CPIML State Secretary Kunal in a statement on 26 February condemned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s remark during his Budget speech that the CPIML-led struggles in different parts of Bihar are “Bakwas” (rubbish). Kunal said that this is an insult to dalits and the poor.
Nitish Kumar said in the Assembly that there is no land in Bihar but the CPIML people keep on talking rubbish about land distribution. The CPIML State Secretary reminded the Chief Minister that in 2008 the Land Reforms Commission formed by the CM himself identified more than 21 lakh acres of ceiling land in Bihar, but the CM threw those recommendations into the waste-basket instead of implementing them. The Commission had pointed out that the identified ceiling land could not only provide 17 lakh landless people with cultivable land but could also provide 10 decimal land to homeless people for housing land. Apart from this there is a lot of land captured by dominant sections, but the government does not want to take any action on them. All this is in addition to the ‘Gairmajrua’ land which is also there.
The Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali scheme for which the CM is doing propaganda actually targets the poor and not the land-sharks. At many places the homes of the poor and dalits have been demolished and lakhs of people have been slapped with eviction notices. Families who have been living for about 200 years in Tilath (Bhojpur) have been issued demolition notices instead of giving them parchas; similarly, homes of 18 families in Sandeha (Tarari Block)and 22 landless families in Sukhidih Pokhar (Banjariya Block) have been demolished. Notices have been issued to 40 families in Mahadev Bigaha (Banshi Block, Arwal District) and homes of 29 families in Kansua Musahar Toli (Michaik, Ratni) have been demolished.
The reality is that Nitish Kumar is now working to overturn the process of land reform in Bihar and is snatching away land from the poor and handing it over to landlords.
Kunal further said that it is being said that the Budget lays greatest emphasis on education. If this is true, can the Chief Minister tell us why thousands of teachers in Bihar are on strike today? The government has adopted a repressive attitude towards the striking teachers’ demand for equal pay for equal work. Contrary to claims by the government, schools in many Districts are being shut down. More than half of the posts for teachers and staff in Universities are vacant, and the unemployment rate in the State is at its peak. Today Bihar is the No. 1 State in the unemployment index.
Kunal further said that the government acknowledges that 70% of the State’s population is dependent on agriculture for livelihood, but the government always forgets to tell us that a large part of agriculture is dependent on sharecroppers, whom this government does not consider to be farmers at all. Without registration, identity cards and due rights for sharecroppers, Bihar cannot achieve true development. For a long time the people have been demanding construction of the Indrapuri Reservoir through which can provide proper irrigation for 8 Districts in the Son Command. But the government is neither building the reservoir, nor showing any concern for modernization of the Son canals. As a result, there is a crisis even in the Districts of South Bihar which are known as the ‘Dhan ka Katora’ (paddy-rich region). The farmers’ paddy produce is not being purchased. They are forced to give away their produce to middlemen at throwaway prices. In such conditions, the government should tell us how it intends to guarantee purchase of 30 lakh metric tonnes of paddy.
The Chief Minister of Bihar must explain why the Land Reform Commission recommendations have not been implemented, and what are the compulsions under which land which is available is not being distributed among the poor, and instead he is insulting the poor.
Publish Caste Census Report
CPIML in Bihar has said in a statement on 29 February that the passing of the caste census resolution in the Bihar Assembly is a sham and a hypocritical show. He said that when a caste census has already been done in 2011, why has that report not yet been published? Nitish Kumar should first answer this question.
Today when it is their government at the Centre as well as in the State, what is their problem in publishing the caste census report? The dalits and very backward sections in Bihar have for long been demanding the publication and implementation of the caste census report, but the BJP-JD (U) have paid no heed to their demand. So Nitish Kumar cannot deceive the people by passing a resolution on caste census in the Assembly.
If this report is published, it will become clear that a large part of dalit and backward sections are going through a dismal phase of deprivation of rights and their rights are being constantly attacked. It is these castes and communities that form a large portion of the landless, who do not even have a home to live in. Instead of providing homes to these people, Nitish Kumar insults the poor by mocking their struggles for land as “rubbish”. By hushing up the caste census report, the BJP-JD(U) are withholding the rights of dalits and the poor.
