25 November 2009 - If you walk a few minutes along the filthy, open drain skirting Madubhai Machuware's house in Chikhalda village of Madhya Pradesh, it will lead you to the mighty Narmada, his mother goddess. Before the Bargi, Narmada Sagar and Sardar Sarovar dams were built, Madubhai earned his dal-roti by cultivating melons, vegetables and flowers on its riverbed, and fishing in its waters. Now living his life in the shadow of these large dams, he can manage neither.
The reservoir of Sardar Sarovar has submerged the riverbed, and the ensuing siltation along with other factors, ensured that he can never catch enough fish to feed his family of eleven - sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren included. On days when he returns home without a catch, he doesn't even feel like drinking his cup of chai. And when water begins to flow in the panchayat taps in the neighbourhood, the drain adjoining his house which carries human excrement, fills his nostrils with a repulsive smell. Yet he refuses to move to a resettlement site of the Sardar Sarovar Project at Narmadanagar six kilometres away, where he has been allotted a house plot. Here's why.
Madubhai is one of thousands of fishworkers, riverbed cultivators and boatmen whose livelihood has been snatched away by the Sardar Sarovar dam. The Government has never bothered to conduct a survey of these categories of the displaced, hence no official count is available. The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) - the movement fighting for the displaced for more than two decades - puts the figure at about 10,000 families pursuing these occupations. Customary usage of land - as in Madubhai's case - has been recognised by the resettlement and rehabilitation policy of the Madhya Pradesh Government, which states that persons with encroachments prior to 1987 will be entitled to agricultural land.
Instead of being allotted agricultural land, Madubhai has to be content with about a lakh of rupees in cash compensation for his house which will also be submerged, and a 500 square metre house plot. This plot was first allotted to him at the Nanakbaydi resettlement site, on saline, black cotton soil unsuitable for construction. When he applied for a change of resettlement site from Nanakbaydi to Narmadanagar - closer to the river - he encountered more hurdles. The road is three to four feet higher than the house plot at his new resettlement site, and the construction of a high enough plinth such that rainwater will not enter his house, will cost him forty thousand rupees. How does the Government expect him to build a house with the sixty thousand he'd have left over, he wonders. But not having a roof over his head in the near future is not the only cause of Madubhai's anxiety.
Since Bargi - the first major dam on the Narmada - was built upstream near Jabalpur in 1990, Madubhai's occupation of cultivating watermelon, muskmelon and vegetables on the sandy banks of the river has been continually disrupted. Watermelon and muskmelon are cultivated exactly at the level of the water table in the sand on the riverbed. These fruits grow on creepers. If the water level increases even by a foot, on the one hand, the creepers are completely submerged. On the other hand, if the water level goes down by a foot, their roots do not penetrate deep enough to be able to draw water.
Since the turbines of the Bargi dam became operational more than a decade and a half ago, the water adjoining Madubhai's riverbed land has been fluctuating by two to four feet in its level. When water would be released to run the turbines, it would enter the land. His saplings would rot. When the water would recede, he would make another attempt - sow again, only to be faced with another failed crop. His livelihood was buffeted in this manner by the capricious release of water from the Bargi dam, till the reservoir of the Sardar Sarovar dam downstream filled up. Now the riverbed was completely submerged, once and for all.
"Hamara to dhanda hi khatam ho gaya," he says matter-of-factly. From now on, he would have to rely solely on fishing to feed his family.
When the gates of the upstream Narmada Sagar dam were closed in 2003, the flow of the river near Madubhai's village reduced greatly. Further downstream, it dried up. Crocodiles, tortoises and fish died. Because this happened during the breeding season for fish, their eggs were destroyed as well. Since then, Madubhai has been unable to find enough fish in the river.
To add to his woes, his small shikari nav - about a foot and a half in height - can't ply the deep waters of the reservoir. With the equipment he owns - small nets, hooks and strings - he can't possibly fish in the dammed river, its nature having changed completely since its natural flow was hindered. This forces him to fish nearer to the riverbank. But when he puts out his strings with hooks in the water, they get stuck in the silt. Besides, fish prefer to stay within the reservoir instead of swimming to its muddy banks. And the few fish that are present at the boundaries can't be spotted.
As a result, Madubhai's income from fishing has plummeted as well. He can't even catch two kilos of fish in a day's work. His eleven member household needs two hundred rupees for their daily expenses. He is unable to procure loans from his contacts to meet these expenses, because without an income, he can't be trusted to repay them. For almost twenty years, his life and livelihood has been caught in the vortex of so-called development in the name of one dam or another. Some people might benefit from these dams, he admits. But for him, there was only loss, and more loss.
A view of the lane adjoining Madubhai's house
In spite of his grave predicament, Madubhai does have a little to be thankful for today, which will soon slip out of his hands too. Today, he is still able to catch some fish which keeps his house running, however unsatisfactorily. But in the near future, he fears that the Government will contract out fishing rights in the reservoir to a big player. Instead of hiring local fishworkers, this new contractor will prefer to bring labour from outside the area. Migrant labourers are easier to exploit, work longer hours and for lesser pay, as they can't form unions, don't have local contacts and can't speak the language of the region.
Such contracting of fishing rights to an outsider will destroy what little is left of Madubhai's earning potential. And despite his repeated requests and protests as a member of the NBA, the Government has so far refused to conduct even a preliminary survey of fishworkers, leave alone rehabilitating them.
When Madubhai first heard that a big dam would control the waters of the river he revered, he didn't believe the news. Navagam, the site of the proposed dam, was about 150 kilometres from his village along the Narmada. How could they build something so big that the river would rise to his doorstep? Only after the dam was built though, did he realize that the impossible was also possible. Besides, all through the years after he first heard about the dam, he never knew that its waters would drown his little world.
Did the Government not tell him anything about the catastrophe he'd have to face? Nothing. Not a word, he replies calmly. If only the Government had told him the truth, he would have joined the NBA many years before he did.
When the riverbed submerged for the first time, Madubhai's musk melons had grown, each weighing from a quarter to about three quarters of a kilo. That's when they had released water from the Bargi dam, he remembers bitterly. Along with other fishworkers, Madubhai had applied for compensation in the tehsil office. He and his co-workers were compensated anywhere between two and five thousand rupees. Since that first time, Madubhai's riverbed land was submerged often, but he never got a rupee in compensation. Nor is he able to find fish in the river now, unlike the time of that first submergence. Now only God can lead him to the other shore, he concludes helplessly.
To meet his expenses in such an extreme situation, Madubhai has had to resort to the last option: selling about a kilo of silver from his savings. Since his riverbed land completely submerged three years ago, the game is over for him. Before the waters of the dam drowned his livelihood, he remembers, his family would eat with joy. He was a carefree man then. But now, he has to borrow for everything from weddings to illnesses. He has a loan of about forty thousand rupees on his head. How will he repay it? Only God can find a way for us, is his only answer.
At the end of the day, does Madubhai have hope?
"What can I hope for?" he asks. "Hope is not of any use. God only shows good days. When the time comes, everything happens for the good. God is giving us dal-roti, life goes on, that is the biggest hope. No one has seen what happens tomorrow. Our children are not educated. We can't hope that our children will get into some service and progress in life. They are all fishermen. They eat whatever they can get by fishing in the Narmada and continue to live."
http://www.indiatogether.org/
Showing posts with label Human Right. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Human Right. Show all posts
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Food fight over hunger - Prasenjit Maiti
March 2003 - A few state governments in India have of late waged a war of attrition with the Union Government over the contentious issue of providing cooked mid-day meals to underprivileged primary school children. This is primarily a central government-funded public welfare scheme where the center provides uncooked cereals (and transportation of food grains) free of cost. However, “cash-strapped” state governments plead inability to provide cooked meals to children in the below poverty level category, and seek to provide uncooked cereals instead (that too on an irregular basis), although it costs about Re.1 per child per day to provide cooked meals for the stipulated 200 days a year.
"The Calcutta High Court has ordered the Government of West Bengal to file a criminal law suit against the Inspector of Schools of Midnapore district on charges of selling mid-day meal rice in collusion with a local Block Development Officer"
The Supreme Court of India, the country's apex federal court, in an interim judgment, has recently ordered these state governments to immediately comply with the Union Government's regulations or else the center's aid to the states will be diverted to sponsor the mid-day meals project in primary schools. NGOs like the Right to Food and Work Network, Campaign against Child Labour, West Bengal Education Network and the Calcutta NGO Forum of Street and Working Children organised demonstrations by underprivileged children on 14 November 2002 — Children’s Day — in Calcutta and across West Bengal to protest against the state government’s inability to provide mid-day meals to primary school students.
Children mobilised a symbolic fund-raising drive with banners stating: “Our state government claims it doesn’t have the necessary money to provide us with food in our schools, so we’re begging for money from the common people. We shall send this money to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee so that he can provide cooked meals to hungry children.” However, the government, citing financial shortages, hasn’t yet sanctioned Rs. 190 crore to provide cooked meals to about 95 lakh students in the state. The West Bengal government, in response to a Supreme Court ruling that states should not compromise with children’s food, had earlier petitioned that it was unable to implement the central government-funded mid-day meals project due to a severe funds crunch. But the apex court rejected the petition and cautioned on 3 September 2002 that Central aid to the states would be diverted for the meals project if cooked meals were not duly provided in schools.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (Rajasthan) filed a petition In May 2001 in connection with the “right to food” in the Supreme Court, demanding that the country’s food stock should be used without delay to prevent hunger. The Supreme Court, in its “interim order” passed on 28 November 2001, converted the benefits of eight nutrition-related federal schemes into legal entitlements and directed the state governments to provide cooked mid-day meals for all children in government and government-assisted schools:
“It is the case of the Union of India that there has been full compliance with regard to the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. However, if any of the States gives a specific instance of non-compliance, the Union of India will do the needful within the framework of the Scheme.
“We direct the State Governments to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme by providing every child in every Government and Government assisted Primary Schools with a prepared mid-day meal with a minimum content of 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein each day of school for a minimum of 200 days. Those Governments providing dry rations instead of cooked meals must within three months [28 February 2002] start providing cooked meals in all Government and Government-aided Primary Schools in half of the Districts of the State (in order of poverty) and must within a further period of three months [28 May 2002] extend the provision of cooked meals to the remaining parts of the State
“We direct the Union of India and the Food Corporation of India to ensure provision of fair average quality grain for the Scheme on time.
“The States and the FCI are directed to do joint inspection of food grains. If the food grain is found, on joint inspection, not to be of fair average quality, it will be replaced by the FCI prior to lifting.”
This judgement revised the earlier arrangement under which primary school students were to be provided with 100 gm of wheat or rice for a minimum of 200 days in a year free of cost. However, states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand have violated the order of the Supreme Court by not implementing the project. Manipur also plans not to introduce the scheme. It has even submitted an interim application to the Supreme Court to this effect. Both Manipur and Mizoram have argued that mid day meals are not part of the eating habit of the people, and that children do not like to eat in the middle of the day, according to the Voice of the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Network.
The Tribune reported on 29 September 2002 that “The states did not have the money and the Center did not assist. The matter was taken up by the states with the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Human Resource Development leading to delay in filing affidavits by states, including Punjab.” The mid-day meal scheme happens to be one of the most resisted central schemes in federal India. This happens to be a central government scheme, but the states have to bear the costs of implementing it. This is one of the prime reasons for stiff resistance by the states.
The Hindu reported on 13 September 2002 that “Since the start of the new academic session a few months ago, the mid-day meal scheme is not being adequately implemented to nearly nine lakh children studying in 1,800 primary schools of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Whatever is being given to the students is unhygienic and sub-standard, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has alleged, a charge denied by the ruling Congress. Further, services of private contractors are being taken for distributing fresh fruits to the students.”
The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, an NGO, has reported that the Maharashtra government has issued an order to the effect that contributions for the scheme will come "voluntarily" from the villages themselves. Local bodies have even been cautioned that they will not receive the benefits of other central government schemes if they do not contribute to the mid-day meal scheme. The Times of India, a national daily, reported on 8 July 2002 that “The Maharashtra government has decided to wash its hands off the mid-day meal scheme for primary schools, claiming that it has no funds to provide cooked meals to students. The onus of running the scheme has been passed on to the gram panchayats (village-level institutions of decentralised governance).
Jean Dreze, Visiting Professor at the Delhi School of Economics, argues that “60 million tonnes of grain are lying idle in public warehouses. These food mountains have become a resilient national embarrassment. Grain withdrawn from these warehouses is effectively costless, since the procurement expenses have already been borne. In fact, using idle food stocks for school meals would save money, by reducing storage costs” (The Hindu, 21 May 2002).
There is something deeply defective about a democracy where people's basic needs count for so little in electoral politics.
Collective demands for mid-day meals were raised in more than a hundred districts of the country by way of public hearings, protest demonstrations, hunger rallies and the like on 9 April 2002. The unwilling states, however, are yet to comply. Demonstrations were held in each and every district of Bihar. Thousands of children clamored for mid-day meals in Patna, the capital city, with empty plates.
“One might have expected State Governments to welcome the school-meal programme as an opportunity to win votes at relatively low cost. Indeed, the scheme is likely to be quite popular, and it is not very expensive for the State Governments, given that the Central Government is supplying the grain for free. In most States, however, there is no sign of such enthusiasm. There is something deeply defective about a democracy where people's basic needs count for so little in electoral politics,” adds Dreze.
"The Calcutta High Court has ordered the Government of West Bengal to file a criminal law suit against the Inspector of Schools of Midnapore district on charges of selling mid-day meal rice in collusion with a local Block Development Officer"
The Supreme Court of India, the country's apex federal court, in an interim judgment, has recently ordered these state governments to immediately comply with the Union Government's regulations or else the center's aid to the states will be diverted to sponsor the mid-day meals project in primary schools. NGOs like the Right to Food and Work Network, Campaign against Child Labour, West Bengal Education Network and the Calcutta NGO Forum of Street and Working Children organised demonstrations by underprivileged children on 14 November 2002 — Children’s Day — in Calcutta and across West Bengal to protest against the state government’s inability to provide mid-day meals to primary school students.
Children mobilised a symbolic fund-raising drive with banners stating: “Our state government claims it doesn’t have the necessary money to provide us with food in our schools, so we’re begging for money from the common people. We shall send this money to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee so that he can provide cooked meals to hungry children.” However, the government, citing financial shortages, hasn’t yet sanctioned Rs. 190 crore to provide cooked meals to about 95 lakh students in the state. The West Bengal government, in response to a Supreme Court ruling that states should not compromise with children’s food, had earlier petitioned that it was unable to implement the central government-funded mid-day meals project due to a severe funds crunch. But the apex court rejected the petition and cautioned on 3 September 2002 that Central aid to the states would be diverted for the meals project if cooked meals were not duly provided in schools.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (Rajasthan) filed a petition In May 2001 in connection with the “right to food” in the Supreme Court, demanding that the country’s food stock should be used without delay to prevent hunger. The Supreme Court, in its “interim order” passed on 28 November 2001, converted the benefits of eight nutrition-related federal schemes into legal entitlements and directed the state governments to provide cooked mid-day meals for all children in government and government-assisted schools:
“It is the case of the Union of India that there has been full compliance with regard to the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. However, if any of the States gives a specific instance of non-compliance, the Union of India will do the needful within the framework of the Scheme.
“We direct the State Governments to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme by providing every child in every Government and Government assisted Primary Schools with a prepared mid-day meal with a minimum content of 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein each day of school for a minimum of 200 days. Those Governments providing dry rations instead of cooked meals must within three months [28 February 2002] start providing cooked meals in all Government and Government-aided Primary Schools in half of the Districts of the State (in order of poverty) and must within a further period of three months [28 May 2002] extend the provision of cooked meals to the remaining parts of the State
“We direct the Union of India and the Food Corporation of India to ensure provision of fair average quality grain for the Scheme on time.
“The States and the FCI are directed to do joint inspection of food grains. If the food grain is found, on joint inspection, not to be of fair average quality, it will be replaced by the FCI prior to lifting.”
This judgement revised the earlier arrangement under which primary school students were to be provided with 100 gm of wheat or rice for a minimum of 200 days in a year free of cost. However, states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand have violated the order of the Supreme Court by not implementing the project. Manipur also plans not to introduce the scheme. It has even submitted an interim application to the Supreme Court to this effect. Both Manipur and Mizoram have argued that mid day meals are not part of the eating habit of the people, and that children do not like to eat in the middle of the day, according to the Voice of the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Network.
The Tribune reported on 29 September 2002 that “The states did not have the money and the Center did not assist. The matter was taken up by the states with the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Human Resource Development leading to delay in filing affidavits by states, including Punjab.” The mid-day meal scheme happens to be one of the most resisted central schemes in federal India. This happens to be a central government scheme, but the states have to bear the costs of implementing it. This is one of the prime reasons for stiff resistance by the states.
The Hindu reported on 13 September 2002 that “Since the start of the new academic session a few months ago, the mid-day meal scheme is not being adequately implemented to nearly nine lakh children studying in 1,800 primary schools of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Whatever is being given to the students is unhygienic and sub-standard, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has alleged, a charge denied by the ruling Congress. Further, services of private contractors are being taken for distributing fresh fruits to the students.”
The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, an NGO, has reported that the Maharashtra government has issued an order to the effect that contributions for the scheme will come "voluntarily" from the villages themselves. Local bodies have even been cautioned that they will not receive the benefits of other central government schemes if they do not contribute to the mid-day meal scheme. The Times of India, a national daily, reported on 8 July 2002 that “The Maharashtra government has decided to wash its hands off the mid-day meal scheme for primary schools, claiming that it has no funds to provide cooked meals to students. The onus of running the scheme has been passed on to the gram panchayats (village-level institutions of decentralised governance).
Jean Dreze, Visiting Professor at the Delhi School of Economics, argues that “60 million tonnes of grain are lying idle in public warehouses. These food mountains have become a resilient national embarrassment. Grain withdrawn from these warehouses is effectively costless, since the procurement expenses have already been borne. In fact, using idle food stocks for school meals would save money, by reducing storage costs” (The Hindu, 21 May 2002).
There is something deeply defective about a democracy where people's basic needs count for so little in electoral politics.
Collective demands for mid-day meals were raised in more than a hundred districts of the country by way of public hearings, protest demonstrations, hunger rallies and the like on 9 April 2002. The unwilling states, however, are yet to comply. Demonstrations were held in each and every district of Bihar. Thousands of children clamored for mid-day meals in Patna, the capital city, with empty plates.
“One might have expected State Governments to welcome the school-meal programme as an opportunity to win votes at relatively low cost. Indeed, the scheme is likely to be quite popular, and it is not very expensive for the State Governments, given that the Central Government is supplying the grain for free. In most States, however, there is no sign of such enthusiasm. There is something deeply defective about a democracy where people's basic needs count for so little in electoral politics,” adds Dreze.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Making ends meet - Neeta Deshpande
07 November 2009 - When Devilal Tadvi of the Adivasi village of Gadkoi in Gujarat first saw the site of the Sardar Sarovar dam located about twelve kilometres from his home, a singular thought crossed his eager mind. When would the mighty Narmada water his small field? Little did he know, that not only would he get no water from the dam in the future, but that he wouldn't have much agricultural land left either.
Devilal's father Jatanbhai had already lost seven and a half acres to the dam's main canal in the early eighties. With only four acres left over that was partitioned between Jatanbhai and his four sons, Devilal's share was less than an acre. Though Gujarat Government officials promised the family adequate cash compensation when they acquired the land, they soon reneged on their sugar-coated assurances. Eventually, Jatanbhai was paid a meagre Rs.2800 an acre, impoverishing him with a stroke of a pen, for life.
Government officials also promised that all four of his sons would be employed, but only one son was hired as a clerk in a State Bank branch in the colony built for dam engineers and staff. Now Devilal was forced to work as a labourer on other people's farms, pulling out weeds all day for a tiny payment. When dry, merciless summers arrived, he had to leave home for Surat, to sweat and slog at construction sites in inhospitable conditions. But he still had hope that the Government would compensate his family for the land it had so unjustly usurped, that it would provide them Narmada waters to irrigate the fields which buttressed their lives. The compensation money never came. Nor did the water
Jatanbhai is one of thousands of farmers who lost land to the canal network of the dam, much touted as Gujarat's lifeline. The 1992 report of the Independent Review commissioned by the World Bank - which initially sanctioned a loan of $450 million for the Sardar Sarovar Projects (SSP) - puts the figure of land-owning farmers with titles who would become landless or be left with less than two hectares, at about 14,000. The report further states that based on discussions with affected families, in many regions, one title holder is equal to three or four families.
Yet, despite being uprooted from their fields, these farmers were not recognized as project-affected, and thus, not even entitled to resettlement. Instead, their lands were acquired under the Land Acquisition Act at ridiculously low rates, steeping their lives in penury for generations to come.
Jatanbhai tells the story of his loss with a straight face. His voice is calm, his words matter-of-fact: "Only when I saw them measuring other fields in the area, I found out that I'd lose mine too. They cut my standing groundnut crop. We had to feed it to our livestock. They said they'd compensate me. But they never did. After I signed the papers, the police warned me not to go to my field. What could I have done? They'd already started digging up my land with a bulldozer. Should I have sat with my head in my hands and cried?"
While lands in his area were being measured for acquisition, Jatanbhai was struck by another grave tragedy. When his sister-in-law underwent a tubectomy, his wife decided to follow suit. After asking her husband's permission, she boarded a motor vehicle for the Government hospital some 25 kilometres away. She was given an injection for anesthesia, says Jatanbhai, after which she passed away. Did he ask the doctor what happened? "The doctor had no explanation", he replies. "He only said: nasha ho gaya." Soon after, Jatanbhai pulled his children out of school, and resolved to bring them up without a mother's care. At the time, his youngest son was only three.
When he lost his mother, Devilal - the third son - was still in the seventh standard. Today, his eyes reflect his emotions when he recalls his school days. "I never had new clothes or books. Through my schooling, I wore my older brother's clothes, read from his used textbooks. We never had enough money for food, leave alone clothes. And when my father couldn't manage the expenses anymore, what option did I have? My classmates from better families continued to study, and secured jobs, as teachers, clerks or nurses. But I couldn't ..." he trails off.
Devilal, who would have been a farmer in his own right, was now forced into a life of labour to profit others, leaving him to struggle for the basic necessities of life. When agricultural work was unavailable during the summer months, he had no choice but to leave his village in a desperate bid to find work, any work. The only employment that came his way: the inhuman grind of a construction labourer. He prepared cement mixture for plastering walls, sprinkled water over buildings, lifted unbearably heavy bags of cement - the lot of an animal of burden.
His contractors would not allow him to sleep in the buildings he built for fear of theft, so he had to make the adverse footpaths his home for the nights. "My fingers had injuries", he remembers, "and the contractor would abuse me with insulting words. Arranging food was difficult, and I've had to go hungry for a day or two. My life has been very difficult. But if I don't suffer, how will my children eat?"
A few years down the line, Devilal was afflicted by a severe attack of malaria. The disease took its toll - he was ill for an entire six months. He vowed never to return to the city again. Later in 1984, he applied to the same Government Hospital where his mother had died a most unfortunate death, for a job as a nurse. He was selected, but an official kept his order pending for two months. Then, as expected, the official demanded a bribe: a thousand rupees. Devilal went from one relative to another in a desperate attempt to borrow money. When he failed to raise it, his competitor secured the position.
His brother's application for the position of a security guard in the Secretariat at Gandhinagar also fell through. The people in charge hired their relatives, and Devilal's brother, without any connections in the right places, didn't even stand a chance.
Later in the mid-eighties, Devilal took up work in an office of Jaiprakash Associates, contractors for the very dam which had uprooted him from his ancestral livelihood. For twelve years, he swept and mopped their office, and served water and tea to the staff who built the dam that had ruined him for good. He was paid Rs.22 a day. How did he manage household expenses? "You have to eat less", he answers simply. "Grain, tea and oil cost money." This from a man, whose family at one time lived off their own land.
When asked, he animatedly lists nine different crops his father once used to grow. Now Devilal can only grow tur and maize. How did he feel having to sweep and mop floors dirtied by others? "I had to", he replies without hesitation. "What else could I have done?"
Unable to make ends meet with twenty-two rupees a day, Devilal and other employees formed a union, and in the early nineties, demanded a raise. For an entire month, the workers went without wages, waiting patiently for a fair recompense. But life had a cruel twist in store which they could never have imagined. The leader of their union was bribed. The organisation fell apart. Devilal went back to work, serving tea with a straight face. Five years later, he was told there was no work for him. "Sab labour ki chutti kar di", he says. "Kam hi nahin tha."
Back to removing weeds on other people's farms, Devilal now earns a meagre Rs.30 a day for nine hours of exhausting labour. "Everything is so expensive", he complains. "A kilo of oil costs eighty rupees, a kilo of rice costs sixteen. There are six people to eat in my house, with my wife and four daughters. I'm the only one who earns. If I'm late by an hour because of household difficulties or rains, my employer sends me back home. What can I do? I live a very tough life."
Despite the tremendous odds, Devilal is confident that he will manage to survive, a skill he has learnt the hard way. What is eating at him though, is the question of his daughters' future. The responsibility of their marriages weighs heavily on his mind today. Each wedding will cost about half a lakh of rupees, he explains. With less than one acre of land, how is he to raise such a large amount? He has no choice but to mortgage his land for Rs.20,000.
And then, despite his resolute decision, it would be time again for him to return to the city he had fled, this time taking his wife along with him. The couple would have to leave their daughters behind, perhaps at the house of a relative, where they could labour on farms to survive. Taking his young daughters to the city is not safe, he knows. If he earns enough, it would still take him several years to pay back his mortgage.
The risk of losing his only acre of land, along with a life of back-breaking, dehumanising labour, stares Devilal in the face today. His only hope: compensation for the land that was commandeered from him so brutally, and water from the spectacular dam to quench his leftover field. With neither possibility in sight, Devilal must return to a city which glitters with a million lights, yet leaves his life condemned to darkness.
Reference : http://www.indiatogether.org/2009/nov/
Neeta Deshpande is a freelance writer based in Bangalore. This article is part of a series on uprootment and survival in the Narmada valley. Names of persons in this article have been changed
Devilal's father Jatanbhai had already lost seven and a half acres to the dam's main canal in the early eighties. With only four acres left over that was partitioned between Jatanbhai and his four sons, Devilal's share was less than an acre. Though Gujarat Government officials promised the family adequate cash compensation when they acquired the land, they soon reneged on their sugar-coated assurances. Eventually, Jatanbhai was paid a meagre Rs.2800 an acre, impoverishing him with a stroke of a pen, for life.
Government officials also promised that all four of his sons would be employed, but only one son was hired as a clerk in a State Bank branch in the colony built for dam engineers and staff. Now Devilal was forced to work as a labourer on other people's farms, pulling out weeds all day for a tiny payment. When dry, merciless summers arrived, he had to leave home for Surat, to sweat and slog at construction sites in inhospitable conditions. But he still had hope that the Government would compensate his family for the land it had so unjustly usurped, that it would provide them Narmada waters to irrigate the fields which buttressed their lives. The compensation money never came. Nor did the water
Jatanbhai is one of thousands of farmers who lost land to the canal network of the dam, much touted as Gujarat's lifeline. The 1992 report of the Independent Review commissioned by the World Bank - which initially sanctioned a loan of $450 million for the Sardar Sarovar Projects (SSP) - puts the figure of land-owning farmers with titles who would become landless or be left with less than two hectares, at about 14,000. The report further states that based on discussions with affected families, in many regions, one title holder is equal to three or four families.
Yet, despite being uprooted from their fields, these farmers were not recognized as project-affected, and thus, not even entitled to resettlement. Instead, their lands were acquired under the Land Acquisition Act at ridiculously low rates, steeping their lives in penury for generations to come.
Jatanbhai tells the story of his loss with a straight face. His voice is calm, his words matter-of-fact: "Only when I saw them measuring other fields in the area, I found out that I'd lose mine too. They cut my standing groundnut crop. We had to feed it to our livestock. They said they'd compensate me. But they never did. After I signed the papers, the police warned me not to go to my field. What could I have done? They'd already started digging up my land with a bulldozer. Should I have sat with my head in my hands and cried?"
While lands in his area were being measured for acquisition, Jatanbhai was struck by another grave tragedy. When his sister-in-law underwent a tubectomy, his wife decided to follow suit. After asking her husband's permission, she boarded a motor vehicle for the Government hospital some 25 kilometres away. She was given an injection for anesthesia, says Jatanbhai, after which she passed away. Did he ask the doctor what happened? "The doctor had no explanation", he replies. "He only said: nasha ho gaya." Soon after, Jatanbhai pulled his children out of school, and resolved to bring them up without a mother's care. At the time, his youngest son was only three.
When he lost his mother, Devilal - the third son - was still in the seventh standard. Today, his eyes reflect his emotions when he recalls his school days. "I never had new clothes or books. Through my schooling, I wore my older brother's clothes, read from his used textbooks. We never had enough money for food, leave alone clothes. And when my father couldn't manage the expenses anymore, what option did I have? My classmates from better families continued to study, and secured jobs, as teachers, clerks or nurses. But I couldn't ..." he trails off.
Devilal, who would have been a farmer in his own right, was now forced into a life of labour to profit others, leaving him to struggle for the basic necessities of life. When agricultural work was unavailable during the summer months, he had no choice but to leave his village in a desperate bid to find work, any work. The only employment that came his way: the inhuman grind of a construction labourer. He prepared cement mixture for plastering walls, sprinkled water over buildings, lifted unbearably heavy bags of cement - the lot of an animal of burden.
His contractors would not allow him to sleep in the buildings he built for fear of theft, so he had to make the adverse footpaths his home for the nights. "My fingers had injuries", he remembers, "and the contractor would abuse me with insulting words. Arranging food was difficult, and I've had to go hungry for a day or two. My life has been very difficult. But if I don't suffer, how will my children eat?"
A few years down the line, Devilal was afflicted by a severe attack of malaria. The disease took its toll - he was ill for an entire six months. He vowed never to return to the city again. Later in 1984, he applied to the same Government Hospital where his mother had died a most unfortunate death, for a job as a nurse. He was selected, but an official kept his order pending for two months. Then, as expected, the official demanded a bribe: a thousand rupees. Devilal went from one relative to another in a desperate attempt to borrow money. When he failed to raise it, his competitor secured the position.
His brother's application for the position of a security guard in the Secretariat at Gandhinagar also fell through. The people in charge hired their relatives, and Devilal's brother, without any connections in the right places, didn't even stand a chance.
Later in the mid-eighties, Devilal took up work in an office of Jaiprakash Associates, contractors for the very dam which had uprooted him from his ancestral livelihood. For twelve years, he swept and mopped their office, and served water and tea to the staff who built the dam that had ruined him for good. He was paid Rs.22 a day. How did he manage household expenses? "You have to eat less", he answers simply. "Grain, tea and oil cost money." This from a man, whose family at one time lived off their own land.
When asked, he animatedly lists nine different crops his father once used to grow. Now Devilal can only grow tur and maize. How did he feel having to sweep and mop floors dirtied by others? "I had to", he replies without hesitation. "What else could I have done?"
Unable to make ends meet with twenty-two rupees a day, Devilal and other employees formed a union, and in the early nineties, demanded a raise. For an entire month, the workers went without wages, waiting patiently for a fair recompense. But life had a cruel twist in store which they could never have imagined. The leader of their union was bribed. The organisation fell apart. Devilal went back to work, serving tea with a straight face. Five years later, he was told there was no work for him. "Sab labour ki chutti kar di", he says. "Kam hi nahin tha."
Back to removing weeds on other people's farms, Devilal now earns a meagre Rs.30 a day for nine hours of exhausting labour. "Everything is so expensive", he complains. "A kilo of oil costs eighty rupees, a kilo of rice costs sixteen. There are six people to eat in my house, with my wife and four daughters. I'm the only one who earns. If I'm late by an hour because of household difficulties or rains, my employer sends me back home. What can I do? I live a very tough life."
Despite the tremendous odds, Devilal is confident that he will manage to survive, a skill he has learnt the hard way. What is eating at him though, is the question of his daughters' future. The responsibility of their marriages weighs heavily on his mind today. Each wedding will cost about half a lakh of rupees, he explains. With less than one acre of land, how is he to raise such a large amount? He has no choice but to mortgage his land for Rs.20,000.
And then, despite his resolute decision, it would be time again for him to return to the city he had fled, this time taking his wife along with him. The couple would have to leave their daughters behind, perhaps at the house of a relative, where they could labour on farms to survive. Taking his young daughters to the city is not safe, he knows. If he earns enough, it would still take him several years to pay back his mortgage.
The risk of losing his only acre of land, along with a life of back-breaking, dehumanising labour, stares Devilal in the face today. His only hope: compensation for the land that was commandeered from him so brutally, and water from the spectacular dam to quench his leftover field. With neither possibility in sight, Devilal must return to a city which glitters with a million lights, yet leaves his life condemned to darkness.
Reference : http://www.indiatogether.org/2009/nov/
Neeta Deshpande is a freelance writer based in Bangalore. This article is part of a series on uprootment and survival in the Narmada valley. Names of persons in this article have been changed
Lalgarh: Deprived of a peace of life - Soma Mitra
13 August 2009 - Lalgarh (WFS) - Once a decrepit block of West Bengal, Lalgarh in West Midnapore district has turned into a battlefield. Over the last few months, hundreds of women have taken to the streets shouting slogans as they march in processions of protest.
Why has this happened? Why have ordinary women found it necessary to pick up arms? At one level, Lalgarh is a turf war between the Communist Party India (Marxist), the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) and the insurgent Maoists. At another, it is also about a troubled community fighting for survival and the simple necessities of life, such as potable water and education for their children.
We are deprived of clean drinking water, we are deprived of proper schools and, frankly speaking, the government has done nothing for us. We have no other way but to revolt against the government," says Shashi Murmu, 28, of Mulapara village. Her mother, Tara, 51, who has also taken up arms, adds, "For a long while, we have been deprived of everything. We have decided that from now we will fight the government." There are about 600 families at Mulapara in the Shalboni block of East Midnapore district where the Jindal Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is slated to come up. And almost all the families there highlight the same woes as Shashi and Tara
Surprisingly, the women do not appear scared of any police reaction that their protests may invite. Police atrocity is nothing new for the villagers of these areas, who state that the police indiscriminately pick up villagers whenever there is a Maoist attack. In fact, the men who flee from the villages as soon as combined operations are announced and the women are left to face the wrath of the security forces. While the police claim that they do not generally pick up women for interrogation, people here have no recourse should they find themselves treated harshly and unjustly. They don't have access to legal support, for instance.
Government agencies were shaken once images of women with arms began flooding the media recently. Some weeks ago, the state government decided to send a six-member delegation to assess the actual situation on the ground. The experience of this delegation was a major eye-opener. "I was shocked to see many are yet to get ration cards. People who should rightly have been enlisted as Below the Poverty Line (BPL) are listed as Above Poverty Line (APL)," R D Meena, Secretary, Backward Classes Welfare, a delegate, is reported to have
Says Gouri Mahato of Domahani village, "The panchayat (village council) had assured my family of job cards under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme two years ago but that has not happened till date." The NREGA provides a legal guarantee for 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work for a statutory minimum wage.
Gouri's family had five bighas (One bigha = 0.4 hectare) of land. But the family was forced to sell it off when her mother fell critically ill. The mother had to be taken to a Kolkata hospital for treatment as the Lalgarh health centre had no doctor on duty. So a job card means a great deal to Gouri's family.
But, perhaps, Gouri, with no job card, is better off than Krishna Halder, who was issued a job card under NREGA two years ago. Even though Krishna was lucky enough to have the prized card, she had been issued only 14 days of work over the last two years. In a world where Krishna has to struggle to make ends meet for her family, her job card did not help. The daily struggle of life took its toll on the family. Krishna saw her son joining the PCPA and later on the Maoists before being taken into police custody.
Earlier these villages of West Midnapore district were the stronghold of the CPI(M). However, despite numerous promises and 33 years of Left rule, Lalgarh has yet to get a proper irrigation system and, in the absence of other necessary infrastructure, a large section of people here are still dependent on forest produce for their livelihood.
Take the case of Mohua Baskey, who goes into the forest every day at about five in the morning to collect 'kendu pata' (leaves used to roll tobacco to make indigenous cigarettes or 'beedis'). Her 14-year-old daughter accompanies her on this daily two kilometre walk to the forest to supplement the family's meagre income. The early morning toil and subsequent trip to the market only result in a meager Rs.15 to Rs.20 each day, for their family of four.
One can't help wondering why Mohua is not getting her daughter educated. "There is a school in our locality. Besides, if I allow my daughter to go to school our income would be reduced by half," says Mohua in the matter-of-fact manner. Ironically, every year the government sanctions millions for developmental projects in these backward areas of the state but the fund remains unutilised.
For instance, in the last financial year, Rs.5,000 million was sanctioned for the development of Paschimanchal (western range of the state) Development Affairs. This area is largely under the control of the Maoists and includes parts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia. Only Rs 350 million of this amount has been used till date, according to the state's budget statement of 2009-10.
The people of Lalgarh are heavily dependent on the Public Distribution System (PDS) for their daily nourishment and the government is required to make available PDS supplies of foodgrain at reasonable prices to consumers. But corruption has brought the local PDS system to the verge of collapse.
Take the case of the around 400 families in Gopalpur village, all of whom have ration cards. As these families are listed as BPL they are supposed to get 25 kilograms of rice at a rate of Rs.2.50 a month. However, villagers complain that ration dealers say they are entitled to only 10 kilograms of rice a month. Furthermore, it is said that the ration dealers have not returned to the villagers their ration cards. Hunger now has begun to stalk their lives: Mayarani Hul, 62, of village Amlasoli, recently lost her only son to malnutrition.
Not many perceive the human tragedy that has given rise to the culture of violence that marks Lalgarh today. Even women, who have never been in the forefront of such agitations, have now taken to violence simply to draw attention to the violation of their rights as citizens of this country. (Women's Feature Service) ⊕
Reference : http://www.indiatogether.org/2009/aug/hrt-lalgarh.htm
Soma Mitra is freelance journalist based in Kolkata
Why has this happened? Why have ordinary women found it necessary to pick up arms? At one level, Lalgarh is a turf war between the Communist Party India (Marxist), the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) and the insurgent Maoists. At another, it is also about a troubled community fighting for survival and the simple necessities of life, such as potable water and education for their children.
We are deprived of clean drinking water, we are deprived of proper schools and, frankly speaking, the government has done nothing for us. We have no other way but to revolt against the government," says Shashi Murmu, 28, of Mulapara village. Her mother, Tara, 51, who has also taken up arms, adds, "For a long while, we have been deprived of everything. We have decided that from now we will fight the government." There are about 600 families at Mulapara in the Shalboni block of East Midnapore district where the Jindal Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is slated to come up. And almost all the families there highlight the same woes as Shashi and Tara
Surprisingly, the women do not appear scared of any police reaction that their protests may invite. Police atrocity is nothing new for the villagers of these areas, who state that the police indiscriminately pick up villagers whenever there is a Maoist attack. In fact, the men who flee from the villages as soon as combined operations are announced and the women are left to face the wrath of the security forces. While the police claim that they do not generally pick up women for interrogation, people here have no recourse should they find themselves treated harshly and unjustly. They don't have access to legal support, for instance.
Government agencies were shaken once images of women with arms began flooding the media recently. Some weeks ago, the state government decided to send a six-member delegation to assess the actual situation on the ground. The experience of this delegation was a major eye-opener. "I was shocked to see many are yet to get ration cards. People who should rightly have been enlisted as Below the Poverty Line (BPL) are listed as Above Poverty Line (APL)," R D Meena, Secretary, Backward Classes Welfare, a delegate, is reported to have
Says Gouri Mahato of Domahani village, "The panchayat (village council) had assured my family of job cards under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme two years ago but that has not happened till date." The NREGA provides a legal guarantee for 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work for a statutory minimum wage.
Gouri's family had five bighas (One bigha = 0.4 hectare) of land. But the family was forced to sell it off when her mother fell critically ill. The mother had to be taken to a Kolkata hospital for treatment as the Lalgarh health centre had no doctor on duty. So a job card means a great deal to Gouri's family.
But, perhaps, Gouri, with no job card, is better off than Krishna Halder, who was issued a job card under NREGA two years ago. Even though Krishna was lucky enough to have the prized card, she had been issued only 14 days of work over the last two years. In a world where Krishna has to struggle to make ends meet for her family, her job card did not help. The daily struggle of life took its toll on the family. Krishna saw her son joining the PCPA and later on the Maoists before being taken into police custody.
Earlier these villages of West Midnapore district were the stronghold of the CPI(M). However, despite numerous promises and 33 years of Left rule, Lalgarh has yet to get a proper irrigation system and, in the absence of other necessary infrastructure, a large section of people here are still dependent on forest produce for their livelihood.
Take the case of Mohua Baskey, who goes into the forest every day at about five in the morning to collect 'kendu pata' (leaves used to roll tobacco to make indigenous cigarettes or 'beedis'). Her 14-year-old daughter accompanies her on this daily two kilometre walk to the forest to supplement the family's meagre income. The early morning toil and subsequent trip to the market only result in a meager Rs.15 to Rs.20 each day, for their family of four.
One can't help wondering why Mohua is not getting her daughter educated. "There is a school in our locality. Besides, if I allow my daughter to go to school our income would be reduced by half," says Mohua in the matter-of-fact manner. Ironically, every year the government sanctions millions for developmental projects in these backward areas of the state but the fund remains unutilised.
For instance, in the last financial year, Rs.5,000 million was sanctioned for the development of Paschimanchal (western range of the state) Development Affairs. This area is largely under the control of the Maoists and includes parts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia. Only Rs 350 million of this amount has been used till date, according to the state's budget statement of 2009-10.
The people of Lalgarh are heavily dependent on the Public Distribution System (PDS) for their daily nourishment and the government is required to make available PDS supplies of foodgrain at reasonable prices to consumers. But corruption has brought the local PDS system to the verge of collapse.
Take the case of the around 400 families in Gopalpur village, all of whom have ration cards. As these families are listed as BPL they are supposed to get 25 kilograms of rice at a rate of Rs.2.50 a month. However, villagers complain that ration dealers say they are entitled to only 10 kilograms of rice a month. Furthermore, it is said that the ration dealers have not returned to the villagers their ration cards. Hunger now has begun to stalk their lives: Mayarani Hul, 62, of village Amlasoli, recently lost her only son to malnutrition.
Not many perceive the human tragedy that has given rise to the culture of violence that marks Lalgarh today. Even women, who have never been in the forefront of such agitations, have now taken to violence simply to draw attention to the violation of their rights as citizens of this country. (Women's Feature Service) ⊕
Reference : http://www.indiatogether.org/2009/aug/hrt-lalgarh.htm
Soma Mitra is freelance journalist based in Kolkata
Sunday, October 18, 2009
जवाब मांग रहा है झारखण्ड
जंगल में आदिवासी ही नहीं रहते. वहां के मूलवासी भी रहते हैं लेकिन माफी मिली केवल आदिवासियों को. कहीं ऐसा तो नहीं कि ये केंद्र की साज़िश है? झारखंड को बचाने के लिए कंधे से कंधा मिलाकर संघर्ष कर रहे आदिवासियों और मूलवासियों में फूट डालना चाहती है. बहरहाल, इतना तो तय है कि कि केंद्र सरकार का ये कदम आदिवासियों के घाव पर महरम नहीं नमक का काम करेगा. ये कदम आदिवासियों के हितों की रक्षा के लिए नहीं बल्कि उनको गुमराह करने के लिए उठाया गया है. गृह-मंत्रालय का ये फैसला आदिवासियों को विश्वास में लेने की बात कहकर गुमराह किया जा रहा है.
झारखंड के राज्यपाल की अनुशंसा पर राज्य के आदिवासियों के खिलाफ चल रहे छोटे-मोटे 1लाख आपराधिक मामलों को केंद्रीय गृह-मंत्रालय ने वापस लेने का फैसला किया है। इनमें से ज्यादातर मामले संरक्षित वनों में घुसने, जानवर चराने, लकड़ी काटने और बिना अनुमति के जंगल से वनोपज एकत्र करने से जुड़े हैं. इस खबर ने ही झारखंड में आदिवासियों का सच, उनकी स्थिति, उनके साथ होने वाले व्यवहार और वहां के सामाजिक हालात को बयान कर दिया.सोचिए ज़रा. एक लाख मुकदमे सिर्फ आदिवासियों के खिलाफ. उस राज्य में जिसे आदिवासियों का ही प्रदेश माना जाता है. और मुकदमे भी बेदह मामूली. लेकिन इन मुकदमों के चक्कर में फंसकर आदिवासियों को कितनी दिक्कत झेलनी होगी? कैसे उनका शोषण हुआ होगा? अंदाज़ा लगाया सकता है. जो आदिवासी जंगल में रहता है वो जंगल में रहकर वनोपज एकत्र न करे या उनके जानवर कभी जंगल में दाखिल न हों असंभव है. इस फैसले ने जहां कई सवाल खड़े कर दिये हैं, कई सच भी सामने ला दिए हैं.सबसे बड़ा सच ये है कि झारखंड राज्य जिसे राज्य के बाहर के लोग आदिवासियों का प्रदेश समझते थे. अलग राज्य बनने के बाद वहां अब भी आदिवासी हासिये पर हैं. जिसकी गवाही देता है. उनकी जंगल से जुड़े मुकदमों की संख्या का लाख में होना. कहने की ज़रूरत नहीं है कि इसमें फर्जी मुकदमों की संख्या अच्छी खासी होगी या ये साबित किए जाने योग्य नहीं होंगे.
ये मामले जंगल और ज़मीन से जुड़े हैं.जिसके सहारे आदिवासी अपनी जिंदगी गुज़र करते हैं. वो सदियों से इन्हीं जंगल और ज़मीन के सहारे अपना अस्तित्व बनाए हुए हैं पर जब इसका वो अपनी आजीविका के लिए थोड़ा दोहन करते हैं तो उन्हें मुकदमों में फंसा दिया जाता है. और एक बार सरकारी मुकदमों के जाल में आदिवासी फंस गए तो अशिक्षित और गरीब होने की वजह से वो सालों तक अदालतों के चक्कर काटते हैं. और शुरू होता है उनके शोषण का अंतहीन सिलसिला. अगर केस वन विभाग से जुड़ा है तो वन विभाग के कर्मचारियों या अधिकारियों को नहीं तो पुलिस वालों को खिलाना-पिलाना पड़ता है फिर बारी आती है वकीलों की. . अब सोचिए. इन मामूली मामलाओं के फेर में फंसकर आदिवासी कैसे अपना शोषण करवाते हैं. एक तरफ सरकार आदिवासी, उनकी जीवन शैली, उनकी संस्कृति को सहजने की बात करती है दूसरी तरफ उनके मुलाज़िम आदिवासियों को फंसाकर उनका शोषण करते हैं.जब उस आदिवासी के घर जाएंगे तो उससे शराब और मर्गे की मांग करेंगे.
आदिवासियों के हालात के बाद इस फैसले पर केंद्र सरकार की मंशा पर सवाल. केंद्र जल्द ही नक्सलियों के खिलाफ बड़ा अभियान चलाने वाली है. इस अभियान की कामयाबी आदिवासियों की भागीदारी पर निर्भर है. अगर आदिवासी सरकार का साथ देंगे तो अभियान कामयाब होगा वरना नक्सलियों को नेस्तनाबूद करने का मंसूबा धरा का धरा रह जाएगा. साफ है केंद्र सरकार नक्सलियों के खिलाफ अभियान में आदिवासियों का इस्तेमाल करेगी. आदिवासियों से नक्सलियों की गतिविधियों के बारे में जानकारी ली जाएगी. यही नहीं अगर नक्सलियों के संहार में कोई निर्दोष मारा जाता है और मानवाधिकार संगठन खड़े हो जाते हैं तो केंद्र द्वारा आदिवासियों के मुकदमे माफ करने का उस वक्त ढाल का काम करेगा. सवाल सरकार की मंशा को लेकर इसलिए भी हैं क्योंकि उसका ये फैसला जनकल्याणकारी सरकार से ज्यादा एक सांमतवादी शासक का है. जो अपने फैसले अपने फायदे नुकसान के हिसाब से करता है. ये फैसला इसलिए नहीं किया गया कि केंद्र को आदिवासियों की चिंता है. अगर होती तो ये फैसला काफी पहले ले लिया जाना चाहिए था. सरकार को न आदिवासियों की चिंता है न उनके हालात की फिक्र. अगर होती तो राज्य को अकालग्रस्त घोषित करने की मांग पर ज़रूर गौर किया जाता. पूरा राज्य अकाल की चपेट में हैं. आदिवासी इलाकों में स्थिति भयावह है. लोग दाने-दाने को मोहताज हैं. पलामू के इलाकों में किसान आत्महत्या की गुहार लगा रहे हैं. इस बारे में प्रधानमंत्री और राज्यपाल को लिखा गया . लेकिन कोई सकारात्मक जवाब नहीं मिला.
आसमान छूती कीमतों, अकालमृत्यु, मज़दूरो का पलायन, कानून व्यवस्था की बिगड़ती स्थिति पर राज्यपाल की चुप्पी और गृहमंत्रालय की खामोशी समझ से परे है. अब जनता जवाब मांग रही है. आखिर कब तक जनता को गुमराह किया जाता रहेगा? राज्यपाल ने किसानों को मुफ्त बीज बांटने की घोषणा की. गरीबी रेखा से नीचे के लोगों को मुफ्त अनाज बांटने का ऐलान किया लेकिन ये घोषणाएं फाइलों में ही दबी रह गई. बीज और अनाज बिचौलियों और संवेदनहीन अधिकारियों की भेटं चढ़ गया. पूरे राज्य में जबरदस्त आक्रोश का माहौल है. अधिकारी और पूरी व्यवस्था कभी भी लोगों के गुस्से का शिकार हो सकते हैं.
राज्य के कई इलाकों में डायरिया का प्रकोप फैलता जा रहा है. लोग अकाल मृत्यु के शिकार हो रहे हैं. शासन और प्रशासन मूक दर्शक बना हुआ है. खाद्यान और स्वास्थ्य सुरक्षा के नाम पर करोड़ों की योजनाएं बनती हैं लेकिन लोगों को लाभ नहीं मिल रहा. हृदयहीन और संवेदनहीन अधिकारियों की लूट जारी है. शासन-प्रशासन खामोश है और जनता बेबस. भ्रष्टाचार के तांडव के बीच कानून व्यवस्था की बिगड़ती स्थिति से हर कोई डरा-सहमा है. सरकारी तंत्र की स्थिति ये है कि पुलिस इंस्पेक्टर तक को छह महीने की तनख्वाह नहीं मिलती और जानकारी सार्वजनिक तब होती है जब उसकी हत्या कर दी जाती है. गृह-मंत्रालय द्वारा एक लाख छोटे आपराधिक मामलो को वापस लेना आंख में धूल झोंकने की कोशिश ही मानी जाएगी क्योंकि अगर गृह-मंत्रालय और राज्यपाल आदिवासियों के हितों की रक्षा के प्रति जागरूक और गंभीर होते तो राज्य में एसपीटी एक्ट और सीएनटी एक्ट को प्रभावी तरीके से लागू करने की पहल करते.प्रशासन की मिली भगत से आदिवासियों के हितों की रक्षा के लिए बने कानून की सरेआम धज्ज्ाियां उड़ाई जा रही है. आदिवासियों की ज़मीने छीनकर उन्हें बेघर किया जा रहा है. क्यों खामोश है गृह-मंत्रालय और राज्यपाल?
इतना ही नहीं, राज्य में ट्राइबल एडवाइज़री कमेटी भी प्रभावी रूप से काम नहीं कर रही है. इसकी न तो नियमित बैठकें हो रही हैं और न ही ये अपने संवैधानिक दायित्वों को पूरा कर रही है. जबकि टीएसी की प्राथमिक ज़िम्मेदारी है आदिवासियों के हितों की रक्षा के लिए सरकार को सलाह देना. टीएसी के प्रमुख गवर्नर हैं. इसके बावजूद ये प्रभावी ढ़ंग से काम नहीं कर रहा है. आदिवासियों के हकों और हितों के प्रति गृहमंत्रालय और राज्यपाल की गंभीरता का अंदाजा टीएसी के प्रभावी नहीं होने से लगाया जा सकता है.
गृह मंत्रालय के फैसले पर संदेह की एक वजह ये भी है कि प्रदेश में पंचायत चुनाव कराने की पहल नहीं हो रही है. आदिवासियों के हितों की रक्षा करने और विश्वास जीतने के लिए 'पेसा' के तहत पंचायत चुनाव करवा आदिवासियों को विकास की मुख्यधारा में जोड़ने की कोशिश होनी चाहिए. आज़ादी के बाद से आदिवासियों का सिर्फ उत्पीड़न और शोषण हुआ है. कभी खनिज के नाम पर. कभी नक्सलवाद के नाम पर और कभी औद्योगिकीकरण के नाम पर.
आदिवासी इलाकों में अर्धसैनिक बलों की दमनात्मक कार्रवाई से पहले ऐसा कदम उठा केंद्रीय गृह-मंत्रालय आदिवासियों को खामोश करना चाहती है ताकि बड़े-बड़े उद्योगपतियों के लिए आदिवासियों की ज़मीनों को कब्जा करने में कोई दिक्कत न हो और नक्सलवाद के नाम पर इन इलाकों में भय का माहौल पैदा किया जा सके. एक तरह से देखा जाए तो केंद्र सरकार ने आदिवासियों से सौदेबाज़ी की चाल चली है. मुकदमों से मुक्ति के बदले नक्सलियों के सफाए में उनका इस्तेमाल किया जाएगा. जब इस्तेमाल हो जाएगा तो उन्हें उन्हीं के हाल पर छोड़ दिया जाएगा. यानी इस्तेमाल करो और फेंक दो. ये सच है कि झारखंड आज नक्सलियों से सबसे ज्यादा प्रभावित रहा है.जिस राज्य को विकास की दौड़ में काफी आगे होना चाहिए था वो काफी पिछड़ गया है .. लेकिन दिक्कत ये है कि नक्सवाद की जड़े हमारे व्यवस्था की खामियों में है. बिना इन खामियों को दूर किये इसे जड़ से नहीं मिटाया जा सकता. इसलिए ज़रूरी है कि व्यवस्था की खामियों का खात्मा जड़ से हो.आंख में धूल झोंकने की कोशिश न हो.
रेफेरेंस : http://www.visfot.com/index.php/jan_jeevan/1807.html
झारखंड के राज्यपाल की अनुशंसा पर राज्य के आदिवासियों के खिलाफ चल रहे छोटे-मोटे 1लाख आपराधिक मामलों को केंद्रीय गृह-मंत्रालय ने वापस लेने का फैसला किया है। इनमें से ज्यादातर मामले संरक्षित वनों में घुसने, जानवर चराने, लकड़ी काटने और बिना अनुमति के जंगल से वनोपज एकत्र करने से जुड़े हैं. इस खबर ने ही झारखंड में आदिवासियों का सच, उनकी स्थिति, उनके साथ होने वाले व्यवहार और वहां के सामाजिक हालात को बयान कर दिया.सोचिए ज़रा. एक लाख मुकदमे सिर्फ आदिवासियों के खिलाफ. उस राज्य में जिसे आदिवासियों का ही प्रदेश माना जाता है. और मुकदमे भी बेदह मामूली. लेकिन इन मुकदमों के चक्कर में फंसकर आदिवासियों को कितनी दिक्कत झेलनी होगी? कैसे उनका शोषण हुआ होगा? अंदाज़ा लगाया सकता है. जो आदिवासी जंगल में रहता है वो जंगल में रहकर वनोपज एकत्र न करे या उनके जानवर कभी जंगल में दाखिल न हों असंभव है. इस फैसले ने जहां कई सवाल खड़े कर दिये हैं, कई सच भी सामने ला दिए हैं.सबसे बड़ा सच ये है कि झारखंड राज्य जिसे राज्य के बाहर के लोग आदिवासियों का प्रदेश समझते थे. अलग राज्य बनने के बाद वहां अब भी आदिवासी हासिये पर हैं. जिसकी गवाही देता है. उनकी जंगल से जुड़े मुकदमों की संख्या का लाख में होना. कहने की ज़रूरत नहीं है कि इसमें फर्जी मुकदमों की संख्या अच्छी खासी होगी या ये साबित किए जाने योग्य नहीं होंगे.
ये मामले जंगल और ज़मीन से जुड़े हैं.जिसके सहारे आदिवासी अपनी जिंदगी गुज़र करते हैं. वो सदियों से इन्हीं जंगल और ज़मीन के सहारे अपना अस्तित्व बनाए हुए हैं पर जब इसका वो अपनी आजीविका के लिए थोड़ा दोहन करते हैं तो उन्हें मुकदमों में फंसा दिया जाता है. और एक बार सरकारी मुकदमों के जाल में आदिवासी फंस गए तो अशिक्षित और गरीब होने की वजह से वो सालों तक अदालतों के चक्कर काटते हैं. और शुरू होता है उनके शोषण का अंतहीन सिलसिला. अगर केस वन विभाग से जुड़ा है तो वन विभाग के कर्मचारियों या अधिकारियों को नहीं तो पुलिस वालों को खिलाना-पिलाना पड़ता है फिर बारी आती है वकीलों की. . अब सोचिए. इन मामूली मामलाओं के फेर में फंसकर आदिवासी कैसे अपना शोषण करवाते हैं. एक तरफ सरकार आदिवासी, उनकी जीवन शैली, उनकी संस्कृति को सहजने की बात करती है दूसरी तरफ उनके मुलाज़िम आदिवासियों को फंसाकर उनका शोषण करते हैं.जब उस आदिवासी के घर जाएंगे तो उससे शराब और मर्गे की मांग करेंगे.
आदिवासियों के हालात के बाद इस फैसले पर केंद्र सरकार की मंशा पर सवाल. केंद्र जल्द ही नक्सलियों के खिलाफ बड़ा अभियान चलाने वाली है. इस अभियान की कामयाबी आदिवासियों की भागीदारी पर निर्भर है. अगर आदिवासी सरकार का साथ देंगे तो अभियान कामयाब होगा वरना नक्सलियों को नेस्तनाबूद करने का मंसूबा धरा का धरा रह जाएगा. साफ है केंद्र सरकार नक्सलियों के खिलाफ अभियान में आदिवासियों का इस्तेमाल करेगी. आदिवासियों से नक्सलियों की गतिविधियों के बारे में जानकारी ली जाएगी. यही नहीं अगर नक्सलियों के संहार में कोई निर्दोष मारा जाता है और मानवाधिकार संगठन खड़े हो जाते हैं तो केंद्र द्वारा आदिवासियों के मुकदमे माफ करने का उस वक्त ढाल का काम करेगा. सवाल सरकार की मंशा को लेकर इसलिए भी हैं क्योंकि उसका ये फैसला जनकल्याणकारी सरकार से ज्यादा एक सांमतवादी शासक का है. जो अपने फैसले अपने फायदे नुकसान के हिसाब से करता है. ये फैसला इसलिए नहीं किया गया कि केंद्र को आदिवासियों की चिंता है. अगर होती तो ये फैसला काफी पहले ले लिया जाना चाहिए था. सरकार को न आदिवासियों की चिंता है न उनके हालात की फिक्र. अगर होती तो राज्य को अकालग्रस्त घोषित करने की मांग पर ज़रूर गौर किया जाता. पूरा राज्य अकाल की चपेट में हैं. आदिवासी इलाकों में स्थिति भयावह है. लोग दाने-दाने को मोहताज हैं. पलामू के इलाकों में किसान आत्महत्या की गुहार लगा रहे हैं. इस बारे में प्रधानमंत्री और राज्यपाल को लिखा गया . लेकिन कोई सकारात्मक जवाब नहीं मिला.
आसमान छूती कीमतों, अकालमृत्यु, मज़दूरो का पलायन, कानून व्यवस्था की बिगड़ती स्थिति पर राज्यपाल की चुप्पी और गृहमंत्रालय की खामोशी समझ से परे है. अब जनता जवाब मांग रही है. आखिर कब तक जनता को गुमराह किया जाता रहेगा? राज्यपाल ने किसानों को मुफ्त बीज बांटने की घोषणा की. गरीबी रेखा से नीचे के लोगों को मुफ्त अनाज बांटने का ऐलान किया लेकिन ये घोषणाएं फाइलों में ही दबी रह गई. बीज और अनाज बिचौलियों और संवेदनहीन अधिकारियों की भेटं चढ़ गया. पूरे राज्य में जबरदस्त आक्रोश का माहौल है. अधिकारी और पूरी व्यवस्था कभी भी लोगों के गुस्से का शिकार हो सकते हैं.
राज्य के कई इलाकों में डायरिया का प्रकोप फैलता जा रहा है. लोग अकाल मृत्यु के शिकार हो रहे हैं. शासन और प्रशासन मूक दर्शक बना हुआ है. खाद्यान और स्वास्थ्य सुरक्षा के नाम पर करोड़ों की योजनाएं बनती हैं लेकिन लोगों को लाभ नहीं मिल रहा. हृदयहीन और संवेदनहीन अधिकारियों की लूट जारी है. शासन-प्रशासन खामोश है और जनता बेबस. भ्रष्टाचार के तांडव के बीच कानून व्यवस्था की बिगड़ती स्थिति से हर कोई डरा-सहमा है. सरकारी तंत्र की स्थिति ये है कि पुलिस इंस्पेक्टर तक को छह महीने की तनख्वाह नहीं मिलती और जानकारी सार्वजनिक तब होती है जब उसकी हत्या कर दी जाती है. गृह-मंत्रालय द्वारा एक लाख छोटे आपराधिक मामलो को वापस लेना आंख में धूल झोंकने की कोशिश ही मानी जाएगी क्योंकि अगर गृह-मंत्रालय और राज्यपाल आदिवासियों के हितों की रक्षा के प्रति जागरूक और गंभीर होते तो राज्य में एसपीटी एक्ट और सीएनटी एक्ट को प्रभावी तरीके से लागू करने की पहल करते.प्रशासन की मिली भगत से आदिवासियों के हितों की रक्षा के लिए बने कानून की सरेआम धज्ज्ाियां उड़ाई जा रही है. आदिवासियों की ज़मीने छीनकर उन्हें बेघर किया जा रहा है. क्यों खामोश है गृह-मंत्रालय और राज्यपाल?
इतना ही नहीं, राज्य में ट्राइबल एडवाइज़री कमेटी भी प्रभावी रूप से काम नहीं कर रही है. इसकी न तो नियमित बैठकें हो रही हैं और न ही ये अपने संवैधानिक दायित्वों को पूरा कर रही है. जबकि टीएसी की प्राथमिक ज़िम्मेदारी है आदिवासियों के हितों की रक्षा के लिए सरकार को सलाह देना. टीएसी के प्रमुख गवर्नर हैं. इसके बावजूद ये प्रभावी ढ़ंग से काम नहीं कर रहा है. आदिवासियों के हकों और हितों के प्रति गृहमंत्रालय और राज्यपाल की गंभीरता का अंदाजा टीएसी के प्रभावी नहीं होने से लगाया जा सकता है.
गृह मंत्रालय के फैसले पर संदेह की एक वजह ये भी है कि प्रदेश में पंचायत चुनाव कराने की पहल नहीं हो रही है. आदिवासियों के हितों की रक्षा करने और विश्वास जीतने के लिए 'पेसा' के तहत पंचायत चुनाव करवा आदिवासियों को विकास की मुख्यधारा में जोड़ने की कोशिश होनी चाहिए. आज़ादी के बाद से आदिवासियों का सिर्फ उत्पीड़न और शोषण हुआ है. कभी खनिज के नाम पर. कभी नक्सलवाद के नाम पर और कभी औद्योगिकीकरण के नाम पर.
आदिवासी इलाकों में अर्धसैनिक बलों की दमनात्मक कार्रवाई से पहले ऐसा कदम उठा केंद्रीय गृह-मंत्रालय आदिवासियों को खामोश करना चाहती है ताकि बड़े-बड़े उद्योगपतियों के लिए आदिवासियों की ज़मीनों को कब्जा करने में कोई दिक्कत न हो और नक्सलवाद के नाम पर इन इलाकों में भय का माहौल पैदा किया जा सके. एक तरह से देखा जाए तो केंद्र सरकार ने आदिवासियों से सौदेबाज़ी की चाल चली है. मुकदमों से मुक्ति के बदले नक्सलियों के सफाए में उनका इस्तेमाल किया जाएगा. जब इस्तेमाल हो जाएगा तो उन्हें उन्हीं के हाल पर छोड़ दिया जाएगा. यानी इस्तेमाल करो और फेंक दो. ये सच है कि झारखंड आज नक्सलियों से सबसे ज्यादा प्रभावित रहा है.जिस राज्य को विकास की दौड़ में काफी आगे होना चाहिए था वो काफी पिछड़ गया है .. लेकिन दिक्कत ये है कि नक्सवाद की जड़े हमारे व्यवस्था की खामियों में है. बिना इन खामियों को दूर किये इसे जड़ से नहीं मिटाया जा सकता. इसलिए ज़रूरी है कि व्यवस्था की खामियों का खात्मा जड़ से हो.आंख में धूल झोंकने की कोशिश न हो.
रेफेरेंस : http://www.visfot.com/index.php/jan_jeevan/1807.html
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Development and Displacement in West Bengal: An Excerpt from a Forthcoming Paper -
General Scenario
The first striking thing one observes in this field is the virtual absence of any empirical and theoretical work on development induced displacement in West Bengal. This of course does not mean that displacement and rehabilitation are non-existent in West Bengal, which in the pre-Independence period, was the leading state in terms of industrialisation, and where, after Independence, large industries and thermal power plants have been built up displacing many families (including tribals) from their agricultural land and homes.
West Bengal has also experienced large-scale mining on the western part of the state bordering Jharkhand.In an article published in 1989, Walter Fernandes and his co-workers, quoting from Government sources, have shown that for the Durgapur Steel Plantin Bardhaman district of West Bengal 6,633.44 hectares of land was acquired, which displaced 11,300 persons, 3.39 percent of whom were tribals (Fernandes et al. 1989). In the same article, Fernandes quoted another Government source which showed that up to 1983 there were 114 mines (all are coal mines) in West Bengal although he did not give any concrete figure about the total number of displaced persons owing to the acquisition of land for the establishment of mines. Through extrapolation, Fernandes, however, arrived at an estimate of 1,380 displaced persons per mine in India which brings out a figure of 1,57,320 persons in case of West Bengal.
In more recent period, particularly since the adoption of a liberalised economic policy by the Central Government, quite a good number of development projects have been launched by the West Bengal Government and many more will be coming up in near future. The building up of a new township near Kolkata and the establishment of industries in the rural areas of West Bengal including a port centered industrial complex at Haldia in the Purba Medinipur district constitute the recent development package of the Government of West Bengal. For the successful implementation of this development policy large scale acquisition of land has already been taken place in West Bengal, which displaced quite a good number of small and marginal farmers.
No published statistics on displaced (DP) and project affected persons (PAP), let alone their caste/tribe affiliation, are available from any official source of Government of West Bengal. Displacement and rehabilitation have not yet entered into the official agenda of the Government of West Bengal like the routinised recording of bargadars (sharecroppers) and the number of landless labourers who have been given land by the Government.
On the other hand, the West Bengal scenario is yet to figure in any substantial manner in the academic literature with respect to land acquisition,development induced displacement and rehabilitation. There exist at least four special volumes of important Indian journals devoted exclusively to displacement and rehabilitation, but none of them contain any case study or policy-oriented paper on West Bengal. These journals are Social Action (Vol. 45, No. 3, 1995, July – Sept.), Lokayan Bulletin (Vol. 11, No. 5, 1995), Economic and Political Weekly (Vol. XXXI, No. 24, June 1996) and Eastern Anthropologist (Vol. 53, Nos. 1-2, January-June 2000).
The same is true about recently published monographs viz., Development Displacement and Rehabilitation edited by Walter Fernandes and EnakshiGanguly Thukral (1989), The Uprooted (1990) edited by V. Sudarsen and M.A. Kalam and Development Projects and Impoverishment Risks edited by Hari Mohan Mathur and David Marsden (2000).
Very recently, Partha Chatterjee, a renowned political scientist, has undertaken a study on resettlement and rehabilitation in West Bengal. His paper, which is still unpublished was presented in a workshop on “Social Development Research” in West Bengal held during 6-7 July 2000 at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata.
In this significant paper, Chatterjee has pointed out that participatory rehabilitation through NGOs has become a “mantra” which is being repeated by the Governments, funding agencies, experts and activists but “little attention has been given to the specific forms of practice through which appropriate and adequate ‘participation’ can be ensured” (Chatterjee 2000). Chatterjee used three cases of displacement and consequent rehabilitation in West Bengal to assess the role of the political parties’ vis-à-vis Government bureaucracy in providing rehabilitation to PAP in West Bengal. His findings on the political processes that centered around the rehabilitation mechanisms of the recent industrialisation in Haldia (1988-91) and theestablishment of new township in Rajarhat clearly demonstrated the dominance of the local political society over the Government administration. Quite interestingly, in both the cases, the distribution of rehabilitation benefits was based on a ground-level agreement between the representatives of the ruling and the opposition political parties of West Bengal. The net result of this process was the distribution of a better and quicker rehabilitation package to the project affected families than it would have been made by the usual land acquisition procedure carried out by the bureaucratic machinery alone. In West Bengal, it was the political society (represented by the political parties) rather than the civil society (represented by the NGOs), which took the role of a mediator between the state and the PAP. Field based empirical accounts of development caused displacement in West Bengal was published for the first time by the author of this article in journals based on a case study in erstwhile Medinipur district (Guha 2004a). Land Acquisition in West Bengal : Legal Developmental and Policy Dimensions.
Land acquisition in West Bengal has a special significance in the context of the pro-peasant land reform policies adopted and implemented by the LeftFront Government in West Bengal since it came to power in 1977. Almost all the studies conducted by the researchers on displacement in other states of India did not take into consideration the dampening effects of land acquisition on small peasants and sharecroppers who are the real beneficiaries of land reforms.
Agricultural land is not only a socio-cultural and economic category for the peasants in a rural setting but the rights of the people over such landdepend on the functioning of a specific set of legal, administrative and policy apparatus with which a particular state power is endowed in a given period of time. The functioning of the legal, administrative and policy apparatus of the state power do not again operate in a cultural vacuum. The differing and sometimes quite opposing perspectives on issues around development form the cultural context within which the state apparatus functions.
According to the Land Acquisition Act, the state can exercise its right of eminent domain wherein it is the ultimate owner of all land, which it can acquire for public purposes after paying full compensation calculated on the basis of market value. Despite several amendments of the Act after Independence, the two basic principles of land acquisition, viz. (i) public purpose and (ii) compensation on market value, remain unchanged. The various criticisms of Land Acquisition Act in India have also centered around these two cardinal principles. One of the major criticisms of the Land Acquisition Act is that the expression “public purpose” is nowhere defined in the Act and in India the courts do not have the power to decide whether the purpose behind a particular acquisition was a public purpose. The court can only direct the Collector to hear the objections of a person whose land hand been acquired, but the Collector may not always listen to the objections raised by the legal owner of the land.
The second criticism of the Land Acquisition is anthropological in nature. It says that the calculation of compensation on the basis of market value not only deprives the landowner, but it also hides the various socio-cultural dimensions of land ownership in an agrarian society. Land does not onlyhave a market price at the time of acquisition, but it also serves various social, political and psychological functions to its owner. The ownership ofa small piece of land can empower a landless family and increase the status and prestige of that family in the local milieu. A piece of land supports a family for a number of generations, not simply its present members at the time of acquisition. But these important dimensions of land and its ownership in an agricultural society are not considered for calculation of its value while giving compensation to a landloser.
Beside these two criticisms, there are others which grew out of the lengthy discourse and debate carried out by activists, scholars, legal experts andnon-governmental organisations on the various shortcomings of this Act. The criticisms are as follows:
1. The Land Acquisition Act only deals with compensation and not rehabilitation of project affected persons whose lands have been acquired. Theresponsibility of the state towards the affected persons ends with the payment of compensation.
2. The Act considers the payment of compensation to individuals who have legal ownership rights over land. This means that under this Act no compensation is payable to landless labourers, forest land users and forest produce collectors, artisans and shifting hill cultivators because they do not have any legal right over land, although these groups of people are also affected when agricultural and forest lands are acquired for development projects. In West Bengal, the state Government had to make an amendment in the LA Act (it was done in the 1960s) in order to provide compensation to sharecroppers (bargadars), who also suffered loss of livelihood because of acquisition of agricultural land.
3. The Land Acquisition Act only recognises individual property rights, but not community rights over land. As a consequence, the usefructory rights of the tribal and non-tribal communities over common land do not find any place in this law. So when village common lands are acquired, no compensation in any form is provided to the village communities who derive various types of benefits (e.g. cattle grazing, fuelwood collection etc.) from these lands. The Land Acquisition Act does not have any scope for this kind of compensation for loss of common pool resources (CPR). Interestingly, in the vast rural areas of India, privately owned agricultural lands are also used as common grazing lands by the villagers in the post-harvest season. The Land Acquisition Act has no provision to compensate the villagers who may not be the owners of a particular piece of agricultural land but enjoyed usefructory rights of cattle grazing on this land after the harvest of the crops (Guha 2004b). It has already been discussed in the preceding section that no systematic and comprehensive study on land acquisition in West Bengal exist till today. There is no baseline empirical survey on the nature and extent of land acquired in West Bengal for various development projects, nor is there any research on thespecific problems of application of the Central and State Acts on land acquisition in West Bengal. Recently, Walter Fernandes and his team haveundertaken a comprehensive macro-level empirical survey (sponsored by the Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment Govt. of India and North-Eastern Social Research Council, a research oriented NGO) on the nature and extent of development induced displacement and rehabilitation in the 16 districts of West Bengal for the period 1951 – 1995. Being one of the research supervisors in the aforesaid research project for the South Bengal districts (Medinipur, Bankura, Purulia and Hughly), it is within the knowledge of the present author that the results of this survey may be published in future (personal communication Walter Fernandes, 2000).
Since Independence, besides the colonial Land Acquisition Act of 1894, there existed another State Act entitled West Bengal Land (Requisition andAcquisition) Act, 1948. The latter Act is no more applicable in West Bengal since 31 March 1993 by a decision of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. In fact, when this particular piece of legislation was first enacted in the State Assembly it was stipulated that the Act has to be renewed in the Assembly by a majority decision every five years since this is a very powerful and coercive law. The Government opinion was that the State of West Bengal, which had to receive millions of refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan just after Independence, needed huge amount of land for various developmental purposes. For this reason, the Government was in need of an Act, which was more powerful than the colonial Act in acquiring land from the private owners. By West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act the Government could first requisition a particular piece of land for which the payment of compensation may not be made before the land take-over while in the earlier LA Act of 1894 the Government could not take possession of any land without payment of compensation. In the absence of any district by district published records on the amount of land acquired by West Bengal Government by the two Land Acquisition Acts it is not possible to make any assessment of the policy directions of the state Government in acquiring land by these two Acts which vary in their basic approach towards the payment of compensation to the project affected people. But the long period (1948 – 1993), that is nearly 45 years, during which the West Bengal Government has kept this powerful Act alive is itself an evidence of its frequent application. In terms of political composition, it should be noted that during this long period both Congress and Left ruled Governments, who were in power, continuously renewed the Requisition and Acquisition Act of 1948 in the State assembly.
The debates and discussions that took place in the West Bengal Assembly around West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act 1948 revealed certain interesting points which are enumerated below:
1. Without any exception, the political party in power (Congress or Left) invariably justified the extension of Act-II for quicker acquisition of land for various development works.
2. Both the Congress and the Left Parties criticised the oppressive character of the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948 whenever they were in opposition although representatives of the parties in the Legislative Assembly went for vote on the bill twice only. It seems that whether the parties would go for vote depended on factors other than the immediate issue at hand.
3. The delay in the payment of compensation seemed to be the most commonly accepted issue which was raised in the Assembly and no substantial improvement seemed to have taken place with regard to the time taken for the payment of compensation.
4. No member ever raised the point that the Government has a moral responsibility for rehabilitation of the displaced persons due to the acquisition of land. It may be noted in this connection that the Report of the Expert Group on Land Acquisition formed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, which was published in 1967, categorically mentioned rehabilitation of displaced persons as a “moral responsibility” of the Government.Since 1967, no member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, irrespective of political affiliation, was found to have made use of the aforesaid report of the Expert Committee to demand rehabilitation of displaced persons during debate sessions on Act-II. Incidentally, the report is still available in the Library of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
5. It is only the Left Members who have suggested that the rates of compensation for the rich and the poor should also be different but they did not make any move towards the differential payment of compensation through amendments in either Act-I or Act-II since they are in power from 1977.
6. The speech delivered by the Land and Land Reforms Minister of the Left Front in the 103rd session of the Assembly on 23 February 1994 revealed the pace at which the land acquisition process was in operation in West Bengal (15,000 pending cases under Act II). One could easily infer from this the kind of harassment caused to the displaced persons in the districts of West Bengal although no member (belonging to Left or Congress party) spoke on this issue in the Assembly. Every political party seemed to have taken the stand that this harassment of the people of West Bengal caused by land acquisition was an inevitable outcome which has to be shouldered by the poor farmers for the sake of development of the state (W.B.Legislative Assembly Proceedings 1956, 1963, 1967, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994).
1. Without any exception, the political party in power (Congress or Left) invariably justified the extension of Act-II for quicker acquisition of land for various development works.
2. Both the Congress and the Left Parties criticised the oppressive character of the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948 whenever they were in opposition although representatives of the parties in the Legislative Assembly went for vote on the bill twice only. It seems that whether the parties would go for vote depended on factors other than the immediate issue at hand.
3. The delay in the payment of compensation seemed to be the most commonly accepted issue which was raised in the Assembly and no substantial improvement seemed to have taken place with regard to the time taken for the payment of compensation.
4. No member ever raised the point that the Government has a moral responsibility for rehabilitation of the displaced persons due to the acquisition of land. It may be noted in this connection that the Report of the Expert Group on Land Acquisition formed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, which was published in 1967, categorically mentioned rehabilitation of displaced persons as a “moral responsibility” of the Government.Since 1967, no member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, irrespective of political affiliation, was found to have made use of the aforesaid report of the Expert Committee to demand rehabilitation of displaced persons during debate sessions on Act-II. Incidentally, the report is still available in the Library of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
5. It is only the Left Members who have suggested that the rates of compensation for the rich and the poor should also be different but they did not make any move towards the differential payment of compensation through amendments in either Act-I or Act-II since they are in power from 1977.
6. The speech delivered by the Land and Land Reforms Minister of the Left Front in the 103rd session of the Assembly on 23 February 1994 revealed the pace at which the land acquisition process was in operation in West Bengal (15,000 pending cases under Act II). One could easily infer from this the kind of harassment caused to the displaced persons in the districts of West Bengal although no member (belonging to Left or Congress party) spoke on this issue in the Assembly. Every political party seemed to have taken the stand that this harassment of the people of West Bengal caused by land acquisition was an inevitable outcome which has to be shouldered by the poor farmers for the sake of development of the state (W.B.Legislative Assembly Proceedings 1956, 1963, 1967, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994).
Reference : http://sanhati.com/articles/203/
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