadu).
2. Solidarity with peoples’ struggles in neighbouring countries—proposed by M.A. Rasul (W. Bengal) and seconded by P.K. Tandon (Uttar Pradesh).
3. Latin America—proposed by K.B. Arvindakshan (Kerala) and seconded by Subodh Roy (Bihar).
4. Centre-State relations—proposed by Benoy Chowdhry (West Bengal) and seconded by U. Ramam (Andhra Pradesh).
5. Attacks on democratic rights—proposed by Nurul Huda (Assam) and seconded by Subodh Roy (Bihar).
6. Solidarity with working class—proposed by Benoy Konar (West Bengal) and seconded by K. Varadarajan (Tamilnadu).
7. Atrocities on scheduled castes and tribes—proposed by Sankar Dayal Tewari (Uttar Pradesh) and seconded by Benoy Chowdhry (West Bengal).

On the morning of May 18, the second day and third session, after greetings from Nepal Bhattacharyya, General Secretary of Students’ Federation of India, a resolution was passed congratulating the Left Front Governments of West Bengal and Tripura, which was proposed by Varadharajan and supported by Sankaraiah (Tamilnadu). This was followed by discussion on the report. Benoy Konar from West Bengal mentioned that more than four-fifths of the membership in West Bengal consisted of the agricultural labourers and sharecroppers, and emphasised on the need for strengthening organisation amongst them. He also emphasised on the need to integrate the movement of agricultural labourers with that of the peasantry. He referred to the advantage enjoyed by the peasant movement in West Bengal in terms of the support received from the Left Front Government. The membership is large but measures would have to be taken to maintain their political consciousness. While radical land-reform is not possible under the existing set up, a significant amount of land has already been redistributed, more than 12 lakhs of landless farmers have benefitted from such land, and 13 lakhs of sharecroppers have been recorded. The need for further struggle to take over ceiling surplus land in illegal possession was emphasised. He also mentioned about the need to strengthen the alliance with the working class.

A.P. Kurian from Kerala mentioned about the movements of coconut and coffee growers for higher prices, and added that the reports are sent regularly to the centre.

Kuldip Singh from Himachal Pradesh demanded increased irrigation facilities and distribution of forest waste land to farmers. He added that the Kisan Sabha is demanding the price of Rs. 80 per bag of potatoes. K. Satyanarayana from Andhra mentioned the problems creates by drought and increasing land concentration. In many places people are migrating to other states to escape from the droughts. In November 1985 demonstrations were organised in 50 centres where 25,000 people took part. More demonstrations were held in February and March. Extending irrigation facilities and ending indebtedness and eviction were among the major demands. May Day was observed in 1500 villages, and membership grew from 1,48,000 in 1984 and 2,68,000 in 1986. Varadharajan from Tamilnadu impressed on the acute problem of rural indebtedness and the organisational issues relating to work among the tribal peasantry. He too mentioned about the problems of droughts and floods. Though weak, Kisan Sabha is trying to build its organisation, and taking up, along with peasant issues, some of the local issues, such as bus services and availability of drinking water. There is serious shortage of whole-time cadres. He proposed the publication of the monthly journal of AIKS. Ramsumer Yadav from Uttar Pradesh pointed to the fact that leaders of various national parties are preaching fundamentalism and casteism for making electoral gains. He referred to a convention on sugarcane prices and other demonstrations, dharnas, padyatras etc., which led to an increase of Rs. 4 in the prices. Demonstrations were held for setting up paddy purchasing centres in 19 districts. He urged the publication of syllabus for the education of Kisan cadres. Bajuban Raing from Tripura pointed to the support being given by Congress-I to Upajati Juba Samiti and the fight being waged by Upajati Ganamukti Parisad, affiliated to AIKS, against secessionism. He also mentioned that TNV is receiving support from Bangladesh government. Hazarika from Assam mentioned about attacks on minorities being organised by AGP and the Assam government, and the Hindu and Muslim fundamentalism being preached by the Minority Front. He pointed to the valiant fight of the Assam unit of AIKS, despite several murders and severe injuries, the activities of AIKS against separatism, and the significant growth in membership—to 1,40,000 against these odds. He mentioned that the government was not giving any support to the revenue-earning plywood industry, because both the owners and the workers are from outside Assam. But if this industry is closed it would cause widespread unemployment. He also referred to the evictions being carried out by the tea plantations with the connivance of the police authorities and to the deteriorating law and order situation. Reddy from Karnataka mentioned about the movement for the legalisation of the possession of those occupying government land for cultivation for several years. He suggested the incorporation of the activities of the ultra-left and right reactionary forces in the report, and for making the issue of irrigation a subject for nationwide campaign. He urged all the advanced states like W. Bengal to share their experience with the comrades from states such as Karnataka. Krishan Khokkar of Maharashtra raised the issue of eviction from forest land, and the struggle of the peasants against this. He particularly referred to the monopoly power exercised by the cotton manufacturers who pay low prices to the peasants. The Kisan Sabha has taken up the issues of food, drinking water and electricity and also of famine relief. Ramasray Singh from Bihar mentioned about the success of the peasant movement in recovering 25,000 acres of illegally held land and distributing those among the bataidars, in Bhagalpur Gaya, Purnea, Champaran and other districts. He also mentioned that in South Bihar no ceiling law had been implemented, and a crude form of old style landlordism exists. He also condemned the atrocities committed by the police and the ‘senas’ of the landlords on the landless.

In the fourth session of AIKS on the afternoon of May 18, discussion on the report of the General Secretary was continued. Bahadur Singh Jakkar of Madhya Pradesh mentioned about the movement of the sugar cane growers for higher prices of their produce, organised by AIKS, and referred to non-implementation of land reform in Madhya Pradesh, and then pointed out the weaknesses of AIKS organisation in northern and central part of the country. K.J. Bhambi of Gujarat referred to the severe drought affecting his state and the large scale eviction of tribal peasants from their land to set up plantations, which is being opposed by AIKS. Abdul Khaliq of Jammu and Kashmir mentioned about the disruptive role of the secessionists. Kshitish Biswas of Orissa mentioned about the persistence of bonded labour and semi-feudal exploitation and the growing landlessness among the peasantry. He mentioned that the movement for remunerative prices of paddy and jute has been launched as also that against higher transport charges. He noted that the membership has increased from 20,000 to 30,000. Varakkal Radhakrishan of Kerala referred to the fundamentalist propaganda on the Muslim personal law issue relating to the divorce of Muslim women.

In his reply on behalf of the Steering Committee, H.S. Surjeet pointed out that the report could have been made richer with a more comprehensive analysis of the issues confronting the peasantry, had the state reports been made available in time. While the report from Kerala was exhaustive, the drought reports on Andhra and Tamil Nadu had to be gathered from the press. The largest unit, West Bengal, whose rich experience was so important for the delegates from other states, failed to submit the report. Lack of proper reporting and communication between the centre of AIKS and the state units was a major drawback.

Referring to the suggestion from some comrades that an organ of AIKS should be regularly published, he said that although the proposal was sound, in the past when such organs were published these did not obtain the necessary support from the state units. Not only that reports, information and data on agrarian situation and movements were not made available on a regular basis, the circulation itself was low. To make such organ work, the state units would have to assign a high priority to this—by getting its copies sold to their members and sending regular reports. He mentioned that the eight pamphlets which had been published to commemorate the Golden Jubilee should be translated in local languages and sold in large numbers; and if the response on these appears to be good, AIKS might consider relaunching the organ.

He referred to the continued bypassing of land issues by the Indian government. While the Maholanobis Committee estimated the potential ceiling-surplus land at more than 63 million acres, the estimate was subsequently revised to 40 million acres. More recent estimates also mention a figure of 23 million acres, but even that land was also not taken over and distributed among the landless. The amount of land distributed so far is less than one per cent of the total land area. The new government of Rajiv Gandhi no longer talks of land reforms, and whatever land reforms has taken place, had been mainly under the Left Front governments in West Bengal and Kerala. He strongly criticised the fact that the Indian government took five years to approve the land reform amendment legislation of West Bengal, and thereby denied the landless the opportunity to use ceiling surplus land during the intervening period. He then requested the state units to launch campaigns in their respective states demanding legislations modelled on the West Bengal Act.

He then mentioned the disruptive role of the divisive forces in various parts of the country, particularly in Assam and Punjab, and the need to combat them. He referred to imperialist conspiracies in support of secessionist and communal forces and strongly criticised the Congress party for entering into electoral adjustments and compromises with those forces, for immediate gains in terms of votes, which is undermining national unity. From the point of view of the peasant movement, such tendencies disrupt peasant unity, as the class-based consciousness is weakened: and it is therefore very urgent for AIKS to take a bold stand against them. He suggested a two-pronged attack on the divisive forces: first, by exposing their reactionary face, and the fact of their imperialist connections, and secondly by championing the causes of the peasantry. In many cases the divisive forces take advantage of the genuine grievances of the ordinary people, because of the failure of the government to solve their basic problems. One way of neutralising them would be to make AIKS the vehicle for the expression of popular anger and discontent against the class based policies.

For this reason, he pointed out, it is important that AIKS keeps in continuous touch with the masses, identifies the organisation entirely with them, and takes up their causes in dealing with rural bureaucracy and vested interests. Not only that class, struggles should be waged in favour of demands for land, remunerative prices, better wages, higher share of the crop, lower rent and revenue, as well as lower charges of various kinds, AIKS should also take up issues forcing the bureaucracy to implement IRDP, NREP, RLEGS and other schemes properly so that the non-poor section do not appropiate such benefits forcing the banks to make loans to the weaker sections and joining the cooperatives in large numbers in order to make their functioning more conducive to the interests of the large masses of the peasantry. AIKS also has to participate in flood and drought relief and similar programmes. This would establish AIKS as the representative organisation of the peasantry, and help to foil the secessionist, commual and other divisive games.

He then referred to the growing attacks from the landlords and the government, both in the form of violent physical attacks by thugs and police, and also in the form of economic exploitation. The atrocities on harijans and tribals, who form the majority of landless agricultural labourers, was particularly mentioned. As for the economic exploitation, he contended that the burden of the growing economic crisis was being increasingly passed on to the peasantry in the form of indirect taxes, huge deficit financing, higher charges of electricity and water, higher input prices, and so on. The failure to control prices has affected the peasantry severely because income has not increased correspondingly. Not only the agricultural prices have remained low, in the face of higher prices being paid by them for inputs and various necessities of life, in cases of several crops—jute, cotton and coconuts in particular—these have crashed. He demanded a support price for crops which would cover various input costs while at the same time being remunerative enough to induce the farmers to cultivate those crops, and make necessary investments for this purpose. He referred to the withdrawal of subsidies on inputs under the pressure from the World Bank. He referred to the proposal from the Andhra delegation demanding a significant expansion in irrigational facilities and the completion of projects which had already been accepted or commissioned. In absence of land reforms, irrigation was the only way that the agricultural potential of the country could be increased.

Surjeet then referred to the proposal from a number of state delegations about the need for and the possibility of a nationwide struggle on the issue of agricultural prices and other issues incorporated in the charter of demands, which are of common, concern to a large section of the peasantry in the country.

He then referred to the uneven development of the organisation, the fact that the overwhelming proportion of the membership is concentrated in West Bengal and Kerala. While it is true that other states together now account for more than 10 lakhs of AIKS membership, it is important to lay stress on the need to develop the organisation in the weaker states. While a membership of 83 lakhs is a matter of pride far all of us, and indicates considerable progress, there is no room for complacency. Given the fact of the growing disenchantment of the vast sections of the peasantry with the class-based policies of the central government, there is no reason why our organisation would not become bigger. In some states, such as Punjab, Assam and Tripura, the comrades are working under severe constraints because of seccessionist attacks; and in places like Bihar, where semi-feudal exploitation in its worst from is still being seen, the kisan comrades have been subjected to murderous attacks from the senas organised by the landlords. Such onslaughts would have to be faced with courage and determination. Further, irrespective of caste, religion, language. sex and political affiliations, peasantry should be drawn towards AIKS to build the maximum possible unity among them. there is also the need to develop united actions with other organisations among the peasants on specific issues, so that a large section of the peasantry can be rallied against exploitation and oppression. There is also the need to develop closer links with the non-agricultural masses, particularly the working class and the middle class. AIKS has already decided to celebrate the centenary of May Day to highlight the importance of the unity of these two classes for bringing about a fundamental change. He greeted the Andhra unit for celebrating May Day in 1500 villages, covering 2,64,000 people.

He praised the West Bengal comrades for increasing the membership to a massive 64 lakhs which covers one-third of the adult rural males in West Bengal. Referring to the point made by West Bengal delegation that more than 80 per cent of the membership consisted of agricultural labourers, he asked the question: What then was the membership of the peasants, and what proportion of them thus were left uncovered? As regards the other point made by the West Bengal delegation, that whatever could be done within the constraints of the existing social system, had already been done and the scope for further initiative was exhausted until ‘a new social order“ ushered in, Surjeet said that the possibilities of work among the peasantry was by no means exhausted in West Bengal. Monitoring of the rural development schemes such as NREP, IRDP etc., development of cooperatives, better functioning of the banks in the interests of the ordinary rural masses, these are some of the areas where a great deal more could be done by the Kisan Sabha. Implementation of the amended land reform bill would be another important activity in the coming months. He also praised the impressive record of the Tripura government in relation to the peasantry which has been given in detail in the report submitted by the Tripura state unit; but because this did not come in time it could not be incorporated in the report of the General Secretary. He ended his speech by thanking the delegates for their active participation in the discussion.

The Report of the General Secretary was then unanimously approved.

This was followed by the approval of the resolution on New Education Policy, which was proposed by Kanti Biswas (West Bengal) and supported by Ramchandra Rao (Karnataka). Resolution on Agricultural Labourers was proposed by Samar Chowdhry (Tripura) and seconded by P.K. Tandon (Uttar Pradesh). Resolution on divisive and communal forces was proposed by Achintya Bhattacharyya (Assam) and supported by G.S. Randhava (Punjab), both of whom narrated the attacks of the secessionist and divisive forces in their own states, and the way the AIKS activists are fighting those disruptive tendencies. All these resolutions were approved.

Then the conference adopted a resolution on ‘Charter of Demands’ proposed by N. Sankaraiah and supported by Santimoy Ghosh.

In the morning of May 19, that is during the fifth session a resolution on Sri Lanka, proposed by N. Sankaraiah (Tamil- nadu) and supported by Benoy Chowdhry (West Bengal) was approved, and another, moved from the chair, remembering P Sundarayya, one of the illustrious leaders of the peasant movement from the early days who died one year back on May 19, was passed. Greetings from All India Plantation Workers’ Federation and Janwadi Lekhak Sangh, Delhi, were read out.

H.S. Surjeet then introduced a ‘ Statement of Policy . His speech introducing the draft Statement of Policy and the text of the draft is given elsewhere in this pamphlet.

Jyoti Basu, Chief Minister of West Bengal, while addressing the conference, said, referring to the Arwal massacre, that this was the latest and one of the most gruesome of a series of such atrocities on the landless labourers in various parts of the country. How can one talk about going to the 21st century when such ghastly massacres could take place in the country, be asked He added that whatever little land reform had taken place was mostly in the states led by the Left Front governments such as West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala, while the Congress-I led governments did no more than use the rhetoric of land reform and socialism. Even that rhetoric is becoming scarce. In the last meeting of the National Development Council no Chief Minister excepting those from West Bengal and Tripura mentioned about land reform or socialism The statistics on poverty and unemployment were deliberately misleading, while despite green revolution, the per capita availability of food today is no more than what it was in the early sixties. The economy is being increasingly privatised for the exploitation by the national monopolies and the multinational corporations at the cost of the farmers. How could the purchasing power of the vast majority of the masses be expanded without land reform, he asked, and how without this could the country be industrialised? He deplored the attempt by the central government to replace jute bags by synthetics, thereby putting at risk the livelihood of lakhs of jute workers of West Bengal, may of them Biharis, and also lakhs of raw jute growers He emphasised on the unity of the workers and peasants for transforming the society in close contact with the middle class in the towns.

A resolution moved by N. Sankaraiah, for observing the Jubilee Year was passed. A 125-member All India Kisan Council (including provision for the co-option of three members), was elected which in turn elected a 40-member Central Kisan Committee, including the following office-bearers: Godavari Parulekar, President; H. S. Surjeet, U. Ramam, Md. Abdullah Rasul and Benoy Chowdhry, Vice-Presidents; N. Sankaraiah, General Secretary; P. K. Tandon, T. K. Ramakrishnan and Dr. Biplab Das Gupta, Joint Secretaries.

Then on behalf of the CKC, H.S. Surjeet gave a call for 10 million membership, and united struggle against tyranny and oppression. He conveyed, on behalf of the delegates, greetings to the comrades in Bihar for organising the conference and making it a great success. He then hoped that the posterity would judge this Golden Jubilee Session of AIKS as a landmark in the history of peasant struggles in the country.

President Godavari Parulekar then thanked the delegates, the volunteers and the kisan comrades and people of Bihar for making the conference a success. She also gave a call for strengthening the organisation and intesifying the struggle of the peasantry.

The conference ended with slogans.

In the open rally held at Gandhi Maidan (where exhibition and cultural programmes were organised during the Conference), thousands of kisans took part. Godavari Parulekar took the chair, and Subodh Roy, General Secretary of Bihar Kisan Sabha, introduced the office-bearers amid applause. The rally was then addressed by N. Sankaraiah (General Secretary), B.T Ranadive (President, CITU), H.S. Surjeet (Vice-President), and Jyoti Basu (Chief Minister of West Bengal).

1. Condolence Resolution
2. On the Anniversary of the death of Com. P. Sundarayya.
3. On Defence of World Peace.
4. Against Imperialist Designs in Asia.
5. In Solidarity with the Liberation Struggles in Africa.
6. On Solidarity with the Peoples’ Struggles in the Neighbouring Countries.
7. On Latin America.
8. On Sri Lanka.
9. On Solidarity with the Working Class.
10. On Centre-State Relations.
11. On Attacks on Democratic Rights.
12. On Arwal Massacre.
13. On New Education Policy.
14. On Charter of Kisan Demands.
15. On Agricultural Labourers.
16. On Atrocities on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
17. On Greetings to the Left Front Governments of West Bengal and Tripura.
18. On the Danger of Communal and Divisive Forces.
19. Observe the Year 1986 as Golden Jubilee Year of the Kisan Sabha.

This 25th Session of the All India Kisan Sabha pays its respectful homage to the memory of Com. P. Sundarayya, one of the founders of the organised peasant movement in our country, and one of the topmost leaders of the heroic armed struggle of the Telangana peasantry. His devotion to the cause of the downtrodden and his spirit of self-sacrifice inspired thousands of social and political workers in the country. His death is a big loss to the Communist movement and particularly the peasant movement in the country.

The Session pays its homage to Com. Promode Das Gupta, an outstanding leader of the CPI(M) and the Chairman of the ruling Left Front in West Bengal, who took keen interest in the building and developing the peasant movement in that state. He lived the simple life of a revolutionary, facing all sufferings and sacrifices, with a proud record of devoting his whole life to the cause of working class, peasantry and other toiling millions.

The Session pays it homage to the memory of Com. M.R. Venkataraman who, as a Secretary of the Tamilnadu State Committee of the united Communist Party, and later on as the Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Tamilnadu, devoted all his energies towards developing the movement of agricultural workers in that state.

The Session pays its respects to the memory of Com. Desraj who began his revolutionary carrier as a worker of the All India Kisan Sabha in Punjab. The Session also pays its homage to the memory of Com. Ramdass who worked at the AIKS centre at a very crucial period when the organisation was facing severe repression.

The 25th Session pays its homage to the memory of Choudhary Ghasi Ram, an outstanding leader of the State People’s movement and the peasant movement in Rajasthan, ho continued to serve the cause of the peasantry till his last moment.

Paying its respectful homage to the memory of these outstanding leaders of the peasantry, working class and other toiIing sections of our people, this 25th Session of the All India Kisan Sabha pledges to devote all its energies to complete the unfinished tasks of the great leaders.

The 25th Session pays its homage to all those comrades who passed away in the period since the 24th Conference in November 1982, fighting in the front rank of the struggle for democracy, at the hands of the hoodlums of the landlords or who fell victims to natural calamities. The Session expresses its pride in the dedication and willingness to sacrifice everthing, including their lives, manifested by the grass-root level workers of the All India Kisan Sabha which has made the organisation what it is today and which will make the All India Kisan Sabha in not too distant future the leading force in the countryside. The Session is confident that their living example will continue to inspire countless new cadres to carry the message of agrarian revolution to every village and every peasant in every nook and corner of the country.

This 25th Conference of the All India Kisan Sabha pays its respectful homage to the memory of Com. P. Sundarayya, one of the founders of the organised peasant movement in our country, and one of the topmost leaders of the heroic armed struggle of Telangana peasantry, who passed away an year ago on 19th May, 1985.

Com. Sundarayya, by his single-minded devotion to the cause of the downtrodden and his spirit of self-sacrifice, inspired thousands of social and political workers, especially the workers of Kisan Sabha, to devote themselves wholeheartedly in the cause of the peasantry and other toilers. His name shall for ever be a source of inspiration to youth to follow his shining example and dedicate themselves to the cause of the exploited and downtrodden.

The Session, paying its revolutionary tribute to the memory of Com. P. Sundarayya, pledges to devote all its energies to complete the unfinished tasks left behind by this great revolutionary

The 25th Conference of the All India Kisan Sabha notes with grave concern the threat of nuclear war due to the reckless policies pursued by imperialism, headed by the Reagan Administration. Such a war would destroy all humanity and life on earth. U.S. imperialism has embarked on an unprecedented building up of its war machine and the creation of new sophisticated weapons of destruction. It has now taken the dangerous step of militarising the space through its “Star Wars” programme. All these war preparations are directed primarily against the Soviet Union and the socialist countries. In its drive for global domination U.S. imperialism is also threatening the independence and sovereignty of the newly independent countries.

The adventurist war psychology of U.S. imperialism was manifested recently in the terrorist bombing of Libya—an action which has aroused worldwide indignation and isolated the United States from even most of its NATO allies.

That imperialism stands for war while socialism stands for peace has once again been strikingly brought out by refusal of the Reagan Administration to accept the various peace proposals made by the Soviet Union in the last two years. The Soviet Union declared a unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests last year and requested the USA to respond similarly. Despite extension of the Soviet Union’s moratorium for full 8 months, the USA has brazenly conducted two nuclear tests and sabotaged the possibility of a permanent moratorium. On behalf of the Soviet Union, Comrade Gorbachev on January 15, 1985, put forward a three-stage plan for the elimination of all nuclear weapons by the year 2000. This proposal has also been rejected by the Reagan Administration. It has also turned down the six-nation proposal for peace. The recent proposals made by Comrade Gorbachev for withdrawal of all nuclear weapons Tom Europe and for disbanding of the NATO and Warsaw Pacts have been met with silence. The stubborn refusal to respond to the eminently reasonable proposals of the Soviet Union has exposed the war-mongering character of the U.S. Administration.

This policy of the USA is meeting with resistance from even sections of the ruling circles in Western Europe, who see in the reckless militarism the threat of an imminent war in Europe.

The Conference greets the millions of people in Western Europe, United States, Japan and other countries who have joined the powerful peace movement to raise their voice to protest against the danger of nuclear war. The forces in defence of peace are gathering strength every day. The powerful socialist system and the vigilance of the Soviet Union are a firm guarantee for peace in the present tense situation. The peace movement in India has to be immeasurably strengthened to join this world-wide struggle for peace. The All India Kisan Sabha will exert its utmost efforts to rally the broad mass of the Indian peasantry to join this vital struggle in defence of peace for humanity. The participation of the millions of the peasants in India in the peace movement will ensure the advance of the anti-imperialist forces in the country.

U.S. imperialism, in its aggressive quest for global domination, has stepped up its military presence in Asia, seeks to suppress national liberation movements, and is actively engaged in subverting the independence of the newly liberated countries of Asia. These offensive actions are meeting with the resistance of the people of different countries in the Asian continent who are increasingly realising the threat posed by imperialism.

In West Asia, the USA continues to arm Isreal and utilise the Zionist state to launch aggression against the Arab countries. In Lebanon, Israeli troops continue to occupy parts of Southern Lebanon. The Palestnian liberation movement and Lebanese progressive forces are courageously battling the Isreli forces and their reactionary allies. This Conference greets the Palestinian fighters who are waging their struggle for liberation with courage and determination. The U.S. imperialists seek to divide the Arab peoples and utilise Egypt for this nefarious purpose. Egypt has provided the United States with military bases and facilities for the Rapid Deeloyment Force.

The continuance of the Iran-Iraq war causes grave concern as it undermines the unity of the anti-imperialist forces in the area. This Conference urges, therefore, an immediate end to this senseless war which is against the interests of the people of both countries.

The Conference extends its warm solidarity with the government and people of Afghanistan. The U.S. imperialism maintains their support to the armed counter-revolutionaries based in Pakistan who are conducting criminal attacks on the peaceful civilians of Afghanistan. Notwithstanding these provocations, the government is uniting all sections of the people, steadily advancing on the road to social and economic progress.

The U.S. imperialism, defying the united voice of the littoral states, is steadily building up its naval strength in the Indian Ocean. It has converted Diego Garcia into a base with nuclear weapons and the growing influx of naval vessels in the Ocean poses a direct threat to the littoral states, including India. In its feverish quest for domination in the Indian Ocean, it has also adquired naval facilities in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. The Conference demands the dismanting of the Diego Garcia base and the declaration of the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace free of nuclear weapons.

In South East Asia, the U.S. imperialists prop the military regime of Thailand and utilise the Thai border to sustain and equip the mercenaries who are seeking to destabilise Vietnam Kampuchea and Laos which are targetted for subversion and attacks by imperialism. This Conference greets the governments and peoples of Vietnam, Laos and Kampuchea who are engaged in peaceful reconstruction after long years of war and are marching ahead triumphantly surmounting all obstacles.

The 25th Conference of the AIKS greets the revolutionary and democratic forces in the Philippines who have won a significant victory in the overthrow of the hated Marcos regime and who are now continuing battle for eliminating the hold of U.S. imperialism and fighting the powerful U.S. sponsored oligarchy in the country.

In East Asia, Japan continues to be the kingpin of the U.S. strategy for domination in the Asia-Pacific region. The militarisation of Japan, the forging of the Washington-Tokyy-Seoul axis consitutes the serious threat to the countries of this region. South Korea has forty thousand U.S. troops stationed on its soil, and a thousand nuclear projectiles are aimed at the DPRK. The USA and South Korean dictatorial regime refuse to respond to the initiative of the DPRK for step by step normalisation of relations and for the peaceful reunification of the country. Rather, the United States continues to support the Taiwanese regime and to obstruct the People’s Republic of China’s reasonable proposals for the reunification of Taiwan with Mainland.

The Conference expresses its fraternal solidarity with all peoples and countries of Asia who are fighting to rebuff the U.S. imperialist manoeuvers, defend their countries’ independence and sovereignty, and who are engaged in the struggle to overthrow U.S. sponsored dictatorial regimes. It calls Tor the widest unity of all anti-imperialist forces in Asia and of all progressive and democratic forces to foil the U.S. drive for domination in Asia.

The Twentyfifth Conference of the All India Kisan Sabha warmly greets the black people of South Africa who are waging a heroic fight to end the hated racist regime and apartheid. Braving the most brutal terror and repression unleashed by the white minority regime, hundreds of thousands of black people have come out in death-defying struggle to end racial discrimination and slavery. Thousands have been killed by the armed forces of the racist regime, thousands more languish in prisons and concentration camps, but the popular resistance continues to grow in intensity and scope. The Conference sends its fraternal greetings to Nelson Mandela, the indomitable symbol of liberation struggle whose powerful voice cannot be suppressed by the racists’ jail. The Conference denounces the Reagan Administration and the British government for their shameful support to the Botha regime and their refusal to impose effective economic sanctions against the racist regime. The Conference renews its pledge to support the African National Congress and wishes it all success.

The Conference sends it fraternal greetings to the people of Namibia who, under the leadership of SWAPO, have carried on a courageous struggle to liberate Namibia from the clutches of the South African racist regime. The Botha regime is continuing to occupy Namibia, defying the United Nations resolution of freedom for Namibia. The Conference wishes their struggle all success and is confident that the total liberation of Namibia will be successfully achieved by the militant freedom fighters of SWAPO.

Imperialism is unable to reconcile itself to the changing map of Africa. The existence of the liberated states of Zimbabwe, Angola and Mozambique is a standing testimony to the failure of imperialism to hold on to old-style colonialism. It seeks to recover ground by egging on South Africa to attack the frontline states and organise subversive activities against Angola and Mozambique. The Conference expresses its solidarity with the front-line states in southern Africa and extends its full support to their efforts to maintain the territorial integrity and independence of their countries.

The Conference sends its warm fraternal greetings to the Saharawai Arab Democratic Rupublic and to the Polisario Front who have made big advances in liberating their country from the America-backed Moroccan occupation. The brave fighters of the Polisario Front have liberated vast stretches of territory from Moroccan occupation and have achieved the diplomatic recognition of 63 countries, including India. The Conference pledges to continue its support to the cause of the Saharawai people.

The Conference greets all the democratic and progressive forces in Africa who are engaged in throwing off the legacies of colonialism, foiling neo-colonialist conspiracies and are determined to build a new life for their peoples.

This Conference expresses its solidarity with the peasants and other people of Pakistan and Bangladesh in their struggle against military dictatorship and for the restoration of democratic rights, including the establishment of popular governments based on adult franchise. The peasant and democratic movements in these countries are of special interest to the All India Kisan Sabha because in the pre-independence united India the peasants of these countries fought shoulder to shoulder with peasants of present-day India in the struggle against foreign rule and feudal-imperialist exploitation.

In Pakistan fight against Zia-autocracy has reached a new peak, with millions now attending rallies cenvened by the opposition parties, and more and more people are coming forward in this struggle, defying police and military. Age- old attempts to divert popular attention by raising anti-India slogans have not been working so effectively as in the past, nor the bogey of Communist aggression via Afganistan. This regime without popular base is surviving on bayonets and on the support, financial and military, it is receiving from the U.S. imperialists. The latter are pumping arms and resources into this country with a view to using this country as the base for their clandestine activities against Afghanistan, Soviet Union and India. Two military bases in Pesahwar and Gwadar play an important role in the U.S. military strategy in the area, along with its significance in overseeing Indian Ocean. The militarist Zia regime is actively helping the Khalistani extremists by giving them training and arms and is now seeking to make a nuclear bomb to scare the neighbors. This Conference sees this as a dangerous development which violates peace and brings war nearer to India; it lends its full support to the democratic toilers of Pakistan who are struggling for restoration of democracy and establishment of a popular government which would be able to find a solution to the outstanding problems between our two countries and would have the way for normal economic and cultural relations with India.

In Bangladesh too, fight against military autocracy has reached a new phase. Though the holding of elections itself was a positive outcome of the struggle for the restoration of democracy, the election was heavily rigged. But the democratic aspirations of the fighting people of Bangladesh who success fought against Pakistan’s military dictatorship to achieve independence, cannot be suppressed. The Conference notes in case of Bangladesh too, the deep penetration in the economic and political life by the United States imperialists. Chittagong port has offered refuelling facilities to U.S. Navy, while the economy is almost entirely controlled by the U.S. or British multinational companies.

Ershad government is also training the TNV insurgents in its territory and uses them for insurgency in the Indian state of Tripura. The Conference congratulates the fighting people of Bangladesh for the sacrifices they have undergone in their fight for democracy. We express full solidarity with them and are confident that the day is not far off when people of Bangladesh will be able to have a popular government committed to good-neighbourly relations with India.

The 25th Conference of the All India Kisan Sabha warmly greets the government and people of Nicaragua led by the Sandinista Front for National Liberation. After having overthrown the despotic Somoza regime backed by U.S. imperialism, the people of Nicaragua have advanced on the path of social progress and are consolidating their national independence. U.S. imperialism has therefore targetted Nicaragua for destabilisation and naked aggression. Utilising the counter-revolutionary gangs, the Contras, based in Honduras and Costa Rica, imperialism is attacking Nicaragua and murdering innocent civilians and children. Reagan publicly threatens intervention and his administration seeks funds from the U.S. Congress to wage war on Nicaragua. Economic sanctions, CIA-sponsored provocations, and now the open threat of military intervention are used to support counter-revolution.

The people of Nicaragua have firmly united behind their revolutionary government to resist imperialist blackmail and to protect the hard-won gains of their revolution. The people of other Latin American countries have expressed their firm opposition to U.S. intervention and expressed their solidarity with the people of Nicaragua. This Conference donounces all the illegal and criminal actions by U.S. imperialism against Nicaragua. It demands an immediate halt to the financing and arming of the Contras. The AIKS sends its fraternal message of solidarity to the FSLN and the fighting peasantry and people of Nicaragua.

The Conference hails the courageous fighters of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front in EI Salvadar who are struggling to overthow the U.S. imposed dictatorial regime of Duarte. In this tiny country U.S. imperialism is putting all its efforts to crush the libration movement. However, the fighters of the FMLN have registered significant advances and liberated one third of the country from the clutches of the neocolonial regime. The Conference extends its full solidarity with the fighting people of EL Salvador and FMLN.

The Conference greets the progressive forces and people of Chile who are successfully waging a united resistance to the facist Pinochet regime and have struck serious blows at the tottering government. The Conference greets the progressive forces fighting fascist terror and repression in Guatemala, Colombia and Paraguay.

U.S. imperialism which has been treating South America as its colonial backyard and subjecting it to the most vicious exploitation, is now faced with the resurgent spirit of independence and revolt of the countries and people which are victims of imperialist loot. The huge external debts of the Latin American countries, incurred as a result of the imperialist policies of the USA and the world financial institutions, have led to growing impoverishment and crisis in the lives of the peoples of Latin America. Today there is a growing unity between governments and peoples of different political persuations in the region to resist imperialist plunder and blackmail.

Symbolising this spirit is socialist Cuba which, in the past two and half decades, has emerged as the outpost for socialism in the Western hemisphere. Revolutionary Cuba’s constant support to the cause of national liberation and anti-imperialism in Latin America has served as an inspiration and rallying point for all the Latin America peoples. Cuba has firmly stood upto U.S. blackmail and built a socialist society which is a model for all peoples of the region.

The Conference extends its full support and solidarity to the people and government of Cuba.

The Conference sends its warm greetings to all the revolutionary and democratic forces of Latin America who are struggling to overthrow the yoke of U.S. imperialism and advance their countries on the path of national liberation and social progress.

In Sri Lanka, American imperialism is exploiting the ethnic issue to bring Sri Lanka under its domination, to gain possession of Tricomallee naval port and to create enmity between Sri Lanka and India.

This Conference deplores the dilatory tactics of Sri Jaywardane, who is pursuing a policy of seeking military solution, and condemns the genocidal policy of military repression pursued by the Sri Lankan government against the Sri Lankan Tamils, demands that the attempts at a military solution of the ethnic crisis be stopped forthwith, and calls upon the Sri Lanka government to enter into meaningful dialogue with the leaders of the Sri Lankan Tamils in order to arrive at a negotiated political settlement of the ethnic issue.

This Conference appeals to the leaders of Sri Lankan Tamil organisations to dissociate themselves from the separatist slogans, to seek a solution within the framework of united Sri Lanka, and to arrive at a political settlement with the support of the Sri Lankan people, workers and peasants, in favour of their demands for regional autonomy and equality of rights with the Sinhalese. Such a policy alone will help the people of Sri Lanka- both Tamils and Sinhalese- to maintain the unity of that country and also to foil the game of the American imperialism in this region.

This 25th Conference of the AIKS congratulates the working class for many heroic struggles it has launched in its fight against exploitation during the period of one hundred years since May 1, 1986, when the valiant struggle of the workers in Chicago for an eight-hour day drew world-wide attention. In this year, commemorating the Centenary of May Day, this Conference expresses its solidarity with the working people all over the world. During this period the struggle of the working class has not only led to improvement in the working conditions and wages, beginning with the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, it has captured political power in alliance with the peasantry in a number of countries, covering more than one-third of the population of the world.

This Conference is taking place at a time when world capitalism is passing through a severe economic crisis which has led to 30 million unemployment in advanced capitalist countries. In contrast, the working class in alliance with the peasantry in the socialist countries has succeeded in building a society of their own where system of exploitation has been put an end to, unemployment has ceased to exist, and science, technology and culture have flourished to increase productive capacity and have vastly improved their conditions of life. The lessons of the past hundred years unmistakably point to the future which the toiling masses should pursue—a society where the working people are in control, poverty has been banished.

In India, too, unemployment is mounting, and has by now reached a staggering figure of 28 million who have registered with the employment exchanges, ignoring those who have not registered themselves. The working class here too has been subjected to a severe depression which has led to large scale closures, lay-offs and dismissals, and some of the precious democratic rights of the working class have been taken away, the working class in India is fighting heroically against such attacks on their rights and livelihood. Recent strike of coal workers is one such examples of the united action of the working people against such onslaughts.

From its First Conference fifty years ago, AIKS has always been conscious of the role the history has assigned to working class and peasantry to fight together against remnants feudalism and then to lay the foundation of a just society with out exploitation. Solidarity with working class has been the cornerstone of its policy for bringing about a drastic restructuring of the society. This Conference too repeats this pledge of solidarity with the working class and supports its demands in its fight against exploitation and for social transformation.

The 25th Conference of the AIKS takes note of the concentration of power, economic and political, in the hands of the central government, while the state governments are working under severe constitutional limitations which constraint the scope for implementating a pro-people programme at the state level. Apart from the emergency powers which enable the central government to remove the duly elected state governments and to administer the states from Delhi, the powers to introduce policy measures on education, land reforms and other issues which cannot be put off by state legislations, and the long list of important subjects under ‘central list’, the Constitution offers very limited power to the state governments for raising taxes and thereby perpetuates the dependence of the state governments on the centre for financial support. From time to time the state governments have been coerced, against the threat of constitutional sanction or withdrawal of financial support, to implement anti-people policies under central direction.

Under pressure from the states the central government was forced to appoint Sarkaria Commission to go into the question of centre-state relations but the recent utterances of the Prime Minister and other Cabinet Ministers raise doubts about the .mentions of the government.

This Conference therefore demands redistribution of powers between the centre and the states in order to reduce their financial dependence on the centre and to make it possible for them to implement the programmes devised by themselves without being under any constitutional threat. This has become all the more necessary with the break-up of the Congress monopoly of power at the state level, and the formation of left-wing governments with alternative policies. This Conference strongly condemns the discriminatory policies being followed by the central government with respect to those states, in order to starve them into submission or to engineer disruptive activities – order to undermine the administration. This Conference particularly deplores the use of the office of the Governor as a tool of the central government in these and other non-Congress(I) sates.

This Conference strongly stresses on the need for national’ integration, and feels that unity at the national level would be strengthened by the decentralisation of the decision-making in the present level of development of the country. On the contrary, any attempt to mechanically impose any unity by way of excessive centralisation would be counter-productive and would actually undermine national unity and come handy to separatist forces. The relationship between the centre and the states should be based on the recognition of the need of national unity on the one hand, and the cultural diversity and divergent historical experience, on the other hand. A country of India’s size cannot be run by administrative fiat from the centre; only the strong states can make the centre strong. The Conference therefore seeks a policy which would promote unity in diversity, harmonise the development of different cultures and expand contacts between those cultures to develop national identity and a strong and united India.

The 25th Conference of the AIKS takes note of numerous instances of attacks on the democratic rights of the people of the country during the three and half years since the Conference at Midnapore. National Security Act has been used to detain, opposition political activists without trial for long periods. Essential Services Maintenance Act has been used to break legitimate working class struggles, and the police and military have been used from time to time to aid the vested interests in order to suppress the democratic movements of the toiling people. In several parts of the country, particularly Bihar,. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, noted criminals and dacoits have been deployed, along with police and CRPF to unleash a reign of terror and demolish the organisation of the working people. Elections have been rigged, the phenomenon of booth capturing has become the norm in some areas, and genuine voters have been chased away, thereby making a mockery of elections in such places. In several cases— e.g., Andhra and Jammu & Kashmir—through the office of the Governor, the democratically elected governments have been removed to make way for a ministry of the Congress party supported by the defectors. In cases of states run by the left- wing parties the Governors have often been used to disrupt the normal functioning of the administration, by ignoring the constitutional norms, at the dictat of the central government.

Such attacks on democratic rights are becoming more pronounced with the growing disillusionment of the people with the government at the centre. Having failed to meet the popular needs and aspirations, the government is seeking to bulldoze the population into submission by the use of or by threating the use of authoritarian devices. The present Prime Minister of the country has been on record justifying the declaration of emergency during 1975-77.

Against this background of attacks, the Conference appeals to the peasantry to strengthen the unity of the peasants and other toiling masses and to build broad resistance against repressive attack on democratic rights and against government’s drive towards authoritarianism.

The Golden Jubilee Session of All India Kisan Sabha (Patna 17-19 May, 1986) is shocked and grieved at the mass murder perpetrated by the police at Arwal in the Gaya district of Bihar.

On April 19, the police force, armed with rifles, stenguns and machine guns, and led by Jahanabad S.P. C.K. Kaswan, encircled a peaceful mass meeting of agricultural workers and rural landless people and others from all sides and then fired indiscriminately on them. On the spot enquiry by the leaders of Bihar state Kisan Sabha has revealed that nearly 50 were killed and over two hundred seriously injured. No less shocking and inhuman was the fact that the dead bodies were not handed over to the families of those killed. The D.M. of Gaya district has also revealed that the police opened fire without any order by a magistrate as prescribed by the law of the land.

The root cause of the anger of the police force was the peaceful protest by some poor landless families against the illegal occupation of a piece of land by the side of Patna-Barauni canal by an influential officer of the Bihar government.

This Session expresses the strongest feelings of the All India Kisan Sabha against this inhuman, brutal, heinous and organised massacre, planned and executed by the state government, which has no parallel in the post-independence history of India. The All India Kisan Sabha joins the nation in strongly condemning this massacre, and demands the arrest of the guilty police officials, including C.K. Kaswan, S.P., payment of adequate compensation to the victims and an all-party enquiry into the incident.

The 25th Conference of All India Kisan Sabha expresses its shock and indignation at the content of the new education policy recently approved by the Indian Parliament, and the procedure the Government of India adopted in finalising it without allowing for extensive nationwide discussion on this vital issue. Kisan Sabha bas always been in favour of a new educational system which would inculcate ideas of patriotism, national unity, secularism and encourage a scientific attitude which would free the minds of the young from prejudices and obscurantist views. Kisan Sabha also stood for universal literacy and demanded free and compulsory primary education and adult literacy. Education has always been seen by Kisan Sabha as a key instrument for developing modern outlook and attitudes, and for bringing awareness to the backward masses including the peasantry. Kisan Sabha, therefore, supported the provision in the Indian Constitution that free and compulsory primary education be introduced by 1960. We had been consistently critical of the government for bypassing the needs of mass education, for restricting access to education to a minority, for ignoring the provisions of the Constitution The callous indifference of the government towards this highly important task is revealed by the fact that even after four decades of independence two thirds of the population remain illiterate.

The Conference notes with dismay that in this new education policy too, the urgent need of universal literacy has been bypassed, while emphasis has been laid on a very small number of ’model schools’, each of which would be provided with generous financial support, but which would only benefit children from a small privileged minority. The Conference feels that this policy would be highly discriminatory, and would undermine the general level of education in the country. Rather than lavishing public funds and patronage for promoting self-development of a select band of students from rural and urban wealthy families, Kisan Sabha demands that the highest priority be given to fulfilling the pledge inscribed in the Consitution for eradicating illiteracy.

The Conference also takes a serious view of the attempt to delink degrees from jobs. Apart from opening up possibilities of large scale nepotism in selsction for jobs, this would strike at the very base of manpower planning, which seeks to balance the demand for certain types of education for the economy with supply. This policy also attempts to restrict access to higher education, in the name of improving quality, which would further widen disparities between rich and poor in terms of educational opportunities and performance. Furthermore, the policy adopted to teach mathematics and science subjects in English and to teach other subjects in Hindi in the “model schools” is contrary to the need to impart education through mother tongue and is grossly at variance with the social needs of education.

Kisan Sabha also views with concern the growing concentration of policy decisions, legislative power and administration in the hands of the Indian government in the field of education, which constitutes a serious encroachment on the rights of the state governments and the need to allow for diversification in line with the concrete situation and demands at the state level. The Conference demands that education be reverted from its present ’concurrent’ status back to the ’state list’, while developing a common national approach on various issues through consultation and discussion.

This new education policy has thoroughly exposed the lies propagated by the new India government regarding its concern for the education for all, and has laid bere the tall claim of taking the country to the 21st century. The figures show that by the turn of the century more than 54% of the illiterates of the world would be Indians, which is, to say the least, utterly shameful. The Conference takes the view that no amount of high-tech propaganda of modernisation would convince the peasantry as long as one of the major pre-requisities of modernisation-universal literacy—remains unfulfilled. The Conference, therefore, demands a categorical policy announcement that education would be recognised as a fundamental civic right of all the Indians, and that necessary administration and financial measures would be adopted to eradicate the stain of illiteracy from our society.

After having reviewed the situation in the agrarian sector, the 25th Conference of the All India Kisan Sabha has come to the conclusion that the experience of almost four decades of independence has belied the expectations of the peasantry and other toiling masses. Instead of solving the major problems facing the country to meet their basic needs of food, shelter, education, health and work, the tendency has been to pass the burden of deepening economic crisis on to the shoulders of the vast rural masses in the form of inflation, taxes, and higher prices for agricultural inputs and essential commodities. The Congress government goes on enhancing water rates, electricity charges and fares, apart from the huge dosage of indirect taxes. As a result, the living conditions of the peasantry have deteriorated, and inspite of many schemes for eradication of the problem remains as acute as before. In fact, the problem of poverty is combined with the increasing landlessness, joblessness and even homelessness on the one hand, and the concentration of land, agricultural equipment, income and wealth on the other.

Despite the optimism on the eve of the country’s independence that land problem will be satisfactorily solved, very little has been done by way of land reforms in the country as a whole. After a great deal of trumpeting, about 7.2 million acres of land has been declared surplus and only 4.4 million acres actually distributed to the landless and poor peasants and that too mostly on the initiatives taken by the Left Front governments of West Bengal and Kerala, despite virulent opposition from the vested interests led by the Congress party. Further-more, whatever success has been achieved in protecting the rights of the sharecroppers, tenants, agricultural labourers and tribal peasants is also due to legislation and administrative measures and mass actions in the Left-Front states of West Bengal and Tripura and in Kerala during the period under Left Front and Democratic regime. Even in other states concessions were acquired only under the pressure of the mass movement. In other states the government not only failed to implement any radical land reforms measure but thousands of sharecroppers have been evicted, from the land they were tilling for decades. The state governments have not cared to provide them with records of rights. Even assent to the West Bengal Second Land Reform (Amendment) Bill was delayed for five years, by the central government, thereby trying to frustrate this important attempt to provide further relief to the landless and land- poor.

The Rajiv Gandhi government has even abandoned the rhetoric of land reforms, and is actually trying to develop agriculture on the basis of new technology with the help of rural rich. The Seventh Plan document only emphasises this aspect to increase agricultural production. The bonded labour still exists in many parts and semi-feudal form of exploitation continues, while income becomes concentrated in the hands of the upper strata of the peasantry which can afford the cost of new technology and have access to the administration.

Atrocities on the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes at I he hands of landlords and their hired gangs are on the increase with the connivance of the police, the issues involved being related to land or wages. Agricultural workers are being denied even statutorily fixed minimum wages. The central government has refused to enact a central legislation for agricultural workers in ensure minimum wages and better living conditions.

Nothing is being done to protect the meagre earning of the toiling peasantry. Over the last few years the price of agricultural products has failed to keep pace with cost of inputs which has been inflated both by higher import prices and also by the declared increase in the prices of the indigenous products, oil price has been increased at a time when in the world market the oil prices of diesel are falling. Freight charges have been hiked up as also the price of diesel, both of which have affected the cost of agricultural production. On the other hand, prices of some of the commercial crops like jute, cotton and coconut have registered a steep fall, thereby making the investment made on these crops highly unremunerative.

Moreover, the natural calamities, including the crop failures due to pest attacks, have further added to the already increasing miseries of the peasants. In the absence of adequate relief in cases of flood, drought and cyclone, etc., and any schemes of crop insurance worth its name, they are left helpless before the vagaries of nature. The peasants are groaning under heavy indebtedness and all the schemes of the government to provide credit to the poorer sections have failed to touch even the fringe of the problem. After 39 years of independence, the usurers continue to have their pound of flesh. The imbalances between prices and costs are reflected also in the phenomena of growing indebtedness among the peasantry and the decline in the rate of repayment of bank and cooperative loans. Whereas the total amount of rural) debt was Rs. 750 crore in 1951-52, by now it has reached the colossal figure of Rs. 13,000 crore. As a result of these policies, which have aggravated the agrarian crisis, the discontent among peasantry is rapidly growing. But, in the absence of a strong peasant movement taking the country as a whole, communal and divisice forces are trying to divert this discontentment into disruptive channels. In certain states the landlord elements are also trying to project themselves as champions of the interests of the peasantry on issues like agricultural prices and taxes. Crimes are on the increase. We continue to read reports in the press about rapes and dowry deaths. This poses a big challenge to the organised peasant movement.

The government, instead of solving these problems, is resorting to the suppression of democratic rights. It is not even allowing the state governments to discharge their minimum responsibility towards the people of the states by refusing the re-structuring of centre-state relations and to give more powers to the states. This throws a big challenge before the democratic movement as a whole and peasant movement in particular. Since 70 per cent of our population is still dependent on agriculture, this challenge can be met only by organising mass campaigns, and leading united actions of the peasantry on different issues affecting their lives and by building a powerful organisation of the All India Kisan Sabha.

Therefore, the 25th Conference of the All India Kisan Sabha has decided to fight back the offensive of the government, landlords and the moves of the divisive forces by launching a countrywide campaign on the following urgent demands :

1. The Union government should guarantee adequate apply of all essential commodities such as foodgrains, pulses, edible oils, salt, sugar, domestic coal, kerosene, common cloths, paper, life saving drugs, matches, etc. through a comprehensive network of public distribution system, to the urban and rural consumers, without discrimination, at subsidised and controlled rates, by drastically curbing the profits of wholesalers and substantially reducing the excise duties imposed on these commodities. The movement of these commodities be given top priority by public transport, like railways.
2. Remunerative prices be ensured to the agricultural producers. Adequate purchases be made by state agencies as soon as the harvest begins to arrive in the market, to protect the peasants from distress sales. The policy of importing agricultural commodities from abroad, which serves the interests of the big industrialists by depriving the peasants of legitimate, remunerative prices, should be immediately stopped.
3. The prices of agricultural inputs be brought down by reducing the excise duties on them and by restricting high profits. Similarly, electricity charges, irrigation rates and other luxes should be reduced significantly to give relief, especially to the lower sections of the peasantry.
4. Existing land reforms be speedily and effectively implemented after plugging loopholes on the model of the West Bengal legislation. All types of tenents, including sharecroppers, In recorded within a year and evictions be banned. The onus to prove that one is not a tenant should lie on the landlord. All available waste lands that can be used for cultivation with or without improvement should be distributed free amongst landless agricultural workers within a specified time. Evictions of peasants who have been cultivating for a long period should be prohibited. Alienation of tribal land, eviction of tribal: peasants and encroachment on their customary easement rights on forest land be immediately stopped.
5. Cheap credit and supply of farm inputs be ensured to the peasantry with a view to give relief to the poorer sections. Steps should be taken to bring down the rates of interests payable by agriculturists to rural credit agencies, by cutting down overhead expenses, reducing the number of intermediate agencies and by improving the efficiency of functioning. No penal interests should be charged from agriculturist defaulters when the default in payment is due to damages to crops as a result of crop failures or natural calamities. The practice of showing a low value of land as compared to prevailing market prices during attachment or mortgage proceedings must end, and nobody should be evicted from his land as a result of default in repaying agricultural loans.
6. Persons affected by natural calamities like floods and droughts be adequately compensated, their loans be rescheduled, and a scheme of comprehensive crop insurance be introduced all over the country to protect the peasantry from the miseries due to crop failure, pest attacks and hailstorm, etc. Health and education facilities should be ensured for the rural masses. In particular, provisions of universal literacy and drinking water facilities should be given high priority. Irrigation facilities should be rapidly expanded and, in particular, long pending irrigation projects—major, medium or minor ones—should be completed expeditiously, and approval be given to projects lying, with the central government, and necessary financial support be given by the central government for this purpose.
7. Allocations for the NREP be increased to help the agricultural workers in getting employment and guaranteed minimum wages. Wages under NREP, RLEGS should nowhere be less than Rs. 10 per day and in no case be lower than the minimum wages fixed by law in the concerned state for agricultural workers.
8. A central legislation be urgently enacted to ensure minimum wages and better working conditions for agricultural workers, and other necessary measures be initiated to improve the living conditions of rural poor.
9. The game of communalist and divisive forces to disrupt the unity of the peasantry, which is also threatening the unity of the country, should be defeated.
10. Stringent measures be undertaken to put an end to the physical attacks on the scheduled castes and tribes, religious minorities, women and other weaker sections of society.
11. Centre-state relations be restructured by giving adequate powers to the states so that they can implement their programmes of social, economic and agricultural advancement. Institutions of local self-government, like panchyats, .block samitis and zilla parisads, should be democratised.
12. NS A & ESMA be withdrawn.

The Conference appeals to all AIKS units to mobilise the peasantry in support of these demands and organise struggles in unity with other parties and peasant organisations. Only the united action of the peasants can force the government to reverse its anti-people policies.

This 25th Conference of AIKS notes with concern that, despite the country’s independence thirtynine years ago, and despite the repeated promises made by the government to alleviate their conditions, the agricultural labourers, apart from their exploitation as wage labourers, continue to be subjected to feudal forms of exploitation. Reports given by two Agricultural Labour Enquiries and two Rural Labour Enquiries reveal the extent of their poverty, deprivations and landlessness, and also the exploitation and domination to which they are still subjected. Bonded labour still survives in many parts of the country, despite legislations against it, and government programmes to ‘rehabilitate’ those have made no significant impact on their lives. Still now a very large number of ’hired attached labourers’ suffer from an acute sense of insecurity, tied as they are to one employer and can be removed at will. The hired casual labourers are offered wages which do not meet the basic minimum requirements of those families. On top of all these, they are subjected to all kinds of atrocities, including the burning of their huts, abduction and rape of their women, and killing. A large majority of them belong to scheduled castes and tribes, and continue to become victims of social oppression in addition to the economic exploitation. The schemes under the new 20-point programme have failed to improve their conditions. Large number of them remain unemployed during the major part of the year, many live without homes and drinking water facilities, and are subjected to evictions from tiny plots of land. The central government has refused to pass the central legislation on the wages and conditions of work for the agricultural workers.

This Conference congratulates the agricultural labourers for their greater awareness of the need to organise and fight in recent years, which has helped to improve their wages and working conditions in many areas. In this respect it welcomes the formation of All India Agricultural Workers Union as a separate organisation of the agricultural labourers. The Conference urges the Agricultural Workers Union to work closely with the All India Kisan Sabha at all levels in order to forge unity of agricultural workers and peasantry, the two major currents of the agrarian movement.

This Conference demands that evictions of the agricultural labourers be immediately stopped, they be made owners of the land on which their houses are located, and provided with jobs through various public works programmes. The Conference also demands a central legislation on agricultural labourers which would ensure a minimum wage and human conditions of work, would set up a machinery for settling disputes with the employers, and would take drastic measures to put an end to social oppression.

The 25th Conference of the All India Kisan Sabha expresses its deep concern and distress at the fact that, even after 39 years of freedom, attacks and atrocities on scheduled castes and scheduled tribes still continue. Almost every other day we read reports of mass murders, burning of entire bustees and even rape of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe women in police stations. According to government figures for 1984- 85, altogether 15,535 atrocities had been committed on scheduled castes, out of which 587 were murders and 675 were rapes. 459 cases of atrocities were committed on tribals, out of which 164 were murders and 285 were rape cases. More recent reports indicate continuation of these atrocities. Four harijans were killed by Lorik Sena in the month of March 1986 in Noria village of Dhanapur sub-division. 11 harijans, including pregnant women and childern, were shot dead by landlord goondas in Raibareilly in U.P. in 1985. Three harijans were shot dead in Etah in Uttar Pradesh in the month of March 1986. On 19th April, 1986, in a dispute over a bit of land, more than 50 persons were shot dead by the police at Arwal in Bihar. The Arwals carnage has greatly shocked the country.

These are only reported cases and represent only a fraction of the total number of atrocities, since most of the cases of atrocities are not reported due to the fear of reprisals by the powerful landlord oppressors.

It is also to be noted that more than 80% of these crimes were committed in only four Congress (I) ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, U. P., Bihar and Rajasthan, while very few cases were reported from the Left-Front ruled states of West Bengal and Tripura. There can be no doubt that the pro-landlord policies of the Congress-I governments is mainly responsible for this sorry state of affairs. In Bihar the landlords have their organised senas and armed gangs of musclemen “to teach lessons” to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, agricultural workers and poor peasants who dare to demand payment of statutorily fixed minimum wages or do occupy and cultivate land alloted to them under 20-point programme, refuse to vacate land on the orders of the landlords.

The Conference calls upon all units of the Kisan Sabha and other mass organisations and democratic sections of the people in raise their voice against these atrocities, defend the scheduled cates and scheduled tribes from the attacks of the landlords and their armed men. The Conference also demands that the government should take stern measures against the raealcitrant and aggressive landlords and immediately put a stop to the atrocities being committed on scheduled cates and scheduled tribes.

The 25th Conference of the All India Kisan Sabha sends its heartfelt greetings to the Left Front governments of West Bengal and Tripura who, with limited powers at their disposal under the Indian Constitution, did a lot to provide relief to the peasants and agricultural workers and other toiling sections of the people.

The coming into power of the Left Front governments in Tripura and West Bengal, eight years ago after the traumatic experience of Emergency days, brought a sea-change in the attitude of the police, and today the people of these two states enjoy the maximum possible civil liberties under the Indian Constitution. Black laws like NSA and ESMA are not used by the government and the police does not intervene on behalf of the employers or landlords to suppress the working class and peasant movements. This has enabled the Kisan Sabha to widen its base in these states and has worked as a source of inspiration for the peasant movement in the country as a whole.

It is these two states which have made a comprehensive attempt to plug the loopholes in the ceiling laws framed by former Congress (I) governments and to implement these laws in a serious manner, with the result that in West Bengal with only 4% of the cultivated land in the country as a whole, 20 % of the total land distributed in the whole country under ceiling laws was actually distributed to landless and poor peasants. It is only these two states which have tried to record sharecroppers through a drive launched under “Barga Operation”. It is only in these two states that outdated land revenue system is proposed to be replaced by a graded land levy system from which, holdings upto an asset value of Rs. 50,000 (upto 4 acres wet and 6 acres unirrigated) are exempted. In these two states the recorded sharecroppers have been enabled to obtain institutional credit and have been granted homestead rights. With the introduction of a 3-tier village panchayat system, with enhanced powers in the field of development for the first time, thousands of poor peasants, agricultural workers ans sharecroppers, having replaced rural vested interests from the elected posts of these

panchayats, have gained a new confidence and sense of authority in dealing with problems related to the developmental activities in their own villages. These panchayats, led by the activists of kisan Sabha, have played a commendable role in rendering relief during floods and drought, in identifying rural poor for IRDP assistance, in giving a push to the Barga Operation, in curbing blackmarketing and price-rise and in constructing houses or minor irrigation sources in the villages. While in all other Congress ruled states even the low minimum wages statutorily fixed for agricultural workers are not enforced, in West Bengal and Tripura, the strong peasant movement with the active support of the Left Front governments, has succeeded in enforcing these wages even in lean season.

In West Bengal, nearly 23% of state income is being spent a spreading education, which is free upto XII Class, and this has thereby helped the spread of literacy among the peasants.

These states are almost totally free from incidents of atrocities committed on scheduled castes, tribes, women and weaker sections, which have assumed alarming proportions in Congress (I) ruled states like U.P., Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The heightened consciousness of the peasantry, the active role played by thousands of kisan and the other mass. workers in leading numerous big and small class battles, and the active intervention by the Left Front governments, helped in effectively countering the forces of communal, regional and ethnic violence and containing the activities of divisive forces. While Assam was burning, Tripura has always been a shining example of tribal-non-tribal amity which all the terroristic activities of TNV rebels has not been able to break. The people in West Bengal have been successfully beating back the offensive to break people’s unity launched by divisive, communal and separatist forces like Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Jamat-e-Islami, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Gorkha chauvinists.

The Golden Jubilee Session of the AIKS calls upon all its workers and units to popularise the achievements of these two Left Front governments, expose the discriminating policies of the central government against these two governments and the attempt being made by Congress-I and other reactionary forces to create a law and order problem in these states and rouse the people in general and peasantry in particular in defence of these governments. The Session also calls upon all AIKS units in different states to demand amendment to exisiting agrarian laws and implementation of other measures to provide relief to weaker sections in the countryside on the lines of measures already undertaken in West Bengal and Tripura, and run united campaigns on them.

The 25th Conference expresses its alarm at the rapid growth of communal, divisive and separatist forces in the country in the recent years. This situation in Punjab came to a serious pass when the extremists declared the formation of so-called independent state of Khalistan from the precincts of the Golden Temple, throwing an open challenge to the unity and integrity of the country. They continue to resort to terrorist activities taking toll of the lives of innocent people, and are carrying on a vicious campaign to incite communal harted. The newly organised Shiv Sena by Hindu communalists is adding fuel to the fire, further intensifying the communal polarisation.

In Jammu & Kashmir Jamat-e-Islami and other communal organisations have taken the upper hand in creating such communal tension and polarisation which the state had never faced before.

In Assam, the new ministry pursues separatist aims and its followers run a campaign of intimidation and murder of opponents. The ministry is also preparing for steps which may lead to expulsion of thousand of Indian citizens from Assam dubbing them as foreign nationals. The Congress(I) government at centre and in states compromises with these elements, and in its narrow partism interests, takes steps which help and encourage the communal and divise forces. The unlocking of the Ram Janam Bhoomi temple in the midst of the present critical situation can be described as an act of unmitigated provocation to the Muslim masses, which is now being fully utilised by fanatical communal leaders. Simultaneously, the Congress(I) government, with a view to protect its Muslim electoral base, has compromised with worst sections of Muslim communalists, on the question of the right of a Muslim divorcee woman to secure maintenance from her husband. The lagislation, which it got adopted by the Parliament by using its majority to negate the Supreme Court verdict, is a shameful surrender of the right of Muslim women before obscurantism.

In many cases, the justiafiable discontent of the people against the policies of the central government has been utilised by the divisive and separatist elements to serve their own ends, particularly in places where Kisan Sabha and other democratic movements are weak. They arouse caste and communal passions to disrupt the unity of the toiling people.

This Conference sees this growth in divisive, communal or separatist influence as a danger to national integrity, which should be fought by the peasants in alliance with other democratic forces. This also undermines the unity of the peasants and weakens its organisation and militancy. The Conference urges its members to remain vigilant against these disruptive influences and oppose steadfastly such attempts to divide pesantry on communal and caste lines.

APRIL 11, 1986, marked the Fiftieth Anniversary of the All India Kisan Sabha and we are holding this Golden Jubliee Session in Patna to mark this historic occasion of great significance for the peasantry and the organised peasant movement of our country.

Born as the All India Kisan Congress (the name was changed later) at the Foundation Conference in Lucknow on April 11, 1936, the AIKS has traversed a long and memorable path in these fifty years. The Kisan Sabha was born out of the realisation that agrarian relations in India needed a radical change and that only an organised peasant movement would be able to struggle for such an agrarian revolution.

Inhuman imperialist and landlord exploitation and oppression during the colonial rule had, in the 19th century itself, led to the outbreak of peasant revolts, though local and spontaneous, like the Santhal rebellion, the Indigo revolt, etc. The peasantry in large numbers participated in the freedom struggle, joining non-cooperation movements in response to the call of the Indian National Congress.

Peasant struggle on their own demands were breaking out in various parts of the country, especially on the demands of tenants for abolition of intermediaries, fair rent, security of tenure, against usurious interests, etc. Peasant organisations were also getting formed in various places, though there was no coordination between each other.

During the depression of the early 1930s, which engulfed the whole capitalist world and left its impact on India too, the Indian peasantry was the worst sufferer, with the prices of crops crashing down to the lowest level while there was no relief from rents, taxes and exorbitant interests on loans. By then the non-cooperation movement had also ended in failure.

Radical elements inside the Congress, leaders of the Congress Socialist Party, Communists and some others came to the conclusion that, in this situation, an all-India organisation of peasants had become an urgent necessity, not only for winning immediate relief for them but also to rally them in the struggle for radical agrarian reforms as well as for national independence. An Organising Committee was formed in Meerut in January 1936, and the Founding Conference was held in Lucknow on April 11, 1936. The Conference declared that, “the object of the All India Kisan Congress is to secure complete freedom from economic exploitation of the peasantry and the achievement of full economic and political power for the peasants and workers and all other exploitated classes. The main task of the Kisan Congress shall be the organisation of the peasants to fight for their immediate political and economic demands in order to prepare them for their emancipation from every form of exploitation.”

Many struggles, big and small, were fought by the peasantry under the leadership of the All Indian Kisan Sabha, and the organisation of the AIKS spread to all provinces of the country. The post-second world war period saw some of the glorious struggles of the peasantry: the Tebhaga struggle in Bengal, the glorious actions in Punnapura-Vayalar (Travancore), Kayyur and North Malabar, the Warli peasant struggle in Maharashtra, the struggle of the occupancy tenants of PEPSU, the struggle of Surma Valley peasants for tenancy rights, the struggle of Bakasht land in Bihar, the resistance of tribal peasants of Tripura and, to crown them all, the heroic armed struggle of Telangana where, in thousands of villages, the Deshmukhs were forced to flee and their land was distributed to the landless and land-poor. These struggles had to face unheard of repression and thousands were martyred.

These struggles had their impact on the Congress leaders of the post-independence period. They saw that the message of agrarian revolution was growingly gripping the peasant masses. To meet these rising challenges, they, on the one hand, resorted in to the Bhoodan monoeuvre under Vinoba Bhave’s leadership, and, on the other, abolished zamindaris and jagirdaris and enacted some land reforms legislations, mainly in the form of land ceiling acts.

These laws did not in the least help to solve the burning problems of the peasantry. Except for a section of tenants being enabled to become landowners, that too with the payment of big compensations, these laws, because of the loopholes in them, could not break land monopoly which continues, while many join the ranks of the landless year after year. The Congress promises made during the days of the freedom struggle of land to the tiller, remains unfulfilled to this day.

The peasantry is being subjected to ever growing exploitation. They denied remunerative prices for their produce while the costs their inputs and consumption goods steadily go up; they are groaning under heavy indebtedness, and more and more burdens in the forms of levies and taxes are being imposed on them. It was against these growing burdens that the post-independence India saw one of the biggest struggles of the peasantry: the anti-betterment-levy struggle in Punjab. In recent years there has been a varitable peasant upsurge for remunerative prices and against additional tax burdens.

The Left Front governments in West Bengal and Tripura and Left & Democratic government of Kerala have taken innumerable measures to provide relief to the peasantry and agricultural workers which, along with land reform measures, have given a big fillip to the kisan movement; and the units of the AIKS played an important role in developing the movements for land reforms and against the pro-monopoly policy of the central government. This has given immense strength to the AIKS in these states and has become a source of inspiration to the peasantry in the rest of the country.

The fifty years of the Kisan Sabha are years of which everyone connected with it can be proud. Today, the All India Kisan Sabha has become the biggest organisation of the peasantry with around eight million members and units in all states.

Despite this growth it should not be forgotten that the peasants organised in the AIKS and other peasant organisations constitute a very small percentage of the peasant population in the country. Vast areas in our country, especially in the Hindi speaking region, are untouched by the activities of the organised kisan movement. It is imperative that this grave weakness is overcome as quickly as possible.

The Golden Jubilee Year of the AIKS should become the starting point of the biggest campaign ever to expand the Kisan Sabha to all the areas and to spread the massage of the agrarian revolution in every part of the country. The Kisan Sabha’s aim should be to see that there is no revenue circle in the country without an AIKS unit. Seventy per cent of our population lives in the rural areas and is engaged in agriculture, handicrafts and other rural trades. Without organising the bulk of them, neither their genuine interests can be defended nor can there be any successful agrarian revolution. The guarantee of success is a powerful Kisan Sabha as the mass organisation of the peasantry, championing also the cause of agricultural workers and forging unity with them and building the unity of the peasantry with the working class. Let the Golden Jubilee Year see the beginning of the efforts to fulfil this historic task.

The Golden Jubilee of AIKS comes at a time when the national situation is bleak and the international situation is menacing because of the imperialist threat of nuclear war. Only by vastly strengthening the organisation as speedily as possible can the AIKS mobilise the peasantry to intervene in the national situation and strengthen the struggle for peace against the imperialist warmongers.

Let us tailor all our efforts to these tasks. The 25th Conference calls on all AIKS units to celebrate the whole year as Golden Jubilee Year, with special attention to the task to expand the Kisan Sabha membership, to take the message of the agrarian revolution to the peasantry, to organise struggles independently and in unity with other peasant organisations; against the burdens that are thrown on the peasants by the government’s new pro-private sector, pro-multinational economic policy, and join hands with all peace-loving forces to save the world from a nuclear holocaust.

LONG LIVE THE GOLDEN JUBILEE OF THE ALL INDIA KISAN SABHA!

1. Com. Godavari Parulekar– President
2. Com. Uddaraju Raman— Vice-President
3. Com. Benoy Krishna Chowdhury– Vice-President
4. Com. M.A. Rasul— Vice-President
5. Com. H.S. Surjeet— Vice-President
6. Com. N. Sankaraiah— General Secretary
7. Com. T.K. Ramakrishnan — Joint Secretary
8. Com. Biplab Das Gupta— Joint Secretary
9. Com. P.K. Tandon— Joint Secretary

1. Com. U. Ramam
2. Com. B.N. Reddy
3. Com. Koratala Satyanarayana
4. Com. P. Madhu
5. Com. P. Venkata Pathy
6. Com. A. Sreeman Narayana
7. Com. Venkateswara Rao
8. Com. M.V. Narasimha Reddy
9. Com. T. Narasimhaiah
10. Com. R. Satyanarain Raju
11. Com. S. Malla Reddy

1. Com. Achintya Bhattacharya
2. Com. Hemen Das
3. Com. Tarun Khakhlari
4. Com. Nurul Huda
5. Com. Gopen Roy
6. Com. Bipin Hazarika

1. Com. K.K. Singh
2. Com. Subodh Roy
3. Com. Ramashray Singh
4. Com. Rajendra Singh Munda
5. Com. Vijay Kant Thakur
6. Com. Tarini Yadava
7. Com. Ramdeo Varma

1. Com. Suba Singh
2. Cam. Prakash Chandra

1. Com. Tara Chand
2. Com. Kuldip Singh

1. Com. Bishan Das
2. Com. Abdul Khaliq Rather
3. Com. Ghulam Nabi Malik

1. Com. P. Ramchandra Rao
2. Com. M.N. Ugrappa
3. Com. Chandra Shekhar Bale

1. Com. T.K. Ramakrishnan
2. Com. M.P. Narayan Nambiar
3. Com. K.P. Arvindakshan
4. Com. A.P. Kurian
5. Com. U. Kunhi Raman
6. Com. C. Krishna Nair
7. Com. Pacheri Kunju Raman
8. Com. C.P. Balan Vyadiar
9. Com. K. Ummar Master
10. Com. R. Krishnan
11. Com. P.P. Esthose
12. Com. K.K. Joseph
13. Com. N. Soman
14. Com. R. Unni Krishna Pillai
15. Com. Kolakkode Krishna Nair

1. Com. Dinesh Singh
2. Com. Bahadur Singh Dhakar

1. Com. Godavari Parulekar
2. Com. Gangadhar Appa Burande
3. Com. L.B. Dhangar
4. Com. Krishna Khopkar
5. Com. Narendra Malussare

1. Com. Jagannath Misra
2. Com. Iswar Das

1. Com. G.S. Randhawa
2. Com. Sarvan Singh Cheema
3. Com. Dalip Singh Johal
4. Com. Dalip Singh Tapiala
5. Com. Mohan Singh Jandiala
6. Com. Baldev Singh
7. Com. Jagir Singh Kaulsaheri

1. Com. Shopat Singh
2. Com. Trilok Singh
3. Com. Hariram Chauhan

1. Com. R. Ramraj
2. Com. N. Sankaraiah
3. Com. G. Veeraiyan
4. Com. K. Varadharajan
5. Com. K. Balakrishnan
6. Com. A. Lazar
7. Com. P. Thambuswamy

1. Com. Dasarath Deb
2. Com. Dinesh Deb Barman
3. Com. Narayan Rupini
4. Com. Narayan Kar
5. Com. Khagen Das
6. Com. Samar Chaudhury

1. Com. P.K. Tandon
2. Com. Raj Kishore Singh
3. Com. Ram Sumer Yadava
4. Com. Shankar Dayal Tewari
5. Com. Dharam Pal Singh
6. Com. Ram Pal Singh
7. Com. Karambir Solanki
8. Com. Babu Nandan Rai

1. Com. Benoy Krishna Choudhury
2. Com. M.A. Rasul
3. Com. Santimoy Ghosh
4. Com. Paritosh Chatterji
5. Com. Binoy Konar
6. Com. Haranath Chandra
7. Com. Khudiram Bhattacharya
8. Com. Manindra Gope
9. Com. Joykesh Mukherji
10. Com. Palas Pramanik
11. Com. Bejoy Modak
12. Com. Gour Chandra Saha
13. Com. Anil Saha
14. Com. Madhabendra Mohanto
15. Com. Sasanka Kar
16. Com. Tarun Roy
17. Com. Sorosi Chowdhury
18. Com. Asit Ghosh
19. Com. Sudhan Raha
20. Com. Madhu Bag
21. Com. Ram Narain Goswami
22. Com. Mehboob Zahedi
23. Com. Pitabasan Das
24. Com. Gunadhar Chaudhury
25. Com. Ananda Benerji
26. Com. Siben Choudhury
27. Com. Amitava Bose
28. Com. Benode Das
29. Com. Sunil Majumdar
30. Com. Ranajit Dutta
31. Com. Biplab Das Gupta

1. Com. H.S. Surjeet
2. Com. M. Basavapunnaiah

N.B.:– Three seats has been left vacant for future cooption by the A.I.K.C.

The provincial, district and other units of the Kisan Sabha played a vital role in raising the class-consciousness of the kisan masses and in drawing them towards active participation in the anti-imperialist movement. They were invaluable weapons in the Indian people’s struggle against British imperialism and its Indian allies—the princes, big landlords and the usurers. They helped the peasants to realise that their own immediate partial demands like rent and revenue reduction, stoppage of evictions, reduction in debt burden, fair prices of agricultural produce, cheap credit facilities, tax reductions, and their basic demand for land to the tiller and for abolition of landlordism, were inseparably connected with the central demand for the complete ending of British imperialist domination.

At the same time, the organised kisan movement helped many Congressmen, Socialists and other democrats to realise that the struggle for the achievement of complete independence could be carried to a successful conclusion only if they identified themselves completely with the peasant multitudes struggling for the realisation of their own immediate and partial demands.

The All India Kisan Sabha is proud of the fact that, during the course of the last 50 years, the constituent units of the Sabha and other allied organisations have led innumerable struggles of the peasantry—not only partial struggles of a local character, but also mighty revolutionary actions of all-India importance, such as the great Telangana struggle, the Tebhaga struggle of Bengal and the peasant struggles of Andhra, North Malabar, Tamilnadu, PEPSU, Punjab, U.P., Surma Valley, Manipur and Tripura states, the Warli and other struggles of Maharashtra and the Bakasht struggles in Bihar. The Sabha is also proud of the role played by its constituent units in the anti-imperialist struggles for the attainment of complete independence. Millions of kisans have participated in these struggles in various ways and thousands of them have suffered martyrdom in the course of these struggles.

The Sabha pays respectful homage to these numerous martyrs and declares that it will firmly and steadfastly hold aloft the banner under which they laid down their lives, and carry forward their heroic and glorious traditions.

The Sabha had played a vital role not only in the national struggle for complete independence but also in the world-wide struggle for restoring peace and ending fascism. It supported the fighting peoples of Abyssinia, Spain, Czechoslovakia, China ami other countries which had to face the ferocious attacks launched by fascism in the years immediately preceding the second world war; it identified itself with the world-wide antifascist camp and rallied the Indian peasantry behind the country-wide movement against fascism and for ending British domination.

When, in the years after the second world war, the American and British imperialists were making desperate efforts to organise a world-wide camp of war, the Sabha raised its voice in support of peace. The Sabha expressed its solidarity with the millions of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America fighting for their national emancipation.

When U.S. imperialism unleashed war against Vietnam in order to suppress their movement for national salvation and unification of their homeland, the Kisan Sabha mobilised millions of peasants in support of their struggles and contributed Rs. one lakh as a token of solidarity with the people of Vietnam.

The Kisan Sabha is in the forefront of the struggle against the danger of nuclear war emanating from the policies of Reagan Administration.

It was this combination of the kisans’ own day to day struggles for the realisation of their immediate demands with active participation in the anti-imperialist struggles of ’the entire Indian people and in the world-wide struggle for peace and against fascism, that made the Kisan Sabha grow as the mass organisation of the Indian peasantry. It was this that made the demand for agrarian reforms part and parcel of the demand the abolition of landlordism without compensation and distribution of land to the peasants, part of the national consciousness, so that every political party and group had to speak of the need for radical agrarian reforms. It was this that was reflected inside the Indian National Congress itself in the form of the Faizpur programme which, among other things, demanded drastic reduction in rent and revenue and stoppage of evictions.

But the Congress leadership, when it stepped into power, went back on its promises, and, instead, let loose unprecedented repression against the peasantry which was demanding immediate steps for the redressal of their grievances, for the abolition of landlordism and for the redistribution of land. The wave of the Indian peasants’ struggle for land and against government repression and terror secured significant victories in the post-independence period. The historic victory of the great Chinese people’s revolution had given a new urge and intensity to these struggles. All these forced the Congress government to make concession to certain sections of the peasants and to adopt a number of legislations, thereby initiating certain changes in the existing relations.

These legislations abolished zamindari, jagirdari and other systems of statutory landlordism, but against the payment of huge compensations to the erstwhile zamindars and provisions allowing them to keep vast tracts of sir and khudkasht lands. Further, taking advantage of faulty ceiling laws on landholdings which provide for right of resumption for self-cultivation and contain various other loopholes the landlords have been able to maintain their monopoly over land. Various tenancy laws were passed, which ostensibly made provisions for fixing of tenure for the tenants and fair rents to be paid by them, but which in reality have led to mass evictions of tenants. These along with legislation on consolidation of holdings and other issues, have failed to serve the interests of the tenants and agricultural workers or to provide them with land.

Instead of effecting radical land reforms, the Congress government introduced the new technology of the “green revolution” in the mix-sixties, in order to fulfil the food needs of the urban centres and requirement of raw material for industries. This technology was based on the introduction of high yielding seed varieties, increased irrigation facilities and use of chemical fertilisers. This strategy no doubt helped in increasing agricultural production, but its impact remained limited to certain areas, and it led to increasing disparities. Its benefits accrued mainly to the richer sections in the rural areas.

Reviewing the developments over nearly four decades since independence, it is seen that the bourgeois agrarian programme aims at achieving certain limited objectives. It seeks, in the main, to reform the old type feudal landlordism by inducing the landlords to break-up and partition their big estates among their kith and kin, to sell some of their surplus lands to the peasants and to take to personal cultivation and supervision of their farms, through employing more and more hired labour and farm servants, instead of unrestricted renting out of their lands to tenants as practised earlier.

It also attempts at creating a new type of landlord, who can become not only the new political base of the bourgeoisie in the countryside but can also produce same surplus of foodgrains for delivery to the government for feeding the urban centres. Taccavi loans for purchasing agricultural implements, for digging wells, sinking tubewells, etc., the supply of seed and fertiliser for the so-called intensive cultivation, and several such schemes under the newly set-up panchayat samities are essentially intended to cater to this landlord and rich peasant base in the village.

These pitiful attempts of the bourgeoisie for the expansion of the market, to get their foodgrains requirements to meet the needs of the cities, are neither aimed at smashing the feudal and semi-feudal fetters on agrarian relations nor at unleashing the productive forces in a big way. They are not aimed at transforming our agriculture into modern capitalist enterprise, but are intended only to modify and reform the earlier form of crude feudal exploitation, and thus superimpose on it capitalist forms and relations.

After independence, the Indian ruling classes chose the bankrupt path of capitalist development in collaboration with feudalism and imperialism, and as part of the world capitalist market. India has become a victim of neo-colonial exploitation. The external debt of the developing countries grew from 893 billion dollars at the beginning of 1985 to a trillion dollars at the end of the year. Many developing countries are forced to spend up to half of their export earnings on debt servicing. It is estimated that India too is going to spend 23 per cent of its export earnings on debt servicing from next year, which would further increase the burden of the crisis on the peasantry.

Therefore, the peasantry’s struggle against feudal and semi- feudal exploitation of Indian monopoly and imperialism, is linked up with the struggle against the bourgeois-landlord class state. Thus, the peasantry’s emancipation can only come about through its alliance with the working class and other sections of the toiling masses.

Penetration of capitalism into agriculture is proceeding along with the perpetuation of semi-feudal land relations. Its extent varies from state to state and even from region to region and district to district. It is necessary to note the phenomenon of monetisation of the entire agrarian economy. Today it is not only those with surplus production who are taking their produce to the market ; even the poor peasants, for various reasons, sell their produce in the market immediately after the harvest, and later buy even their foodgrain requirements from the market. This phenomenon is to be properly understood by the units of Kisan Sabha in order to mount the struggle against the wholesale traders and monopolists.

The government has launched a new, intensified offensive to deny remunerative prices to the growers of agricultural produce, both of foodgrains like wheat and paddy and commercial crops like jute, cotton, sugarcane, coconut, rubber and oilseeds. The last few years have seen waves of struggles on the issue of remunerative prices drawing in all sections of the peasantry in support of this demand.

Even after the abolition of statutory landlordism and the various measures of land reforms which the Congress government has undertaken, we find that landowners have in their possession 26.5 per cent of the land in the rural areas. This does not include the land which the landlords are illegally occupying under benami transactions.

Therefore the slogan of land to the landless poor and the total abolition of landlordism remains the central slogan of the Kisan Sabha. Without the victory of this slogan there cannot be any solution to rural poverty, unemployment, fast development of a balanced economy in the country, and so on.

But the correlation of class forces which existed at the time- when the Kisan Sabha inscribed these basic aims in its programme were not the same as that existing today. It Is necessary for us to understand this change since it has great relevance to the chalking out of our immediate slogans.

What has to be noted is that, unlike the pre-independence days, 25 per cent of the peasants—rich and middle peasants— are not moved any longer by the slogan of seizure of landlords’ land with its distribution. At the other end, the 70 per cent landless and poor peasants are not conscious and organised enough to go into immediate action for the seizure of landlords’ lands. Even when they are moved into action it is only for the seizure of government waste land, and cultivable forest land, etc. Even regarding surplus lands above the ceiling which the landlords are keeping illegally, the struggles as in Kerala or recently in Andhra Pradesh could not go beyond the stage of locating such surplus land and thus exposing the government’s false claims. Only under the United Front government of West Bengal in 1969, could some of the surplus land be occupied. Thus we will have to take this into consideration when we work out our immediate tasks.

What we have to note is that the Congress party which rules the country for forty years, while failing to end landlordism,, land concentration and growing landlessness, has successfully disrupted the pre-independence all-in peasant unity. It is true that the unity was centred around the rich and middle peasants, while today we are striving to build peasant unity centering around the agricultural workers and poor peasants. The ruling class parties, whether Congress or Janata, used their control over panchayats, panchayat samities and zilla parishads, and also cooperatives, rural banks, etc., to perpetuate the division in the peasantry and disruption of their unity. The two years of Janata Party rule has shown that its policies, in regard to land reforms, are no different from those of the Congress. In fact, some of the Janata state governments were proposing to reverse even the Congress legislations in favour of the landlords.

As against the anti-people policies of the central government, the Left Front governments of West Bengal and Tripura, with limited powers at their disposal, are doing everything to provide relief to the peasantry and agricultural workers, which has not only enabled the Kisan Sabha to widen its base in these states, but has exercised tremendous influence over the growth of the pensant movement in the country as a whole.

Taking note of these structural changes and their multifarious consequences, we have to come to the conclusion that the slogan of complete abolition of landlordism and distribution of land to the landless and land-poor continues to be the central slogan of the agrarian revolution, a slogan which we have to continue to propagate. But it is a slogan on which we cannot go into immediate action today in most parts of the country. It remains, in the main, a slogan to be propagated.

While continuing to propagate this as the central slogan and while continuing to make demands for the seizure of surplus land, benami lands, waste land, etc, the Kisan Sabha will have to take up for immediate action such issues as the question of the wages of agricultural workers, house-sites, rent-reduction 75 per cent of the produce to the sharecroppers, against evictions, the abolition or scaling down of rural indebtedness, remunerative prices for agricultural produce, cheap credit, reduction of tax burdens and heavy levies like water, electricity rates, etc., landlord-goonda attacks with the connivance or direct help of the police, the social oppression of harijans and tribals, corruption in administration, etc. These are issues which affect all sections of the peasantry—poor, middle, rich—and they can all be drawn into the movement on these issues.

All these currents have to be brought together to build the maximum unity of the peasantry, centering around the agricultural workers and poor peasants, thereby isolating the narrow stratum of landlords. All this will, of course, depend on how successfully we organise the agricultural workers and poor peasants and bring them into action not only on their own specific demands but also on the general demands of the peasantry as a whole, and how far we are able to draw other sections of the peasantry into the movement on issues affecting them and on the general democratic demands of the peasantry.

There is no doubt that the middle and rich peasants can be drawn into movements on such issues. It is our task to see that while other sections of the peasantry support the agricultural workers in their struggles, the latter in turn extend support to movements on the demands of the peasantry, thus paving the way for peasant unity.

With the accentuation of the agrarian crisis, there is growing unrest among the peasantry. This unrest is sought to be utilised by the divisive and separatist forces who preach casteism, communalism, separatism and national chauvinism. These forces are backed by imperialism and pose a threat to national unity. Their aim is to disrupt the peasants’ unity and divert the discontentment into divisive channels. The Kisan Sabha can advance only by fighting against these forces. It is the duty of every unit of the Kisan Sabha to take up this task seriously and to isolate those forces and defeat their game.

It is absolutely necessary therefore for the All India Kisan Sabha to pledge itself anew to the three-fold struggle which has always been the basis of its organisation: struggle for the basic as well as immediate and partial demands of the peasants themselves; struggle against the divisive and separatist forces who threaten the unity of the country and the unity of the Kisan Sabha; and the struggle for world peace. The Sabha, therefore, pledges itself to carry on a continuous united struggle:

1. Against the reckless efforts of imperialism headed by the Reagan administration to throw the world into the holocaust of a nuclear war, and to exert its utmost efforts to rally the broad mass of the Indian peasantry to join this vital struggle in defence of world peace; to express our solidarity with the peoples of South Africa and Latin America and Asia who are fighting for their economic emancipation, and to stand by the people who are fighting for the defence of their national independence and sovereignty against imperialist intervention.
2. To rally the forces of the peasantry for the central slogan of abolition of landlordism without compensation, and the distribution of land among the agricultural workers and poor peasants.
3. Struggle for immediate demands which follow.

1. The Union government should guarantee adequate supply of all essential commodities such as foodgrains, pulses, edible oils, salt, sugar, domestic coal, kerosene, common cloth, paper, life saving drugs, matches, etc., through comprehensive network of a public distribution system for urban and rural consumers, without discrimination, at subsidised and controlled rates, by drastically cutting down the profits of wholesalers and reducing substantially the excise duties imposed on these commodities.. The movement of these commodities be given top priority by public transport like railways.
2. Remunerative prices be ensured to the agricultural producers. Adequate purchases be made by state agencies as soon as the harvest begins to arrive in the market in order to protect the peasants from distress sales.
3. The prices of agricultural inputs to be brought down by reducing the excise duties on them and by restricting high profits. Electricity charges, irrigation rates, and other heavy taxes should be reduced in order to give relief, expecially to the poorer sections of the peasantry.
4. Existing land reforms to be speedily and effectively implemented after plugging loopholes. All types of tenants, including sharecroppers and tenants at will, to be recorded within a year, and evictions to be banned. The onus to prove that one is not a tenant should lie on the landlord. All available waste land that can be used for cultivation with or without improvement, should be distributed free amongst landless agricultural workers within a specified time.
5. Ensure cheap credit and supply of farm inputs to the peasantry with a view to giving relief to the poorer sections. Steps to be taken to bring down the rates of interest payable by agriculturists to rural credit agencies by cutting down overhead expenses, reducing the number of intermediate agencies and by improving the efficiency of functioning. No penal interest should be charged from agriculturist “defaulters” when the default in payment is due to damage to crops as a result of crop failures or natural calamities. The practice of showing a low value of land as compared to the prevailing market prices during attachment or mortgage proceedings, must end and nobody should be evicted from his land as a result of default in repaying agricultural loans.
6. Peasants affected by natural calamities like floods and drought to be adequately compensated and a scheme of comprehensive crop insurance introduced all over the country to protect the peasantry from the miseries due to crop failures, pests, cyclones and hailstorms, etc.
7. Allocation for the NREP to be increased to help the agricultural workers in getting employment and a guaranteed minimum wage. Wages under NREP should nowhere be less than Rs. 10 per day and in no case lower than the minimum wage fixed by law in the concerned state for agricultural workers.
8. Central legislation to be urgently enacted to ensure minimum wages and better working conditions for agricultural workers, and other necessary measures initiated to improve the living conditions of the rural poor.
9. Defeat the game of casteist, communal and divisive forces to disrupt the unity of the peasantry which is also threatening of the country.
10. Stringent measures to be undertaken to put an end to the physical attacks on the scheduled castes and tribes, religious minorities, women and other weaker sections of society.
11. Centre-state relations to be restructured by giving adequate powers to the states so that they can implement their programmes of social, economic and agricultural advancement.
12. NSA and ESMA to be withdrawn.

The AIKS appeals to all its units to mobilise the peasantry in support of these demands and organise struggle in unity with all other peasant organisations. Only the united action of the peasants can force the government to reverse its anti-people policies.

It is the key role of agrarian reforms in the development of our economy that makes it possible for the Kisan Sabha to identify itself with all sections of the people including workers, salaried employees, traders and industrialists and all other sections of the people who are genuinely interested it the development of our industries, agriculture and trade. The realisation of the immediate and ultimate demands of the kisans is so inseparably connected with the realisation of the demands of the workers, salaried employees, traders and industrialists that it is possible for the Kisan Sabha to rally the overwhelming majority of our people in all the partial and political struggles of the peasantry.

It is possible and necessary, therefore, to rapidly draw all sections of the peasants into the Kisan Sabha and to make the Kisan Sabha a mighty organisation which can play a dicisive role in the struggle for emancipation of the peasantry and of the whole people.

It is to this task of drawing all sections of the people into the struggle for radical agrarian reforms that the Kisan Sabha pledges itself.

This, however, can be done only if the Sabha itself gets far stronger and far more organised than it is today. For, it is only if every kisan is brought into the fold of the Kisan Sabha organisation, Kisan Sabha units are set up in every village, all the problems affecting them tackled by the village Kisan Sabhas, and the activities of the lakhs of village Kisan Sabhas coordinated by the higher units of the Sabha, will it be possible to rally the entire people behind these struggles and transform them into broad struggles of the people.

The Sabha notes that though it has played a historic role in building up the organisation and in waging the struggles of the peasants in various states, districts and local areas, there are still large areas which have not yet been covered by the organisation of the All India Kisan Sabha. In spite of the fact that newer and newer sections of the peasantry are being drawn into the arena of struggle, inspite of the fact that areas which had hitherto been considered backward from the point of view of the kisan movement, are today throwing up new movements and struggles against landlords, moneylenders and the government, many of these new areas of struggle and new sections of peasantry have not yet been brought under the banner of the All India Kisan Sabha. Furthermore, there are certain states,, districts and localities, where other peasants organisations function. The Sabha is of the opinion that it is only through the joining together of all these forces that these struggles can be made more effective.

The Sabha appeals to all these champions of the interests of the kisans who are today outside the fold of the All India Kisan Sabha, and to other kisan organisations, to draw into the fold of the All India Kisan Sabha, the one organisation which has worked among the kisans for the longest period of time, which has fought the largest number of kisan struggles, which has the greatest number of members on its rolls and which has the widest possible organisation in the whole country. It appeals to them to realise that it is only by further strengthening this organisation that the best interests of the kisans all over the country can be served.

The Sabha desires to assure all champions of the interests of the kisans that, though a good number of the leaders of the All India Kisan Sabha happens to be Communists, the Kisan Sabha is essentially an organisation of the kisans themselves; it is the hundreds and thousands of kisans organised in every primary Kisan Sabha who elect not only the office-bearers of the primary- Kisan Sabhas but also representatives of the higher units of the Sabha, going up to the All India Kisan Committee and the Central Kisan Council. The criterion of electing the leading organs of the Sabha is not whether one is a Communist, Socialist, Congressman or member of any other party, but whether he has won the confidence of the masses of peasantry organised in the Sabha through selfless sacrifice and tireless service. That is why such champions of the cause of the kisans as the Late Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Rahul Sankrityayan and Indulal Yagnik happened to be President, Secretary and other office-bearers of the Sabha along with Communists like Bankim Mukherjee, Karyanand Sharma, A.K. Gopalan and Muzaffar Ahmed. The Sabha wants to assure all champions of the interests of the kisans that the kisan millions organised in the primary Kisan Sabhas will not discriminate between Communists and non-Communists but that they will repose their confidence in every genuine defender of the kisan cause, regardless of political affiliation.

The Sabha, therefore, appeals to all other organisations of the kisans to forge unity in action with it. It appeals to them to wage joint struggles against evictions, against the imposition of new taxes, for rent and revenue reduction and other immediate demands of the peasants, as well as to form joint committees of struggle on various issues.

The Sabha appeals to all its lower units to make a concerted drive to form joint committees of all the existing kisan organisations to fight kisan struggles on specific issues, as well as to further strengthen the Sabha itself. Recent months have shown that a large number of people belonging to various political parties or to no political party at all, have come forward to champion the cause of kisans. It is for the primary and higher units of the Kisan Sabha to see that all these genuine servants of the kisans are drawn into the active work of fighting unitedly the struggles of kisans and of building the Kisan Sabha as a really non-party organisation of the kisans uniting the millions of kisans, regardless of the caste, religion, political affiliation and so on.

The Kisan Sabha appeals to all kisan workers, both inside and outside the Kishan Sabha organisation, to all true champions of the kisan cause, to realise the urgency of building the most powerful, all-embracing united kisan movement, to avert the threatening catastrophe of economic ruin not only to our peasantry but to our whole nation. It is only such a united kisan movement that can successfully wage determined and heroic struggles against the present policies of the government and achieve victory in the struggle for the abolition of landlordism, for full national integration, for preservation of peace and for building up a people’s democracy in our country.

While thus intensifying the organisational work of the Kisan Sabha itself, the Sabha has to pay its utmost attention to help in the formation of independent agricultural labour organisations, wherever these organisations become necessary, for the protection and safeguarding of the interests of agricultural workers and other rural labourers. In those places where these organisations do not exist, the agricultural and rural labourers should be drawn into the Kisan Sabha itself. The Kisan Sabha will strive to establish the close relationship with these agricultural labour organisations, and affiliate them to itself, or help to form their own independent organisation. The Kisan Sabha will take upon itself the defence of the interests of these sections of the rural poor as one of its foremost tasks. For it is only by uniting the rural population in a strong, will-knit united front that the Kisan Sabha can secure its basic objects of abolition of landlordism without compensation and the free distribution of landlords’ lands among agricultural labourers and the poor peasants.

Attention should also be paid to the task of forging the solid unity of kisans with their allies in the towns, i.e. the working class organised in trade unions, the middle class employees and others sections of the urban poor, the small and medium shopkeepers and industrialists who are daily being squeezed out of existence because of the oppressive taxation and other reactionary policies pursued by the government. It is only through the unity of all these organisations of the working people, as well as other sections of the democratic movement who are interested in preserving peace and in defending and extending the gains of the popular democratic movement, against the attacks from internal and foreign enemies of the democratic movement, that kisans will be able to secure their basic objective.

The Sabha is confident that the 80 lakh members who have now been enrolled in the Sabha, as well as the millions of kisans who are today outside the fold of the Sabha, will respond to the call of the Sabha, to make the voice of our Indian kisans irresistible. It is confident that non-kisan patriots in their thousands will rally round the programme of land and bread, minimum wages and employment, peace and democracy which the Sabha places before them.

Refering to the internationalist outlook of the organisation, Surjeet pointed out that the AIKS not only played an important role in the worldwide struggle against fascism but had also consistently supported the struggles of the freedom-loving peoples the world over. The people’s struggles in Spain, China and Vietnam had our unqualified support, and the Kisan Sabha collected millions of signatures on the issue of extending recognition to the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam, and sent Rs. one lakh at a token of solidarity with their struggle. We still uphold this glorious tradition and in this Golden Jubilee Conference of the AIKS, we have passed resolutions towards this end.

The struggles launched before and after independence have demonstrated the fact that despite the Congress party’s tall talk of land reforms, it has in fact consistently compromised with the landlord interests. On the other hand, the Kisan Sabha has a proud record of organising and leading such heroic struggles as the Tebhaga struggle of Bengal, the struggle of sharecroppers in Punjab for one half of the produce, against the landlords in PEPSU, the Warli tribals struggle in Maharashtra, the struggle of Punnapra-Vayalar in Kerala, militant struggles of the tribal peasants in Tripura, struggles waged for the interests of the sharecroppers in various parts of the country and, above all, the historic Telangana armed struggle. Many of these struggles, and particularly Telangana, exposed the attitude of the Congress government towards the peasantry. In Telangana we had to fight not only against the Nizam’s autocratic rule but also, at the same time, against the armed might of the Congress government. Who can forget the fact that the Union government had sent its army to Telangana to crush the struggle of the peasants in order to stop the march of the peasants towards agrarian revolution?

The Statement further refers to the Congress policies of diverting the discontent through movements like the ‘Bhoodan’ and ‘Gramdan’ on the one side, and the so-called land reforms on the other. What was their net result? We all know what types of lands were donated to the movement and what became of them. There is not a shred of doubt that this Gandhian method of solving the agrarian problem has miserably failed. Through a powerful movement we successfully forced the government to resort to land reforms; even then the Congress government devised ways to protect the landlords. We have never been oblivious to the real nature of the policies of the Congress party and its government, and that is why in our Moga conference in September 1954 we gave a call of “Stick to the Land” to the peasantry.

We all know that because of the ceiling legislations, the Congress government is claiming that land reforms have already been completed, although even one per cent of the cultivable land has not been declared surplus, and 2.4 per cent of the rural population continues to hold 22.8 per cent of the land. In this respect, the situation in Bihar is the worst and well known to everybody.

Surjeet further observed that in the absence of land records, even the tenancy legislations have failed to serve its purpose. While landlords supposedly can claim only one-fourth or one- fifth share of the produce, in reality they take away from the sharecroppers more than half of it. Records of the sharecroppers have not been maintained in any state except West Bengal and Tripura which are Left Front ruled.

Unfortunately, at one stage, even the CPI-led Kisan Sabha fell victim to the illusion that land reforms had been completed and now they had to fight for other demands of the peasantry. But this was not the reality then, nor is it so now.

In 1968-69, the Union Home Ministry went into the cause of social tensions then prevailing in the countryside, and submitted a report in 1969, clearly stating that the most important cause of tension was the land question, apart from the question of wages. We want to ask what happened to the Mahalanobis Committee report regarding ceiling and surplus land. How much land ought to have been declared surplus, how much was distributed? The performance has been dismal.

In the mid-sixties, the Congress government turned to technological advance and the ‘Green Revolution’ introduced by the Congress regime has been responsible for further widening of the disparities. Some changes have indeed taken place but, on the whole, pauperisation of the peasantry has been constantly increasing.

Today, while the question of land remains the central issue, it is mainly the poor peasant and agricultural workers who are directly interested in it. Referring to the immediate tactics, Surjeet said that an important question facing us is the plugging of loopholes in all land reform legislations. In this regard, we will have to launch a nationwide struggle for a legislation on the pattern of the new land reform legislation in West Bengal.

We are now face to face with the issues of taxation, of irrigation, health, education and debt, and the issue of remunerative prices for agricultural produce. These issues concern the entire Indian peasantry on which they can and must be mobilised. The discontent among the peasantry is growing very fast. The rich peasant base of the ruling party has been shaken; push and pull between the landlords and the bourgeosie has emerged and tremendous possibilities exist for developing the peasant movement.

Referring to the present-day national situation, Surjeet said that even today in India, the peasantry is the most unorganised class, and the divisive forces of all hues are busy putting one section of this huge mass against another in the name of community, caste and religion, turning their discontent into disruptive channels. In various parts of the country, sucessionist forces are active with imperialist backing.

Referring to Punjab, Surjeet said that the mixing up of religion with politics has contributed very much to the worsening of the situation. The AIKS will have to wage a relentless struggle against all these forces. The Statement of Policy, Surjeet said, also deals with different aspects of the agrarian crisis. A powerful movement is needed to solve these problems. In this respect, the struggle for the unity of the peasantry has acquired added importance.

Finally, the Statement gives a call for strengthening of the AIKS and making it a broadbased organisation.

It also must be realised that while unity of the peasantry based on the agricultural workers and poor peasants is essential for the completion of the agrarian revolution, the peasantry cannot put an end to the system of exploitation without the support of the working class. Therefore, in order to achieve its objectives, the firm alliance of the working class and the peasantry is an indispensable precondition. The units of the AIKS must at all times strive to make the peasantry aware of this vital fact, thereby raise the level of their consciousness.

Concluding, Surjeet observed that despite the comprehensive analysis and the presentation of future tactics in consonance with the concrete situation obtaining in the country at present, we do feel that the document can be still further improved. Therefore we would like to have state level discussions. The state units of the AIKS should send their suggestions to the AIKS centre within two months, on the basis of which the document will be revised by the C.K.C.