thepeoplesrecord:

Farmers protest against corporate power plant & corrupt government partnership hits 1000th day
May 17, 2013

“Lathi maar maar ke utha lehale anshan wahe/ daktar sahib soochna pahuchain naye mukhyamantri se bataiye da/ hum aapan zamin na dewai/ hame na chahi kuch tumhara.” (Translated: Police beat protesting farmers and remanded them/ We heard a new CM is coming to hear us/ Tell him we won’t give up our land/ We want nothing from you.)

These defiant lines in a created mix of Bhojpuri and Hindi are few of the many composed and sung by Anarkali (52), over the last three years. Her songs are meant to inspire a few hundred fellow farmers, who sit attentively with their farming tools each day, listening to her after the day’s work. On Friday, they assembled at Kachari village in the Trans-Yamuna region of this district, for the 1000th consecutive day. A maha-panchayat of villages was held to mark the occasion.

Under the Purnvas Kisan Kalyan Sahayta Samiti (PKKSS), these farmers have been protesting the proposed 1980 MW Karchhana power plant. Through songs, slogans and speeches about government corruption & corporate land development, the farmers wish to keep up the momentum for their daily assemblage. “We apprise them of their rights, how the government cheated us. They are encouraged not to fall for bribes or be intimidated by threats. This is not compulsory yet the farmers come daily,” said Raj Bahaur Patel, president, PKKSS.

The project was conceived in 2007 under the Bahujan Samaj Party government and about 2,500 bighas of land was acquired from 2,286 farmers in eight villages — Devari, Kachari, Katka-Medhra, Dehli, Dohlipur, Bagesar, Kachara and Bhitar. However, the project, handed over to an undertaking of Jaypee Group in 2009, could never take off due to consistent protests by farmers over compensation, leaving one farmer murdered by police repression.

Last April, the Allahabad High Court allowed the farmers’ writ petitions and stalled the project. The Court stipulated that farmers who had received compensation for their land should either return the money and take back the land or willingly hand over the land for the project. Around 140 farmers did not accept compensation. Those who did are in no condition to repay the amount, causing an impasse which the administration is struggling to break through. Ever since the initial violence gripped the area, the protests have been peaceful, but the farmers complain they are being intimidated by local goons and officials to give up their land and discontinue the protests.

“We will shoot you and your family. Just let the power plant come up you will be taught a lesson, they tell us,” says Sukhdevi, 65, one of the many protesters.

Many of these threats also come from petty politicians, says Mr. Patel. “They approached us for a compromise, first with bribes. When we declined, they have resorted to fear tactics.” Consequently, the farmers have written to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Chief Minister’s Office, listing their apprehensions and demands. Also, in two letters dated August 8, 2012 and October 10, 2012, the farmers mentioned the threats to their lives, while also promising that they were ready to return the compensation but in installments and on their terms.

When Mr. Patel was called in to receive the response on April 15, the special land acquisition officer O.P Singh only inquired about the land possession of each farmer, completely ignoring the threats to the farmers’ lives. The Hindu has a copy of the document.

The farmers have been demanding: restoration of the fertility of their lands, compensation for the loss of farming over the last five years and losses suffered at the hands of police action during protests, an official inquiry into the violence & threats made against them.

Despite Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announcing that the government would quash all FIRs filed against protesting farmers, eight criminal cases registered against farmers in Karchhana still stand. The farmers, who also reported that their land was wrongfully claimed to be barren, have filed an RTI into it. However, they have received no response yet.

Unlike previous years, when the farmers abandoned farming on the proposed site, they have engaged in some cultivation this season. Yet they remain fearful of violent retribution by goons and intermediaries. “We live in uncertainty. What if they destroy our crops and start the plant? We cannot afford further losses,” says a farmer.

The proposed land includes a large portion of the common property resources in the villages, like the ponds, rearing grounds, connecting paths and grain storage houses.

Notably, the region is turning into a hot-bed for famers’ protests against power plants. In Bara, while farmers have given up on their demands for higher compensation, they are on the verge of launching a movement against the excess extraction of water from the Yamuna.

The farmers have also demonstrated that “men of authority” are trying to create a rift among them to break down their movement. “They are creating false news that there is in-fighting among the farmers,” says Mr. Patel, citing a news report in a highly circulated Hindi daily.

Source

(via silas216)

Source: thepeoplesrecord

thepeoplesrecord:

If politics be the language of hate…the age of the petition
Submission (by Evelyn Roberts)
May 17, 2013

Is activism the language of love? Do individuals standing up & making their voice heard, expressing an opinion, sharing thoughts & images on social media, signing petitions from the comfort of their computer chair, etc. make a difference to the world? Does caring enough do enough, or should we be out there “strutting our stuff” as well?

Of course there is nothing like plagiarism and if you are going to plagiarize, you may as well start off with a classic quote and completely dismantle it until there is but a hint of the original flavor…apologies to Will Shakespeare if he is reading this from the astral plane, but he has triggered a train of thought that needed following.

The dichotomy of today’s world
We seem to live in a world fueled by hate; but from where many of us stand, this destructive rhetoric seems to emanate almost entirely from governments around the globe, with a good seasoning of extremist groups to complement the basic recipe. This is one side of a yawning chasm, while on the other are the millions of human beings who, as individuals and groups, have managed to outgrow the confines of regarding life in terms of geographical and political boundaries, social, religious and cultural differences; and have taken the time and effort to educate themselves in a language spoken by a common humanity. The world is in schism between these two forces and you could be forgiven for wondering whether activism has any chance of overcoming the corruption and self-interest of politics and big business.

In a global society where individuals are waking up to the illusion and are choosing to open their minds, explore, learn and then take action based on their new understanding, the ‘Age of the Petition’ has arrived big time. It isn’t so very long since people who either could not or would not step outside their front door to support the cause for positive change were somewhat derisively referred to as “armchair activists”; their contribution to any meaningful outcome overlooked. Education has changed enormously over the last few decades and we are no longer the parochial society that we were. With so much information at our fingertips, the explorer’s playground of the internet at our disposal, where we can see in intricate detail locations we have never visited, walk down streets we will never see, learning has become an expanding universe.

Activism is no big deal
As a more enlightened fraternity in today’s world, we recognize that all action, no matter how small, makes a difference. The evidence is all around us – not in mainstream media, which for the most part attempts (or is directed) to ignore the voice of the people – but in the vast hinterland of dialogue taking place on the internet. It could be perceived that activism 30 years ago was limited to what were then considered rather eccentric minority groups of people, who chained themselves to trees or camped outside military bases in protest. Today, we all have a responsibility to do our part in raising the profile of issues which affect the planet, the global community and ultimately ourselves, as individuals. Online petitions are an enormously important step into activism for many people and make a real difference. Because the threshold of engagement is easy to achieve, it encourages the individual to cross it. We might be tempted to consider that petition activism has no measurable effect, but even in those instances where petitions do not have a major impact, they can promote awareness of issues, act to alert mainstream media to stories they should be leading on (or at least giving space to) or catalyze fundraising efforts to address crises and injustice happening anywhere around the world. Raising the profile of any issue, whether it be human or animal rights or environmental, undoubtedly has a positive impact.

Every signature on every petition is another voice joining the throng to make our views known to those elected representatives, who are supposedly administering on our behalves, but seem more commonly to be following their own agenda. Not only are petitions a gentle invitation into an arena of action to change our environment and society for the better, but independent research has shown that individuals who sign a petition linked to a non-profit were 7 times more likely to donate to that organization. In addition, this simple first step to becoming responsible world citizens invariably leads to taking other action as we become more aware and motivated to participate further. Sign on you crazy cubic zirconia!

(via silas216)

Source: thepeoplesrecord