By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: To press the Government of India to announce a national land reform policy, several thousand landless tribals and farmers from across the country gathered under the banner of Ekta Parishad near the Parliament House today in New Delhi and started a three-day Satyagaraha and session of a public parliament.
This is their second massive demonstration in the National Capital in the last two years. On October 29, 2007 Ekta Parishad had gathered about 25 thousand landless people in Ramlila Ground in Delhi. The government was forced to send their representative to the gathering to announce that a national land reform council will be formed to work on the issue and announce the national land reforms policy. As two years have since elapsed and the government has not yet announced the policy, the Parishad have again mobilized masses to press for the demand.
Talking to TwoCircles.net Rajagopal P V, president, Ekta Parishad said: “Two years back about 25 thousand people came all the way walking from Gwalior to Delhi to tell the government that poor people are not asking for car, building or computer. They are just asking for a piece of land. Please listen to their voice. The government said they will look into the demand. They said they will form a council to announce a national land reform policy. We have since waited for that promise to take a shape. After two years wait we have come here to tell the government if it did not act now, hundreds of thousands of people will march to Delhi in 2012. So this demonstration is just a warning to the government.”
Following the 2007 rally, the Central Government announced constitution of the ‘National Land Reform Council’ headed by Prime Minister of India and also the ‘National Land Reform Committee’ headed by Union Rural Development Minister. The basic agenda of these two institutions has been to re-frame land reforms policies and practices in favor of marginalized communities in the country.
The draft of the National Land Reform Policy was submitted to Prime Minister by the National Land Reform Committee in January 2009, but the Central Government has not yet declared the National Land Reform Policy.
“The National Land Reform Committee has submitted a report with the Prime Minister through the Rural Development Minister. Now it is up to the Prime Minister to call a meeting and announce the national land reform policy. I am a member of the National Land Reform Council and I have a right to ask the PM why he should take two years to call a meeting. Call a meeting and formulate a policy in the interest of the poor people. Even in the absence of a policy the government is giving land for projects, expansion of cities and roads. The government is acquiring land of poor people and farmers everywhere. Then why do they need some power to give land to the poor people, asked Rajagopal”
What next if the government did not listen to you? “Next will be our Do or Die agitation when hundreds of thousands of people will assemble in Delhi in 2012. The government can’t blame us as we have given and are given them enough time to act,” he said.
Giving data about landless people in the country, Rajagopal said: 8% of the population in India are tribals and hardly any of them have land. They have been cultivating land as their forefathers have been doing the same but they had not owned the land. As a result, mining companies, factories and powerful people are displacing them and pushing them to slums in cities. A large chunk of landless people are adivasis. Besides them, of 70% of the population who do agriculture, 40% are landless though they work on land. They have not been given land, rather of late being pushed to cities. Our demand is basically a land distribution demand.