South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements

(SICCFM)

636, Ideal Homes Township,

Raja Rajeswari Nagar, Bangalore -5600098. Karnataka.

Telephone +91 94444089543

Email: siccfm@gmail.com

13^th September, 2012.

Land is Life.

South Indian farmer’s response to the Land acquisition bill( LARR bill 2012)

At this point, people’s movements of SICCFM are not willing to enter into discussions on the details of compensation and rehabilitation packages because we do not agree with the fundamental premise of this bill.  This bill seeks to handover our farmlands to private corporations in the name of “public purpose”. The wording of this bill is so deceptive that almost anything could be construed as a public good and it falsely seems like farmers have become partners in India's corporate development.

But as farmers and poor rural people we ask - what purpose will be served to our communities and our development by a private hospital or university which we cannot afford, a luxury hotel, a golf course or a formula one race track, a multi-lane highway where a company will collect toll tax for 36 years while we have no roads in our villages, or a mine that kills our forests and destroys our health? Most importantly, we ourselves have the right and ability to decide what is good for our development and demand that our own local institutions – gram sabhas give their full consent and decide whether a project constitutes our development and public purpose. We cannot accept some random figure of 80% consent or “consultation” as an excuse for democracy.

Just because corporations are complaining about higher costs to their projects does not in anyway mean that the bill is automatically good for the farmers. In fact the cost of such a bill will be even steeper for India's rural communities and our nation’s ability to feed itself.  At this time our nation is reeling under coalgate scam, 2G spectrum scam, paid media scam and under no circumstances can we be fooled once again to let the government act as our trustee or custodian because history and facts have proven otherwise.

Moreover the government has already acquired thousands of acres of lands that are lying idle all across the country. The government has all kinds of land banks everywhere. These lands were taken from farmers previously and now have not been used or illegally converted to some other use. In many cases farmers are yet to see any compensation. Rehabilitation has not been received by millions of Indians displaced by corporate development. Why then are we making a law to carry out further acquisitions? What about using the land already taken and fulfilling people’s dues from the past first?

Lastly, what is the use of such a bill when it is planning to exempt 13 out of 16 laws that acquire lands such as SEZ act and mining act? This trend of farm land grabbing and diversion of water to industry is legally ongoing all over the country. This is having a direct bearing on our ability to produce food. In the case of just one project, the Yamuna expressway alone we will lose the ability to produce 100,000 tonnes of food grain a year.  Thousands of acres are earmarked to be acquired in all the fertile food producing states of India.  When 50% of our children are malnutritioned and our hunger levels are worse than the poorest countries of Sub Saharan Africa, our government should be acquiring land for food security and not rampant industrialization.

Given this situation we do not agree to give our lands unless it is for real public purpose decided by us. Here are our current demands:-

1.     Suspend all ongoing land acquisitions

2.     Bring out a white paper of all the past land acquisitions nationally and what is being done with that land

3.     We demand a national level debate on “public purpose”

4.     A complete ban on acquisition for private corporations

These demands were formed on 9^th Sep in Bangalore where SICCFM has held an open discussion on the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement bill (LA&RR bill) along with many farmers’ organizations and allies.

Signed by:

Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangh( KRRS) (Karanataka).

Thamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam( Tamil Nadu),

Uzhavar Ulaippalar Katchi(Tamil Nadu),

Uzhavar Periyakkam(Tamil Nadu),

Katchi Sarpartra Thamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam(Tamil Nadu),

Kongunadu Vivasayigal Sangam( Tamil Nadu),

Kerala Coconut Farmers Association (KCFA)( Kerala)

Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha(Kerala),

For further details
S.Kannaiyan.
+919444989543
sukannaiyan69@gmail.com