A 1st in 16 years in Punjab: No 5-marla plots for landless, Dalit group tries to take forcible possession
This demand for land reached a boiling point on Tuesday, when close to 350 Dalit activists, including women from a group called Zameen Prapati Sangharsh Committee (ZPSC), were taken into custody over their call to take possession of 927 acres of land near Bir Aishwan sanctuary in Sangrur. Though contacted, police officers refused to comment on the arrests.
The name of ZPSC translates to land possession movement committee.
The call for action had come as continuous state govts in Punjab have been promising landless Dalits 5-marla (125-square-yard) residential plots out of their village's common land, but none has acted on it.
The land in Bir Aishwan initially belonged to the erstwhile Jind and Sangrur princely state, but it later came under the control of certain companies and individuals, apart from some under the control of the state govt.
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While making demands to distribute this land to the landless, ZPSC made a call to forcibly take possession of the land under the Punjab Land Reforms Act, 1972. The act was a reminder of what unravelled in 2008-2009, when Dalit labour group Mazdoor Mukti Morcha forcibly took possession of over 500 acres of land in various villages in Mansa and Sangrur districts.
The state govt, after a few days, took back the land by arresting hundreds of activists.
Apart from these two instances, Dalit organisations have been making efforts to get these lands vacated from panchayats or even taking possession on a small scale across Punjab over the decades.
Lachman Sewewala from Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union said no govt in Punjab had implemented the land reform law, and no excess land permissible under the act was taken back from any person, nor was any land allotted to the landless under this law.
"The govts or various authorities very conveniently prefer to avoid such issues," he said.
In their action at Bir Aishwan, ZPSC had planned to build Begumpura (a concept originating in social thought, envisioning a society characterised by equality, freedom from oppression, and free from the constraints of caste, class, and social hierarchies). However, police conducted raids at the houses of leaders before May 20.
Though leaders evaded arrest, a large number of activists started moving towards Bir Aishwan, and many of them were taken into custody. Dalit organisations have opposed the move of activists being arrested, and a protest was organised at New Delhi's Punjab Bhawan on Thursday to oppose the arrests.
The protest was organised by the Delhi Committee of CPI(ML) New Democracy, attended by leaders from other left-leaning organisations, where some activists, including Aparna (President, National Committee, IFTU), Poonam (General Secretary, PMS, Delhi), and Rajesh (General Secretary, IFTU, Delhi), were detained.
They demanded the immediate release of all ZPSC leaders and activists and the distribution of surplus public land in Sangrur to landless Dalits.
Pendu Mazdoor Union president Tarsem Peter, general secretary Avtar Singh, and functionary Kashmir Singh Ghugsher said ZPSC was demanding the land originally owned by Jind State for the landless, but instead of listening to their voices, the state made the police conduct raids at the homes of leaders and arrested over 300 protesters when they tried to take possession of the land.
"The govt should implement the land ceiling act and distribute surplus lands to the landless," said Peter.
They also described the decision of the state govt to acquire over 24,000 acres of land as an assault on agriculture and environment. They said the state can acquire such huge tracts of land for industry, but is not ready to provide land to the landless.
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The Wire
44 minutes ago
- The Wire
Daring, Fearless and Kind, Father Stan Swamy Remains a Beacon of Resistance
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Finally, he was put in confinement in a faraway place like Taloja Central Prison in Maharashtra where despite his ill health and growing ailments was deliberately kept away from timely medical care so that his body finally gave away during the peak of the pandemic. Behind the facade of violence, the powers that be feared Stan – a person who was fearless. He dared the state by calling out all injustices inflicted on the people, especially the Adivasis, by organising and being part of struggles against their eroding rights over the resource-rich land of central and eastern India. Against the terror of Adivasis being displaced from their natural homeland, against their jal, jungle and jameen – water, forest and land – being irreversibly destroyed for mining of precious minerals, erecting big dams and in the interests of big industries, Stan had strived to bring together vast sections of people. 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Thousands of hectares of dense, biodiverse rich verdant forests are being destroyed at the behest of extractive, venture capitalist interests. For facilitating the flow of extracted minerals to the outer world, jungles are being cleared for roads that ply trailers and for railway tracks which can help in the transport of minerals. Adivasi villages are being uprooted and trees felled in thousands of hectares. Besides railways and roads, under the garb of protecting mines, police stations and paramilitary camps are being set up, resulting in further destruction of forests and displacement. All these self-destructive steps are given the moniker development. Those who oppose these policies, those Adivasis who organise movements to protect their jal, jungle and jameen, their valuable resources are branded anti-development, anti-national and terrorist – to brutally and violently repress them. The need of the hour is a united resilient resistance against this game of unbridled and irreversible destruction of earth under the smokescreen of development. Also read: Remembering Stan Swamy, Whose Struggle Was Driven by Empathy and Love This Brahminical-fascist dispensation in alliance with capitalism have brought increasing miseries to the vast sections of women, Adivasis, Dalits, minorities, various oppressed nationalities, peasants, workers and so on. The casteist atrocities on Dalits have increased manifold in these times. Under direct state patronage, like never before, communal violence against minorities in a planned way have increased. The present dispensation which openly espouses patriarchal values have short shrifted increasing violence on women as part of the so-called rich cultural heritage and societal traditions of the subcontinent in connivance of such despicable crimes. To facilitate US-imperialism-led foreign, big capital interests in India, anti-farmer, anti-medium and small trader/industries policies are being ushered in which will have deep negative ramifications in the trade policy and domestic material production for indigenous producers. At once, these will make it far too easy for multinational corporations to exploit the burgeoning Indian economy. And to ensure the unhindered implementation of such policies, the government is resorting to reactionary tactics to browbeat into submision any differing opinion, ideas and movements that challenge socially, politically and economically the policies of this capitalist-Brahminical-fascist regime. They are being targeted under the garb of the threat to national security and hence branded unlawful and anti-national. They are under constant surveillance, their residences are raided, their properties impounded, cases are foisted against them and more often than not, they are being killed. 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The situation of political prisoners in incarceration is a telltale instance of how the government of the day and the prison administration join hands to deliberately ignore their very existence, often denying their basic rights and consciously hindering them facilities. Even when given bail, the system offers tough bail conditions so as to make it difficult to ensure their release. There is criminal delay and negligence in timely medical care when an illness is reported. This is all a part of the same toolkit of repressive designs of a Brahminical-fascist state. The institutional murder of Father Stan is one among scores of such despicable instances that have gone unreported in the prisons in India. The demise of Saquib Nachan in Tihar Central Prison while undergoing treatment for serious medical conditions is another example of the state denying a prisoner basic rights. Also read: Five Years of Incarceration – and the Audacity of Hope But history shows that repression is doomed. It cannot be sustained. And struggles cannot be curtailed through the horrors of repression. The farmers' movement that rocked the country very recently, the countrywide protests against CAA-NRC, the struggle of the workers at the Maruti Suzuki factory, the organisation of the Elgar Parishad convention and the ensuing Bhima Koregaon movement, the Pathalgadi movement, the Todgutta (Gadchiroli) movement, the organised resistance of women in various walks of life in the country, peasants' and workers' struggles and Dalit-Adivasi resistance movements have kept alive the barricades of resistance while at the same time striving towards a united resistance against fascism. Even after his martyrdom, Father Stan is a beacon of resistance, standing with us like a comrade in arms. He is one with the voice of all of us, one with the resolve of his comrades in Jharkhand and at the same time strengthens the resolve of the toiling masses in this country to never give up. 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Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor is a human rights defender and member of the Kabir Kala Manch cultural troupe. Sagar Gorkhe is a human rights defender and member of the Kabir Kala Manch cultural troupe. Jyoti Jagtap is a human rights defender and member of the Kabir Kala Manch cultural troupe. Mahesh Raut is an activist working with the Adivasis in Gadchiroli. Hany Babu is was an associate professor of linguistics at Delhi University. Surendra Gadling is a human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist. All the authors of this piece are in jail over what the NIA believes is their connection to the Elgar Parishad case.
Time of India
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Bihar polls: ECI lists 11 documents for voter roll update, Aadhaar not included; check what's required
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