Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Movement

                                    Road No. 2, A – 33, Mahipalpur Extension, New Delhi – 110 037, India                               

Tel: 011 - 26783000, 26784000; Fax: 011-26785001; Email: yudhvir55@yahoo.com

Farmers Movements on the Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill (LARR) 2012

The MoRD may have accepted some suggestions from the people and the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) report which we support and contributed to, but we are still fundamentally opposed to the spirit of the LARR bill in its current form. It is using the language of transparency and compensation to allow the government to take people's land in the name of public purpose and then hand it over to private industries. We understand that the PM has referred the LARR bill to a Group of Ministers after opposition from key ministers who want to push for land acquisition for private parties. Also media sources have revealed  the MoRDs intention to make the bill "more investor-friendly". It is shameful that the government is trying to appease the industry and permanently establish itself as the land broker for corporate players. What is needed today is a land law that is pro peoples development, improves food security and prevents climate change.

We cannot accept the falsity that corporate profit is good for the masses of India. Corporate profit is not public purpose. Projects that are geared towards elite consumerism – even if PPP ventures are not “public purpose”. Steel plants, formula one race tracks and elite housing complexes are not public purpose but highly profitable ventures. Multi lane highways are not benefiting us- why are no roads being built in the villages instead?  We stress that local government – gram sabhas and basti sabhas should give full consent to decide if a certain project is public purpose or not- merely consulting them is not enough.

As farmers we ask- who will feed the nation?  Are we planning to kill our farmers or turn them into unemployed or laborers and then import food from corporations abroad? Is it sensible for our country to set up policies that will undercut our own ability to feed ourselves? Why are we still a nation with the most shameful hunger and farmer suicide statistics? It makes no rational sense to allow government acquisition of any kind of agricultural land for industrial purposes. Millions of acres of agricultural land are also acquired and converted to industrial purposes under up to 13 other acts that are exempt from the provisions of LARR. Such type of land acquisition is a threat to our national food security. All such acts such as SEZ's, mining, railways and others should be brought under this one act. It is pitiful that the government is showing such desperation to industrialize and not the same urgency to feed our people and stop farmer suicides. We strongly demand implementation of the recommendation of the parliamentary standing committee to not acquire any type of agricultural land (single or multi cropped).

Although proper compensation is a very important issue for us, so is proper rehabilitation. Waving money at farmers and then destroying their livelihoods is not acceptable. Proper rehabilitation which means an alternate sustainable livelihood and land for land must be provided. This too must be monitored and implemented by the gram and basti panchayat.  Also those who have already suffered due to previous displacements and not yet received rehabilitation must  receive it. The new law should apply to them all. We also demand that all ongoing acquisitions be stopped unless and until the new law that reflects peoples true development needs comes into being.

We cannot accept the violent method in which governments have responded to our genuine protests. We condemn the recent arrests of hundreds of farmers by the MP government in Anantapur who were legitimately trying to protect their livelihoods and lands. Instead of entering into serious dialogues the government just lathi charged and jailed us.

We would like to state that we are not against industrialization as many have tried to portray us as backward and anti development. We are not against a development or industrialization which will provide sustainable livelihoods to our people, which will give us education, health and food in our communities or roads in our villages. But we are definitely against such a development model which prescribes rampant industrialization without considering the well being of the masses and in fact causes inequality, dispossession and climate change. We cannot discuss any land law without discussing its impact on overall development – they both go hand in hand.

We will be organizing a meet of many farmers organizations in Bangalore on 9 September to further analyze this act and discuss our future course of action.

Our demands:

• We demand a national debate on public purpose.
• We support a new legislation to replace the colonial land acquisition act. But, we cannot accept a bill which will be an effective tool to grab farmers land for private profit and urbanization. We demand a ban on acquisition for private projects.

Signed by:

Bhartiya Kisan Union

Vijay Jawandhia, Shetkari Sangh, Maharashtra

Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) ,

Kerala Coconut Farmers Association( KCFA), Kerela

Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, Tamil Nadu

South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (SICCFM)

For more information please contact:- S Kannaiyan, SICCFM: +91 9444989543 

 Dharmendra, BKU: +91 9219691168 (bku.tikait@gmail.com) ;