DDevelopment for whom? This is the common question by the people of West Bengal as thousands of acres of land are being acquired for setting up industries by the state government in its drive to industrialization.

In Singur Hooghly alone, 1,253 acres (or 500 hectares) of agricultural land is being eyed for land use conversion and the government has allotted it for a proposed car manufacturing plant by Tata Motors, a giant Indian company. Popularly called as the granary of West Bengal, this land in Singur is a highly fertile and is home to 5,000 families. The people of Singur have been protesting against the government acquisition notice.

Human rights organisations and other NGOs and CSOs working in the eastern region responded to the issue and appealed to the District Magistrate of Hooghly to provide necessary information regarding the acquisition of land according to the provisions of Right to Information Act 2005.

Various CSOs and NGOs organized an international fact fi nding mission (FFM) to visit Singur and look into the unjustifi able move of the West Bengal government to evict the farmers. The FFM was organised by the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacifi c (PAN AP), Asian Peasants Coalition (APC) and Institute for Motivating Self-Employment (IMSE).

The social movements in West Bengal and the FFM are in unison: the forced eviction violates the human rights of peasants and small food producers of Singur and that the Left Front government and Tata Motors should heed the clamour of Singur to keep their land and take their “development” elsewhere.

This report tells the story of the people of Singur and their struggle against this unjust move of the government. It also narrates the different perspectives of NGOs and CSOs on the issue of “development”.

The farmers and small food producers of Singur call upon the social movements in India and elsewhere to create pressure on the government to withdraw the land acquisition order.

OUT!OUT! PCFS People’s Coalition on

Food Sovereignty PAN AP Pesticide Action NetworkAsia and the Pacifi c October 2006

SPEAKSPEAK COMMUNITIESASSERTING

THEIR RIGHTS TOFOOD SOVEREIGNTY

OUR LANDTHEIR DEVELOPMENTDEVELOPMENT

A report of the International Fact Finding Mission

on the Forced Eviction of the Farming Communities

in the State of West Bengal in India

Why would the West Bengal government and Tata Mo-tors evict us from our land? Women in Singur ask.

WritersD.P Lahiri and Arpita Ghosh

Editor-in-chiefSarojeni Rengam (PAN AP)

Editor and Project CoordinatorGilbert Sape (PAN AP)

Production StaffXin Ying Tan (PAN AP)Norly Grace P. Mercado (PCFS)

PhotosGilbert M. Sape

Lay-out and Cover DesignDennis Longid

This publication of PAN AP and PCFS aims to provide in-depth stories from communities asserting their food sovereignty. It is a tool for marginalised communities to speak out on issues that affect their lives and livelihood. It hopes to raise awareness and seek solidarity actions from the readers. If you have comments or have taken solidarity actions as a result of this publication, please share them to us at panap@panap.net or to secretariat@foodsov.org.

Development Driven

In its major drive towards industrialization, the Government of West Bengal has decided to acquire 1,253 acres of agricultural lands at Singur, Hooghly district (nearly 60 km from Kolkata) for the construction of a plant for “Tata Motors”, a car manufacturing unit of

Indian multi-national corporation Tata. The acquisition is part of the larger plan of the State Government to acquire 43,775 acres of land (mostly agricultural) for industrial purposes in the State (see table below)

Project Land Requirement in West BengalPROPOSED PROJECT LOCATION REQUIREMENT

Chemical Hub Haldia 25,000Eastern expressway (Barasat to Raychak) North and South 24 parganas 600Setting up industrial units by WBIDC Various 850Germent Park Sankrail, Howrah 1,325Shifting District HQ of 24 Pgs Baruipur 3000SEZ Kulpi 3000Integrated industrial development center Uluberia, Howrah 2000Industrial Estate Kharagpur 750Modern Township Dankuni 5000SEZ Howrah 2000Tata Car Project Singur 1000Knowledge city, Health Park, Biotech Park Near Kolkata Airport 850Cement Factory Sagardighi, Murshidabad 150Telcon’s payloader plant Kharagpur 250

TOTAL 43,775Source: ET, The Telegraph

OUR LANDTHEIR DEVELOPMENTDEVELOPMENTA report of the International Fact Finding Mission

on the Forced Eviction of the Farming Communities

in the State of West Bengal in India

By D.P Lahiri and Arpita Ghosh

Speak Out! Communities Asserting Their Rights To Food Sovereignty

4

The Chief Minister of the State Buddhadeb Bhattacharya announced on May 16, 2006 that 1,253 acres of land covering 11 villages in Singur block of Hooghly would be acquired to set up the industrial plant by Tata’s. On May 26, 2006 government offi cials visited the place. The people of Singur came to know that their land would be taken over in course of their interactions with government offi cials. The District Administration however issued notices regarding the planned acquisition. The farmers and small food producers of Singur immediately formed the Krishi Zamin Raksha Committee (Singur Agricultural Land Protection Committee) to stop the government’s move to acquire the land.

As a result, more than 5,000 peasant families as well as thousands of agricultural labourers, unregistered

sharecroppers, cottage industry workers and local small business people in 11 villages – Singher Bheri, Rupnarayanpur, Gopalnagar-Harharia, Gopalnagar-Sahanapara, Gopalnagar-Ghoshpara, Par-Gopalnagar,Bajemelia, Khase Bheri, Beraberi, Dobadi, Joymollah are living under the threat of imminent eviction and their livelihood is endangered.

For the people of Singur, their land is their life and part of their culture. It is a place for learning and worship. There are two (2) secondary schools and 13 primary schools in Singur. There are 4 Hindu religious temples and two crematory grounds in the area.

Cost of “Development”

Most of the farmers are small and marginal farmers. The average landholdings of the small and marginal farmers are between 2.5-5 acres and the medium farmers own below 8 acres. The average monthly earning of a small farmer is between Rupees 3,000-

3500 (US$65-76 at US$1 to Rupees 46). The number of recorded and unrecorded sharecroppers is around 300.

The crops cultivated include paddy, jute, wheat, potato and other seasonal vegetables. Most of the lands yield three crops annually and some of them even four. It has a yield of 8,000 to 9,000 tons various produce jute per year. The State has ordered the peasants to immediately stop sowing paddy rice (September is a paddy sowing season) in the above land and to accept the State’s decision of farmland acquisition and the eviction that would follow. The government plans to acquire the land through

Singur is neither dry nor abandoned land. It yields 8,000 to 9,000 tons of rice, wheat, vegetables and jute per year.

Like the conch shell they blow to welcome their visitors which the warriors of ancient India used to announce battle, land is part of their culture.

August 2006

5

the Land Acquisition Act 1894 and then lease the land to Tata at a subsidised rate through the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, a state government enterprise. This was learnt from different government statements from the Writers Buildings (State Secretariat).

The decision of the State Government to acquire this fertile land for “Tata Motors” surprised the peasants and many other civil society activists as the car manufacturing unit could easily be set up in another location in the State where adequate non-agricultural land is available. It is known that the Chief Minister offered the Tata unarable land in another place called West Medinipur for setting up the manufacturing unit, but Tata preferred this fertile multi-cropped highland at Singur, according to government offi cial sources. Unfortunately, the supposedly pro-people Left government agreed to the request in order to please the multinational company.

The acquisition of such a huge land area signifi es that the Tata may turn these lands into a real estate venture in the near future, like what the Birlas are planning on the 314 acres of land in Hind Motors, according to a section of business observers. Hind Motors is owned by C.K. Birlas and it was set up in 1942 as manufacturing plant on 743 acres of land in Uttarpara, West Bengal. With this huge land, Hind Motors has expanded into a huge town with residential housing and other facilities.

Moreover, no adequate compensation or rehabilitation package has been offered to the affected. Only one time monetary compensation is promised, which the peasants think would be below market price. No economic rehabilitation is offered to the farmers whose livelihoods would be directly affected. No compensation has been offered to the agricultural labourers, sharecroppers and others who depend on these lands indirectly and would also be deprived of their livelihoods. For generations the local people cultivated the land and most of them cannot think of any other occupation beyond agriculture.

Peasant women would be severely affected since many of them do not own land and so they would not get the compensations in their names. Having said this, no compensation will be appropriate for the damage this would cause to the lives of the peasants.

The survival and livelihoods of the peasants are closely related to the land and the agriculture that they practice. They come from generations of farmers and their skills and knowledge have been acquired through the

These school kids come from the two secondary and 13 primary schools in Singur which will be demolished soon to give way to Tata’s business.

It is paddy season and farmers show to the fact fi nding team and local media how fertile their land is.

Speak Out! Communities Asserting Their Rights To Food Sovereignty

6

decades of understanding, working and sustaining the land and the surrounding natural resources. These are what they know and do well. Their skills are not suitable for other occupation. Thus, they will lose their access to food producing resources such as land and this could result in hunger and starvation.

Furthermore, the discussion on the compensation package is not transparent, and there is no participation of the affected people in this process. Worse, the compensation package is so meagre and the price for their land is way below the market price. As emphasised earlier, no rehabilitation package will suffi ce since the peasants will lose not only their livelihoods but also their support systems and the local existing institutions of the area.

The peasants’ resistance against this proposed eviction is gaining strength. The most active of which is the Singur Krishi Zami Raksha Committee. Building their strength and gaining solidarity through this committee, the peasants have refused to accept the acquisition notifi cation. They have vowed to continue their protest till death without giving even an inch to the government.

Arrested Development

The independent fact fi nding team was organised in response to the request of local organisations including IMSE, Singur Krishi Jami Suraksha Committee (Singur Agricultural Land Protection Committee) to look into the possible human rights violation

in relation to the government take over of land for Tata Corporation. The team members are from various organisations including People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), Pesticide

Action Network Asia and the Pacifi c (PAN AP), All Nepal Peasant Association (ANPA), Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), Asian Peasants Association (APC), Society for Rural Education (SRED, Tamil Nadu), Tamil Nadu Dalit Women’s Movement, Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Workers Union (APVVU) and National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM, India).

The international fact fi nding team reached Gopalnagar-Sahanapara off the Durgapur Expressway at around 11 am in the morning on September 4, 2006. Men, women and children of the peasant families greeted the team members wholeheartedly with bouquets and sandalwood.

The villagers showed the team the lands that are Rain or shine, Singur people warmly welcome the fact fi nding team.

Hundreds of farmers and small food producers gather in a village in Singur to share their thoughts on the looming eviction.

August 2006

7

supposed to be acquired soon. The entire FFM team received warm reception wherever they went. Women and children were crying, expressing their anger, anxieties and worries and sharing their real situation so that the members of the FFM could visualise and understand better the impact of the land acquisition on the local communities especially the women and children.

There were no untoward incidences while the team was doing the visit. Even though the FFM was escorted by a huge police contingent; there

were some pro-government propagandists who were hissing comments favouring acquisition in some places.

Local Trinamul Congress Member of Parliament Mukul Roy and Member of Legislative Assembly Rabindra Nath Bhattacharjee accompanied the team. Both the people’s representatives belong to the opposition party and they vehemently criticized the industrial policies of the government and the land acquisition issue at Singur in their public speeches.

Biplab Halim, Executive Director,IMSE who initiated this Fact Finding Mission and Becharam Manna, Secretary, Singur Krishi Jami Suraksha Committee led the FFM team in their investigation in these villages. All public meetings arranged by the villagers was addressed by Biplab Halim. He also expressed strong solidarity with the struggling people of Singur.

The FFM team visited 7 villages in Singur and personally interviewed peoples from all economic strata of the affected community. While their economic backgrounds are different, a strong consensus emerged- they will not give up the lands that have sustained their lives for generations.

Dhud Kumar Dhara, (age 30) from Khaser Bheri and possessing nearly 1 acre land does not want to sell his land. Dhara who is also a Gram Panchayat and Krishi Zamin Raksha Working Committee member earns Rs 2,000 monthly and this sustains his family.

Dilip Patra, (age 35) a power tiller driver from Khaser Bheri and who works for 200 days in a year in Singur earns Rs 1500 monthly. His meagre income helps his family of four to ensure that they get regular meals. If the government evicts them from the land, he will surely be jobless.

A seasonal farm worker, Rekha Hasda, (age 50) a tribal migratory agricultural labourer from Barddhaman district will be unable to support her twelve-member

Young and old are determined to defend their land against the looming corporate take over.

Local police in Singur show their force as they follow the fact fi nd-ing team around Singur.

Speak Out! Communities Asserting Their Rights To Food Sovereignty

8

family if the Singur lands are acquired. Her monthly income of Rs. 1,500 hardly supports her family and the looming eviction and loss of job add burden to her already diffi cult life.

Mahadev Das, (age 36) an affl uent medium farmer and his family are in cultivation for fi ve generations. Singur has been their home for many years and the threat of eviction will not only destroy their livelihood but also their history.

Narayan Bain an illiterate seasonal migratory labourer is engaged in agricultural jobs. Regular jobs are uncertain to him. Although he is not from Singur, he is now integrated socially, culturally and economically with the people of the area. Bain earns Rs.3000 per month through different kind of jobs and maintain a family of eight members. He doesn’t own land and hence he would not be entitled to get any compensation, if paid at all.

Akul Chandra Das of Khasher Bheri area teaches in a primary school apart from his agricultural activities. Das owns 5.5 bighas (in West Bengal, 10 bighas is equivalent to 3 acres) of land and cultivates paddy rice, potato and vegetables. He earns Rs.5000 a month and he maintains a family of six members. If the land acquisition happens, he will lose both his job and his land.

Monturam Malik of Khasger Bheri is a casual agricultural labourer. He also supports his income by operating submersible pumps. Malik did not get any notice for acquisition but learnt from other villagers that the area he lives was going to be acquired by the government. He has no land title, this he is not entitled to any amount of compensation.

The stories of the people of Singur maybe different from one another but the tales of despair and uncertainty of the future are the same for everyone in the village.

Development Perspectives

The FFM team in its three-day mission talked to eminent personalities from different walks of life who have also rendered active

participation in social welfare. Prominent among them are Debabrata Bandopadhyay, Prof. Sunanda Sanyal, Manik Mukherjee, Ashoke Ghosh, Mahasveta Devi and Justice Chittitosh Mukherjee.

Debabrata Bandopadhayay, former Secretary of the West Bengal Land and Land Reforms Department answered all the questions of the team and projected an insight on a wide array of subjects pertaining to land, development, industrialization and environment.

He narrated that during the initial years of the Left Front’s rule, land reforms had been central to the Party’s agenda but that has now taken a backseat. The ongoing trend of agricultural land devastation in the name of industrialization is a clear pointer to that. The level that West Bengal once attained in land reforms has started showing a reverse trend. Solidarity actions to save their land bring hope to Singur

community.

August 2006

9

He said the present paradigm of development and poverty alleviation is contradictory. The indiscriminate proposals of the government to acquire fertile inter-cropped lands that provide subsistence living to the local community as well as other surrounding districts including Kolkata seems unjustifi able to him. The government did not undertake an impact assessment study before starting on a project like this. He vehemently criticized the government for using the coercive Land Acquisition Act, 1894 to give land to the multinationals at subsidised rates.

The government has chalked the entire plan in such a treacherous way that it has already announced acquisition before the festivals (Durga Puja). The puja season is the time when all government offi ces close for the holidays, thus, less opposition is expected when the government hands-over the lands to Tata corporation.

Meanwhile, Prof. Sunando Sanyal viewed one-time monetary compensation, as not a substitute for livelihood. He termed the government’s compensation strategy of paying at historic land rates and not the actual market prices to be “fully absurd”. Moreover, the average price registered at the land registration offi ce cannot serve as guideline for the compensation policy.

He shared his concerns regarding the compensatory process on such project that results displacements and dispossessions. As in many cases, it happens that the affected communities get nothing or very meagre compensation. Sometimes the compensation does not reach the people and is misappropriated by corrupt offi cials.

In economic parlance, he viewed property rights and choice as central to the market economy. In his perspective the entire issue should not be based only on law and legitimacy but on ethics. The government’s aversion for non-agricultural lands or other nearby industrial areas like that of Durgapur (just 50 km away) and Kharagpur for purposes of car manufacturing remain unclear to him.

He questioned the government’s stand in ensuring the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution that goes beyond right to livelihood, right to feed oneself and to live with dignity.

Ashoke Ghosh, a helm’s man of the Forward Block, one of the major allies of the ruling Left Front government toed the Left Front line in the acquisition case of Singur. He stressed party to party relations inside the country to unite “anti-imperialist forum”. Since 1977, almost 30 years in power, the Left Front government has created a history he said. Both the Congress and the BJP (Bharathya Janatha Party) are bourgeois parties and the Constitution of the country is also made for them. He particularly mentioned that the policy of industrialization was not the decision taken by the Communist Party India (Marxist) but it was a unanimous decision of the Left Front government. He refused to comment when asked about compensation for the affected farmers in Singur and the low package by West Bengal government. His party however, is not going to budge from earlier Left Front decision.

Singur people welcome the fact fi nding team with their sentiments.

Speak Out! Communities Asserting Their Rights To Food Sovereignty

10

Manik Mukherjee, veteran leader of the Socialist Unity Centre of India felt that the Party India (Marxist), the ruling party of the state is now inviting the multi-national companies and encouraging them to exploit cheap labour and resources of India. In the case of Singur, the cash compensation alone is not enough, he said. Moreover, the practice of converting fertile land into non-agricultural land would lead to crisis of food. In many cases such as acquisition of land in Rajarhat and Palta (near Kolkata) the evicted people have not yet received their compensation until now.

Mahasveta Devi, eminent litterateur and Gnanpith Award winner is also a social activist working over the years for the development of tribal people. Asked about the development in Singur she advised to form a forum of resistance and focus on media. Sometimes news generated in the media force the concerned authority to reconsider their ways. She is apprehensive about the world of globalization and thought that everybody should be prepared for a greater war.

Justice Chhittotosh Mukherjee, former Chief Justice of Mumbai High Court in an interactive session with

the FFM team explained the inevitability of industrialization. However, he said that and is not only livelihood but also life of the poor peasant community of India. In the case of acquisition in Singur, he said that compensation does not always reach to the real persons. Moreover, one should consider whether these agricultural lands should be converted into non-agricultural lands.

Citizen’s Convention on Singur

The FFM concluded with a Citizen’s Convention at Bharat Sabha Hall in Kolkata. It was attended by more than 200 people from Singur as well as various civil society organisations and concerned individuals.

The Convention unanimously condemned the Left government’s policy to acquire fertile agricultural land at Singur and called upon the people and civil society members to resist the move.

Gilbert Sape, the participant from Malaysia criticized the government’s devious step to acquire the lands before the festive season commences (the most important of festival in West Bengal is Durga Puja which starts on September 27). He explained the globalization and industrialization process that is gaining ground not only in this part of Asia but also in the South East Asian region, has tremendous negative impact on peasants, agricultural workers and small food producers.

He stated that this is a cause of serious concern which must be fought together. On behalf of his organization he extended strong solidarity to the peasants’ movement and the need to publicize the issue to provide support to the cause of the people of Singur. The FFM felt that the sinister design of industrialisation should be thwarted with all efforts.

Land is life and Singur farmers are willing to give their lives for it.

August 2006

11

With respect to Tata Motors installation of small car plant, Fatima Burnad from Tamil Nadu Women’s Forum and Society for Rural Education said “a car plant will not give food to the peasant community”. She highlighted food sovereignty and the worldwide sinister design of transnational corporations to upset it. She was perplexed with the fallacy of the government to acquire such a fertile multi-cropped land like that of Singur for the purpose of industrialization. She was specifi cally concerned about the marginalized, Dalits, women and children.

Balram Banskota, General Secretary of All Nepal Peasant’s Association, also a member of the team regretted that the Left Front government had been outdoing the socialist principles, promised by them. He condemned the government’s step to grab the peasant community’s only resource of livelihood. He voiced the democratic rights of the peasant community in respect of this issue.

Bahrain Khan, a member of the FFM and an environment lawyer from Bangladesh, especially got interested in this mission to gather experience on land disputes and disseminate her knowledge to the people of Bangladesh. She noted that the teeming millions of a developing country like Bangladesh and India traditionally depend on natural resources for their survival. Land and water resources are their life-support system, she said.

Since India and Bangladesh share a contiguous boundary, the attempts of a neighbouring Left Front run State to demolish an agricultural civilization in Singur may someday also affect her country. She was particularly alarmed that India and Bangladesh are both under threat from multinational corporations who are out to grab lands, destroy the people’s right to food and create an artifi cial food crisis.

She emphasized that such a multinational intrusion needs to be protested from the very beginning so that the situation does not get worse. She called for a more vibrant participation from all civil society and peasant organizations. In the light of the Singur episode, the FFM found it necessary to stop multinational invasion in land and agriculture.

P. Chennaiah, one of the leaders of the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Workers Union (APVVU) and the National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM) specifi cally expressed concern about the fate of the people who depend on agriculture in one way or the other. Moreover, according to India’s legal system a large number of people are without property rights until now even after several years of occupancy and cultivation. He said that women have been conferred limited rights over their land. Worse, he said, the landless, the agricultural labourers will not be compensated. They will become a redundant labour force. The Dalits will be the worst affected in the process.

Land is our mother as it gives life to Singur

Speak Out! Communities Asserting Their Rights To Food Sovereignty

12

FINDINGS OF THE FFM

• The proposed eviction by the government is an utter violation of International Covenants on human rights especially International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; 1976, Indian Constitution (Article 21, Article 39) as per the Directive Principles of the State Policies with special emphasis on Article 39, 41 and 42, relating to the Right to Food.

• The general impression drawn by the international and the national fact fi nding team was that women and children will be most vulnerable if the government goes on acquiring the proposed lands for the Tata. In the agricultural sector of the country women take part in most of the production process. Hence it would be clearly a threat to their livelihood. Children being the weakest section of the society they are the fi rst to bear the brunt of economic distress.

• In the open market system, Tata could purchase the land from the farmers directly. In this case, the government has played the role of an intermediary or a broker with the rapid industrialisation in West Bengal as one of its agenda. However, this agenda has to take into consideration the impact of industrialisation on the lives of farming communities.

• The propaganda that the peasants are selling their lands is not true as thousands of villagers came forward to present their complaints and are opposed to the land grabbing.

• The compensation package as proposed by the government would be of no use to the farmers. They would be deprived of their livelihood and their indigenous culture and ways of life would be eliminated.

• According to the Calcutta High Court order of August 28, 2006 the State was to provide relevant information, as per the provision of the Information Act, 2005, within two weeks on Singur land acquisition case. But till September 12, 2006 the petitioners have not received any response.

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13

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE FFM

With this FFM, an effort is intended to create pressure on the West Bengal government to reconsider its present acquisition move by way of involving other international organizations. Copies of the present investigative report will be sent to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the offi ce of the Tatas, the West Bengal government and CSOs.

• Under the existing national and international laws, the government of India is bound to protect the right to food of people and take necessary measures. Handling over such a large parcel of rich agricultural lands to Tata would affect the food security and food sovereignty of 5,000 families or around 20,000 people.

• Abiding the Right to Information Act of 2005, the government should publicize all information among the affected community.

• The Government should take necessary steps to stop converting fertile agricultural lands in the name of industrialization and multinational investment. For the peasants, land is livelihood. Displacement of people in general and the marginalized in particular should be avoided in the guise of development.

• Based on their so called corporate responsibility, Tata should uphold what it preaches as published in their website (“We must continue to be responsible, sensitive to the countries, communities and environments in which we work, always ensuring that what comes from the people goes back to the people many times over.”) and heed the voice of the people of Singur. Tata should look into other non-agricultural land as a viable alternative for their construction facility.

• Genuine implementation of the agrarian reform programme should be focused and entitlement of land to women, Dalits and to other landless agricultural workers be prioritized.

• There should be an independent commission to look into the Singur case. This commission should be constituted by civil society organisations, government offi cials, peasants and members from the affected community of Singur. National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and other statutory organizations should come forward and could be involved in the process.

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14

The episode of Singur is not an isolated one but is happening throughout the world. Land conversion in the name of “development” is taking place at the expense of farming communities.

CSOs, NGOs and other allies advocating for people’s food sovereignty should organise resistance against forced eviction of Singur communities. Specifi cally, advocates should demand that the West Bengal Government and Tata Corporation should:

1. stop the unnecessary and unjust land eviction of the farmers and communities of Singur;

2. allow the peasants to continue their agricultural activities in Singur.3. respect the communities’ decision to keep their land and to listen to their

clamor for a community-led agricultural development plan. 4. stop any forced and violent eviction until a genuine participatory

and transparent process of decision-making on this land acquisition is implemented and the strategies for an adequate and equitable land compensation plan, social and cultural resettlement and rehabilitation are in place.

5. look into other non-agricultural land as a viable alternative for the construction of Tata’s infrastructure facility.

An online petition on this has been set-up, please visit www.foodsov.org. The online petition automatically sends all protest letters to the West Bengal government and other relevant institutions. Updates on the Singur case can also be found on the same website.

If you want to get involved or support the campaigns on food sovereignty, you can write to the Secretariat of the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) at secretariat@foodsov.org. PCFS and IMSE (Institute for Motivating Self Employment (www.imse-india.com) are the main organisers of the fact fi nding mission.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

August 2006

15

AbbreviationsBargadars – tenants/share croppersBighas – (In West Bengal) 3 bighas = 1 acreBirlas – GP-CK Birla Group CompanyCPI (M) – Communist Party of India (Marxist)Crore – Ten millionCSOs – Civil Society OrganisationsDurga Puja – the most important festival of Bengalis, celebrating the ten-armed goddess of fertility and plants and the third embodiment of the Devi, Durga.ESI – Employees’ State InsuranceFFM – Fact Finding MissionGram Panchayat – local government body at the village level in IndiaHind Motors – Hindustan Motors Ltd.ITC – International Trade CentreLakh – unit in the Indian numbering system. One lakh is equal to a hundred thousand (105)NGOs – Non-Governmental OrganisationsOperation Barga – The big land reform success story in Marxist-ruled West BengalPanchayats – village councilsPF – Provident FundPSUs – Public Sector UndertakingsQuintal – a unit of weight equal to 100 kilogramsRs. – Rupees (the basic unit of money in India)RTI – Right to Information

Endnotes1. P.S Appu: Land reforms in India, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd. 1996 2. Biplab Halim, Peasant Development And Land Reforms 3. Tai Hung Chao, Land Reforms and Politics: A Comprehensive Analysis, Berkely, University of California Press, 1974 and Radharomon

Mukherjee, Occupancy Right: Its History and Incidence, University of Calcutta, 1919..4. Sankar Kumar Bhaumik, Tenancy Relations and Agrarian Development: A study of West Bengal, Sage publications, New Delhi.5. Benoy Krishna Chowdhury, Land Reforms in West Bengal and its impact on rural economy6. The Asian Age, Kolkata, September 6, 2006.7. The Indian Express, Kolkata, September 7, 2006.8. The Times of India, Kolkata, July 24, 2006.9. The Statesman, Kolkata, July 13, 2006.10. Bartaman (Bengali Daily), Kolkata, September 6, 2006.11. Election Manifesto CPI (M).12. Election Manifesto, All India Forward Block.13. Election Manifesto, Socialist Unity Centre of India.14. Ganashakti (Bengali Daily), an organ of Communist Party of India (Marxist).15. West Bengal Human Development Report, 2004.16. Press Release by PIB (press Information Bureau), www.pib.nic.in17. People’s Democracy, News Magazine.18. Economic consequence of land reforms under the left regime.

Speak Out! Communities Asserting Their Rights To Food Sovereignty

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Article 1Solemn Promises and Sordid Performance

of the Left Front Government

Thirty years ago, in 1977, the Left Front led by Mr. Jyoti Basu of Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) came to power in West Bengal. The Front defeated the Emergency-tainted Congress Party, which had been unleashing a ‘semi-fascist’ terror, particularly against the revolutionary Left, the Naxalites.

Democracy became the crying need of the people; the mood and temper of the people of West Bengal was such that to defeat the Congress that they would vote for any party or alliance that promised minimum democracy to the people. The Left Front promised to give them a better life and a better economy apart from democracy – in a nut-shell, ‘better governance’. In the Front’s parlance it would be ‘alternative rule’ by a combination of Left parties.

What has happened to that promise today? The promises and proposals made in the 1977 charter (they were 36 in all, with a number of sections and sub-sections appended to each) have all vanished into thin air. After 30 years, it is now an ‘improved Left Front’ that desires to follow ‘the rule of the game’ (as told by Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharya himself in his latest interview appearing in Anand Bazar Patrika, a leading Bengali daily, on May 12, 2002).

What is that ‘rule’? And what ‘game’ are they playing with the people of West Bengal? The game is nothing but the game of bourgeois parliamentarism, which has its own, in-built ‘rule’ – making promises, gaining votes, capturing power and then forgetting everything in the name of the ‘changed situation’, ‘Centre’s apathy’ or ‘impact of globalisation’. Moreover, for CPI (M) there is the logic that ‘a government with limited power’ can do nothing (even though they often claim that ‘we have many alternatives’). Ultimately they have resorted to the pet social-democratic logic: We have to follow the ‘rules of the game’.(Reference: Twenty-fi ve years of Left Front Government in West Bengal)

WHAT THEY PROMISED IN 1977

WHERE WE STAND NOW?

(The number in brackets indicate the serial number in the original 36-point charter)

1. To nationalize all the core industries. To abolish the power of monopoly capital. To take effective steps to stop infi ltration of the multinational corporations. (Point No. 1)

1. One such big industry, termed as the ‘pride of Bengal’ is Haldia Petrochem, which was built in joint collaboration with Purnendu Chatterjee of Soros Group and the Tatas. Now the West Bengal government has sold its shares to Mr. Chatterjee, retaining no stakes in Haldia Petrochem. The Tatas have also withdrawn their shares. Haldia Petrochem has now become the ‘native pride of the foreign capital’.

The other big industry is Bakreswar Thermal Power Project. It was built on build-operate-transfer basis. The Japanese Mitsubishi, Microsoft, IBM, are welcome here, because “we want capital”. “We are a capital-friendly government” – now this is the mantra of the ‘improved Left Front’. The process started after their much celebrated ‘Industrial Policy of 1994’ took shape during Mr. Jyoti Basu’s tenure. The ITC, Videocon, Hindustan Lever, Lafarge, are all being accorded a red carpet welcome. This is the ‘alternative’ of abolition of monopoly or checking multinationals.

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2. To provide jobs for all the able-bodied hands, and social security and unemployment allowance to the unemployed youth. (Point No. 3)

2. The number of unemployed youth has shot up to a registered 66 lakh fi gure (1 lakh is equivalent to 100,000). If the unregistered unemployed youth are also to be counted, the number would cross the ten million mark. When the Left Front government came to power in ’77, the number of registered unemployed youth was not more than 10-11 lakh.

The government has started an unemployment allowance in ’79, but the amount is a meagre Rs. 50 per month (less than US$1). Now the government has decided to offer the unemployed a one-time sum of Rs. 5000 (roughly US$107). If one has taken this allowance, his or her employment exchange card will be seized nor he or she be allowed to sit for public service commission examinations.

To those having no employment whatsoever, what kind of social security would the government offer? Would they get free medical service, free education, free food and free travel? If not, what comes under this social security? This year, the ‘improved Left Front’ government has introduced an examination fee for clerical exams. The unemployed youth have to pay Rs. 250 to Rs. 500 (US$6-12) for these exams.

3. To fi x the remunerative/support prices of cash crops like jute and cotton so as to protect the interests of the primary producers, and to purchase these produces on support price (if possible, with a bonus to the small producers) to check distress sale or black-marketing. (Point No. 4)

3. Distress sale of jute is a common phenomenon in North Bengal, and also in North and South Dinajpur and Nadia districts. Last year the Jute Corporation of India stopped purchase of jute due to paucity of funds. The state government has no institutions to purchase jute. The only course they have is to blame the central government for the crisis of the jute-growers.

This year the producers are selling Aman and Aous (local seasonal varieties) paddy at lower rate than the government-declared support prices, i.e., Rs. 530 to Rs. 550 per quintal (or US$11-12). The sale is going on at Rs. 320 to Rs. 340 per quintal (or US$7-7.5). Bonus to small producers of paddy is ‘not possible’ due to ‘resource crunch’. West Bengal has not yet gone the Andhra Pradesh way, but if you pursue Chandrababu’s path, how long can the incidence of suicides be kept at bay?

4. To immediately open all the closed industries, lift lock-outs and lay-offs in all cases, stop retrenchments and reinstate all the penalized workers and employees. (Point No. 10)

To ensure need-based minimum wages, pension and other social security schemes for all… (Point No. 12)

To provide job-security and abolish the contract system. (Point No. 14)

4. The number of closed and sick industries in West Bengal has reached 66,000. The ratio of lockout to strikes in 1998-99 was 2:1. Thus West Bengal has become a ‘peaceful’ state for capital investment and also for capital fl ight! The Dunlop owned by Manu Chhabria is a case in point. The blue-eyed Brailly of UK siphoned off Rs. 100 crore (US$21.7 million) from 4 jute mills in West Bengal.

West Bengal’s industrialists top the list of PF/ESI/Gratuity defaulters. According to an approximate estimate, PF defaults amount to Rs. 120 crore (US$26 million), ESI defaults Rs. 80 crore (US$17.4 million) and Gratuity to Rs. 50 crore (US$10.8 million).

No, the private sector industries are not the only culprits. The state government is no less responsible with PF/ESI dues in state PSUs amounting to over Rs. 10 crore (US$2.1 million).

Following the footsteps of the central government, the Left Front government of the state has left 100,000 posts vacant. It is even planning for e-governance with a declared aim to introduce a better ‘work culture’ among the government employees. This step is being opposed even by the coordination committee led by CPI(M).

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5. To acquire ceiling-surplus and benami land and distribute the same free of cost to the landless, poor peasants and agrarian labourers. To radically change the land reform legislations so as to do away with all modes of re-centralisation of land ownership and provide adequate benefi ts to the bargadars, landless peasants and agrarian labourers. (Point No. 16)

To arrange for round-the-year work for agrarian labourers and payment of adequate livelihood wages to them. (Point No. 20)

5. Out of the 10 lakh (1 million) acres of land acquired for distribution, only 2.5 lakh acres of land has actually been distributed during the entire 25-year period. Most of the ceiling surplus land was captured by the peasants themselves during the turbulent days of Naxalbari movement in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

Cases related to 250,000 acres of so-called disputed surplus land are still pending in the court. Obviously, the erstwhile landholders are benefi ted by these ‘disputes’.

Out of 30 lakh bargadars, only 15 lakh got registered in the early days of Operation Barga. Now the operation has been wound up. Rather the reverse process has gained momentum. Poor bargadars with no means to sustain their livelihood settle with the landowners for a paltry sum of money and become landless agrarian labourers. In Bardhaman district alone at least 70,000 such cases have been noticed by the district land revenue department. Such incidence is also noticed in North Dinajpur, Maldah, and Midnapore districts.

Following the 2nd and 3rd land reform acts and their amendments, at least 19 lakh (1.9 million) acres of land has become ceiling surplus. But the poor landless agrarian labourers are not getting even a few bighas of land.

The minimum wage fi xed by the state government for the agrarian labourers is Rs. 62.10 (US$1.4), with some regional variations. But to get it in reality remains a dream for agrarian labourers everywhere. Generally they get Rs. 28 to Rs. 35 ($.60-.70 cents) plus 2 kg. of rice, and in some places the wages are as low as Rs. 20 to Rs. 25 (($.40-.50 cents ) only. Most of the agrarian labourers (their total number being more than 70 lakh) are getting jobs for only 100 to 130 days a year.

The ‘food for work’ programme, under which 100 days work is to be provided by the panchayats, is very much absent in many areas. Wherever the scheme is being implemented, it is marred by partisan sectarianism, nepotism and corruption. From the Karanda killings in Bardhaman in 1993 to the recent episode in Suchapur in Birbhum, or Chhota Angaraia killings in Midnapore, show that contradictions are maturing in rural Bengal between the neo-rich and the agrarian labourers.

The CPI(M) machinery is throttling the assertion of the agrarian labourers to get organized as a class for itself. The recent incident of burning of houses and properties by CPI(M) goons in Dhanekhali block in Hooghly district is a pointer to this.

(Reference:Twenty-fi ve years of Left Front Government in West Bengal.htm)

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Article 2The Right to Information Act, 2005

The Right to Information Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2004. It was passed by both houses of Parliament with major amendments in May 2005. The assent of the President was received on June 15 and the Act was notifi ed in the Gazette on June 21. The law became operational in mid-October 2005. This law was passed by Parliament to enable citizens to exercise their fundamental right to information held by public authorities all over the country (except Jammu and Kashmir).

The Right to Information Act (RTI Act) aims to bring about transparency in the functioning of public authorities, contain corruption and hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to people. It creates a process for providing information to people. The RTI Act places a duty on offi cers to provide information to people both proactively and upon request. It provides for a two-tier appeal mechanism to deal with complaints of unreasonable denial of information by public authorities. This law will have an overriding effect vis-à-vis the Offi cial Secrets Act, 1923 and all other laws and orders passed by Governments that restrict information fl ow to people.

Article 3Land Reforms in West Bengal During the Left Regime

It is mentioned in the Human Development Report of West Bengal (2004) that until the 1960s, there was very little in terms of land reform in the state. The small measures that were undertaken related mostly to the abolition of intermediary interests and a small amount of vesting surplus land above the land ceiling. There was growing political awareness of the need to incorporate tenants’ rights into land reform. Since there was no complete offi cial recording of bargadars (tenants/share croppers), many of these rights were not realized in practice. Indeed, the problems of eviction and exploitation of tenants became accentuated over this period, often because of the legislation, the landlords attempted to downgrade the status of tenants and describe them as agricultural lalabourers, in order to prevent the realization of the rights, which had been granted to them.

The regular eviction of bargadars or the threat of it seriously hampered the prospects of capital investment and technological progress in cultivation on share cropped or barga land. In the post 1977 era when the Left Front government came to power, there were major changes in both the focus and the energy of land reforms. An important factor in the ability of the state government to implement such reforms rapidly and with some degree of success was the fact that such reforms had become part of the dominant social consensus of time.

These reforms took shape mainly in the form of redistribution of vested land and securing of tenancy rights, which already existed in law, through a programme of universal registration of tenants called “Operation Barga”. The West Bengal Landholding Revenue Act (1979) and the Revenue Rules (1980), introduced by the Left Front government, provided for key changes in the sharecropping system.

These were in addition to two other means of land reforms that were undertaken in most other parts of India including West Bengal, namely, imposition of ceiling on large landholdings and the reduction of sub-infeudation through the abolition of intermediaries between the cultivator and the landlord. The radical reforms of the government were supported by administrative measures as well as extension of supportive facilities.

Reference: Benefi ciaries of Land Reforms, the West Bengal ScenarioBy Anil K. Chakraborti

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Article 4History of the Left Front Government: Power Failure

The Left Front consists of the Communist Party of India-Marxist -- the dominant Communist party in the country -- the Communist Party of India, the All India Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party. Ninety percent of the Left Front consists of the CPI-M. The CPI was recently derecognised as a national party by the Election Commission.

In 1964, when it broke away from the CPI, some Communists felt the CPI and leaders like Shripad Amrut Dange were too close for comfort to Congress policies and were not pressing hard enough on Marxist-Leninism. These Communists -- among them Balachandra Trimbak Ranadive, a former CPI general secretary who wanted to initiate revolution in India soon after the nation become free-- believed the Party should follow the Chinese line and not take the Soviet route to a Communist state.

This issue bitterly polarised the CPI. Eventually, a group consisting of Ranadive, E M S Namboodiripad, A K Gopalan, Jyoti Basu, Promode Dasgupta and Harkishen Singh Surjeet among others broke away to form the CPI-M. Relations between the two Communist parties improved in the late 1970s, leading to the CPI-M and CPI sharing power as part of the Left Front.

A party which had such giants of the Communist movement as S A Dange, Achutha Menon and C Rajeswara Rao has only two known national leaders currently: A B Bardhan, the party general secretary, and Doraiswamy Raja, the party secretary. The CPI’s trade union wing, the All India Trade Union Congress, has a labour union with a presence in banks, insurance and other industrial units.

It is really a two state -- Kerala and West Bengal -- horse. The CPI-M-led Left Front has ruled West Bengal without interruption since July 1977. In Kerala, it has won power off and on. Both the Communist parties also have a presence in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Tamil Nadu. It won Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the recent election.

E M S Namboodiripad led the undivided Communist Party to victory in the 1957 assembly election in Kerala, the fi rst democratically elected Communist government in the world. But the Congress party, led by its then president -- Indira Gandhi brought it down two years later.

The CPI-M led by Jyoti Basu won a huge majority in the 1977 assembly election in West Bengal and has not lost the state in 27 years. Political analysts believed that Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress leader, would defeat the Communists in the 2002 assembly election after Basu stepped down because of his age. However, its new leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharya stunned the naysayer by winning a fresh term for the Left Front in West Bengal.

Anti-incumbency, which has felled every State government in recent years, has taken a detour in West Bengal.

The left government of West Bengal came to power with the sole objective of establishing land rights for the poor landless peasants of this state. From the partial achievement of the land reform programme, small, marginal peasants and sharecroppers were benefi ted. Now that this trend has started showing a reverse fall out. Still the government asserts – “Agriculture is our basis and industry our future”.

The policy of the present left government on agricultural land acquisition is largely unclear. In the context of the present neo-liberal imperialism the multinational companies and their Indian partners have targeted the agricultural lands all over India; and the Left Front government has also joined the bandwagon.

(Reference: Article from rediffmail.com)

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Article 5The Power that is Tata

The Tata Group comprises 93 operating companies in seven business sectors: information systems and communications; engineering; materials; services; energy; consumer products; and chemicals.

The Group was founded by Jamsetji Tata in the mid 19th century, a period when India had just set out on the road to gaining independence from British rule. Consequently, Jamsetji Tata and those who followed him aligned business opportunities with the objective of nation building. This approach remains enshrined in the Group’s ethos to this day.

The Tata Group is one of India’s largest business conglomerates, with revenues in 2005-06 of $21.9 billion (Rs 967,229 million), the equivalent of about 2.7 per cent of the country’s GDP, and a market capital of $46.9 billion.

Tata companies together employ some 215,000 people. The Group’s 32 publicly listed enterprises — among them standout names such as Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Tata Tea — have a combined market capital that is the highest among Indian business houses in the private sector, and a shareholder base of over 2 million. The Tata Group has operations in more than 40 countries across six continents, and its companies export products and services to 140 nations.

According to its website, “the Tata family of companies shares a set of fi ve core values: integrity, understanding, excellence, unity and responsibility. These values, which have been part of the Group’s beliefs and convictions from its earliest days, continue to guide and drive the business decisions of Tata companies. The Group and its enterprises have been steadfast and distinctive in their adherence to business ethics and their commitment to corporate social responsibility. This is a legacy that has earned the Group the trust of many millions of stakeholders in a measure few business houses anywhere in the world can match”.

(Reference: www.tata.com)

People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) is a growing network of various grassroots groups of small food producers particularly of peasant-farmer organizations and their support NGOs, working towards a People’s Convention on Food Sovereignty.

Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacifi c (PAN AP) is one of fi ve regional centres of PAN, a global network working to eliminate the human and environmental harm caused by pesticides, and to promote biodiversity-based ecological agriculture.

“Our vision is a society that is truly democratic, equal, just, culturally diverse, and based on food sovereignty, gender justice and environmental sustainability”. Thus PAN AP asserts people’s food sovereignty based on the right to food for all, founded on the right to land and productive resources and the right of communities to decide on our own food and agriculture policies. We are committed to protect the safety and health of people and the environment from pesticide use, and genetic engineering in food and agriculture. We strive to protect and promote the rights, equality and dignity of women. We will promote and protect biodiversity based ecological agriculture. Our goal is to strengthen people’s movements to eliminate hunger and achieve food sovereignty. We endeavour to achieve these goals by empowering people within effective networks at the Asia and the Pacifi c, and global levels.

Based in Penang, Malaysia, Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacifi c is linked to more than 150 groups in 18 countries in the Asia Pacifi c region.

People’s Coalition on Food Sovereigntyc/o PAN APE-mail: secretariat@foodsov.orghttp://www.foodsov.org

Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacifi cP.O. Box 1170, 10850 Penang, MalaysiaTel: 604-657 0271/656 0381Fax: 604-658 3960 Email: panap@panap.nethttp://www.panap.net