An Appeal for Unconditional and Immediate Release of Sheila Didi

To:

Chairperson,
The National Commission for Women

Dear Madam,

Sheila Didi is a popular women's activist among the most deprived women of Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, and Bihar. She was the former President of Nari Mukti Sangh, Bihar.

Sheila Didi was arrested on 7 October 2006 at Aamjhor Village under the police limits of Lathikata, Sundargarh district of Orissa. The police fabricated cases against her in the name of waging war against the state. After the arrest they immediately shifted her to a nearby CRPF camp where she was tortured physically and psychologically for two days. Later she was produced before a magistrate court which allowed four more days of police custody. She was once again tortured physically and psychologically. She sustained injuries on forehead and stomach during the police torture. The police brutally tortured her constantly by inflicting severe blows on her legs and the soles of her feet. The police, after blindfolding her, kept on shifting her from one place to the other. She was interrogated by the teams of police from West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Since then she has been incarcerated in Rourkela prison. Her health has deteriorated as she has been denied any medical care. She hasn't been given even a pen or a sheet of paper, let alone books or periodicals to read. After she was given bail in all existing cases on 11th July 2007 she was arrested again as soon as she came out of prison with more cases being foisted on her.

Sheila Didi belongs to a poor Adivasi family. A woman of courage and conviction, she was convinced about the need for building up a strong women's movement as she realized that women in our country had to fight every step for their rights and freedom, to do away with the customs and traditions that treat her as an inferior being, a second class citizen. The founding of Nari Mukti Sangh along with a host of other women was the result of this realization.

Soon this organization developed into a strong women's organization. Thousands of the most deprived women today are conscious about their rights. This organization has been consistently fighting all forms of patriarchy while at the same time resisting any kind of exploitation, domination or discrimination. Hundreds of women, along with Sheila Didi have become literate in the due course of empowerment of this real and genuine movement.

The condition of women in our country is so pathetic and wretched that if they stand on their own legs in order to move ahead in their lives, patriarchic oppression along with all kinds of attacks of the contemporary society will brow beat them to submission. It is in this context that Sheila Didi has evolved as a valiant and uncompromising leader of the oppressed women and waged several struggles for the betterment of their lives in these regions. It is highly deplorable and is a grim reflection of all of our sensitivity that this women's activist who has emerged from the most oppressed rungs of Adivasi life and who worked day in and out to awaken thousands of oppressed women, has been incarcerated in the jail.

We the undersigned demand that Sheila Didi be released immediately and unconditionally. In this context we urge you to intervene immediately and ensure that she receives proper medical care and relief. We also demand that she be treated as a Political Prisoner as she has been arrested and incarcerated for her convictions to fight for women's rights.

In this connection, we also appeal to all democratic, civil and human rights organizations, women's organizations, youth and students organizations, workers' and democratic individuals to raise their voice against the continued incarceration of this senior women's activist while demanding for her unconditional release.

Please sign the petition by clicking the foolowing link.Do circulate this link widely after you sign.

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/didi123/petition.html

By -- Vasantha

ARREST OF ACTIVIST SAROJ MOHANTY

AN URGENT APPEAL
17 July 2007

Saroj Mohanty, poet and long-time activist with Prakrutik SampadSurakhya Parishad (PSSP), which has over 15 years been opposing theentry of large bauxite mining companies in Kashipur, has beenarrested. Saroj was picked up at a railway station in RayagadaDistrict, on Saturday, 14 July. He is currently in judicial custody inRayagada district jail.The charges against him are completely fabricated but serious. Thesecharges include section 395 of the IPC (Dacoity), section 397 (Robberyor dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt), and section450 (House trespass with intention to commit offence that ispunishable with imprisonment for life).

These absurd charges against Saroj, stem from attempts in late 2004 bythe mining company UAIL and the Orissa government, hell-bent onpushing theproject for bauxite mining through, to undermine theresistance to the project by slapping false cases on the leadershipand mass base of PSSP. The intense protests by the people was met bysevere repression, harassment and arrests, which continues to thisday. As part of the continuing repression carried out at the time, anumber of PSSP activists and ordinary people were falsely charged.

Among them was Saroj Mohanty.Prior to his intense involvement as senior activist with the strugglesof the adivasi people of Kashipur region, Saroj Mohanty was activewith the anti-liquor movement in Sambalpur district as soon as hecompleted his MA in Political Science from Sambalpur University . He has been a student leader throughout his college and university years.

He is a well-known progressive Oriya poet and intellectual and iscurrently the Editor of the respected journal Anvesha. Anvesha hasbeen a forum for rich debate on questions pertaining to development, industrialization and other important socio-economic issues of ourtime.

The arrest of Saroj Mohanty at this time constitutes a setback to themovement in Kashipur and to movements that are erupting all over thecountry against the plunder of people's resources, lands andlivelihoods by large industry. It is an increasingly alarming trendthat activists and movements struggling for preservation of people'slives and livelihoods are being ruthlessly targeted physically and bythe use of law.

This is an urgent appeal to you/ your organization to join the manyvoices demanding his release and that these fabricated cases againstSaroj and other activists of PSSP Kashipur be withdrawn.A protest programme demanding his release is being organized on 21July in Bhubaneshwar in front of RAJ Bhavan, the Governor's Residencefrom 10 am onwards.

We request you to lend your solidarity and raiseyour voice byparticipating in the programme; organize protest programmes in yourown city on that date; write to the Chief Minister and Governor,Orissa demanding that Saroj be released. The suggested draft of themail is at the end of this letter. You can change it in your own waytoo. Do send a copy to kashipursolidarityi ndelhi@yahoo. com.

In solidarity, Ranjana Padhi, Nagraj Adve, Madhumita Dutta, D Manjit and Arun BidaniFor Kashipur Solidarity Group

Shri Naveen Patnaik
Chief Minister of Orissa
Tel. No.(O) 0674 2531100,
Fax no. 0674 2535100,
Email: cmo@ori.nic. in

Shri Rameshwar Thakur
GovernorPhone 0674-2536111
Fax 0674-2536582

An Open Letter to All

Dear friends,
Namaskar.
DILSE campaign ki vastugat sthiti aur arajakta ko samne lane ke liye HARSH ke nam ek khula patra dete hue mai ek imandar uttar ki ummeed kar raha tha par abtak jawab me jo khamoshi hai usse zahir hota hai ki HARSH ko yah ehsas hai ki unki pratishtha kafi kam ya Shayad khatm ho chuki hai.
Mai yah spasht kar dena chahta hun ki is patra ke peechhe mera maqsad kisi vyakti vishesh ke viruddh abhiyan chalana nahi balki beghar bachchon aur auraton ke nam par AIF, DELHI GOVT., JAMEEYAT aur anya sroton se jo sarvjanik dhan aa raha hai, uske durupyog ko rokna aur DILSE campaign ko bachana hai.
Mujhe is bat par hairani hai ki 02 july,2007 se lagatar mere pas dhamki bhare gupt phone calls aa rahe hain aur yah kaha ja raha hai ki mai apna patra wapas le lun warna mera future tabah kar diya jaega. Mai in phone calls ka vivran upar karne ki koshish kar raha hun.
Yah mera dridh nishchay hai ki mai apni bat ko wapas nahi loonga . Hona to yah chahiye ki jinhen patra ki sachchai par bharosa nahi ho pa raha we swayam Sarai Basti hostel jakar wahan ki halat dekhen
aur doosre sabhi mamlon ke bare me purane sathiyon se bat Karen. Wastutah jitne bade paimane par gadbadiyan hain, patra se kewal unka aabhas-bhar ho sakta hai. Kya AIF ya doosre organizations ko, jo is abhiyan ko dhan muhaiya kara rahe hain, in mamlon ki sachchai ka pata nahi lagana chahiye ?
Ant me fir se usi bat par wapas aate hue kahna chahta hun ki mai apni bat par atal hun aur jinhen patra par bharosa nahi hai we samne aakar meri baton ko galat sabit Karen.
Aadar sahit,
Abhishek Sharma
Aman Sathi,
Aman Biradari, Delhi.
Email-asdilse@gmail.com
Mob-9312364054.

LSM leader was ordered to quit from 4 districts of Gujarat by Narmada Collector;

Dear Friends, Leader of Lok Sangharsh Morcha Bhikhu Bhai Tadvi was ordered byNarmada district Collector to quit his home district Narmada for twoyears. This order applies to the nearby districts of Vadodara, Surat,and Bharuchh. Bhikhu Bhai is a popular Tribal leader and Nationalsecretaries of LSM, with no criminal background whatsoever. He hasbeen erroneously charged for instigating the tribal for spreadingNaxalite activities in the area.As you might be knowing that LSM held its National Conference (17-18March, 07) recently at Sagbara (Gujarat) which was attended by 45thousand Tribal and other deprived people from across the country.Several national leaders from left and democratic forces addressed theconference. Bhikhu Bhai was prominent amongst the organizers.Friends, this has not happened for the first time with LSM leaders.You are aware that Suman Bhai Vasawa president of the Gujarat unit ofLSM was arrested by Gujarat police in year 2006 under PASA a draconianlaw, like TADA, on some false allegations. He was released after 50days in detention. About 5 thousand workers of LSM were arrested whilecelebrating the birth anniversary of Shahide- Azam Bhagat Singh on 28September 2006 at Dediapada in Gujarat. The public meetings organizedby LSM have been banned several times by Gujarat police in the past.On the one hand LSM is gaining more popularity and overwhelmingsupport from Tribal community in south Gujarat; on other hand theGovernment of Gujarat is continuously attacking and indulging in falsecases against the leaders of LSM in a desperate fashion.Villagers of Halgampadi, talluka- Sagbara were attacked on 7th July,07 by Gujarat police and forest officials during the cultivation oftheir land. Many have been severely injured including dozen of women.Among the injured villagers are Mangalaben Sunil, indiraben chhagan,kamlaben ravidas, gujraben kusa, gulwantiben geba, ukariben kuwanrSingh, minaxiben dasarath, shakuntalben kamlesh, segiben govind,jamunaben anand, Vijay Singh jatriya, dasarath lama, santosh nonsingh, arvind kochya, chhagan rupji.As you all aware the assembly election is being scheduled for themonth of Number-December 2007. LSM has already made the call to allits allies and the people to defeat the anti-democratic communalgovernment currently in powerWe would like to request you kindly write a protest letter toGovernment of Gujarat, the Governor of Gujarat and District Collectorof Narmada to stop the repression continuing on tribal as well aswithdrawal of action taken by Narmada district collector against Bhikhu Bhai immediately.

Governor's Email--- Phone /Fax No- 079-23260110/23243171-172-173
Chief Minister's Email?mail@narendramodi.org Fax No.?079-23222101/23222020District
collector Narmada?Fax No.?02640-222161Telephone No.?02640-222171

With regards,
Ambarish Rai Pratibha Shinde
President Gen.Secretary

LOK SANGHARSH MORCHA

An Open Letter to Harsh and all concern persons

Aadarneey Harsh Sir,
Namaskar.

Yah sambhavtah mera antim patra hi hoga aapke liye kyonki aap jante hain Aman Biradari me jis tarah ke haalaat hain usme kisi seedhe-sachche aadmi ke liye na to pahle kam ke anukool sthitiyan thi aur na ab hai. Maine apne warishth sahkarmiyon ko jis bhayanak manahsthiti se guzarte aur aakhirkar apne sabse pasandeeda kam se khud ko alag karte dekha hai mai shayad uspar vishvas bhi nahi kar paata agar mera apna anubhav usse kuchh behtar hota.
Aapke saath judte waqt jis aadarsh ko maine apne jeevan ka aakashdeep banaya tha use khud aapne aur aapki chatukar mandali ne dharashayee kar diya hai. Aapke akushal margdarshan, nishthavan sathiyon ke sath chhal, keertan karne wale karmiyon ki taazposhi, sadak ke bachchon ke sath dhokha karne ki neeyat ( jo Sarai Basti ke anubhav ne sabit kar hi diya hai –(1) ki jo khana aapne sadak ke bachcho ko khilaya waisa khana aap apne bachcho ko kabhi nahi khila sakte the (2) Sarai Basti hostel ka ab ek saal poora hone wala hai par aajtak padhai-likhai, khel-kood, recreation, counseling, drug de-addiction jaisi gatividhiyan shuru nahi ho payi.(3) aaj tak hostel me sabhi buniyadi suvidhaen muhaiya nahi karai gayi jaise paani, toilet, bathroom, medicine wagairah. Jin bachchon ka swasthya zyada bigad gaya , jo ki hona hi tha, unse pind chhudane me hi aap aur aapki mandali apni qabiliyat dikhati rahi- kai bachchon ko aapne baal sudhar grihon me bhijwa diya pata nahi unme se kitne aaj jeevit bache hain.)
Maine hamesha yahan yahi dekha ki kabhi bhi karmiyon ko samay par mandey nahi diya gaya,jabki aap hamesha yah batate rahe ki AIF, DELHI GOVT. JAMAYATE-ULEMA-E-HIND se hame bharpoor paisa mil raha hai .Mai to fir bhi naya tha par mere purane sathi bhi kabhi yah jan nahi sake itna sara paisa aakhir kahan aur kaise kharch ho raha hai. Mujhe to kewal 2000 rs milte the par yahan tamam puraane sahkarmi jo Post Graduate the ya hain aur jinme se kuchh ke parivar bhi hain jo delhi me kiraye par rahte hain, ko kewal 5000 rs me 18-20 ghante kam karate hue bhi janwaron jaisa salook karma aapke nyaypoorn aur manveey duniya banana ke abhiyan ka kaun sa chehra hai yah aap hi behtar jante honge .
April ke maheene me , mai kabhi bhool nahi sakta,1 poorva Aman Sathi dwara ek 5 maheene se garbhavati,2 saal ke bachche wali nirashrit aurat ko Sarai Basti hostel me aashray dene par aapne jis tarah ka toofan khada kiya tha aur us saathi ko bagair sans tak lene ka mauka diye yah kaha tha ki us aurat ko fauran bahar nikalo usne mujhe hi nahi sare sathiyon ko dahla diya tha. Aapne aisi sthiti bana di thi jiske karan antatah us aurat ko dubara sadak par jana pada.Bachhon ki duhai dekar jo aashray aapne hasil kiya hai wahan se 2 saal ke us museebatzada bachche ko nikalne me aapne sari seemaen par kar li.Us aurat ka kya hua yah to pata nahi han un sathi ko aapne zaroor sangathan chhodne ko majboor kar diya jinki ekmatra galati yah thi ki we aapki tarah kathni kuchh aur karni kuchh ke siddhant se samjhauta karne ki bajay mit jana achchha samajhte the.
Aap jo soochna ke adhikar/gareebon ke adhikar/rozgar ke adhikar……..ke liye bat karte hain,aapse yah sawal hona chahiye ki jo log aapke saath 2 sal se /tak kam karte rahe unki sewa sharten kya hain/thi ?Yah spasht kyon nahi hai ?Kya kewal is bat ki suvidha ke liye nahi ki aap jab chahen kisi ko bula kar nikal saken? Maine suna hai ki Aman Biradari ek Trust hai.Kya aapne kabhi is Trust me Sewa-Sharton par bat/bahas ki ?Kya aap yah bata pane ki sthiti me hain ki Aman Biradari me sewa sambandhi sare nirnay kis prakriya ke tahat liye jate hain ?
8 maheenon ka mera jo anubhav hai usme mere liye ekmatra santosh hai ki maine bachchon ke sath kam kiya. Iske alawa daftar aur aapke prashashan ka anubhav nirantar yantrana dene wala raha. Sangathan ka prashashanik dhancha ekdam a-spasht hai. Sare nirnay jo Aman Biradari me hote hain- kya CES me tay hote hain ya kahi aur liye jate hain ? Is sambandh me koi pardarshita kyon nahi hai ?
Pichhle dino aap un sare logon ko jo field me kam karte rahe hain/the a-sthir karte rahe hain- tabadala karte rahe-sangathan se nikalne ko majboor karte rahe-yah karte hue kya aapne ek bar bhi un bachchon ke bare me socha jinke sath sambandh banane me salon ka waqt laga ?
Aapke sath ek to wah team thi-10-12 logon ki jisne sangathan ko khada kiya- doosri taraf ek bilkul nayi team hai jise aapne prashashak ki bhoomika me khada kar diya aur we baqi logo ko hankte-hankte sangathan se bahar tak hank aae ! Taajjub hai aap samoohikta ki bhi bat karte hain ! Lakh joojhne ke bawazood Aman Sathi ye nahi jan sake ki unki kanooni haisiyat is sangathan me kya hai-bhageedar ki- naukar ki ya kuchh aur ?
Aapke bat karne ka tareeka kabhi ek nahi raha . Kabhi aap akele bulakar bat karte hain, kabhi aapka prashashan akele bulakar bat karta hai-mujhe lagta hai ki ye sari baten sarvajanik mahatva ki hain, atah inhen logon ke samne aani chahiye . Aapko yah tay karna chahiye ki jo kam aap nahi kar sakte –ya nahi kar pa rahe hain, use aap nahi karenge . Aap adhik se adhik ek aksham prashashak ho sakte hain jisne cheezon ko uljha diya . Aap bataen ki vigat 2 sal me aap kitni baar bachchon ke beech shareerik roop se upasthit hue ? 8 maheeno ke darmyan aap mere field me kewal ek bar hi aae .
Kahne ko to itni baten hain ki ……… …par mai samajhta hun iska koi asar nahi honewala hai kyonki jahan agende par jhooth, swarthparta, chatukarita pahle se prathmikta ke sath upasthit ho wahan ek adna aadmi kya kar paega…………..kya kar paya hai aajtak?
Saartah itna kahoonga ki mai ab aage us andhi gali me jane se inkar karta hun jisme aap sambhavnasheel naujawanon ki ek peedhi ko, aur beghar-besahara bachchon ki sambhavnaon ko dhakelte hue liye ja rahe hain is vishvas ke saath ki aapke maseeha banne me ye qurbaniyan zaroori hain . Aapki yah jeet aapko mubarak ho………..Mai is campaign(?) se khud ko poorntaya alag kar raha hun.
Ant me mai aapse is bat ke liye mafi chahta hun ki mai ye patra sarvajanik kar raha hun . Par meri sadichchha is campaign ko bachane ki hai , isliye aisa karna meri majboori hai . Ek aam aadmi ke pas vuirodh ka isse ahimsak tareeka kya ho sakta tha ?
Saadar,
Abhishek Sharma
Aman Sathi.

Email-asdilse@gmail.com
Mob-9312364054.

A women facing death sentence

An Open Letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeking legalassistance for the young Sri Lankan woman facing the death sentence by beheading in Saudi Arabia

Dr. Palitha
T.B. Kohona,
Secretary / Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Republic Building,Colombo 01, Sri Lanka.

Dear Dr. Kohona,
Re Rizana Nasik of Mutur--
the young girl facing death sentence by beheading:
Matter relating to legal assistance for her appeal.

I am sure you are aware of the death sentence pronounced on Rizana Nasik of Mutur by a Court in Saudi Arabia and who is now awaiting thedeath sentence. She still has time for filing an appeal which has tobe done soon. We have been informed that the Ministry of ForeignAffairs has been in contact with Rizana Nasik's family in Mutur. This family belongs to the lower income group and is totallyunable to meet the cost of litigation which according to your embassy sources in Saudi Arabia amounts to about Rs. 600,000. We alsounderstand that the father of Rizana Nasik has met Foreign Ministryofficials in Colombo and has already explained to them that thefamily does not have means to contribute to this appeal.

We also understand that the Sri Lankan embassy in Saudi Arabia hasalready made representations to the Ministry of Foreign Affairsrequesting funds to enable filing of this appeal. There also seems tobe good grounds for appeal since the entire case had been conducted in a language not understood by her and also without any meaningful interpretation provided to her. She had also not been legally represented at the trial. She is also quite young and is said to haveleft for employment a few months ago when she was only about 17 years of age. Furthermore the totality of evidence against her is supposedto be a confession which she had later withdrawn. In a foreign country under such circumstances and being of such young age, it isquite possible that she may have made the confession under duress.

Nonetheless, such defenses are hardly of much use within the legalsystem of Saudi Arabia. A Sri Lankan citizen--particularly ofthat young age--facing a criminal trial carrying the possibilityof the death sentence which within the particular jurisdiction is carried out rapidly Rizana Nasik would have deserved legal assistancefrom the embassy of her country from the very beginning. However, evenat this late stage, the Government of Sri Lanka owes it to this youngSri Lankan citizen to rapidly intervene and assist her. According tointerviews in the media, it appears that what prevents granting herlegal redress is some rule, regulation or policy that seems to denylegal assistance by the Sri Lankan Government to Sri Lankans migrating to other countries who are accused of criminal charges. I am sure you would agree that there is no legal basis to withdraw theprotection that the government of a particular country owes to itscitizens in this manner. Particularly, migrant workers who leave their countries for employment should not be deprived of legalprotection merely because they are accused of some crime. As you areaware, the Sri Lankan Constitution recognizes the presumption ofinnocence of a person until proven guilty.

It is hardly necessary to remind you of the fate of 4 other SriLankans who were beheaded recently--one of whom was in factsentenced only for 15 years of rigorous imprisonment. Even when thatmatter was being publicly discussed, Sri Lankan embassy officials in Saudi Arabia made promises to provide legal assistance to enablethese 4 persons to reviews their cases even at that last stage. The President of the country at the time, Chandrika Kumaratunga made apublic statement, which was published on the front page of some newspapers, that she will directly intervene with His Royal Highnessof Saudi Arabia to seek pardon on behalf of these 4 persons. The present President as Prime Minister then and later as President alsomade several public statements assuring that all attempts would be made to assist the 4 persons facing death sentence. However, when thedeath sentence was in fact carried out, no one--including embassyofficials in Saudi Arabia--was aware of it.

We are writing this to bring to your kind notice the pitiful plight of this young woman and to urge you to take all appropriate actionsto ensure that she will be provided with legal assistance to enableher to file this appeal. We also urge you to review any rule,regulation or policy that may exist obstructing the granting of protection owing to such a citizen.


Please sign the petition immediately to save Rizana at the following link:http://www.petitiononline.com/rizana1/petition.html

We hope that you will graciously and expeditiously intervene in thismatter.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,
Moon Jeong Ho
Programme Officer,
Urgent Appeals Desk.
Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong

Sardar Sarovar Rehabilitation: The Biggest Land Scam Exposed

Land deals worth crores of rupees are investigated and found to be fake, in the case of rehabilitation work with Sardar Sarovar Dam affected families. A lobby of corrupt officials, some local advocates and a few villagers has conspired with support from the politicians to empty the state exchequer over the last few years. This has cheated the affected farmer families and expropriated the money exchanged in the name of rehabilitation. At least 150 registries are located and investigated by Andolan members, farmers who have stuck to principle & remained faithful & truthful, to find the horrifying story of fake sellers, fake survey numbers and false deeds signed by registrars with even fake witnesses. In the village of Udaipur, tehsil-Jhirnya (district-Khargaon), a non-adivasi seller who is neither a resident nor even existent, as appears to be. In some cases, Government land is sold out as 'private' & in others, the survey number is itself false & hence land is non-existent. (DETAILS PREPARED ON EXCEL FILE CAN BE SEND ON REQUEST BY E-MAIL) The Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal Award (NWDTA) has provided for land-based rehabilitation of every farmer family who is to lose more than 25% of land due to Sardar Sarovar Dam. M.P. Government never offered any cultivable land, violated the law and instead passed orders under newly introduced policy measures that cash may be paid in lieu of land. While Gujarat & Maharashtra Government have been compelled to offer & allot land to the oustees, even if after much struggle, M.P., the state with maximum submergence and related displacement, has absolutely refused to follow law. The Illegal payment of cash was used as a tool to lure people to sign off their right & claim - 'land for land.' The indebted farmers in the plains of Nimad were also told by the 'agents' that they can get pure cash without even actually buying land; no doubt one or two lakhs out of 5.5 lakhs compensation per person was pocketed by them. Moreover, when the odd rule of the Government required that the On the other hand, those who paid a signing amount as advance couldn't get the second installment & hence lost the amount when the conditional time limit put forth by the seller got over. This was seen as an opportunity by the corrupt officials, their agents-advocates to pull the family into resorting to false registries with no land in hand & only getting cash, to be expensed soon. The Project Affected Families are thus losing and much of cash in the same and will come out a pauper. Moreover, they would be proved criminal when the real owner didn't desire to sell his land but same was undertaken with false photo and signature put up by the agents. A few of the affected families were also jailed to save the real culprits following which a few FIRs are filed by the cheated farmers. When Shunglu Committee, 2006 (appointed by Prime Minister) chaired by the former Comptroller & Auditor General of India was assigned the task of investigation into R&R in Sardar Sarovar, he was briefed by none else but Prof. Upendra Baxi, Advocates Sanjay Parikh, Prashant Bhushan and a team of NBA activists along with affected people, giving few examples. But OSG Report (By Shunglu and others) kept mum. Moreover, the NCA, Central authority too didn't take up the task of enquiry, nor did GRAs take cognizance of our complaint. This encouraged the expropriators to continue the open loot. The Government of M.P. and the Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) has been reporting to the Centre as well as the apex court that out of about 4,000 farmers who accepted the special cash package (SRP), about 2,500 farmers have purchased land and hence SRP is proved to be successful. They sold this argument to Shunglu Committee as well as the Grievance Redressal Authority chaired by a former judge. NBA AND THE AFFECTED PEOPLE CONTINUED TO BRING OUT THE FACT THAT THERE ARE STILL MORE THAN 40,000 FAMILIES (2 LAKHS PLUS PEOPLE) IN THE SSP SUBMERGENCE AND NOT LESS THAN 10,000 FAMILIES WILL BE ENTITLED TO LAND. When there is no land available and private land is not purchased by M.P. Government; Maharashtra too has left out more than 1,000 adivasi families till date; Gujarat is refusing to change uncultivable lands allotted, thousands of families are to face landlessness against the law and judgments. The tragedy, however, is that the apex court also does not question the illegal policy of SRP and stop the practice with urgency. Today, the falsehood of data, based on false registries, presented in affidavits, also brings in the charge of perjury against the State authorities. Through the pending petitions by the affected people, including the contempt of court petition against Chairpersons of NVDA and NCA, legal action will have to be taken further. One more petition before the Supreme Court is filed by ten eminent persons as concerned citizens questioning SRP, which is being pleaded by Prof. Baxi himself. The petitioners include Sri. Kuldip Nayyar, Smt. Aruna Roy, Swami Agnivesh, B.D. Sharma, Ramaswamy Iyer, Harsh Mandar and others. Having exposed the massive corruption and the illegality leading to serious violations of human rights, the farmers themselves have now begun filing FIRs against the betrayers. .Will there be an immediate and impartial enquiry into the scandal?.Beyond 39 officials-employees were suspended for corruption, will others-Land Acquisition & Rehabilitation officers, Bank officials, Registrars to Collectors and Advocates, who all are involved, be put behind bars? .Will the illegal policy of paying cash instead of land be withdrawn?.Will the cheated farmers and adivasis, who remained untouched by lure and scare be provided land?.Will the Centre and its authorities and also the Judiciary realize that they too were cheated through false reports and affidavits and take due legal action? .Will there be realization that big dams, whether Tehri or Narmada, are monuments of corruption more than a progress and look up to the alternatives? We hope all our supporters and conscientious citizens, media persons will raise the issues and help us to get the guilty punished.


By
Ashish Mandloi Ramesh Yadav Ranvirsingh Tomar Dayaram Patel Devendsingh Tomar Medha Patkar

CHAURI-CHAURA DECLARATION

Land, Dignity and Freedom footmarch which covered around 140 villages, 7 urban slum in four districts of Maharajganj, Kushingar, Deoria and Gorakhpur district, It started from Tilakwania village in Ghughali town of Maharajganj district on June 1st, 2007 and culminated at Chauri Chaura on June 22nd, 2007 with a total of 370 kilometers. Organised by Uttar-Pradesh Land Alliance and led by Shri Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Director, Social Development Foundation, Delhi, the Padyatra raised the issue of hunger, land, water and sustainable development. Nearly 20 Padyatris including women and girls from the marginalised sections of society walked this distance in scorching heat for full 22 days. It raised the issue of the failure of the previous government to deal with the issue of livelihood of marginalised communities and their continuous marginalisation through hunger, malnutrition, poverty and depression. It also voiced its concern over growing communalisation process as well as spreading of superstition among the poorer sections of society. At many places the marchers spoke to small gatherings, met people, visited affected areas and conducted social audits of schemes like NREGA.

At the culmination of 22 days padyatra at Chauri Charua, we demand the following :

1. The government must take special measures to improve the condition of Mushahars, Rajbhars, Bansfors, Nonias, Machchuaras, Dom, Swachchakars, Pasis and Chamars. These communities are living in abysmally degrading conditions and need special measures.

2. In the Eastern Uttar-Pradesh the Sand Mafias are controlling the rivers like Chhoti Gandak, Gurra, Rapti and Ghaghara. The mechanised sand mining has resulted in soil erosion by these rivers during monsoon. Thousands of hectare of land has turned infertile. In Brahmapur region Rapti has destroyed Ranapar area. In Kaptanganj and Ramkola towns in Kushinagar district are facing severe soil erosion due to sand mining. We demand immediate halt of mechanised sand mining and ask the government to allow the fishworker to do the same but government should fix up a limit for the same.

3. In many villages of Eastern Uttar-Pradesh powerful local people have illegaly grabbed the land
given to Dalits and Most backward communities. In many villages, the Dalits are not even allowed passage to move out. Government must ensure that every person live with dignity at his/her land that every one has a right to access road in his/her house.

4. The Sugar factories and distillaries in Ramkola, Kaptanganj, Deoria, Rudrapur, Sardarnagar
are throwing chemical waste in the rivers like Chhoti Gandak, Rapti, Amy and Gurra resulting in heavy pollution in the rivers. The fishworkers are facing hunger as the fish catch is almost nill. Apart from this, the waste has spilled over to a vast agricultural land turning them completely barren and dangerous. The ground water in most of the eastern UP town is contaminated which is a severe threat to public health. We demand immediate action against these factory/mill owners and ask the government to compensate the farmers who have lost their land to these mills. The Pollution Control board should be asked to explain as why they continue to allow such hazards industries to run.

5. In Kushingar and Gorakhpur the condition of National Employment Guaranttee Scheme is a matter of grave concern. It has not been implemented accordingly. We found work being done through tractors and people without work despite having the valid card. The scheme seems to have failed because of the connivance between the village Pradhans and block officials. We demand severe action against erring officials to implement the scheme and ask the government to form a monitoring and evaluating committee which should include civil society representatives.

6. In Poorvanchal, we found lot of discrepency in the distribution of ration cards. Those who should have been eligible for the cards have not got it while others have got it. We demand strong action the Sarpanches and officials who are involved in nepotism and corruption. We also demand from the government that the reach of the Public Distribution System should be expanded and it must include important edible items, books, cloths, Masalas etc so that the poor can benefit from this.

7. Hunger and starvation is prevelent in Eastern Uttar-Pradesh. A majority of families do not ration for two times. The children have uncertain futrue. It is shameful that children from Mushahars, Chauhan, Rajbhar etc are eating rats and fishermen are forced to survive on snails. We demand the government to focus on these communities with special programmes particularly developing schools in the villages with mid day meals and other incentives for school children and their parents.

8. The government must form special Land Courts to settle land disputes and implement the land reform measures strongly and effectively. The government must concentrate on giving communal entitlement. We also demand that women should be given priority in allotment of agricultural land and all new entitlement whether residential or agricultural should have joint entitlment.

Today on the day of culmination of Padyatra we committ ourselves to continue our struggle for Land, Dignity and freedom. We will continue to make government aware of the ground situation while fighting for our rights democratically. We also want to make it clear that this war of independence is not possible with out the support and alliance of anti caste, anti communal, anti superstition and progressive forces in which the role of women, Dalits, Most backward communities and tribals have an important role to play. We also feel that this for dignity and freedom we have to take inspiration from Baa Saheb Ambedkar, Jyoti Ba Phule, Savitri Bai Phule, and EV Ramaswamy Naicar. They remain our icons and role models in our struggle for the creation of a civil society.


By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER

Ref-Vidarbha Farm Crisis Dated-30/06/2007


VIDARBHA FARM CRISIS SCENARIO AFTER ONE YEAR PRIME MINISTER PACKAGE- DEAR PRIME MINISTERJI : PACKAGE FAILED TO ADDRESS THE AGRARIAN ISSUES


TO,

DR. MANMOHAN SINGHJI,
HON.BLE PRIME MINISTER,
PMO,NEW DELIHI-110011

REF- 1120 VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES AS RELIEF PACKAGE FAILED TO ADDRESS THE AGRARIAN ISSUES.

Dear sir,

Now it's after one year that you visited west vidarbha to under stand the Agrarian crisis in which more than 5000 farmers suicides reported since 2002 ,In fact before your visit Dr.S.W.Swaminathan as Chairman of National Commission for farmers NCF visited vidarbha in the month October-2005 then in the months of march-2006 team of expert from Planning Commission visited the vidarbha ,vidarbha farm crisis is the part of Indian Agararian crisis in which farmers are killing themselves and as per official record since 1995 more than 1,00,000(one lac)farmers mostly cotton growers or coffee growers are the main victims of economical collapse of rural system after we opted open trade and free economy ,your vidarbha visit was part of relief exercise to address this national issue of farmers suicides and experts have already prepared the relief package before your visit to vidarbha and you announced it on 1 st July 2006 ,we protested the relief package as our main demand of debt waiver and income base solution for the cash crop of the cotton farmers was missing but farmers but it was shown the dustbin .

Now we are informed that you are reviewing the relief package that you announced year before on 1 st july 2006 and we want update some of the facts to support our claim that relief package has been failed to address the basic issues of rural crisis in west vidarbha.

1.Record 1120 farmers suicides in last one year ,here is chronological account of farm suicides in vidarbha month wise and district wise


MONTH DISTRICT
FARM SUICIDES FARM SUICIDES

JULY-2006 YAVATMAL
90 283

AUGUST-2006 AMARAVATI
111 180

SEPTEMBER-2006 AKOLA
124 131

OCTOBER-2006 WASHIM
112 151

NOVEMBER-2006 BULDHANA
107 145

DECEMBER-2006 WARDHA
105 104

JAN-2007 NAGPUR
70 27

FEB-2007 BHANDARA
86 32

MARCH-2007 CHANDRAPUR
82 41

APRIL-2007 GADCHIROLI
90 12

MAY-2007 GONDIA
79 14

JUNE-2007
64


TOTAL TOTAL
1120 1120



Farm suicide is not the any way indicator of vidarbha agrarian crisis but we would like to draw your attention to Survey Report dated 15 th June, 2006 conducted by the Government of Maharashtra's Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swawlamban Mission at Amravati in connection with the Farmers' plight.

2.Sir, it is evident from the Survey Document that the farmers ' in extreme distress' as mentioned in the column 9 of the Survey Chart are 4,34,291 and the farmers families suffering from serious illness are 92,456.
Relief package failed to address the basic issue of vidarbha farmers that is credit and cost

RELIEF PACKAGE FAILURE DETAILS

1

RELIEF AMOUNT - RS.710 CRORE TO THE BANK AS INTEREST WAIVER THAT HAS DRASTICALLY REDUCED NPA OF BANKS.

DISBUSEMENT - ADDITIONAL RS.840 CRORE CROP LOAN GIVEN TO THE COTTON FARMERS.

RESULT - THIS YEAR DEBT AMOUNT INCREASE AS NABARD FAILED INCREASE CROP LOAN CREDIT. TILL DATE ONLY 2LACS FARMERS HAVE BEEN GIVEN FRESH CROP LOAN AS AGAINST 8 LACS LAST YEAR.

2.

RELIEF AMOUNT - RS.2460 CRORE FOR MAJOR AND MICRO IRRIGATION PURPOSE

DISBUSEMENT - ONLY RS.231 CRORE RELEASED ON PAPER

RESULT - NO SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN AREA UNDER IRRIGATION IN FACT IT WAS ONLY 12000 ACRE AGAINST 80000 ACRE IN LAST RUBY SEASON

3

RELIEF AMOUNT - RS. 90 CRORE AID FOR OTGANAIC FARMING

DISBUSEMENT - NIL AMOUNT WAS GIVEN BY THE STATE

RESULT - AREA UNDER B.T. COTTON DOUBLE IN THIS SEASON

4.

RELIEF AMOUNT - RELIEF WIDOWS

DISBUSEMENT - PMO FAILED TO MONITOR THIS AID TOO

RESULT - OUT OF 120 SUICIDES 890 CASES WERE REJECTED BY ADMINISTRATION.

The detailed survey was conducted by the said Government Controlled Mission at Amravati under the guidance of Divisional Commissioner at Amravati, in the 8351 Villages of 6 Districts of Vidarbha comprising of Yavatmal, Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, Washim & Wardha in which 17,64,438 families were surveyed by the Mission.

On the basis of the in-depth study and analysis conducted by our organization, out of such a huge numbers of families from those surveyed villages, we would like to draw your immediate attention towards the column No. 8 & 9 pertaining to the farmers in extreme distress and farmers with serious illness as stated above. Hon'ble Sir, in majority of cases of farmers suicides, we came to know that there is no food or medicine available to them and this plight has continued to result the extreme step of suicide by the said farmer and / or its family members. Now, it is imperative on the part of the Union of India and State of Maharashtra that this known factors / points are to be attended to immediately so that these two class of farmers families i.e. the Farmers in Extreme Distress and Farmers Suffering from Serious Illness need to be attended immediately to remediate the plight of such farmers on the verge of committing suicides.


Farmers in Extreme Distress –

Identified Families : 4,34,291.

CAUSES IDENTIFIED :

After visiting the families of the farmers which committed suicides, we came to know that there was no food even sufficient for 2 days in the houses of such farmers. These unfortunate facts of non-availability of Food or money to buy food grain and / or the medicine, resulted in the ultimate sad and unfortunate incident of suicide by the said farmers who were unable to face the agony and distress of such unfortunate plight of indirect hunger and ultimate starvation of the family members including small children and old parents. The Union of India through State of Maharashtra is providing food grain at the subsidized rate to the BPL families amongst the farm / landless labours. In order to stop the indirect hunger and starvation of these 4,34,291 Identified 'Families in Extreme Distress', most of them are small farmers of which the economic condition is not above the landless labourers (Col No. 9 of the Survey Chart), State of Maharashtra to provide 25 Kg of Food grain per month at the subsidized price @ Rs. 3 – 5 per kg under the PDS and/or any other special scheme to be announced at least for a period of 18 months now onwards. This will immediately result in providing direct food help to the 4,34,291 Identified Families in Extreme Distress and the indirect starvation of such families can be stopped so that the ultimate effect which is leading to the unfortunate suicide of the farmer family can be stopped, once the hunger and the indirect starvation of such families is attended to.

As per Maharashtra govt. official report that more than
95 000 farmers families suffering from serious illness and when we visited families and After visiting the families of the farmers which committed suicides, we also came to know that there was no medicine in the houses of such farmers where the family members are seriously ill or suffering from such diseases. The non-availability of medicine or money to buy food grain and / or the medicine, resulted in the ultimate sad and unfortunate incident of suicide by the said farmers who were unable to face the agony and distress of such unfortunate plight of indirect sufferings due to illness, hunger and ultimate starvation of the family members including small children and old parents. The State is providing medical / health services to BPL families at the subsidized rate amongst the farm / landless laborers. In order to stop the indirect plight due to serious illness coupled with hunger and starvation of these around 95,000 Identified Farmers Families with Serious Illness, most of them are small farmers of which the economic condition is not above the landless laborers (Col No. 8 of the Survey Chart), State of Maharashtra to provide Special BPL / Health Cards to such families so that they get the subsidized health care in Government run hospitals at par with the landless laborers or BPL families. This will immediately help in providing direct health care to the 92,456 Identified Families with Serious Illness and in Extreme Distress and which can help to stop the unfortunate suicide of the farmer families with serious illness.

FARMERS WANTS RURAL SYSTEM RESTORATION

Drop in income and sudden increase in input cost of cultivation couple with high cost being paid to health care ,education and maintaining daily livelihood has very difficult to farming society. farmers needs restoration civil and social system in order that they need profitable farming couple with free health care and education.

dear prime minister you are kindly requested to look in to these aspects and arrange to provide the relief address .

thanking you,
yours faith fully



Kishor tiwari
President
Vidarbha jna andolan samiti
vidarbha@gmail.com
andolan.blogspot.com
contact-094222108846

Open Letter for Release to the Press

We are deeply troubled at the repression unleashed by the MeghalayaGovernment against activists of a movement against the proposed UraniumMining by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) in theDomisiat/Wahkaji area of West Khasi Hills district of MeghalayaThis popular non-violent movement has from the mid nineties opposed thesecretive anti-people behaviour of the Indian Nuclear establishment, andwith considerable courage and popular participation managed to stop themining of Uranium from the area. Instead of respecting the people'sopinions, UCIL, supported by the State Government has tried to split theindigenous community's solidarity through bribes, and attempted tosilence any dissent through use of the draconian Meghalaya PreventiveDetention Act (MPDA).On 12th June, 2007 after announcing a Public Hearing on the issue,without sharing any independent environmental assessment of UraniumMining, a hearing which the movement opposed as flawed, the governmentmade all attempts to get a farcical assent to its plans through riggingthe public hearing by creating a situation of police terror in the area.Although the movement , led by the Khasi Students Union and LangrinYouth Welfare Association had opposed the hearing in principle, itdecided to break through the security blanket, and attend the hearing.Even this rigged Public Hearing had a surprise for the government: morethan three-fourth of the villagers opposed the project . Rather thanaccept the people's verdict, the government has since unleashed avindictive campaign against the activists.Following the hearing, 16 activists have been arrested so far (many ofthem have reported torture), and 7 of them have been booked under theMeghalaya Preventive Detection Act (MPDA), which allows the governmentto hold them under custody for six months without bail or judicialtrial. Most of the other activists have been forced to go underground.We demand that these activist be released, and Governments heed to thevoices of people who do not want Uranium Mining in the state of Meghalaya, or indeed anywhere else.

Signed
Tarun Bhartiya
Sanjay Kak
Himanshu Thakkar __._,_.__

we need to know how to paint??

The Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S.University, Baroda was witness to the heights of disruption of peace and moral policing. The annual display of works of final year students of both the B.A. as well as the M.A. levels was in progress. It was at such a time that a certain Right fundamentalist lawyer, Mr. Niraj Jain arrived with his mob of hooligans, as well as the police, and created a huge ruckus in front of the works of a student-artist names Chandramohan, from the Graphics department, (MVA II). Claiming that the works hurt the religious sentiments of people, and that they were indecent, obscene and disrespectful of Gujarati tradition and culture, he ensured that the student Chandramohan was manhandled and roughed up and later arrested by the police. This arrest was done without any permission from a faculty authority or the dean in-charge and on the claim that they possessed an arrest warrant, under Kalam 153, which charged the student with ‘hurting religious sentiments’ and ‘possibilities of provoking riots’. Later however, it was discovered that no such warrant existed and that the police merely acted upon a complaint. Mr. Niraj Jain and his mob played out a perfect role of the moral police, later threatening to collect a larger mob and destroy Chandramohan’s works; thereby threatening to put in danger works of other student-artists as well. Such vandalism and hooliganism brought all the examination procedures and assessments of the students’ works to a standstill. Further, since it was not a public display of works, in that no invitation or advertisement was sent out, the man and his mob trespassed on university property, and without any authorization from any faculty staff members, including the dean in charge Prof. Shivaji Panikkar, he disturbed the exams, by also arresting Chandramohan’s friend Venkat on the grounds that Venkat had helped Chandramohan in his work.Mr. Niraj Jain, with the support of his associates as well as the police, threatened the students of the faculty. The police too passively cordoned off the students from the Graphics department, while permitting Mr. Jain and his associates to move about freely around the entire faculty. In response to such unruly behaviour, all the students of the faculty lodged a letter of complaint against Mr. Niraj Jain on the grounds of disrupting university exam procedures, disrupting peace, threatening the destruction of works, trespassing university property, and staged a silent dharna of sorts outside the Sayajigunj police station, where Chandramohan was locked up. Despite filing the complaint, the police refused to file it as an FIR, and further refused to let the student out on bail. When the students demanded that if his friend was arrested, then they too be arrested, the police immediately released Venkat. Further, it was because of the student’s protests that Chandramohan will be produced in the court soon.The students and artists community, not only in Baroda but all over the country are deeply worried about the condition of Chandramohan and condemn such moral policing and thwarts on our freedom of ex-pression, and our fundamental rights as citizens of India

First wish from Sehar

Hi Everybody,

This is a bilinguial blog (Hindi and English) created for a specific purpose to read, write and share experience on Indian Art Forms whether Performing, Visual or Film, including Literature, Social Sciences and Contemporary social issues highlighted through various methods including journalistic writings. All persons with interest in these fields are requested to contribute to this blog and even create their own account. You are free to submit and download even clipings of your own art practice of all these art genres. We feel proud in including your video footage and sound recording to propagate you and your art practice through this blog.
But healthy discussions are always fruitful for our democracy and we need to stick to that. As for our concern and thrust we want to bring to you a 'public sphere' in the form of this blog, in the words of Jugar Hebermas.
I hope we together only can meet the challenge of the forthcoming time and make it appropriate for us rather than let it be worse. Art is always deeply concerned with the human civilization and through it human's have always voiced. Once again it is the need of the time to express ourself more and more with the power of aesthetic, reason and truth to handover the future in our own hands.

Your's Own

Mrityunjay Prabhakar