Economics of Food Delivery Personnel

 Ishaan Khaperde has studied the economics of food delivery by Zomato India and here are the results from the point of view of the delivery person. The data has been culled from videos shared by delivery boys like the one linked here. The delivery frequency is the least on Mondays and reaches a peak with dinner time on Sundays when it is three times that of Mondays. The base delivery payment for up to five kilometers distance combined for pickup from the restaurant and delivery to the customer is Rs 22 on an average while above five kilometers the delivery person gets Rs 11 per kilometer on an average in addition to the base delivery payment. The pickup plus delivery time is about 30 minutes on an average for short orders of less than 5 kilometers while it is 50 minutes on an average for long orders above 5 kilometers. The daily mix is about 30% short orders and 70 percent long orders with the short orders on an average being 2 kms or so and the long orders being on an average being 9 kms or so. The delivery persons on an average operate for 12 hours. Thus, by solving for these parameters and rounding off [30 x number of short orders + 50 x number of long orders = 12 x 60, number of short orders/(number of short orders+number of long orders)=0.3], assuming that they are continually delivering orders, delivery persons can at the most squeeze in 4 short orders and 12 long orders per each 12 hour day. The payment for this is [4 x 22 + 12 x (22 + 4 x 11)] Rs 880.

The total distance covered on an average is 120 kilometers per day. Assuming a coverage of 40 kms per litre in stop and start city traffic at higher driving speeds this means a petrol consumption of 3 litres at a cost of Rs 330. Add another Rs 50 per day towards two wheeler depreciation, insurance and maintenance cost and the total cost comes to Rs 380. Thus, the net earnings are Rs 500 for a 12 hour day which comes to Rs 333 per eight hour day. Whereas the statutory minimum wage in Madhya Pradesh in urban areas for semi-skilled labour like driving a motor cycle is currently Rs 411 per day. Conversely, assuming double wages for the extra four hours of work done, statutorily the wages for 12 hours of work should be Rs 822 and not Rs 500.
Moreover, the delivery persons face many challenges like having no place to sit in the shade in restaurants, having to climb up the stairs of buildings where there are no lifts or where use of lifts are prohibited to service persons and also face jams and diversions enroute to delivery which further adds to their troubles.
An analysis of the prices charged by Zomato for the food ordered as compared to the prices that the restaurants charge for in dining, shows that there is a mark up of about 10%. So Zomato is not only grossly underpaying its delivery persons but also overcharging its customers 😜.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-NDWpzCF1Y

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied

The Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangath has fought many a battle for justice for the Adivasis of Alirajpur but possibly the most worthwhile and arduous one has been that it has fought for the victims of silicosis contracted as labourers in stone crushing factories in Gujarat. 90 per cent of the Adivasis of Alirajpur migrate to Gujarat to labour in factories, construction sites and agricultural fields as their agricultural income from their small farms is not sufficient to make ends meet. In the early 2000s the new millennium instead of ushering in a new dawn for the Adivasis brought on them a new pestilence of a fatal nature. The Adivasis working as daily wage labourers in stone crushing factories in Godhra and Balasinor in Gujarat, which were being run without proper equipment to ensure that the labourers did not inhale the dust generated from the stone crushing machines, began to fall fatally ill from silicosis due to the deposition of the fine stone particles in their lungs. Soon hundreds of labourers began falling ill and dying. Below is the picture of one such emaciated victim who has since died.

The KMCS took up the issue first with the Government of Madhya Pradesh and then with the Government of Gujarat. There was a furore and some regulation began of these killer factories but both the Governments were silent about compensation for those maimed and killed by silicosis.
The KMCS then took the battle further afield and contacted other organisations who were active in fighting to end the scourge of silicosis among stone crusher workers across India as this is a rampant phenomenon. It turned out that the Government of India and the state and central pollution control boards too were apathetic to the plight of the labourers affected by Silicosis. After five long years of campaigning it was decided to seek legal redress and a writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court of India in which KMCS was a petitioner along with other organisations seeking justice for the victims of silicosis across the country. The Supreme Court made this case W.P. (Civil) 110 of 2006 a test case for ensuring justice in the area of occupational health and especially the virulent neglect by the Government of the plight of victims of Silicosis. Many human rights lawyers of repute like Prashant Bhushan and Colin Gonsalves appeared for the petitioners. The Supreme Court after hearing all parties ordered the National Human Rights Commission to conduct a detailed enquiry into the situation of the victims of silicosis in Alirajpur and Jhabua districts. The KMCS as a petitioner played an active role in facilitating this enquiry on the ground.
The NHRC, after conducting the study, issued a recommendation in November 2010 that the Gujarat Government should pay a compensation of Rs 3,00,000 to the kin of each of the 238 Bhil tribals from Jhabua and Alirajpur districts who had died due to silicosis contracted while working in stone crusher units in Gujarat. However, the Gujarat Government after initial dilly dallying sent notices to the kin of the deceased that their complaints had been registered under the ESI Act and that they should come with all documents to the designated court to fight the case for compensation. This was in gross violation of the original basis of the Supreme Court order to the NHRC. The Supreme Court had reasoned that it was a gross dereliction of duty on the part of the Gujarat Government not to have regulated the stone crusher units, as it should have under the law and so it had a moral responsibility to compensate the kin of the illiterate and poor tribals who had died due to this governmental negligence. The NHRC then went back to the Supreme Court saying that the Gujarat Government was refusing to comply with its recommendations. A delegation from the KMCS also visited the Labour Secretary in Ahmedabad requesting him to comply with the NHRC recommendations but they too were fobbed off with the plea that the government had registered cases in the courts and that the victims should seek redressal there.
The NHRC had also recommended that the Madhya Pradesh Government should design and implement a rehabilitation package for the 304 tribals who are affected with silicosis but are still alive. The MP Government too did not comply in spirit with this recommendation by giving the affected Adivasis a special rehabilitation package and instead listed the benefits given to some of these Adivasis under ongoing social welfare schemes as its rehabilitation package.
Finally, on 3.5.2016, the Supreme Court passed an order directing the Government of Gujarat to pay Rs 3 lakhs to the kin of each of the victims identified by the NHRC without delay and report to it about action taken within a month.
Thus, after a decade long battle, finally the Adivasis will get some relief but it is a pyrrhic victory. If it was not for the mediation of the KMCS and other organisations across the country and pleading by noted human rights lawyers even this would not have been possible. Coming as it does after such a long delay primarily due to the fact that the Supreme Court is burdened with innumerable cases and given the intransigence of the Government of Gujarat, this relief has more symbolic than material value. Certainly something is very rotten in the State of India.

A Tribal Mining Workers' Strike

The Prayas Centre for Labour Research and Action (PCLRA) has over the past few years spearheaded a fairly successful campaign of organising informal labourers in the brick kiln and construction industry across the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh in the face of determined opposition from the employers and apathy and connivance on the part of the Government and Administration. One of the great things about this effort is that the organisation continually seeks out new areas in which to intervene and further broaden the struggle. As part of this process they have now come out in support of a unique strike by tribal workers in the green marble mining industry in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. Sudhir Katyar of PCLRA reports -

Nearly 5000 tribal workers at the green marble mining area of Rishabdeo in Udaipur district of Rajasthan have been on strike for last three weeks. The workers are demanding an eight hour work day, registration under the Provident Fund scheme of Government, improved safety measures at mines to prevent accidents, and modest wage hikes. In fact the demands are already mandated by labor laws. However as is the case almost everywhere, the labour laws are followed more in breach.

 The mining area is located in a tribal belt that witnesses heavy out migration to Gujarat. However in the mines, nearly half the workers are from other states as owners find them more vulnerable. They stay at the site and work 12 hours a day. This puts pressure on local workers to put in longer hours. Almost five workers die every year because of lax safety arrangements. 

The strike has entered its fourth week. The employers, instead of negotiating with the workers, have foisted police cases on union leaders. The strike is unprecedented as the mining belt of South Rajasthan has never seen industrial action on such a large scale. The local tribal member of the legislative assembly (MLA) is himself a mine owner and he has ensured that there is almost no media coverage of such a big industrial action locally and also that the union leaders have been arraigned in false criminal cases. There has been little outside support. We appeal to all to support this action of mine workers. Please send messages as follows to -

Smt Vasundhara Raje

Chief Minister of Rajasthan

1012, Chief Minister’s Wing

Secretariat, Jaipur, Rajasthan

Ph 0141- 2227716, 2227687 (fax)
email - cmraj@rajasthan.gov.in , cmrajasthan@nic.in

Honorable Chief Minister Rajasthan

Nearly 5000 mine workers at Rishabhdeo, District Udaipur have been on strike for three weeks. Their demands like eight hour shift, paid holidays, security measures to avoid accidents are anyway mandated by law. We are dismayed to learn that the local police has acted in a one sided manner and foisted cases under various sections of IPC at the Union leaders. We understand that the local MLA of your party, Nana Lal Ahari, is one of the mine owners and is responsible for this one sided police action. The right to organize is a fundamental right and the police action has taken away this right. We appeal you to - 

1. Order the police department to take back the false cases against the Union leaders 

2. Take a sympathetic view to just demands of the workers and ask the administrative machinery to help them realize their legal demands.

With regards

An Unexpected Victory

The strike of the Brick Kiln workers in Maandal town in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan has finally reached a successful conclusion but not before some anxious moments in between. Sudhir Katyar of the Prayas Centre for Labour Research and Action reports - 
A meeting of striking workers was attacked violently on 23rd December 2012 by the brick kiln owners two kms from Haripura chauraha. Suddenly the brick kiln owners came in a group of ten vehicles and attacked the workers and union team from behind. The attack was sudden. The women with children were also not spared. The workers dispersed under this sudden attack. The Union team members had to flee for their life. They were pursued by the attackers.

The attack was pre-planned. Earlier the owners had collected in Maandal town and held a meeting. They gave an application against the Union to the Police Station and then went to the meeting site for the attack. The police and the administration supported the owners as is evident by the statements they gave in the media blaming the Union for provoking the owners. The media too is giving more prominence to the owners’ version. A picture of women workers at the meeting is given below.

The Union team  met the district collector. He was handed a list of 15 groups of workers who want to be released from bondage. This is going to be the main strategy now as the owners are not interested in a dialogue with the workers. The news from the kilns is that the owners have forced the workers to resume work under threat. The workers want to leave but the owners are making them work under force. The individual team members could reach back the office only by late night. Some of them had to walk and run for kilometers, pursued by the attackers. One member of the team was fetched back at 12  midnight from police station Aasind where the owners had left him. The team was not in a position to venture into the field amongst the workers. So the strategy shifted to Maandal and Bhilwara. One team went to the SP office to apprise him of the situation and seek protection for team members.

The Union responded to the attack by staging a dharna in front of the SDO office in Maandal. It was not easy to call workers to Mandal as it is some distance away from the kilns. Many workers said that they do not have the money to buy tickets for travel. Finally around 80 workers turned up for varying durations. The news from the brick kiln was mixed. At many kilns, workers had started work as the owners promised a hike in wages. The brick carriers, a critical part of the work process, were offered a hike of Rs. 10 from 80 to 90. Most had begun work. The pathera, brick molders, were offered varying hike. Wages were hiked from Rs. 50 to Rs. 100 per 1000 bricks – an increase of 16 to 33 percent. Some had resumed work while some held on. 

Then the outside pressure brought upon the local administration, that was hands in gloves with the brick kiln owners, started to have some impact. The Chief Secretary, the highest official of the State rang up the administrative and police heads of the district. Many major civil rights people inquired into the incident and talked to the District Administration.By evening the pall of gloom that had hung over was beginning to lift. The team was enjoying the martyrdom. The violent incident had a positive aspect as well– it had established firmly the credibility of the Union amongst the eyes of the workers.

Even after four days since the attack took place the First Information Report (FIR) was not filed by the police. The police said that they had complaints against the Union by the Brick Kiln Owners as well and those will be filed first. When we went to meet the highest police official of the district – the Superintendent of Police (SP) he almost got us arrested on the spot, blaming us for spreading unrest. In fact one member of the delegation was sent off to the local police station for a brief while under Section 107 of CrPC, a draconian provision that allows police to detain almost anyone for 24 hours. The local official apparatus is fully in control of the local political clique that has decided that the Union cannot be allowed to function. It must be beaten out of the place. The strike as a result was effectively over. All workers returned back to work under threat of stoppage of food allowance and denial of basic necessities like firewood and drinking water. 

Finally the battle was won even though the workers had gone back to work. A meeting was held on 28.12.2012 between the brick kiln owners of Maandal Asind area and the Union. The meeting was called by and mediated by the Police Department of Bhilwara. Almost the entire top brass of the police was present. The owners agreed to pay a wage rate of Rs. 400 per 1000 bricks to the pathera workers, the brick molders. For redhiwalas, the brick carriers, the wage rate will vary between Rs. 80 to 100 depending on whether the redhi is given by the employers and the distance of carriage. For brick molders, the most numerous and the least paid group of workers, the new wage rate represents an average wage hike of 33% that translates into a wage hike of Rs. 20,000 per family for the season. Around 5,000 families are expected to benefit. The total incremental wages thus will be Rs. 10 crores for this category of workers alone. The owners will also compensate the Union for the damaged vehicle. But more important than the wage hike is the fact that the Union has gained recognition from the employers and the administration. The owners expressed their willingness to negotiate a new agreement for the next season before the beginning of the season itself in July, stating their problems in hiking wages in the middle of the season.

So how did this transformation happen? Especially when the workers had all gone back to work! The agreement came about primarily because of the brazen attack on workers and the hanging sword of the FIR that had the potential to implicate a large chunk of owners and sections of police. The newspapers of the day carried the report that the SP, the top police official had issued notice to the SHO inquiring into delay in filing the FIR. The police department was caught in a web of its own lies and complicity and was under extreme pressure from the higher administration that the Union was able to garner. The Chief Secretary, the highest bureaucrat, took interest in the matter. Thus, a judicious use of lobbying with the higher level bureaucracy and the threat of legal action in the High Courts was able to bring about this victory for possibly the weakest section of the labour force in India - migrant bonded brick kiln labourers.

Batting for Brick Kiln Workers

The brick making industry in this country is one where there is tremendous exploitation of workers because these are mostly interstate migrants. The standard mode of recruitment is through agents who bring the team of workers from one state to the other by paying the latter an advance on behalf of the brick kiln owners. The brick making season roughly runs from October to May in the dry season after the monsoons are over and before they come in the new year. Typically the owners make all kinds of deductions while settling the final accounts of the migrant workers and the latter invariably get very small wages well below the statutory minimum wage. Women are a major part of the labour force and the picture below shows them at work.

The Prayas Centre for Labour Research and Action has been working for the rights of these migrant labourers in brick kilns in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh and in the process they have brought about significant improvement in the working and living conditions and wages of the labourers. Trade Unions of the labourers have been formed and these have carried out mass action, case work, legal action and advocacy on this issue. The PCLRA has now launched a mass action in  Bhilwara district of Rajasthan where the migrant brick kiln labourers have gone on an indefinite strike from 21.12.12 demanding better wages and working and living conditions. Sudhir Katyar of the PCLRA reports -
The Maandal – Asind brick kiln cluster of District Bhilwara. The cluster has 89 brick kilns. The number of workers is likely to be around 15,000. Majority of the workers are seasonal migrants. A significant number are interstate migrants. Workers were reported from five different states in addition to Rajasthan. These are UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, MP, and Chhattisgarh. Amongst the interstate migrants, workers are mostly from UP (Banda and Chitrakoot districts) and Bihar (Banka, Bhagalpur). Amongst workers from Rajasthan, there is a large
group from Masuda tehsil in District Ajmer. The Union formation was done in the off season of July –August, primarily based on the bharai and nikasi workers of Masuda tehsil in nearby district of Ajmer. Most of these workers belong to the Rawat caste. The union formation drew good support from the community. The labor contractors also participated enthusiastically. Experience has taught us that it is a good tactics to involve small and medium labor contractors. A demand charter was drawn up before the season began. It
asks for wage hikes across all categories of workers and improvement in working and living conditions. A PCLRA team also visited Bihar-Jharkhand, a major source area. The picture below shows a brick maker family at their home in Bihar.

A PCLRA team has been active in the field since the season began in October. The Union executive meeting was held on 15th December. The meeting was very well attended. In addition to the Union Executive, representatives from almost 50 brick kilns attended the meeting. The Executive has taken following decisions
1.      From 16th December onwards, the demand charter will be given to the
employers, beginning with the Employers’ Association. The employers
are being given time till 21 December to give their response.
2.      On 21st December, work will be stopped. Workers will gather at
Jharnia Mahadeo for a public meeting.
3.      The next steps will be decided at the public meeting. It is
expected that if there is no settlement by then, the workers may
decide to go home.

The Union team undertook extensive mobilization amongst the workers between 15^th and 21^st December. It visited all the brick kilns and gave memorandum to the employers. It contacted workers and gave them pamphlet about the Union meeting on 21^st. A memorandum was given to the brick kiln owners’ association.  While most owners accepted the memorandum, there were heated discussions with a group of 6-7 owners. Another team met the Government officers. The Labor Department was given the memorandum and asked to initiate a tripartite dialogue. The police and the administration were also given information about the meeting and workers’ problems. The Union team made efforts to develop a local support group. It met sympathetic members of the civil society including advocates, trade union members, and social activists.

The mobilization efforts met resistance from a small group of 7-8 owners. These owners own comparatively larger units centered around the village of Haripura. These are the owners who pay the lowest rates and stand to suffer the most from a wage hike. They challenged the Union to hold the meeting. The source of their confidence became apparent on the morning of the meeting when the local official responsible for law and order, the Sub Divisional Officer phoned the Union Secretary saying that he has cancelled permission for the meeting. Then the tent house supplier was threatened by the owners not to erect the tent. Union responded by mobilizing the support group to speak to the higher police officials. We asked the local police to provide protection. The local police responded and a police team was stationed at the site. The tent was erected again.

There remained the suspense whether workers will be able to resist the employers and come out of the brick kilns. The suspense was soon removed as workers started arriving in groups. Soon the tent was full and workers flowed outside. We registered almost 1000 workers and an equal number is likely to have gone unregistered. The numbers were beyond our expectation as is evident from the picture below.

The guests included the local city support group and supporters from outside the district. The workers were full of enthusiasm. After the speeches, the workers decided on the next course of action. The Union president moved the resolution for continuing the strike. The resolution was passed by a show of hands by overwhelming majority. Next the Union activists outline the strategy. It was decided to continue the strike for three days. If by the end of three days, the owners do not respond, then the workers will apply for release under the Bonded Labor Act and go back home. The Bonded Labor Act was explained. Nearly all the workers have taken an advance and that is the source of their bondage. The workers were told that they can apply for release under the Act and the bonded debt will be annulled. Format of an application under release under the Act was circulated and 40 such forms were circulated.After the meeting the workers went in the form of a rally to the nearby Haripura chauraha as a show of strength. The rally passed through the village where a large number of owners live. Finally a committee was constituted. It was decided that every day the workers will gather at Haripura chauraha in the morning and then the team will go wherever required.   

As the meeting ended, the owners’ reaction became clear. One owner threatened the Union activist. From one brick kiln, there was report of violence and a worker was beaten up. The workers responded by collecting together forcing the owner to run away. All work came to a halt. The Union informed the local police that paid a visit to the kiln. The owner later tried to effect a compromise. The city support group met the Labor Commissioner and asked for speeding up the process of tripartite dialogue. He has fixed 24^th December for the meeting.

Organising the Unorganised

Last year I had attended a meeting in which the Dakshini Rajasthan Mazdoor Union had described the way in which it had successfully waged a struggle to raise the wage of migrant unorganised child workers from Rajasthan involved in the cross pollination of genetically modified BT cotton on farms in Gujarat. The organisation of the child workers had been done through the labour contractors. At that time I had not said anything in the meeting but had thought to myself that this process would find it difficult to sustain itself as the employer farmers would surely bribe the labour contractors along with various political bigwigs to thwart the Union in its efforts to increase the wages of the child labourers. And that is what has happened. In fact in various other efforts made by the Union among cotton gin workers and brick kiln workers too, they have come up against the powerful and unholy nexus between the employers, labour contractors and the state apparatus which has thwarted many worthwhile efforts by labour unionists in the past. The brick kiln workers near Ahmedabad have gone on strike for a wage hike because they say that the current rates are too low to ensure even a living wage. Once again the organisation is through the labour contractors. Possibly a small increment in wages will be possible but whether the union will become a lasting institution remains to be seen.
At the present time it is indeed difficult to do labour organisation work effectively especially when the employers are well organised and powerful enough to influence the state apparatus.

Public Lies

The struggle against the construction of the dams on the Narmada has brought out as never before the economic unsustainability of big dams. In the months of June and July the Narmada Bachao Andolan staged a dharna or sit in demonstration to press for the proper rehabilitation and resettlement of the oustees of the Omkareshwar and Indira Sagar dams. The demonstration started in Khandwa which is the headquarters of the East Nimar district in which these dams are situated and later shifted to Bhopal the state capital. Five people were on an indefinite hunger strike. Over 12000 oustee families recorded their complaints regarding incomplete rehabilitation as per the terms of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award and the directives of the Supreme Court. In between the Supreme Court heard a matter in which the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the Narmada Hydro-electric Development Corporation were challenging the stay granted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on the closure of the gates of the Omkareshwar dam since rehabilitation of the oustees had not been completed. The Government of Madhya Pradesh and the NHDC filed false affidavits saying that only five villages were to be affected and that rehabilitation was complete in these villages. On the basis of this false affidavit the Supreme Court lifted the stay. As a consequence the dam was filled and some villages which had not been rehabilitated were submerged. The people of these villages then launched a jal satyagraha by staying put in the water. They stayed in the water for a whole week before the administration relented and provided them with temporary rehabilitation and promised to give them proper rehabilitation in the future.
However the government was not prepared to relent on the larger issue of rehabilitation for the thousands of other people who had complained and so the dharna continued as well as the hunger strike. Parleys were held continuously with the officials and ministers but no agreement could be reached and ultimately the NBA had to withdraw the dharna and hunger strike without getting any concrete assurances.
The basic problem is that providing proper rehabilitation to all the thousands of oustees involves crores of rupees which will shoot up the cost of the dam so much that it will become unviable. That is why the government is not prepared to provide the oustees with their just dues and is continuously lying. The benefits in terms of electricity and irrigation are illusive and can never measure up to the costs. However these are to be given to those who are more powerful and so the powerless adivasis have to be sacrificed.
Some amount of pressure has been built up on the government and it is now trying to provide better rehabilitation than it did in ousting the people from the submergence zone of the Indira Sagar dam and it is now also restricted from using force by the orders of the High Court. But the basic problem of not having enough money to completely rehabilitate the oustees is forcing it to lie in public continuously. Ultimately it is a question of changing our resource guzzling developmental model. This is something that no one beginning with the richest of the rich is prepared to do. And so the adivasis continue to suffer.
The struggle conducted over a month cost the adivasis and other oustees lakhs of rupees. Some of it was garnered from the people and some from well wishers across India and around the world. Yet there are a lot of bills yet to be paid. So here too there is a resource crunch.
The Omkareshwar dam was inaugurated day before yesterday and it is claimed that it has been completed in record time being the first dam in the country to be finished before the target date. The future of the oustees however remains bleak.

Oh for a piece of land - 2

Khajan of Anjanwada village in Jhabua district is a modern tragic hero. He has fought continuously against the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the river Narmada which has submerged his agricultural land. He has fought for more than 20 years. Initially there was a lot of euphoria as everyone felt that the fight would bear fruit. However, slowly the fight became a losing one and eventually three years ago Khajan's land along with that of others in his village was submerged permanently. Since Khajan and his other village co-oustees had refused to go to Gujarat and instead insisted that they be given land in Madhya Pradesh as mandated by the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award and upheld by the Supreme Court of India they had been literally left high and dry by the Government of Madhya Pradesh. After many complaints to the administration and the government had not borne fruit Khajan and others like him from the submergence zone have launched a novel satyagraha from the 13th of July. They have seized control of 90 acres of government land in Barwani district and begun tilling it and sowing seeds in a cooperative farming operation to assert their right to land. The response of the administration has been typical in treating this as a law and order problem and threatening to file cases against the satyagrahis. There is no sympathy at all for the plight of the oustees who have been deprived of their main source of livelihood without being given an alternative in blatant violation of the Supreme Court's orders.
Throughout the last sixty years since independence each and every large and medium sized dam has involved the ousting of landed peasants without adequate compensation. Indeed without this cheating of the people in the submergence zone such dams cannot be built because just and adequate rehabilitation and resettlement would increase costs tremendously making the dams economically unviable. So in the case of the dams on the Narmada too the same phenomenon of cheating of oustees is taking place.
Khajan's tilling satyagraha is possibly his last stand but it does underline once again the attachment of the Bhil adivasi peasant to land.
Under the aegis of the Narmada Bachao Andolan the oustees have now served notice on the concerned officers stating that unless they are provided with proper rehabilitation and land they will sue them under the provisions of the Prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act.
The battle will never end even if all the lands are submerged. Khajan will fight on as best as he can.

Till death do they serve

The desperate situation of the Bhils of Jhabua district is grotesquely pictured in the fate of those who have been forced to waste away and die due to silicosis contracted from working in the silica crusher factories of Panchmahal district in Gujarat. These men who have very little land and other livelihood resources in their native villages go and work in these crushers that crush the silica rock for use in glass making factories. The owners of these crushers do not register them as labourers and they do not provide them with any kind of protective masks to prevent the dust from entering the lungs. Consequently over a period of a few months the workers become affected by silicosis and then they gradually waste away and die. Over the past year the trade union Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangath has been trying to put a stop to this by petitioning the various authorities in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh but apart from some sporadic action nothing much has been done. In fact the Government of Madhya Pradesh which should be most concerned about this problem is busy trying to brush it under the carpet by denying that the problem exists. The only solution appears to be to go to court but this too is an expensive and time consuming proposition. So the adivasis are continually dying. Such is the helplessness of these people of the earth. Justice is very difficult to get for the adivasis in this country and there comes a time when those fighting on their behalf feel forlorn

Labour Market Segmentation

I attended a meeting of the Dakshin Rajasthan Mazdoor Sangh (DRMS) in Dungarpur district in Rajasthan yesterday. It was a revealing experience. The union has as its members "meds" or mates who are Bhil adivasi men and women who are labour contractors. These meds are contracted by farmers in Bansakantha and Sabarkantha districts of Gujarat engaged in the preparation of BT cotton seeds. These seeds are genetically modified cotton seeds which have a bacillus inserted into their genes which acts as an impediment to attack by pests and they are also more productive than the general run of hybrid cotton seeds. Developed by Monsanto Corporation and prepared and sold under subcontract by various Indian companies these seeds have become quite popular with farmers despite the opposition of environmentalists who are continually pointing out the ominous consequences of the spread of genetically modified mono-cultures. Consequently the demand for these seeds has gone up and they have to be prepared through special processes in plots that are isolated from other varieties. This is what is being done by the big farmers in Gujarat. Obviously the work of cross-pollination of male and female plants to produce the seeds is a labour intensive one and this is where the Bhils come in in a big way. Bhil children of Dungarpur aged between 8 and 14 of both sexes are preferred for this work and the meds provide them to the big farmers for a commission which they take from the children's wages. Thus we have here a case of labour market segmentation of a peculiar kind. There are the meds who get a cut from the wages of the child labourers who are the actual surplus producers while facilitating their own and the children's exploitation by the big farmers and eventually by Monsanto. In fact this is a country wide phenomenon in all cotton seed producing states and has been critically reviewed by the India Committee of the Netherlands in a report. The children used to get paid some Rs 40 per day of which Rs 5 went to the med. Thus a med providing 20 children to the farmer would get Rs 100 per day. Obviously there is a lot of other kinds of exploitation and cheating also.
This is where an NGO Prayas stepped in. With funding from Action Aid and Aga Khan Foundation they organised the meds into the DRMS and then fought for higher wages for the children and so also commissions for the meds. They have over the last year been successful in raising the wages by Rs 10 and also intervened in many cases of cheating and molestation. However the situation is very queer because the DRMS organises the meds and not the child labourers directly and so is not really able to control the exploitation of the children by the meds. Anyway they are now trying to get the wages hiked even further so that the adults can then go for the work instead of the children.