Land rights being a major concern among agriculturalists, a group of farmers led by different organisations have demanded that the government must ensure the urban poor and unprotected workers get shelter and a source of income if they are rendered landless by acquisition.

On December 13, they organised a consultation of activists to discuss the issue, with representatives from different mass movements like the Narmada Bachao Andolan and National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (NFPFFW) in the panel.

They also demanded that displacement and rehabilitation through the builder-politician-bureaucrats nexus be stopped.

“The fertile lands of farmers in the national capital region have been taken away and what they have got (instead) is barren land,” said Bhupinder Singh Rawat from Bhumi Bachao Andolan, explaining his opposition to the land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation bill. He said farmers lose their land and don’t get anything in return, and after their land is put to some other use, which increases its value, villagers don’t get any share of the increased worth.
According to Rawat, the government should keep a check on hoarding of land by industrialists.

Medha Patkar, the Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, said around 45 percent people in Gujarat are landless. “The conspiracy to hoard land has increased to such extent that villages are disappearing now. Till date, 2,616 villages have disappeared,” she claimed.

Patkar added that the principle of eminent domain must be done away with, as it gives the government a free reign.

Shivani Chaudhry, associate director, housing and land rights, said the government wants ‘slum-free cities’ and forces the poor to migrate without providing them adequate and alternative place to live.

The bill introduced in the cabinet claims to ensure greater transparency in the land requisition process. But the farmers’ community has been against land acquisition by the government.

“In the past 10 years, 1.8 lakh hectares of agricultural land has been lost to agriculture through forcible land acquisition,” said Prasad Bhogle from Madhya Pradesh. Recommendations for reforms against such forced acquisitions were also suggested by the people.