All India Kisan Sabha (Ashoka Road)

AIKS demonstrator in Delhi

All India Kisan Sabha (Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha) (AIKS), is the peasants front of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), and works for farmers rights and anti-feudal movement in India,[1] which traces its origin to All India Kisan Sabha founded in 1936.

It is sometimes referred to as All India Kisan Sabha (Ashoka Road), to distinguish it from the AIKS of Communist Party of India. Both the Kisan federations are derived from the All India Kisan Sabha started by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati in 1936. The AIKS of CPI is sometimes called AIKS (Ajoy Bhavan).

History

Kerala Karshaka Sangam, the Kerala regional body of AIKS, mural in Allepey

The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar under the leadership of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati who had formed in 1929 the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) in order to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights.[2]

Gradually the peasant movement intensified and spread across the rest of India. All these radical developments on the peasant front culminated in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) at the Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress in April 1936 with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati elected as its first President.[3] The other prominent members of this Sabha were N.G. Ranga, Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev and Bankim Mukerji.

The main aim of the sabha were:- 1)To save the peasants from exploitation by any section of the society. 2)Abolition of zamindari and jagirdari system 3)To save the peasants from economic exploitation 4)Ownership of land by the peasants 5)Reduction in the rates of land revenue 6)Waiving of debts 7)Better arrangements of irrigation 8)To give recognition to Kisan Sabhas

The Kisan Sabha started agitations against the landlords. In the 1937-38, they started a movement for the ownership of the lands by the peasants who worked on it and to bring about the end of forced labour. The farmers revolted against the Jagirdars who did not give them any rights on the land.As a result, the conflict between the peasants and the landlords became more intense. The government arrested 600 Kisan demonstrators and suppressed the movement.

In 1939,when the second world war began, the Government enforced the Defence of India Rules strictly to crush the peasant movement. But the Kisan union continued struggle forcefully.

Organisation

The address of AIKS (Ashoka Road) is 4, Ashoka Road, New Delhi.

Membership development chart

This chart uses the Indian numeral system

State/Union territory 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999–2000
Andhra Pradesh 2,11,465 1,37,100 2,25,137 2,25,234 1,00,808 2,15,933 1,00,000
Assam 1,44,538 1,59,723 1,01,324 1,44,545 1,18,611 1,61,277 1,44,588
Bihar 2,10,000 2,30,100 1,52,000 2,00,000 2,04,000 2,17,000 1,84,000
Gujarat 13,000 9,140 11,500 6,000 6,000 8,400 10,440
Haryana 14,500 12,500 12,300 13,000 15,000 14,100 16,150
Himachal Pradesh 5,200 5,000 6,000 7,000 13,000 12,780 10,000
Jammu and Kashmir 4,500 5,000 5,000 5,000 6,000 4,000 7,000
Karnataka 52,000 75,000 89,633 92,568 67,160 73,515 70,775
Kerala 10,05,760 12,26,488 11,91,666 13,23,562 13,33,620 17,66,606 19,45,366
Madhya Pradesh 19,000 19,252 36,012 37,482 48,965 37,534 50,411
Maharashtra 69,800 70,000 85,343 92,273 90,371 92,340 1,21,807
Manipur 5,740 4,100 4,720 5,140 4,700 4,960 -
Odisha 22,000 18,349 26,392 21,700 22,000 31,364 30,000
Punjab 80,000 1,05,600 1,30,120 90,000 1,02,000 1,06,000 1,20,000
Rajasthan 32,432 71,659 36,000 54,040 55,893 59,496 50,950
Sikkim 500 1,600 2,000 - 1,600 - -
Tamil Nadu 2,50,000 2,50,000 2,46,289 3,00,000 2,71,355 3,00,000 4,01,029
Tripura K.S. 1,01,000 1,11,920 1,26,500 2,12,000 (KS+GMP) 1,21,500 1,38,000 1,35,650
Tripura G.M.P 52,000 60,000 85,000 see above 92,000 92,000 70,000
Uttar Pradesh 89,655 1,28,450 1,26,000 1,60,000 1,15,844 1,37,499 1,15,084
West Bengal 99,54,652 1,05,38,499 1,11,06,406 1,14,59,519 1,00,55,121 1,12,18,075 1,10,11,153
Total: 1,23,37,742 1,32,39,480 1,36,25,726 1,44,49,063 1,28,45,248 1,46,90,879 1,45,94,403

Further reading

References

  1. AP agri body seeks aid to tenant farmers The Hindu, 14 November 2008.
  2. Bandyopādhyāya, Śekhara (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India. Orient Longman. pp. 523 (at p 406). ISBN 978-81-250-2596-2.
  3. Bandyopādhyāya, Śekhara (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India. Orient Longman. pp. 523 (at p 407). ISBN 978-81-250-2596-2.
  4. Kisan Rath to roll down from Raola today The Hindu, 5 February 2007.

External links

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