--classstrugggle-flipmag | Page 9

slogans of culture and civilizations as if it were the failures of masses. Burdening the masses with taxes and cess indirectly by chanting lofty slogans and schemes is not a new practice in our country. Right from the British-colonials, to their present day heirs-our rulershave been imposing such cess on common men and toiling masses and looting them. Already we are having Education Cess, Higher educationcess, National High-road cess, Pure fuel cess etc. through which the central government is gaining an income of Rs.1,16,000crores every year. Besides this the central government and state governments are collecting water cess, worker’s welfare cess and the building and other constructions’ welfare cess etc. added to E.S.I.contributions. Thousands of crores of rupees are being collected through these cesses and contributions and none of these amounts are being spent for the realisation of the purpose of these cesses.The construction workers are left in a destitute condition despite huge-amounts of funds areaccrued and accumulated with the government, to their supposed welfare. Such has been our experience for all these 68 yrs. The benefits as prescribed are not at all reaching the real beneficiaries. On the other-hand despite the so-called development and advancement of technology even as on today, the despicable practice of manual scavenging isa practice in our country including in the government organizations. The conditions of the down-trodden workers-the dalits-who are forced and involved in to this work are inhuman and unacceptable. They are languishing in deplorable, unhuman conditions. But the highly touted ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign, has nothing in its programmes, to bring-out the wellbeing and uplift of these socially and economically suppressed manual scavenging December 2015 workers and waste pickers. More over the very recent Maharashtra government’s decision to showing the posts of manual scavenging, in municipalities and panchayats, as a means of employment shows that our rulers have staunchly determined to continue manual scavenging that too with those people of drown trodden classes and sections. This very fact itself exposes the hypocrisy of our rulers about their ill-class and casteintentions hidden in their ‘Swachh Bharat’ proclamations. Thus the ‘SWACHH BHARAT’ mission proves to be a ruse on one hand