Mamata-Sanctioned Anarchy in Educational Institutions

KOLKATA: EDUCATIONAL institutions have become the most favourite target of ruling party’s hooligans in West Bengal. A single day has not passed in the last few months when TMC miscreants had not attacked either the students or teachers in colleges or schools.

The concerted attacks on the educational institutions by the Trinamool Congress reached a new low on January 5 when the principal of Raigunj College, Dr Dilip Dey Sarkar, was physically assaulted by Trinamool goons within the college premises. He was dragged by the collar from his office, repeatedly shoved, punched and abused. When another professor of the college, Subrata Saha tried to save the principal, he was also assaulted by the Trinamool goons. The entire attack was orchestrated TMC councillor and district level TMC leaders like Tilak Choudhury (district working president of TMC), Gora Sarkar (TMC leader), Ratan Majumder (TMC councillor), Bhola Mukherjee (TMC councillor), Priyabrata Deb, student wing leader of the party. The perpetrators of the crime, later identified, included local TMC activists. The entire incident took place in front of the police, who remained as mute spectators since the culprits belonged to the ruling party.  This incident, in particular, has shocked the psyche of the people as it was televised in gory details.

The event evoked strong condemnations from various quarters. But more shocking was the reaction of the chief minister and state government. Cabinet ministers appeared before the press to defend the attackers and termed the assault as a ‘small incident’. Then the chief minister herself described the incident as a ‘very small incident’ and alleged a conspiracy by Congress to malign her government. In tune with the attitude of the highest level of the state administration, the district police sat idle and refused to arrest the main culprits named in the FIR. However, with directions from political high-ups, Tilak Choudhury and Priyabrata Deb stage managed a ‘surrender’ and were granted bail within hours. Sports minister Madan Mitra even went to Raiganj and held a public meeting with Tilak Choudhury present on the stage. It was a clear cut message from TMC leaders that the attacks would continue and the government would shelter ruffians from the ruling party.

The principal has resigned from the post by saying that there is no security in the college at all. Instead of requesting him to continue or assuring him security, the state government immediately accepted his resignation, resulting in another round of shock waves.

This serious incident has not deterred TMC activists and on January 10, another attack took place in Rampurhat College in Birbhum. Here the principal was threatened by outsiders that they would create ‘another Raiganj”. Who cares of law if the chief minister is with you?

On the same day TMC activists ransacked students’ union rooms in Ballygunje Science College campus of Kolkata University and South City College in south Kolkata.

Only last month the headmaster of Jadavpur Vidyapith was beaten up by a TMC mob led by a local councillor. Such incidents are reminiscent of the terror stricken days of the 1970's when the Congress goons attacked the very edifice of the education system in the state. Left Front legislators have submitted a memorandum to the governor drawing his attention to the anarchy in educational institutions.

PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY

Conspiracy to Ban Politics In Bengal Campuses

ATTACK ON DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION

By Ritabrata Banerjee

THE principal of a college was physically assaulted and dragged around the whole campus. He was greeted with abusive words and was beaten up amidst roars of “Vande mataram”.  This horrible action was seen by entire Bengal as television channels presented “live and exclusive” coverage of Trinamool Chatra Parishad supporters bashing up the principal inside the college campus.

With flags of ‘Advancement of Learning, Unified Life and Patriotism’ (the motto of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad) the attackers were seen ransacking the college. After beating up the principal and destroying the property of the college, they left the campus shouting slogans praising their supreme leader.

Even as the entire state was shocked at this terrible incident, more shocks came their way. The chief minister dismissed the incident as of ‘little’ significance. She even went on to the extent of defending the attackers by terming them as ‘kids’ who must be given a chance of rectification. The victim principal, who was attacked, insulted and humiliated, was branded as a partial administrator by the CM. The incident of beating up teachers in the campuses was thus justified by the administrative head of the state herself.

It was impossible to recognise the goons who beat up the principal as ‘kids’. At best some of them can easily be termed as ‘guardians’. A 58 year old ‘kid’ Tilak Chowdhury, who happened to be the district president of Trinamool Congress, led this assault. He was assisted by Priyabrata Dubey, district president of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad. None of the others involved in the incident were from the campus. In reality these anti-social elements had no right to enter the campuses in the last three and a half decades. The Left Front governments under Comrade Jyoti Basu and Comrade Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had created an environment in the state where the campus belonged to people associated with academics. The situation has changed entirely with the change of political guard in the state.  The campuses are now easily accessible to the people who do not have a direct connection with teaching and learning.

The entire incident took place in front of the police who preferred to play the role of a silent spectator.  But it is difficult to put the entire blame on them. Particularly after the incident in Bhowanipur police station where the CM herself barged in to get her party goons released. Raigunj and many other places in the stand are examples of  the ‘change’ that has occurred in the state. The incidents at Raigunj, Ashoknagar, Guma, Jadavpur, and Rampurhat are bringing back to mind the horrific days of the seventies in the education sector. In all these places, TMC miscreants attacked the heads of schools and colleges.

The chief minister is not alone defending the miscreants. She is assisted by her ‘dramatist’ education minister and other ministers. They have come out with their versions of defending the attackers. The education minister, who is also a teacher of a college, mocked at  the victims saying they were acting like television stars in order to get attention! Perhaps it is not wise to expect more from a person who is known for his dramatic skills.

CURBING DEMOCRACY

Before the Bengal assembly elections, a section of the media had floated a term ‘dalatantra’ (party-favouritism) in order to assist Mamata Banerjee’s campaign against the Left Front government. The eight months of TMC-led governance  has shown what the actual meaning of this word is. Mamata Banerjee has not given up her old habits. As union rail minister she had created a record of sorts by constituting numerous committees headed by people who were publicly supporting her. The practise continues now with her as chief minister. Sixty odd committees, a number of them for the education sector, have already been formed. A new dictionary is being written: where being elected is termed as ‘dalatantra’ whereas getting nominated is termed as ‘ganatantra’ (democracy).  Within a very short span of time all efforts to crush the democratic structure of the education system have been organised.

There is a multi-pronged attack by the government with the intention of crushing democracy in educational institutions. On one side it has issued an ordinance curtailing democracy in the colleges and the universities and on the other hand elected student unions are being brazenly attacked and captured. The democratic rights of the student community are not ensured in most of the states. Student unions elections are organised only in a few state and central universities. The states where the Left has been in power have always been at the forefront in ensuring the democratic rights of the students’ community. The 34 years of Left Front rule in West Bengal was a period where not only the democratic rights of the student’s community was established but the democratic rights of all people associated with academics were guaranteed.

There was a fixed calendar for the polls to the student unions of colleges and universities and as soon as the scheduled dates appeared on the calendar, the students of the Bengal campuses exercised their democratic rights to elect their representatives.

There is a change of situation for the worse now with the so called ‘change’. Till date 96 elected student unions have been captured by might. Democracy has obviously not been the tool in capturing the campuses. Hooligans in different parts of Bengal started attacking the campuses once the new government came to office. The justification for capturing the campuses was simple. As 35 lakh more people have voted in favour of TMC than the Left Front, there was no right for the SFI to run the elected unions. Throughout Bengal starting from the mountains to the sea, college and university unions faced unprecedented attacks and were subsequently captured. As expected, the police remained a silent spectator. In all, 28 college campuses were ransacked and 80 SFI activists were seriously injured and hospitalised. SFI supporters are not being allowed to go to the campuses, or even sit for their examinations. The peaceful environment of learning and teaching has been completely disrupted. The recent addition to this phenomenon is teacher bashing. The horrible picture of the education sector is visible to everyone except the chief minister and her media cheerleaders.

It appears the government had prepared the script to curb democracy and is now basically utilising the opportunity. After assuming office the government’s ordinance regarding colleges and universities made this very clear. It says that the people who will be in the governing body of the university will not be ‘elected’. The members either will be nominated or will be ex officio. One of the reasons furnished by the education minister behind cancellation of the election process was that most of the present lot are ‘political’. He believes that if people will be elected there will be politics behind it! He is also clear that the government can not allow anybody to be in the decision making process who has a political background. The ordinance categorically says that if the vice chancellor has a political identity or if it is revealed the government has the right to sack him or her.

STUDENT POLITICS

In a nutshell, a war against democracy has begun. The ‘dramatist’ education minister is loud and clear -- campuses must be free from politics. The same echoing voice can be heard now from different spheres. As the 'teacher bashing' continues on the Bengal campuses under the stewardship of Trinamool Congress, people ranging from television anchors to ex vice chancellors, singers to painters, half intellectuals to half ministers have started blaming 'politics' as the sole culprit for such incidents. Even columns have started appearing in leading newspapers urging the state government to immediately stop the student union elections in the campuses. 

This is not at all new. The issue of student politics has recurred repeatedly in discussions on the education policy of our country. The right of students to have students’ unions has always been upheld in principle by the State. However, with the onset of the neo-liberal era, the approach towards student politics has taken a turn for the worse as exemplified by the Birla Ambani Report (2000) and the proposed Model Act for Universities during the tenure of the then BJP-led NDA government. These initiatives viewed students’ unions as an impediment in the path of implementing the privatisation and commercialisation agenda, and took refuge in the argument of preserving the academic ethos of educational institutions. At that point of time  Trinamool Congress was a part of the NDA coalition and had supported such undemocratic moves. Now in the new era of ‘change’ in Bengal, the government is appointing ‘Mentors’ from Harvard who will usher in a 'change' of the education system. These mentors are also firm believers in the post-modern theory of ‘Campus without Politics’.

The politics of these mentors is the politics of the market. Politics of protest is a hindrance to the designs of the market. Therefore it is very necessary for people committed to market forces to put a check on the political activities. And thus politics is being targeted. In order to establish a logical conclusion to the neo-liberal designs, violence is orchestrated in the campuses so that intense hatred against politics can be worked up.

Whatever the claims of the government may be, it has to primarily cater to the interests of the market forces that helped them before the assembly elections. In the education sector, it is being carried out in a fine manner. Let us look into two decisions of the new government. In order to appease the private engineering college managements, admission criteria have been relaxed and tuition fees doubled.

Almost every day the chief minister and her team are declaring that no work can be completed as the previous Left Front government has left no money in the coffers. There is no dearth of money for decorating the rooms of the ministers or for increasing their salaries by manifold. It is clear the declarations about lack of money are being made in order to pave the ground for private initiatives.

The highest impediment for the commercialisation and privatisation of education is the organised student movement in the campuses. The acts of the government and the education minister have automatically given rise to numerous questions among students. The campuses are raising the question “Was it not the democratic process that led to the education minister being elected as MLA and later as minister. Then how can he oppose democracy in the campus?” The academic qualification of the researchers who have lost their right to be elected as per the ordinance is no less than the ‘dramatist’, ‘professor’ education minister.

The government tried to justify its putting curbs on involving students and non-teaching staffs in the decision making process of the universities, which was guaranteed during the Left Front period. The campuses are discussing that the Senate and Syndicate not only decided about the appointment of vice chancellors. Starting from the promotion of sweepers to the making of syllabus of the students, everything used to be decided in the Senate and the Syndicate - the highest democratic decision making structures of universities during the Left rule.  

To be precise, behind the campaign to eliminate politics from the education system there is an elitist design to crush the democratic fabric established during the last 34 years.

Ever since the TMC-led government came into office, students and non-teaching staff were being attacked. Now even teacher bashing is a regular phenomenon.  Here are some major incidents:

10 December, 2011 - Trinamool outsiders attack the headmaster of Ashoknagar Boys Secondary School.

17 December, 2011 - Trinamool Congress activists slap the headmaster of Jadavpur Vidyapith in the precense of local Trinamool Congress councillor.

29 December, 2011 - Trinamool Congress goons attack the headmaster of Guma Rabindra Vidyapith.

5 January, 2012 - 58 year old ‘kid’ leads the attack on the principal of Raigunj University College.

11 January, 2012 - Raigunj is repeated by Trinamool Congress goons in Rampurhat College.

These above mentioned days are definitely black days in the history of the state. The black days of the seventies shamefully records the killing of vice chancellor of Jadavpur University Gopal Sen within the campus. There were instances where headmaster of MAMC School, Durgapur, Bimal Dasgupta, was burnt alive for the crime of protesting against unfair means adopted at examination hall by leaders of Chhatra Parishad (NSUI). Teachers like Satyen Chakraborty, Santosh Bhattacharya were killed at Howrah and Murshidabad. There are many more examples in this regard.

Many firebrand right wing student leaders of those days are today ministers in the Writers Building. Some of them are defending the culprits who are associated with principal and teacher bashing! The then black hair of the young turks of the seventies may be white now. But still their cherished memories of the pandemonium of the seventies are so very alive in their thoughts! Bengal has started witnessing the repetition of history in the education sector.

But the protest is very much in the air. There are Left students who are not allowed to enter campuses. They are unable to sit for their exams. Their admit cards are being burnt in front of them. They are threatened, beaten up. Some are hospitalised with fatal injuries. But still they have not given up the flag of SFI. They are at the barricades of resistance. The wall writing is sharp, bold and clear - ‘If politics determines our education, we must determine the politics’. This resolve to determine politics is the silver lining in these worst of times for education sector in the state.

SOURCE: People's Democracy

West Bengal 2006-2010:Touching New Milestones(4)

5 New Universities and 73 New Degree Colleges

· 5 new Universities (West Bengal State University, Gour Banga University, Alia University, Presidency University and Sidhu-Kanu-Birsa University) and 73 new Degree Colleges have been set up during the tenure of the Seventh Left Front Government alone.

· A campus of the Aligarh University is coming up at Murshidabad. Another campus of the North Bengal University is being built up at Jalpaiguri. Similarly, a campus of Rabindra Bharati University is coming up at Siliguri.

· The State Government has sanctioned 3500 posts of lecturers for colleges and universities in the last four and a half years. This excludes Universities not directly under the Department of Higher Education.

· University Grants Commission has declared the Calcutta and Jadavpur Universities as 'Potential for Excellence'. 16 Colleges of the State have also been conferred upon with the same status.

· 2 new Medical Colleges have been established at Kalyani and Jadavpur. The Cabinet has recently approved establishment of 3 more Medical Colleges in the State. The scope of Post Graduate studies in Medical Sciences has widened substantially.

· 36 new Engineering Colleges have so far been set-up within the tenure of the Seventh Left Front Government, since 2006.

· Legislation for establishment of a private university titled 'Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology' has been passed in 2008, with the objective of imparting advanced education in 'Information and Communication Technology'.

· The Union Government has very recently decided to recognize 'Bengal Engineering and Science University' as an Institute of National Significance. BESU is the first institution in the country to have acquired this distinction.

· The Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India decided to set up 'Indian Institute of Science Education and Research' - world-class centres for cultivation of science and research following the pattern of IIT and IIM at various places of the country. The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India laid the foundation stone of the Kolkata Centre in 2006 under the initiative of Government of West Bengal. The Institute’s new campus is under construction at Kalyani. Activities are being carried out from Salt Lake till the new campus at Kalyani comes up. It has opened up a new horizon in talent development of the State. This would never have been possible without the pro-active role of the State Government.

· Work for establishing 'Rabindra Udyan' - which will be a full fledged institute for Tagore Research has been initiated at Jyoti Basu Nagar (Rajarhat) to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of the poet this year.

· Primary Education: Primary Education in West Bengal is on the verge of universalisation. 99.25% children of the State are now enrolled in primary schools, much ahead of the Pan-Indian enrolment ratio. A hundred percent success is imminent with active cooperation of all concerned. The drop-out rate has swooped down to 6.85%, which is less than the national average of 7.8%. Coverage under Mid-day Meal programme has been extended to 95%.

· A separate authority is being set-up to monitor and manage the Sishu Siksha Kendras (SSK) and Madhyamik Siksha Kendras (MSK) running under the aegis of the Panchayats and Rural Development Department. The uncertainties concerning job security of teachers have since been resolved.

· More than 3000 vocational training centres at Secondary School level have been set up under the initiative of the Technical Education and Training Department during the tenure of the Seventh Left Front Government alone. 2 Lakh new students have been enrolled. More than 200 Vocational Training Providers (VTP) have been established under the Skill Development Initiative Project, and among them they have covered another 35000 students. Apart from these 24 ITIs and 22 Polytechnics have been rendered operational during the last 5 years. 50 more ITIs are expected to be commissioned in the current financial year.

Helping Poor students

· Left Front Governments have always been keen to extend the scope of education to the poorer and backward sections of the society. But the contribution of the Seventh Left Front Government in the area is very special.

· The State Government issues grants to nearly 26 lakh students belonging to the scheduled castes/ tribes reading in Classes V to X towards purchase of books and examination fees. Only 15352 students got the benefit in 1977-78.

· The State Government offers maintenance grants to about 6 lakh Scheduled Caste / Tribe day scholar students reading in Classes V to X. The quantum of this grant has been enhanced from Rs. 600/- to Rs.750/- from this year.

· The State Government grants Pre-Matric Scholarship to about 5 lakh students reading in Classes I to X and belonging to minority communities. In the Post-Matric level 90000 minority students are awarded scholarships. 4000 students get merit based scholarships, and 10000 minority students are awarded Hazi Mohammad Mohsin Scholarships from the State Government. 30% of these scholarships are reserved for female candidates.

· A monthly incentive of Rs.100/- is offered to every girl student reading in Classes IX to XII in Madrasahs.

· West Bengal Urdu Academy has also enhanced the value of the scholarships it offers.

· The State Government has started giving incentives to female graduate and post-graduates coming from financially weaker minority families from this year itself. Any female student securing 40% marks would be entitled for this incentive. Female students at the Graduate level get Rs. 9000/- and students at the Post Graduate level get Rs.14400/- per year.

· Government of West Bengal has introduced Ambedkar Medha Puraskar from 2010 to encourage meritorious students belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

· Financial assistance under the Merit-cum-Means Project is being extended to students through the Department of Higher Education. 3657 students were benefited in 2008-09 and 7343 students benefited in 2009-10 under the project.

· Financial Assistance of Rs.343.88497 Lakh was released to 4588 students from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund till September 2010.

· The minority students enrolled for vocational training in Alia University are required to pay only 10% of their tuition fees. The State Government pays the remaining 90% on their behalf.

Job Security for Part-time and Contractual Teachers

· The Seventh Left Front Government has conferred due dignity upon those attached with the noble teaching profession. The list includes Teachers of SSK/ MSK, Para-Teachers of Primary and Madhyamik Schools, VRP, Shiksabandhu etc. and Part-time and Contractual Lecturers serving in Degree Colleges. This is the first time that any State Government in the country has adopted such a step, putting an end to the yearly hassle of renewal of contract. The salary hike for now would be around 35%. Pay would be revised every three years and a one-time payment of Rs.1 lakh would be admissible at the time of superannuation. About 140000 Teachers would benefit from the scheme.

THIRTY YEARS OF THE LEFT FRONT GOVERNMENT IN WEST BENGAL

Historical Outline

The formation of the Left Front Government in West Bengal was a culmination of decades of struggles by various sections of the people — workers, peasants, teachers, refugees and students — under the leadership of the Left, and its biggest component the CPI (M). Faced with the rising tide of struggles and the growing influence of the CPI (M) and the Left, the Congress government, which was formed after it blatantly rigged the elections in 1972, resorted to a reign of semi-fascist terror in West Bengal. The CPI (M) and the mass organizations faced the brunt of this repression. 1,100 Party workers and close sympathizers were killed.

In the general elections of 1977 the Congress was severely punished by the people of the country for its authoritarian and anti-democratic actions during the Emergency. The Janata Party Government was formed at the Centre with Morarji Desai as Prime Minister. The Assembly elections in West Bengal were held shortly after the general elections in 1977. The people came out to vote in very large numbers to get rid of the reign of terror. The Left Front won by over three-fourth majority.

While assuming office in 1977, the Left Front government was aware of the limitations of a State government in implementing pro-people policies within the existing Constitutional set-up. While the major responsibility of delivering services to the people was with the State Governments, financial resources were concentrated in the hands of the Centre. Keeping in mind this constraint, the Left Front government embarked upon a programme to provide immediate relief to the people and implementing alternative policies in spheres where the State government had some say. The major initiatives of the first Left Front government were to carry out thoroughgoing land reforms and establishing a vibrant Panchayati Raj. These historic initiatives broke the back of landlordism in the rural areas and immensely empowered the poor peasantry and agricultural workers. Large sections of the rural poor, especially the dalits, adivasis and minorities, gravitated towards the Left and the CPI (M). This section continues to be the most stable mass base of the CPI (M) and the Left Front till date. Several other pro-people initiatives were also undertaken regarding workers’ rights and social sector development, which benefited different sections of the people: factory workers, unorganised workers, government employees, school and college teachers, students, youth, women and the refugees. Through their experience, the majority of the people of West Bengal came to recognize the Left Front government as a pro-people government, a custodian of their rights and a fighter for their cause. Therefore, since 1977, neither did the people ever look back nor did the Left Front government.

Land Reforms, Democratic Decentralization and Agricultural Success

Land Reforms

The land reforms initiated in West Bengal had three major components: (i) effective imposition of land ceiling and vesting of ceiling surplus land (ii) redistribution of vested land among the landless cultivators and (iii) securing of tenancy rights of sharecroppers (bargadars) through a system of universal registration of tenant cultivators (Operation Barga). As a result of this thoroughgoing land reform programme, West Bengal today has the most egalitarian land ownership pattern in the entire country. While West Bengal accounts for only around 3% of agricultural land in India, it accounted for over 21% of ceiling surplus land that has been redistributed in India till date. The total number of beneficiaries of land redistribution in West Bengal is over 28 lakhs, which is almost 50% of all beneficiaries of land redistribution in post-independence India. The security of tenancy rights provided to the sharecroppers under Operation Barga was also unprecedented in India. The total number of recorded sharecroppers has reached over 15 lakhs, which accounts for over 20% of the total agricultural households in the State. Over 11 lakh acres of land was permanently brought under the control of sharecroppers and their right to cultivate land was firmly established.

After 30 years of Left Front rule, 84% of land in West Bengal is owned by small (owning 2.5 acres to 5 acres of land) and marginal farmers (owning less than 2.5 acres) today, while the all-India figure is only 43%. Over 12 lakh acres of ceiling surplus vested land is lying with various State governments today but not being distributed among the landless. This shows the difference in the political will of the Left Front government in West Bengal and other State governments run by bourgeois parties. Moreover, around 56% of the total beneficiaries of land redistribution in West Bengal are dalits and adivasis. Dalits and adivasis also comprise over 41% of the registered sharecroppers. NSS data show that the proportion of agricultural land owned by dalits in comparison with their proportion in the rural population of West Bengal is the second highest in the country (after Tripura). Till date, over 5.35 lakh women have been given joint pattas and 1.57 lakh women given individual pattas (ownership rights over land) in West Bengal. Muslims have also benefited significantly from the land reforms programme. The share of land cultivated by Muslims in West Bengal in total cultivated land is 25.6%, which is the second highest in the country (second only to Jammu and Kashmir where the share is 30.3%).

Following the onset of the neoliberal policies in the decade of 1990s, whatever land reform measures were undertaken in most Indian States in the post-independence period were sought to be reversed. However, in West Bengal an additional 95,000 acres of land was acquired in the 1990s under the land reform legislation and 94,000 acres redistributed. These figures for the decade of the 1990s account for almost all the land acquired and over 40 per cent of the land redistributed in the entire country. The Left Front government has continued with the land redistribution programme. 30,000 acres of land was distributed among landless families in 2006-07.

Panchayati Raj

Reorganisation of the system of local government has been one of the most important institutional changes brought about by the Left Front government. In the process, West Bengal has created a history of participation of the common people through the process of decentralisation. A system of democratic elections to local bodies at anchal, block and district level has been instituted: gram panchayats at the anchal level, panchayat samitis at the block level and zilla parishads at the district level. Elections to these local bodies were held in June 1978. The newly elected panchayats were involved with the execution of land reforms. Panchayats took the initiative in exposing benami land holdings, ensured the identification of excess land and the declaration of vested land and were also given charge of ensuring the legal rights of recipients of vested land and bargadars over land.

The panchayats were also involved in arrangements for the provision of institutional credit for the beneficiaries of vested land and for bargadars. After the rural development projects were devolved to panchayats for implementation, the beneficiaries of land reform were given priority in the receipt of benefits from these projects. This was possible because through the panchayat election of 1978, a new leadership was established at the helm of the rural bodies from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds. The erstwhile village elite, including landlords and moneylenders, lost their dominance over the newly elected local bodies. The new leadership after 1978 came out of the tradition of peasant upsurge and struggle for land reform of the past three decades.

The West Bengal government has held regular elections to local bodies every five years for the past 30 years. The aim has been to provide a substantial share of fiscal resources of the state to the local bodies. The West Bengal government has made a serious effort at devolving funds from the state government level to the lower tiers of administration. The panchayats have also been assigned a large and substantial range of responsibilities that were earlier seen as under the purview of the district-level bureaucracy. The panchayats perform civic duties and undertake developmental activities like construction and maintenance of hospitals, schools and libraries, promotion of agriculture, cooperatives and cottage industries, child welfare activities, etc. They play an important role in the local-level planning and implementation of government schemes. Panchayats in West Bengal have played an important role in activities like mobilising cooperation for improving agricultural production, management of local resources, and identification of beneficiaries for housing, poverty alleviation and social security programmes. This has made the panchayats a critical institution of local governance in the West Bengal countryside.

Over time, there has been an increase in the representation of the rural poor and of socially deprived groups like dalits and adivasis, as well as women, in the elected bodies. All this has helped to change the power equations in rural society as well as encouraged the social and political empowerment of social groups that were earlier marginalized. The proportions of dalit and adivasi panchayat representatives in all the three tiers are over 37% and 7% respectively, well over their share in population. Since 1995, one third of the seats and positions of chairpersons in the panchayati raj institutions have been reserved for women. It is noteworthy that the actual representation of women exceeds one third as a number of women candidates also win in the general constituencies. Presently, over 36% of the gram panchayat members are women. Also, 7 out of 17 zilla parishads have a woman sabhadhipati and 155 out of 351 panchayat samities have a woman sabhapati. In the late 1990s, the panchayati raj system in West Bengal was further strengthened by introducing gram sansads. These are the general councils of voters in every ward, that are required to meet twice a year with a minimum quorum of 10 per cent of voters to discuss the work done by the panchayats and utilisation of funds.

Successes in Agriculture

This strategy of the Left Front government; of implementing land reforms on the one hand and the establishment of an effective panchayati raj in West Bengal on the other; has not only led to the political empowerment of the rural poor but has also brought about a rejuvenation of agriculture in the State. Since the Left Front came into office in 1977, foodgrains production in West Bengal has grown at the rate of 6% per annum, which is the highest among seventeen most populous States of India. From a food deficit State witnessing famines and food riots during the Congress rule, West Bengal has emerged as a leading food producer in the country under the Left Front rule. West Bengal has emerged as the topmost producer of rice, vegetables and fish among all Indian States. Cropping intensity in West Bengal has increased from about 136% in 1980-81 to about 180% in 2000-01, second highest in the country. This has been achieved through significant expansion of irrigated land area through small and minor irrigation projects.

In the backdrop of the neoliberal policies being adopted by the Centre since early 1990s, agricultural growth has slowed down across the country. While agriculture grew at less than 2% in India during the Tenth Plan period (2002-2007), the growth rate of agriculture in West Bengal has been over 3.5%. The Left Front Government has been successful, to some extent, in insulating the agrarian economy of West Bengal from the acute agrarian distress currently being witnessed across the country. This has been possible by following pro-peasant policies. For instance, the charge for flow of water in agriculture under major irrigation has not been increased in West Bengal since 1977. Water for irrigation is the cheapest in West Bengal at Rs. 37 per hectare in West Bengal compared to Rs 156 to Rs 267 per hectare in the rest of the states of the country (except for Kerala where it is much lower). Agricultural workers are also protected and the minimum wage of Rs. 63 is implemented effectively, in contrast to many other States where despite the scheduled minimum wage rates being higher, they are not implemented effectively.

Industrialization: An Imperative

Reversing Industrial Stagnation

For most parts of its lengthy tenure, the Left Front government has had to encounter hostile governments at the Centre. There was a conscious effort on the part of successive Central governments, particularly those run by the Congress, to discourage industrialization in West Bengal since it was a Left ruled State. This was done both through a denial of public sector investment as well as licenses for setting up private industries. During Indira Gandhi’s tenure as the Prime minister in the early 1980s, a proposal for setting up an electronics complex in Salt Lake near Kolkata was shot down by the Central government on security grounds, because West Bengal was a border State! Permission for the Haldia Petrochemical project was withheld by the Central government for 11 long years. The freight equalization policy; which meant that railway freight rates of industrial inputs like coal, iron ore, steel or cement were structured in a way through Government subsidies so that they were available at the same price in all parts of the country; also became a major obstacle. This robbed West Bengal, along with the other states in the Eastern region of India like Bihar and Orissa, of its locational advantage of being rich in those minerals which came under the purview of freight equalization. Other industrial inputs were not included in the freight equalization scheme.

Following these discriminatory policies pursued by the Centre and the vitriolic anti-Communist propaganda carried out by the bourgeois media, which led to some degree of capital flight, West Bengal experienced industrial stagnation during the decade of the 1980s. Traditional industries like tea, jute and engineering were on a decline. This aggravated the unemployment situation in the State, especially in the urban areas, besides causing hardships for the workers in the sick industries. The need was felt to make special efforts to reverse the trend towards industrial stagnation and re-industrialize West Bengal.

Meanwhile, a big policy shift had come at the national level when the Narasimha Rao led Congress Government adopted the “New Economic Policies” in 1991 following the dictates of the IMF and the World Bank. The neoliberal “economic reforms” initiated by the Central government abandoned the earlier emphasis on public sector investment, devised a strategy of liberalizing and deregulating the economy and laid emphasis on private capital, both domestic and foreign, as the main driver of economic growth. These policy changes were clearly in the rightwing direction, which was opposed by the CPI (M) and the Left. However, it also meant an end to the discriminatory policy regime of the Central government, based upon licensing and freight equalization policy, which had caused enormous harm to the economic interests of West Bengal. It was in this backdrop that the Left Front government had to devise its industrialization strategy. In September 1994, Comrade Jyoti Basu announced the Industrial Policy of the Left Front government in the changed scenario, which stated: “we are all for new technology and investment in selective spheres where they help our economy and which are of mutual interest. The goal of self-reliance, however, is as needed today as earlier. We have the state sector, the private sector and also the joint sector. All these have a role to play”. Following the adoption of the Industrial Policy, the industrial scenario in the state witnessed a turnaround, with important projects like Haldia Petrochemicals and Bakreshwar Thermal Power plants finally being set up.

Industrialization Gathering Momentum

The process of industrialization received further impetus after the Left Front government registered its sixth consecutive victory with Comrade Buddhadeb Bhattacharya as Chief Minister in 2001 and subsequently its seventh victory in 2006, with an enhanced majority. During the period from 1991 to 2006 a total number of 1,391 industrial units have been set up in West Bengal with a realized investment of Rs. 32,338.95 crore and creating direct employment for 2.03 lakh persons in the organized sector. The number of new industrial proposals in West Bengal is increasing progressively, especially in sectors like Iron and Steel, Chemical and Petrochemicals, Food Processing and Information Technology.

Since the thrust of the West Bengal government’s industrial strategy is on employment generation, the focus is not limited to big industries alone. The State government has consciously provided policy support to small and micro enterprises, because of which the number of unorganised manufacturing enterprises in West Bengal has increased from 19.1 lakhs in 1994-95 to 27.7 lakhs in 2000-01, with employment in these industries during this period increasing from 43.8 lakhs to 58.7 lakh. West Bengal now ranks first among all Indian States in respect to both the number of working units and employment generation in the small-scale industrial sector. The West Bengal government is providing infrastructure support to the small-scale industries by building industrial clusters in all districts of the State, with a target of 150 such clusters set for the Eleventh Plan period.

Unlike other State governments, which succumbed to the neoliberal prescriptions of the Centre, the Left Front government has followed a different approach towards industrialization. Rather than following the policy of indiscriminate privatization of public sector units, the Left Front government has sought to strengthen them and earnestly tried to revive sick or closed industrial units. By repeatedly placing its views before the BIFR in the interest of industry and workers, the Left Front government has been able to obtain the sanction of revival scheme in respect of 79 units. Of these, 22 units have already been revived and about 25 more units are likely to be revived.

SAIL has recently decided to invest Rs. 10,000 crore in the modernization of the IISCO factory at Burnpur, which will be one of the biggest public sector investment projects currently being undertaken in the country. The Central government had earlier decided to privatize this sick unit. It was the protracted struggle waged by the IISCO workers and the principled position adopted by the West Bengal Government, which prevented privatization and has subsequently led to the revival of IISCO. Similarly, Bengal Chemicals, which had become a sick PSU, is being revived with Central investments worth Rs 440 crore. Recently, two public sector units, Coal India Limited and Damodar Valley Corporation have come together to acquire and revive the Mining and Allied Machineries Corporation (MAMC) based in Durgapur, a prestigious PSU that was closed few years ago. Closed units like Jessop and Dunlop have also been reopened. Rather than following the dictates of the Central government in privatizing the State Electricity Board, the West Bengal government has firmly maintained the public ownership of the WBSEB and initiated reforms to improve its performance. The WBSEB, which was a loss making entity till recently, registered a profit of Rs. 300 crore in 2006-07. All this reflect the alternative approach of the left front government.

Some controversy has arisen recently over acquisition of agricultural land for setting up industries in West Bengal, especially in the context of the Tata Motors plant in Singur and a proposed chemical hub near Haldia. While the opportunistic gang-up of the entire opposition, from the ultra-Right to the ultra-Left led by the reactionary Trinamul Congress, has sought to pitch the debate in terms of industry versus agriculture, the Left Front government has repeatedly emphasized the need for a balanced and harmonious development of both sectors. The slogan of “agriculture is our foundation, industry our future”, put forward by the Left Front before the Assembly elections of 2006 has received wide acceptance among the people.

Pro-People Initiatives and Constraints

Education

The Left Front government in West Bengal has undertaken several pro-people initiatives to ensure all-round development of the State. The Left Front government has ensured significant expansion in the spheres of public education and health. The first Left Front government had made school education free upto the higher secondary stage. With a thrust on the expansion of school education, the number of schools in West Bengal has seen a substantial increase in the post-1977 period, with the number of secondary and higher secondary schools registering a four fold increase, from 4600 in 1977 to over 22,500 in 2006. Accordingly, the number of students appearing for the secondary board examination has increased from a little over 2 lakhs in 1977 to over 7.5 lakhs in 2006.

Positive results have also been seen recently in the implementation of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, with the net enrolment ratio of children of the relevant age group (5+ to 8+) exceeding 98% in 2006-07. The drop-out ratio has also fallen below 20% due to the effective implementation of the mid-day meals scheme, which now covers 94% of the primary schools in the State. This has been made possible through the involvement of Self-Help Groups in providing cooked meals in the schools.

Health

West Bengal has witnessed significant improvements in some health indicators in the recent past. The death rate in West Bengal at 6.4 per thousand is the lowest in the country. The infant mortality rate has also dropped to 38 per 1000 live births, which is much lower than the national average at 58. The birth rate in the urban areas of West Bengal is the lowest within urban areas of the country and the total fertility rate has also fallen much below the national average, with the State heading towards achieving the population stabilization goal by the end of the Eleventh Plan. This has been possible due to active government intervention in the sphere of public health.

West Bengal has also registered significant successes in providing access to toilets and safe drinking water, especially to the poorer section of the population. The State government had set a goal of providing 40 litres of safe drinking water per capita per day in each habitation in the rural areas. Already, 81% of the 91320 rural habitations of the State have been covered fully. This is the second highest coverage achieved by a State in the country. As far as sanitation is concerned, West Bengal has the second highest coverage of access to toilets for all BPL households as well as for all Scheduled Caste households in urban areas, in the country. These have been possible due to the concerted efforts by the State government and the local bodies in the implementation of the programmes.

The National Health Accounts published by the Union Ministry of Health in 2001-02 showed that public expenditure on health in West Bengal was the second highest in the country (Maharashtra had the highest figure). In fact, around 80% of the indoor patients in West Bengal today are treated in Government hospitals, while the all-India figure stands at only 50%. This obviously translates into affordable healthcare for the people. The total per capita health expenditure in West Bengal was lower than the national average on account of very low private expenditure on health compared to other States. While the per capita health expenditure in West Bengal needs to increase substantially, what is noteworthy is the effort on the part of the government to commit substantial resources for public health in a fiscally constrained scenario.

Workers’ Rights

The Left Front government has firmly defended the trade union rights of the workers. It has also taken important steps to provide social security to workers like introducing a provident fund scheme for unorganised sector workers for the first time in the country (nearly 7.9 lakh workers have already joined the scheme so far), providing financial assistance of Rs. 750 per month to workers of closed factories and tea gardens and providing social security to the construction workers.

Another important development in West Bengal in the recent years from the point of view of employment generation is the phenomenal growth of Self-Help Groups (SHGs). The total number of SHGs in West Bengal reached 3.8 lakhs in 2005-06, involving nearly 38 lakh persons, 90% of whom are women. This has opened up new possibilities for self-employment and women’s empowerment. When the seventh Left Front government assumed office in 2006, a dedicated Ministry to provide policy support to these SHGs was created.

Minority Welfare

The Left Front government has also taken positive initiatives to uplift the Muslim minorities, who comprise over 26% of the State’s population and are socio-economically backward. The West Bengal Minority Development Finance Corporation (WBMFDC), which was formed in 1996 following the passage of an Act in the State Assembly, provides training as well as soft loans for self-employment and scholarships for meritorious students among Muslims. The WBMFDC ranks second, both in terms of cumulative disbursement of funds (from 1994-95 to 2005-06) as well as the number of beneficiaries, among all the State level minority development corporations. It has disbursed Rs.10751 crore to 28904 beneficiaries over this period. If the fact that the Uttar Pradesh MFDC started disbursing funds from 1994-95 (i.e. two years before the WBMFDC started disbursing funds) is taken into account, then the performance of the WBMFDC clearly emerges as the best in the country.

Challenges and Constraints

There is no doubt that the West Bengal government needs to do much more as far as people’s welfare is concerned, especially for the socio-economically disadvantaged groups. The areas in which improvement has to be brought about have been noted by the West Bengal Human Development Report 2004. The Sachar Committee Report 2006 also pointed towards the necessity of adopting concrete steps for the upliftment of the Muslim minorities. The Left Front government has been proactive in taking initiatives to do away with the shortcomings that continue to exist in its developmental effort. For instance, the Left Front government was the first State government to announce a sub-Plan for minorities at the State level, earmarking 15% of all Plan expenditure for development programmes meant to benefit minorities and implement the recommendations of the Sachar Committee. Several new initiatives have also been taken to improve the quality of public service in school education and public health in order to improve the human development scenario.

However, the capacity of the Left Front government to deliver in the spheres of peoples’ welfare and social infrastructure has been severely constrained by the limited availability of resources. Unless the resource constraint is overcome, major welfare initiatives cannot be undertaken. While a part of the additional resources can be generated through internal resource mobilization, much depends upon the direction of economic and social policies of the Central government too. The power to take crucial economic policy decisions in India rests with the Central government and not the State governments.

Within the existing Constitutional set up, while the State governments are expected to deliver upon a lot of responsibilities related to development and peoples’ welfare, the financial resources available to them have remained extremely limited given the skewed nature of Centre-State relations. The skewedness in Centre-State relations has aggravated in the post-liberalization period. Finances of most State governments have worsened due to growing indebtedness, squeeze in resource transfers from the Central Government to the States, rising interest cost of States’ debt and conditionalities regarding fiscal austerity imposed upon State governments through successive Finance Commissions and the Planning Commission. The Left Front government in West Bengal has also not been able to escape this predicament.

The Left Front government has tried to resist the neoliberal reforms imposed by the Central government. For instance, the West Bengal Government has rejected the dictate of the Centre regarding the enactment of the neoliberal Fiscal Responsibility legislation, which in effect binds the capacity of the state governments to undertake development expenditure. Alongwith the Left led Governments of Kerala and Tripura, the West Bengal government also resisted attempts by the Centre to force all States to undertake neoliberal pension reforms, which seeks to privatize the pension system. Similar unity between the Left led governments was on display during a recent meeting of the National Development Council on Agriculture, where efforts were made by the Centre to impose reforms of the State level APMC Acts and get all the States to endorse contract farming by corporates. The struggle for restructuring Centre-State relations is crucial for creating the autonomous space for the Left Front government to continue with its pro-people policies in future.

Conclusion

A big achievement of the Left Front government in West Bengal is its record in safeguarding democratic rights. Notwithstanding the vicious campaigns unleashed against it from time to time by its opponents, the Left Front government continues to remain firmly committed to democratic values and principles. Its impeccable record in upholding secularism and communal harmony, dealing with communal elements with a firm hand and defending the rights of minorities is a welcome exception to the programmatic or pragmatic communalism practiced by the bourgeois parties and the State governments led by them. The fact that the communal RSS-BJP combine have failed to gain any significant foothold in the State is primarily because of the relentless ideological-political campaign against communalism, in which the Left Front government leads from the front. While dalits and adivasis across the country continue to be victims of caste violence, it is indeed heartening to find that West Bengal has an almost zero rate of atrocities against dalits and adivasis. The Left Front government also has the distinction of resolving the Gorkhaland issue, in a just and democratic manner within the framework of the Indian Constitution, by providing regional autonomy to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.

Born out of the struggles against authoritarianism and State repression, it is the commitment of the Left Front government to democracy, which has won it enormous credibility in the eyes of the people of West Bengal and enabled it to complete thirty years in office.

This incisive and thought provoking article was created on 2007-07-19 and contributed by Prasenjit Bose. He is a PhD in Economics from JNU, and is currently into full time research.

A Historic Anniversary

On the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the
Left Front Government of West BengalA Historic Anniversary

June 21, 2002 marks a historic anniversary. On this date, the Left Front government of West Bengal completes 25 years in office. The continuous rule by the Left Front in West Bengal and its outstanding record in terms of service to the people, protection of democratic rights, preservation of communal harmony and the struggle to implement alternative policies within the limitations of the existing set-up -- are an inspiring record. For any political party or coalition being in a state government continuously for 25 years would be a unique record. For a Communist Party and the Left parties to remain in office for so long in West Bengal winning a two-thirds majority in six successive elections is all the more remarkable.

Running a state government by the Left parties under a system where real power rests with the Centre and where the Congress, the BJP and other bourgeois-landlord parties have been in power, is no ordinary achievement. It was possible because the CPI(M) and the Left movement has a strong mass base and has struck deep roots among the people.

No other state government in India has tackled the land question so consistently, which is the foremost question for the bulk of the population which lives in the rural areas. No other government in India has done as much for the rural poor as the Left Front government of West Bengal.

The fact that 20 per cent of the total surplus land distributed in India is in West Bengal is a testimony to the way the state government has sincerely implemented land reform laws. Under `Operation Barga', 14 lakh (1.4 million) sharecroppers were registered for security of tenure.

The West Bengal set out the model for a democratic panchayati raj system much before the advent of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments which institutionalised the panchayati raj system. West Bengal from 1978 held five rounds of elections to the three-tier panchayat system and decentralised powers. The implementation of land reforms laid out the basis for the participation of the rural poor and the smaller peasants in the panchayat institutions.

Land reforms and the panchayati raj system has shaped the course of the rural development in West Bengal. The rural development policy of the Left Front government has been guided by philosophy of redistribution of assets before growth, to ensure growth with social justice.

The results of this policy are there for all to see. The rate of growth of agricultural production has registered a tremendous increase. In rice production, West Bengal stands first today. The living standards of the rural people had steadily gone up as a result.

The Left Front government has also shown the way for the country on the vital question of observing the secular principle of the State and maintaining communal harmony.

It is a remarkable achievement that a state, which saw communal violence and partition when a part of Bengal became East Pakistan, is today a bastion of communal peace under the Left Front government. West Bengal has a Muslim population of 25 per cent, one of the highest in the country. Yet, in the past 25 years, there were no major incidents of communal riots. This was strikingly illustrated in 1984, when anti-Sikh riots engulfed many of the cities of North India. Calcutta and West Bengal saw no such incidents.

Subsequently, when large-scale communal violence erupted all over the country during the infamous `ratha yatra' of the BJP and the demolition of the Babri Masjid, all attempts of communal mischief in West Bengal were put down with a firm hand.

Today, when the country is being ruled by the BJP-led combine from Delhi and the horrific events which took place in Gujarat are vivid in the minds of the people, the example of West Bengal where communal peace and harmony prevails is a source of inspiration to all democratic and secular-minded people.

The issue of social justice is given top priority by the Left Front government as part of its commitment to better the lot of the most oppressed sections. As far as women's rights are concerned, substantial advance has been made under the Left Front government. So far, 5.5 lakh women have been given joint or individual pattas. 55 per cent of the beneficiaries of the surplus land distributed has been scheduled caste and scheduled tribe families. It is well known that West Bengal is free from atrocities on scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Incidents of which are regularly reported from many other states and recorded in the government reports.

The formation of the Left Front government in 1977 marked the end of a prolonged period of semi-fascist terror and authoritarian rule in West Bengal instituted by the Congress. Under the Left Front government, there has been restoration of democratic rights and an atmosphere where democratic political activities can take place unhindered.

The working class has been able to conduct its trade union activities and organised movements for its rights and demands. From the outset, it has been the policy of the Left Front government not to use the State machinery against the workers.

The Left Front government has, in the recent period, paid priority and special attention to the industrialisation of the state. In doing so, special attention is being paid to generate employment opportunities. This task is being undertaken in a situation where, for the last one decade, the overall policies of the Centre has been for liberalisation and privatisation. The Left Front government is fashioning policies to meet the new situation. As in the past, it will show that it is possible to implement pro-people policies, despite the policies of the Centre.

The existence of the Left Front government is a pillar for the Left and democratic movement in the country. At every crucial juncture in national politics, the Left Front government's role has been to project the Left and democratic viewpoint in a situation where major bourgeois parties are acting as agents of the big business, landlords and imperialist capital.

In the words of Jyoti Basu, who was the Chief Minister of West Bengal for 23 years: "We had a reasonable clear agenda before us when we started even though we had no model to guide us. We have been pursuing an arduous path in our efforts to consolidate the Left, democratic and secular forces. Our present experiments and experiences will help us in our longdrawn struggle to achieve the goal of people's democracy and socialism".

When we celebrate the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Left Front government, we salute the people of West Bengal and their political consciousness. 

All those who cherish the values of secularism democracy and look forward to socialism will greet the Left Front government and wish it all success in its future endeavours.

This booklet should help the reader understand the significant achievements of the Left Front government.

Harkishan Singh Surjeet

General Secretary

Communist Party of India (Marxist)

25 Years of Left Front in West Bengal

I

Rural Development

The struggles on the agrarian front have been crucial in the advancement of left movement in West Bengal. Implementation of land reforms was the priority of the governments formed under the leadership of the left in 1967 and 1969. Naturally, land reforms and rural development were on the top of the agenda when the Left Front came to power in 1977. The two most important changes brought about by the Left Front government in the countryside when it came to power were the implementation of land reforms and reorganisation of panchayats as democratic institutions of local government. These two – identified as the policy of walking on two legs – were closely inter-related and the success in one depended crucially on the success in the other. The most important

lesson learnt from the obstacles put by the central government, bureaucracy and judiciary in the attempts to implement the land reforms by the 1967 and 1969 United Front governments was that the implementation of land reforms required democratisation of local government and involvement of masses in the implementation of land reforms.

Implementation of Land Reforms

Implementation of land reforms has been one of the most important

achievements of the Left Front Government in West Bengal. It is because of the political will of the Left Front government that West Bengal, along with Kerala and Tripura, can boast of implementing land reforms most successfully in the country. The Land Reforms in West Bengal had two important components: tenancy reforms and redistribution of land. The Left Front government, with the support of Kisan Sabha and panchayats, organised a massive campaign popularly known as Operation Barga for registration of names of tenants in the land records. A constitutional amendment enacted by the Left Front government provided a permanent and heritable right to all registered tenants to cultivate the leased in land.

The second component of land reform comprised acquisition of ceiling surplus land and its redistribution among the poor and the landless. Following are some of the main features of land reforms implemented by the Left Front in West Bengal.

• Operation Barga involved registration of 1.4 million bargadars. Through Operation Barga, about 1.1 million acres of land was permanently brought under the control of bargadars and their right to cultivate the land was secured.

• In all, the government acquired about 1.37 million acres of land under the land reform legislation.

• About 1.04 million acres of the land vested by the State through the land reform legislation was redistributed among 2.5 million landless and marginal cultivator households.

• Homestead lands have been given to about 5 lakh households belonging to agricultural labour, fishing and artisan households.

• West Bengal accounts for only 3.5 per cent of agricultural land in the country. It is noteworthy that the land vested under land reform

legislation in West Bengal constitutes about 18 per cent of all land

vested in the country under land reform legislation. The land redistributed in West Bengal under land reform constitutes about 20 per cent of the total land redistributed in India.

• Dalits and adivasis were the major beneficiaries of land reforms. About 55 per cent of beneficiaries of land redistribution and 42 per cent of recorded bargadars came from these sections.

• Land reform in West Bengal was also an instrument of women’s empowerment. Over 5.5 lakh women have been given joint and individual pattas (land title deeds) under the programme.

• While the decade of 1990s saw undoing of whatever land reform

measures were undertaken in several States, West Bengal acquired an additional 95,000 acres of land under the land reform legislation and redistributed an additional 94,000 acres. These figures account for almost all the land acquired in the country in the 1990s and over 40 per cent of the land redistributed in the country in this period.

II

Reorganisation of Panchayats

Soon after coming to power, the Left Front government reorganised

the institutions of local government into a three-tier system of democratically elected bodies. This comprised grama panchayats at the anchal level, panchayat samities at the block level and zilla parishads at the district level. Seventeen years later this became a model for all States to adopt when 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments were enacted.

Following are some of the important features of the Panchayati Raj system in West Bengal.

• Since 1978, elections to the panchayati raj institutions have been

regularly held every five years. West Bengal holds the record of having the longest functioning democratic institutions of local government.

• The local bodies in West Bengal also have the distinction of having a large representation of income-poor and socially deprived sections. Dalits and adivasis have the largest and increasing representation  among all caste and social groups. Estimates of representation of landless, and marginal and small cultivators in the local bodies range from 75 to 90 per cent. Since 1995, one third of the seats and positions of chairpersons have been reserved for women.

• In the late 1990s, the Panchayat Raj system in West Bengal was further strengthened by introducing grama sansads, the general council of voters in every ward, that is required to meet twice a year with a minimum quorum of 10 per cent of voters to discuss the work done by the panchayats and utilisation of funds.

• The panchayats in West Bengal have been given a substantial share of resources and a range of responsibilities. The total divisible outlay meant for the districts reached 50 per cent of the State plan outlays in the 1990s.

• The role of panchayats in West Bengal in effectively implementing the poverty alleviation programmes has been recognised by official bodies like the Planning Commission.

The role of panchayats in changing the rural landscape in West Bengal after the Left Front government came to power cannot be exaggerated. Left Front consciously adopted the policy of using the panchayats as a platform for fighting rural vested interests and changing the correlation of class forces in favour of the working people. Panchayats played an important role in the implementation of land reforms. The local bodies in West Bengal perform civic duties and undertake developmental activities like construction and maintenance of hospitals, schools and libraries, promotion of agriculture, cooperatives and cottage industries, child welfare activities, etc. They play an important role in the local-level planning and implementation of government schemes. Panchayats in West Bengal have played an important role in activities like mobilising cooperation for improving agricultural production, management of local resources, and identification of beneficiaries for housing, poverty alleviation and social security programmes. This has made the panchayats a critical institution of local governance in the West Bengal countryside.

The fact that these institutions are democratic and have a large representation of the working people is an achievement that makes

everyone proud.

III

Rural Economic Development

Rural West Bengal was known for agricultural stagnation until the 1970s. Reports of several official committees as well as the Seventh Plan document noted the underutilisation of productive potential in rural West Bengal. Left Front's coming to power in the State was like a new dawn for rural West Bengal. The post-1977 period has seen a remarkable growth of rural economy. The change in the correlation of class forces in the favour of working people through implementation of land reforms and reorganisation of panchayats helped the State not only in overcoming the agrarian impasse but in achieving growth rates of agricultural production as were unmatched by any other State in the country. Some of the important achievements of development of agriculture and allied sectors during the period of Left Front government are as follows:

• In the post-1977 period, the foodgrain production in West Bengal grew at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, which was highest among

seventeen most populous States of India.

• West Bengal has emerged as the largest producer of rice and second largest producer of potato in the country.

• Cropping intensity in West Bengal has increased from about 136 per cent in 1980-81 to about 180 per cent in 2000-01, second highest in the country.

• Scholarly studies have reported that high agricultural growth was

characteristic of most crops and was widespread across districts.

• Economic conditions of agricultural workers have improved considerably as a result of land reforms and rise in wages. In the 1980s, the growth of agricultural wages in West Bengal was highest among all States of India. Agricultural growth in the post-1977 period also led to expansion of employment in agriculture.

• West Bengal has also improved production in other sectors of rural economy. It has the largest production of fish and fish seedlings among all India States. The development of agriculture and allied sectors has brought significant changes in the material conditions of life of people of West Bengal.

• West Bengal had the highest growth of per capita net state domestic product among all States in the country in the 1990s.

• The decline in rural poverty between 1977-78 and 1997 was highest in West Bengal among all States of India. In this period, the proportion of people below poverty line declined in rural West Bengal by 36 percentage points.

• Data show that the per capita calorie intake in rural West Bengal

increased by 184 kilocalories between 1987-88 and 1993-94. In the same period, the per capita calorie intake in rural India as a whole declined by 38 kilocalories.

• West Bengal was the only State in the country where monthly per

capita cereal consumption increased between 1972-73 and 1993-94. In all other States the consumption of cereals fell in absolute terms.

IV

Education and Health

Initiatives of the Left Front for the expansion of literacy and school

education have had to face severe obstacles. Despite these, the Government of West Bengal has undertaken several important initiatives for the expansion of literacy and primary education. The budgetary allocation for education has gone up from 12 per cent in 1976-77 to about 25 per cent in 2000-01. The number of primary schools increased from about 57 lakhs in 1978 to 1.23 crores in 1999. The government has also set up a large number of Child Education Centres. The average distance between schools and living settlements has gone down and that in opening new schools, the Left Front government has concentrated on areas having large population of dalits and adivasis. The number of teachers increased raising the average number of teachers per primary school to three in 1992. Left Front has also made every effort to improve the working conditions of teachers. The government made all school education free and started special schemes for providing textbooks to school children and uniforms to girl students. West Bengal, for example, introduced a system of no-detention or automatic promotion for the first five years of school. As a result of these, the school enrolments have gone up substantially. The Education Commission reported that the school enrolments increased by about 80 per cent between 1977 and 1992. The NSSO data show that in 1993-94 about 65 per cent of all children of age 5-14 attended school in rural West Bengal; the corresponding figure for India as a whole was 63 per cent. Rural West Bengal was particularly ahead in terms of attendance rates among girls: in West Bengal over 61 per cent girls attended school while the corresponding figure for India as a whole was only 55 per cent.

While these achievements are noteworthy, the Left Front is acutely

aware that there is much still to be desired in the area of expansion of education and has taken important steps in the recent years to attain the objectives of universal literacy and primary school education.

The government has given priority to improving the public health system of West Bengal in the recent years. Certain achievements in this sphere are of note:

1. West Bengal had the second lowest crude death rate in 1999 (7.1, the lowest being 6.4 for Kerala) among all States in India.

2. In 1999, West Bengal has the third lowest birth rate among all States of India.

3. Life expectancy at birth is about 72 years in West Bengal, which is next only to Kerala and Maharashtra.

4. Among all States, the public health system in West Bengal covers the largest proportion of the population (about 70 per cent).

It is clear that the achievements of Left Front government in the area of public health are substantial. The government seeks to build further on these achievements in the coming future.

V

Initiatives for the Socially Weaker Sections

Dalits and Adivasis

Dalits and adivasis have been the major beneficiaries of implementation of land reforms and reorganisation of local government.

As mentioned before, about 42 per cent of the recorded bargadars and 55 per cent of the beneficiaries of land redistribution were dalits and adivasis.of all social and caste groups, dalits and adivasis have had the largest representation in the panchayati raj institutions and their representation has been increasing over the years. These two major initiatives of the Left Front government have gone a long way in empowering dalits and adivasis in West Bengal.

There are also a large number of schemes designed specifically to

support dalits and adivasis. At present about 32,000 dalit students and 28,000 adivasi students are provided with expenses for living in hostels at the pre-secondary level. The government has also constructed about 240 hostels for primary and secondary students from dalit and adivasi communities and at present 7,200 students are living in these hostels. Day scholarships are provided to 1.1 lakh dalit students and 80,000 adivasi students.

Government has established a SC ST Development and Finance Corporation to support poor dalit and adivasi families by providing finance for household-based self-employment schemes. West Bengal Tribals Development Coperatives Corporation has helped form about 120 multipurpose and 2 women cooperatives. These cooperatives generated employment of the order of 80,000 labour days in 1999-2000 through organising collection of kendu leaves and shaal seeds.

Minorities

Providing social security and economic support to the minorities has been an important concern of the Left Front government. LFG has established a West Bengal Minorities Development Finance Corporation that provides loans for self-employment programmes and training to persons from minority communities to help them economically. West Bengal also provides scholarships to meritorious students from the minority communities.

Women

Women’s empowerment has been an important goal for the Left Front. The most important work done by the Left Front government

towards this end has been to give joint and individual pattas (land title deeds) to 5.5 lakh women. The State has also, in accordance with the 73rd and 74th amendments, reserved 33 per cent of the seats and posts of chairpersons in the panchayati raj institutions for women. It is, however, noteworthy that the actual representation of women exceeds one third as a number of women candidates also win in the general constituencies. At present, about 36 per cent of the gram panchayat members are women.

Also, 7 out of 17 zilla parishads have a woman sabhadhipati and 155 out of 351 panchayat samities have a woman sabhapati. Several other initiatives have been undertaken by the State for economic and social security and upliftment of women. About 50,000 women are covered under stipends for widows and aged women. About 1 lakh women have been supported through projects of the Society Welfare Board. There are a large number of cooperatives run by women: these include 210 dairy cooperatives, 66 industrial cooperatives, 29 credit societies and a large number of canteens and weaving cooperatives. In the recent years, there has been a large mobilisation of self-help groups, mainly of women, in some of the districts. Medinipur alone has about 21,000 such self-help groups.

VI

Safeguarding Democracy and Democratic Rights

The Left Front Government has made sustained and serious attempts to strengthen democratic institutions and guaranteed the democratic rights and civil liberties of the people of the state. This has been done with the understanding that deepening of democracy represents the essential precondition for advancing the interests of the toiling masses and ensuring that the fruits of development actually accrue to them.

The state had experienced 6 long years of semi-fascist terror unleashed by the Congress Central and State governments between 1971 and 1977 which was directed at liquidating the base of the C.P.I.(M) in particular and the Left in general. All democratic rights were trampled upon and any opposition to this murder of democracy was met with severe repression. 

The restoration of democratic rights was bound to a key agenda of the newly elected Left Front Government. Having been the victim of draconian laws, the Left Front Government has consistently refused to implement such laws like the NSA, TADA and POTA. Full trade union rights were restored and all sections of the people, including police personnel, regained their legitimate right to association and collective bargaining. Even more pertinent is the approach of the Government towards the struggles of the toilers. Common experience shows that in states ruled by parties of the bourgeois-landlord ruling classes, struggles of the working class, peasantry and other sections are often met with repression by the police. The Left Front Government has forbidden the police from interfering in legitimate struggles of different sections of the people. The Government has not satisfied itself with this alone and does not play the role of a bystander in the battles between the exploited and the exploiters. It brings its weight to bear in favour of the workers in negotiations and tripartite talks. Besides the strength of the trade union general democratic movement in the state, this role of the Left Front Government has also made a big contribution to significant gains made by workers and other toilers in the state over the past 25 years.

The Left Front Government has also strengthened democracy in the state by upholding the sanctity of different democratic institutions. West Bengal is one of the few states where elections to panchayats and other civic bodies have been held regularly every 5 years. West Bengal under the Left Front was the first state to reduce the voting age in elections to civic bodies from 21 years to 18 years. The thorough going land reforms carried out in the aegis of the Left Front Government have led to economic empowerment of the rural poor. This accompanied by devolution of greater powers to panchayats and the powerful mass movement led by the Left have provided the real basis for the deepening of democracy and exercise of democratic rights in West Bengal.

This burgeoning of democracy at the grassroots has not come without a price. Ruling class political parties like the Trinamul-BJP combine and the Congress as well as landlords and other rural rich have waged a relentless battle to roll back the gains made by the rural poor and done their level best to subvert the democratic process. Thousands of cadres of the Left Front parties have sacrificed their lives to foil these designs in the last twenty five years. Over 300 cadres of the Left were killed in 3 districts of the state between 1999 and 2001 while fighting the terror unleashed by goons of the Trinamul Congress.

The Left Front Government has also consistently championed anothercrucial aspect of Indian democracy. This concerns the devolution of greater financial, legislative and administrative powers to the states. The long stretch of Congress rule at the Centre saw the steady erosion of the powers of the states. This situation has deteriorated further with the coming into power at the Centre of a combination led by the BJP, a party which upholds a unitary form of government. The Left Front Government has repeatedly raised the issue of democratic restructuring of Centre-State relations in the past 25 years. In doing so it has not restricted itself to raising specific demands relating to the state alone but also tried to mobilise other state governments and parties around demands relating to strengthening of federal polity in general as well. It is this record of the Left Front Government which has led to West Bengal being justly called the advanced outpost and bastion of democracy in India today.

VII

In Defence of Communal Harmony and Rights of the Minorities

The extent to which communal harmony has been ensured in West Bengal during the 25 year rule of the Left Front can be fully understood only in the context of the escalation in communal tensions in India in the same period.This period, especially from the mid 1980s, has seen the rapid rise of communal forces, represented by the RSS-BJP and other outfits of the Hindu Right. This process has been accompanied by growing communal polarization and heightened attacks on the minorities in large parts of the country leading to the loss of thousands of innocent lives. The recent State sponsored carnage of minorities in Gujarat epitomises the grave dangers inherent in the growth of communal forces. In contrast to this, West Bengal has presented a picture of communal amity and peace throughout this period. It is only the principled politics of the Left, backed by a strong secular movement among the people which has kept West Bengal away from the horrifying violence that has accompanied the growth of communalism. Maintenance of communal harmony and defence of the rights of the minorities would not have been possible without the Left Front being in power in Bengal during this trying period.

It is not as if communal forces and elements are absent in West Bengal.The opportunist role of the Congress vis-a-vis communal forces and the alliance of the Trinamul Congress with the BJP have provided scope for communal forces to extend their sphere of activities into West Bengal.

Attempts by such forces to create communal tensions and riots have not been lacking and continue till date. In the aftermath of the assassination of Smt. Indira Gandhi concerted attempts were made to unleash anti-Sikh riots. The late 1980s and early 1990s which saw the extensive hate campaign by the RSS-BJP and their associates, leading to widespread riots were other such occasions. In all these cases the designs of the communal forces were effectively thwarted by the firm intervention of the Left Front Government accompanied large scale mobilisation of cadres of the Left parties in defence of communal harmony and the minorities at the ground level. The continuous ideological campaign among the people for defence of secularism by both the state government and Left parties created the atmosphere in which attempts to disrupt communal harmony could be quickly and decisively defeated.

It is correctly said that protection of the interests of the minorities is the litmus test of democracy which is de facto majority rule. The Left Front has taken several steps to ensure that the minorities get their due share in development. The advance of secular and democratic practice under Left Front dispensation has provided equal opportunities for minorities, especially Muslims who constitute 24% of the state’s population. These opportunities have enabled them to launch struggles for better living standards, educational and other facilities and a life of dignity in general. Muslim peasants have received their due and proportionate share in the over one million acres of land distributed, without any discrimination. Similarly large number of Muslim peasants are among those one and a half million sharecroppers who have been registered under Operation Barga, thereby assuring them of their agricultural rights and freedom from rapacious exploitation by the landlords.

The Left Front Government has set up a specific department of Minorities Development and Welfare. Working under its aegis, the West Bengal Development and Finance Corporation has started several projects for giving loans on easy terms for self-employment to minorities. Rs. 1781lakhs were disbursed under such schemes in 2001-2002. This allocation for disbursement for the year 2002-2003 has been increased almost three times to Rs.5083 lakhs. The Government has provided financial assistance towards hostel accommodation for girls students from educationally backward sections of the minorities, besides providing similar assistance to technical/professional institutions run by organisations of educationally backward minorities and pre-examination coaching to these sections. It also sanctions stipends to minorities for training in different crafts and vocations.

The Left Front Government has made a conscious effort to promote the rights of linguistic minorities in the state. Urdu speaking Muslims constitute both a religious and linguistic minority. Keeping the cultural identity and needs of this section in mind the Left Front Government established the Urdu Academy at the same time as the establishment of the Bangla Academy. The Urdu Academy brings out a large number of publications besides providing text books at subsidised rates for students from the secondary to post-graduate stage. Effective steps have also been taken to promote the Nepali language. Another example of the Government’s commitment to meet the cultural requirements of the minorities is that of development and provision of the Alchiki script for the Santhali language.

At a time when communal forces control the levers of state power and are doing their best to promote communalism and impose their sectarian vision of a unitary form of culture, the Left Front Government stands out a worthy example of defence of secularism, communal harmony, the rights of religious minorities and the promotion of the cultural needs and aspirations of different linguistic minorities.