PRESS INVITE
Whose Land is it Anyway?
New Land Bill: For People or Profit?
Public Meeting with representatives of political parties and social activists
on the relevance & implications of the proposed
RIGHT TO FAIR COMPENSATION, RESETTLEMENT, REHABILITATION AND TRANSPARENCY IN LAND ACQUISITION BILL, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012 | 3 – 7 pm
Dy Chairman Hall, Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi
Dear Comrades,
The
current economic model of growth prevalent in India, with its strong
neo-liberal leanings, needs to be re-assessed in the wake of increasing
alienation and displacement of vast populations from their land and the
wave of resistance, both violent & non-violent, against such
activities that are being played out across the country.
The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 was
introduced in the Parliament in September 2011 and referred to the
Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC), which submitted its
recommendations in May 2012. Many of the key suggestions put forth by the PSC have been rejected and
the Ministry of Rural Development is looking to get the Cabinet’s nod
soon for virtually the same bill but in a new guise, now titled “The
Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and
Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill, 2012”.
The government’s rejection of the recommendations of
the Parliamentary Standing Committee for the second time on the matter
of land acquisition is not only unconstitutional but also reveals a lack of will in bringing about peoples’ participation, with free and prior informed consent, in development planning.
The repeated rejection of a PSC report poses a threat to the very role
of a PSC, which is an important link between the parliament and the
public.
The rapacious use of Land Acquisition Act 1894 by the government to
secure land for ‘development’ projects has caused over 100 million
people to be displaced from their land, livelihoods and homes. The
country is dotted with communities resisting State sponsored land grab
which resonate the demand for a just law to ensure that there is no
forced acquisition of land and resources, including minerals and ground
water. The government must respond to the voices from movements across
places such as Narmada, Koel Karo, Singur, Nandigram, Sonbhadra,
Chindwara, Bhavnagarm, Kalinga Nagar, Kashipur, Raigarh, Srikakulam and
mining areas in central India with genuine efforts to address the
longstanding crisis concerning land Acquisition and resettlement &
rehabilitation.
It is in this context
that SANGARSH invites you to discuss the relevance and implications of
these half-hearted measures meted out to the millions of people who are
struggling to retain their means of livelihood and seek meaningful
rehabilitation from a system in which they no longer seem to have faith.
The meeting will be
joined by the representatives of political parties, Members of
Parliament, representatives of mass movements from across the country
and some academics and researchers working on this issue.
We do hope you will be able to join us for this important discussion on an important legislation.
Yours Sincerely,
Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan - NAPM
Roma, Kaimur Kshetra Mahila Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Samiti - NFFPFW
Prafulla Samantara, Lokshakti Abhiyan, Orissa - NAPM
Dr. Sunilam, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, MP - NAPM
Gautam Bandopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha, Chattisgarh
Guman Singh, Him Niti Ahiyan, Himachal Pradesh
Bhupendar Singh Rawat, Bhumi Bachao Andolan – NAPM
Dr. Rupesh Kumar, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti,UP
Vimal Bhai, Matu Jan Sangathan, Uttarakhand – NAPM
Contact: Madhuresh 9818905316 | Bhargavi 9582452343 | Shweta 9911528696
Regards,
Bhargavi
PRESS INVITE
People's Hearing on Nuclear Energy
Date and Time:
August 22nd, 2012
11 am - 6pm
Venue:
Gandhi Peace Foundation,
221-223, Deendayal Upadhyay Marg
New Delhi-110002
A
people’s hearing will be held on August 22nd in New Delhi on nuclear
power in India to discuss grassroots concerns and people’s experiences, and to
take note of violations of their human rights.
People from all the sites will
make presentations with a special emphasis on Koodankulam and Gorakhpur. Also,
experts will present their testimonies to a panel of judges consisting of
eminent citizens, who will examine this evidence and give their verdict.
Background:
The Government of India is
pushing through a massive expansion of nuclear energy in the most undemocratic
manner, overlooking its dangerous impacts on the health, safety and livelihoods
of local communities, the larger perspective of energy security for India, the
economic and environmental costs of nuclear energy, and the global decline in
the salience of nuclear energy after the Fukushima catastrophe.
There has been an upsurge of
strong grassroots struggles against nuclear power projects and other
installations in the recent past. At Koodankulam, for instance, a mass
agitation involving tens of thousands of people has been sustained for a year
since August 16, 2011. At Gorakhpur, in Haryana’s Fatehabad district, farmers
have sat on a dharna every day for 2 years in protest against the planned
nuclear power station. They are particularly agitated over a fraudulent public
hearing which was held on 17th July without giving copies of the
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report to the people, as is mandatory.
Strong agitations have been
launched in Jaitapur in Maharashtra, where the world’s biggest nuclear power
park has been planned. Similar protests have broken out at other planned sites
all over India.
The government has vilified
these movements as “misguided” instigated by “outsiders”, has criminalized them
and has filed hundreds of police cases against them. It has studiedly ignored
their concerns about nuclear safety heightened after Fukushima and refused to
part with basic documents such as Environmental Impact Assessment and Safety Evaluation Reports (SERs) and the
inter-governmental contracts etc.
The repression has led to
blatant violations of basic rights at different sites – for instance, nearly
7000 people in Koodankulam who have led consistently peaceful protest face
charges of sedition and war against the Indian state. Similar repression and
undermining of democratic norms is under way at the other nuclear sites such as
Jaitapur, Chutka in Madhya Pradesh, Mithi Virdi in Gujarat, Kovvada in Andhra
Pradesh, Kota in Rajasthan, etc. More recently, a fresh protest broke out at
Rawatbhata in Rajasthan where a nuclear fuel complex has been planned. The
recent tritium leak in the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station exposing 38 casual
workers to dangerous radiation has also put a question mark over the safety of
existing nuclear facilities.
The Jury: Justice A P Shah, Usha
Ramanathan, General V K Singh and others
Independent Experts: Praful Bidwai, Soumya Dutta, Surendra
Gadekar, M G Devasahayam and others
We cordially invite you to this public hearing. Please also circulate this invitation to your friends.
With best regards,
Sundaram (CNDP) – 9810556134, cndpindia@gmail.com
Bhargavi (Delhi Forum) – 9582452343, bhargavi@delhiforum.net
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