Indian police block landless protest march

[struggle4progress]

Source: AFP

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

NEW DELHI: Police prevented thousands of poor and landless farmers and tribals from marching towards the federal parliament building in the Indian capital Monday to demand land rights.

An estimated 25,000 people from 15 of India’s 29 states have converged in New Delhi after marching 600 kilometres from the central city of Gwalior to the capital in 28 days. Waving green and white flags and holding large pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, the marchers squatted on sprawling, dusty ground in the heart of the city with no shade from the sun.

“Our water reserves are running out. People will die of thirst and hunger at this rate,” said march organiser Puthan Vithal Rajgopal, who heads a group called Ekta Parishad, or Unity Forum. Seven people have already died of fatigue or illness during the trek, which began on October 2 - the day India celebrates Gandhi’s birthday.

The protesters were due to march three kilometres Monday from a huge public ground to the parliament building. But police officials told AFP the gathering had to be confined because the protesters did not have permission to march to the parliament building and to protest outside it. Organisers said they had vowed not to go home until their demands were met. afp

Read more: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C10%5C30%5Cstory_30-10-2007_pg4_15

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Indian peasants march to Delhi

... "Forty percent of Indians are now landless and 23 per cent of them are in abject poverty," march organiser Puthan Vithal Rajgopal told AFP.

"Such conditions have bred Maoist insurgency in 172 of India's 600 districts and farmers are killing themselves in 100 other districts. So we want to ask the government, 'Where are the fruits of the reforms in these districts?'"

In an effort to attract foreign investment India has set up a series of Special Economic Zones offering companies tax breaks to set up business and factories.

But critics say farmers often fall victim when they are forced from their land or cheated on its value when land is acquired for government projects ...

http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17708&Itemid=1

Landless Poor Protest in Indian Capital
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ – 7 hours ago
NEW DELHI (AP) — ...

"Day-by-day the Sensex goes up but the common people get nothing from this," said Anil Gupta, a march organizer, referring to the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark index, which closed at a record high Monday ...

"They talk about helping the average man, but the policies are anti-poor," said Gupta, noting that legislation already enacted to provide land rights to the tribes has not been enforced.

"But when a multinational needs land, the government organizes everything for them," he said.

"People here are asking only for the basics. There is no greed. They don't want clothes or electricity, just land so they can feed themselves," he said ...

India's march of the dispossessed
They set off a month ago, 25,000 of India's poorest people who had decided to trek 200 miles to Delhi to highlight the inequities of the country's land ownership. Andrew Buncombe reports
Published: 30 October 2007

... That the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was forced to act was the result of about 25,000 people such as Mrs Devi, who this weekend arrived exhausted and footsore in the Indian capital after marching for a month. The marchers, made up of the poor, the landless and the so-called "untouchables" from across India, set off at the beginning of October, walking from the town of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

Seven of them died over the course of the 200-odd miles; three were killed in a traffic accident that injured several others, and four expired simply from the exertion. Many had nothing but the thinnest of sandals to walk in. Some had just their bare feet. And yet the marchers were determined that nothing should prevent them from taking their message to India's political leaders. "My God, it's such a strength. I am not alone," said Mrs Devi, from the village of Usiri Sikapuri in the dirt-poor state of Bihar, when asked what it felt like to be part of a group that was 25,000 strong. "I came here for my rights. If my feet get burnt or even if I die then it is worth it. Back home we can die from hunger – why not die fighting for our rights?"

Though the marchers began walking four weeks ago, it was three years ago that the journey which brought them to Delhi and seized headlines normally dominated by stories of India's newly wealthy middle-classes began. The idea for the march – called Janadesh 2007, or People's Verdict – came from R V Rajgopal, a well-known activist and founder of a social justice movement called Ekta Parishad.

Mr Rajgopal, a veteran Gandhian and supporter of non-violent protest, has worked on land-rights issues for years. In a country where more than 70 per cent of the population is dependent on the land to survive, the fight for its more equitable distribution was crucial, he said. Across India, the evidence of a widespread sense of marginalisation felt by so many people – a feeling that at its most deadly is played out in violent and lethal protests over land being seized for industrial development – is steadily growing. And yet Mr Rajgopal said he found himself confronted by politicians who appeared interested only in promoting industrial development and the interests of corporations ...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3109901.ece

Land reform victory won by march of India's poor
From The Times
October 30, 2007

...Waving green and white flags and holding pictures of Gandhi they squatted on the earth and refused to leave until their demands were met.

“We have nothing to go back to anyway. Apart from harassment, corruption and bureaucracy, what else do we have in the village?” said Puthan Vithal Rajgopal, an activist from a community group called Ekta Parishad ...

In the eastern state of Orissa, tribespeople are objecting to an open-cast bauxite mine proposed by Vedanta Resources, a London-listed company, in the forests that they hold sacred.

“Many people here have been displaced many times over, first because of mining, then because of dams.” Mr Rajgopal said. “It is nothing but land grabbing.” ...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2767093.ece

At mass rally, government goes for panel on land reforms
New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS)

... The police told the march organisers that they could go to Parliament Street in small groups but not as a large group ...

"We do not know why we have been stopped from going to parliament, but the police are not allowing us to go forward," Rajgopal had said at noon, frustrated that their plans had been thwarted.

"Even our water tankers are not allowed to go out for refilling. This is causing great problems for people camping here," Santosh Singh, one of the camp leaders, told IANS.

At around 1 p.m., Rajgopal left for a meeting with the minister. He returned to the ground with the minister and asked him to address the teeming crowds ...

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=56802

India sets up land reforms panels
UPDATED ON:
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2007
21:53 MECCA TIME, 18:53 GMT

... The panel announced on Monday will create policies, guide states and monitor the progress of land distribution and quick disposal of compensation disputes, a government statement said ...

"Forty per cent of Indians are now landless and 23 per cent of them are in abject poverty," Puthan Vithal Rajgopal, an organiser of the march, said.

The new panel, whose recommendations will be non-binding, will include government officials and independent experts on land reforms ...

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/78D26866-44CA-4D26-8781-F021887A3055.htm

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