Skip to main content

JICA hands over crucial bullet train report to Gujarat farmers, denied by Govt of India

JICA India office chief meeting farmers' representatives in Ahmedabad 
Chief representative of Japan International Co-operation Agency’s (JICA) India office Katsuo Matsumoto, who visited the office of senior Gujarat High Court advocate Anandvardhan Yagnik in Ahmedabad on August 30, has handed over a crucial report it had prepared on its December 8-9, 2018 meeting with Gujarat and Maharashtra farmers, affected by the high-profile Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, as also senior activists.
JICA, a Japanese government agency, is funding the proposed bullet train, considered a prestige project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It handed over the report to the Government of India’s special purpose vehicle, National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL), set up to implement the project. However, NHSRCL refused to make it public, saying it was a JICA “property” despite farmers’ repeated pleas.
The report, among other things, gives a detailed representation by Gujarat and Maharashtra farmers’ representatives, even as visiting sites in villages Amodpore in Navasari district, Ghildoi in Vaslad district and Kathor in Surat district, where about 500 farmers would be affected.
The common complaints of the farmers, according to the report, was that their lands were being “divided in two-three parts due to acquisition”, as a result of which the value of land of balance parcels “would go down”, creating “difficulties in irrigation and access for the farmer.”
Further, the report says, quoting farmers, that the “difference between jantri rate/circle rate (government rate of land for a particular area) and the market rate is 10 times”, and “compensation as per jantri rate at some spots is is Rs 22 lakh as against the market rate of Rs 2 crore.
As for Maharashtra, the report says, gram sabhas representatives of Palghat told that JICA team they had “denied permission and passed resolution stating that they are not in support of land acquisition and the project”, because it would “not benefit the people of the area, leading to land alienation, affects livelihood etc.”
The report also says, farmers apprehended they would not be able to utilize 30 metres plus row on both sides of the rail alignment, and though it would be utilized for future private development, “no compensation is offered for this portion.” Further, land is currently used for multiple crops and tree plantations, which yield after many years, yet “no compensation is offered” for this.
Then, the farmers complained that there would be “displacement of tribal agricultural workers”, as “no compensation” is being paid them, adding, before starting the land acquisition process, they were given just a couple of days for consultation instead of the “requirement of one month prior notice.” Further, notices and information shared in English, a language farmers could not comprehend.
Before handing over the report, JICA officials held a meeting, lasting for two hours, with Yagnik, Jayesh Patel, president, Gujarat Khedut Samaj (GKS), and two affected farmers, where the top JICA official is learnt to have accepted three fundamental  proposal of farmers:
  1. That by JICA's own guidelines and un-amended 2013 legislation, affected farmers and non-farmers must get compensation not at the rate of 2011 jantri but at the market rate of 2018-19 that must be revised.
  2. That social impact assessment under Indian laws must be undertaken so as to understand the impact of bullet train project, something the Gujarat government and the Government of India refused to do. 
  3. And that R&R of project affected people (PAPs) must take place as per JICA guidelines and the un-amended land acquisition Act, 2013 and provisions with regard to R&R entitlements should be adhered to
A note forwarded by Yagnik on the meeting said, JICA officials agreed that social impact assessment (SIA) under Indian laws must be undertaken so as to “understand the impact of bullet train project”, and a rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) of project affected people (PAPs) must be take place as per JICA guidelines and the un-amended land acquisition Act, 2013.
The JICA official was told that South Gujarat farmers affected by the project had “preferred” etitions before the Gujarat High Court challenging the land acquisition process initiated for the bullet train project.
At the same time, the note said, “incidental and ancillary issues” were raised before the JICA official “concerning the dilution of beneficial provisions of the Central land acquisition law by the state to the disadvantage of the farmers/landowners in order to implement the vanity project of bullet train.”
The note said, a thousand farmers had filed affidavits before the Gujarat High Court opposing the project, which is currently “pending delivery of judgment” and is “sub judice”, regretting, despite this, land acquisition for the project is being carried by by the government and NHSRCL “continued unabated” so as to “frustrate the rights of the affected landowners and farmers.”
As no corrective steps were taken by NHSRCL, the note said, Yagnik wrote to JICA in August 2019 on behalf of farmers seeking a copy of the report submitted to NHSRCL and steps taken by NHSRCL on it.
The note said, Yagnik and the farmers’ representatives told the JICA official that farmers’ grievances revolved around failure to do proper SIA, lack of provision for R&R entitlements and determination of compensation as per the present market value, guaranteed under the Central land acquisition Act, 2013, all of which was being sought to be scuttled by the state government.
The meeting ended with the JICA official submitted a copy of the report it had prepared and submitted to N, the note said, adding, the official “assured” that farmers’ fundamental grievances should be redressed before implementing the bullet train project.
---
Click HERE for JICA report submitted to NHSRCL 

Comments

TRENDING

World Hijab Day? Ex-Muslim women observe Feb 1 as No Hijab Day, insist: 'Put it on a Man'

I didn't know that there could ever be a thing as World Hijab Day until I received an email alert from Maryam Namazie of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), stating that several ex-Muslim women's groups had observed the same day—February 1—as No Hijab Day! According to Namazie, the day "was created on February 1 as a direct response to World Hijab Day" to "illuminate the coercive and oppressive realities of the hijab as a pillar of sex apartheid and a war on women."

Google powered AI refuses to correct grammar of a 'balanced' piece on Trump sending chained immigrants to India!

This is a continuation of my blog on how, while the start-up-developed AI app DeepSeek is being criticized for consistently rejecting content related to China or Maoism, there appears to be no mention in Western media about why another app, developed by the powerful Google, Gemini, remains silent on Indian political issues.  

5% poor in India? Union govt claim debunked, '26.4% of population below poverty line'

A recent paper, referring to the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022-23 of the Government of India (GoI), has debunked the official claim that poverty has substantially declined. Titled "Poverty in India: The Rangarajan Method and the 2022–23 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey", the paper —authored by scholars CA Sethu, LT Abhinav Surya, and CA Ruthu—states that "more than a quarter of India’s population falls below the poverty line."

Gujarat a police state? How top High Court advocate stunned a senior-most journalist

Rajdeep Sardesai, Anand Yagnik This is a continuation of my earlier blog on well-known journalist Rajdeep Sardesai's lecture in memory of the late Achyut Yagnik at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA). I was a little surprised when I received the intimation about the venue for the lecture.

How the middle classes are returning to the BJP fold, be it Delhi or Gujarat: Mahakumbh, Sitharaman's budget

Whatever reasons may be offered for the Aam Aadmi Party's defeat in Delhi—whether it was the BJP's promises of more freebies than AAP, the shedding of ultra-nationalist slogans, or the successful demolition of Arvind Kejriwal's "Mr. Clean" image—my recent interaction with a group of middle-class individuals highlighted a notable trend. Those who had just begun to sit on the fence were now once again returning to the BJP fold.

Why burn Manusmriti? Why not preserve it to demonstrate, display historicity of casteism?

In a significant Facebook post, Rana Singh, former associate professor of English at Patna University, has revealed something that few seem to know. Titled "The Shudras in Manusmriti", Singh says,  because Manusmriti is discussed so often, he thought of reading it himself. “This book likely dates back to the 2nd or 3rd century BCE, and the presence of contradictory statements suggests that it is not the work of a single author,” he says in his Facebook post in Hindi, written in 2022 and recently reshared.

Talking of increased corporate control over news, Rajdeep Sardesai 'evades' alternative media

When I received an intimation that well-known journalist Rajdeep Sardesai was to speak at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) on February 2, my instant reaction was: I know what he is going to say—his views are quite well known; he wouldn’t be saying anything new. Yet, I decided to go and listen to him to catch his mood at a time when the media, as he (and I) knew it, is changing fast due to the availability of new technological tools that were not accessible even a decade ago.

Trump’s research cuts 'may mean' advantage China: But will India leverage global brain drain to its advantage?

When I heard from a couple of NRI professionals—currently on work visas and engaged in research projects at American universities—that one of President Donald Trump's major policy thrusts was to cut federal funding to the country's top educational institutions, I was instantly reminded of what Prof. Kaushik Basu had said while delivering a lecture in Ahmedabad.

I'm flattered: A New York media house claims I was a KGB agent! Wow, I didn't know that

I was astonished, let me say pleasantly surprised, on receiving a comment by Rich TVX News  on my blog   "Why predictions of an imminent collapse of the Russian economy may be wrong" (January 28).  I don't know who wrote the strange comment from this "media house", which is based in New York, and claims to "hold sway not only among the masses but also within global corridors of power, influencing esteemed politicians and shaping international diplomacy, especially evident during pivotal events like the ongoing crisis in Ukraine."