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) ;
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