Violence stalks Karnataka as police cracked down on peaceful protest by tobacco farmers

Violence and death stalked rural Karnataka last fortnight as the state authorities cracked down on the peaceful protest by tobacco farmers who had successfully blockaded the Bangalore-Pune national highway, demanding higher prices for their produce.The rasta roko programme at Nipani - led by the irrepressible Sharad Joshi of the Shetkari Sanghatana - had entered its 24th day when apparently, the Karnataka Government's patience ran out. In a pre-dawn swoop, the police started destroying the bullock carts, bicycles and tents pitched in the middle of the rod rounding up about 4,000 agitators and whisking them off in a fleet of state corporation bases. Most leaders, including Joshi, were taken into custody.As news of the arrests spread, farmers from the neighbouring villages, which form the Nipani Bhag tobacco belt, started collecting before 'Andolan Nagar', the site of the road-block, insisting on being arrested. Unable to cope with the crowd, the police made a lathi-charge, which was followed by bursting of tear-gas shells. Meanwhile armed police swung into action, firing at fleeing farmers, some of whom retaliated by throwing stones, injuring about 120 policemen. After this violent incident there were conflicting claims as to the number of deaths that occurred in the confrontation. The police, who maintain that only nine people were killed, have neither disclosed the names of the victims, nor released their photographs. The Shetkari Sanghatana claims that the death toll was 19, with dozens more hovering between life and death, with bullet injuries, in hospitals.Tobacco growers of Nipani Bhag are among the most neglected sections of agriculturists in Karnataka. The area accounts for almost 20 per cent of bidi tobacco grown in the country. Nipani tobacco is known for its quality and is in great demand for blending with inferior varieties. Most of the farmers are in the vice-like grip of a dozen or so merchants who keep them in perpetual indebtedness by advancing money for agricultural operations at usurious rates of interest and underpaying them for their produce. It costs the farmer about Rs 11 to produce 1 kg of tobacco. The price offered varies between Rs 4 and Rs 7, depending on the quality. Both in grading and weighing, the farmers get cheated. Grading is done arbitrarily without any laboratory tests and weighing is done in maunds. One maund could be anything between 15 kg and 30 kg. Merchants make a clean profit of not less than Rs 20 per kg. They enjoy enormous political patronage, and one of them even managed to get a Padma Bhushan award.Successful Cause: Sharad Joshi, having successfully taken up the cause of onion growers in Maharashtra, has been organising the 40,000-odd Nipani tobacco growers since the beginning of this year under the aegis of the Shetkari Sanghatana. Its main demand is to fix the price of bidi tobacco at Rs 10, Rs 12 and Rs 14 per kg, for the three main varieties and the take-over of the trade by any government agency like National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED).Joshi: - on the warpath againTherasta rokoagitation which began in March remained peaceful throughout. It resulted mainly in vehicular traffic on the Bangalore-Pune national highway having to make a detour by-passing Nipani, involving an additional distance of nearly 70 kilometres. A sort ofmela atmosphere prevailed at 'Andolan Nagar', a two-kilometre stretch on the highway, with nightly open-air film shows, street dramas and bhajans.People from the neighbouring villages would bring 'jowar rotis' and other eatables in decorated bullock-carts. Even a 'people's court' was set up which tried, among others, Chief Minister Gundu Rao for "dereliction of duty, neglecting farmer's interests and colluding with the exploiting traders". It was all done in good humour.Instead of trying to find a solution to the genuine problems of the tobacco growers, the Karnataka Government attributed sinister motives to the agitation. The 41 villages forming Nipani Bhag, going by the Mahajan Commission Report, should have been transferred to Maharashtra. An attempt was being made to divide the ranks of the farmers on linguistic lines, but it failed miserably.The problems of the tobacco growers are genuine. Gundu Rao's assertion that his police took a pre-emptive step as the agitators had planned to set fire to the entire town of Nipani lacked credibility as the farmers conducted themselves throughout with exemplary restraint, as even the police admit. Unless handled with utmost care, the agitation is bound to escalate.******************************************B. SUBBAIAH: VIGILANCE VICTIMSubbaiah: caught red-handedWhen B. Subbaiah was appointed special secretary to the Karnataka Government in the Public Works Department (PWD), by Chief Minister R. Gundu Rao in May last year, a Bangalore daily waxed eloquent: "......B. Subbaiah, after his 'special training' in Tennessee Valley Authority, Aswan Dam project in Egypt, Bhakra Nangal in Punjab and Damodar Valley project in Eastern India, managed to acquire special savvy. He has been 'instrumental' for the successful completion of the construction of 400 tanks and for the water supply services for some 5,000 villages. It is well-known Subbaiah was a bright student of engineering and an official of upright character and great probity."This engineering hero was one of the four senior bureaucrats whose residences were raided by the State Vigilance Commission which unearthed cash, jewellery and other movable property valued at Rs 25 lakh besides real estate in the form of posh bungalows and valuable house sites. The others are A. Venkataramanappa, chief engineer, minor irrigation and public health engineering, Mustaq Ahmed and T. M. Mud-dappa, executive engineers.The vigilance officers searched Subbaiah's house for 13 days from March 16 to 28 and found Rs 881,395 in cash, Rs 448,000 in fixed deposit receipts, Rs 50,518 in bank accounts, gold jewellery worth Rs 279,936 and silver articles valued at Rs 62,910. The value of his household articles was assessed at Rs 100,000. Four strands of corals are still to be assessed. The commission also found that Subbaiah possessed four bungalows, one of which had marble flooring and carved doors, and three valuable house sites.Charges: This raid seems to be one of the few reverses Subbaiah has had. Having failed in his engineering examination in 1949, he not only got through the next year by means of an educational ordinance, but also managed to get a lecturer's post in the same college in the very subject in which he had failed, in preference to his gold-medallist classmate, S.H. Thimmayya.As early as 1973, Subbaiah was caught red-handed for the alleged embezzlement of millions of rupees while he was executive engineer of the Hemawathi-Harangi irrigation projects. Govindaraju, former vigilance commissioner of Karnataka who investigated the charges against Subbaiah, found him guilty on two counts and recommended a heavy cut in the engineer-bureaucrat's salary, along with an official notification of stern admonition on his dereliction of duty, abuse of power and misuse of taxpayers' money. But the then chief minister Devraj Urs, arbitrarily ruled that Subbaiah was "innocent" even in the face of the vigilance commissioner's factual findings.Notwithstanding the road-blocks, Subbaiah has been steadily climbing up the bureaucratic ladder, treading upon the legitimate claims of his seniors and superiors. Shortly after the adverse findings of the vigilance commissioner, he managed to wangle the post of superintending engineer in Shimoga district, replete with river projects and PWD works.In his hunt for this post, he came against an embarrassing factor: the then PWD minister H. M. Chennabasappa, was fully aware of Subbaiah's alleged propensity for graft. As luck would have it, the minister fell ill and was hospitalised. Urs took temporary charge of the PWD portfolio. And to accommodate his crony, Urs prematurely retired Gopala Shetty, the then superintending engineer, and appointed Subbaiah instead.Enterprise: When the Emergency came into force and orders went out from New Delhi instructing states to sack corrupt and incompetent bureaucrats, Urs was faced again with the Subbaiah file. Noted Urs: "Subbaiah is one of the most upstanding competent engineers in the entire PWD in Karnataka who is incorruptible and efficient," and turned aside the file.When the Urs ministry was dismissed in early 1978 and President's rule imposed in Karnataka, Subbaiah was shunted out as additional secretary to the State Planning Department. But the moment Urs was swept back to power following the mid-term polls, he brought back Subbaiah as chief of the Department of Minor Irrigation, a virtual gold mine.It must be said to his credit that Subbaiah had never been short in his "display" of loyalty to the powers that be. Throughout Urs' stewardship as chief minister, Subbaiah had on display in his office and home a massive photograph of the Urs' couple, with himself sitting at 'their exalted feet'. As if that was not enough, he arranged regular ritualistic worship of the trio by burning incense and breaking coconuts.Enterprising as Subbaiah was, the replacement of Urs by Gundu Rao did not pose a problem for him. He told the new chief minister: "I'm a loyal civil servant and I serve faithfully official orders and policies... I'm not pro anybody." Mollified, Gundu Rao promptly promoted Subbaiah as special secretary of the PWD on a higher salary.And Subbaiah successfully prevailed upon Gundu Rao to "declare open" for the second time (the first inauguration was done by Urs) the massive Kabini Irrigation project. He had also consigned to the dustbin the photograph of the Urs couple with himself sitting at their feet, and replaced it with a group photograph of himself with Gundu Rao and Varalakshmi Rao, the chief minister's wife.Along with Subbaiah, three of his colleagues, all senior engineers of PWD had also been caught. Each one of them had large stocks of money, gold, silver and other gifts. And in the case of Muddappa, the sleuths of the Vigilance Commission have come out with the discovery of a mansion bought in the name of his alleged mistress, D. Saroja.********************************************************** WATCH SCANDAL: TIME OUT Ibrahim (left) and Gundu Rao: faced with a sensitive issueC. M. Ibrahim, the maverick minister in Gundu Rao's cabinet, gets visibly annoyed when anybody asks him the time these days. He has even stopped wearing a watch. Watches are a very sensitive issue with him, specially Rolex watches since it was the gift of a Rolex by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister for Justice, Al Bakr that has reduced him overnight from Gundu Rao's blue-eyed boy to a political leper with CBI sleuths currently digging into his background.Ibrahim, the "master defector", who abandoned the Janata Party and with the help of his mentor, Congress (I) MP F. M. Khan, wriggled into a berth in the Karnataka cabinet, would not be in hot water today if only he had learned to keep his lips tightly sealed.Instead, he has been holding forth on his "successful" trip to the Gulf last November-December, from where he reportedly arrived in Bombay with 12 suitcases full of dutiable goods but waltzed through the customs flashing his diplomatic passport, which state ministers are entitled to. He was also sporting an opulent-looking Rolex watch embossed with a falcon, the official UAE seal. Unfortunately, the watch could also seal his own political fate.Opening the Millath Co-operative Bank in Davangere last December, soon after his return from the Gulf, Ibrahim said: "The honour done to me during my visit is really beyond words. In Dubai, I told the people that they were indulging in high life at the night clubs in London instead of helping their economically backward co-religionists in Karnataka.They were amazed at my plain speaking. For the first time we are meeting a minister who is speaking the truth, they told me. I have opened the gates of Karnataka to them. The following day, Al Bakr gave a party which was attended by ambassadors from Muslim countries. At the party he presented me a Rolex watch with the falcon emblem. With this watch I can enter the UAE whenever I wish without a visa. This is not an honour to me but to the Muslims of Karnataka."Espionage: Unfortunately for Ibrahim, a recorded tape of his Davangere speech fell into the hands of his erstwhile colleague in the Janata Party, A. K Subbaiah, member of the legislative council representing the BJP now, who has emerged as a fire-eating muckracker and become an unfailing source of embarrassment to Gundu Rao.Subbaiah alleged in the council that it was not an ordinary watch but one given to spies and that Ibrahim was engaged in espionage work for the Arab countries. Moreover, Subbaiah contended that Ibrahim had violated the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act, 1975, which prohibited a legislator from receiving gifts exceeding Rs 1,000 in value. Punishment for violation of the Act was five years imprisonment. He even produced a catalogue to show that no Rolex watch costs less than $546 (Rs 4,370) and that the value of the watch in question was much higher.In extenuation of the charge, Ibrahim claimed that the watch was a used one and that its value was well within Rs 1,000. He produced a letter written to him by K. G Bhaskaran, assistant collector of customs, Air Customs Pool, Bombay, dated March 17, which said: "Please refer to your letter 1 dated March 16,1981. It has been ascertained from the baggage officer that you had declared one used wrist watch worn by you at the time of your arrival on December 19, 1980. The depreciated value of the wrist watch imported by you was found to be within Rs 1,000 and hence was under duty free allowance available to you. Therefore no duty was charged on the wrist watch and free clearance was allowed to you."The letter raises some pertinent questions. How did a letter written by Ibrahim in Bangalore on March 16 bring him so prompt a reply from the Bombay Customs dated March 17? The letter placed on the table of the House, according to A. Laxmi Sagar, Janata deputy leader, bore no seal of the customs department nor was it written on a letter-head. It was on a plain paper, he said. The Bombay customs officials, according to a well-informed source, are under pressure to make a back entry in their logbook to fix the value of the Rolex watch at Rs 900.Uncouth Behaviour: As the pincers are closing in on Ibrahim, he finds himself deserted and forsaken by his own party men. Even Gundu Rao has washed his hands off and referred the matter to the Centre with a request to order a CBI inquiry into the "l'affaire Rolex watch." Most Congress(I) men treat him like a leper because of his uncouth attacks on Mrs Gandhi during her days in political wilderness when he was with the Janata Party.Soon after securing a berth in the Gundu Rao Ministry, there was persistent demand for his removal because of the alleged involvement of his brother, C. Khader, in the murder of a Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh (RSS) worker in Bhadravathi and that he was misusing his position to shield his brother.Then came the charge of granting 20 licences for roller flour mills for a "handsome consideration", bypassing all the rules and guidelines when he was minister for civil supplies. Stripped of important portfolios like civil supplies and labour, he continues to labour as minister for Wakfs.In an exclusive interview with India today, Ibrahim said: "I'm basically an agriculturist drawn into politics." Asked about his defection, he says, "It took me months to realise that the Janata Party is nothing but a communal organisation and that members of the minority community and the downtrodden have no place in it."With disarming candour says Ibrahim, "I was misled into using strong language against the Madam (Mrs Gandhi) at a public meeting when I was in the Janata Party. Now the dissidents in the Congress(I) are trying to make capital out of the tapes of that meeting. I have apologised to the Madam for this error on my part."The Rolex watch gift still rankles Ibrahim. "The Arabs have presented similar watches even to my gunman and personal assistant. And at the same function, they presented a costly knife to the chief minister. I went to the Arab countries only to help the people of Karnataka find employment there. See how Kerala is benefitting by its Gulf connection? Due to my hard work, the Arabs have promised to invest Rs 400 crore in heavy industry in Karnataka which no centra) minister had been able to achieve before. And now they call me a spy. Some gratitude that is," he says in righteous indignation. Whatever the merit of his case, time is ticking away for CM. Ibrahim. Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 22, 2013 08:01 IST--- ENDS ---

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Violence stalks Karnataka as police cracked down on peaceful protest by tobacco farmers

Violence and death stalked rural Karnataka last fortnight as the state authorities cracked down on the peaceful protest by tobacco farmers who had successfully blockaded the Bangalore-Pune national highway, demanding higher prices for their produce.

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