[Land Reforms] Jan Satyagraha 2012, Janadesh 2007, Bhu-adhikar 1996: causes and outcomes

1. Bhu-Adhikar Abhiyan, MP, 1996
2. Janadesh, 2007
3. Jan Satyagraha 2012
   1. #1: General Demands
   2. #2: PESA related Demands:
   3. #3: Forest Rights Act (FRA) related Demands
   4. Outcome of Jan Satyagraha 2012?

Bhu-Adhikar Abhiyan, MP, 1996

Ekta Parishad is an NGO from Madhya Pradesh (1984). On principles of “Samvad, Sangharsh, Rachna” (dialogue, struggle and construction). They conducted survey in MP and found two main problems faced by SC/ST:

1. Land belonging to Scheduled tribe was illegally sold to outsiders thanks to land mafia, forest contractors and corrupt bureaucrats.
2. Non Occupant Patta Holder leased their land poor farmers (occupant cultivators) and exploited them via high rent and random eviction.

Ekta Parishad has launched a people’s movement with the following objectives.

3. Give Patta (land ownership document) to occupant cultivators.
4. To oppose the policy of inviting tenders from private companies, instead of giving land to the landless.
5. To enforce joint ownership of husband and wife on the property. (recall the lack of gender equity in land ownership)
6. Scrap the afforestation programmes funded by the World Bank. Because the money was misused.
7. To resolve the problems of settlement of revenue land.

Result? Government appointed a Committee but it was meaningless eyewash.

Janadesh, 2007

• By Ekta Parishad and sister organization / civil society / NGOs
• ~25000 landless tillers, labourers, Dalits and tribals, who have been deprived of their land rights, marched from Gwalior to Delhi to assert the land rights of the poor.

Demands?

1. Enact national land rights act.
2. setup national land authority.
3. setup land reforms council
4. fast track courts for land reforms

Result? These demands were met at least half-way by the government, but implementation and follow-up was poor.

Jan Satyagraha 2012

About Ekta Parishad (NGO) so far we’ve seen:

Jan Satyagraha 2012 demanded following:

#1: General Demands

1. Bhoodaan Land= do physical verification again and take back land from encroachers/ineligible persons.
2. Womens Land Rights: To ensure that land owned by a family is recoded either in the name of a woman or jointly in the name of the man and the woman.
3. Revisit land ceiling laws- implement them effectively.
4. Identify of lands encroached by ineligible persons and restore it back to original owner.
5. Identify tribal lands alienated to the non-tribals and restore it back.
6. Use MNREGA etc. schemes to doing irrigation projects, land development, wasteland restoration etc. activities.
7. If government acquired land for industrial projects but it was untilized=>give it back to poors.
8. Written Records of tenancy to help tenant farmers get bank loans.
9. Protect/provide burial grounds and pathway to burial grounds, especially to the most vulnerable communities in the villages;
10. Land record management in most transparent manner
11. Statutory State Land Rights Commissions to monitor the progress of land reform.
12. State governments need to run campaigns to give land to Nomads and settle them permanently.
13. Protect the land rights of following vulnerable groups

#2: PESA related Demands:

1. Harmonize state revenue laws with PESA 1996, to give gram sabha the power over land matters.
2. For any sale/mortgage of land in the village- Gram Sabha must be notified in writing.
3. For any changes in land records, Gram Sabha must be notified in writing.
4. authorize Gram Sabha to call for relevant revenue records,
5. conduct a hearing and direct the SDMs to conduct hearings and restore illegally occupied land
6. Expand the list of Schedule V villages to include more eligible villages under PESA
7. Enforce in letter and spirit, the ‘Samata Judgment’ in all acquisition of tribal land for private companies
8. Governments need to make amendments in State laws that are in conflict with PESA within a period of one year.

#3: Forest Rights Act (FRA) related Demands

1. bank loan facilities for land grander under FRA
2. Give land rights to tribals who were earlier displaced due to National Parks and Wild life Sanctuaries
3. Settlement of Forest Rights before land acquisition related projects are started.
4. The primitive tribal groups don’t have any documents/evidences to prove their occupation of land/residence. So they must be exempted from furnishing of evidence of residence as required under Forest Rights Act.
5. ‘Orange Areas’ in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where large extent of land is under dispute between Revenue Department and the Forest Department =>settle this matter immediately.

Outcome of Jan Satyagraha 2012?

Jan Satyagraha leaders agreed to discontinue their march, after Rural ministry agreed to setup Task Force on Land Reforms to implement the following agenda:

Mock Question: Write a note on the demands and outcomes of Jan Satyagraha 2012.