Skip to main content

Congress "lackadaisical": Gujarat farmer body says it failed to oppose new state land acquisition laws

Dholera region, a target of land acquisition in Gujarat
By Our Representative
In a surprise move, the powerful Gujarat farmers' body Jameen Adhikar Aandolan Gujarat (JAAG), has taken strong exception to the main opposition party in the state, Congress, for being completely “lackadaisical in discharging” its “constitutional duty” of standing farmers against the state government latest land acquisition moves.
This is for the first time that JAAG has made such a serious charge against the Congress.
Recently, JAAG emerged as perhaps the most important opponent of the special investment regions (SIRs) being set up across Gujarat, especially “rampant” land acquisition taking place in the garb of SIR by applying the town planning law. JAAG's struggle in North Gujarat two years ago forced he Gujarat government to downsize the SIR in Mandal-Bhechraji region from 46 villages to a mere eight.
More recently, the Gujarat government sought to acquire land for the 900 sq km Dholera SIR in Ahmedabad district, next to the Gulf of Khambhat, by applying the town planning law's provision, which allows the state to corner 50 per cent of farmers' land in the name of building infrastructure. JAAG's intervention has forced the authorities to put off the “backdoor” land acquisition, and stop the decision to remove Dholera SIR from the Narmada canal command area map.
The JAAG-Congress rift is particularly intriguing as it comes in in the wake of Congress' statements for land acquisition moves in the state assembly and outside. It has come against the backdrop of one of the two most important JAAG leaders, Lalji Desai, switching over to the Congress. The other important JAAG leader is Sagar Rabari. There is a distinct view that ever since Desai's exist, JAAG's campaigns against land acquisition have begun to see a lull.
A JAAG statement, forwarded to kafila.org, a left-wing blog site run from Delhi, says, while it condemned the Gujarat government for recent amendments to state land laws, it is “also mindful of the fact that the opposition (in this case the Congress) has a constitutional duty and people’s mandate to raise its voice whenever it perceives the government to be straying from its pro-people orientation.” The statement, interestingly, was not distributed to several of Gujarat's mediapersons.
JAAG's statement underlines, “The opposition Congres has a constitutional duty and people’s mandate to raise its voice whenever it perceives the government to be straying from its pro-people orientation. Sadly, we find the present Congress dispensation to be entirely laidback and lackadaisical in discharging this duty. We condemn the opposition in equal terms in failing to uphold its constitutional duty and in making the voice of the farmer, and the poor heard in the Assembly.”
JAAG's statement says that the Gujarat state assembly passed “controversial amendments” to four existing legislations – the Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948, te Saurashtra Gharkhed, Tenancy Settlement and Agricultural Lands Ordinance, 1949, the Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region and Kutch Area) Act, 1958, the Gujarat Agricultural Lands Ceiling Act, 1960.”
“The thrust of all amendments in the four legislations is to make transfer of land to industry and industrialists as easy as possible and at minimum cost to the purchasing industry/industrialist by legalizing any and all (past) illegalities on their part”, the statement says, without specifying how. It adds, “Not only that, pending legal cases are also to be deemed to have lapsed, bringing into question whether the phrase ‘rule of law’ holds meaning any longer.”
The statement says, “While deciding legality/validity or otherwise of questionable transactions, the government official (Collector/Mamlatdar) have been granted arbitrary powers of the highest degree. The government is also, by law, making it mandatory for itself to ‘rescue’ a rogue industrialist who fails in his/her undertaking to put up an industry and to compensate him/her ‘adequately and appropriately’.”
While the statement refuses to point towards what are its objections to the  amendments, and whether they are meant to undermine LAA, 2013, promulgated by the previous UPA government at the Centre, it comes at a time when Niti Ayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya, a well-known pro-Narendra Modi economist, has asked states to make their own laws so that LAA, 2013 is set aside.
"Tamil Nadu has a different law law in place since January 5, 2015. It has been almost 7-8 months, very few people knew about it. Tamil Nadu has, in fact, amended the 2013 Act and it applies to their state," Panagariya has said in an interview to CNBC TV18. Calling LAA, 2013 “draconian” as it would take 4-5 years for acquisition for public purpose, he insisted, "Other states could follow the same strategy".
When contacted, Shaktisinh Gohil, a senior Congress leader, told Counterview that the Congress' opposition to the Gujarat amendments clearly suggest why these had been made. “We have made our position very clear. Amendments are meant to allow industrialists to acquire land, which for years has been set aside for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other weaker sections. Most of such land was acquired applying the land ceiling law, but never transferred, but now the Gujarat government wants to give it to industry on a platter”, he insisted.
The JAAG statement has been reportedly signed by veteran human rights lawyer Girish Patel, well-known social scientists Achyut Yagnik and Ghanshaym Shah, environmentalists Anand Mazgaonkar, Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati, trade union activist Ashim Roy, women's rights activists Swati Desai and Trupti Shah, JAAG leader Sagar Rabari, among others.

Comments

TRENDING

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra*  The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara 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".

Victim of communal violence, Christians in Manipur want Church leadership to speak up

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  The first eleven days of May 2023 have, in many ways, been a defining period of Indian history! Plenty has happened in a rapid-fire stream of events. Ironically, each one of them are indicators of how crimes and the criminalisation of society has become the ‘new norm’; these include, the May Day rallies with a focus on the four labour codes which are patently against the rights of workers; the U S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its Annual Report on 1 May stating that conditions for religious freedom in India “continued to worsen in 2022”; the continued protest by the Indian women wrestlers at Jantar Mantar for the expulsion of the chief of the Indian Wrestlers Federation on very serious allegations; the Elections in Karnataka on 10 May (with communalism and corruption as the mainstay); the release of the fake, derogative and insensitive film ‘The Kerala Story’; the release of World Free Press Index on 3 May which places India

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Polygamy in India "down" in 45 yrs: Muslims' from 5.7 to 2.55%, Hindus' 5.8 to 1.77%, "common" in SCs, STs

By Rajiv Shah Amidst All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) justifying polygamy, saying it “meets social and moral needs and the provision for it stems from concern and sympathy for women”, facts suggest the the practice is down from 5.7 per cent of Muslim families in 1961 to 2.55 per cent in 2006.

Modi govt 'wholly untrustworthy' on Covid data, censored criticism on pandemic: Lancet

By Rajiv Shah*   One of the world’s most prestigious health journals, brought out from England, has sharply criticised the Narendra Modi government for being “wholly untrustworthy on Covid-19 health data”, stating, the “official government figures place deaths at more than 530 000, while WHO excess death estimates for 2020 and 2021 are near 4·7 million.”

Undermining law, breastfeeding? Businesses 'using' celebrities to promote baby food

By Rajiv Shah*  A report prepared by the top child welfare NGO, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), has identified as many as 15 offenders allegedly violating the Indian baby food law, the Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1992, and Amendment Act 2003 (IMS Act), stating, compliance with the law “seems to be dwindling by the day.”

Delhi demolitions for G-20 summit: Whither sabka saath, sabka vikas?, asks NAPM

By Our Representative  Well-known civil rights network, National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), even as expressing solidarity with “thousands of traumatized residents of Tughlakabad and some other bastis in New Delhi whose homes have been demolished and whose lives have been ravaged both prior to as well as in the lead-up to the G-20 Summit”, has said this is in utter disregard to “their minimum well-being and gross violation of their rights.”

'Misleading' Lancet estimates on zero food intake in infants, young children of India

By Srinivas Goli, Shalem Balla, Harchand Ram*  India is one of the world's hotspots for undernourished children, both in terms of prevalence and absolute numbers. Successive rounds of National Family Health Surveys ( NFHS ) have revealed that the progress observed since the early 1990s is far from what is expected when compared to the country's economic growth.

Greater reasons for Asia to unite than Europe, 'overcome' costly hostilities, political egos

By Dr S Faizi*  Europe, once a theatre of internecine wars, now has a robust European Union shaping the common destiny of its people. Although Europe is only a subcontinent of Asia as Arnold Toynbee had observed and as is visible to anyone looking at a map, we still not have a common Asian platform for economic and political cooperation.  It is high time Asia had its well mandated regional organisation to secure a common Asian future, ending the costly hostilities and political egos. We can have the Asian Union even when the bilateral hostilities, unique to Asia, refuse to go away completely.