“SWARAJ”
SWARAJ- MAHARASHTRA
Maharashtra
has long traditions of social reform movements and its literature abounds with
support for such movements. The tradition goes back to the middle of the 20th Century,
when saints like Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram brought religion to the common people,
at a time when it was the bound within the exclusiveness of the upper caste
Brahmins.
In the 19th Century, at a time
when worldwide, the aggression of imperialism was reaching its zenith and India
was subjugated to British Imperial Rule, other leaders then set in motion the
reform movement which had a lasting affect and was one of the pillars of the
Indian Freedom Movement. Leading lights in these regards, included Mahatma
Phule, Chatrapati Sahu Maharaj, Justice Ranade and Babasaheb Ambedkar. Mahatma
Gandhi was the National Leader of the Indian Freedom Movement but he did lead
the Movement to a vast extent from this part of the country.
After Independence, the Marathi speaking
state of Maharashtra was carved out of the bilingual Bombay State in 1960. The
formation of the state did not mean that “All’s well!” The process of
exploitation of the Bahujan (The Majority) comprising, Dalits, Adivasis, Women,
Other Backward Classes, Nomadic Tribes and Minorities did not subside. As the
years of Independence passed and the euphoria was over, exploitation and
oppression again raised its head.
The Sugar Lobby comprising
Cooperative Sugar Factories, an overwhelming majority of them in drought-prone
talukas, had its stranglehold on the State’s economy, whichever the political
party or grouping was in power. There was water for sugarcane; a crop that
requires plenty of it the year round but it is in short supply for humans and
animals. Nothing is worse, than in Central Maharashtra and Marathwada, which
are in the Godavari Valley, from where it flows beyond into Andhra Pradesh till
it empties into the Bay of Bengal.
The issues in the Valley are
representative of the issues of State has. A factor to remember here is that
the Godavari Valley has been treated as the backyard of the development
processes in India.
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The
participants in a PSP workshop.
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There are currently 18 voluntary organisations
working in 200 villages in the region with whom SJ-Maharashtra is in constant
touch. These organisations which its associates, have been in the field for the
last more than five years. A few of them have been working for more than a
decade.
Maharashtra joined the Swaraj process late and although many NGOs,
people’s organisations, social action groups etc. working with dalits,
women and other weaker sections showed interest and took part actively in the
PSP process, the programmes did not take off. The process was revived in 2000
and the activities are centred in a few villages in Loha taluka of
Nanded district. The focus is largely on dalits and women. There was
only one fellow working in the region and since June this year one more fellow
has joined.
PSP Process in
SJ-Maharashtra
In these deteriorating
socio-economic and political conditions, some activists in Maharashtra decided
to involve themselves with the PSP Process early in 1999.
There was a PSP workshop
at Fardapur near Aurangabad in Marathwada. Twenty representatives from various
organisations took part in the Workshop. Another workshop was organised between
8th and 12th June 1999 at Malegaon in Nashik District. The third workshop was
held at Biloli in Nanded District, just before the National Consolidation
Workshop, that is, between 4th and 8th July 1999.
Following critical issues and
Strategic Issues came out through PSP process based on the status of Dalits,
Adivasis, Backward Classes, Women, Landless Labour, Minorities and those Below
the Poverty Line, in the State.
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CRITICAL ISSUES |
STRATEGIC ISSUES |
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1. Casteism. 2. Communalism. 3. Corruption. 4. Poverty. 5. Diminishing
Cottage Industries. 6. Drought. 7. Pollution
of water and environment. 8. Reduction
of Soil Fertility and excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. 9. Atrocities
against Women. 10. Deserted
Women. 11. Dowry. 12. Oppression
of Dalits and Minorities. 13. Indebtedness,
especially in the Rural Areas. 14. Migration. 15. Child
Labour. 16. Bonded
Labour. 17. Unemployment. 18. Landlessness. 19. Lack
of Irrigation for Foodgrains Crops but Irrigation Facility for Sugarcane. 20. Marketisation. 21. Invasion
of Western Culture. 22. Lack
of Common Property Resources. 23. Rapid
Degradation of Forests. 24. Degradation
of Adivasi Culture. |
1. Casteism 2. Fundamentalism 3. Communalism 4. Corruption 5. Poverty 6. Diminishing
Cottage and Handicraft Industries 7. Water
Pollution 8. Drought 9. Oppression
of Women 10. Child
Labour 11. Alcoholism 12. Unemployment 13. Illiteracy 14. Migration, 15. Caste
Conflicts 16. Degradation
of the Environment 17. Drinking
Water Shortage 18. Displacement 19. Rehabilitation 20. Globalisation 21. Bonded
Labour 22. Marketisation 23. Invasion
of Western. Liberalisation 24. Population 25. Common
Property Resources 26. Forests 27. Degradation
of Adivasi Culture. |
STRATEGIC THRUST
From the Strategic Issues, “SWARAJ”
Maharashtra has decided to adopt the following Strategic Thrust in its future
activities:
1.
To struggle for self-rule to re-establish the rights
of adivasis and other rural communities on natural resources, which are Common
Property Resources, belonging to the community;
2. To
struggle for the utilisation of these resources for productive purpose in a
sound and sustainable development through the decision-making processes of Gram
Sabhas;
3.
It will strive for social transformation towards Gender
Equality and struggle for restoration of culture, heritage and work against
fundamentalism and casteism;
4.
It will raise its voice against the onslaught of the
New Economic Police and external forces like the World Bank, International
Monetary Fund, World Trade Organisation and Trans-National Corporations,
imposing the policy.
AREA OF
OPERATION
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DISTRICTS |
FELLOWS |
INTENSIVE WORK VILLAGES |
CONTACT VILLAGES |
TOTAL |
|
2 |
2 |
10 |
35 |
40 |
INTERVENTIONS
ISSUES AND IMPACT
-
Promotion
of organic farming
-
Indigenous
seed protection
-
Promotion
of organic farming
-
Indigenous
seed protection
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