Handloom has become live grave for weavers

“Handloom has become live grave for weavers”
Edited by :Bijo Francis,AHRC and Dr. Lenin,PVCHR

INTRODUCTION:
Trade liberalization is the driving force of economic globalization, pursued relentlessly by rich nations and international financial institutions at the expense of the poor world.

When trade protection is liberalized too much or too quickly, imports climb steeply as new products flood in and cheaper, better-marketed goods price out local producers. Exports also tend to grow, but by less, restricted by relatively low demand for typical developing country exports – such as raw materials. As a result, local producers sell less than before trade was liberalized and short term gains to consumers are wiped out in the long term as incomes fall and unemployment rises. This has been the story of sub-Saharan Africa and other regions over the past 20 years.
The rich countries that dominate the IFIs(International Finance Institutions) and negotiations at the World Trade liberalization policies will improve the plight of the poor in developing countries. They claim, for example, that lowering developing countries’ barriers to trade in manufactured goods. As proposed in the WTO’s ongoing non-agricultural market access (NAMA) negotiations, would translate into poverty reduction by boosting economic growth, prices and employment opportunities. In fact, there is now substantial evidence to back up NGO’s longstanding claims that rapid liberalization policies actually cause a net loss for low and middle-income countries.
UNCTAD recently concluded from a study of the relationship between trade liberalization and poverty in the world’s poorest countries that: “ the incidence of poverty increased unambiguously in those economies that adopted the most open trade regimes.”

Time has come to intervene. Time has to take positions. Time has come when we cannot dabble. Time will not wait for us. Before, our Government goes and signs agreements(AoA,NAMA,GATS) in the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hongkong,13-18 December,2005 and barters the sovereignty of our country, we need intervene.
Some basic facts (need to be in conjunction with WTO-WB-IMF, hand-in-glove operations):
• US itself gives subsidies to its corporate agribusinesses and demands us to stop subsidies to our poor farmers.
• Privatisation of services (health, education, water, power….) is happening in a big way.
• Livelihoods are getting destroyed in a brazenly.
• While India's gradual approach to trade liberalisation clearly has contributed to increasing growth in some sectors in recent years and saved the country from serious de-industrialisation as experienced by many other developing countries that had no choice but to follow the 'big bang approach to liberalisation' advocated by the World Bank and the IMF economic reform has been no painless experience for small scale manufactures concentrated in India's traditional sectors of mass employment. Both in textiles and leather many people have lost their livelihoods and those still employed have seen their wages and conditions of work deteriorate.
• India is under pressure to liberalise its tariffs on industrial goods at the WTO
• The US and the EU have a strong interest in increasing market access to large developing country markets like India, Brazil and China and they are pushing hard for this to be realised in current NAMA negotiations at the WTO.
The negative impact of drastic reductions in India's industrial tariffs as a consequence of NAMA will be significant for large sections of India manufacturing industry .
“Handloom has become live grave for weavers.”It was said by a women weaver on the occasion of death anniversary of Savitri Ba Pule on 10 March,2003.Meanwhile within two years 39 weavers have lost their lives in Varanasi district as reported in local newspapers.One can speculate that there might be so many other deaths which go unnoticed .As we know that imperialistic globalisation is going to affect all walks of life deeply in Indian society.Some steps have already been taken in this direction.Structural adjustment program is being introduced under the pressure and direction of IMF which is affecting weaving industry and other public sectors.Poor weavers have been losing their jobs because of slow down of market and facing starvation.In remote country side areas around Varanasi city thousands of weavers were applied for weaving work,but today most of them have lost their jobs and starvation deaths are taking place in those areas.
Trade liberalisation in India - the true story

A brief history of reforms
India set about to drastically reform its economy in the early 1990s. Serious balance of payment difficulties demanded a change in economic policy and like in most other developing countries guided by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) structural adjustment and liberalisation became the order of the day. Public enterprises were privatised and public investment was cut back while production levels, interest rates, exchange rates and prices were left to be determined by the market.

On the trade front India rejected the big bang approach favoured by the IMF and the World Bank. Instead a more cautious and gradual process of liberalisation was initiated, starting with the elimination of export subsidies and gradual reductions in barriers to imports and exports. These autonomous reforms coincided with the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations and by the end of the round in 1995 India had undertaken commitments that promised to change its international trade regime substantially in the following decade. Under these commitments, India agreed to increase its percentage of bound tariff lines from only 6 percent to 72 percent of all tariff lines by 2005 (see box 1). For industrial products, the bound tariff rates had to come down from peak levels at 355 percent to average levels of 40 percent. Today India has gone further down the road to liberalised trade than what was warranted by these commitments. During the last five years average bound industrial tariffs have been reduced to 34.3 percent , whilst average applied tariffs on industrial goods have been reduced to 21.7 percent. Since 2001 average tariffs for chemical products and rubber industries along with traditional sectors like textiles, garments, leather and leather products have fallen from approximately 35 percent in 2001 to 20 percent (see figure 1).


Box 1: WTO tariff speak explained

















Almost simultaneously with the latest round of tariff reductions, India did away with a large number of quantitative restrictions on agricultural goods and a large range of import sensitive industrial goods and textiles. These restrictions had been in place since the onset of liberalisation partly to protect vulnerable farmers and small scale producers in India from the competition of cheap imports and partly to avoid balance of payment difficulties in the post-liberalisation period. However, following a successful challenge by the US and others at the WTO's dispute settlement body, India was forced to do away with practically all its quantitative restrictions over a period of a couple of years ending 1 April 2001.

The impact of trade liberalisation
The big idea behind the unleashing of market forces in India was the familiar notion that less state, more private initiative and international competition leads to more efficient outcomes. The Government of India wanted its economic reforms to restructure production towards areas of international comparative advantage in order to put the country back on a path of sustainable export fuelled economic growth. As India's areas of international comparative advantage are seen to be labour-intensive the Government of India predicted that after an initial period of net job losses trade liberalisation would create more sustainable employment.



Source: Kevan (2005) & Jha (2005)


The macro picture - steady progress
So what are the results? Have India's economic reforms resulted in higher economic growth, restructuring of the economy and increased employment? In terms of economic growth the answer appears to be yes. Economic growth rates have been impressive over the last couple of decades but interestingly the onset of economic growth does not coincide with the timing of extensive trade liberalisation. As table 1 clearly shows the growth rate of India's GDP picked up in the early 1980s; a decade before any serious trade reform was undertaken. Tariffs in India were actually higher during the 1980s when economic growth took off compared to the low growth period of the 1970s. Only tariffs on capital goods and components for manufacturing were lowered in the early 1980s onwards. And despite significant reductions in tariffs during the last 15 years India is still a relatively closed economy. Currently it has a score of 8 on the IMF's Trade Restrictiveness Index (TRI) which places it amongst the most restrictive of the world's economies. Consequently, it is partial liberalisation of the import regime, along with an increase in government spending, that has kick-started and sustained India's economic recovery and not broad based liberalisation, as it is often suggested.

Table 1: Annual growth of India's gross domestic product 1950-2002
1950-52 to 1960-62 1960-62 to
1970-72 1970-72 to
1980-82 1980-82 to
1990-92 1990-92 to
2000-02
Annual growth of GDP (%)
3.9
3.5
3.5
5.6
5.6
Source: Reproduced from Ghosh (2005)

Liberalisation has also impacted on the structure of the Indian economy but not necessarily in the way it was anticipated. The general decline of the importance of agriculture in national income has continued post liberalisation but whereas the services sector received a major boost from the onset of liberalisation and increased its share of GDP from 41.6 percent in 1990-92 to 49.2 percent in 2000-02 the share of industry stagnated at 24 percent. After a period of remarkable growth from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s the growth rate of Indian manufacturing production decreased from 1997 onwards to reach a low point of 3 percent annual growth in 2001. In recent years performance has once again improved and annual growth in manufacturing production reached approximately 7 percent in 2004-05. This is however, still lower than the double digit growth rates of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Impact on exports and imports
As intended India's trade reforms have resulted in increased export orientation, as well as increased imports. From 1980-81 to 2003-04 the share of exports to Gross National Product (GNP) increased from 5.14 percent to 11.71 percent. Imports' share of GNP rose from 9.61 percent to 14.33 percent in the same period. However, India still accounts for only 0.8 percent of global trade. The largest increase in both imports and exports have taken place in the first half of the present decade following the second phase of tariff reductions and the phase out of quantitative restrictions. Both imports and exports doubled during this period. Export growth was mainly concentrated in resource intensive industries like wood, paper, metals and chemicals whereas import growth was highest in textiles and textile products, metals and machinery.


Beneath the surface - The harsh reality of adjustment
Recent improvements in the performance of Indian manufacturing, as well as significant growth in exports and imports, coincide with the latest round of tariff reductions and the abolition of quantitative import restrictions in 2001. To some this will suggest that the sluggish performance of the manufacturing sector in the latter half of the 1990s was not a problem of liberalisation as such, but one of too little liberalisation. A more disaggregated look at the manufacturing sector shows why this argument is misleading.

Impact on textiles, leather and garments sectors
In the myriad of sub-sectors which make up India's manufacturing industry only a relatively small proportion have responded well to recent trade reforms. Scale and capital intensive sectors like chemicals and chemicals products, transport equipment and machinery have all seen sustained or rising growth rates, as well as increasing shares of total manufacturing export in the first half of this decade. However, the opposite is true for a number of industries within India's traditional sectors of mass employment such as for example textiles, leather and leather products and food products. In a number of these cases the impact of changes in domestic industrial policy, import liberalisation and the eradication of barriers to export have been declining or negative growth rates, as well as declining shares of manufacturing exports. In the case of cotton textiles for example the average annual growth rate went from 2.9 percent in 2000-01 to -3.1 in 2003-04 while the share of total manufacturing exports declined from 10.1 percent to 7 percent. The case studies in section 3 of this report provide more details of the hardship experienced by particularly small scale manufactured within these industries post liberalisation.

The notable exception to this pattern among traditional sectors is garments. The average annual growth rate of India's garment sector was 7.8 percent between 1991-95. It dropped to 5.2 per cent between 2001-2003 but increased significantly from then onwards .In terms of export performance the value of India's garments exports grew by 144 percent between 1990 and 2000 and growth continued following the second round of reforms in 2001, albeit at a less robust pace. The garment sector currently constitutes 16 percent of total manufacturing exports and 12.5 percent of total exports from India.

While growth in the garment industry has increased employment in the sector by 165 percent since the early 1990s liberalisation has overall been a sad event for India's masses of unskilled labour.
More than 2 million workers have already lost their jobs in India's textiles sector post liberalisation and substantial labour retrenchments have also taken place in the leather sector.
And while garment workers have seen job opportunities increase their wages as a share of total manufacturing costs in the garment sector have decreased from 26.86 percent between 1973-74 and 1990-91 to 17.07 percent between 1991-92 and 1999-00 and the terms and conditions of employment in the sector have deteriorated significantly post liberalisation. As one of the local trade union leaders in New Delhi summed up the situation facing garment workers today: “Because of the globalisation, industries are gaining day by day, they are getting higher profits. But the benefits are not being passed to workers. Workers are not getting anything”.

Jobless growth
In general, it is true to say that trade liberalisation in India has not been good for labour intensive sectors as the Government of India predicted it would be. Economic growth in India post liberalisation has practically been jobless growth. Despite good average growth rates in recent years organised manufacturing has only created 350.000 new jobs between 1993-94 and 1999-2000. Growth in total manufacturing employment (organised and unorganised) averaged only 2 percent in the same period with the majority of the growth taking place in the unorganised sector. This is only 1 percent more than the annual growth of the labour force between 1993-94 and 1999-2000 and well below that of earlier periods.

There are a number of different reasons why the last 15 years of sustained economic growth have not translated into increased job opportunities for the masses. Changes in domestic industrial policies as well as increased import competition and the relaxation of export restrictions have all worked against the interest of small scale producers who make up the most labour intensive forms of urban employment and dominate urban manufacturing.
Trade liberalisation failure to boost the number of organised job opportunities in traditional areas of mass employment is only exacerbated by the fact that other sectors of the economy have been unable to compensate for the slow growth in organised manufacturing employment for the unskilled. Even though the services sector has expanded dramatically in recent years and now account for the most dynamic element in national income growth services employment has not increased fast enough to compensate for lost job opportunities elsewhere in the economy. Most often jobs created in the organised services sector are also skill intensive and therefore not comparable to the jobs lost following the onset of liberalisation. This corroborates evidence from many other developing countries which suggests that liberalisation tends to favour skilled labour over unskilled.

Increasing inequality
Because of its tendency to increase the return to education liberalisation in India has enriched the few and impoverished the many. According to the World Bank the sale of unskilled labour is the most important source of income of poor people so without new employment opportunities for the unskilled trade liberalisation in India can hardly claim to be pro poor. While it is true that poverty in percentage terms have decreased since the mid-1970s the rate of decline in poverty levels has slowed down in recent years and the actual number of poor people in India may in fact have gone up. And importantly, commentators now agree that liberalisation has caused a substantial increase in inequality within India. Post liberalisation the top 20 percent of the population has experienced the most drastic increase in per capita consumption since India's independence. While the next 40 percent of the urban population and the top 20 percent of the rural population also increased consumption substantially over the period per capita consumption of the bottom 40 percent of the rural population declined. Inter-state disparities have also widened post liberalisation with the larger and better off states maintaining and strengthening their supremacy. In fact, whereas the richest states were 2.6 times richer than the poorest in the early 1990s this difference has now grown to more than 4.5.

Trade liberalisation has also had a negative impact on public revenue in India. The liberalisation of import tariffs have reduced the proportion of customs revenue in gross tax revenue from close to 36 percent in 1990-91 to just under 20 percent in 2003-04. The consequence has been reduced public spending on essential public services of key importance to poor people as well as the introduction of alternative taxes that in some instances have hit those parts of the Indian population which have already experienced increased hardship as a consequence of liberalisation. One case in point is the weaving community in Varanasi which was hit hard by an increase in excise duty on hand loom and power loom products in 2003.

Traditional sectors of mass employment - the losing lot


The textile sector has traditionally been one of India's thriving sectors of mass employment. Abundant raw materials and an unlimited supply of cheap labour have contributed to its success in the past. However, as the previous section showed international trade liberalisation and domestic economic reforms have impacted negatively on parts of the sector. Overall, production has stagnated; production units have closed down and unemployment soared. Increased imports of cheap textiles from China, rising input prices because of increased export of yarn and mechanisation have all contributed to the decline.

Handloom weavers who make traditional items such as saris, dhotis, bed sheets and shawls have been hit the hardest. Out of the 38 million people employed in the textiles sector 12.4 million, or close to 33 percent, are concentrated in this declining part of the sector. The majority of them are low caste and extremely poor, working in small family units. More than sixty per cent of weavers are women. Following the second phase of trade reforms in India the number of handloom production units going out of business. Between 2000 and 2005 the average annual growth rate of handloom production was -6.99 percent. The impact on the livelihoods of handloom weavers and their families has been devastating. They have suffered declining incomes, increasing debt and significant job losses. As a result, hundreds of weavers have committed suicide or are reported to have died from starvation and malnutrition as their trade increasingly has become concentrated in the less labour intensive power loom units.

Silk handloom weavers, Varanasi
The Banarasi silk saree made in Varanasi, has been famous for centuries for its luxurious, intricately-designed cloth. It was the must-have for all Indian weddings. More than 500,000 weavers live in and around Varanasi, weaving mainly for the domestic market. But since the 1990s, the silk handloom weavers who make the Banarasi saree have seen their fortune vanish.

There are many reasons for the problems facing Varanasi weavers: increasing competition from powerloom weaving, changes in government protection policies , increasing prices in raw silk and shifts in market demand. But in the last five years, an increase in imports of cheaper silk fabric from China has exacerbated the poverty of Varanasi silk weavers. Between 2000-01 and 2004-05 imports of silk fabric into India more than doubled in value terms and as figure 2 shows this rapid growth in imports coincided with marked reductions in average applied tariffs on silk fabrics. In 2001 India also abolished its quantitative restrictions on silk imports on demand from the WTO. Since then annual growth rates of silk imports have soared.

Figure 2: Changes in Indian silk tariffs and silk imports: 2000-01 to 2004-05

Source: Indian Department of Commerce and Karan 2005

The impact of this increasing competition in recent years on sari weavers has been dramatic. Workers’ wages have been halved since the 1990s, and weavers complain that there has been no increase in wages for the last five years. Local traders estimate that half the weavers have shifted to other jobs – such as fishing, rickshaw pulling or construction work – to earn more than the pittance they now get for weaving. In some villages, women have gone to work as hired labourers, doing tasks such as sari cutting or nari bharna (bobbin-winding) or as domestic helpers to supplement their family’s income. Many weavers and their family members are reported to have died from starvation in the last three years, and some have even been driven to suicide.
On 21 September 2005, many of the Varanasi weavers and community leaders came together for a convention under the banner of Boonkar aur Dastkar Adhikar Manch(forum on right of weavers and artisans) to discuss the problems they face. Whilst calling on the Indian government to help them in their plight, they are not ignorant of the threat of increasing international competition.“If the WTO is going to increase the business of powerlooms and the Chinese then our craft will die. The government should see the situation and then decide on their policies.” says Mohammed Mohsin, a father of five and a leader in the weavers’ community. Siddique Hasan of a the weavers community agrees: "we want to exclude textiles from the WTO. They want to bring equality among unequals. We want to fight in the WTO to stop Chinese imports. Due to the WTO there has been a flooding of Chinese cloth".

In the last year, the Indian government has tried to stem the problems facing silk weavers by increasing import tariffs and bringing an anti-dumping case against Chinese silk fabric. But these short-term protections and the future of the Banarasi weavers could be doomed by further tariff liberalisation under the WTO's non-NAMA negotiations .


Case Study No.1:
Children at the door of death:

The testimony is about the dalit family, which is a resident of Rassipatti a village in District Varanasi, and police station Badgoan.
Grief stricken Uma Shankar emotionally outpoured Rats, who live in the godowns of Food Corporation of India, are better than. They at least get enough food, while we suffer from hunger.
Uma Shankar S/o. Shri Kharpattu harijan, a resident of this village, children, Chandan, aged 9 years and Malka aged 7 years are were brought under the shelter of People’s Rights Committee on Human Rights on 27/8/04, in a state where they were a step away from the last breathe. Their condition was so critical that local doctors refused for their checkups; at last they were admitted in the Vatsalya Hospital, fighting a battle with death. At the time of admission Chandan and Malka weight 9 Kgs and 8 Kgs respectively and even their hemoglobin level was 9 and 6.5 respectively. Both are suffering Tuberculosis, and Malka due to the deficiency of Vitamin A has developed BIFOT SPOT in the eye, whereas Chandan has developed Keratomalacia in his eye and cannot open them. Both the children were in IV stage of PEM. All these ailments are due to undernourishment. They have not received a single grain since past 15 day. Uma Shankar is a beneficiary of Antyodaya card but has not got the ration of the month. He had even submitted Affidavit to the Honourable Chief minister and District Magistrate in whom he has told that he has shared his miser ability with the Village Pradhan and Village Secretary but all was vain.
Uma Shankar “due to the recession in the sari business, I stopped the weaving work and took up the job of rickshaw puller but even here my deteriorating health rendered me jobless. My family was tottering on the brink of starvation.”
Uma Shankar used to work as weaver, he had two handlooms, but before two years his handlooms closed due to collapse of saree industry in area of imperialistic globalization. After this he switched over to Rickshaw pulling, but due to lack of food his health has deteriorated thus making the condition more miserable by keeping him away from his daily source of income of Rickshaw pulling daily. This has led to a situation where there is no food for himself and his family. He has not got the benefit of Food For Work Scheme from the District Administration or the Panchayat. The children were in such a pitiful and horrifying state that they resembled the children of famine stricken country of Somaliya and Kalahandi. On the first day of their stay in Vatsalaya Chikitsalya (hospital), they were saying nothing else but ‘roti roti’ in their state of unconscious. What a shame is this for a free India in which Right to life has been declared as the fundamental right in the Article 21, even this is the violation of the order passed by the Honorable Supreme Court against the petition filed by PUCL, Rajasthan Vs. Union of India (WRIT Petition(Civil) No. 196/2001).

Inside Outside

The irony is that Varanasi has been declared as a drought stricken area, this news was even published in the local Hindi Newspaper dated 28th August 2004, but before the intervention of Jan Mitra Nyas no Gram Pradhan, Secretary or any officials from the block or district has ever come to the area. It also took every one by surprise that the Gram pradhan of the village Rassipatti, Lalman Pal, is closely associated with the Manav Vikas and Uttaan Samiti, whose office is situated in the village next to rassipatti was not updated of Uma Shankar family situation. According to the villagers and the Gram Pradhan, the ANM has not visited the village since past two months.The village presents an excellent example of the extent of the violation of the Supreme Court Order. The Nutrition and the Health cards issued under the ICDS- ‘Three Programme provide the evidence of the violation of the Supreme Court order. In every card the birth weight of the child is entered as 5 Kilograms and on the top page it has been written that the weight is too less. Surprisingly in some of the cards it has been shown that within one and one and a undernourished to normal state by showing approximately a variation of 2 Kgs. It is interesting to note that the weighting machine required to weight the pregnant is out of order since a long time. There is no ‘Solter Scale’ to weight the children then on what basis is the child weight even the card does not shows that there is any type of nutritious food given to the Pregnant and lactating mother along with the child. As stated in the Supreme court order, under the ICDS Programmed each child up to 6 years of age should receive daily approximately 300 calories and 8-10 grams of protein. In the same way adolescent girls should receive 500 calories and 20-25 grams of protein daily even Pregnant and Lactating mothers are also covered in this scheme and all of them are recommended to receive nutritious food contains the minimum standards. According to the Gram Pradhan and the villagers the food is kept at the house of the Aanganwadi workers, and she distributes it according to her will.




Intervention of Jan Mitra Nyas/PVCHR

When JMN/PVCHR, came to know about the situation prevailing in Rassipatti village and the other villages adjacent to it. They wrote a letter to the District Magistrate making him aware of the plight of Uma Shankar and his children. The letter even unveiled the pathetic situation of ICDS programme in the village, on Functioning PDS, etc. The copy of which was send to the Human Rights Commission, Commissioners of the Supreme Court in the case (PUCL Vs. UOI and PRS WRIT PETTITION (Civil) No. 196 of 2001) Dr. N.C. Saxena and Mr. S.R. Sankaran, Chief Minster U.P. Lucknow, Chief Secretary, CDO, Varanasi, Secretary to Registrar, Varanasi. It demanded:
• Immediately suspend the Gram Pradhan, Lalman Pradhan and Secretary and file a case against them.
• Provide, immediate medical and food security to the victim family.
• When the family is declared medically fit, then it should immediately be given benefits of the social security schemes, so that it should not again fall prey to hunger and starvation.
• Kotedar and the aanganwadi workers should be suspended and suitable legal actions should be undertaken.
• Termination of the licencse of the organization Manav Vikas and Utthaan Samiti, of which the Gram Pradhan of Rassi Patti is a member of it.

Luck Has Smiled

The brought results commissioners of the Supreme Court in the case (PUCL Vs. UOI and PRS WRIT PETITION (Civil) No. 196 of 2001) Dr. N.C. Saxena and Mr. S.R. Sankaran issued an order:
• To provide adequate relief to the two children.
Enquire into the lapses in the implementation of AAY, ICDS and MDMS, which has caused the situation of malnutrition among children.

Further to this, responding to the news item published in Hindustan Times about the plight of Two children, General Secretary of Uttar Pradesh Council for Child Welfare Begum Hamida Habibullah, announced that her organization would bear all costs for cornea transplantation for Chandan.
In addition to the above gains District administration had given.
• Rs. 1000/- (Rs. 10/- for each child and Rs. 20/-) for the father as Food allowance for a period of 20 days).
• Even the District Administration has accepted this as a case of Malnutrition and Hunger.
• Basik Siksha Adhikari had been instructed to do enquiry against the Principal of Primary School in the village as a result of which the Principal and the Secretary have been suspended and notice have been passed against the Gram Pradhan.
• The children have been granted a Scholarship of Rs. 300/- each every month and their names have been enrolled in the Primary School.
• The license of the kotedar has been cancelled and given to another person, now the ration is available to the villagers regularly and in installment which they could not get earlier as the shop opened for a day or two in the month.
• PDS cards distribution is also under question; wrong cards have been issued to wrong beneficiaries.
• Food for work has started for the first time in the village and the villagers got the work for 5 days. There are approximately 70 weavers family who have lost their work and are now earning their living by adopting other modes of employment.
• Health camp would be organized on 3/11/04
• Under the ICDS-CDPO, Coordinator, Assistant to Aanganwadi and Worker of Aanganwadi, Peon has all been blacklisted. But still the condition of ICDS is the same.
Case Study No.2:
Sadhna in PEM 4th grade as certified by Institute of Medical sciences and SS Hospital BHU,Varanasi: intervention of NHRC


The families from which these children belong are living on the razor edge of the survival with no land and food security as a result the children who are the state responsibility and future of are country are living on the brink of survival, suffering from acute malnutrition and hunger.

Below is the testimony of a Sadhna, 2years belonging to village Rudauli, district Mirzapur, who was suffering diagnosed to be in PEM IV Grade and suffering from Keratomalacia when admitted to the S.S.Hospital of Institute of Medical Science, BHU.The discharge record shows that at the time of discharge her PEM status was upgraded to PEMIII, but still she was suffering from Keratomalacia.

Journey from death to survival
Sadhna is struggling hard to take a breath; she is reduced to a skeleton. Exposing her ribs, she finds it difficult to even lift up her small eyelids. Tumbling while walking, she becomes a little full of energy when talked about food. A four years old child can be compared to a sixty year old person, with each bone has worn-out the flesh and there are wrinkles every where. Her height can be compared to a two and a half old child. Cradling in the arms of her grandmother, Sadhna lies meek and hopeless. She is admitted to Vatsalya Hospital, Varanasi.

Her father, Vijay,a dalit weaver is unemployed since past eight months as a result of which his four years old daughter Sadhna is suffering from severe malnutrition and Anemia. Helplessly Vijay send his wife and four years old daughter to his in-laws house at Rassipatti,Varanasi. But the condition of his in-laws is no better as a result of which Sadhna had become severely malnourished and anemic .She lies at the brink of survival. To save the life of his niece took her to Dr.Rajendra Pathak for her treatment that referred her to Sir Sundarlal Hospital. He told that since months the child has not been receiving proper food as a result of which she has become anemic and needs blood. She was admitted in the hospital on 23/9/04,where she was diagnosed to be suffering from PEM IV th grade and Keratomalacia in the right eye, but her condition has not improved.
PVCHR, Varanasi, got Sadhna Admitted to Vatsalya Hospital, Varanasi. Sadhna is recovering fast, but the rescue came to her a little late, she has lost her eyesight.
The above case is not the alone there are many in which children who are the future of our country are the victims of starvation and hunger. Who can be held responsible for the situation? Is it the government who makes powerful policies on paper but fail in its implementation, or is it the citizens who are not questioning the government for their basic rights. Till date Sadhna Family is aloof from getting any Government benefits or schemes. He does not possess an antyodya card.
After the complain by Right to Food Campaign, eastern UP, NHRC issued the notice to District Magistrate stated that let the complaint be transmitted to D.M. Varanasi, Uttar pradesh to look into the grievance. Action taken is reported in four weeks. (Case no.2583/24/2005-2006/UC).
Case study No.3:
Struggle against Hunger is going on..
After agriculture, weaving is the lifeline in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh. There are an estimated 5 lakh (million) weavers in the district of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. As a result of a slowdown in the weaving industry since the last four to five years, several weavers have lost their jobs, are on the look out for alternative means of livelihood and are barely surviving. Being illiterate, over half of them have been forced to take up menial jobs like pulling rickshaws. Several have opened tea stalls and other small shops. Some have migrated. But not all have been able to find an alternative means of livelihood and source to feed them. They depend on the public distribution system (PDS) for their survival.

The public distribution system is made up of ration shops across the country through which grains, sugar, cooking oil and so on are sold at subsidized rates. Depending on the type of card allotted a person is entitled to subsidised items from the ration shops. There are mainly two types of cards available. APL (Above Poverty Line) cards for the families of Above the Poverty Line and BPL (Below Poverty Line) cards for those families belonging to Below Poverty Line. Other cards coming under the BPL category were the AAY (Anthyodaya Anna Yojana Scheme) cards for the poorest families among the BPL families and ANP (Annapurna Scheme) meant for the senior citizens above the age of 65 in BPL families. The PDS is not without flaws. Prices of items in the PDS are sometimes too high not affordable to some of the poor who as a result starve to death. The process of identifying the poor is flawed as many a times the poorest do not get identified as AAY recipients. In addition the PDS is ridden with corruption worsening the situation of the poor.
Vishambhar son of Ram Nandan aged about 35 yrs belongs to a landless scheduled caste family of village Shankarpur under Chiraigoan Block, PS-Chaubepur in district Varanasi,UP,India.
He is a weaver. He took loan of Rs. 6000 from kashi Gramin Bank in 1991 and established a handloom at his home and used to earn livelihood for his 7 members family by weaving. There were total almost 5 lakhs weavers in the district of Varanasi. As a result of slow down in the weaving industry since last four to five years, most of them have lost their jobs. Vishambhar was one of them. Vishambher lost his job as a weaver but he had no land or any other source of income. Then he resolved to continue weaving at the house of his Gaddidar in Varanasi city but after some time his Gaddidar was also forced to close down his own loom.
Due to this Vishambher once again lost his job and could not be able to get job of weaving for himself again and there appeared imminent apprehension of starvation before his whole family.
Vishambher’s wife Jigna Devi joined Satyam Self Help Group (SHG), which was promoted by a NGO named HUMAN WELFARE ASSOCIATION. Jigna Devi took a loan of Rupees two thousands from SHG to give the bribe to village secretary for allotment of land. But land allotted to them was unfertile and un- productive and they could crop up nothing from that land. They got indebted but their family forced to go through the starvation.
Here it is to be noted that what the role of SHGs is for the poor people who need entitlement for their rights to right- livelihood? Therefore it is quiet clear that this type of self-help group is good for nothing. SHGs have no vision to ensure the entitlements in favour of poor people, so that they could earn their livelihood with dignity.
Vishambhar’s starving family suffered from acute malnutrition and hunger related illness. Despite facing starvation his family was not given a red ration card under the AAY and not identified as a beneficiary of subsidized food grains from the public distribution system. Due to the dereliction of duty on the part of village panchayat secretary and gram pradhan Vishambher wife Jigna died on April 16, 2005 and his 16 years old daughter Soni died on April 21 due to starvation and hunger related diseases. But it was not the end of agony. On May 21 his two-month old son also died of hunger and malnutrition. Due to the help of Lok Chetana Samiti three children of starving weaver family were sent to SOS children village at Caubeypur, Varanasi.
People’s Vigilance committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) taking the matter up of starving family filed the petitions to NHRC, Supreme Court’s Commissioners, DM and Chief Minister of UP.PVCHR raised the matter before the AHRC and FIAN international, then both human rights organizations launched hunger alert letter campaign to appropriate authorities. In the case of hunger deaths after the intervention of AHRC and FIAN international, BDO had given 20 kg rice, 50 kg wheat and 3 litres kerosene oil, but all that has finished very soon. He received AAY red card after a long battle about it.In spite of the fact that district administration has given Rs. 25 thousand for housing and 10 thousand under national family benefit scheme, but it is matter of great regret that village secretary has not handed over the money to Vishambher till today except the half installment of hosing scheme . United Nations Human Rights Commission in its Asia Pacific Daily News Review (10th June, 2005) has reported Vishambhar’s case from hunger alert of AHRC.This case of hunger deaths was published in so many newspapers from local level to national level.Vishambhar met with Mr. Jean Ziegler,UNCHR Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food on 22 August 2005 in New Delhi and reported him about his miseries and told him that there were total 400 weavers families in his village were facing imminent starvation. There is a weaver named Kanhaiya who died on 18 September 05. His plight of starvation and death has been published in Times of India, Lucknow edition. In spite of the so called expenditure of rupees 1.36 lacs under the scheme of SGRY during 2004-2005 but most of its inhabitants have been seemingly kept away from scheme and Vishambhar and family of Kanhaiya have been forced for begging. Under the scheme of food for work there is a pond near temple has been dug. In the digging of pond rules and regulation of food for work was totally ignored and machines was used in digging work.
Having met with Dr. Lenin from PVCHR,Vishambhar told about the starving families of his village. He told that nobody wanted to come forward from my village to take the matter before appropriate authority because people from upper caste and neo feudal backward community fear that they would be disgraced to take the actual condition of weaver’s family up before the society or civil society and therefore they are following the policy of silence. He told Dr. Lenin on 5th September 05 that he had begged ten rupees and hope that he would manage to get food for one time after two days.
Trade union working in Varanasi named as Boonkar –Dastkar Adhikar Manch(forum on rights of weavers and crafts persons) took up the issue of hunger death of a weaver family seriously and has decided to organize convention on the rights of weavers and has decided to launch a nation wide campaign for the rights of the weavers in era of globalization.
Convenor of PVCHR,Dr. Lenin and a member of district food and supply advisory committee, Shruti Nagvanshi filed petition on 19 September,05 with DM, Supreme Court’s Commissioners and NHRC on hunger death of Kanhaiya. It was demanded that enquiry should be made immediately about hunger deaths, social audit on SGRY,to provide the assistance to widow of Kanhaiya under the national family benefit scheme,and village secretary should be ordered to hand over the cheques to Vishambhar.
Despite so many ambitious schemes and programmes conducted by Indian Government and directions given by Supreme Court to implement these schemes, it seems that there is a little change at gross root level and incident of hunger deaths are on increase without any effective resistance. Almost whole population of scheduled cast and scheduled tribes work hard to earn their livelihood and are involved in all sorts of menial jobs but they get very meager returns for their hardworking and it becomes impossible for them to live a healthy life and as a result earning members of such SC/ST families become very soon an easy prey of malnutrition and if they once fall ill, they can hardly recover from illness and ultimately die a painful death leaving behind their whole family to die a tragic hunger death.
AHRC issued hunger alert and again issued update on it. FIAN International also issued an urgent appeal and again launched the hotline campaign on this case on 16 October 2005 (World Food Security Day).AS a result of this wife of Kanhaiya and Vishambhar were given AAY-red card and Kanhaiya’s wife Sheela was given ten thousand rupees by District Administration under the National Family Benefit.
Case study No.4:
Suicide is the only option left with weavers..........
Background:

The condition of weavers in Tanda of Ambedkar district of UP demands an urgent attention of the Government as they are standing on the door of death because of hunger starvation. They are traditional workers and have been working in the weaving industries since many years but now because of the use of power looms in these industries/factories their food security is in danger as they are being sacked from the factory and no alternative option has been given to these poor people. In Ambedkar district about 1.5 lakh power looms are established (Tanda: 10,0000 power looms / Baskhari: 2000 power looms / Jalalpur: 15,000 power looms / Akbarpur: 10,000 power looms / Ilfatganj: 5,000 power looms / Newari: 4000 power looms / Khaspur: 1000 power looms / Haswar: 5000 power looms / Bhoolepur: 5000 power looms). Only in Tanda there are about 50,000 people who are working in these factories and there is a mere source of livelihood for about 20,0000 population. There are four Tehsils (Akbarpur, jalalpur, tanda and aalapur) and nine development blocks (Akbarpur, Katchri, Tanda, Bhiti, Baskhare, Jahangirganj, Ramnagar, Bheyao and Jalalpur) in Ambedkarnagar. Now, here our main concern is to understand and analyse the state policies so that the lives of 2000 weavers can be saved.
The Present Scenario
 Low wage rate
 Use of power looms-1.5 Lakh power looms
 Irregularity in power supply
 Unavailability of alternative source of livelihood
 Indebtedness
 Exploitation by higher authorities
Some Facts………

1. In Tanda since 1999 the condition of electricity is pathetic and very irregular because of this a worker has to spend 20 hours on machine to get at least 11-12 hours electricity to complete his work.

2. The factory owner decides the wage rate of workers and still 20 years old wage rate is being given to them i.e,Rs 3/- per meter, which is too low to sustain one's life in today's time. Labour department or Government officials none of them are showing concern to this matter so that something concrete can be done to raise their condition.

3. Because of the low wage rate the working hours have to increase, rather than 8 hours they work for 20 hours in a day to get 40-50 rupees in a day.

4. The power supply department of Tanda district is full of corruption. They don't pay attention to anyone without taking service charge.
5. Earlier weaver committees were established and loans were given to them but because of irregular power supply they could not repay the loans but in 1989 state Government vowed to make them free from all these loans and asked banks to show all the details and cleared loans that have been given to these weaver committees. That time High Court also passed an order that any kind of credit recovery will not be done with any individual of these committees. After that in 1996 these committees were dissolved under the direction of High Court order and an officer was appointed to look after all these matters and no loan repayment was done after that.

6. But now, after 12 years in 2005 one officer named Mr. Parshuram Yadav of 'Zila Sahkari Bank' is exploiting these weavers by making fake citation. He has violated the High Court order given in the year of 1989 and has overlooked all the actions taken by the state Government during 1989 and 1993. Because of this weavers have become panic and showing their remonstration for the situation. The officer is pressurizing them to work according to him infact the amount shown in citation is much more different from the amount written in bank passbook.

Thus, because of all these mismanagement and high-level corruption weavers of Tanda are living at the razor edge of survival as no initiatives have been taken by the concerned authority to have the situation improved and livable. The present condition is threatening the food security of weavers and it has started showing its terrible results in the district. A weaver named Nurul has committed suicide because he was not able to find any alternative job for himself and was unable to feed his family.

Narul has passed away but he has left a question mark for the civil society, beaurocrates and Government that what is the meaning of Right to Life when it is not being associated with Right to Food & Employment as no alternative is being given to the poor to join the main stream of society.
Current Need

 CSOs need to assess the situation, threats, and impact of these threats on their lives.
 Supreme Court orders given in the year of 1989, 1993,1996 need to be reviewed.
 Proper actions need to be taken against the bank officer if he is doing illegal in this respect.
 Policy analysis
 Identifying the role of panchayat in such issues, sensitizing and empower them.
 Interference of WTO in textile industries should be checked.
Case Study

Is it the same golden day we were talking about?

Narul. N used to live in Alahdadpur mohalla in Tanda block in a rented house with his wife Umtun Nisha and three children. He and his family were facing hunger starvation for last four months because of unavailability of work and irregular power supply. The condition of his family was deteriorating day by day. Although he was a poor fellow but used to be very self-esteemed person, instead of spreading his hands in front of others, he preferred to sleep without having anything. Sources said that, he and his family didn't have anything for last four days. On 15th December '05 when whole nation was celebrating Independence Day Nurul was seeing no hope in his life, he went to meet his father that day and discussed the situation with his parents, his father gave him 12 rupees. Narul bought breads for his children with that money and just after that around 8:30-9:00 AM he hung himself with a dupatta of his wife. The time when he committed suicide, just at a few kilometers distance the State Family Welfare Minister Honorable Mr. Ahmad Hasan was hosting flag and everybody was singing " sare jahan se accha hindustan hamara" when this news came to him he hurriedly gave directions to the police men to burry the dead body and went away from the place. People buried the dead body after having his postmortem done and it was declared that he died because of some disease. When PVCHR worker went there to investigate the matter his wife Umtun Nisha said that she has seen his husband hanging with the fan. Other two people Mohammad Rakim, S/O Late Mohammad Hasan and Mustak Ahmad, S/O Nur Mohammad informed that they have seen black mark on the neck of the dead body when they were giving bath to him.

At present Umtun Nisha has taken a temporary shelter at his brother's house Mohammad Anish Ahmad S/O Late. Khalil Ahmad, her in-laws are not ready to give shelter to her and her children. The District Magistrate and other concerned authorities are trying to brush this matter under the carpet.

If this matter is not taken seriously such cases may increase in the coming days and Umtun Nisha and her children will have to do the same thing what Narul has done before.
Suggested Actions

 CSOs should take part in need based assessment of the situation, threats and its impact and should collect an authentic primary data about the poor below poverty line. How many of them have BPL cards and how many of them don’t have.
 Kota system should be stopped and BPL cards should be distributed to the real needy people.
 All loans taken by the weavers should be settled.
 Anganwadi or Balwadi centres should be established for the children of weavers
 Identifying the role and responsibilities of panchayat in such issues and redefining it’s responsibilities, if necessary.
Proper action needs to be taken against the concerned departments if they violets Supreme Court orders.



Besides this UP Government has accepted in their DO No.3872/29-6-04 that there is
Slow down in weaving industry and due to this the problem of unemployment is increasing because weavers are losing their jobs.
The threat of NAMA
What is on the table?
Negotiations on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) form a key part of the ongoing WTO negotiations under the Doha Round. The framework for negotiations on NAMA is contained in Article 16 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration from 2001 and it specifies that while the aim of the negotiations is to reduce or in some instances eliminate non-agricultural tariffs 'the negotiations shall take fully into account the special needs of and interests of developing and least developed country participants, including through less than full reciprocity in reduction commitments'. Despite this commitment, developed WTO members have been pushing hard for a very aggressive tariff liberalisation agenda which is far from the interests of developing countries. A radical proposal put forward by the EU, the US and Canada in August 2003 has completely dominated discussions to date.

The negotiating text on NAMA (referred to as Annex B) in the WTO’s July 2004 Framework contains three key components:
1 Tariff bindings: the current NAMA text demands that members make a substantial contribution to increase their level of tariff bindings (see box in section 1). Developing countries would be expected to increase their level of binding coverage to at least 95 percent while least developed countries are asked to 'substantially increase' the percentage of tariff lines bound at the WTO. Future negotiations will ultimately determine what 'substantially' means in this context. For all categories of products, the suggestion is that tariffs are bound at twice the applied rate for currently unbound tariff lines.
2) Reducing bound tariffs – the swiss formula: Developed country members, such as EU, US and Canada, are demanding an ambitious ‘Swiss’ formula, applied line by line. This type of formula will automatically mean greater cuts in higher tariffs than in lower ones leading to tariff harmonisation. According to current proposals all countries, except least developed countries and a dozen developing countries , would be subject to tariff reductions using this method.

3) The sectoral initiative: The sectoral initiative is an attempt to push forward much greater liberalisation in specific sectors, either through harmonisation of tariffs or complete tariff elimination. Seven sectors, deemed of export interest to developing countries have been proposed to be included in the sectoral initiative (footnote that proposed by NAMA chair). These were electronics and electrical goods, fish and fish products, textiles and clothing, footwear, leather goods, motor vehicle parts and components and stones, gems and precious metals.

What is at stake?

The approach to the NAMA negotiations currently enshrined in the WTO’s 2004 July Framework poses a clear threat to developing and least developed countries a like. If nothing changes all developing countries stand to lose a lot more than they will gain. Their policy space will be seriously reduced as the majority of their tariff lines will be bound. Many stand to lose huge sums of public money as a consequence of declining customs revenue post tariff reductions. In many countries NAMA also pose a real threat of de-industrialisation as domestic industries are completely unprepared for sudden exposition to the strong winds of foreign competition. The result is undoubtedly an increase in human suffering and poverty and not sustainable development.



Loss of policy space
In the particular case of India a commitment to increase binding coverage to 95 percent is no trivial matter. Although India has currently bound 69.8 percent of it industrial tariff lines the 30 percent that have been left unbound are considered crucial for the protection of Indian industries and are classified as import sensitive. Some product categories have been left almost completely unbound, including footwear, fish and fish products, furniture and toys, works of art and arms and ammunition. Other categories, such as leather and travel goods, wood pulp, paper and paperboard articles, wood, charcoal and cork and textiles and clothing, have had two thirds or almost half of their tariff lines left unbound. Out of all unbound tariff lines close to 20 percent are reserved for the small scale industrial sector.

However, the issue for India is therefore not so much one of drastic tariff reductions as a consequence of an increase in binding coverage but one of lost policy space. With the binding of almost all its tariffs at the WTO India will lose the flexibility to raise the applied tariff level above the bound level should it want to for either developmental or industrial reasons. This means that in the future India would not be able to significantly raise tariffs to protect vulnerable groups like the silk handloom weavers in Varanasi against import surges which threaten their livelihoods. Given that one fifth of unbound tariff lines are dominated by small scale and cottage industries, the Indian government’s potential to protect many of these small scale producers in the future could be jeopardised. Universal binding of tariffs at relatively low levels would also leave India unable to provide temporary protection for emerging industries not yet internationally competitive as it is currently doing in the automobile sector. This is a serious problem since according to Dr. Yilmaz Akyuz, former director of UNCTAD's Division on Globalisation and Development Strategies, as countries develop, their pattern of optimal tariffs change over time and it is therefore of fundamental importance for the future growth of countries like India that they maintain a high degree of policy autonomy in the NAMA negotiations.
De-industrialisation
India, along with all other developing countries at the WTO, is under significant pressure from developed country members to accept tariff reductions on the basis of an ambitious Swiss formula. Not only will the application of such an ambitious formula threaten the sustainability of a number of Indian industries it will also turn the principle of ‘less than full reciprocity in reduction commitments’ enshrined in the Doha mandate upside down. Given that tariffs in developing countries are higher than tariffs in developed ones the application of the same ambitious formula across the board will lead to deeper cuts in developing countries' tariffs than in those of their developed counterparts.

The application of a Swiss formula as the one currently promoted by particularly the EU and the US to India's industrial tariffs is bound to lead to immediate reductions in applied tariffs. As we have seen above the simple average of India's applied and bound tariff rates on industrial goods are close together (21.7 percent and 34.3 percent respectively). A reduction in average bound rates of for example 50 percent, which is entirely possibly under current proposals, would therefore de facto lead to reductions in applied tariffs rates as well. On top of this a number of India's traditional sectors of mass employment are in danger of seeing their tariffs eliminated completely as a consequence of the sectoral initiative. This will not only lead to further restriction of India's policy space but will also reinforce the crisis currently experienced by elements of Indian manufacturing sectors and could possibly lead to a process of de-industrialisation of the country.

Computational scenarios of the impact on the Indian economy of a 25 percent reduction in applied tariffs as a consequence of the current NAMA negotiations confirm that the current approach will lead to outcomes far from what one would expect from a so-called development round. While overall GDP? is expected to increase India's terms of trade will turn negative. Imports will increase significantly more than exports, particularly in sectors such as food products, textiles, garments, leather and leather products which are already suffering from increased import competition. While the return to capital and skilled labour will increase, unskilled labour will reap no benefits. Simulations of the impact of the sectoral initiative leading to complete tariff elimination in certain sectors predict even higher overall GDP gains for India as well as significantly higher increases in imports. Returns to skilled labour and capital also increase while unskilled labour still gain nothing. [Add in sentence on poverty impact of high returns to skilled labour vs unskilled labour?]

In both simulations, but particularly in the sectoral one, growth in textiles and garments contribute significantly to overall welfare gains. Output and employment are predicted to increase in both but since no increases in real wages are predicted then it seems that future growth in these sectors will hinge on a continuation of the current practice of technological intensification and labour exploitation. Imports are also set to increase dramatically in these sectors and while some are likely to fuel exports of these sectors, others will undoubtedly be competing for the domestic market , where most of the small scale cottage industries concentrate their production. As we have seen this is already happening in the case of silk handloom weavers in Varanasi and Agra's footwear makers and by the looks of it present NAMA proposals are only going to exacerbate the problems experienced by these small scale industries.

Indian Government’s position on NAMA

The Indian Government is aware of some of the threats posed to its traditional sectors of mass employment by the NAMA negotiations and as the Minster of Commerce and Industry recently put it India will resist: 'reduction in tariffs at an artificial pace to be forced upon [it] by the developed countries. He went on to emphasise that: 'the July Framework also provides for flexibility for developing countries either by not undertaking formula cuts on certain lines or keeping unbound a certain number of tariff lines. We intend to fully utilise these flexibilities in those sections of our industry where we have domestic sensitivities'.

As part of its rejection of the ambitious approach promoted by developed WTO member India, along with Argentina and Brazil, have recently put forward a proposal for tariff reductions on the basis of a modified Swiss-type formula, which they feel satisfies the requirements of the July Framework and at the same time takes care of the concerns of developing countries.

India clearly has offensive interests in securing further market access for its garment exports, and for other sectors such as services. Yet gains in these sectors must not be won on the back of significant losses in traditional sectors of mass employment such as textiles and leather. Without adequate protection and support millions of poor workers in such industries will lose their livelihoods.


Loss of public revenue
Tariff cuts on the basis of an ambitious formula as the one favoured by the EU and the US will not only entail considerable loss of policy space for India as well as increased hardship for key sectors of its manufacturing industry. It will also have serious implications for its public revenue as customs revenue still constitute 20 percent of gross tax revenue in India. Gross tax revenue as a proportion of GDP has been declining since liberalisation and deep and rapid tariff cuts at this stage will only increase the pressure on public spending in India at a time when there is a desperate need for further spending on public services, infrastructure. Such public revenue will also be vital for supporting and developing traditional sectors of employment, such as handloom weavers and the small-scale leather sector.

Conclusion and recommendations

India’s progression towards trade liberalisation has been more successful than many other developing countries. Its gradualist and cautious approach has resulted in high economic growth rates, increases in exports and imports and positive growth rates in certain sectors. But this growth has been jobless growth, bringing with it increasing inequality and a deceleration in the decline of poverty rates. Only a small proportion of India’s manufacturing industries have performed well: traditional sectors of mass employment, such as textiles and leather, have seen declining growth rates, job losses and decreasing incomes. Millions of poor workers in traditional sectors of employment are facing increased hardship and poverty as a result of liberalisation policies and a lack of adequate protection and support.

By pushing a highly aggressive agenda in NAMA negotiations, developed country WTO members, are threatening the future path of industrialisation and development for many developing countries, including India. A significant increase in tariff bindings will close down the policy space of countries like India to determine and amend future tariff levels to protect vulnerable and emerging industries from damaging increases in imports. Furthermore, radical cuts in tariffs under the Swiss formula and the sectoral initiative will threaten the growth and sustainability of a number of industries in developing countries, such as the textiles and leather sectors India.

The current NAMA negotiating text – Annex B of the July 2004 Framework – goes against the spirit of the Doha Development Agenda which places development at its core. It contravenes the principle of ‘less than full reciprocity’ by prioritising the self-interests of developed countries and their corporations, over the needs of developing countries. In doing so, millions of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in India and other developing countries will be condemned to a future of increasing poverty, injustice and food insecurity.

COLOMBO DECLARATION:
Let’s begin “Globalisation of Sensitivities” in South Asia.
South Asia has the world’s most populous youthful growing set of communities. These people are poor and rural by global standards.
Globalisation has been “hollowing out” the more advanced areas in this region. Wages in the region’s globalised workplaces are declining. (SriLanka’s export garments workers’ monthly wages have fallen from USD50 to USD30 between 1983 and 2003, a high growth period for this industry.)
Isn’t it time we organise for decent Social living for our people? A SAARC for what? Global capital or global people?
Our stand is for our regional countries :
1. To develop certain common standards and fronts in dealings with Capital Movements and ownership of large Companies
2. To develop common standards and fronts in dealings with the agents of the global system as donors and World Bank/ IMF
3. To develop common standards of decency of workplace and treatment of workers
4. To develop common standards of minimum wages
5. To develop common standards of decent housing and social infrastructure for all.
Our Campaign is to create and promote, within our regional countries, a grass roots level activism of direct action including:
1. Creating awareness of the World Bank/ Donors/ State Ministries/ Elite Corporate & Professionals nexus which is the Complex that is causing our problems and economic distortions
2. Creating actions that challenge and overcome this Capital Using Complex in simple activities as housing or agricultural development in a way that is developmental and creates the participation of the people in the exact operations of Capital and Prices in the economy.
3. Creating public demands for a People driven SAARC.


Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi Dr Darin C Gunesekera
PVCHR
Wiros Lokh Institute
Varanasi, India Colombo, SriLanka.

30 May 2004

Recommendations

We believes that the current, aggressive NAMA agenda will be harmful to industrial development and poverty reduction in developing countries, including India. AHRC,SAPF, Voice of People(VOP), Forum on rights of weavers and artisans and Right to food campaign, UP call on developed and developing country members to:
• Halt the current NAMA negotiations
• Reject the current NAMA negotiating text of July 2004 and bring forward an alternative, pro-development and pro-poor text
• Carry out a full, independent assessment of the potential developmental and environmental impacts of the NAMA negotiations.
• Halt all WTO negotiations, WB-IMF structural adjustment program.
Recommendations of South Asian People’s Forum for people’s SAARC (15-17 Jan.,2005):
Food sovereignty
• We believe the right to food is a fundamental right and must be assured through guarantees to equality in work, justice and uniform minimum wages, and land entitlement.
• We recommend that relief and aid should be culturally sensitive and value adding, and uphold that hunger and starvation are unacceptable.
Globalization and International Finance and Trade
• We believe the existing policies of multilateral aid and trade organizations are anti-people and perpetuate unemployment, poverty and inequalities.
• We advocate that all aid and trade agreements and instruments be subject to public scrutiny to ensure transparency and accountability.
• We uphold the need for collective SAARC representation and uniform standards for negotiations on aid and trade instruments and the formulation of a common social responsibility standard to govern FDI.
• We oppose privatization, particularly that of social infrastructure.
• We oppose Foreign Direct Investment without effective social controls and strongly endorse the promotion of small and medium enterprises through people’s markets.
• We believe the World Trade Organization is not ratified by the people and advocates only freedom of capital, and ask SAARC to work towards the democratization of the WTO through inclusion of civil society organizations in negotiations.
• We ask SAARC to move towards the creation of an economic community to suit the people’s interest and step back from free trade envisaged under the SAFTA, which is an extension of the WTO model.
• We believe that the existing ownership of intellectual property and laws governing violations are flawed and advocate stiff penalties for those infringing into the traditional knowledge and services belonging to developing countries.
Recommendations from The Benares Declaration(26 June 2003):
1.Oppose the American led imperialistic rule and the suppressing regimes and exploitation. Oppose the Indian decision to send military to Iraq and pressurize that force should not be send despite parliament‘s agreement.
2. The economic policies made under the influence of World Bank, IMF, G-8, World Trade Organization and transnational companies have brought unemployment. People would be made aggressive against such policies and support movements against these policies and the government would not be allowed to step back from welfare State.
3. We oppose the Government’s plan to connect our major rivers despite the ecological implications and ignoring the more urgent problem of pollution of almost all our rivers. We will oppose any move to give control of our Common property resources to Multinational companies and resolve to protect the marginal community and its interests.
4. We resolve to boycott Soft drinks like Coca Cola and Pepsi marketed by multinationals, inform the public about the harmful side effects of Coca-Cola and Pepsi and all products of Hindustan Livers.
5. Equal, Secular, Free Compulsory elementary education is the responsibility of the government and the gimmicks with education should be stopped ., Landless should be granted land and men and women equally, remove Article 20 of the Forest Act, prohibiting Adivasis use of their land and eliminate multinational control of common property resources.
6. Government provide guarantee of employment and aid to the unemployed.
7. Demand centralized law for landless agricultural laborers and domestic workers...
8. Ensure purchase of weavers and farmers produce while the Public distribution System prices should be brought at half of present process...
9.Indian industrialists have not paid 1.57 lacs cores to the banks, which that had taken as credits. They should be taken back while the loans of poor farmer should be excluded. 10.We opposes the Kanhar Dam Project and the Concept of Special Economic Zone (SEZ).