Himachal Apple Farmers Organise Protests against Corporate Domination
The rise of liberalisation and neoliberal policies on farm sector has seen two trends .
On one side , for farmers , there is a consistent reduction in subsidies , increased input costs through privatization of government seed and fertilizer companies , unavailability of government credit and enforcement of microfinance sharks . All these severely affected the majority of farmers and farm labour .
On the other hand , Private Corporates received huge subsidiesconcessions ; reduced or zero inputs costs- government providing free land , electricity ; cheap public bank loans with no collateral ; and above its conducive insolvency and labour laws . All these saw a sharp rise of billionaires and monopoly forces .
Opulent bellies on one side , starving stomachs on the other ; the Government took a side , the side of
from page 22 AP Crisis ....
The present economic condition of the state is the part of that crisis . The anti-feudal , anticomprador bourgeois and anti imperialist new democratic revolution is the only alternative .
“ Com . TN explained how the Indian big bourgeoisie after the transfer of power allowed the foreign finance capital to exploit the country . He also explained how the Indian big bourgeoisie allied itself with feudal landlords and helped them to intensify feudal exploitation along with the growing capitalist relations and as a result Indian big bourgeoisie along with feudal landlord class became counter-revolutionary . He made it clear that the peoples ’ democratic revolution can succeed only under the leadership of the proletariat .
Com . Jaswantharao stated in the foreword to 2nd edition of the book ” India Mortgaged ”. �
October - 2021 the Monopoly capital , the side that accumulates by exploitation against the hands that toil , against the proletariat .
Himachal Pradesh , a state that has about 30 % [ 5000 crore market ] of our entire apple production saw the same trend . A decade ago corporates were given huge concessions for setting up controlled-atmosphere storage facilities . With the loans they got from public banks they initially paid high prices for apple producers and destroyed the small trades . Once they ensured the producers have no markets they started reducing the procurement prices .
Farmers also saw a tremendous increase in their input costs like fertilizers and pesticides after they were taken by private players .
Adani group which established complete supply chain line is the largest operator of controlled storage facilities in Himachal . It suddenly
Recently , Ford Motors India has announced that it will close its Gujarat ’ s Sanand Plant by the year end and it ’ s Chennai Plant by 2022 . Ford entered India in the mid-1990s in the wake of liberalisation dreaming of a huge growth in middle and upper middle classes . Liberalisation proved disastrous not only to the majority of Indians but also to the dreams of Ford which failed to adapt to the Indian markets .
This is the third exit of a western automaker in the recent years after General motors and Harley-Davidson . These are some of the examples of how poor the idea of ‘ Make-In-India ’ was conceived and executed .
Ford claims that it has incurred $ 2 billion operational loss in the last decade . This after obtaining many concessions on land and taxes apart reduced the procurement price of apple by around 20 % percent per KG .
Added to it , the Governments ’ collusion with big corporates like Adani ensured APMC norms are flouted with impunity . Even the condition that 25 % of their storage facilities be allocated to farmers is also flouted . And if the Black farm laws are implemented , all these can be done legally .
Thus , this became a clear case for the ill effects of corporatisation of agri-sector and vindicates the stand of the farmers agitating across the country against the black farm laws , the blue print for this corporation of agriculture .
The case is equally worse with tand stone fruits farmers . Thus Himachal farmers saw themselves as part of a wider oppressed class and are joining broader movements by organising , protesting with other groups like SKM .
�
Ford Plant Workers Protest against Planned Plant Closure
from cheap labour . It has already exited another emerging market Brazil . Its recent announcement to invest $ 30 billion by 2030 on electric vehicles could be the real reason for its exit . Even companies such as General Motors , Renault SA and Stellantis NV are moving out of unprofitable ventures and redirecting their capital to electrification and investments in more profitable technologies . This only proves that Capitalism runs wherever profits takes and doesn ’ t care an iota for the people .
There are over 1200 workers in Sanand Plant alone . They are working there since 7 years and now suddenly their lives are thrown into jeopardy . They are now protesting at the plant demanding the government ’ s intervention and the plants continuation .
� 25