Landless poor peasants in Godavari region, under the leadership of CPI (ML) Red Star and AIKKS initiated land struggle in Godavari region in Andhra Pradesh. As a part of it, the struggling peasants handed over a memorandum to revenue divisional officer at Jungareddy Gudem on 17th April 2024. The memorandum demanded immediate release of surplus land to the landless poor peasants. CPI (ML) Red Star district secretary for united West Godavari Comrade J. Venkateswara Rao and AIKKS AP state president Com D Ranganatham led the struggle.

Copy of the memorandum:

To
The Honorable Revenue Divisional Officer and Divisional Magistrate, Jangareddygudem,

Respected Sir,

This is a humble petition submitted jointly by Jonnakuti Venkateswara Rao and other landless poor Dalits from Pangidigudem village, Angareddygudem Mandal, Eluru District.

Subject: Regarding the land ceiling lands of Pangidigudem village under the Land Reforms Act:

In 1975, under the Land Reforms Act, the landowner (Late) Chinnam Nagabhushanam, son of Ketu Rajamannar of R.S.R., submitted a declaration stating he owned around 350 acres of land. The then Land Reforms Tribunal (LRT), Kovvur, reviewed the declaration and determined that approximately 200 acres should be considered surplus land and distributed to the poor. Accordingly, the Court in LCC No. 2379KV975 ruled that the surplus land should be allocated to the needy.

The landowner appealed the decision in LRAJ, where it was registered as Appeal No. 198/1978. After review, about 20 acres of the 200 acres were exempted as drought-prone land by the LRAT on 17.09.1977. Still dissatisfied, the landowner filed a Civil Revision Petition in the then-unified Andhra Pradesh High Court under Petition No. 584/1978. The Court upheld the LRAT’s ruling.

Unhappy with that as well, the landowner filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court, which was registered as Petition No. 1073. In 1983, the Supreme Court ruled that the LRAT Eluru’s decision must be implemented.

However, corrupt revenue officials colluded with the landowners and defied the Supreme Court’s ruling by not distributing the land to the poor. Instead, they supported landowners in making sales and purchases, which amounted to contempt of court. From 1983 to 2004, the ceiling lands were not distributed.

In 2004, the villagers, upon learning this, protested demanding distribution of the ceiling land. The revenue officials, panicking, colluded again with the landowners, destroyed the original declaration submitted by Chinnam Nagabhushanam, and presented a new declaration on 11.09.2005 using some deceased or disqualified heirs. Only 41 acres were shown as surplus land in the new declaration, and the LIRT Angareddygudem gave a false judgment based on it.

Once again, the villagers protested demanding distribution of land per the Supreme Court verdict. Upon this, it was discovered that 57.48 cents of land in RS No. 150 and other survey numbers were not shown in the 2005 declaration. Consequently, under MC No. 420058, Section 145 was imposed on 04.07.2005, and the authorities promised to distribute the land to the poor — a promise still unfulfilled.

On behalf of the villagers, Jonakuti Venkateswara Rao, son of (Late) Gangaraju, SC (Mala), filed a complaint with the Honorable Lokayukta under Case No. C.No. 858/2018/91, which is under investigation. The Lokayukta ordered the Tahsildar, RDO of Angareddygudem, and District Collector to submit a report on the irregularities and illegal land sales in the ceiling lands of Pangidigudem, contempt of Supreme Court orders, and the 2005 declaration issued unlawfully by URT Angareddygudem.

However, the officials submitted a vague report without specifying what legal actions were taken and kept requesting adjournments, deceiving both the Court and the public, thereby causing loss to both the Government and the people while favoring landowners.

Meanwhile, some individuals from Pangidigudem — Datla Venkata Satya Tirupati Raju (Nani Babu) and Koppula Ravichandra Reddy — with political and financial influence, are pressuring the authorities to issue Pattadar Passbooks (title deeds) illegally, causing distress to the officials.

Simultaneously, upper-caste landlords filed Writ Petition No. 12445/2023 in the High Court, which was dismissed. The Court directed the Eluru District Collector to distribute ceiling lands to the poor per the orders of the Land Reforms Tribunal, Kovvur, and LRAT Eluru, in line with the Supreme Court verdict.

Therefore, we humbly request that you:

Review our petition.

Take legal action against the officials who, in 2005, illegally aided landowners and violated the Supreme Court ruling by only declaring 47 acres as surplus land, suppressing the original declaration by Chinnam Nagabhushanam.

As the Divisional Magistrate, conduct a field-level investigation to protect the ceiling lands and distribute them to the truly landless Dalit poor as per the 1983 Supreme Court judgment.

Ensure no Pattadar Passbooks are issued to landowners on ceiling lands in RS. No. 222, 215/1.

Investigate various survey numbers (150, 74, 218, 132, 133, 120/1, 120/2, 11, 1/5, 215, 217, 222, 215/1, 215/3, 215/45) under Section 145 and implement the 1983 Supreme Court order.

Place: Pangidigudem
Date: 17-04-2025

Copy to:

District Collector, Eluru District

Revenue Principal Secretary, Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati

Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA), Andhra Pradesh

Yours faithfully,
On behalf of the village people
(Jonakuti Venkateswara Rao)
Aadhaar No. 4451310764868

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Mariyam from Fatima Shaikh Study Circle also spoke on the occasion. Pravin Deshmukh(Anis) was the President of the public meeting program and Comrade Akshay(AIRSO) hosted the meeting.

Every speaker underlined the need for a collective struggle against fascism. AIRSO students sang revolutionary songs, which motivated and encouraged the comrades.

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Anti-Fascist People’s Convention organized by Anti-Manuvadi Fascist People’s Forum, Raichur at Lingasuru, Raichur, on 30th January, the day, when Gandhiji was martyred by RSS. Let us unite the working class and oppressed people to wage a united struggle against the hindutva fascism.

Inquilab Zindabad!
Jai Bhim! Lal Salaam!

The post Fascism is not to be debated, it’s to be destroyed! appeared first on CPI(ML) Red Star.

– Representatives of mass struggles united against water, forest, land, livelihood and environment loot in the name of development

– 15 member Bhopal supporters group formed

Bhopal. An important meeting was held at Hindi Bhawan, Bhopal on January 28 to establish coordination between various mass struggles against the displacement and environmental destruction in Madhya Pradesh. More than 50 activists representing 17 different public struggles of the state participated in this one-day meeting organized by Jan Sangharsh Coordination Committee Madhya Pradesh and Climate Justice Campaign (CJM) Bhopal. The meeting was chaired by senior co-leader Umesh Tiwari who led various public struggles in Baghelkhand area of Madhya Pradesh. The presence of renowned environmentalist Soumya Dutta from Delhi was remarkable, the program was conducted by Vijay Kumar and Gratitude Rajesh Kumar.

The meeting included tribal leaders from the areas affected by coal quarry, farmers displaced by large dams, representatives from local communities battling rural and mining projects on the verge of losing their land due to the Tiger Reserve. All of them shared their experiences and needs of the struggles going on in their areas. Representatives involved in the meeting said thousands of people have been forcibly displaced due to alleged development projects, statistics say about 50,000 families have been displaced due to various development projects in the state over the last five years. Most of these have not received proper compensation or rehab. Representatives said in a voice that local communities are being forcibly displaced from water, forest and land due to the current development model, which is not only affecting their livelihoods but also massively destruction of the environment. We all need to learn from each other to strengthen our struggles and challenge the current model of destructive growth. The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is trying to crush mass struggles and divide on communal basis, need to strengthen its unity against it.

The meeting was formed a 15-member Bhopal supporter group including lawyers, journalists, technical experts and social workers. This group will support, technical, legal and ideological support to struggling communities. In the next three months, all the small and big struggles of the state will be connected to the Jan Sangharsh Coordination Committee. Similarly every six months Coordination Committee meeting will be held to discuss the progress and challenges of struggles. In the meeting, a pledge to unite the general public by rejecting BJP government’s “corporate-based policies” and politics of communal division.

Soumya Dutta, who came from Delhi, expressed deep concern over the climate crisis that human civilization has faced the hottest years in the last ten years, reflecting the failure of the current development model. They said the current concept of development must be changed to tackle the climate crisis. The current government is massively changing environmental laws to make the loot of corporate companies accessible. The current government is claiming to reduce carbon emissions on international platforms and on the other hand issuing licenses for mass coal and other fossil fuel mining to its corporate friends Adani-Ambani. They said we need an alternative model of development that is environmentally friendly and protects the interests of local communities.

Umesh Tiwari chaired the meeting said the nature and priorities of various conflict may vary, but the goal of all is one – protecting the rights of the environment and local communities. Today may prove to be a milestone in the history of people’s struggles in Madhya Pradesh. For the first time so many local struggles have come on one stage. We believe that only by uniting small struggles we can challenge the anomalies of the current development model.

Future

Vijay Kumar
People’s struggle coordination committee Madhya Pradesh
Mobile number – 9981773205

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