Govt of India "declares": No land-based compensation to 38,000 Narmada dam oustees of Madhya Pradesh

By Our Representative
In a major admission, the Government of India has officially suggested that none of the 37,754 Madhya Pradesh families living in 192 villages, to be affected by the submergence because of the Narmada Dam in Gujarat, would be given land in lieu of land which they would lose.
In reply to a letter by Medha Patkar, leader of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) fighting for land rights for tens of thousands of oustees in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Gujarat, the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, has indicated that land as a form of compensation is being provided only to Maharashtra and Gujarat oustees.
The reply claims, the resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) package offered to the project affected families (PAFs) is more liberal than the one originally announced by the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT) Award for the Narmada project, worked out more than three decades ago.
The reply follows Patkar's letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding rehabilitation of all Narmada dam oustees in the three states before raising the dam height to 139 metres. The Prime Minister's Office forwarded the letter to the Ministry of Water Resources for reply.
The reply says, the Government of Maharashtra was "allotting one hectare (ha) of agricultural land free of cost to each landless oustee, and 2 ha of agricultrual land to major son and unmarried major daugthers to all category of oustees, besides a subsistence allowance of Rs 4,500 per oustee."
As for Gujarat government, the reply states, it is "allotting 2 ha of land to landless agricultural labourers, each major sons of all category of oustees with January 1, 1987 as cut-off date, and free core house/financial assistance of Rs 45,000 for construction of core house to the oustee families and their major sons."
However, if the reply is any indication, there is no, and would not be any, land-based compensation to the Madhya Pradesh oustees. Thus, the reply says, the Madhya Pradesh government has "increased" the rehabilitation grant from Rs 11,000 to Rs 18,700 for scheduled caste(SC)/schuedled tribe (ST)/landless agricultural labourers/small and marginal farmers, and from Rs 5,500 to Rs 9,350 for other labourers and landless families."
It further says, "The liberalization has also been made to purchase the productive assets. Accordingly, the amount to purchase the productive assets has been increased from Rs 29,000 to Rs 49,000 for SC/ST/landless agricultural labouers and from Rs 19,500 to Rs 33,150 for other labourers and landless families."
The reply does not mention any possibility of paying land compensation to the Narmada dam oustees. No reason for this has been given.
Rejecting the Ministry of Water Resources reply, the NBA has said, the so-called special rehabilitation package of Madhya Pradesh gives cash in lieu of land, promoted by the state government since 2001 and then 2005 "has resulted in a few thousand fake registries."
Pointing out that 686 of these have been admitted by the Madhya Pradesh government itself, NBA says,"Whatever number to be proved by the Jha Commision report is that of families who are yet to receive land. There are
hundreds of others who received only half of the cash but are demanding
land ready to return the cash."
The Jha Commission report, which is said to have endorsed large-scale corruption in rehabilitating oustees, has not been made public.
NBA underscores, "This has left thousands of families in Madhya Pradesh deprived of the same", and yet the Ministry of Water Resources reply has "no discussion of the same", adding, "Not more than 50 PAFs in Madhya Pradesh are allotted land in the state."
Even those who petitioned to courts for demanding land have not been provided with house plots in R&R sites "near their allotted agricultural land", NBA says, adding, "There are hundreds who are allotted house plots near the original village while land is 150 to 200 kms away! All of them continue to struggle, staying put in the original villages."
Critiquing even the "liberal R&R policy", NBA says, "What is not pointed out is that in Maharashtra as well as in the hilly communities of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, almost 100 per cent of PAFs are adivasis -- many of whom have been categorized as landless only since they don't have record of rights but hold and cultivate land."
The Ministry of Water Resources claims that of the total 45,496 PAFs to be rehabilitated, all but 310 are left out -- none in Madhya Pradesh, just eight in Gujarat and 302 in Maharashtra. Madhya Pradesh's 1,250 oustees, it adds, have het to be paid the second instalment the special rehabilitation package. The oustees already "resettled" are -- 37,754 in Madhya Pradesh, 4764 in Gujarat and 3878 Maharashtra.

Comments

Green revolution "not sustainable", Bt cotton a failure in India: MS Swaminathan

Counterview Desk
In a recent paper in the journal “Current Science”, distinguished scientist PC Kesaven and his colleague MS Swaminathan, widely regarded as the father of the Green Revolution, have argued that Bt insecticidal cotton, widely regarded as the continuation of the Green Revolution, has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers.
Sharply taking on Green Revolution, the authors say, it has not been sustainable largely because of adverse environmental and social impacts, insisting on the need to move away from the simplistic output-yield paradigm that dominates much thinking. Seeking to address the concerns about local food security and sovereignty as well as on-farm and off-farm social and ecological issues associated with the Green Revolution, they argue in favour of what they call sustainable ‘Evergreen Revolution’, based on a ‘systems approach’ and ‘ecoagriculture’.
Pointing out that Evergreen Revol…

World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

Some Hindu bodies in US defending BJP-RSS' divisive, violent activities: Agnivesh

Counterview Desk Last week, Washington DC saw speakers at a religious freedom roundtable, chaired by the US Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, express concern over "eroding" space for religious freedom in India. Dr Mike Ghouse, executive director, of the Center for Pluralism in Washington DC, referring to the roundtable, said in an email alert that Indian-Americans have "a moral duty to prevent India from being labeled as a Country of Particular Concern by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)".

Rejoinder: Inescapable to have Central Water Commission as strong technical body in India

By BN Navalawala*
This is with reference to Counterview Blog (December 5, 2018), "Modi govt 'shelves' water reforms report, shows 'no interest' in its recommendations", below mentioned are my comments/observations thereon:
A committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. Mihir Shah, Former Member, Planning Commission, for restructuring of Central Water Commission (CWC) and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) for optimal development of water resources in the country in the backdrop of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

Murder of Tamil Nadu teenage Dalit girl: "Stoic silence" despite #MeToo movement

Counterview Desk
Brinelle D'souza, who is with the Centre for Health and Mental Health, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, has prepared a strong statement to protest the brutal murder of 13-year-old Rajalakshmi. "Other than a few media reports, this gruesome killing has not caught national attention despite a very vibrant #MeToo campaign currently underway", regrets D'souza.

Preventing childhood deaths: India performs worse than Bangladesh, "equals" Pakistan

By Rajiv Shah
A just-released study, “The Pneumonia and Diarrhea Progress Report 2018”, prepared by the International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has identified India among 15 other countries which are still far off the mark in achieving the targets of the Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Pneumonia and Diarrhea (GAPPD).

60 ex-civil servants seek release of CAG reports on Rafale, demonetisation before 2019 polls

Counterview Desk
As many as 60 retired civil servants have asked President Ram Nath Kovind to expedite the release of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports on demonetisation and the Rafale deal. The letter, signed mainly by former Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Police Service officers, regrets that the status of the audit is "unclear”. According to them, “An impression is gaining ground that CAG is deliberately delaying its audit reports on demonetisation and Rafale deal till after the May 2019 elections so as not to embarrass the present government”.

India's rewritten textbooks talk of demerits of democracy, praise Hitler, underrate Mughals

Counterview Desk
A detailed, 3,800-word review of the books rewritten under directions of the BJP rulers across India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014 has suggested that one of aims of the books is to instill a sense of doubt about India’s democratic polity among the country’s young minds. Reviewed in the prestigious US journal, “The New York Review of Books”, in its latest issue (December 6, 2018) by Alex Traub, the scrutiny insists, the effort has also been to paint Indian history from the angle of “Hindu triumphalism”, even as creating “Islamophobia”.

Govt of India "tarnishing" NGO reputation, dossier leaked selectively: Amnesty

Counterview Desk
Amnesty International India has said that a deliberate attempt is being made to tarnish its reputation by leaking a dossier, supposedly made by investigating agencies, to media without giving it access to any such information. The high profile NGO’s claim follows a Times Now report about proceedings launched by investigative agencies, including Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the rights body for “violations” of rules pertaining to overseas donations.

Four children die after poor UP Dalit, Muslim families forced to flee to forest area: PVCHR

Counterview Desk
Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) has said that the forest department police’s crackdown, allegedly without any prior notice, on Dalit and Muslim households in Dakhin Tola, Churk Bazaar, Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh, beating up “children and old people, women, and men in an inhuman way”, has led to “forced displacement, starvation and discrimination”. This has reportedly affected about 350 people.

Counterview

Search This Blog