Invitation and Appeal to Join Chetawani Yatra and People’s Parliament

(October 02-20, 2006)

Ekta Parishad and many other like-minded social organizations like National Campaign Committee for Rural Workers (NCCRW), Bharat Nirman Andolan, Sarva Seva Sangh, National Youth Project, National Campaign Committee on Land (NCCL), Khadi Mission and others have given a call for people to join a significant non-violent mass action, namely the Chetawani Yatra – October, 2006. The Chetawani Yatra 2006 aims at creating awareness for a New Vision for Land Reform so as to address the pivotal issues of poverty, social distress, violence and inequitable distribution of land resources.

As all of us are aware there have been many promises made by successive governments to resolve land equity problems in the country. But in practice, little has been changed and much more needs to be done and achieved. People are fed up with these assurances. Many people have been asking for a piece of land that will help them to stay in villages and earn a livelihood providing economic justice and dignity. Because of the government’s inability to resolve the problem, some people are resorting to violence. Other indications of social distress are the high number of farmers’ suicides in different parts of the country.

The Chetawani Yatra -2006 would be the first action of a year-long non-violent satyagraha --known as the Janadesh 2006-7. We have decided to take up a large non-violent collective action (in the spirit of Gandhi’s Satyagraha during the Freedom Struggle).

The Chetawani Yatra – 2006 will involve 400 activists and landless people who will march from Gwalior to Delhi, from October 2nd, 2006 to press for their demands. This collective action is being called as the Chetawani Yatra because it is a “warning” to the government to take immediate action or face the consequences of people’s dissent and non-cooperation. Another 500 landless poor from all over India who will be sitting on fast and dharna (“sit-in”) at Jantar Mantar in Delhi from October 16th to 20th, 2006, and the padyatrees will join the dharna on the final day.

The Chetawani Yatra – 2006 will highlight the issues so that governments can take appropriate steps to resolve ‘land and livelihood rights’ claims. The dharna (“sit-in”) in Delhi will be in the form of a Jan Sansad (People’s Parliament) during these five days and discussions will revolve around different themes with sessions that will range from non-violent struggles, tribal issues, land and women struggles, to agriculture. During this Jan Sansad (People’s Parliament), there will be eminent speakers from different fields including social activists, intelligentsia, media personalities and cultural leaders. They will together develop a memorandum which will be taken to the Lok Sabha (Parliament) on the final day.

We are writing this personal letter to request you to support us to make this Chetawani Yatra and Jan Sansad a great success. We also request you to widely circulate this note among your networks and friends.

Please let us know at the earliest concerning your participation in these important events.

In Solidarity