The Demands of the India Unites Agitation

The Demands of the India Unites Agitation 2

To,

The People of India

We, the undersigned, as representatives of our respective political parties, undertake to fulfill the following demands raised by various organisations and individuals during the joint agitation being held at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, from January 30 to February 7, 2019. We understand that these are critical demands that have been at best partially addressed in the past and, at worst, ignored. We assure all those participating in the agitation that the necessary measures will be taken by our governments either in the states or at the Centre. We also affirm that we will consider our mandate forfeit if we fail to address any of the issues raised herein.

Resolution of Critical Demands:

Issues raised by ex-servicemen:

1. Complete OROP implementation as per the definition approved by the Parliament of India.

2. Arrest Functional & Pay Parity downgradation / degradation of the Armed Forces personnel and restore their status (in the Warrant of Precedence) as they existed in 1947. Abolish the Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services (AFHQ CS).

3. Establish an Ex-Servicemen Commission.

Issues raised by Dalit, Adivasi, and Bahujan Samaj organisations:

4. Repeal the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019, which introduces reservations based on economic criteria into the Constitution.

Issues raised by farmers’ organisations:

5. Payment of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops at one-and-a-half times of cost of production (1.5 times C2) and guaranteed procurement.

6. One-time waiver of all loans of all farmers including bank loans, cooperative loans and private money lender loans.

7. Ensure land for the landless poor, house sites for the homeless, ban on forcible acquisition of farmers’ land for corporate or corridor projects without proper compensation and rehabilitation, and stringent implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA).


Victims of Chit Fund Scams:


8. Expedite the refunding of INR 49,100 crore collected from over 5.85 crore families by disposing PACL’s assets across the country, valued by SEBI at INR 1.86 lakh crore, as ordered by the Supreme Court.

Issues relating to hate, bigotry, and lynchings:


9. Reintroduce and pass the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill as an urgent measure to tackle the epidemic of hatred and bigotry-driven violence and lynchings across the country.

Issues relating to the environment & science, Aadhaar & surveillance, Ethics in Journalism:

10. Restore scientific values by ending state support for pseudoscientific and superstitious practices as recently highlighted in the Indian Science Congress. The government must take urgent steps to increase funding for science and research in the country.

11. Withdraw immediately the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018, as well as the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018.

12. Roll back the use of the Aadhaar number on a purely voluntary basis on par with other identity documents even for subsidies and welfare schemes, in compliance with Supreme Court orders.

13. Restore journalistic ethics and put an end to the nonstop dissemination of propaganda through mass media.

Issues faced by unorganized workers:

14. Make adequate financial provision in the forthcoming budget to finance a universal non-contributory individual worker based ‘social security scheme’ for all informal workers, including unpaid women workers, who do not have social security cover.

Issues of traders’ organisations:

15. Immediately end predatory/ dumping pricing and other anti-competitive practices by e-commerce companies.

16. Properly regulate FDI in e-commerce, and enforce regulations fully.

17. Shut down cheap e-commerce imports from manufacturing hubs like China.

18. Actively promote digitalisation of small retailing establishments, and their supply chains.

19. Set up an independent commission to urgently assess big and foreign e-commerce ‘s impact on small retailers, and give recommendations to protect small retail sector.

20. Develop and implement a policy for protecting and promoting small retailers.

21. Include traders’ representatives in all relevant policy consultations, committees etc.

Issues relevant to ensuring Gender Justice:

22. Repeal the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018, the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018, and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2018, as all three violate the rights of the very people they seek to empower.

23. Take urgent action towards prevention of atrocities against women and ensuring that the Constitutionally-enshrined equality is reflected in reality as well.

24. Revive and pass the Women’s Reservation Bill guaranteeing 33.33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and all legislative assemblies.

Youth & Students’ Issues:

25. Appoint personnel for the 24 lakh sanctioned central government vacancies within the next 100 days. Further, the government must end examination paper leaks and corruption in recruitment.

26. Allocate and spend 10% of India’s GDP towards Education.

27. Put a halt to the saffronisation and commercialisation of education.

Sincerely,

India Unites, and all participating organizations and individuals.

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