*National Consultation on the Proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill and *

Posted by: "Vijayan M.J." vijayan@delhiforum.net

Mon Sep 13, 2010 12:15 am (PDT)

Friends,

Kindly find the English invite below to the National Consultation. Keeping
in mind the importance of these issues now, prior to the next parliament
(winter) session, we hope you will make an effort to attend the National
Consultation in Delhi on the 23rd of September 2010. It will be held at ISI,
Delhi.

Regards,

*National Consultation on the Proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill
and *

*Resettlement & Rehabilitation Bill (draft)*

*September 23, 2010, Indian Social Institute, New Delhi*

New Delhi, September 7

Dear Comrades / Friends / Colleagues,

Greetings !

Struggles against Land Acquisition have in fact become the most common
phenomenon of our times. People across the country have been opposing
efforts by the state and corporates to dispossess and displace them from the
natural resources, esp land and forests, they possess. Movements have been
also struggling to retaining the right over the land they have occupied,
resisted attempts at evictions or displacements due to large infrastructure
projects, submergence by dams or deprivation / landlessness by any means.
The demand for a comprehensive Development planning legislation, that will
not have forced displacement has been ongoing for close to two decades now.
Despite that, there has never ever been a serious effort by the Government
to bring about a national legislation that will replace the colonial Land
Acquisition Act nor bring about a new era where people will not be made
oustees in their own land.

There has been numerous consultations, meetings, dialogues, demonstrations
in Delhi and all across the country however, the government has failed to
address the genuine concerns in all these years. In the wake of the recent
protests by farmers against unjust acquisition of land in Aligarh, Uttar
Pradesh, there has been again a vociferous demand made by different
political parties to bring in the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, and
Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill.

However, it needs to be noted that the agitation by farmers in Aligarh and
elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh are not isolated incidents. Struggles against
unjust land acquisition have been intensifying across the country. The only
response of the government has been a brutal suppression of these struggles
using its police force. In July this year, the Government of Andhra Pradesh
fired at, killing three persons, and lathi-charged hundreds of peaceful
protesters in the Sompeta Mandal of Srikakulm district, who were resisting
the forcible and unjust acquisition of land for the 2640 MW thermal plant by
Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd. In mid August then private goons of
Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. beat-up villagers who were peacefully protesting
the forcible acquisition of land, in Tapranga, Raigarh district of
Chhattisgarh, by the company for coal mining. There are innumerable
instances of such acts of harassment, exploitation, dispossession all across
the country. In the whole adivasi belt of central India, land acquisition is
being masqueraded by anti-movements repression and the infamous 'Operation
Greenhunt'.

The Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill and Resettlement and Rehabilitation
Bill were tabled by the UPA government during the winter session of 2007 and
just a day before the monsoon session of 2009 ended. Introduced purportedly
to strike a balance between the 'need for land for development' and other
purposes and protecting the interests of the persons whose lands are
statutorily acquired, both the Bills in fact facilitate the handing over the
land, rivers, forests, minerals to the big corporations, both public and
private, for mining, big dams, thermal, nuclear and other power projects,
SEZs, etc., without effectively addressing the fundamental issues that have
been raised by the resistance movements that are raging across the country.
If enacted, both the Bills will have far reaching impact on the lives on
millions of people across the country, their livelihood and access to
natural resources—land, water and forests.

*The issues of both Land Acquisition and Resettlement and Rehabilitation
have been discussed and debated for several years now.* The government has
brought forth several policies, especially on the latter issue. *However no
process of thorough stock taking has yet been initiated by the government.* In
fact even the most basic information, which is crucial for determining the
areas and direction in the laws and policies that need to be formulated and
amended, is not available.

*The earlier consultations by several civil society groups and movements
culminated in a draft that was later used by the National Advisory Council
to form the basis for the 'National Development, Displacement and
Rehabilitation Bill', which was passed by the NAC in 2006.* Since then the
draft remained pending with the Central Cabinet on the excuse that there
were questions and barriers to be faced and clarified, before it could get
its sanction. Further, the present draft Bills were introduced in complete
negation of this draft and the consultations with people's movements and
groups at different levels.

*We do hope you will be able to join us for a National Consultation on
September 23rd, Thursday, at Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi
with your colleagues in the movements and groups so that we can discuss all
these issues in detail and work on a better draft of the Comprehensive Act.*

* *

* *

In solidarity,

* *

*Ashok Chaudhary, Prafulla Samantara, Medha Patkar, Gautam Bandopadhyay,
Sandeep Pandey, Anil Chaudhary, Dr. Sunilam, Ajit Jha, Dayamani Barla, Guman
Singh, Mamata Kujur, Simpreet Singh, Roma, Vimalbhai, Rajendra Ravi, Anand
Mazgaonkar, Bhupendra Singh Rawat, Vijayan M J, Madhuresh Kumar and
others... *

*Delhi Contact*: 6/6, Jangpura B, New Delhi – 110014; Mob: 9818905316/
9582862682

Ph: 011- 26680883/26680914; Email: napm.madhuresh@gmail.com;
bipincc@gmail.com

-- 
Regards,

Vijayan MJ

Delhi Forum
F-10/12 (GF), Malviya Nagar,
New Delhi INDIA - 110017
Phones: + 91-11-26671556 (Direct),
26680914/883 Fax:26687724
Emails: vijayan@delhiforum.net, delhiforum@delhiforum.net
Web: http://updatecollective.wordpress.com/
http://delhisolidaritygroup.wordpress.com/

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We also could use a theory of HAPPENING i.e. how and why things happen-Emergent behavior folks??

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-Priya Ranjan
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