More than 10,000 agricultural workers, tribal and dalit farmers, anganwadi workers, daily wage workers arrived here to hold People's Assembly to draw the parliament's attention to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s proposed changes to legal entitlements to social security, labour rights, and access to natural resources.
All through the day, workers and farmers gave testimonies on their access to public information, land, water, food security and social security entitlements as well as freedom of speech in various states, with the slogan Abki Baar Humara Adhikar.
"If we hold a protest rally, only then the government will open MNREGA works as per demand in the village. Our children are allowed to reach class VIII and after that they are unable to progress further, they cannot get good education," said Mayaram Jamre, a tribal farmer from Barwani district in MP. He and 103 other tribal farmers of had pooled in Rs 20,100 to attend this protest in Delhi, he said.
Pachati Singh, a Khaiwar farmer from Latehar district in Jharkhand said over 34,000 forest rights claims had been submitted to the state government but less than 1,700 had been accepted. "The administration has charged my colleague Bhukhan Singh with 56 cases related to forest rights claims. On November 19, they jailed a Parhaiya tribal, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal group, citing forest rights claims violation even as politics parties spent crores of corporate money illegally in the assembly elections campaigns going on in Jharkhand," said the activist. The state officials had postponed the deadline for distribution of new ration cards under the National Food Security Act several times citing delays in completing Socio Economic Caste Census, he added.
Rajasthan NREGA Union members spoke of violations in MNREGA implementation in various districts. "When villagers ask for work, officials turn them away. They do not give a receipt for demand for work, so the violations begin from that point as then, we cannot apply for unemployment allowance for delays in provision of work," narrated Anita Masar from Dungarpur district in Rajasthan. Marginal farmers from 600 villages in southern Rajasthan had pooled in Rs 1,000 per village to send a representative to this protest, she added.
The participating organisations include the All India Agricultural Labourers' Association, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, All India Democratic Women's Association, All India Progressive Women Association, Chhattisgarh Kisan Majdoor Andolan, Ekta Parishad, Green Peace, Pension Parishad, Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Campaign, Jan Swasth Abhiyan, Pension Parishad, and Right To Food Campaign.
Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar, Jharkhand's anti-displacement activist Dayamani Barla, and 80 others who had reached Delhi as part of this campaign were detained from outside the Union Ministry for Water Resources building on Monday after they met the Minister to oppose the decision to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam. They were released from police detention on Monday night.
