Letter from Chennai: Jaya's policy change leaves weavers jobless

Over 100 DMK members, including former Speaker of the State Assembly P.T. Palanivel Rajan, and former DMK ministers were arrested and several admitted to hospitals in Madurai yesterday when the DMK cadres clashed with the police at Chellore.

The violence was the result of an attempt by the DMK to open a 'kanji' (rice gruel) feeding centre to feed the starving handloom weavers of the area.

The police had refused permission for the function in which the DMK's heir apparent M.K. Stalin, son of the party chief M. Karunanidhi, was to participate. Party cadres resented alleged police efforts to block the feeding programme even as they were helping organise an AIADMK event in the vicinity to feast weavers with biriyani and boiled eggs.

On August 5, Karunanidhi, who had earlier called for the opening of 'kanji' centres in different parts of the state to feed starving weavers, called off his plan to personally open such a centre at Ammayarkuppam. He took the decision because the AIADMK had decided to feed the weavers biriyani at the same place and at the same time. He said he did not want tension and violence.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Tens of thousands of weavers have been rendered jobless and are starving because of a sudden change in policy by the Jayalalithaa government.

For over a decade successive governments of Tamil Nadu, starting with Jayalalithaa's in the early Nineties, launched a populist scheme to distribute free 'dhotis' and 'sarees' to the poor and needy, particularly on special occasions.

Each party chose occasions to suit its purpose. In the process, a whole new crop of handloom weavers mushroomed all over the state to supply for the scheme. The distribution was channelled through the Government's Public Distribution System through which essential food items, kerosene and sugar are distributed. Ruling parties could now please their vote banks.

But now the AIADMK government is in a financial mess. It just cannot afford to distribute largesse. Jayalalithaa therefore decided to suspend the scheme. This has left the handloom weavers, who any way were barely over the poverty line, in the lurch. They know no profession other than weaving. Powerlooms were already threatening their existence.

Although Jayalalithaa herself has denied it, starvation deaths of weavers have been reported from several parts of the state. Thousands of them have already abandoned their places of work and moved to towns seeking employment to earn their livelihood. And, worst of all, the DMK has jumped in to make political capital.

In desperation, Jayalalithaa last week decided to amend her decision to stop the free dhoti saree scheme by announcing an immediate programme to lift Rs 250 million worth of material from the piled up unsold stocks.

She has ordered the release of another Rs 300 million for payment of dues to the weavers' cooperatives, subsidies and pension arrears. She has ordered the supply of 20 kilos of rice each to 25,000 weavers.

She has held discussions with the Chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to consider revision of credit limits to cooperative banks in the state for lifting the accumulated stock of sarees and dhotis.

She also said the government was planning to resettle destitute weavers in other professions for which training would be imparted to them.

But the weavers are not satisfied. They say the programme is inadequate. They fear that the government is trying to limit the solution to clearing existing stocks, when what they want is continuing orders, work and wages. One weavers' representative said: "We want an assurance of work and wages. That alone will pull us back from the brink of starvation".

For the present, they have at several places pooled their resources and opened feeding centres for weavers. At Srivilliputhur angry weavers refused the coupons issued by officials to enable them to draw free rice from ration shops. They said the government schemes were an eyewash and would not provide a lasting solution to their problems.

Besides the suffering weavers, the AIADMK government has another problem – the crisis created by the drought and the stoppage of water from Karnataka to the Cauvery river system. The farmers are not happy with the manner in which Jayalalithaa has handled the issue so far as negotiations with Karnataka and the Central Government are concerned.

Jayalalithaa's abrupt decision to pull out of the Cauvery Authority headed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and to go instead to the Supreme Court to force Karnataka to provide water to Tamil Nadu has drawn flak not only from the farmers but from almost all other political parties.

Finally, Jayalalithaa had to change her decision on orders from the Apex Court. At yesterday's meeting of officials in Delhi, Karnataka has been asked to release more water into the Cauvery system. The latter has said it would consider the feasibility.

And in the towns and cities, drinking water supply is posing a major threat. Jayalalithaa called a meeting of Collectors of districts to discuss measures to tackle the situation.

There was another problem which Jayalalithaa dealt with in her own inimitable style – the disaffection among the maintainers of law and order, the police. Moves have been made for some time to form a Police Association, euphemism for a union, to air the grievances of the uniformed personnel of the state.

Such organisations do exist in some other parts of India like West Bengal, Bihar and Kerala. The establishment generally resists such moves.

Law and order is Jayalalithaa's portfolio. When the policemen went to court to seek justice the government opposed. From the government's side, the court was told that the government would evolve a system by which the uniformed personnel could air their grievances.

Over the past few days over 4,000 policemen and their families have personally been permitted to meet Jayalalithaa and explain their problems to her. In many cases she has promised remedial action. This is at best a placebo.

It is against this background that one will have to look at the DMK's apparently smug view that the anti-incumbency factor is beginning to work against Jayalalithaa and that the situation will only get worse for the AIADMK government.

As the problems keep mounting and as the money crunch also gets worse, Jayalalithaa has had to adopt political smoke screen tactics.

True, she has in some cases killed two birds with one stone. Vaiko's arrest and search of his house and the MDMK headquarters have not met with popular opposition, and therefore has exposed the MDMK's isolation.

At the same time, the Central Government has been embarrassed over the treatment meted out to its NDA ally.

Jayalalithaa has vaguely hinted at similar action against other supporters of the LTTE – Ramadoss and the PMK will have to take notice. She has already asked Vajpayee to drop the PMK's representative in the Union Government.

The viability of her tactics will become clearer during elections. There are suggestions that such a situation might soon emerge.