(AIKMS statement issued on April 19, 2010)

Police and landlords have launched a vicious attack on the poor people of Umri and neighbouring villages over last two days registering false cases on them, posting PAC and attacking their houses and launching a completely false propaganda attack on AIKMS workers.

On 17th April sheep of some poor farmers were grazing on the pond land of Umri to which local landlords Mithilesh and Radhey Shyam took objection and attacked the poor people. Kondhiara thana police arrived and settled the matter, but late at night CO Bara, Janardan Tiwari intervened and forced registration of a completely false FIR against 7 activists under provisions of dacoity and attempt to murder. The complaints given by the poor people have been totally ignored and no FIR has been registered. Yesterday evening a copy of the complaint of the poor people was taken by the CO from village Sadwan and the moment he left the poor people were attacked again by the landlords. Even this incident has been registered as an FIR against the poor.

Yesterday evening Bara MLA Udaybhan Karwaria reached the area and sat on a road block along with a handful of upper caste landlords. He threatened to liquidate the AIKMS leaders in case police did not arrest them. Senior police personel are camping in the area and instead of addressing the grievances of the poor people they are threatening action against anyone who makes a complaint against the landlords.

These landlords of the area have occupied various Gram Sabha, pond lands and lands belonging to the poor in the area and the entire dispute is related to this. Kunj Bihari Shukla is in possession of various pond lands in Dagwan. In Umri Mithilesh and Radhey Shyam have occupied a large plot of Harijan Abadi land on which the poor people have been agitating peacefully. Workers are also agitating for increase in agricultural wages from 5 Kg wheat per day which the landlord object to. Few days ago Mithilesh had misbehaved with a girl and when the poor people objected he had threatened to attack them.

The PAC has been posted in large numbers in Umri and Jari areas and it has attacked and damaged the house of one of the accused poor person, Bhulai.

BSP administration has launched a massive disinformation campaign and attack on the dalits and poor people of the area in order to help the upper caste landord power to assert itself on the poor people. The entire police machinery is acting in tandem with the landlords. Like in Kaushambi, it is acting purely as an agency of the landlords who are involved in severe and medieval forms of exploitation of the poor. A complete police raj is prevailing and there is complete police lawlessness. An atmosphere of fear prevails in the area with the poor left wondering about safety of their rights.

 (Janhastakshep team consisting of Dr N Bhattacharya, a retired Professor of Delhi University, Jaspal Singh Sidhu, Senior Journalist,  Anil Dubey, Senior Journalist,  and Jagdish Yadav, Senior photojournalist has visited different areas in Punjab, sites of police repression. The following statement was released by the team on April, 20, 2010 at a Press Conference in Chandigarh.)

 A team of Janhastakshep, a Delhi based group of civil rights activists and intellectuals visited extensively in Punjab for three days from April 18, 2010 and particularly the places of recent occurrences and observed the following:

That democracy in Punjab is fast receding with fascist trends coming to the fore. The ruling Akali-BJP government seems to have lost propensity of tackling every issue through democratic process.

It imposes World Bank sponsored agenda, being handed over to the state directly or through the Central government unmindful of the local requirements and aspirations of the people. And when such agenda, meets natural resistance from the people, the state political establishment turns it into a 'law and order' problem and invariably imposes its 'will' with iron hand. Use of repressive measures of every sort by the ruling establishment is most common and being perpetuated by a nexus of politicians, bureaucracy, trade and feudal lords.

In rural area, village panchayats are divided with ruling politicians patronizing one group and pitting it against the other and thus creating circumstances for squandering away the officially allocated development funds and splitting villagers on electoral lines.

Education system being privatized at fast pace with English teaching shops sprouting up, thus leaving the government-run schools for wards of economically weak and Dalits. Higher education being restricted to upper middle class and rich. Any attempt by rural people to get higher education is not facilitated by the state government rather systematically blocked. Existing facilities like concessional bus pass, token college and other facilities are getting withdrawn and all demands of organized students union are crushed as 'law and order' problem. Recently, students raising such demand at ITI Moga were subjected to severe repression by the police and state Punjab Students Union (PSU) president were charged with attempt to murder under section 307 IPC and put behind bar.

Illegal Task Force of SGPC, fired upon the tenant cultivators at village Khanna Chamara in Gurdaspur district on 3 November, 2009 to evict them from its land and two people were killed and several others injured including women and children in broad day light. These landless tenants cultivating the SGPC land for two generations and paying the rent regularly are being forced to leave the land with ruling Akali Dal, controlling the SGPC lending all support to the killers against whom no legal action has been taken till the day. At the same, Akali leaders including the Vidhan Sabha Speaker are reported to have been handed the land for cultivation and commercial activities at nominal rents.

Attacks by Orissa Govt., local police and Admn. as well TATA’s goons against the tribals of Kalinganagar continue with increased intensity. A team of intellectuals recently visited the area and met the tribals opposing their displacement to give land for TATA’s proposed steel plant. The team also met ADM. The team comprised of Prof. Ish Mishra (Delhi University), Dr. N. Bhattacharyya, (Retd. Prof. Delhi University) of Janhastakshep of Delhi and Prof. (Retd.) Neelmani Sahu (Berhampur University). A team of Janhastakshep, a civil rights and intellectuals’ organization of Delhi that had visited the area in 2006 after the killing of 14 tribal peasants revisited the area on 17^th March 2010 after the news of harassment of the people at the hands of police and TATA’s hired goons.

In a statement issued by the team on March 18, 2010 after their visit to the area day earlier, said that in the name of the project, the govt. is enforcing an undeclared blockade of the area. The schools and anganbadi centres and public distribution shops in the area are closed. There are no health care facilities and people do not venture out under the fear of arrest. Many people who did go out for some urgent work were picked up by the police and detained under various charges including murder and rape. Not only this relatives have stopped visiting them as the police catches them also and harasses them for couple of days. The elected sarpanches of the area told us that they are not allowed to function by the administration.

The team found that the local youth, working in different establishments in the area as daily wage earners under various contractors were dismissed from their jobs for not accepting the govt. orders of the displacement. We were told by the local leaders of BBJM that the police oppression is gradually increasing. Before 2006 firing there was one police station in the area, now there are four police stations. There are cases of armed police raids in the dead of the night arresting some activists of the area without any legal document. There is an undeclared emergency in the area.

The team found the people firm on their resolve of No Displacement despite ongoing repression and harassment.

In 2006, the ADM of Kalinganagar had categorically told the team that 75% of the tribals in the area were encroachers in the forest land that belonged to the govt. This time when the team met the ADM of the same govt., he informed us that under 2006 Forest Rights Act the state govt. has started a survey in the area and that the pattas will be issued to the tribals families under this Act. The team wants a public announcement by the state govt. that the land rights of the tribals will be protected under the 2006 Forest Rights Act.

The team, was of the opinion that there is a well thought out plan by the vested interest to acquire land and other natural resources of the area ignoring laws of this country and unleashing all the fascist forces of the state and the corporate world. It is clear that the govt. has learned nothing from 2006 mass killing and is threatening people with severe consequences.

The team demanded:

1. A judicial enquiry by a sitting High Court Judge on the infringement of the fundamental rights of Adivasi people under the Constitution of India and the role of the local administration. We are surprised to learn that the judicial enquiry instituted by the Govt. after 2006 mass killing is yet to submit its report.
2. The rights of the tribals given under the 2006 Forest Rights Act have to be implemented in letter and spirit.
3. All the arrested people must be released immediately and the fake cases leveled against them are to be withdrawn with immediate effect.
4. All the infrastructural facilities, namely the drinking water, health care, education, PDS should be restored without any loss of time. The free movement of people can not be restrained by any authority under Indian constitution; the local administration should implement it.

(A team of Janhastakshep consisting of Prof. Imtiaz Ahmed, Former Professor, JNU, Delhi, Anil Dubey,  Sr. Journalist and  Jagdish Yadav Sr. Photo Journalist visited some villages in Kosambi district which had seen police attacks on sand workers, poor peasants and agricultural labourers. We are reproducing here the press note issued by the team on 18-03-2010.)

The State Government and District Administration should immediately stop illegal operating of machines for harnessing sand in the kachar areas of Kosambi District, and start the process of negotiations with the struggling villagers and their organizations for distribution of pattas (title deeds) to the local poor so that peace is restored in the Ganga-Yamuna doab areas. Side by side, as per the directions issued by the National Womens Commission, the Administration should ensure harvesting of crops sown by the poor on kachar land in Ujihini.

            A team sent by Janhastakshep, Delhi, to enquire into recent happenings in Ujihini and Nanda ka pura talked to all sides and reached the following conclusions:

            The Janhastakshep team found during enquiry that, while on the one hand the MNREGA Programme is being implemented in the country to help the poor, on the other hand in a backward district like Kosambi the State Government and BSP Members of Parliament are depriving the poor sections of society living along the banks of Ganga and Yamuna of their long-standing, traditional means of livelihood. The Sand and Fish mafia in collusion with the Administration has mounted a concerted attack on the livelihood of the poor settled along the rivers.

            One thing that clearly comes out of the enquiry is that in both the villages the fundamental issue is related to livelihood. Local toughies and powerful elements are taking control over fishing, harnessing sand from river bed, cultivating kachar lands when they are not submerged under water, cutting kasa (grass used for making rope) and transporting goods and people across the river on which the local poor communities depended for survival. Against this the poor villagers are mobilizing themselves. This has brought forth extended intimidation which is illustrated by the happenings in Ujihini and Nanda ka purwa villages.

            The issue of wage labour is also highly complicated.  In this area agricultural wage labourers are paid between Rs. 15-25 for the days work. The District Administration has at no time taken steps to ensure that the wage fixed by the Government is paid to wage labourers. The local toughies and powerful elements aided and abetted by the law enforcement agencies has been intimidating and punishing them. Such happenings were cited by the local villagers during the team’s enquiry.

In the happenings in Ujihini the issue of kachar land is of central concern to the poor Pasi, Nishad, Muslim and other sections of society. Thousand acres of this land should legally be distributed among these disadvantaged sections. The District Administration has only been promising the distribution of this land. It has been busy trying to give a caste or communal colour to the struggle for distribution of land, all the more because the economic interest of the local landlords and fish mafia is directly involved. In a part of the kachar land in this village the poor have grown a crop (peas). The local toughies and police are hell bent on preventing them from harvesting the crop. This is so despite the law that whosoever sows the crop has a right to harvest it. The local toughies and the police, which is now stationed in the village, attacked several houses, broke their limited assets and dishonoured women, and subsequently the police arrested many minor girls. They were released after intervention by the National Womens Commission. The team has seen a copy of the directions in which the Commission has specifically directed the local administration to ensure peaceful harvesting of the crop.