• Vajpayee’s defence of privatisation and globalisation defies logic

• Vajpayee’s invitation to Musharraf for talks:
  Peaceful and friendly relations between India and Pakistan are the deep aspiration of both our peoples

• Increasing military cooperation between US and India
  Oppose the dangerous moves of the rulers!

• Why Hunger?

• "Realise our strength and advance!"
  Youth camp organised by Lok Raj Sangathan

Vajpayee’s defence of privatisation and globalisation defies logic

Speaking at the 27th Standing Conference of Labour in New Delhi on May 18, 2001, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said this in defence of privatisation: "But what can we do when a unit incurs losses continuously? When we disinvest we have to take care of labour interests but the very concept of disinvestment cannot be challenged". Disinvestment is the term that the ruling Indian political class has been using to describe the liquidation of many of India’s public sector enterprises through sale to private Indian and foreign monopolies, as well as through closures.

The Prime Minister said these words amongst other things to justify the government’s stand in the wake of the mounting opposition of India’s working class to the anti-working class, anti-national program of globalisation, privatisation and liberalisation. So widespread is this opposition that in the very meeting that the Prime Minister addressed, none other than the General Secretary of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Shri Dave said: "Government’s sincerity has been affected by whatever has happened in Modern Foods and Balco". Shri Dave further declared—"We can say without any hesitation that the economic policies are against the national interests and the interests of labour and industry".

Why should the working class not challenge privatisation?

The very concept of privatisation is anathema to the working class and progressive mankind. The reason is it goes against the direction of development of human society in the past century. The entire issue is this: Does or does not the state have a responsibility to provide security of life and livelihood to every citizen? That is, providing health care, education, food security, a roof over the head as well as a healthy natural and social environment for all. Since the launching of the economic reforms by Narasimha Rao, successive central governments have in practice declared that the state does not have these responsibilities. Instead, the state would put all the resources of the whole of society in the hands of the biggest Indian and foreign capitalists and do propaganda that the flourishing of capitalists and imperialists with the assistance of the state would somehow provide better life to the working class and peasantry. Within this context, many of the Public Sector Enterprises have been either sold off fully or partially; others are waiting for the axe to fall....

Privatisation means the state washing its hands of responsibility to the workers and peasants and society as a whole. In this period of retrogression world-wide, world imperialism and the Indian bourgeoisie have declared that "every one must fend for himself or herself", with the state responsible to protect the interests of the biggest exploiters.

Vajpayee tries to confound the issue by talking of losses made by PSU’s as the reason for privatisation. Workers must ruthlessly cut to pieces this absurd logic and justification. First the facts. The two enterprises that have been privatised so far are Modern Foods in January 2000 and BALCO recently. Both were profit making PSU’s. Both had massive assets. Modern Foods in the shape of real estate as well as machinery in dozens of cities and towns spread all over the country, and a huge market share and a brand name. BALCO in the shape of captive power plants, and the rich aluminium deposits in Korba leased to Balco by the state. It is precisely because the buying of these two companies was extremely lucrative that HLL and Sterlite bought them respectively. So, when Vajpayee laments that "what can we do when a unit incurs losses continuously?" he cannot be talking of BALCO and Modern Foods. Obviously the justification for privatising Balco and Modern Foods comes under the category of "very concept of disinvestment cannot be challenged". That is, the workers must accept that the state wash its hands of responsibility to society and instead put the entire resources of society in the hands of the capitalists and imperialists. This is precisely what has happened in the first two cases of privatisation.

The second question workers must raise is this: Why would any capitalist or imperialist want to buy a part or whole of a loss making PSU? They would do so if they can make maximum profits by a combination of modernisation/ restructuring and through closures/ retrenchments/ sale of assets like land, etc. The issue arises, if a PSU is loss making because of outdated technology/ bad management practices etc., why cannot the state invest in the PSU to modernise it, retrain and redeploy the work force etc., and ensure that the interests of the workmen as well as the interests of society are safeguarded. Is Vajpayee’s talk about "we have to take care of labour interests" not simply just hot air? For how is Vajpayee going to ensure that HLL or Sterlite or any other multinational that takes over a PSU is going to take care of workers interests, when the Indian government itself is cynically washing its hands of this responsibility. For instance, in the case of MFIL, three leaders of the MFIL Employees Union of the Lawrence Road Bread Making Unit have been persecuted for over 7 months, facing termination of services merely for daring to defend the interests of workers. How does Vajpayee "take care of labour interests" of these MFIL workers? How does his government propose to take care of labour interests of the thousands of workers of BALCO and MFIL who are facing the sword of losing their jobs, sooner rather than later?

The third question is that should we regard the taking care of the old and the infirm, the physically and mentally handicapped as a loss for society? Should we regard education and culture and health care from the point of view of whether a capitalist makes profits from it or not? For capitalists and imperialists, their overriding concern is what goes into their bank balance whether it comes from education, health care, arms dealing, constructing bad bridges or any other. If they can maximise it any which way, then fine otherwise they ruthlessly deploy the capital, into some other sector where their bank balance will increase maximally. This they do with utter disregard for what happens to the workers or the whole of society. But the working class has a different vision of a modern human society, in which the well being of the whole of society, that is providing for the whole of society, is the raison’d’etre of the economy. The economy must be oriented to ensure providing security of life and livelihood for all, and definitely not towards providing maximum profits for a minority of Indian and foreign exploiters. Either the one or the other. Prime Minister Vajpayee is speaking the language of the Indian and foreign bourgeoisie.

Why shouldn’t we Indians debate the merits of joining the WTO?

Defending the government’s policy regarding the WTO, he said: "There is a demand we should come out of it. But can we afford to remain isolated? Don’t we need foreign markets, goods and investments? What about our service industry?" He further said, " India is still debating joining WTO when many countries were waiting to join it."

The Narasimha Rao government signed the WTO in the face of widespread opposition from India’s workers and peasants and intelligentsia. Today, the opposition of the workers and peasants and intelligentsia has only deepened and broadened in scope, with many sections of the propertied classes who are being hit by the adverse impact of the WTO also joining the mounting opposition.

The Indian working class and peasantry have never reconciled to the WTO. The WTO agreement was signed behind the back of the people and parliament. At one stroke, the then government handed over a portion of sovereignty of our country to the WTO, an organisation controlled by the interests of dominant imperialist powers notably the USA. Successive governments have defended the joining of WTO and Prime Minister Vajpayee is merely repeating the tired arguments of his predecessors when he defends the eagerness with which his government is implementing the WTO regimen.

When Prime Minister Vajpayee says "can we afford to remain isolated?", he is falsely accusing the working class and peasantry of calling for isolation, cutting of trade links etc. Secondly he is making an unjustified assumption: foreign markets, goods and investments are somehow necessarily beneficial for India.

How does the working class pose the question? The fundamental issue is that the Indian economy must be a balanced economy with industry and agriculture and the services sector developed harmoniously with the single minded aim of providing for all the people and for creating material conditions for the satisfying of the growing needs of the present and future generations. Once such an orientation is accepted and implemented, the next question becomes the role of foreign trade, investments, etc. what is good for India and what is not good for India. If the working class had its way, that is if it were in power in India instead of the capitalist class, it will orient the Indian economy in the above mentioned direction and it will deal with other countries of the world in the arena of trade from the point of view of whether it benefits the whole of Indian society or not, in particular the workers and peasants and small producers. It certainly will not carry on trade merely to protect and advance the interests of the biggest Indian capitalists, as is the case today!! The problem with the Vajpayee government is that life is confirming the fears of workers and peasants that the Indian government is callous about the concerns of workers and peasants, and even small businessmen. This is the credibility crisis in which the government is mired in, which he is trying to slip out of by accusing the working class and peasantry of demanding "isolation"!

On the question of foreign investment, the entire history of the 20th century shows that imperialists invest somewhere not out of a good heart, but for reaping maximum profits. They do not come to give you jobs, to give you goods, but to destroy and rob you of what ever you have. We Indians have experience of this of over 400 years ever since the East India Company was welcomed by Emperor Jehangir in 1600. Far from the working class having to explain why foreign imperialist should not be welcomed to India, it is Prime Ministers Vajpayee’s responsibility to clearly explain how it is going to benefit India’s workers and peasants and contribute to defending Indian sovereignty. Just because some exporters of goods or services might or might not benefit from this is not a worthy argument that can answer this question of serious import. The bottom line is whether and how Indian society as a whole will benefit. As far as some exporters and traders and so on benefiting, even during the hey day of the East India Company and British colonial rule, there were such Indians who benefited, and did not care for the motherland or its fate.

India’s workers and peasants will keep raising the question of WTO and express their opposition to capitalist globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation because this course is in theory and practice anti-worker, anti-peasant and anti-national. Our struggle against globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation is waged with the perspective that the Indian economy must be radically reoriented to provide security of life and livelihood to its people, and not to satisfy the greed of a minority of Indians and foreign imperialist bloodsuckers.

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Vajpayee’s invitation to Musharraf for talks:

Peaceful and friendly relations between India and Pakistan are the deep aspiration of both our peoples

The Communist Ghadar Party of India welcomes the moves on the part of the two governments of India and Pakistan for dialogue. The peoples of India and Pakistan are brothers divided by a cruel act of history in which the British colonialists partitioned the nations of Punjab and Bengal on religious lines.

Those who came to power in the two countries in August 1947 played into the imperialists’ hands for their own narrow considerations. For over 54 years, successive rulers of the two countries have deliberately whipped up passions, organised numerous wars, built up a gigantic military war machine, and in general worked to ensure that the two societies consume themselves in a fruitless self-defeating fratricidal conflict without end. Among other things, the ruling classes of both countries have used the conflict as an effective method to deflect the anger of the toiling and oppressed peoples at the unjust, deeply exploitative, economic and political system inherited from colonial rule. Nevertheless, the popular pressure on the rulers of both countries to end the hostility has always existed and has manifested itself in several ways. Pressure to ensure peace has also been exerted on the two governments by the progressive sections of the international community. The present initiative for dialogue is also the result of such popular pressure from within and without South Asia.

One of the most contentious issues between India and Pakistan is Kashmir. Both governments of India and Pakistan until this day refuse to accept the enlightened and just position advanced by the progressive peoples that it must be the Kashmiri people themselves who should decide what their future ought to be. In other words, the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people is their inalienable right and as long as others, be it India or Pakistan, deprive them of this right by force, peace will not come to the Kashmir Valley.

Over 50 years ago, imperialism created the problem of Kashmir, with the collaboration of the bourgeoisie of India and Pakistan. The imperialists partitioned the homeland of the Kashmiri people, and turned millions of Kashmiris into refugees. Neither the Indian State nor the state of Pakistan recognises the sovereignty of the Kashmiri people, who have been brutally divided in 1948 against their will. The rulers of India and Pakistan have waged numerous wars against each other over Kashmir. The beautiful land of Kashmir has been drenched in the blood of countless victims of rape, torture, encounter deaths and genocidal killings.

The Indian government’s stand on Kashmir has not been a principled one at any time. India is regarded as a country which has indulged in the brutal subjugation of an unwilling people by force of arms, it is regarded as a country which regards Kashmir with a colonial imperialist mindset and brutally tramples on the human rights of the people. In response to pressure both within India and international, the Indian government announced a "cease-fire" against "militants" in Kashmir six months ago. This was an attempt to tell the people of Kashmir and the international community that the Indian rulers wanted peace and were intent on providing the conditions for peace in Kashmir. However, as events have shown, the Indian government was far from sincere in its intention. This can be seen from the fact that even during the period of the "cease-fire", several thousands of civilians as well as so-called "militants" have been killed by the army and paramilitary forces. The government used the cease-fire, not to create conditions for a lasting solution to the conflict, but with cynical aims which soon became obvious to all concerned. One such aim was to create a division amongst the fighting forces of Kashmir by favouring some and discriminating against others. Another was to isolate Pakistan, as well as groups based in Pakistan and in effect force Kashmiris to accept the partition of their homeland. As these aims came to be revealed, and promised no results, the Indian government was forced to acknowledge the failure of its "cease-fire". It is now trying to blame Kashmiris, but in fact, the withdrawal of the "cease-fire" is a ringing indictment of the insincerity of the government’s approach to the question of lasting peace in the valley.

While the move for talks between India and Pakistan is a welcome one, a result of the constant pressure of enlightened public opinion in both countries, the working class and people need to remain vigilant and retain the initiative. Many a time in the past, our rulers have launched such initiatives only to return to square one. Peace and friendship between India and Pakistan, a just solution to the Kashmir problem is in the interests of the toiling masses of the two countries. Therefore, the working class and all peace-loving forces must hoist the demand for lasting peace between our two countries and a just solution to the Kashmir problem.

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Increasing military cooperation between US and India

Oppose the dangerous moves of the rulers!

In early May, US President George Bush announced a new missile plan employing an array of missiles in space. While Russia, China and even some of the traditional allies of the US such as Germany have expressed grave apprehensions at this announcement, the Vajpayee government welcomed it with great enthusiasm. Claiming that "India lived in a tough neighbourhood", sections of the ruling circles exulted that the US missile defence plan was aimed against countries like China as well as Pakistan.

The US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage visited India on May 11 as the first high level Bush administration official. Significantly, he talked of "the beginning of a new relationship with India", adding that "we also have some serious concerns about Pakistan". His statement was music to the ears of those sections of the ruling class who are votaries for continuing the long standing conflict and animosity with Pakistan, a conflict which has brought death and destruction to the peoples of both India and Pakistan over the decades and diverted precious resources in both countries towards beefing up their war-machines. Armitage later stated that he was "delighted" over the warm support extended by India to the National Missile Defense system. U S Congressman Frank Pallone has called for stronger US-India defence ties. "Ultimately, I would like to see India and the US form a stable defence alliance. Such an alliance would help secure our national security and those of our allies while isolating nations, such as China which pose a threat to India and other Asian democracies."

U S Assistant Secretary of State-designate for South Asia, Christina Rocca, while appearing before the U S Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs said the Bush administration is committed to "continue the policy of substantive bilateral engagement" with India. She also stated that, "India is already playing a role beyond South Asia. … and we welcome India’s new global status….with that new role come new responsibilities - economic, political and military. In those areas, the United States and India can, with effort and cooperation, be partners."

Indian official sources state hectic pace of engagement with US had only just begun. . It was also stated that Vajpayee’s invitation to Bush to visit India has already been accepted, and that US Joint Chief of Staff Henry Sheldon would be coming to the capital for a day.

Indian officials took the opportunity of a visit by the Chinese politburo leader, Li Changchun, to launch a diplomatic initiative regarding India’s endorsement of George Bush’s ballistic missile defence proposals.

The U S moves today appear directed against China and those other countries whom the US views as rivals in their plans for global domination. However, it is obvious that this new version of the star wars program is, in a strategic sense, directed against all countries and peoples. US imperialism has no permanent friends, only permanent interests, and these permanent interests are to safeguard and expand US imperialist domination over the whole world. Keeping this in mind, it is extremely disturbing that the Indian government has, throwing all caution to the winds, come out as the most ardent supporter of the U S imperialists’ plans.

Those in the Indian ruling establishment who have voted for endorsing the US military plans obviously have a consideration. What could this consideration be? From all evidence it seems that these elements are hoping that the imperialist ambitions of the Indian ruling class are best realised by tying India to the apron strings of the US military chariot. In other words, these sections are working towards a strategic military alliance with the US to carve up Asia. By lauding India’s "new global status" and its role "beyond South Asia", the US imperialists hope to turn the Indian rulers into their dependable ally, at a time when they are rapidly losing friends. The recent instance of the U S being voted out of the Human Rights Panel in the United Nations is an example of its’ growing isolation internationally.

The history of the latter half of the twentieth century has shown time and again that various regimes, which ally themselves with U. S. imperialism, have brought death and destruction to their peoples, and have invariably had to bite the dust ignobly. The Shah of Iran, Pinochet of Chile, and Marcos of Philippines are some examples. Nearer home, the rulers of Pakistan over the decades have shown very vividly how dangerous latching on to the jackboots of U. S. imperialism can be. The extremely sorry state of affairs in every sphere of life in Pakistan today is a forceful testimony to the fact that unprincipled alliance with U. S. imperialism, which was a policy religiously followed by Pakistani rulers, spells destruction and sorrow for the peoples. U. S. imperialism isn’t very loyal to its supporters, as the unceremonious dumping of Pakistan by it in recent times shows.

It is thus imperative that the people of India thoroughly oppose the unprincipled alliance, which the ruling Indian bourgeoisie is building up with U. S. imperialism particularly in the military sphere.

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Why Hunger?

In our country of a 100 crore people, more than a third are hungry, undernourished or malnourished. Thus they are more vulnerable to diseases, do not live life to the full and die at an earlier age. The problem of hunger is a world wide one, as the following data indicates:

Hungry people (According to FAO)

In the world, the number of people dying due to hunger every day is 20 000, which amounts to more than 70 lakhs every year. The following figures will give an idea of poverty and its impact on their life expectancy.

What is the reason for this massive problem? It is possible that some people may think that people are hungry because there is over population – that there are too many people and not enough food produced for them. But is this really true? Let us look at the figures and then decide.

Annual Foodgrain Production in India.

Thus, when one considers that the population is 100 crore, the annual availability of wheat and rice works out to be 150 kg per person, and the monthly availability turns out to be 12.5 kg per person, which is definitely more than required. This is even more glaring when one considers matters on a world scale. The world now produces more food per inhabitant than ever before in history!

food available per person per day

Can one say that over population is the cause of hunger?

The question that strikes one is that if there is so much food produced in the world per person, why are people hungry? What happens to the food? Let us have a look at the food procured by the Food Corporation of India, a government agency, the distribution and the stock:

What one notices is that while procurement has increased by more than 1 ½ times in the past 5 years, the distribution through the PDS has not kept pace, and as a result, the stocks with the government are mounting. In fact, by June end, the stocks of wheat and rice in government godowns are expected to be 6 000 crore kg. And there value Rs.58 800 crore. Thus, the government is storing three times its requirement of buffer stocks and allowing people to starve while stocks rot. Last year, according to the FCI figures, 100 crore kg of the stock had to be placed on the damaged list.

In recent years the offtake of foodgrain by the states has been low, while the sales through the PDS are alarmingly low. The offtake of wheat has come down from 883 crore kg in 1991-92 to 500 crore kg. In 2000. The reason is that in 1997 the government introduced the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) which divided consumers into those below the poverty line (BPL) and those above (APL). While BPL consumers have to bear 50% of the actual cost, those from APL have to bear the full cost. This means that APL have to often pay more than the market price for material which is often of poorer quality than available in the market. The definition of the poverty line is such, that in Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, only 150 families have been issued BPL ration cards! It goes without saying that what is supplied to BPL ration card owners is foodgrains so unfit for human consumption that every workers family tries its level best to avoid picking up the rations, unless situation so warrants!

To add insult to injury, the government has begun cutting down on procurement of paddy and wheat citing poor quality and a burgeoning food stocks. So now it is the turn of the peasants to get hit. The government first makes it worthless for consumers to buy from the PDS through the TPDS and raising of issue prices of foodgrains to near market levels. then it turns around and attacks peasants saying since nobody is buying and we are stuck with stocks, we will buy no more!

Does this make sense? The stocks of food are mounting, every day we read in the papers that there is no storage space with the government any more, but people are hungry. More than 10% of food in the government godowns is eaten by rats and other pests, but it is not distributed. A few years back it was estimated that if all the food with the government were to be loaded into a train, that goods train would stretch all the way from Mumbai to Kolkata!

To add insult to the injury, the government allows export of foodgrains, and the economics of the trade is even more amazing.

Last year the procurement price for wheat (i.e. the price paid by the government to the farmers) was R.5.50 per kg. (This year it is Rs.6.10). If one adds the cost of storage and transport, it comes to Rs.8.30 per kg. And yet wheat was exported to South Korea, Indonesia, Middle East and Philippines at US $ 103 per ton. (The largest exporters, Australia and Canada got US$130 per ton). After subtracting the commission paid by the FCI to the export agents, what it got was Rs. 4.40 per kg – i.e. a loss of Rs. 4 per kg! And the price that consumers in India get through he ration shops is more than Rs.8!

If common people of our country had power, what would they have done? Yes, they would have given food to the hungry at affordable prices, rather than feeding the rats, allowing food to rot or exporting it at a loss. But our government does not do this. In whose interest does it act?

The export agents do earn a commission – US $2.5 per ton. This is paid by the government, i.e. by the common man. What is really important is that if the government released food to the hungry, the price of grain in the market would come down, and this would adversely affect the middlemen. So we see whose interests the government protects at the cost of the poor and hungry.

CAPITALISM IN AGRICULTURE

The Green Revolution was introduced in India in the sixties, allegedly to ensure food security to the country, but actually to promote capitalism in agriculture. While food production has grown – this year it is expected to touch a record high of 20 900 crore kg – and the government claims that India is self-sufficient in food, we have seen that a sizable fraction of Indians do not have food security – i.e. food that is available at all times, that is nutritionally wholesome and adequate both in terms of quantity and quality.

Through the Green Revolution, high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, tractors, etc. were introduced. Tractors are useful only for large tracts of land, and in any case, only the rich farmers can afford them. These big farmers have close links with credit institutions, enabling them to obtain cheap and easy credit. They get preferential access to diesel and other fuels for running farm equipment, electricity, fertilizers, seeds and information about modern methods of food production, storage and distribution.

Growth of Capitalism in Agriculture.

Due to these methods of production, production did rise. But since only the rich could avail of the new methods, the disparities in the countryside rose as well, the rich-poor gap widened and the poor were driven deeper into debt and landlessness.

Agricultural Census, 1984

Impact of the Green Revolution

(Note that in the decade in which the Green Revolution began, this number practically doubled).

Since liberalization, the focus has shifted to corporate agriculture. The subsidies have been withdrawn from small farmers; there is a lot of support for agribusiness industry and for crops that can be exported. The result is that good area under staple crops is now shifting to export crops, so that in due course we will have to import staple food. Between 1980 and 1998, the area (in crore hectares) under cereals has decreased slightly from 12.67 to 12.54, that under pulses has increased slightly from 2.25 to 2.38 (and thus their total has remained constant), while that under oilseeds has increased from 1.76 to 2.67, cotton from 0.04 to 0.93 and that under sugarcane from 0.09 to 0.41.

It is interesting to see who controls the world food trade.

World Food Trade

A look at this table will help us to understand what we saw earlier – that while other countries earned $130 for wheat exported, India earned $ 103 only per ton.

To get a feel for the economic might of these companies, let us see some facts about Cargill.

Cargill Corporation

• It is the 12^th largest company in the world.
• In oilseeds trade it is the largest in the world.
• Among phosphate fertilizer producers it is second largest in the world.
• It is among the largest traders in the world of food grains, coffee, cocoa, sugar, seeds, malt, and poultry.
• The largest earning of many African countries comes from coffee. The coffee turnover of Cargill is larger than the GDP of every African country that it buys coffee from.
• In 1999 its turnover of US $46 billion was greater than the total GDP of the poorest 15 sub-Saharan countries put together.
• Cargill is the largest privately owned company in the world, with the Cargill family owning 85% of it.

What do the world food traders want?

• Regular supply.
• Excess production to keep the prices low.
• Shift to export crops from food grains.

What is the impact?

• Lower food production, higher food prices, therefore more hunger.
• Small farmers driven out of land.
• Large capitalist farming encouraged.
• Migration of people from rural to urban areas.

News from Rajasthan:

• It is the worst hit among the 6 drought states, with every district but one reeling under chronic drought. 30 583 villages, with a population of 3.3 crore have been affected.
• According to the latest National Family Health Survey, more than half of all children below three years are undernourished and about half of all adult women suffer from anemia.
• For a large majority of the villages, this is the third consecutive drought. Even basic relief measures are absent.
• There has been an unprecedented abdication of the state responsibility for drought relief. The Famine Code clearly spells out the duties of the state, unequivocally stating, "Every person who comes for work on relief work shall be provided with work." Despite this, stiff ceilings have been imposed this year on the number of people to be employed. Relief works barely employed 3% of the population, when employment generation in these drought-hit villages was up to 10 times the present level. Today there are fierce fights over available jobs.
• There have been starvation deaths in Banswara district, unemployment is on the rise, children are dropping out of school, cattle are dying or being abandoned due to lack of fodder and villages are sinking deeper into debt. Migration is rampant.
• On the other hand, there is so much grain that the state government has run out of storage space. Some of these godowns are located only 75 km from areas where starvation is rampant.

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"Realise our strength and advance!"

Youth camp organised by Lok Raj Sangathan

"Aapni taakat ko pehchannen" (let us realise our strength) was the theme of the program. The camp in fact turned out to achieve just that. In it, the participants explored their strengths in various area and proclaimed them. The youth, boys and girls, arrived at the venue from different parts and participated in all the activities of the camp in an organised, disciplined manner for two days, without any discrimination or hindrances.

At the beginning of the camp, every youth came forward and introduced himself or herself to the others. After this, the aims of the Lok Raj Sangathan were explained briefly to them, as also the objectives and events planned at the camp.

The first event was of extempore speaking. Every participant was asked to choose a topic out of a list and present their vies on it for about 2 or 3 minutes, after preparing for about 10 minutes. Some of the topics were: an individual who has inspired me, my aspirations, an incident, which has touched me, etc. Everyone spoke very clearly and seriously, and was listened to with great discipline by the others.

After the lunch break, the participants were divided into groups. Each group was given a topic which they were to discuss among themselves for about forty five minutes and then reach conclusions. Some of the topics for the group discussion were: inequality in society; the legal system; whether population growth is the issue; everyday matters like ration, water and electricity; environmental pollution; discrimination against women in society; etc. After deliberating amongst themselves, one member of each group was to make a presentation about the conclusions reached to all. One of the activists of the Lok Raj Sangathan pointed out that population growth was not the issue. The bourgeoisie often does the propaganda that population growth is the reason for all problems facing us. But increasing population means that productive forces too are growing. The issue is not growing population, but the inequitable distribution of the produce, i.e. concentration of wealth at one end and poverty at the other. To hide the fact that the issue is of inequitable distribution, the bourgeoisie does a lot of propaganda about increasing population being the reason for all problems.

In the evening, each group presented their thoughts in the form of street plays. Even with very little time for preparation, the youth presented very interesting and entertaining plays, which articulated their thoughts very well. The day’s proceedings ended by asking each youth for his or her reactions.

The next day, a presentation was made on behalf of Lok Raj Sangathan, which explained what is political power, how it came into being, what the characteristics of the present - day political situation are, and what people need to do to empower themselves. A vigorous discussion followed this presentation.

This was followed by a workshop on "Theatre - a powerful medium of expression". After the lunch break, the participants were again divided into groups and asked to prepare plays on topics allotted. With only about half an hour to prepare, every group nevertheless came up with interesting plays, each of which created definite impact. The plays were so interesting that children from the neighbourhood came over to watch them in large numbers.

The participation of the boys and girls in the youth camp clearly shows how much energy, enthusiasm and ethics are present in the youth of our country. They have tremendous anger against injustice and inequity. If these qualities are properly channeled, the youth can become a big force for ending exploitation in society and marching foreword to a bright future. This is why Lok Raj Sangathan gives great importance to the task of mobilising the youth.

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