Ekta Parishad is in a process of activating a large nonviolent action in October
this year, in-order to impress up on the Central Govt. on the issue of poverty
reduction and land reform in the country. Focusing on this Shri.Rajagopal.P.V, the eminent Gandhian activist, National
President Ekta Parishad and Member National Land Reform Council, Govt. of India
is undertaking a yearlong country-wide campaign called “Jansamwad Yatra” started from Kanyakumari on the 2nd
October 2011 which will culminate at Gwalior of Madhya Pradesh on 2nd
October 2012. From Gwalior he will lead a Padayatra to Delhi named as “Jansatyagraha 2012” with one hundred
thousand people from the adivasi, dalit and other deprived communities for one
month to make the Govt. comprehend the
need of essential land reform to reduce the level of poverty.
Jansatyagraha 2012
The Jansatyagraha 2012
March campaign is a large non-violent walk that will be carried out in India in
October 2012 Organized by Ekta Parishad with the support of many likeminded
organizations and people’s movements. It begins on UN International
Non-Violence Day, 2nd October 2012, and will carry on for one month.
100,000 people,
representing from different rural communities, especially tribal, landless,
fisher folk, nomads, and small farmers,
will walk in formation together 350 kilometres from Gwalior (near the Taj
Mahal) to New Delhi. The people will raise the issue about land being a key
asset in development and poverty reduction, and that high levels of
landlessness and deprivation need to be reduced for achieving positive national
and global development. In effect, land and livelihood rights are instrumental
to all people’s freedom and dignity.
The Jansatyagraha 2012
March is based on the Gandhian Salt Satyagraha of 1930, known as the Dandi
March. It is an uplifting event with a carnival atmosphere; it is the combined
effort of people to stand up for basic rights and speak on the way to build
more equity in the governing structure. The 2012 March is a disciplined
formation of people acting out non-violence in an effort to bring a large
number of people together to show the strength of rural India, the importance
of agriculture, of food production –as a base for urban India, and to build a
common destiny of all people.
About Ekta Parishad
Ekta Parishad is a large non-violent
social movement in India working on land, water and forest rights at a national
level. It has been built up over twenty years growing from the local, to the
state, to the national and increasingly, to the international level. The
purpose of ‘a-massing’ a larger and larger grouping of poor people into a people’s
movement has been to put pressure directly on the central government which is
resisting reform and structural change. The structural change that Ekta
Parishad is calling for is a complete land redistribution to enable the
marginalized and downtrodden, to get out of poverty.
Land reform - giving the
poor access to land - is a ‘game changer’ that could bring 40% of the populace
out of absolute poverty and reduce substantially the violence that is gripping
Indian society. One of the successes of Ekta Parishad’s history is that people
have found a social space in which to come together, and demand their rights.
In normal society, it is
not easy or possible for a marginalized person, like a single impoverished
woman, or a bonded labourer, to stand up for their rights (even though they
have them). Ekta Parishad is guarding democratic space by bringing groups
together in a mass organization. By doing this it is constantly reminding the
government that it is their role as stipulated in the Independence Declaration
and the Constitution, to provide that all people basic human rights and
freedoms.
To know more about the
yatra and Ekta Parishad activities please visit www.jansatyagraha.org
and www.ektaparishad.com
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