NEWSLETTER

March 2023

LOKAYAT – Forum for a new world!

In a wondrous coincidence of history, it was in the month of “March” that Mahatma Gandhi began marching to the sea to disobey the empire; Babasaheb Ambedkar led thousands to march in defiance of the Manusmriti; women around the world marched for the rights of all workers and  Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru marched happily to the gallows for freedom and revolution.  May we never forget their sacrifices. Let us unite and struggle to fulfil their dreams of a free, equal and just society.

The following is a report of our activities from the month of March 2023.

Activities Against Rising Inflation

The real reasons for rising unemployment and inflation are the pro-corporate policies of the Modi Government. This is getting harder to ignore - even a former governor of the RBI has pointed out how huge corporates are responsible for the unrelenting inflation. However, the media do not criticise those policies. It is up to citizens’ groups and activists to reach out to the people and make them aware of the root causes of their economic problems.

We are regularly campaigning on this issue through a variety of activities. This month:

• Lokayat Nagari Samiti carried out two awareness campaigns in Peth areas (old city).

• During one of these campaigns, the residents joined us and decided to plan a public protest. This was carried out in the following week. The residents, who are mainly the unorganised sector workers, came out in large numbers and expressed their distress at the difficulty of making ends meet.

• We organised two door-to-door campaigns in slums of the Shivajinagar area, educating people about the demand for a universal and improved ration system.

• In addition, our students and youth team also organised three street campaigns in public places around the city.

A majority of people have fallen prey to media propaganda and keep blaming themselves or their fate for their condition. This underscores the need for more awareness - for action by each of us. We appeal to you to join our campaigns by calling on one of the contact numbers given at the end of this newsletter.

Celebrating Holi by Symbolic Burning of Inflation

It has been a tradition in our country to burn symbols of evil. During the freedom struggle people burned piles of British goods on Holi and the colonial rulers were at their wits end. In the spirit of continuing this tradition, we celebrate Holi every year by burning symbols of social evils. 

This year, on 6th March, Lokayat and the Mahavikas Aghadi - alliance of Congress, NCP and Shiv-Sena (UBT) - consigned to fire a symbol of the crushing inflation brought about by the BJP government’s policies.

The Holi was lit in the middle of Jedhe chowk at Swargate - one of the busiest squares in the city - in front of hundreds of people. As per Holi traditions, we hurled curses at the burning symbol and distributed pamphlets to passers-by explaining in brief how Modi Govt. policies are leading to price rise and what is the alternative.

Analysing Union Budget 2023

Every year we organise a public talk to raise the question – “Union Budget - What’s in it for the people?”. This year’s talk was delivered by Lokayat’s Neeraj Jain on 4th March at the IMA Auditorium and chaired by retired Justice B.G. Kolse Patil. Numerous young students and competitive exam aspirants attended this talk as well as quite a few pensioners and political activists.

The talk critically analyses the union budget from the point of view of the poor, the farmers, the unemployed and the marginalised, through the lens of the directive principles of the Indian Constitution. The conversation after the talk was full  of good questions from the audience.

Neeraj Jain delivered this talk again on 9th March in an online program organised by Bihar based activist group Loknaad. It also received a great response

Film Festival: Another World is Possible

To mark Shaheed Diwas (martyrdom day) of Bhagat Singh and his comrades, we organised our annual film festival “Another World is Possible” at Shikshak Bhavan in Pune on Sunday, 26th March.

We screened four films which showcased how peoples’ movements around the world are striving to fulfil the same dreams for which Bhagat Singh laid down his life – from Bolivarian communes in Venezuela to the Kisan Andolan in India. The hall was packed with young people who eagerly expressed their views in the discussion that followed the films.

Activities with Rashtriya Mazdoor Sangh

The Rashtriya Mazdoor Sangh (RMS) is a Pune based umbrella union of unorganised workers. Lokayat works closely with the organisers of RMS to increase workers’ participation with the union and develop their leadership potential and understanding. Among our several activities with the union this month, most notable was our work with the newly inaugurated Mahila Aghadi (Womens’ Front) of the union:

• We contributed to organising four meetings of domestic workers in various localities. In addition to discussing issues related to registration of domestic workers, Shram-Cards, etc. we stressed the importance of actively participating in union activities and reaching out to more workers.

• We organised the women of RMS in submitting petitions to the authorities at three major government institutions in the city – Sassoon Hospital, the Municipal Corporation and the District Collectorate on implementing anti-sexual harassment laws for their workers.

Activities with Congress

In the spirit of uniting democratic forces against the BJP regime’s unrelenting attack on the Constitution, Lokayat works with the Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT) in Maharashtra. We have worked actively with the MVA on many fronts, especially in the training of grassroots activists and public outreach.

Hath-se-Hath Jodo Abhiyan

Opposition parties must reach out to ordinary people at the grassroots level. That was the purpose and the message of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. With the intention of increasing the dialogue with the public, the Congress party has launched the Hath Se Hath Jodo Abhiyan. We have been actively involved in this campaign since December 2022.

In the past month, there were door-to-door campaigns in three localities in southern Pune. Activists of the Congress and Lokayat knocked on doors and talked to people at length. Through these conversations we expose the link between the BJP government's policies and problems like LPG prices to communal tensions and counter the misinformation spread by the corporate media.

Participation in protest against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification

The ruling dispensation has time and again made a mockery of democratic institutions and bared its vindictive fangs against ideological opponents. The Congress party organised protests against the targeting of Rahul Gandhi as well as against the manner in which the BJP is using the whole defamation issue as a decoy to distract from the investigation into allegations against the Adani group. Lokayat participated in these protests.

Lokayat in solidarity with

striking government employees

Governments at the Centre and in BJP governed states are accelerating pro-corporate economic policies. They are giving generous subsidies worth lakhs of crores to the corporate class, while refusing to give pensions even to defense employees and soldiers - which is an important reason for the Agnipath scheme.

Across the country government employees are uniting and demanding a return to the old pension scheme (OPS). It is worth noting that some states like Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and most recently Himachal Pradesh have already reverted to the OPS. The strike in mid-March by employees of the Government of Maharashtra comes in this context.

The five-day strike witnessed massive rallies in many cities across the state. In Pune more than 20,000 employees from all departments marched. Our team participated in this rally as well as in the workers’ demonstrations from 14th to 17th March. The strike has ended with a compromise between the state and the workers, but the movement for old pension continues.

Activities by Abhivyakti

Our women’s wing Abhivyakti seeks to build confidence and leadership in women and works for gender equality. The decisions of Abhivyakti are taken by our female activists while both men and women participate in the activities. We also organise activities exclusively for women and girls so that they can express themselves freely and develop the confidence to work in public life.

Regular street campaigns on violence against women

Lokayat organises weekly street campaigns on gender equality at public places and campuses throughout the city. This is our foremost outreach activity in which we initiate a dialogue with the people. In the month of March, we organised two campaigns on the social roots of violence against women.

One campaign was organised to make people aware of the history of International Women’s Day and its true significance – not as a day of “offer coupons” but as a day to remember how the struggle by women brought about the eight-hour working day. Most people appreciated the message of the campaign for telling them a piece of history they had not known before.

Activities for Girls of the slum

These activities are exclusively for girl students hailing from the vasti (slum) areas where we work. This month, Abhivyakti held-

• A session on self-defence techniques

• Regular sessions to help girls with their studies before the annual examinations

• Weekly reading camps

Premache Antaranga

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Abhivyakti organised a public talk by activist and writer Vandana Khare on the topic “Premache Antaranga” (The inner dynamics of love).

The speaker highlighted how the media and especially the film industry has distorted and restricted our view of love. The topic, as expected, drew a huge young crowd that was eager to understand and discuss this issue, and so the discussion was also quite lively.

Program by Kafila - Tuka Mhane...

The Bhakti movement was not just a spiritual movement, it was a powerful movement against the ills of medieval society and can be considered to be the Indian Renaissance Movement. Our great saints used Kirtans and Ovis to sow the seeds of an egalitarian and democratic consciousness in the Indian mind. It is these values that have percolated and form the most important pillars of our democratic, secular Constitution. In Maharashtra, it is said that "Sant Tukaram is the spire of the Bhakti temple". This poet saint urged people to seek god by serving the wretched of the earth and to put humanity over caste and community.

His message is extremely relevant in today's times. That is why we marked Tukaram Beej with a celebration wherein we sang of his selected “Abhangas” at Goodluck chowk and Sambhaji Park in Pune on Sunday, 19th March.

Hundreds of people listened to our team sing. Many joined us in the collective dance called “ringan” to the tunes of Sant Tukaram’s poetry, just like the Warkaris do at Pandharpur - a profoundly human, collective experience. We look forward to performing this more often.

New on YouTube

Union #Budget 2023: What is in it for people?

Social media activities

We continue to regularly publish progressive content on social media. Among the issues we raised this month were petrol, diesel & gas price hike, privatisation, caste inequality, gender & economic crisis etc.

Volunteer for poster making activity if you are interested.
Contact us if you want to host our program on your channel.

Fill this form to join us:

Lokayat, 129/B Erandwane, opposite Canara Bank,
Law College Road, near Nalstop, Pune.

Rishikesh : +91 94235 07864 | Kalyani : +91 83900 28617