BACK TO VILLAGE - A challenging period in the life of Ekta Parishad
Mobilization of marginalized communities by Ekta Parishad began back in the 1980’s. This was a time taking process. Many years of cadre building followed by many years of expansion leading to many years of foot-marches and other actions finally shaped an organization with energy and commitment to influence policies and programs at regional and national Govt.
What we witnessed in 2007 during Janadesh and again in 2012 during Jansatyagraha are a culmination of this nonviolent energy that was building since 1980. For many years the major thrust was to address the policies of the Government through struggles and dialogue. Having brought about many policy changes, now it is time for the organization to guarantee implementation of these policies and programs. While EP focuses on policies related to food there were others who were trying to bring about a change in policies pertaining to information/transparency, employment, food rights etc and we have a responsibility to support such efforts whenever it is possible.
The basic agenda of ‘Back to village’ campaign is reorganizing political, social, and economic space of the village. We are also planning to give a special focus to the economic space by setting up an economic committee at the national level. This committee, with the help of activists and village leaders will have to create a data base of people’s current economic positions by including in the database the current land holding of our communities and activists. Identifying the quantum of land our community members got because of struggles, the current utilization pattern of these lands, the next steps to further develop these lands, the kind of agriculture that is suitable for different contexts will be some of the focus areas of this database.
Identifying the resources that are needed to increase production, storage facilities that are needed to take advantage of agricultural production, encourage communities to move from individual agriculture to group agriculture, from individual assets to group assets are some agenda items within the economic domain. In areas were community did not get land we need to be exploring non land-based economic activity. This will include medicinal plants collection, beekeeping, bamboo crafts, forest produce collection & processing etc. In the process of building a village economy around what is available today, each community can start saving for the next action in 2020. A strong village level economy will provide greater possibility for our next action. Exploring financial resources through Govt. institutions will be helpful in developing a live economic space for the marginalized communities.
Organizing non-violent actions on FRA and shelter land provision at the village level can bring more land to the people. Provisions like MNREGA and Right to Food also offer possibilities for organizing non-violent actions to bring justice to marginalized communities. It will also be important to work on using and expanding the political space within the gram sabha and panchayat. Opportunities in the socio-political spaces that open up at various points of time need to be fully used.
These interventions in the village in the economic and political space can also be used for training and promoting new leadership that will carry the action in 2020. Using available space effectively and bringing a positive change in the villages is the challenge around which we will be carrying out our work as part of ‘Back to the Village’ campaign.
I invite you to join us in our 'Back to the Village' campaign and seek your moral, financial, and physical support in the next phase of Ekta Parishad's work. 'Back to the Village' is a vast canvas that offers numerous volunteering opportunities for anyone who is interested.
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