The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : CITU to open training school for farm workers at Kilvenmani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 26, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

CITU to open training school for farm workers at Kilvenmani

Special Correspondent

Tiruvarur: To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Kilvenmani atrocity, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) will open a training school for agricultural workers and a new memorial hall at the village.

K. Balakrishnan, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu unit of the All India Kisan Sabha, disclosed this to reporters at Kilvenmani on Tuesday.

On December 25, 1968, 44 Dalit agricultural workers, including women and some children, were burnt alive by local landlords and their hirelings in reprisal against the agitation led by the All India Kisan Sahba demanding higher wages.

Around 30,000 persons visited the village through the day on Tuesday in a pilgrimage of a different kind. Processions carrying red flags marched to the village through the winding roads. People waited in long queues to offer flowers or salute the memorial constructed for those who died.

“Kilvenmani is a symbol of the fight against social, economic and caste oppression” said Mr. Balakrishnan.

Crop loss

The recent floods in the Cauvery Delta had affected the crop on 10,000 acres, Mr. Balakrishnan said. The Kisan Sabha had demanded that the State Government give Rs.10,000 per acre of paddy as crop loss compensation. “For agricultural labourers there is no prospect of any kind of work for the next six months until the kuruvai. We have demanded that the Government provide each agricultural labourer family 30 kg of rice and Rs.1500 per month to tide over the crisis.”

The Kisan Sabha has also demanded that the State Government’s estimate of Rs.1500 as the total loss due to the floods be allotted to the affected farmers. As of now the Government had allotted only Rs.100 crore towards compensating crop loss and the rest for relaying roads and restoring infrastructure damaged and destroyed in the floods.

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