At a time when land reforms and in particular the land rights of the poorest landless people are being increasingly pushed to margins, a Gandhian organisation is putting its efforts and energy into a nationwide movement on the issue. Ekta Parishad is conducting a continuing series of foot-marches in 338 districts. They commenced in October 2011 and will continue till October 2012.
Ekta Parishad’s previous foot-marches in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bihar as well as other struggles have brought justice and land rights to tens of thousands of families. Building on this strength, with the help and cooperation of several other organisations and individuals the organisation embarked on its famous initiative called Janadesh in 2007 when 25,000 people marched from Gwalior to Delhi to assert land rights of the poor. Specific demands included the constitution of Land Reforms Council and enaction of a ‘National Land Rights Act.’
These demands were met at least halfway by the government, but implementation and follow-up was poor. Meanwhile, Ekta Parishad continued its efforts to forge a broader alliance on land rights issue.
Ekta Parishad’s co-ordinater P.V. Rajagopal says, “At the same time the assault of big mining and other projects for catering to a global market increased to such an extent that in our work area small farmers, and in particular tribal farmers, appeared to be increasingly threatened by the possibility of losing their land. The issue now is not just demanding land for the landless but also protecting the land rights of those who always had some land. We felt that the scope of our work should expand.”
During 2008-2010 about a thousand organisations and movements were contacted to form a broader alliance for land rights. At the same time community leaders and activists from weaker sections were trained for peaceful movements and ‘sataygraha’ .
All these efforts culminated in Jansatyagraha 2012. Providing the basis for its biggest effort so far, this movement said, “If the Government fails to implement land reforms effectively the disadvantaged communities who have been denied justice and rights over land, forests and water will start a ‘ Jansatyagraha Samvad Yatra ’ on October 1, 2011. This will cover 338 districts in 24 states, culminating at Gwalior on October 1, 2012. After this, people will march to Delhi to get justice.”
This land march has also secured the support of about 50 international land rights movements in various parts of the world.
Starting from Kanyakumari and passing through several volatile regions facing difficult land right issues in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, the North-East region and other states, the foot-marchers have held many important public meetings and initiated a dialogue on several critical issues. The interaction was particularly useful in States like Orissa and Jharkhand which are in the middle of some critical land rights struggles.
It is strength of India’s democracy that such a huge, nationwide march can be mobilised by activists who remain committed to peaceful forms of struggle even in the middle of grave provocation and serious threats, say activists.
