Anna backed NGO’s year long march for land reforms

After their struggle for a strong Lokpal Bill, Gandhian activist Anna Hazare’s team will now focus on land reforms. Ekta Parishad, an NGO closely associated with Hazare, will launch a yearlong march to New Delhi from Kanyakumari on October 2, demanding that a model land reforms Act be passed in Parliament.

A study conducted by the Parishad says about 37.5 lakh acres of land has already been acquired for various industrial and mining purposes across the country. About six million families have been displaced during this acquisition, and 60 per cent of these families are tribals. As many as 92 villages have been erased from the map and 550 memoranda of understanding signed with various industrial units and mining firms, mostly in tribal belts, the study said.

Around 237 SEZs in 19 states, occupying 86,107 hectares, have already been approved by the Centre. “The total amount of land to be acquired across India for such SEZs is 1,50,000 hectares. This land — predominantly agricultural and typically multicropped — is capable of producing close to one million tonnes of foodgrains. If acquisition of cultivated land continues, it will endanger our food security,” the study said.

At least 10 lakh people who primarily depend upon agriculture for their survival, will face eviction in future. “ Experts say the total loss of income to the farming and farm-worker families is at least Rs 212 crore a year,” it said.

The study has also reported that major land struggles are taking place at 500 places across the country, which include agitations against land acquisition for the Yamuna expressway and Jaitapur nuclear power complex in Maharashtra. The march, to be led by Ekta Parishad chairman and Gandhi Peace Foundation vice- chairman P. V. Rajagopal would visit at least 1,000 such points. Rajagopal said the march, named Jan Satyagraha- 2012 , is modelled on the Dandi March.

“It is an uplifting event with a carnival atmosphere, the combined effort of people to stand up for their basic rights and speak on the way to build more equity in the governing structure,” he added.

Rajagopal, with a 25- member team, will visit about 350 districts across the country. “ People inspired by Ambedkar’s, Marxist and Gandhian ideologies are behind such struggles. Our effort is to coordinate these struggles and give them a national shape. Next year, we will come to Delhi with one lakh people demanding a comprehensive land reforms Act,” Rajagopal added.