It may have just about 200 people or thereabouts, but the five-day Jan Sansad, or the people’s assembly, at Jantar Mantar is generating enough heat in the form of issues raised and threadbare discussion on them to fire up imagination of those gathered.

Though much had been struck off the long list of agenda by day four of the event on Nov 29, what have increased are thought-provoking questions in the minds of the participants. And those questions, most of those gathered agreed, are important and welcome, as they lead to more discussions, and possible solution.

After a thorough dialogue on bills that remained pending in the areas of anti- corruption, transparency, social security and basic services, bills relating to agriculture and land acquisition and rights were looked into on Nov 29. Bills to ensure protection of the environment were also looked into. Considering how the topics discussed through the day were so closely linked to the lives of farmers, the interaction and response that speakers drew from the crowd was encouraging.

“People say, ‘come to Punjab if you want to see a model state for agriculture’. But that is really not the truth,” said Gurnam Singh of the Bhartiya Kisan Union and a farmer from the state. “Farmers there (in Punjab) are trapped in land where they have to use pesticides and other chemicals to grow their crops. There is just no way out. They don’t want to use it, but they don’t know what else to do.”

“We need laws to ensure that every year at least 10 percent of land being cultivated is converted into farmland where agriculture is practised in an ecologically sustainable manner,” said Kiran Vissa from ASHA.

Most farmers present at the event, in fact, voiced the need to move away from conventional farming methods using chemicals.

Opposed to FDI in big retail
Referring to the Manmohan Singh government’s decision to open multi-brand retail to FDI, S Kannaiyyan of the South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements said, “Saying they (government) are protecting us from the injustice we are facing in mandis (wholesale markets), they (government) have now decided to bring in foreign mandis.”

The assembly asserted that FDI in retail and the promotion of big retail was not in favour of the farming community. The participants rejected the model by contending that it will only encourage a few big corporations to control the supply chain, and finally displace small and medium farmers.

The assembly also strongly opposed genetically modified (GM) crops and the biotechnology regulatory authority of India bill.

Referring to his report on land acquisition, which has been tabled in Parliament, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said in his address at the assembly: “It has been eight months (and) I hope the government now takes into consideration the points made by the report. When the government cannot acquire skills from the farmer, how can it acquire their land?”

Taking the dais, social activist Medha Patkar literally shook up the audience, leading them to cry slogans in support of protection of land rights. As the Narmada Bachao Andolan leader lent out the cry “Lok Sabha se Gram Sabha”, the entire crowd of 200-odd villagers and activists joined in to raise the level.
“We cannot give companies the right to put a tube (pipeline) under our villages and raise price of water they take from us, from our land,” she remarked.

“Besides the land acquisition bill, which needs to be watched out for, those like the land titling bill, 2011, is also very closely linked and needs to be looked into,” independent lawyer and researcher Usha Ramanathan said. Calling the bill “corporate-friendly,” she asked, “What is the relationship between the government and land?”

And that was another question members of the audience will ponder over for a long time to come.