Do we really learn from our history,Prime Minister Manmohan singh has said the Naxalites pose the biggest internal security threat to India since Independence, but he didnt address the cause that led to naxalism. if this non violence movement in any unfortunate event turns to violence then who is to be balmed.
A truck overturned and crushed under it people marching during the Janadesh 2007 Yatra, killing three and injuring nine. no government official came forward to announce any sort of compensation to these people.
Janadesh is a Hindi word, signifying “The Verdict of the People”. It is also the name of a national campaign on land rights in India launched by the movement Ekta Parishad. The campaign was launched in 2005 and will culminate in October 2007, in the form of a 350 Km foot march involving 25,000 people, the majority of whom will be landless Adivasi and Dalit.
According to Ekta Parishad the lack of secure land rights is a major contributor to rural poverty in India, and the government of India needs to undertake major land reforms to address this issue. The aim of the Janadesh campaign is to put pressure on the Indian government to undertake specific land reforms aimed at securing land rights for the poorest groups in India.
According to a recent World Bank report poverty remains a significant problem in India, with India’s progress in reducing poverty compared with some of its Asian neighbors described as ‘modest’. According to the same report, poverty in India is most widespread in rural areas (where almost three out of four Indians live), and the highest incidence of poverty of all is found among the rural landless, 68% of whom are classed as living below the poverty line. These findings are echoed in other reports on the subject. For example, Sundaram and Tendulkar found in a 2003 study of poverty in India that the highest levels of poverty were found among assetless (i.e. landless) rural households dependent on agricultural wage labor. Levels of poverty were found to be even higher among members of this group if they also belonged to either a Scheduled Tribe or Scheduled Caste. Furthermore, although at an overall percentage level rural poverty is decreasing in India, due to population growth the absolute number of people in rural areas below the poverty line is not decreasing.
Obviously there are differing viewpoints on what measures would be most effective to alleviate poverty among these groups. According to Ekta Parishad, the single most important measure that could be taken to reduce these levels of poverty would be to grant secure land rights to small pieces of land to landless peasants, reducing their dependence on casual wage labor and providing a measure of food security.
These views are supported by research in the area. For example, Hanstad, Brown, and Prosterman suggest based on research in Karnataka and West Bengal that providing amply-sized plots of land (these can be as small as 0.05-0.15 acres in size) gives substantial benefits to landless families at relatively low costs. These benefits include increased income, increased access to credit, and increased social status. They also note that based on the land costs in their Karnataka study, the cost of a program to distribute packages of land like this to the ten million poorest families in India would be approximately 3330 million rupees spread over ten years. By contrast, the central government’s rural housing scheme has cost 15360 million rupees per year over the past five years, whilst producing housing viewed as being of very low quality by the participants in this study. Hanstad, Brown and Prosterman also cite numerous other studies from around the world which have shown results similar to their own.
According to Ekta Parishad it is not simply a question of having or not having land. It is also vital that there is a land ownership system in place that guarantees security of ownership. Some economists agree with this view. For example, Hernando de Soto argues that land reform to create a formal property system where ownership and transactions are clearly recorded and ownership is protected is a necessary (but not sufficient) basis for a functioning capitalist economy. Without this opportunities for economic growth and the alleviation of poverty will be severely limited.
According to Ekta Parishad, India does not currently have such a system. In their experience of campaigning across eight states in India they found that even having a land entitlement did not necessarily equate to possessing land. In fact they found that in around 50% of cases having a land entitlement had not led to possession of the land itself.
There are a number factors involved in creating this situation.
Firstly, land records, which provide the basis for land ownership, are out of date in India. The Indian government is currently working to computerize land records to improve efficiency. However, a recent report by the Asian Development Bank pointed out that, more than computerizing records, correcting them should be the priority. They note that: “It is a common observation in villages that the person in whose name land is recorded is either deceased or does not possess the land”.
Secondly, according to a recent discussion paper produced by PACS, even if land records are up to date, they do not ensure security of possession. If the poor are dispossessed of their land the record of their possession itself is of little use – instead they have to go to court to establish their title. The process for establishing title is such that a wealthy opponent is able to prolong the process for years through higher courts of appeal, which the poor can ill afford. Thus the land record system is fundamentally anti-poor, and provides little protection against land grabs by wealthier land-owners. These land grabs take a variety of forms, from simple violent expulsion through to bribery of government or bank officials. It is often more than a simple question of the economic value of the land. R Srivastava argues that the landed are often not in favor of giving land to the landless since it increases their autonomy and ability to demand better wages. He also notes the wealthy landed often have substantial influence over politician and administrators at the state level.
Finally, the national government has reserved for itself substantial powers of land acquisition through the ‘Land Acquisition Act’ of 1984. This permits the central government to acquire any area of land that it chooses if is in the ‘public interest’ to do so. However, the term ‘public interest’ is left undefined in this legislation, giving the government exceptionally broad powers to acquire land as and when it chooses.
Taken all together, these factors combine to create a system of land ownership which provides little security for the rural poor.
Based on this view of current land legislation Ekta Parishad argue that it is only through legislative action at a national level that lasting change can be achieved. Although campaigns at state level have resulted in a number of successes in terms of distributing land to the landless, there need to be major changes at the national level to create a system of land rights that protects the rights of the poor and ensures that they can actually benefit from their land.
The Janadesh campaign is seen as a means of connecting the numerous local campaigns which they are involved in into a single national campaign large enough to pressure the government into taking action.
The Janadesh 2007 campaign will culminate with a foot march by 25,000 people, mainly landless Adivasis and Dalits. The route of the march will be from Gwalior to Delhi in northern India, following the main highway (a distance of approximately 350 Km). The march will set out from Gwalior on the 2nd October 2007 and will arrive in Delhi on the 28th October 2007. This will be an act of mass non-violent civil disobedience in the tradition of Gandhi. According to Ekta Parishad, it will be the largest such action since the struggle for Indian independence.
The campaign has three specific demands around land reform. These are:
The Janadesh 2007 campaign is being organized by Ekta Parishad, an organization that was formally established in 1990. According to its founder, Rajagopal PV, Ekta Parishad is not an NGO or a political party. It is instead a people’s movement, which works at the grass-roots level to mobilize people to challenge corruption and exploitation. Quoted in the book “Truth Force” Rajagopal states this aim: “What I am trying to do, through Ekta Parishad, is to help people to understand that they can be leaders of the country”. Ekta Parishad are particularly focused on land and livelihood issues amongst marginalized communities (such as Dalits and Adivasis) in rural India and are active in eight Indian states (Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala), and in direct contact with around 4000 villages.
There are two main components to Ekta Parishad’s work – the struggle component and constructive work.
The struggle component involves mobilizing people to take part in various forms of non-violent resistance such as Padyatras (foot marches), Dharnas (sit-ins), Gheraos (preventing unjust incidents from taking place by encircling people who wield power), and Chakka jam (road blockades) to press for their land rights. This is based on the Gandhian tradition of non-violent resistance.
The constructive work focuses on running economic and development activities alongside the land rights struggle, with the intention of allowing villages that have gained land to become economically self-sufficient. These activities include:
They are people seldom spoken of - the rural poor, landless and tribal people of India - at time when their country is being hailed as a new economic superpower. But last week they demanded to be heard, at the start of one of the biggest non-violent protests since Gandhi chased out the British - reports Christian Aid.
This time the target is the Indian government, and its intransigence on land reform. The plight of some of India’s poorest is getting worse not better, say campaigners, as the land they rely on for food and income is being increasingly taken for industrial development and mining.
In Janadesh 2007, as the campaign is known, 25,000 marchers are walking for 28 days from Gwalior in central India to New Delhi. At the same time a group of 28 protesters is conducting a hunger strike outside the Gandhi memorial in the capital.
They want the government to form a land plan for the country, a strategy to address rural poverty and a fast-track legal process to solve land disputes - which can currently drag on for years.
Among the marchers will be Mani Ram and his fellow villagers from the Sarguja district of Chhatrishgarh state, who says that his and four other villages are being threatened by plans to build a 100 megawatt power station on 950 acres of land they currently cultivate for rice.
Some compensation was offered when the scheme was first announced three years ago - on the basis that if they refused the land would be taken anyway. But they refused and are still refusing despite sometimes violent intimidation.
“We are still on that land”, said Ram. “We won’t leave it, even if they take our lives.”
Such an air of defiance is evident at the old exhibition site in Gwalior, used as the assembly point for the march.
Groups of men and women, chanting and flying banners, marched in after arriving from the railway station and before being organized into groups of 1,000 for the long way ahead.
Everywhere there were stories of threats and intimidation from government officials, of ‘powerful people’ either trying to seize small plots of land from tribal and dalit communities or to deny the claims of the landless.
Also there were stories about the more recent impact of Special Economic Zones, where land is simply acquired by the state for industrial development.
At a rally to launch the event, the thousands of marchers crowded into a huge white tent to hear speeches of support and anger and to join in more chants and songs, accompanied by dalit drums.
The man behind the protest is P. V. Rajagopal, whose Ekta Parishad organisation is a Christian Aid partner and has spent three years building up to the march.
Janadesh, meaning ‘People’s Verdict’, has been joined by many dalit and ‘adivasi’ tribal peoples’ organisations from all over India and has attracted support from many parts of the world.
“The government talks only of industrial development and dismisses agriculture. But 73 per cent of India’s population depend on agriculture. What are they to do?” asked Rajagopal.
“Development cannot only be for the benefit of the richest people, it must be for all the people - starting with the poorest. First agricultural and land reform, then the rest.”
Rajagopal has been working with India’s poorest people since the early 1970’s, setting up a Gandhian ashram’ community in the then lawless Chambal region – made famous as the home of Phoolan Devi, the ‘Bandit Queen’.
Despite being threatened and badly beaten, he stayed on. Eventually he persuaded 600 outlaws to surrender their weapons and accept a non-violent life.
More recently Ekta Parishad’s work has led to almost 350,000 people being granted land rights in Madhya Pradesh state.
Visiting the Chambal area with him in the days before the march was like travelling with a gentle pop star. At every village on the road there was a welcome of garlands and gifts from poor people and farmers supporting his brand of militant non-violence.
“You see only the good side of my work. There is another side,” said Rajagopal, in a soft-spoken manner.
‘Whatever we ask for, be it land or a fight against corruption, it is always against vested interests. Many people hate what we do.’
His reason for continuing, and building such support for the landless movement, can be seen at the village of Berhai, high in the forest region of the Chambal.
Here the poverty is shocking, and the talk is not of consumer goods but of getting enough to eat. One small boy said that he had only eaten a cup of buttermilk and a little maize all day. Many children looked severely malnourished.
But the people of Berhai are also joining the Janadesh march, having saved a handful of rice and one rupee a day for two years in order to be able to make the trip.
“We will put our life into Janadesh,” said a young man, prostrating himself before Rajagopal. “But can you please make sure we have enough to eat in the future.”
“Hunger peoples will not keep patience until the distribution of earth and money”, “the Government have to give ownership to the possessed families of tribals and Dalits on land”, “Declaration of the deprives assembly-Peoples verdict in 2007” were the main slogans of the public rally of 7000 peoples from deprives section who came from eleven different states of India and 6 cultural region of Madhya Pradesh. The rally was started from Phool Bag Maidan to Maharaj Bada in Gwalior on 11th December 2005, which was supported by Ekta Parishad.
Mr. Rajagopal (Founder, Ekta Parishad) made the announcement of the declaration made in the Assembly of the deprived about the Peoples Verdict 2007 popularly known as “Janadesh 2007” in Public meeting. Addressing the meeting he told that the message of Janadesh 2007 is to compel the Government to distribute the land to landless families of Dalit and Adivasis to live with dignity.
He warn the Government those poor peoples who vote the Government can dismiss the Government also and make pressure over the Government to solve their problems. The deprived people are only seeking land, which they possessed since ages. He warned that if the Government does not fulfil the demand, we would start foot march from Gwalior to Delhi. Not in tens and hundreds but with 25000 people. They will start sit in before the martyr place of Gandhi ji at Rajghat in Delhi.
Expressing the solidarity to Janadesh 2007 the renowned journalist & Writer Mr. Bharat Dogra said land is main resource that can ensure the food security of poorer. The National Convener of National Campaign Committee on Land Mr. Lallu Bhai Desai told that Janadesh 2007 will be final struggle and landless will take the land. The National Convener of NCCRW Mr. Subash Lomte appealed to all the Dalits and Adivasis not to move from the possessed land. He told that we would take the ownership of possessed land. The secretary of Sarva Seva Sangh Mr. Santosh Dwivedi told that Peoples power is higher in Democracy and Peoples will prove it in Janadesh 2007.
Greeting to Janadesh 2007 the veteran Gandhian Dr. S.N.Subba Rao told that from Patwari (village revenue employee) to President all are for the service of the country but unfortunately it is not being practiced. He hoped that People sitting in the Government realize and distribute the land to the poor.
Several activists, who came from different states of India, also addressed the public meeting. The National Convener of Ekta Parishad Dr. Ran Singh Parmar gave vote of thanks to the entire participant.
