Skip to main content

Drop "draconian" Rajasthan land acquisition bill, seeking to jail and fine protesters: Demonstrators to CM

Protest against "draconian" land acquisition bill, Rajasthan
In a representation to Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, several people’s organisations have said that the new Rajasthan land acquisition bill, 2014, tabled in the state assembly, was a clear effort of the state government to “undermine democratic and constitutional principles and traditions”, as it contradicts the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Resettlement Act, passed in Parliament last year. Saying that the bill ignores that it will adversely “impact more than 75 per cent of the population of the state”, it said, it is an effort to change Rajasthan “forever from a farming state to an urban state.”
Ahead of the representation on September 18, the people’s organisations took out a rally consisting of activists working on land rights issues from Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Udaipur, Rajsamand, Ajmer, Bhilwara, Alwar, Pali and Jaipur districts. “People were outraged at the audacity of the chief minister in proposing a law, which would criminalise protest, sending to jail people for up to six months with a fine of up to Rs 300,000. It was also clear that the intent of the law was to hurriedly hand over fertile agriculture land to the corporate”, a joint statement by the participating organisations said.
Led by well-known social activist Medha Patkar and former MLA Amra Ram of the AIKS, Patkar told the demonstrators that the Rajasthan government was trying to bring back laws with colonial times jurisprudence, and the agenda is to change the 2013 law passed by the Parliament, which ensured that the voice and rights of farmers, agricultural labourers, urban poor and other displaced sections was heard and kept intact.
Of the dozen people’s organisation which represented to the Rajasthan chief minister include the All-India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), the National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM), and the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (Rajasthan), the National Federation of Indian Women, trade unions and organisations working on land rights issues. 
Patkar manhandled by cops outside assembly
Pointing out that the bill has been brought in “haste and without any public discussion”, the representation said, “You have asked for the present special session to pass this law hurriedly so that you can hand over agricultural land to the corporate sector. This is what has been said in the statements of objects and reasons of the law.”
The representation said, the Rajasthan bill removes the provision of social impact assessment (SIA) because it is allegedly “time-consuming”, as also the “mandatory provision of rehabilitation”. Further, the bill only provisions giving compensation for land acquisition from five to nine times of the district level committee (DLC) rates fixed by the registration and stamp department, Government of Rajasthan, which far lower than the market rates.
The representation further said, “This bill has provisions which make the law draconian. By provisioning in the law itself punishment of up to six months imprisonment and up to Rs 300,000 fine for carrying out protests, shows that you are willing to sacrifice people’s right to lawful assembly and dissent and prevent any challenge to Government policy on development and industrialisation.”
“This law undermines both rural and urban local bodies, panchayati raj institutions and municipalities and panchayat extension to scheduled areas Act, by taking away the right to consent by the gram sabha”, it pointed out, adding, “When there is already a central law in place, what is the justification of bringing in a new law which withdraws the positive provisions of the central law.”
Suspecting that the intention of the 2014 Rajasthan bill “is simply one, as to how to hand over fertile agriculture land, grazing land, sawai chak land and forests to the corporates in the name of infrastructure development”, the representation said, “The draft law was put on the website on August 16, 2014 in English. It was not considered important enough to translate it into Hindi, so that the farmers who are going to be the ones affected most can send their comments to the draft law.”
Terming all this as “tokenism”, it added, “There was no official advertisement of the government inviting suggestions through the newspapers or on TV channels. Only 10 days have were given to send comments.”

Comments

TRENDING

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.  

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.  As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Guha plans book to counter Dalit, Marxist, and right-wing critics of Gandhi, recalls Modi’s 'pernicious lie' on Patel

Let me first confess: writing about an event three weeks after it has taken place is no good, especially for a newsperson. However, ever since I attended the public lecture by well-known historian Ramachandra Guha on May 18, organised by Sarthak Prakashan for the release of the Gujarati edition of his book monumental book "India After Gandhi", frankly, I kept wondering if he had said anything newsworthy apart from what had already appeared in the media ever since the book's first edition came out in 2007. Call it my inertia or whatever.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.