In the context of the recent seizures of agricultural land of
the small peasantry and the tribal people even as food security
in the entire country deteriorates with Multinational Corporations
seeking thousandsof acres of agricultural land of these sections and
seeking the support of para military and the Salwa Judum for such purposes;
three Committees have reported that the below poverty line
population in India is 37.5 %( TENDULKAR COMMITTEE REPORT);
the Dr.N.C.SAXSENA COMMITTEE OF THE MINISTRY OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT has concluded that HALF of India is living in
poverty ; the Arjun Sengupta Committee namely the NATIONAL
COMMISSSION ON THE UNORGANIZED SECTOR estimates
that 800 million live on less than Rs 20 a day ( 50 cents) .This
is the backdrop to contemporary developments , even as agriculture
land continues to be arbitrarily seized and diverted to commercial,
real estate and corporate use without any assessment of the benefits
and losses of such diversion and the number of livelihoods displaced
as against the benefits to be achieved as it is common knowledge
that hi-tech industries employ fewer workmen .
UNICEF has in its official report noted that :
Malnutrition in early childhood " has serious , long term consequences.....
it impedes motor , sensory , cognitive ,social and emotional development."
In this context what is the future for our children ?????
For those ready to invoke patriotism , the issue is how patriotic are those
and how law abiding, when they condemn 47 % children to severe malnutrition
and destroy existing agricultural resources , while deploying the para military
to seize the agricultural resources and traditional occupations of whole
communities . These are not constitutional measures as the Constitution
mandates special consideration for affected sections and non alienation
of tribal land .
Schemes for industrialization must be properly worked out . The
nature of the land , existing cropping conditions , water resources,
how many are to be displaced , how many to be absorbed , provision
for basic housing along with the setting up of the plant . No land
allocations in excess of the minimum necessary for the plant . Chemical
and polluting industries to be located at remote places far from human
habitation and agricultural land .Does the local community approve
of the project , the conditions under which they may approve , with
written agreements to be signed guaranteeing jobs , housing , health
care, schools and greening of the area and that the water resources will not
be polluted . The pattern developed by Dr. Kurien broadly for the
Milk Co-operative .
The central issue is, if a particular industry will devastate more numbers than
it is capable of absorbing and cultivable land is to be destroyed and
water resources of entire communities poisoned , then the alternatives
have to be discussed with those affected .Most people are not aware
that what some Multinational Companies have demanded are thousands
of acres of mineral rich land , with the assurance that the para military
and police will clear the areas of all human habitation which had once
occupied the region . It is these stark alternatives posed which are
required to be debated and discussed . The issue is not industry
or agriculture , the issue are human dignity , survivial and devlopment,
and a balance struck between industrialization and agriculture after
consultation with affected interests from region to region , from district
to district , from village to village . This is what democracy is about, not
the labeling of every tribal and every small peasant affected by land
seizure and those articulating the protection of these demands as
all extremists .
The three government reports which reveal the realities
of the conditions in which people live and work must be studied
by every serioius human rights movement dedicated to
protecting citizens in order to be able to articulate what the
constitutional , legal and development issues and the backdrop
of the regions are.
The debate is not industry versus agriculture as is being potrayed .
It is land and livelihood seizures of thousands of acres of land
and adjacent water resources, without alternatives for existing
livelihood and the rounding up of whole communities opposing
acquisitions of their land and livelihood by para military operations
on the lines of the seizures of whole countries such as Iraq( Oil)
and Afghanistan ( Drug trade ) laundered into banks as per
the report of the International Drug Enforcement Agency .
Democracy is not only about a vote in an election with
more than one candidate in the fray representing crores,
it is about peoples participation in development at all levels,
including decision making on development , in the justice
process and on the maintenance of public order to determine
who has really violated the law and who has not .Without
this participation we cannot be a functioning democracy
ensuring human rights for all our citizens .All this requires
decision making with transparency in public gaze.
Niloufer Bhagwat
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