Janadesh
For A National Land Policy
By Vidya Bhushan
Rawat
30 October, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Thousands of tribal and Dalits
who started their march under the banner of Ekta Parishad, from Gwalior
on October 2nd, 2007, were not allowed to step out of the Ramlila grounds
in Delhi. It was unfortunate that the government did not allow them
to vent their voice at the parliament house, the Panchayat of our democracy.
Minister for Rural Development, who has been well respected for some
of his ministry's project came to the meeting to announce that the prime
minister has agreed to a number of the demands raised by Ekta Parishad
and has decided to form a committee under his chairmanship. Those of
us who have been observing this government's policies know well that
to get rid of a people politicians easily promise something for instant
release which they later on forget. Ekta Parishad had demanded special
courts for land settlement, which is actually very important given the
fact that most of the land related cases in India have ended up in court
cases. The second demand was implementation of the forest act, which
is on the process and will definitely be challenged by the environmental
lobby in the Supreme Court. Land is a state subject and hence it is
difficult for the government at the center to promise anything. At the
moment when the central government look meek while the state government
and its bosses there are becoming more powerful, one will have to see
the real agenda of the government and its promises. How will the central
government convince the state government on the land redistribution
agenda?
One need not to be an expert
here to explain that the current phase of instability and violence in
India is land related. The government of India knows well that deaths,
by the Naxal violence in India is much higher than the so-called terrorist
violence. Over 130 districts in India, mainly Chhatishgarh, Jharkhand,
Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Tamilnadu, Uttar-Pradesh, and Maharastra
are under the Naxal influence. Naxal violence in two tribal states of
India, Chhatishgarh and Jharkhand is unabated and growing day by day.
Now, they are targeting the police and paramilitary forces. Just two
days back, the son of former chief minister was shot dead in Jharkhand.
Such violence will not stop unless the government introspect what is
wrong with its policies.
The alienation of tribal
and Dalits from their land is the biggest challenge that India face
today and the government should understand it in right spirit. Not only
the new economic regime where Special Economic Zones ( SEZ) have been
created all over India has been exploitative of the nature but also
our own indigenous caste system, which considered the Dalits and tribals
racially inferior. So the battle of land in India is two fold. One external
where you have the powerful corporations, multinational companies, big
private companies in India and the internal forces of the upper caste
elite which has hijacked every sector including the civil society and
intellectual space. It is here the trouble start with the land movement.
Some time, the issue of local exploitation of Dalits and tribal is relegated
to backstage as the upper caste leadership in the movement only presents
the politically correct external aggression. Hence SEZ and other colonization
is an easy trap for all those who ignore the caste prejudices and violence
on the Dalits and tribal.
For the government, both
things come handy. At the moment they continue to invite big corporations
to enter Indian forest and have no rehabilitation policy. In the mad
rush for investment we have killed tribal habitat without really providing
any alternative for their livelihood. The central government is expecting
more than 300000 crore's investments from SEZ. It says that it will
create nearly 3-4 million new jobs. So far the government has notified
about 133 SEZ and it expect 229 more soon. So far more than 48,000 hectares
of land has been acquired for the SEZ. The government claim that about
Rs 43,133 crore's investment has already come been received and over
35,000 people have got jobs. One does not know how many people lost
their livelihood and how many of these jobs went to the Dalits, tribal
and other marginalized communities. Government's SEZ policy has openly
been criticized by IMF an institutions which all our neo-liberal governments
look for guidance. Now, the violence is still a part of life in Nandigram
(west Bengal) and Kalinganagar tribal have not forgotten the sacrifice
of their fellow brothers and sisters when they opposed the Tata plant
in the area. Struggle of the Narmada displaced tribal is still going.
One must not feel amused at the government's response to form another
commission given the nature of our political parties to announce louder
things before the elections. Madhya Pradesh government has on record
said in the Supreme Court that there is no land available, which could
be given to the displaced people. Now, if Madhya Pradesh, which is one
of the biggest states of India and where a fairly large number of land
is vacant, says that it has no land to be given to tribal, what would
be the condition of other states. How will states of Uttar-Pradesh,
Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, Orrissa and Rajsathan going to act
on this where thousands of acres of land has been occupied by the powerful
caste forces.
Two years back, the Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh appointed a committee headed by noted economist
Arjun Sen Gupta to look into condition of work and promotion of livelihoods
in unorganized sector. The committee submitted it's finding on July
7th, 2007. Some of the findings of the commission are actually a stricture
against the government's own neo liberal policies. It says ', as on
January 2005, the total employment in the Indian economy was 457 millions,
of which the unorganized sector accounted for 395 million, or 86% of
the total workers. Of the 395 million unorganized sector workers, agriculture
accounted for 253 million and the rest 142 million are in non-agricultural
sector. The commission has estimated the total number of unorganized/informal
workers at 423 million, of which 395 millions are in unorganized sector
and 28 millions in the organized sector.'
Shockingly, the more bare
factors of India shining comes in point number 7 of the report which
says,' over the decades while the percentage of the population below
the poverty line has come down, in 2004-2005, 77% people, totaling 836
million, had an income less than twice the official poverty line or
below Rs 20 per day per capita. These are the poor and vulnerable segment
of the Indian population. About 79% of the unorganized workers, 88%
of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes, 80% of the OBCs and 84%
of the Muslims belong to this category of the poor and vulnerable. Contrary
to the trend in the number of people below the official poverty line,
the number of people in this segment has steadily increased over the
years.'
Recently, I had an opportunity
to see a document of European Union-India bilateral trade. I was shocked
to see one of the findings that National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme ( NREGS) which ensures 100 days employment to rural poor, as
an alternative to land redistribution. That would be a great mistake,
if such anti poverty programmes were considered as a replacement to
land reforms, which have historic roots world over. Just Six months
back when I walked through several district of Uttar-Pradesh, nearly
400 kilometer for Land, Dignity and Freedom, the issue of special courts
for land was one major issue demanded by the people. Other point came
was the NREGS is not an alternative to land reform as it has failed
to reach the people and also does not ensure employment to them. Thirdly,
it was also pointed out that most of the communities who are dying of
hunger are actually landless and fourth important point was that root
cause of atrocities on the Dalits was their struggle for land rights.
But today the Minister Mr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh's answer in the Ramlila
ground reflected this mindset in the government, which want to convince
us that if there is NREGS, we should not demand for the land rights
of the people. The argument the government make is that land holding
is now reducing, family growing and we must not press it further to
a condition of impossibility. That is a dangerous argument and can not
bring peace in the country.
The activists for land rights
are the victims of state oppression. Last month, two women land right
activists were arrested by the Uttar-Pradesh police for 'inciting' the
tribal under the charges of NSA, though these charges were later withdrawn.
Increasingly, the governments have failed to respond to the question
of land alienation of the Dalits and tribal and the voices of dissent
are being scuttled through various means, by cooption or coercion. Nandigram,
Kalinganagar, Khammam etc reminds us that people will not sit silently
and will not even wait for NGOs to guide them. They will pick up their
own issues and fight with the state if land issue is not resolved. Ironically,
Chhatishgarh government arrested Dr Binayak Sen, a very respected human
rights activists on the charges of helping the Naxal. Dr Binayak Sen's
problem was that he was raising the issue of human rights violation
of tribal who were victims of police atrocities. So, we can understand
how the governments in different states of India are treating the activists
fighting for land rights and how are protest for land rights are being
seen. This attitude needs change.
Often the government has
maintained that land is state subject and their hands are tied. However,
it reflects the mindset of those in power. Land Ceiling act has never
been implemented properly. The Zamindari Abolition Acts have so many
loopholes that it became virtually redundant in state like Uttar-Pradesh.
There has been no land reform in Bihar. The situation in Punjab, Haryana,
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh is alarming. Karnataka, Andhra, Tamilnadu,
Kerala are already opening up themselves for the big companies. States
like Orrisa, Chattishgarh and Jharkhand have gone ahead with wooing
the investment without taking care of the vast tribal population. The
result is now growing resentment against the government policies duly
exploited by the Maoists and Naxalites.
The Arjun Sen Gupta committee
clearly mentioned that the current economic policies of liberlisation
and globalisation have not helped the poor. It has specifically mentioned
government's policy on SEZ, rehabilitation due to dams, urban planning
by displacing millions of urban slum dwellers as some of the areas of
concern.
Over 1.31 crore people are
landless as per the government owns figures from the Ministry of Rural
Development. These families as per the information, do not have even
land for their own habitation. Most of the people who construct their
houses or clusters are basically living on either the communal land
or at the mercy of the other. The Uttar-Pradesh's government recently
passed a notification that all the Dalits who have possession of any
communal land till May 13 2007, will be given legal entitlement for
that land. The problem is how many Dalits have possession of the village
communal land? Hence such announcement from the government look nice
on papers but do very little to alter the situation at the grassroots.
Apart from the impact of
displacement and land acquisition, which are policies, based issues,
One of the major hindrance in the land distribution of the land is the
non existence of the implementation of Land Ceiling Laws. We all know
most of the biggest farmers politicians of India has huge land, which
they cannot acquire but which is benami. Those of us who have been in
the land rights movement for last 15-20 years have seen how even the
Supreme Court's order are mis-interpreted and misused by the governments
and it's implementing authorities with close association of the rural
power elite. Hence the Dalits and tribals who are victim of India's
racist caste structure have no chance of getting land unless land ceiling
act is implemented. This is because many states are now stating that
there is no land remained for redistribution. Most of the access land
is in the hands of powerful farmers Communities, which are politically
very mobile and physically violent. It would be difficult to seize land
from Jaats, Gujjars, Rajputs, Bhoomihars, Bramins, Kurmis, Reddy's,
Thewars, Marathas and Yadavas. These are the powerful communities in
different parts of India. We have seen these racial prejudices of Indian
political class in Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar district where 1164 hectare
of the ceiling land was not redistributed to Dalits but wrongly went
to immigrants Sikhs from Punjab who paid hefty sum of bribe to local
powerful bureaucrats and political leaders. Nobody has power and courage
to take on the powerful people who have huge farmhouses in Tarai region
and who have kept the tribal as bonded in their own land. The governments
definitely have no spine to seize that land.
?Since the major drive to
redistribute land under ceiling legislation; from about 1972-73 government
estimates indicate that about 26 lakh hectares has been appropriated
for redistribution from their erstwhile owners. Of this 8 lakh hectares
is still undistributed due to on-going litigation and has not been given
to landless beneficiaries. The government has signalled its intention
to establish fast-track courts to deal with such cases and has indicated
that it will specifically expedite the distribution of these 8 lakh
hectares. These data are also doubtful. One more important factor is
the Bhudan land. Most of the land acquired under Bhudan never reached
the rural poor. We found that people have taken back their land after
several years. A large number of lands were acquired by NGOs, big CBOs
as well as for Ashrams, Gowshalas (cowherd). One need to remind the
government that India would be the only country where land can be had
in the name of religious book. There is no ceiling on farmland, land
for temples, mosques or Gurudwaras; therefore people have used this
strategy to evade land-ceiling laws. The NGOs, social movements do not
speak on these politically incorrect things as it exposes their own
deeds. There is need to take a hard stand on these issues as we continue
to hear from government and authorities that there is little land. There
is lot pretence as where is land? One does not understand why the government
is unable to establish fast track courts for the land disputes particularly
where the land ceiling act has been evaded and challenged.
Interestingly, according to government's own figures; there is more
than 50 laky hectares of Public owned land that can be redistributed.
This land can be delivered to landless households; with an aim to distribute
at least 0.5 hectares to each landless household. While the government
recognises that this may not be enough to turn landless households into
Surplus producers of food grains or other crops, it does believe that
it will deliver some Security and improve the social position and bargaining
power of the landless in the countryside. With the government already
promised to give the tribal 5-hectare of land from the forest, there
is an increasing pressure to give the land to Dalits also. Problem with
the current regime is that it want to promise even moon to every one
even when that might not be possible. It is unable to offend the local
ruling elites in the villages. It does not want to capture land from
the power elite. It does not want to offend the business, as it want
to see its sensex zooming. It wants to clean the Delhi streets for the
common wealth games. It wants to enjoy everything and therefore when
the issue of Dalits and tribal are concern, it just promises more so
that people go home satisfactorily. It also want to tell the people
before the next election that the land redistribution is on its agenda.
If this government can not
impose ceiling laws, how is it going to seize land from the Possession
of the powerful rural elite? What will it do? Good, Prime minister has
decided to head the commission for Land Reform, which India persistently
sidetracked. Every time, there was demand for land redistribution, the
government would always say, it is a state Subject. However whenever
issue of land acquisition came, government did not hesitate in doing
so on an urgent basis. Land Ceiling has virtually been abolished. Central
government was keen to amend Land Acquisition Act to help the big companies
acquire huge track of land. In state like Andhra Pradesh, government
both the current regime and previous one of Chandra Babu Naidu went
overboard to side track the historic Samata Judgment of the Supreme
Court, which clearly stated that the forestland in the agency areas
of the tribal could not be given for mining to multinational corporations
without the permission of the local tribal Panchayats. The government's
have always handled the issue with out any sensitivity.
Today, India is at war with
its own people. Thousands of people have died in the land related Violence
and the government want to inform us that this is a law and order issue.
Sorry, Mr Prime Minister, if the onslaught on the livelihood of the
dalits, tribal and other marginalized continues, I am afraid, the forces
of the war will win. Hope the prime minister and his cabinet will keep
their promise to millions of people of the country that there government
is serious on the issue of land redistribution and most important of
these would be implement ceiling laws effectively without any prejudices
and biases and disallow land in the name of religious trusts, Gaushalas.
Let them also face-ceiling laws.
Land Rights in India are
broader issue, not only region and community wise but also perception
wise. Earlier it was mainly an issue raised by the left groups, later
the Dalit and tribal organizations had it on their agenda. It is important
to understand that no one organization can claim to represent India
and its vast masses. It would be suicidal for the government to develop
a coterie in the name of land rights. It need to open the debate on
a broader level and run this debate throughout the country, otherwise,
the issues would remain the same and nothing concrete could be achieved.
At the moment, thanks to Ekta Parishad's March the land agenda seems
to have hit the media headline. Hopefully, they will not forget it later.
One is sure that government too will be willing to broaden its debate
and involve multiple players working on the land rights in different
parts of the country so that diverse views could be debated before arriving
at any decision.
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