Volume 3, No. 9, September 2002

The money they spent on buying seeds has been wasted. Heavily in debt, they now have no money to buy seeds. While their cattle die, they can’t do anything, because they have so little water for their own needs. With no other means of livelihood, most young men, including graduates, had taken to farming, and that too has come a cropper"

This is not a report from one of the chronically drought-ridden States, but from the agriculturally developed State of Haryana! The plight elsewhere can well be imagined! A visit to a village in Karnataka indicates the plight

"Shindanpura is all but dead: all sources of income have dried up, as have the wells in the village. Young able-bodied men wile away their time under the banyan tree, looking at the skies. The women are in their huts, but the hearth has no fire. Children, hungry and unkempt, play in the dirt. Live stock, a source of income, has now turned a burden, because fodder is now scarce. Left with no option people sell off cows for as little as Rs.200. Gundlupet, the nearest town, too looks lifeless. Owners have closed down hotels, and theaters have become marriage halls. Banks refuse loans, and even moneylenders, who thrive in desperate situations, shy away from business, knowing that there will be no chance of recovery".

This story can be repeated in thousands of villages of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and eight more states of the country. People of Tilia, in Bundelkhand district of UP say "we have been living like vermin. Instead of dying a slow painful death, the village should have been bombed, killing all of us in one stroke."

It is the worst drought since 1987. Some reports say it is even worse than 1987. Memories of the horrors of the1972 famine come to mind. July is already over. Those who planted have lost their seeds. Those who did not, have consumed them, as anyhow it is too late for Kharif planting. And hunger in the stomach dismisses any thought of saving it for a future date. There is one month more for the end of the monsoon. If it rains, some dry crops may be sown. Then too, the yield will be a fraction of what is normally achieved. At least there may be some fodder for the cattle. If it does not, not only will the Kharif crop be destroyed, but the land will be too dry to plant the Rabi crop. The 70 crore rural population (leaving aside the roughly 2 crore rich) gaze each morning at the skies, only to see bright sunshine burning into their soil. Even tears have dried up. Steeped in backward feudal thinking, rituals are being performed to appease the rain god. But the Gods have not been forthcoming. While going to the press, there have been some rain, but it is too late for the kharif crop.

And as for the politicians? The Central government issues forth bold statement after statement, but does little. Even the once traditional gimmick of aerial surveys is considered a waste of time. Hi-tech money-making is on their mind. Appeasing not the rain-god, but the dollar-god is their first priority. Trips abroad, get priority to trips to the countryside. And, as for the beggar State governments, they are, each day, stepping up their demands from the Centre for funds and grains. They see dreams of vast sums to be made from ‘relief’ measures. The greater the dole, the larger their percentage.

And, then we have the vice-president to be, Bhairon Singh Shekawat, who was the only top politician to take concrete steps. Not surprising, as he comes from the worst affected State, Rajasthan, which is facing drought for the fifth year in succession. Shekhawat spent lakhs to perform a maha-Yagna at the Mahadeo Temple on the outskirts of Jaipur. 150 pundits were specifically brought from far-away Jodhpur district; and amidst the chanting of slokas (as it was in Sanskrit one could not understand whether it was directed for rain or for his vice-presidency), a top BJP MP’s wife poured milk on a shivling. Unfortunate for him, it did not rain, yet he may win the vice-presidency due to electoral arithmetic, and not because of a hocus-pocus yagna. Maybe Sai Baba could produce simple water from the air, as he is apt at producing more exquisite things!

And if we turn to the more ‘scientific’ IMD (Indian Meteorological Department), in spite of all their hi-tech equipment, costing hundreds of crores, not only were their predictions of a good monsoon totally incorrect, but ever since they have been saying rain will come in a few days which never occurred. Interested only in whiling-away time, this department could not care about in-depth scientific study.

Anyhow, while all these stunts continue, the masses in the countryside are faced with frightening conditions of starvation for them and their cattle. If one compares the situation with 1987 and 1972, while the rainfall shortage at end July this year is 24% (by first week of August this had already increased to 30%) in those two years it was 25%. But the actual shortage this year in the most of the affected States is well over 24%, as this average includes the floods that have hit two States. The Union Agricultural minister has now said that the drought has spread to the entire country except the north-east and some parts of Bihar. it has now encompassed 75% of the country, including states like Kerala.The actual shortfall in rainfall by end July was -49% in Punjab, -59% in UP, -67% in Rajastan, -69% in Haryana, -40% in Karnataka, -38% in Chhattisgarh and –39% in Andhra Pradesh. The water level in the country’s 70 major reservoirs is 18% of its capacity, and only 40% of the normal for this time of the year. What is ironic this year, is that while drought ravages most of the country, floods have wreaked havoc in the two States of Assam and Bihar. Such erratic rainfall is a product of the environmental havoc created by decades of deforestation, global warming, and the rape of nature by profit-guzzling capitalists.

Before coming to the causes for the damage and Government’s relief works, let us first see the extent of the damage.

Living in urban India, it is difficult to understand the plight of the masses in the countryside today. Though the drought is threatening to turn into a famine in many parts of the country, pushing over 35 crore of our rural population to the brink, and another 30 crore to utter destitution, till today the drought does not even get front-page coverage in the daily newspapers. Petrol-pump scandals, cricket, Commonwealth (a relic of the British Raj from which we should have long-since withdrawn) Games, crimes, etc. takes precedence. Glittering fashion shows, high profile marriage shows on TV, etc. and consistent doses of Hindutva, anti-‘terrorist’ rhetoric, drown out the monumental suffering being experienced by over half of India’s population in the vast countryside. It is not only the landless labourer and poor peasant that have been hit, but successive droughts in numerous States, have badly hit even the middle peasant and a section of the rich peasantry. While the former do not have even food and are unable to get debt, and so are in a state of starvation, the latter are deeply immersed in debt for their survival, with their cattle dying and their children malnourished. It is a human tragedy of gigantic proportions, and no amount of statistics can portray the real suffering at the ground-level. With middle-class sensibilities numbed by consumerism, and a me-first, selfish outlook drilled into them, little or no public pressure is exerted on the political vultures to prevent the on-going calamity.

First let us take a look at the floods

Though Eastern Bihar has itself been hit by heavy rain, the damage has been compounded by the heavy rainfall in the catchment areas in Nepal, causing the rivers to flood. Till going to the press the situation continues to worsen in the 15 districts of North/East Bihar. The death toll has now crossed 150. The army has also been brought in, using helicopters and 1,850 boats. 70 lakh people have been affected and 7.5 lakh hectares of land destroyed. In Dharbanga district, 18 lakh people have been affected in 17 out of the 18 blocks.

In Assam, flood-waters have entered 5,613 villages, affecting 48 lakh people in 16 districts of the State. 90,000 people are in relief camps and 21 have lost their lives. Standing crops on 3.23 lakh hectares have been washed away and property worth Rs.2 crores destroyed.

The drought has been far more widespread. By end July, out of the 524 districts for monitoring rainfall of the IMD (Indian Meteorological Department) 68% had received deficient or scanty rainfall. In the first week of August the Agricultural Secretary said that 75% of the country is drought-hit. There has been a sizable deficiency in sowing of the main Kharif crops. Rice sowing was 32% less than the normal, Bajra 41%, Jowar 22% and maize 19%. Even of that sown the yield will be very low due to the scanty rainfall. In fact in many places the seeds were destroyed. Therefore the overall output of the Kharif crop can drop by as much as 20% over the normal. As the bulk of these crops are for home consumption, and not for sale, it can mean no food for the coming year for a vast section of the population.

The worst hit has been Rajastahan, where drought appears to have become a regular phenomenon. All 32 districts have been declared drought-hit. Sowing was done only in 46 lakh hectares, against a target of 1.29 crore hectares. Here too, there has been no rainfall after the sowing. The damage to the kharif crop alone is around Rs.4,500 crores. Till now the State has received only 16% of the normal rainfall. This years’ drought is the severest of the five past drought years. While this year 41,000 villages have been declared drought-hit; in 1998 it was 20,069 villages; in 1999 it was 20,406 villages; in 2000 it was 30,583 villages and last year, when the drought was relatively mild, it was 7,965 villages. Till now, 2,200 villages get water through tankers. If rains do not come in August, 10,000 more will need it. The government is planning to announce the rationing of drinking water. Continuous droughts have destroyed not only the land but also the ground water.

Without any long-term planning for bringing water to Rajasthan, in spite of knowing the low rainfall it gets, the government has been criminally resorting to the tapping of ground water to make good the losses, and encouraging people to do the same. Even during these past five years of drought they have been pumping water though tube-well and carrying it by tankers to the affected areas. So, gradually the water-table has been going down, creating permanent damage to the ground. It is said that out of Rajasthan’s 236 blocks, the bulk have been over-exploited, and only 49 can safely dig into ground water reserves.

The lowering of the water-table has added yet another serious problem to the rural folk — that of the incurable disease fluorosis. The disease, starts with pains in the bones and joints and soon cripples the person. With the tube wells going deep the percentage of fluoride in the water has risen to dangerous levels. In Phagi tehsil, just 60 kms from Jaipur, 146 villages have been affected. In one village 80% of the children over 12 have the disease. People age by 30 years, and many can be seen with their backs bent at right-angles. In Rajashtan now, 40% of the water sources are contaminated with fluoride, affecting 22 of the 32 districts.

In Orissa 29 of the 30 districts have been affected. By end July all agricultural operations had come to a standstill. Of the 51 lakh hectares of paddy cultivation only 23 lakh hectares were sown. On as much as 19 lakh acres, of this sown area, 50% of the crop has been damaged as rains did not come. The loss in value of the paddy crop is estimated at Rs.3,500 crores.The severity of the drought in Orissa is such that water in most reservoirs has dropped to the "dead storage level"; meaning that water cannot now be released either for power generation or for irrigation.

Andhra Pradesh has received 49% deficient rainfall. The government has declared 836 mandals as drought-affected. Already suicide deaths from Cuddapah are being reported with farmers unable to pay back their loans.

Drought has hit 14 districts of Tamil Nadu, which are reeling under crop failure and acute drinking water shortage. For the first time in the past couple of decades, the normally rain-rich Kanyakumari district presents a parched picture. Hundreds of acres of sugarcane and coconut have begun to wither, with rainfall 40% below normal. The small tea growers of the Nilgiris have called upon the government to declare the region as drought-affected. Already, badly hit by the steep fall in tea prices, the drought has come as the final blow, and they are unable to change to other crops.

Both Karnataka and Maharashtra have been hit by drought. In Karnataka sowing was 10 lakh acres short, while in Maharashtra the sowing was 72%. The Karnataka government has declared 119 talukas drought-affected. In Maharashtra, since end June there have been no rains. Much of the seeds have been destroyed, and there is a rush towards the moneylender to purchase new seeds. The State’s kharif output in ‘02-03 season could be 45-50% lower than the target due to the delayed monsoon. Yield per hectare of foodgrains is likely to be 40% less than the average, giving barely 5 quintals per hectare.The supply of drinking water by tankers, which normally stops by June, has continued in Maharashtra, supplying water to 590 villages and 550 hamlets.

In north and northwest India more than 90% of the districts have received below normal rainfall. After over one-and-a-half decades this has affected the food bowl of the country. Much of the kharif crop is already destroyed. Even Punjab has been affected, though tube-well irrigation continues sapping the earth further of the limited ground water. The worst hit districts in Punjab are those of Bhatinda and Mansa. In UP, farmers have given up all hope of the kharif crop. Now, fodder is their main worry. If the rains do not come soon the cattle will begin to die.

By end July, 62 out of the 64 districts of UP, all 21 districts of Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, 14 out of the 16 districts of Punjab, 39 out of the 45 districts of MP and all the 12 districts of Himachal Pradesh, had received deficient or scanty rainfall. The UP government has so far declared 42 districts drought-affected, and has identified another 56 districts as facing a drinking-water crisis. Delhi too has been declared drought-hit. In Chattisgarh all 16 districts have been declared drought-affected.

The ‘green revolution’ destroys the earth; the forest policy destroys rainfall catchments. Three decades of such faithful implementation of WB policy by India’s compradors has now reduced India into a state of perennial floods and droughts. It is estimated that forest cover in India has reduced a massive 12% since 1947. As a result the Planning Commission has estimated that every year 60,000 million tones of fertile top-soil is washed away in the country. A ministry-working group has pegged the area affected by water logging, alkalinity and salinity from 9 to 28%. Field bunding, gully plugging, terracing, re-forestation, construction of check-dams, ponds and tanks, small water storages, and such other water-harvesting activities can, not only stop erosion of top soil, but will also lead to the recharge of the ground water.

But, the government has no money or inclination for such systematic rural development. In fact in the period of economic reforms, expenditure on agriculture has been continuously reducing. The overall drop in investment in agriculture is shown by the fact that the share of agriculture in gross domestic capital formation has slid from 14.5% in 1980-81 to just 6.4% in 1998/99. Over the last two decades public investment in Indian agriculture has virtually halved. It dropped from Rs. 1,796 crores in 1980/81 (80/81 prices) to roughly Rs. 900 crores (80/81 prices) in 1998/99. As a percentage of GDP in agriculture it fell from 4.2% in 1980-81, to 1.85% in 1996-97 and further to 1.45% in 1998-99. An example of this drop is the fall in the Agricultural Ministry’s expenditure on foodgrain development from Rs. 82 crores in 1990-91 to Rs. 32 crores in 2000-2001. In 2000-01, public investment in agriculture was down to Rs.4,000 crores from about Rs.4,500 crores in 1993/94. This money is not even sufficient to maintain the existing irrigation infrastructure.

The result of such policies can be seen in all states, where public irrigation schemes have declined, while those with money have resorted to tube-well irrigation. This has, quite naturally increased the inequalities in the rural areas, with the well-off getting access to water and the poorer being deprived of it. Take the example of UP. It is estimated that 135 lakh hectares or 45% of the reported area in UP is degraded. Soil and water conservation expenditure in the UP budget amounted to just Rs.344 crores (2000-01) on revenue account and nil on capital account. (In other words the full amount was for immediate works and nothing was allocated for any long-term projects). This comes to a mere Rs.115 per hectare, the bulk of which goes in establishment costs, to run the scheme. Irrigation from canals is also on the decline: it dropped from 33 lakh hectares in 1984 to 31 lakh hectares in 1997. On the other hand tube-well irrigation has risen phenomenally, now accounting for 60% of the total irrigation.

If we look at the country as a whole, in 1970/71 41% of the irrigated land depended on government canals. Tube-wells accounted for only 14% of the irrigated land. By 1997/98, tube-wells were irrigating 34% of all irrigated land, while canals accounted for only 31%. This has also led to depletion of the groundwater reserves.

Added to this overall decline in agriculture has been the massive hike in the basic necessities of life with the huge rise in prices of foodgrains and kerosene through the Public Distribution System (PDS). Since the last two to three years the PDS has all but collapsed resulting in mass starvation on the one side and a mountain of 65 million tones of foodgrain on the other. So, for example, even though drought struck a number of States, one like Rajastan lifted 3.7% of rice and 26.5% of wheat allotted to it under PDS in 2000-01 against 28% and 84% in the previous year. Similarly Gujarat lifted 20% of rice and 31% of wheat in 2000-01, compared to 73% and 91% four years earlier. Already, between 1972/73 and 1993/94 foodgrain consumption fell by 5% in urban areas and 12% in rural areas. In the last three years, due to the defacto scrapping of the PDS scheme, it has fallen even further.

It is in such a scenario that droughts and floods become devastating. That is why in essence this is not a ‘natural’ calamity, but a man-made one — i.e. the conscious creation of the Indian rulers, at the dictates of their bosses abroad. No amount of yagnas can wish away their foul deeds, leading to the death of thousands generally, and lakhs in situations such as exists today.

Union Agriculture Minister, Ajit Singh, notorious for party-hopping, said, "situation grave but not irretrievable"….. "drought contingency plan fully in place". Brave words indeed, but little action on the ground. No doubt a high-level task force has been set up, headed by the deputy prime minister, but its actions are yet to be seen. Not that Advani is the best person to head an anti-drought team, as he is better equipped for other things (like Pak-bashing, Muslim-killing, etc), and anyhow his hands are full with the Home Ministry, which is pre-occupied unleashing terror all over the country. That alone is a full-time job. Maybe this post is to give a human mask to an evil face.

But, even before this task-force came into being, Ajit Singh called a meeting of all the 12 drought-affected States in mid-July. The press made out as though this laid down a blueprint to face the drought. It was as though the problem had been tackled and the situation would be taken care of. But what actually transpired?

Given the magnitude of the problem, this meeting did next to nothing, except putting forward a wish-list. First, it said the Kharif crop must be saved where possible and seeds for short-duration crops be distributed. There was no concrete plan outlined for this, and there was to be no subsidy on the seeds. So, how could this work in practice? Second, NABARD and the Regional Coop. Banks were to be told to relax their recovery of farm credit — this would any way take place if people did not have the money. There was no talk of interest-waiver (or even reduction), nor of debt write-off. Third, for a food-for-work programme the Centre would provide 4.1 million tones of the rotting foodgrains from its godowns. But it refused to provide the cash component of the scheme, which was to be borne by the State governments. It is well known that this scheme had failed to take off on many earlier occasions as the State governments claimed they did not have the funds.

So, in essence the Centre’s blueprint was nothing but hot air. Of course the State’s representatives came up with the long lists of relief funds required. Literally their policy was: "make hay while the sun shines"! The total now being requested has gone up to Rs.17,000 crores, but nowhere have they stated that they will cut any of their huge wasteful expenditures. Orissa has just appointed 8 more ministers, which will result in further expenditure of crores, but says it has no funds for drought relief. The case of AP is even more scandalous:

Naidu, the master beggar, has been hiking his demands every fortnight; the latest being for Rs.811 crores plus 15 lakh tones of foodgrains. But Naidu is, for the moment more pre-occupied with sending all MLAs on the East Asia extravaganza — a fortnights holiday (called a study tour) in 5-star style to five countries. While people are starving two batches of 50 each have already gone; the third batch is due to leave anytime now. The cost, Rs. 12 crores — enough to feed 2 lakh starving families for four months. The main clamour amongst his flock now, is not the starving masses of A.P. but foreign jaunts. The MPs are demanding it, the ZP chiefs are demanding it, chairpersons of local bodies are demanding it — forget the drought, the issue before his clan is the foreign jaunt.

Though demands for funds have been coming from all State governments, only the amounts due under various ‘relief fund’ programmes have been dispersed. Monies from the Calamity Relief Fund have already gone (75% of it) to the respective States, even before the drought-like conditions occurred. Now, they have released a second installment of the CRF fund of a mere Rs.700 crores. But ofcourse, the dispersion of such funds is also politically motivated, from the top to the ground level, as the bulk of it goes into the pockets of their chamchas, and barely 10% actually reaches the masses. So, last year, of the compensation of Rs1,181 crores given for calamity-affected crops, Gujarat got Rs.770 crores. Today, reports are coming in from UP that no relief is going to those areas, which are the opposition’s strongholds.

What is even more criminal is that even as the drought situaion deteriorated, the government went so far as to cut the subsidy for the centrally sponsored scheme of the ‘macro Management of Agriculture’. It has also utilised the desperate position of the peasantry to push through the World Bank proposal to restructure the cooperative banks. While it has dispersed a mee Rs.1,200 crores for the drought-affected, it has suggested allocation of a huge Rs.8,000 crores for restructuring the cooperativer banks.

Besides, drought has become a permanent phenomenon in our country. It hits one part of the country or the other every year. It has become part of the life of rural India. And with each drought people’s life conditions become more and more fragile. With no social security, and the government refusing to assist (it still exports foodgrain at a price lower than the BPL rate), people are being pushed to mass starvation.

So we see that neither the Center nor the States are really serious about providing relief to the starving masses. What in fact they are more interested in, is promoting the new World Bank agenda — the privatization of water. This is more lucrative, as with each contract given to a TNC the kickbacks to politicians/bureaucrats are huge.

Quietly, and secretly, the unbelievable is taking place — after everything else has been sold to the TNCs our politicians are busy in now even turning over India’s water to them. It has already started in the cities, it will later move to the villages.

The Water Privatization Policy of the World Bank was first articulated in a 1992 paper entitled "Improving Water Resources Management". The WB believes that water availability at no cost or low cost is uneconomic and inefficient. Even the poor, they say, should pay. These very words are repeated, time and again, by our parrot prime minister. Having created scarcity and pollution, through the promotion of non-sustainable water-use, the World Bank is now transforming the scarcity it has created into a market opportunity for water corporations. The WB estimates the potential world water market at $800 billion annually.

During the year 2000 alone, IMF loan-agreements in 12 countries included conditions imposing water privatisation or "full cost recovery".

Global giants are already on the prowl in India. First they moved in with bottled mineral water, which they sell at the price of (skimmed) milk. Given the increasingly unhygienic conditions of drinking-water it is one of the fastest selling products in India — growing at 40% per year, and having an annual sale of Rs.700 crores. Now they have moved into metropolitan centers with the 20 litre cans. As the water from the city’s supply system is becoming more and more unfit for consumption (in a bid to reduce costs on water supply), bulk packages are being sold. The latest to join the bandwagon is the capital city, Delhi.

But the most scandalous disclosure has been the recent sell-out of the city’s water system in Bangalore, by the Congress(I) Chief Minister. He surreptitiously changed the city’s municipal laws to get the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB) to push through agreements with two French companies — the Northumbrian Water Group and Vivendi Water Environment Company. The contract was of the order of Rs.400 crores for 5 years to distribute water on an experimental basis in two areas of Bangalore. It is reported that the 44 foreign advisors from the two French companies had become a burden on the BWSSB. Their fee came to Rs.2.4 crores a month, whereas the Board was spending only Rs.4.34 crores per month on the salaries of 2,900 employees.

But this is just the beginning. The notorious Monsanto too has big plans for India. During 1999 Monsanto launched its new water business, starting with India and Mexico. It plans to earn revenues of $420 million and profits of $63 million by 2008 from it. Monsanto also plans to penetrate the Indian market for safe water by establishing a JV with Eureka Forbes (Tatas), which controls 70% of the UV technologies. Monsanto estimates that providing safe water is a several billion-dollar market. It is growing at 25 to 30% in the rural communities.

While, in normal circumstances, 100 million families go without water at home, and the situation aggravates ten-fold at times of drought, the government, by privatizing water, is worsening the situation in order to please the TNCs. But water is one of the most basic necessities of life. Its privatization, and rising cost can mean hell for the people. Already fuel (kerosene) prices have sky-rocketed, electricity charges are rising continuously, the family health bill has leaped ahead — all because of privatization at the dictates of the TNCs; and now with water too being privatized, survival itself will become a nightmare, not only for the poor, but also the middle-classes.

Water is not a commodity to be bought and sold in the market. It must be a basic service any government provides to its people. Till now international finance capital had not made water into big business. As long as it was available in plenty, like air, there was less possibility of turning it into a commodity for profit. Now, not only is there scarcity, but the bourgeois crisis of over-production has reached such acute proportions that extension of the market in any and every sphere has become their desperate need. But such ruthless exploitation will only result in revolts — water riots will soon be on the agenda of the Indian people.

With two-thirds of the kharif crop — rice, coarse grains like bajra, oilseeds like soya, maize and pulses — at risk, drop in output could be upwards of 10 million tones, and nearly 15 crore agricultural labourers face starvation. The government claims the huge foodgrain stock will prevent any shortages from occurring. But, with it refusing to reduce the hiked up prices of the public distribution system, the people will have no money to purchase these grains. When, even in better times people could not afford the PDS grains, with off-take at barely 20 % (and even less) of that allocated, in the present conditions the situation will be far worse. The huge stocks themselves have accumulated due to the virtual collapse of the PDS due to its rates being raised so high. So, the worst hit will be the agricultural labourers and the poor peasants.

What we have been seeing in the country is successive droughts (see earlier issues of People’s March) in various parts of the country. Added to this has been the crash in prices of agricultural commodities since the last two to three years. Then there has been a decline in the growth of yields, but the costs of inputs (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, electricity charges, etc) have been rising at a heightened pace, squeezing the farmer of their surplus. Together with all this there has been a drop in growth of agricultural credit from banks, cooperatives, etc, forcing the bulk of the peasantry back into the arm of the moneylender, who have to be repaid with high interest charges. Then again, increased disease and the privatization of health, has added an enormous burden on the family budget.. All this combined has sapped the staying power of the rural populace, completely drying up their savings. On the contrary, the bulk has been pushed into debt. Thus any small disturbance in production creates havoc; and with a drought of this magnitude the situation can turn disastrous. Already prices of essential commodities have begun rising in the last month, particularly that of edible oil

Then, with an economy already in the state of atrophy, the drought will enormously reduce the purchasing power for industrial goods, further aggravating the crisis in the manufacturing sector. The rural market is estimated by some rural marketing companies (Business Today, Aug.18, 2002) to be around Rs.50,000 crores for FMCG (fast moving consumer goods, eg. Soaps, etc); Rs.45,000 crores for seeds, fertilizers/pesticides, farm equipment and tractors; and Rs.7,000 crores for consumer durables like TVs and refrigerators. The CMIE has now dropped its prediction of GDP growth for the current year from 4.5% to 3.5%. A severe drought will only act to further the recession in the economy. This will add to the unemployment throughout the country.

What then is the answer to this present crisis? There has to be an immediate one and a long-term plan.

Immediately, succor must be given to the worst affected. As the government is unprepared to distribute its huge stockpile of grain, there is no alternative for the masses but to seize it. It belongs to the people of the country, and so the people must take control of it — i.e. take control from a traitorous government, that plans to hand over the grain and its collection to powerful US agri-business conglomerates like Cargyll. Rather than starve to death and see their cattle perish, it is better to fight for ones rights. Earlier this had been successively carried out by the CPI(ML)(PW). They organised famine raids on FCI godowns and on stocks with the hoarders and moneylenders, to alleviate the sufferings of the masses in various parts of central India. This has to be repeated. It is not only immoral, but utterly grotesque to see mountains of foodgrains (much of it rotting) existing side by side with a gigantic mass of populace in a state of utter starvation. Those responsible must also face the consequences of their black deeds of willfully sending lakhs of people to a premature death. The attitude of the government is not merely criminal, it is genocidal in nature. Only it is not of the crude variety as the Modi-sponsored genocide in Gujarat; it is a silent murder. Yet, it is none-the-less painful, as any hungry and diseased person would experience.

But, in the long-term the solution cannot be peripheral, it has to go to the roots of the problem. In this modern age, with much-advanced science and technology, it is ridiculous that a billion population is held ransom to the so-called fury of nature. This is a myth perpetrated by the sponsors of this exploitative system. If people were not already on the brink of starvation, a drought once in ten years would have little impact. Besides, with well-developed irrigation systems and proper water management, the rural population would not have to continue to be at the mercy of nature. Ofcourse, as has already been shown the present regularity with which droughts and floods hit the country is not ‘natural’ but man-made — the result of the rape of nature going on for over three decades.

As long as society is driven on the principle of the profit-motive, both man and nature will continue to be ruthlessly exploited for private gain, at huge social cost. It is this approach that, first-and-foremost, has to be reversed. Society has to be built for its multitudes, and nature must exist in a symbiotic relation with them. To build such and ideal system, would necessarily mean replacing the existing power structures (at both local and central level) who would not tolerate even one paisa of the their ill-gotten profits/wealth being touched. As has been seen, they fight tooth and nail to protect their interests. They turn mad with rage if anyone dares question their authority. They resort to mayhem, if that questioning turns to demand. And if the demands turn to struggle for one’s rights, their fury knows no bounds, resorting to killing, maiming, torturing and massacres.

If such is the situation, what does one do? Do we join the banquet of thieves like the CPI and CPM? Or do we turn the other cheek hoping that the monsters become angels, as do the Gandhians of the NBA-type? Or do we just give up hope, thinking of the ‘impossibility’ of the task? With all such attitudes the inhuman suffering will not only continue, it will aggravate ten-fold. To remain silent, amounts to justification of this inhumanity. To crush a monster of such ferocity requires a force as strong. Today it is only the Maoists, with arms in their hands, like the MCC and the CPI(ML)(PW), who can be any match for these devils. Already in parts of Bastar, Bihar and AP small irrigation schemes have been built through voluntary labour of the villagers, and over which the villagers assert control, not an alien ‘government’. But even to achieve this small gain it required fierce struggle and the sacrifice of hundreds of lives.

Yet, these are the seeds of the new society being born. It will no-doubt sprout and bear fruit in the future. Then, no more disasters due to droughts and floods.

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