People's Democracy

Peasantry Will Resist Sale Of Prime Agricultural Land

Suneet Chopra

THE All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) along with other mass organisations and political parties is actively involved in the struggle of the farmers of Gangapur in Varanasi area against the sale of prime agricultural land to Unitech Ltd for a Hi-tech city. A massive rally was held at Parauta on October 29, which was addressed by former prime minister, V P Singh, CPI general secretary, A B Bardhan, Jan Morcha leader Raj Babbar and CPI (M) central committee members, Subhashini Ali and Suneet Chopra.

It is with growing concern one notes that the central government and certain state governments in the country, unmindful of the distress of the peasantry and rural poor, with the appalling figure of 20,000 hunger deaths and over 1,20,000 farmers suicides staring them in the face, are still prepared to hand over prime agricultural land of farmers under a Colonial Land Acquisition Act of over a hundred years ago. 

This measure has led to a shameful land-grab by multinationals, corporates and building companies which will involve the eviction of millions of peasants and agricultural labourers all over the country. The AIAWU demanded that the central government amend the Land Acquisition Act in the spirit of the Constitutional Amendments to local government legislation of 1993 (especially: 243.Z.d/e) which will not permit the arbitrary dispossession of the peasantry and small owners without the agreement of elected local government bodies.

The failure to do this has led to the unfortunate situation in which an already hard-pressed peasantry is forced to come out in the streets and agitate. We believe it is not sufficient for the commerce minister to declare that good agricultural land will not be taken over for non-agricultural purposes. We want legislation to that effect also to protect the lives and livelihood of rural labour and local market traders.

As regards UP, where serious differences are brewing between the peasants and the state government, we feel that the relevant constitutional amendments be implemented by the state government which will get them an extra 25 per cent of central funds for development, before placing land under section 4 and creating panic among the people.

In the case of Parauta and the neighbouring villages of Varanasi, of Dadri and of Kushinagar, the state government must honour the Indian Constitution by passing relevant legislation as required by the Indian Constitution before distributing the land of farmers to builder mafias and other such elements.

The AIAWU also demands that the amount of land given for non-agricultural use be strictly limited to 75 per cent for production and 25 per cent for other use, that adequate compensation be paid for even poor agricultural land, with a solatuim of nine times the annual income and a bonus, as the West Bengal government is doing, after amended its state legislation. 

With regard the Varanasi case, the organisation supports the struggle of the peasants and agricultural labourers fully as the land gives four crops a year, providing vegetable for an important city lime Varanasi. It appeals to the UP government to seek an alternative venue for such development on land that is waste, and there is enough of it in Ramnagar and the Kaimur area. A failure to do this will be met by growing resistance of peasants traders and agricultural labour as the Rajasthan government is facing now. There is no alternative for over 70 per cent of Indian people dependent on agriculture today. They will not commit suicide, they will struggle and the organised peasant and agricultural labour movement will stand by them till their rights under the Indian Constitution are ensured by State legislation.