Demonetization has become a source of distress for villages and the rural poor. Farmers and agricultural labourers in rural areas are in difficulties. Farmers are unable to sell their paddy. Workers are unable to earn their daily wage. They are left with no option but to work for deferred wages or to accept rice or wheat as wages. The rural wage rate has fallen. Lakhs of Bihari workers working outside are returning to their villages for want of work. Work is not available either in villages or in cities. Poor patients are dying for lack of treatment and medicines. Marriages in poor families have had to be cancelled or postponed. The sowing of the rabi crop has been obstructed, as have the studies of their children.
AIARLA organized protests in front of District Headquarters on 22 November to demand relief from this distress forced on the villages and the poor, in which thousands of farmers and sharecroppers took part. These protests also raised the issues of the Central government reducing ration, housing, and pensions of the poor and snatching away panchayat rights. The protests strongly raised the issue of the Nitish government’s negligence towards land rights housing rights, and health and education rights.
In Samastipur district a 2 day “Ghera Dalo Dera Dalo” campaign was conducted which found enthusiastic participation and an increase in organizational activities in 3 or 4 blocks in the district. In Patna a march to the Vidhan Sabha was organized under the leadership of the AIARLA Patna district unit. Anger was rampant among the workers, women, and the poor who participated in the march because ration-kerosene has not been distributed in Patna district for the last 4 months. The march was led by AIARLA State Secretary Com. Gopal Ravidas, District President Com. Vidyanand Bihari, Secretary Com. Aklu Paswan, comrades Mukhiya Asha Devi, Rakesh Manjhi, Sanjay Paswan, Sarifa Manjhi and others. Comrades Dipankar Bhattacharya, Kunal, Amar, AIARLA National General Secretary Dhirendra Jha, Shashi Yadav and other leaders participated in the march.
When the march reached Gardanibagh, the venue of the dharna, a memorandum was submitted to the DM. Later, an AIARLA delegation met the Rural Development Minister and expressed the anger of the poor at the loot of their ration and the insensitivity of the government.
