Please find here below the press release from BHOOMI – a Forum for Protection of Land
in India (FPLI) opposing Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) ordinance.
Bhoomi – a Forum for Protection of Land
in India (FPLI)
PRESS NOTE
New Delhi, India | 27 January 2015
The solidarity group resolved on 22nd
January 2015 at Visakhapatnam meet to call upon people of our country to oppose
and resist the undemocratic Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR)
ordinance to take away the democratic rights of the farmers, tribals given in
the Act 2013. The soul of the new Act was that the acquisition could not be
done without consent of 80% land owners and Social Impact Assessment on which
the public hearing was a must. But without consulting the public, people and
organizations, and political parties and Parliament members the Union
Government’s ordinance to end the democratic action of land acquisition process
is nothing but to establish despotic corporate rule in our country at the cost
of life and livelihood of millions of farmers, agriculture workers, Fishers,
Adivasis and Dalits.
This arbitrary anti-people decision is the gateway of corporate governance which will also mill the Forest Rights Act 2006 and the autonomy of Gram Sabha, PESA CRZ regulations, environment protection on laws by which the Fishers, Adivasis, Dalits all the marginalized people depending on natural resources like sea, forest, land of any category, rivers in name of so-called development. As main opposition party BJP had extended support to the LARR in two houses of parliament to be smoothly passed but its newly elected government did not hesitate to murder a democratic people’s law made after more than hundred people sacrificed their lives resisting forceful land acquisition under 1894 law. As a result of this ordinance, corporates will continue to take over the common people’s resources for their own growth in the name of nation development that will further aggravate the trend.
This arbitrary anti-people decision is the gateway of corporate governance which will also mill the Forest Rights Act 2006 and the autonomy of Gram Sabha, PESA CRZ regulations, environment protection on laws by which the Fishers, Adivasis, Dalits all the marginalized people depending on natural resources like sea, forest, land of any category, rivers in name of so-called development. As main opposition party BJP had extended support to the LARR in two houses of parliament to be smoothly passed but its newly elected government did not hesitate to murder a democratic people’s law made after more than hundred people sacrificed their lives resisting forceful land acquisition under 1894 law. As a result of this ordinance, corporates will continue to take over the common people’s resources for their own growth in the name of nation development that will further aggravate the trend.
It is an attack on constitutional fundamental
rights of the people of our country who have right to resources for secured
life and livelihood with dignity guaranteed by the constitution. Unless and
until we resist this corporate fascist move to handover our resources to the
corporates of gluteal imperialism and build united struggle to make our polity
and development model free from corporate power, our great constitution will be
irrelevant. So to campaign and resist all the anti-corporate and anti-communal
people’s organizations and democratic movements have to come together to
discharge a historical responsibility for a rational struggle for
reconstruction of sovereign, socialist, democratic and republic and secular
nation as per the preamble of our constitution.
We call upon on all the organizations and
alliances to protest the ordinance and force the government to withdraw it as
well as appeal to the members of Parliament irrespective of political parties
to force the central government to withdraw it. We also call upon the various
communities to pass resolutions in the gramsabhas against the draconian LARR
ordinance as well as to protest in state, district and village levels to
establish democratic right.
A massive campaign for awareness and mass
protest rallies will be organized to demonstrate the people’s power to reclaim
and protect the rights as ensured in the constitution.
On behalf of BHOOMI:
Wilfred Dcosta
Alliances & Linkages Convenor
