Update on Chetawani Yatra
More than three hundred people from ten states around the country are walking the 340 kilometers from Gwalior to Delhi . There are about 100 women activists also walking in the Padyatra. They will arrive in Delhi in 18 days just before Diwali – the festival of lights. They are alighting people along the whole national highway with a single message:
Give landless people their just land entitlements. Give poor people a chance to develop. The Government must honor their promises of land distribution or regularization or face the wrath of people through a series of non-violent actions.
The Padyatra is the first step in the Janadesh 2007 which means ‘People’s Verdict’. Poor people want a way not only to voice their demands but to make the government accountable. They are taking out a Satyagraha to show that they will not be cowed down by an inattentive democratically elected government. The verdict on the government’s action will be taken in October 2007.
The Padyatra and the subsequent dharna (‘sit-in’) in Delhi this week is made up of a rich plethora of different community leaders and social activists from ten states around the country. They come together under the leadership of Sri Rajagopal, the well-known Gandhian activist who has been fighting for the rights of the poor for more than three decades.
Many of them have been fighting for land rights in their areas for more than twenty years. Shastriji from Pandaria in Chhattisgarh has been working with tribal groups on the forest rights since the 1980s. Kasturi from Satna is a powerful woman activist that has grown up with struggle in Madhya Pradesh. Basant from Kalahandi in Orissa who has been with the movement from the mid-1970s mentions the sheer paralysis in Orissa as a result of massive mining enterprises. Each has a riveting story to tell which features all the injustices of the present development process.
The Padyatrees will arrive in Delhi on the 19th of October. They will convene at Jantar Mantar until the 20th October and provide the government with their 3 part demands. They will then return back to their homes and prepare to launch a huge none-violent struggle next year.
Highlights of Padyatra:
It is heartening to observe that these Satyagrahees are getting tremendous support from all quarters on their way. Many people are getting associated with their issues and lending their support. There have been many public receptions of these people all the way, especially in Morena (Madhya Pradesh) and Agra (Uttar Pradesh). These people are walking through five states i.e. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi covering seven districts on the way. Shri Rajagopal P.V. is addressing many public meetings being organised by the local people in support of this Yatra and highlighting issues of landless people. Interestingly, there are many political leaders from different political parties who are also welcoming these people and supporting their legitimate demands. These Padyatrees are raising the land problem in such a way that is appealing to everyone. It is being made clear that land problem is across the board problem and should be resolved through collective endeavor and can not be resolved at one party level.
These Satyagrahess are giving a call to the government that it has one year (365 days) to resolve their problems and ensure them the land and livelihoods rights or else face more than 25,000 landless next year on the same route. Their slogan is very clear:
Suni Nahi Jo Abki
Baar
To Agle Saal Hum Tees Hazar
That roughly means:
If our demands are
not addressed this time
Then be ready for
thirty thousand next time
Women and Land Day Celebration – October 7th, 2006
On the 7th of October the women activists participating in the Chatawani yatra celebrated Women and Land day. Women and Land day was first celebrated in Bihar in Bikram village back in 2001. Since then every year women have been using “this day” – October 7th to remind people of the importance of women having a piece of plot. Women form about 70% of village population, and in spite of taking the responsibility for the family farm, they have little decision making power.
Socially, politically, and economically women are invariably exploited and acquiring a piece of land gives women a security and confidence to stand up for their rights. Given the high levels of violence in these areas, land ownership plays a crucial role in having women face violence in the family and community. Women generally never part with land because of their role in maintaining the family whereas men-folk are more likely to migrate and therefore dispose off the land.
In this meeting in Sisroli village of Dholpur district in Rajasthan on the 7th October, the Padyatrees put forth their demands as follows:
· Ensure that Girl child should be given land rights in parental home
· Women to be given joint title in the marital home
· Widows, single women, divorcees be given independent land title
· Women as farmers should be able to avail of government programs and projects that assist in land development.
· Gram Panchayat should recognize women as lease-holders in mines and give women resource rights.
· Women collectives should be given common land for regeneration.
· Women’s rights over land should be incorporated into the existing land/forest/resource related laws and policies.
· Women’s name should be put in all legal and other entitlement and incentive programs.
· Women’s rights should be recognized as a civil right in all states of the country