A public hearing was organized by the CPI(ML) Madurai district committee on 10 January 2015 in Madurai. Comrade T.N. Gopalan, Dr. Vijaya Baskar from MIDS Chennai and Mr. Karunanidhi who is an advocate in the Chennai High Court Bench in Madurai were part of the panel which examined the witnesses at the public hearing. These witnesses included rural poor who had travelled several miles to depose their plight due to cuts in government expenditure on rural development programs.
Several facts were highlighted at the public hearing. The people of Tamil Nadu are being denied jobs under the MGNREGS. Card holders lucky enough to get jobs are waiting for almost 3 months to get wages. The AIADMK Government on its part has affected drastic cuts in social welfare assistance. Around 20,00,000 people were removed out of the total of 35,00,000 people who were getting welfare assistance under various schemes such as the Old Age Pension (OAP) scheme, schemes for assistance for handicapped, widows, destitute women and so on. These curtailed lists was prepared by the Revenue Department without informing the beneficiaries and got ‘approved’ by Gram Sabha meetings, which were never really held but were nevertheless recorded on paper.
Ninety nine percent of witnesses who deposed at the public hearing were women. Most of them were destitute or widows. They also shared their experiences of denial of ration card/ MGNREGA jobs as one cannot get ‘double benefits’ from the Government. They stated that ‘direct to the beneficiary’ clause is actually causing fraud and delayed payments. The biometric method to identify the person has failed many a time, resulting in people having to wait in front of rural bank counters for days. The cut in lists was arbitrary; while many landowners and supporters of ruling parties earn Rs. 1000 per month under various social welfare schemes, the poor and weaker sections are left high and dry.
Members of AISA had worked for several days to record cases, which were presented to the panelists. The facts were then verified by the panel by cross examining the persons who deposed. Many of the witnesses stated that the Government that they had voted for had vetoed their right to life.
The panelists concluded that the actions of the state and Central governments were arbitrary, and denied the welfare of the rural poor. The panel said that they would come out with a report soon and make all efforts to lobby in favor of the people. Comrade Balasundaram spoke at the public hearing and said that we need to conduct a ‘clean India’ campaign to remove the rulers’ loot and pro-corporate, anti-people policies.
