Opposition to land acquisition bill very wide, extend time for representing to parliamentary panel: NAPM

Medha Parkar

By Our Representative
The National Alliance for People's Movements (NAPM), the apex body of tens of people's organizations across India, has asked SS Ahluwalia, chairperson, Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), for extending the deadline for receiving inputs on Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Second Amendment Bill, 2015). The deadline for getting responses to the controversial bill ends on June 8.
A letter signed by well-known social activist Medha Parkar, who leads NAPM, and others, says that “After the consistent pressure and opposition, the NDA government has referred the land bill to the JPC, but a two week notice to make submissions is extremely insufficient."
Pointing out that the two week notice to make submissions is "is extremely insufficient for many groups and mass organisations to detail threadbare and bring out their comments, which requires more time", it said, "The majority of Indian citizens affected by land acquisition live in rural areas, so it is necessary and important to hold consultations to discuss the current draft in rural areas, especially where local communities have been affected."
"We understand that the Committee wants to complete its deliberations at the earliest; however, the matter of this importance can’t be dealt away in such hurry. We believe that 2013 Act, amended after 114 years, and having vetted by two Parliamentary Standing Committees and debated over seven years inside and outside Parliament should be given more time for deliberation", the NAPM said.
Pointing out that "many groups and mass organisations" are coming forward "to give detail inputs and bring out their comments”, the NAPM said, "They have demanded that the Committee extend the time line at least by a month, till July 8. A copy of the letter has been sent to all members of the Committee as well as to Minister of Rural Development Birender Singh
In addition, the NAPM suggests, the Committee should "reach out to farmers and workers of the country and hold wider consultations, public meetings and public hearings on the Bill, especially where local communities have been affected."
Insisting that this should be done to gather "past or present experiences of land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement", the letter said, the Committee should especially meet people in "Kalinga Nagar and Dhinkia to Narmada, Sompetta, Raigarh, Madurai, Mundra, Kanhar, Bhatta Parsaul, Jashpur, Dholera, etc."
NAPM has aligned with several farmers'-workers' groups, left-affiliated Kisan Sabhas and Khet Mazdoor Unions, and formed Bhumi Adhikaar Andolan. In a statement in the wake of the letter to Ahluwalia, it said, it is in the "process of mobilising farmers and workers opposing forcible acquisitions" in order to "suggest changes to the 2015 Bill."
Insisting that even the 2013 Act, passed by the UPA, should be made more stringent in favour of the people, the NAPM said, the need is to "bring in more progressive provisions, like extending the consent provisions to government projects or Social Impact Assessment for irrigation projects among others."
Bhumi Adhikaar Andolan organised mass demonstrations on February 24 and May 5 at Sansad Marg and and vowed to oppose what it called "corporate-led changes to the 2013 Act." The letter to Ahluwalia is based on a newspaper advertisement on May 24 inviting submissions from the public at large till June 8.

Comments

Buddhist shrines massively destroyed by Brahmanical rulers in "pre-Islamic" era: Historian DN Jha's survey

By Our Representative
Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book, "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Contempt of court? UP CM taking 'personal vendetta' against Dr Kafeel Khan: Activists

Counterview Desk
Demanding that the Uttar Pradesh government immediately release well-known paediatrician Dr Kafeel Khan, a group of more than 100 academicians, activists, researchers, doctors and lawyers have said in an open letter that he is being “targeted at the behest of the chief minister”, wondering, “When is an act of challenging the government a threat under the National Security Act (NSA)?”

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam*
RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

ASI has 'no funds' to protect five centuries old Goa church, a World Heritage Site

Counterview Desk
The century-old All-India Catholic Union (AICU), the largest Laity movement in Asia, has blamed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for neglecting the historic Bom Jesu church by keeping its ceilings open to the vagaries weather, with no steps taken to protect the five century old monument from damage on account of impending rains on the lame excuse that there are "no funds". In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, AICU simultaneously asks the Government of India to devise a "comprehensive" national social security safety net, universal health Insurance and medical Infrastructure so that the “calamity” that has befalenl millions of migrant labour and jobless rural and urban poor in “the Covid pandemic-driven lockdown is “never repeated.”

Withdraw sedition charges against three young women activists: 1100 feminists

Counterview Desk
About 1,100 feminists from all over India – organisations and individuals across religion, class, caste, ethnicity, ability, sexuality and genders – have issued a solidarity statement condemning what they have called “the targeted crackdown on Muslims and women activists in Delhi”, who were at the forefront of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).

Will Govt of India, ICMR end 'perverse' practice of extracting profits from ill-health?

By Asmita Verma, Surabhi Agarwal, Bobby Ramakant*
The Epidemics Act, 1897 gives the central and state governments authority to impose any regulations which may be necessary to contain the outbreak of a disease. Some state governments such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh have already used this power to bring private healthcare facilities in their state under government control.

Tablighis or Namaste Trump? Rupani must 'clarify' on origin of Covid-19 in Gujarat

By Mujahid Nafees* In his video communication on April 24, 2020, chief minister Vijay Rupani informed us that in the month of March the Gujarat government had quarantined 6,000 people returning from abroad in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. He further asserted that the spread of Covid-19 was caused by the tablighis returning from Nizamuddin in Delhi. His statements were widely publicized and given front page coverage by some local dailies.

Coping with Covid-19? Options before small, marginal farmers of rainfed regions

By Biswanath Sinha, Kuntal Mukherjee*
The global crisis due to Covid-19 has hit after reaching in western Europe. India’s response to curtail the spread of the disease was quite decisive. It announced a Janata curfew on the March 22, followed by a complete national lockdown from the midnight of March 24.

'Violation' of migrant workers' human rights: Legal notice to IIM-A director, govt babus

By Our Representative
Taking strong exception to the police action against protesting migrant workers off the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) on May 18, senior Gujarat High Court advocate Anandvardhan Yagnik, in a legal notice to the IIM-A director "on their behalf" has said that the workers had only been seeking to to go back to their home states, Jharkhand and West Bengal, for the last more than 20 days because they were not paid their “earned wages because of the lockdown.”

Counterview

Search This Blog