Harsud; three years hence but saga of the sufferings, never ends ..

The story of sufferings of people of Harsud, one of the 250 villages in the State of Madhya Pradesh which got submerged due to Indira Sagar Dam project, is unending and probably this millenniums most inhumane and undemocratic displacement story. June 30 2007, it will three years hence when the people of Harsud were 'displaced by force' not by will. Till date many of them wait for adequate compensation. Many are unemployed and striving hard to earn their sustenance. Probably their lives have got stuck in the 'files' in 'corridors of powers' of the State Government. The state of affairs is such that out of 5600 families which were resettled in the new Harsud only 1600 families still remain. Fifty families are dalits. Where have the rest gone? Nobody knows. What happened to the children, their education, and health no one has a clue in the State?

Who matters for the state in present situation? If 100 medical students or doctors march on the roads of New Delhi, then Parliament, Media, Corporate starts jumping, but 6000 tribals sitting on Dharna in Bhopal under heavy rains for demanding their fundamental right does not matter for the Government. The Political and State leadership did not go to meet these people at all.

The Harsud got submerged in June 2004. This historic town was established in the year 1815 by the then King Harshvardhan. Before it got submerged it was a Tehsil which was surrounded by villages. People settled here, had means of employment be it their own business, or labour or farming but after their displaced after submergence, they live on state's false promises, with a hope it they may get fulfilled someday.

It may be difficult to locate a town similar to new Harsud in Madhya Pradesh wherein people have built in pucca houses but hardly have anything to eat. All the money they had, they had spent on constructing their homes. Uma Bharti, who was then the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, had announced that new Harsud will be 'an ideal town', with all the facilities. But reality is far from grim. The land here was made up of hard rocks and it was extremely difficult to construct houses on the same. It took huge effort to dig the rocky land for the foundation which was needed to build the house over it. People had to spend all they had in order to construct their shelter. Builders, cement, sand and construction material dealers minted money, to an extent that prices of building material shot up. Iron rods which are normally priced at Rs 2300 per quintal, were sold at Rs 4000 per quintal while sand which is normally priced at Rs 1000 ? 1500 was sold at double the price. All the money they had received as compensation was spent only in constructing houses.

It was painful to see one's own houses getting submerged while they were forced to settle on these barren hard rocky plains. Today, they have a pucca house but only that nothing else. State was able to convince the judiciary that, they have been able to rehabilitate the displaced people. Photographs of the pucca houses were good evidence in the court.

Present revenue records of the state will tell you that new Harsud is developing progressively. But the reality is exactly opposite and grim. Economy and employment are correlated when people have no means of employment how can an economy flourish. New harsud contrary to old one does not have any bus stand, no vegetable wholesale market, and neither any bank which can help the people get loan i.e. nothing which can give the people any employment opportunity. In name of development concrete gutters, damaged roads, there is nothing much.

Dr Ashok Srivastava, a valiant fighter, fighting for rights of those who got displaced say that concrete roads and sewage lines are there as state wanted to show the court that development has been done. But then what? "Old Harsud was a complete economic zone in itself, it had a big wholesale market for farmers, about 200 villages used to cater to the same and almost everyone had a job. But it is exactly the opposite in new Harsud. Except concrete sewage lies, houses and government offices there is nothing. Arundhati Roy, a famous writer had said at the time when Harsud was getting submerged what kind of development is that wherein the name of progress human rights of one's own nation's people get violated.

Though Harsud is the latest example, but in name of progress, in our country after independence more than three crore people have been displaced from their own land and their own culture. All democratic methods of raising concern seem not to deter the state of Madhya Pradesh and NHDC, the company which is building these dams.

Narmada Bachho Andolan's Alok Agarwal shares that people in new harsud have not been given property rights of the land which is allotted to them, meaning that they cannot get any loan on the same. He adds that crime rate has been increasing in last three years. People do not have employment, poverty is rampant and people don't have anything to survive, hence crime rates have increased. It is not that only poor have got affected, even better off families are facing the impact but fact is that poor have the maximum brunt. Even the traders like Trilok Tripathi say that sales have come down as people don't have buying power.

Who will listen to Dalits ?

In the new harsud sector 7 is called dalit sector. It is here where fifty dalit families live in. Children are taking of their school bags and instead they have picked up shovels. Rahul, was studying in tenth class when harsud got submerged but now he has hanged his school bag. More than studies it was essential to get food for his family. Santosh who works as a laborer in harsud and is feeding his family recalls at in old harsud we never had a time when we had had to starve, as their was work at the agricultural farms, and we used to get some work always. But now neither we have any farming nor is there any work for us. We are just surviving, but when rains come we will not have any way of earning our livelihood.


Where is Employment Guarantee Scheme?

This new place for the rehabilitated is nothing but a box of problems and is difficult for community members here to manage just two meals a day. In situation like this why is government silent on getting people some work. What is the reason that state has not initiated an employment guarantee scheme here? Local people say that people here had protested strongly against the conditions prevalent here and corruption which was happening, the same had upset many important ministers like Kailash Vijayavarigya, Anoop Mishra, and the local member of legislative assembly Kunwar Vijay Shah. They are facing the brunt of the same protest. The people here are angry wit Jkunawar Vijay Shah who never spoke a single word for the people and against the displacement. That is the reason he was blessed with gift of Cabinet Ministership. Media has less presence here, no political leaders wants to raise his voice for their concern, as they feel that the vote bank here is not big enough to have an impact on elections. Though this year in fist time Municipal Corporation BJP had lost, but it does not see than they have learnt from their loss.

People are still stranded here.

Kalimachak River was a lifeline for harsud town. But after water levels increased in Indira Sagar dam, backwaters of Kalimachak only submerged Harsud. Though harsud now is depilated and is haunted. But still in ward number nine, Mohi rayat about 150 people of thirty tribal families are not willing to move from here. They till date have not received the compensation amount. Mohan Gaindala from these families tell us that as even after fulfilling all the requirements as laid down in the clause 4 as announced by the state government they still have not received the compensation. Among them is Poonam who is suffering from Tuberculosis shares that patwari and other government officials openly ask for bribes. 'If someone cannot enough to eat how can one afford to pay bribe. Mohan adds that we don't know where our compensation money has gone? There are many here who have not received their compensation yet. Either the state government officials or the powerful have eaten away the money which came as compensation for them.

State government officials including the officiating District Collector Sanjay Goyal do not have any answers'. Tribals communities staying here had previously got afflicted with Chickenguniya. In the last monsoon water had reached just near their huts, but there is no surety this time that water will remain till that place. Included in them there are ten such children who never have received polio vaccination anytime or for that matter neither any supplementary nutrition.

What does District Collector say?

Khandwa District Collector Sanjay Goyal who is officiating says that district administration is trying its best. Brushing aside the issue of employment he said that somehow all of us, in any form will have to pay the price of development?

By Daya Shanker Mishra,
( Daya Shankar Mishra Freelance Journalist working as a Media Fellow with Vikas Samvad in Madhya Pradesh. He can be contacted on Vikas Samvad, E-7/226, Ist Floor, Opp. Dhanvantri Complex, Arera Colony, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh)

Displacing farmers: India Will Have 400 million Agricultural Refugees

It was on the cards. With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announcing theformation of a new rehabilitation policy for farmers displaced from land acquisitions, it is now official -- farmers have to quitagriculture.Ever since the Congress-led UPA Coalition assumed power after an angryrural protest vote threw out the erstwhile BJP-led NDA combination in May 2004, the Prime Minister had initiated a plethora of new policiesfor the spread of industrialization. After having laid the policyframework that allows private control over community resources - water,biodiversity, forests, seeds, agriculture markets, and mineralresources -- the UPA government finally looked at the possibility ofdivesting the poor people of their only economic security - a meagrepiece of land holding. "Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is an idea whose time has come," the PrimeMinister had said at an award ceremony in Mumbai sometimes back.Supported by all political parties, including the Left Front, he hasactually officiated a nationwide campaign to displace farmers. Almost500 special economic zones are being carved out (see The New Maharajasof India). What is however less known is that successive government'sare actually following a policy prescription that had been laid out by the World Bank as early as in 1995.A former vice-president of the World Bank and a former chairman ofConsultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), abody that governs the 16 international agricultural research centers, Dr Ismail Serageldin, had forewarned a number of years ago. At aconference organised by the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation inChennai a few years back, he quoted the World Bank to say that thenumber of people estimated to migrate from rural to urban India by the year 2015 is expected to be equal to twice the combined population ofUK, France and Germany.The combined population of UK, France and Germany is 200 million. TheWorld Bank had therefore estimated that some 400 million people would be willingly or unwillingly moving from the rural to urban centres by2015. Subsequent studies have shown that massive distress migrationwill result in the years to come. For instance, 70 per cent of TamilNadu, 65 per cent of Punjab, and nearly 55 per cent of Uttar Pradesh is expected to migrate to urban centres by the year 2020.These 400 million displaced will constitute the new class of migrants -agricultural refugees.Acerbating the crisis are the policy initiatives that promotes privatization of natural resources, take over of farm land, integratingIndian agriculture with the global economy, and moving farmers out ofagriculture - in essence the hallmark of the neo-liberal economicgrowth model.Agricultural reforms that are being introduced in the name ofincreasing food production and minimising the price risks that thefarmers continue to be faced with, are actually aimed at destroying the production capacity of the farm lands and would lead to furthermarginalisation of the farming communities. Encouraging contractfarming, future trading in agriculture commodities, land leasing,forming land-sharing companies, direct procurement of farm commodities by amending the APMC Act will only drive out a majority of farmers outof subsistence agriculture.Although the land holding size is diminishing, the answer does not liein allowing the private companies to replace farmers. Somehow the entire effort of the policy makers is to establish that Indianagriculture has become a burden on the nation and the sooner thecountry offloads the farming class the better it will be for economicgrowth.Contract farming therefore has become the new agricultural mantra. Notrealising that private companies enter agriculture with the specificobjective of garnering more profits from the same piece of land. Thesecompanies, if the global experience is any indication, bank upon stillmore intensive farming practices, drain the soil of nutrients and suckground water in a couple of years, and render the fertile lands almostbarren after four to five years. It has been estimated that the cropsthat are contracted by the private companies require on an average 20times more chemical inputs and water than the staple foods.Sugarcane farmers, for instance, who follow a system of cane bonding with the mills, actually were drawing 240 cm of water every year, whichis three times more than what wheat and rice requires on an average.Rose cultivation, introduced a few years back, requires 212 inches ofgroundwater consumption in every acre. Contract farming will thereforefurther exploit whatever remains of the ground water resources. Thesecompanies would then hand over the barren and unproductive land to thefarmers who leased them, and would move to another fertile piece ofland. This has been the global experience so far.Allowing direct procurement of farm commodities, setting up specialmarkets for the private companies to mop up the produce, and to set up land share companies, are all directed at the uncontrolled entry of themultinational corporations in the farm sector. Coupled with theintroduction of the genetically modified crops, and the unlimitedcredit support for the agribusiness companies, the focus is to strengthen the ability of the companies to take over the food chain.I have always warned that agribusiness companies in reality hatefarmers. Nowhere in the world have they worked in tandem with farmers.Even in North America and Europe, agribusiness companies have pushedfarmers out of agriculture. As a result, only 7,00,000 farming familiesare left on the farm in the United States. Despite massive subsidies inEuropean Union, one farmer quits agriculture every minute. Knowing wellthat the markets will displace farmers, the same agricultureprescription is being applied in India.A Planning Commission study has shown that 73 per cent of the cultivable land in the country is owned by 23.6 per cent of thepopulation. With more and more farmers being displaced through landacquisitions, either for SEZ or for food processing and technologyparks or for real estate purposes, land is further getting accumulated in the hands of the elite and resourceful. With chief ministers actingas property dealers, farmers are being lured to divest control overcultivable land. Food security and food self-sufficiency is no longerthe country's political priority.The government has very conveniently taken refuge behind an NSSO studythat says some 40 per cent of the farmers have expressed the desire toquit farming. After all, what the government is facilitating is to make it easier for the farmers to abandon their land. It believes that arehabilitation policy for the farmers therefore is the need of thehour. What is however not being seen through is that an agrarianeconomy like India cannot afford large-scale displacement of farmers. It will lead to social unrest the kind of which has not been witnessed.What India needs desperately is a policy paradigm that restores pridein agriculture, stops take-over of agricultural lands, and ensuressustainable livelihoods for 600 million farmers.

By Devinder Sharma
(Devinder Sharma is a food and agriculture policy analyst. He can becontacted at dsharma@ndf.vsnl.net.in)

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