Skip to main content

90% of 50,000 Narmada dam oustees "await entitlement", allege protesting Madhya Pradesh farmers at Badwani

Medha Parkar leading agitation in Narmada valley, Madhya Pradesh
By Our Representative
The Madhya Pradesh government has “accepted” the demand to hold public hearing on the rehabilitation of tens of villages of Dhar and Badwani districts in Narmada valley ahead of any displacement orders due to the Narmada dam, currently under construction up to the full reservoir level of 138.64 metres.
Badwani district collector Ajay Singh Gangwar gave the assurance to the protesting farmers, fisherfolk , tribals and agricultural workers of Pichhodi, Bheelkheda, Kasravad, Dhanora, Chhota Barda and other villages, which have been allegedly “wrongly assessed” has having complied for rehabilitating them.
The protesters, who were led by Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar, said, resettlement sites were being prepared without obtaining legal mandate from the village panchayats, pointing out, 90 per cent of the 50,000 Narmada dam oustees, residing in their original villages, "await new entitlement".
The protesters, who had gathered at the district collector’s office in Badwani on February 9, sought the state government assurance that special gram sabha should be called in village before any rehabilitation plan was put forward.
“The district collector was told that, under the Panchayat Extension of Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, it is compulsory to call gram sabha in tribal dominated villages and consult all the villagers on issues related to land acquisition and rehabilitation”, an NBA communiqué issued after the protest said.
Protesters inside the district collector's office
“Other issues raised included the farmers’ right to optimum prices for the farm produce, the loot through the corporatized crop insurance scheme, compensation for the crop affected by natural calamities, forcible land acquisition, and diverting agricultural lands to the corporates”, the communiqué said.
“The farmers, said NAPM, did not want to give up their fertile lands of the Nimad region”, the communiqué said, adding, “Their problems have aggravated recently, it said, because of the untimely rain in 2014 and drought in 2015, as also virus on the chilly and banana plantations.”
“The compensation given by the government without timely, complete, and perfect valuation of losses has been in peanuts and has left out thousands of farmers in the lurch”, the communiqué said.
It pointed out, even the highly-publicized promise by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, of compensation of Rs 8,000 per hectare (ha) has not been fulfilled.
“The farmers deserve just and equal treatment quite like the corporates”, it insisted, adding, their demand is to raise the purchase price by Rs 2,200 per quintal for wheat, Rs 2000 per quintal for maize, jowar (millet), and bajra, and Rs 1000 per quintal for banana, papaya and other fruits.
A representation by the Jagrut Dalit Adivasi Sangathan said corporate favouritism stood in sharp contrast to “injustice” being meted out to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) labourers.
Medha Patkar appreciated the district collector’s three hour long patient hearing to hundreds of men and women along with the representatives of people on the issue of prices for agricultural produce and compensation.
This, she said, sharply contrasted to “slogan-mongering” Shivraj Singh Chohan government”, pointing out, he hoped that the collector would “take up all issues at state level and convey then to the chief minister.

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

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".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.