Press Release, 27.02.2003

Fifteen thousand farmers gather in Mandleshwar to protest against
electricity tariff hikes in Madhya Pradesh

Collective declaration of civil disobedience, electricity bills stopped
in over 500 villages in five districts of Madhya Pradesh : Jan Ayog
formed under the chairmanship of Ex- CEA Chairman Shri Sambhamurty to
assess power sector reforms in Madhya Pradesh

Nearly fifteen thousand farmers and workers belonging to 5 districts of
Nimad region of Madhya Pradesh including Khargone, Dhar, Badwani , Dewas
and Khandwa took part today in a massive public protest in Mandleshwar
under the aegis of the Nimad  Malwa Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan to raise
their voices against the recent, huge and completely unjustified
increase in electricity tariff hikes in the state at the instance of the
Asia Development Bank. These farmers and mazdoors have responded to the
tariff increase that will take away water from the fields and light from
the homes of millions of people by launching a programme of civil
disobedience with the central slogan of " Videshi gulami nahi sahenge,
Bill nahi Jail bharenge" (we will not withstand foreign domination, we
will fill not the electricity bills, but the jails) that had spread to
over 500 villages in the state by now.

The public program was addressed by local farmer leaders  Manshram Jat
of District Dhar, Kalubhai of Village Mardana, Dr. Dongre of Kasrawad,
Mahesh Billorey of Karahi, Lokendra Dhangar of Anjad region, and women
activists Matamai, Punijiji and Sundar bai, as well as Magsayasay winner
and peace activist Shri Sandeep Panday, national farmer's leader Shri
Vijay Jawandia, Ms. Shalmali Guttal of FOCUS, Shamim Meghani of Shramik
Adivasi Sangathan, Vijaybhai of Adivasi Mukti Sangathan and Shri Alok
Agarwal, senior activist of the NBA as well as a founder of the Nimad
Malwa Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan. The program was interspersed with songs
of struggle, patriotism and celebrating the Narmada, and was conducted
by Shri Sanjay Nigam. The farmers and leaders of the struggle called
upon the state and Central governments to immediately cancel the
agreement that they have signed with the Asian Development Bank and to
take back the hike in electricity tariffs and warned the government that
the people of this state would not withstand the subordination of public
interest to foreign capital and their institutions including
multilateral institutions such as the Asian Development Bank. They
declared that if the governments do not respond positively to the
demands of the people, and do not immediately cancel the agreement with
the ADB and reverse the tariff hike, they would fill the jails of Madhya
Pradesh in thousands.

Addressing the public meeting, Jagdish Patidar, senior activist of the
Nimad Malwa Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan said that the privatization of
public infrastructure would badly affect the farmers and must be
therefore fought against at any cost. However, it must be recognized
that it was a part of a larger process of the state withdrawal from
crucial public support for the agricultural sector, at the instance of
the foreign institutions. Today, on the 27th of February, on the
anniversary of the Godhra incident that had sparked off the most tragic
and divisive period of Indian history since partition and independence,
he said that it was unfortunate that the main stream political parties
were refusing to respond the severe crisis facing the Indian farmers and
workers and the Indian state , and were instead playing at divisive
politics, Therefore the Nimad Malwa Kisan Maazdoor Sangathan had taken
on the challenge to develop a Kisan and Mazdoor agenda in the next few
months, through wide spread consultations that would put together issues
that are crucial to the survival of farmers and workers.

Shri Alok Agarwal, the leader of the struggle against the destructive
Maheshwar dam and one of the founder members of the Nimad Malwa Kisan
Mazdoor Sangathan said that in the coming days, it would be imperative
to extend the resistance to thousands of other villages all over the
state. He warned the assembled farmers and workers that it is becoming
increasingly clear that the state and Central governments were trying to
sabotage and dismantle the state electricity board as a public sector
entity. The daily newspaper reports about the failure of the thermal
plants and the proposed retrenchment of 24,000 workers out of a total of
63,000 workers points in this direction. However, the experience of the
power sector in private hands had failed even in the most developed
state of the most developed country in the world  that of California
where the massive tariff increases by the private operators and the
resulting opposition forced the Governor to say that electricity is a
public utility, not a luxury good and so it cannot be allowed to be in
private hands. Therefore the survival of the farmers and the rural poor
was dependent on the survival of the State Electricity Board and we must
fight to save it and the entire production economy of Madhya Pradesh.

He said that although the ADB loan was for reforms, there was no
improvement and the only outcome seems to be the ongoing dismantling of
the MPSEB and to raise the electricity tariffs sufficiently high so as
to attract private industrialists and multinational corporations. He
said that the power sector reforms and the repeated tariff increases in
Madhya Pradesh needed to be subjected to the most intense public
scrutiny and the Nimad Malwa Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan was privileged to
announce today the formation of such a Jan Ayog (People's commission) to
be headed by the Ex- Chairman of the Central Electricity Authority -
Shri Sambhamurty. Shri Probir Purakayashta, well known energy expert
would also be part of this commission.

Women leaders of this area  Matamai of Village Pathrad, Sundarbai of
Village Mardana and Punijiji of Village Sulgaon also addressed the
gathering and especially the thousands of women gathered there. They
said that now women would have to rise for the defence of their
families, their villages and the country and that they must be prepared
to face even the gallows or death to stop this destruction and foreign
slavery. They announced that the next phase of the struggle against the
tariff hike would be under the leadership of the organization  the
Narmada Shakti Dal and that they would organize Gram Suraksha Samitis
(Village Protection committees) and Grid Suraksha Samitis ( Grid
Protection Committees) to prevent the state from severing their
electricity connections and plunging them into darkness.

Addressing the rally, Shri Vijay Jawandia, prominent farmer leader from
Maharashtra shared the experience of the farmer's organizations from
Maharashtra and the rest of the country and said that the WTO regime was
crushing the farmers and pushing them to starvation and suicide,
therefore the only alternative was to unite and fight whether it was for
state support for procurement of cotton such as the farmers of
Maharashtra had done, or against the privatization of public
infrastructure. Shri Sandeep Pandey, peace activist and Magsaysay award
winner called on the people to understand the link between globalisation
and militarism. He said that it was important to understand that the
wars against Afghanistan, Iraq or North Korea was not against global
terrorism but to consolidate the economic interests of the developed
countries and corporate rule throughout the world. Ms. Shalmali Guttal
of FOCUS said that there was no alternative but to fight because it was
not only in the power sector that the ADB was bringing in anti-people
policies. Privatization of water, one of the most important of human
needs is also very much a part of their agenda, therefore we need to
prevent the takeover of our country by such institutions. She described
the struggle against Samut Prakan Project in Thailand where the people
eventually won against the ADB. She said that an alliance was emerging
all through the world against the Asia Development Bank and other
foreign financial institutions and so we must link up with these other
struggles to be able to make an impact.

It may be noted that on the 30th of November 2002, the Madhya Pradesh
State Electricity Regulatory Commission responded to the MPSEB's
petition (made in compliance with Asia Development Bank's conditions for
the release of its second tranche ) for a 600% increase in tariffs by
awarding an 800% increase !! Anticipating the tariff hike, the Nimad
Malwa Kisan Mazdoor Sanghathan and the Jan Sangharsh Morcha that is the
forum of people's organizations in the state, offered resistance to this
move and through October and November 2002, organized an Azadi Bachao 
Bijli Bachao yatra and large public demonstrations and protests all
through the state. This public pressure forced the state to subsidise
the tariff increase, but even after subsidies, the increase works out to
300 %, i.e. a 67% increase in the bills to be paid and a decrease in the
amount of electricity for which these tariffs are applicable from 24
hours to 6 hours.

However the peasants and mazdoors of Madhya Pradesh are not in a
position to withstand these tariff increases, especially given the over
all situation of the WTO regime, the fall in prices of agricultural
commodities and increase in the price of agricultural inputs, fall in
rural employment and continuing drought for the last five years. The
first tariff increase in November 2001, also part of ADB's
conditionalities has already put thousands of farmers outside the grid.

Sanjay Nigam Mangat Verma Chittaroopa Palit