[The protest entourage, which includes some 40,000 tribals, dalits, nomads and other landless people, began the padyatra, or march, on foot in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday, and will pass through Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, covering 350 kilometers (220 miles), before reaching Delhi on Oct. 28. The numbers are expected to swell to 100,000.]
By Niharika
Mandhana |
| Altaf Qadri/Associated PressPoor and landless people from rural communities taking part in “Jan Satyagraha” a monthlong march from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh to Delhi, organized to demand land rights for the poor. |
Tens of
thousands of India's poorest people are on a nearly monthlong march through the
country's north, waving green and white flags and chanting slogans to demand
that the government provide land to India's homeless and landless.
"I
think enough land can be found for those who don't have a house to live in or
any shelter," said P.V. Rajagopal, who heads Ekta Parishad, the nonprofit
behind this month's mass protest, which is now making its way through Madhya
Pradesh. "It is a question of political will."
Millions of
Indians live on sidewalks and railway platforms, and in illegal slums and
shanties. According to the United Nations, 17 percent of the world's slum
dwellers, or 170 million Indians, live in slums. This section of India's poor,
activists say, lives in inhumane conditions, and is often under the threat of
displacement, harassment and arrest.
The protest
entourage, which includes some 40,000 tribals, dalits, nomads and other
landless people, began the padyatra,
or march, on foot in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday, and will pass
through Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, covering 350 kilometers (220
miles), before reaching Delhi on Oct. 28. The numbers are expected to swell to
100,000.
Over the
last decade, India has substantially expanded its net of welfare policies,
aimed at lifting its millions from poverty. A right-to-food bill, which
guarantees subsidized food grains to the country's poor, is in the works, and a
right-to-work program, called the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,
ensures 100 days of employment to the rural poor.
"It is
time for the right to shelter," Mr. Rajagopal said in a phone interview
after the first day of the march, during which the group covered 22 kilometers.
India
already has a rural housing program, called the Indira Awaas Yojana, which
gives cash to those below the poverty line to build a house. But, activists
say, the program is too narrow to help a large number of people and doesn't
solve the fundamental problem of landlessness.
For several
years, Ekta Parishad has asked the government to give land to the poor to build
a hut or house, "or at least pitch a tent," said Mr. Rajagopal.
Another solution Ekta Parishad advocates is giving slums and other spaces
already occupied by the poor to the residents, so that the fear of demolition
is removed.
In 2007, a
similar protest march led to the formation of the National Council on Land
Reforms, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which was
supposed to draw a roadmap for policy reform. The body's recommendations, which
were released in 2010, have largely been ignored, activists say.
The issue
has again gained momentum in the last few months, and Mr. Rajagopal said talks
with India's rural development minister, Jairam Ramesh, seemed close to a
breakthrough. But they fell apart at the last minute, Mr. Rajagopal said,
accusing the government of succumbing to pressure from the corporate sector and
dragging its feet on land reforms.
Minister
Ramesh, who has said that the issue of land falls within the purview of state
governments, has called for another round of talks on Oct. 11. In a letter to
Mr. Rajagopal, Mr. Ramesh said "There is a very substantial degree of
consensus on what must get done."
Mr.
Rajagopal, however, said it was time to take the battle to the streets.
"The state will never act unless people come out openly and do
something," he added.
When the
talks collapsed, Ekta Parishad began its march, which is designed to allow
everyone to participate, Mr. Rajagopal said, including the young, old, rural,
urban, educated and uneducated. The group plans to walk some 15 kilometers each
day, singing songs and chanting. They sleep on the streets and eat only one
meal a day. "It uses the strengths of the poor," Mr. Rajagopal said.
The process
of drumming up support for these protests began several years ago. Mr.
Rajagopal said he and his team traveled widely throughout the country,
organizing workshops to "give people faith that change can happen"
and building a base of volunteers and workers.
Indeed, this
caravan protest has been a large logistical endeavor. In the last four years,
Ekta Parishad's 350 workers have trained some 12,500 people to organize and
lead groups of marchers that make up the campaign. The protesters are divided
into camps of 500, each headed by a trained volunteer, who is responsible for
the group's discipline, cooking and feeding, and cultural activities.
The padyatra form of protest can be traced to
India's freedom struggle, when Mohandas K. Gandhi led a march to coastal
Gujarat, popularly known as the Dandi march, to protest the British
government's monopoly on the salt trade.
In recent
years, mass antigovernment protests have erupted across the country. Anna
Hazare mobilized thousands of Indians last year to join his crusade against
corruption. In Karnataka, a group of farmers is protesting against the sharing
of water with a neighboring state, and agitation over the building of a nuclear
plant in Kundankulam in Tamil Nadu continues.
Ekta
Parishad is hoping its protest will result in some concrete measures. When the
marchers reach Delhi, Mr. Rajagopal said, the government "can put us in
jail or come out with a policy."
[Mindanao is plagued by roadside bombings, firefights between the military and various armed groups, gun battles between warring clans, kidnappings of Filipinos and foreigners, and general crime and lawlessness. Many countries, including the United States, Britain and Australia, strongly warn their citizens to stay out of the southern Philippines.]
By Floyd Whaley
MANILA — President
Benigno S. Aquino III announced Sunday that the Philippine government had
reached a deal with a major rebel group that officials hope will reduce the
persistent violence in the southern part of the country.
“This framework
agreement paves the way for a final, enduring peace in Mindanao,” Mr. Aquino
said on Sunday.
The deal with the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front, which has fought a war of independence for more than
three decades, is the first step in what will be a long, complex process of
working through centuries-old disputes between the Christian-dominated national
government and the predominantly Muslim residents of the southern island of
Mindanao.
If the agreement
succeeds in significantly reducing violence in Mindanao, it will be a historic
achievement and a major political victory for Mr. Aquino, who has been heavily
criticized in recent weeks for some of his legislative proposals.
Every Philippine
president since the 1970s has tried to address the violence in Mindanao, which
has claimed an estimated 120,000 lives and displaced more than 2 million
people.
Fidel Ramos, president
from 1992 to 1998, was able to forge a peace agreement in 1996 with another
major rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front. Joseph Estrada, Mr.
Ramos’s successor, declared all-out war against the Muslim rebels in an attempt
to achieve peace through force.
But the violence has
persisted, even with about 500 United States troops based in Mindanao as part
of a joint Special Operations task force, which helps the Philippine military
target the most violent and extreme insurgents.
Mindanao is plagued by
roadside bombings, firefights between the military and various armed groups,
gun battles between warring clans, kidnappings of Filipinos and foreigners, and
general crime and lawlessness. Many countries, including the United States,
Britain and Australia, strongly warn their citizens to stay out of the southern Philippines.
The agreement announced
Sunday is the result of intermittent peace talks that have been taking place in
Malaysia since 2001.
“The agreement will
ensure that the Bangsamoro people will enjoy the dividends of peace, which they
rightly deserve,” said Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia, using a term
that refers to the native people of the southern Philippines. “In turn, they
should respect their fellow Filipinos of Christian faith as moderation is the
true Islamic way.”
Under the agreement, the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front will no longer seek an independent state, Mr.
Aquino said. Instead, the deal creates a new governing political entity, called
Bangsamoro, for Mindanao.
As part of the deal, the
new political entity will exercise a degree of autonomy in governing Mindanao
while the national government retains authority over defense and security,
foreign policy, monetary policy and citizenship matters. The deal also assures
the people of Mindanao “a fair and equitable share of taxation, revenues and
the fruits of national patrimony,” Mr. Aquino said.
“This means that hands
that once held rifles will be put to use tilling land, selling produce, manning
work stations and opening doorways of opportunity for other citizens,” Mr.
Aquino said.
One important part of
the agreement calls for the decommissioning of the military wing of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front, which reportedly has 11,000 fighters. In addition,
the Philippine military will turn over law enforcement to the local police.
The accord sets out
general guidelines for a more detailed agreement that will be hammered out by
working groups over the next few years, said David C. Gorman, who helped
mediate the talks on behalf of the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, an
organization based in Geneva that is devoted to resolving armed conflicts.
“It’s going to be
tough,” Mr. Gorman said. “It’s not a peace agreement. It’s a framework
agreement. It is saying: ‘This is the road map to peace. These are the broad
outlines. Now you have to work out the details.’ ”
“It is going to be messy
and it is going to take time,” he added.
The deal includes
provisions to address clan warfare, the proliferation of weapons and private
armies that are blamed for widespread political violence in the southern
Philippines. A private army employed by the Ampatuan clan in central Mindanao
has been accused of the 2009 massacre of 57 people, including 31 journalists,
in one of the country’s worst acts of political violence.
Though the Sunday
agreement was reached with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main rebel
group in the southern Philippines, it includes mechanisms to bring other
organizations into the discussions on local government. Notably, this does not
include extremist groups like the Abu Sayyaf, which is blamed for kidnappings,
murders and beheadings.
“These extremist groups
are always going to be difficult to deal with,” Mr. Gorman said. “There are
always going to be those operating outside the agreement, but as long as they
are not able to undermine the process they will remain marginalized.”
The Bangsamoro Islamic
Freedom Movement, a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,
staged a series of attacks and bombings in August during the final weeks of the
peace talks. One attack, on Aug. 5, killed 80 militants and 10 soldiers and
caused the evacuation of 189 residents.
Illustrating the
challenges facing the government, and those seeking peace in Mindanao, the
group said late Sunday that it would not be respecting the new agreement.
