People's Democracy

MEETING at Chennai on March 26, the All India Handloom Workers Coordination Committee, affiliated to the CITU, condemned the union government’s move to impose 9.2 per cent excise duty on the hank yarn used in handloom industry, in tune with the Satyam Committee recommendations. The committee demanded immediate withdrawal of the duty.

Presided over by A K Padmanabhan, president of the Tamilnadu Handloom Workers Federation (CITU), the meeting urged the handloom workers to observe an all-India protest day on May 13 with the slogan, "Save the Handloom Industry! Save the Handloom Workers!"

The meeting noted with serious concern that while the handloom industry was already reeling under a severe crisis, the union budget granted relief to the mill barons to the tune of crores of rupees and for the first time imposed a heavy excise duty on hank yarn. This, the meeting said, would spell disaster to the handloom industry leading to more starvation deaths and suicides by handloom weavers. The so-called subsidy promised by the finance minister would never reach the poor weavers, over 80 per cent of whom are not organised in cooperatives.

The meeting warmly congratulated the handloom weavers and the Confederation of Indian Weaving Industry for observing a complete bandh in the Tamilnadu handloom industry on March 22 and the massive agitations launched by handloom workers in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Bengal, etc, in protest against the imposition of the excise duty. Earlier, on March 22, the CITU leaders had met a delegation of Master Weavers in this respect, at Hyderabad.

The meeting discussed the other mounting problems in the handloom industry and decided to intensify the agitation with following demands:

1) Withdrawal of excise duty from hank yarn.

2) Continuation of the reservation of all the 22 items for the handloom industry, as was announced by the 1985 Textile Policy.

3) Ensured fulfillment of the Hank Yarn Obligation Schemes as per the 1985 policy.

4) Continuation of the subsidies and rebates.

The meeting decided the following action programme in pursuance of the above demands:

1) District and state level demonstrations, rallies and mass hunger strike in the month of April in all states.

2) All India Protest Day on May 13, 2002.

The meeting also decided to mobilise the handloom workers in the country for a March to Parliament programme, tentatively during the monsoon session of parliament.

The meeting appealed to all trade unions and the industry to join the movement and unitedly resist the government’s new offensive on the handloom industry. (INN)