Make Violence a History

Make Violence History

The Jai Jagat 2021-30

Following the yearlong Jai Jagat 2020 campaign that engaged many people across the globe into nonviolent action with respect to the four pillars (ending poverty, discrimination, climate crisis and violence), there was enough interest generated to continue for the 2020 decade.  We undertook an evaluation and SWOT analysis in five different regions and concluded on January 30^th, 2021 that another campaign with short-term actions and longer-term planning would fortify the local-global concerns that had been raised in the 2020 campaign. (See www.jaijagatinternational.org.)

 

As people expressed the need for an international campaign that could bring people together across the world, it was proposed to re-label the by-line of the Jai Jagat 2021-30 to Make Violence History.  Whether the focus was climate (violence to the earth) or poverty & discrimination (violence towards people) or wars and conflicts (violence between people), Make Violence History would usher in an array of nonviolent actions. These nonviolent actions could be in the form of group formation, economic activities, or opposition to state policies or programs.

The Jai Jagat is planning 12 days of action between September 21st to October 2nd as the 2021 contribution to Make Violence History. Different civil society organizations are planning events in many countries, which includes nonviolent marches, economic activities, climate action, training on nonviolence and so forth. Make Violence History in India for example, among the groups that started the Jai Jagat 2020, will take up the campaign issue of nonviolent economy, as the work in the Covid period has focused on restoring labour and land rights to the most marginalized, which needs to be continued. For other Make Violence History campaigns, these will be supported by regional committees and various working groups that are currently in formation and a listing of the conveners will be provided on the Jai Jagat website.

The Jai Jagat International Advisory Committee (JJ-IAC), is also planning to link different Jai Jagat (CSO) actors into dialogue with a groups of policy makers in an international forum in December, 2021. The goal of the Summit will be to present the different civil society campaigns of Make Violence History to address some of the advocacy issues specifically related to nonviolent economy.

There have been many discussions among the Jai Jagat supporters in regard to the relevance of the UN organizations and the SDGs; and overall, it is affirmed that these international organizations (excluding the financial institutions) are seen as critical for the reset of policy processes that are salutary to Make Violence History. As is well-known, the United Nations was set up to rebuild peaceful coexistence among all nation states after the Second World War, and this remains its core commitment to the international community, which was displayed last year at its 75^th anniversary celebrations.

Civil society organizations can continue to push for big ideas of change such as Make Violence History in global for a especially when these are built from local actions and people’s engagement. There is a healthy skepticism that change is often re-appropriated by the powerful interests. This boosts energy and action to pre-empt violence while making change. At the same time, when people find common cause across borders, this empowers greater local-to-global action. Make Violence History is both local and cross-border and gives a trajectory of global action over this decade.

 

 

A Note on Grassroots Politics by Rajagopal.P.V

A Note on Grassroots Politics

Ekta Parishad is known for building nonviolent social movement with a special focus on marginalized people at the bottom. By and large Ekta Parishad has kept itself aloof from participating in direct electoral politics. During the election members of the organization were given free space to decide which candidate should be elected according to who can serve the interest of the marginalized communities.

In the recent national committee meeting of Ekta Parishad, it was decided to make a planned intervention in the grassroot electoral politics. Except one or two states in India where the grassroot politics is also on party lines, in all other states the Panchayat elections are conducted on a nonparty basis.  In a three-tier system of governance, panchayat is the only place where elections are held without direct party involvement. Unless this level of politics is strengthened and purified Ekta Parishad doesn’t see possibilities to deliver justice to the marginalized communities. Unfortunately, the corrupt system at the top has infiltrated deep into the bottom. Electoral representatives at the bottom are being used by powerful lobbies to advance their agenda. Along with decentralization of power corruption is also decentralized and this process is eating into the roots of democracy.

Ekta Parishad has taken note of this reality and has decided to actively intervene at this level. This will mean identification of the right kind of candidate at the ward level, providing them information and training to understand their role as elected representative. It will also mean continued support after the election to take their responsibility seriously and also to focus on delivery of justice to the poor  and marginalized.  We believe that many young people who are part of Ekta Parishad struggle for the last many years can be candidates for panchayat election. Large number of elected representatives at the grassroots level can bring about  a transformation in the political culture of India. Ekta Parishad has decided to set up a special wing to design this process and also to set up necessary systems for training, follow up, etc. Experts who have worked on this agenda for many years like Mr. Pran in Uttar Pradesh, PRIYA in Delhi will be drawn into this process. As they have already developed training modules and other systems to deal with grassroot politics.

Ekta Parishad believes that along with grassroots economy we should also focus on grassroot politics. Ekta parishad is also focusing on grassroots fundraising and grassroot leadership. We believe that this new approach of Ekta Parishad will not only strengthen the social movement in India but will also strengthen the democratic process of India.

Rajagopal.P.V

 

 

Benami Transactions

 

Benami Transactions

Benami transactions (Prohibition Amendment) act 2018 is a modified version of the same of 1988. The idea behind such an act is to prevent benami transactions. Benami transactions in cities are of course a huge problem because of cost of land and cities are a lot more higher than is the villages. An honest survey will reveal that there are lots of constructions are made on Benami land. In the absence of a real proper record keeping system powerful people have used all the provisions in their benefit. They also occupied the common land in a big way. The tank, the river bed, the gracing land, everything is in the hands of powerful lobbies. I am told after tsunami poor people are moved away from the seashore sighting future risk involved if they continued to stay there. But the same land is now given to business people to promote tourism. Land is a very complicated issue in India and all the land laws are violated. There is a lot of corruption involved in land transaction. Take the example of Karahal village in Shivapurkalan district of Madhya Pradesh. This is the 5^th schedule area and the land was suppose to be protected so that the adivasis of that area can also be protected. If you go and look at this place were now you can see people from outside specially from other states occupying large areas of land. The entire sahariya tribal’s belt from Gwalior to Guna is taken over by large farms, large tractors, and large harvest machines. You can wonder how did and adivasi area get transformed into a most modern agriculture belt. Powerful people have used force, drugs, and other corrupt practices to get adivasis out of their land and occupied their land. Political parties of all color are with the powerful lobbies.  During my visit to Shivapuri local journalists told me that there are thousands of benami transactions in that area. A serious effort need to be made to identify the benami transactions and restore the land to the original owner. We can only wish such a thing should happen.

I was happy to read that 2.5 lakhs acres of panchami land is identified in Tamilnadu. The dalit community of Tamilnadu was fighting for this for long time. According to the report about 35% of this land is occupied by others who also not from the scheduled caste. I hope this land will be distributed to the poor people before get occupied by powerful lobbies.  The fear is also that the govt. may decide to give to the industries. In Kerala large area of land was identified and this is the land from the plantation companies were the lease period is over. In spite of repeated demand by landless people there is no move from the side of Govt. to give land to the landless. Much of the land will go to tourism and five star hotels rather than to the poor people to produce food.

I was part of a webinar on housing rights. Millions of people in cities and rural areas are struggling for a piece of land to put up a roof that they can own and will not be demolished by the bulldozers. The UN Reportier for housing for housing rights have submitted their report about the pitiful condition in which poor people will live and also the problems they face when the so-called illegal colonies get demolished. Housing right whether it is urban or rural area, this is very much attached to the dignity and security of people. during the Jan Satyagraha when one lakhs people walked to Delhi, a homestead and land right act was drafted whereby we wanted every landless and homeless person to receive 10 cents of homestead land, In-spite of repeated request for the last eight years the govt. shown no interest to proceed with this draft bill. We are faced with the serious situations that the Govt. will not give land to poor people. The Govt. no capacity to protect the land of the poor and the govt. is either demolishing or supports the powerful lobbies to take the land away from poor people. We always said that the role of govt. should be protection and promotion that will mean protecting the land of poor and promoting the ideas of land reforms so that more people can work on land.

Back in 2008 I remember Mr. E.P. Menon wrote about an nonviolent revolution in Making, he was so impressed by  the large action of 2007 were thousands of people walked all the way from Gwalior to Delhi and finally  the Govt. of India agreed to set up a national land reform council headed by the Prime Minister. The poor people of India also expected a nonviolent revolution leading to a radical land reform. Unfortunately the system is to be in the hands of powerful lobbies. They want every inch of the land of this country; they used all the means to get it, whether legal or illegal.  Interestingly Gandhi could foresee this during his lifetime. He want that if the problem of poverty and inequality is not addressed with in a period of time India will find it difficult to avoid a civil war. As we are celebrating 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi can we get back to the real agenda of land reforms? Covid19 is giving us an opportunity to become vice and reorganize our   development and economic system. I hope wisdom will prevail.

(Rajagopal.P.V)

A webinar of South India Ekta Parishad coordination was held on the 5th May 2021, 11.00 am to 01.00 pm (Zoom Meeting)

 A webinar of South India Ekta Parishad coordination was held on the 5^th May 2021, 11.00 am to 01.00 pm (Zoom Meeting)

The following people participated in the meeting;

1.      Narasimharao, Telungana

2.      Madhavan, Karnataka

3.      Inamul Hasan, Pondicherry

4.      Dhanraj, Tamilnadu

5.      Yogesh, Tamilnadu

6.      Suresh, Tamilnadu

7.      Santhosh, Kerala

8.      Rajendra Prasad, Kerala

9.      Praveen Jha, Delhi

10.  K.S.Sharma, Hyderabad

11.  Ramesh Sharma, Bhopal

12.  Biju. K

13.  Rajagopal.P.V

This webinar was basically to discuss three issues out of nine suggested in the approach note. The subject discussed today were land reforms by Shri. Praveen Jha, Youth leadership by Mr. K.S.Sarma and Adivasis issues by Mr. Ramesh Sharma. All the three presentations were very important and the participants benefited in a big way.

Praveen Jha in his presentation made it clear that poverty cannot be addressed without land reform. He said while many other countries redistributed 40% of their land India has achieved only 3% of redistribution. He suggested that land reform should be put on fast track. He said if we do a study of how much land was taken for so called development and how much land was redistributed, we will see a very distributing picture. He expressed in hope that in south India, that is less feudal and comparatively progressive there is a greater chance to argue for land reforms. At the end he suggested that there should be a very strong advocacy efforts for land reform in south India and he is willing to give whatever time and energy he can in this direction. To a question why people are selling  land  he suggested that the farmers in Europe and USA are able to survive because of direct subsidy by the state, where as in India they are forced to sell their land. He was also concerned that land has become a commodity of speculation. In his concluding remarks he said it was unfortunate that India did not take Gandhi s suggestions of gramswaraj seriously.

Mr. K.S.Sarma spoke about leadership. He cited the example of Mahatma Gandhi for the right kind of leadership. According to him a good leader should be able to remove fear from the minds of others. He should also have the capacity to guide and motivate others. Sarma ji thought those who complain about their own team members should learn to correct themselves rather than finding fault with others. Real leadership, according to him is to involve people in planning for their own future. In his usual style he brought many quotations from many books and individuals to inspire the participants. To a question, how can we train new leadership in every districts of South India, he said he is willing to train a team of trainers (ToT) who in turn can train more youth in the coming years. He was also agreed to do a workshop session for a select group of people through webinar,

Our third speaker Ramesh Sharma proposed the following points on the issue of adivasis, their life and culture.

1.      Adivasis of  Tamilnadu and Kerala put together are covering 10% of geographical land area.

2.      There should be real focus on FRA (Forest Right Act). People should demand community rights.

3.      Withdrawal of false cases that are imposed on adivasis demands special attention

4.      Legal service authority, legal aid, and legal clinic, can be used in the interest of adivasis

5.      Should approach state ST commission and take benefit of this office

6.      Tribal Sub Plan has a lot of resources for ST community. We should approach this financial institution.

7.      We should influence law universities, law colleges to sensitize law students about adivasi problems. That is the only way to sensitize judicial system of the country.

8.      Conservation of tribal culture and traditional knowledge in the field of seeds, agriculture, irrigation, medicinal plants, etc are very important.

Rajendra Prasad, Suresh  and Dhanraj participated in the interactive discussion.

Recorded by Biju

5^th May 2021

 

 

 

 

Report of Ekta Parishad South India (EP-SI) Online Meeting held on 1st May 2021from 04.00 pm to 05.30 pm

 

Report of Ekta Parishad South India (EP-SI) Online Meeting held on 1^st May 2021from 04.00 pm to 05.30 pm

 

The following people participated.

1.      Mr. Satyanarayana Bolisetty, Andhra Pradesh

2.      Mr. Narasimharao, Telungana

3.      Mr. Madhavan, Karnataka

4.      Dr. Manjunath, Karnataka

5.      Mr. Inamul Hasan, Pondicherry

6.      Mr. Yogesh Karthik, Tamilnadu

7.      Fr.Zakaria, Kerala

8.      Mr. Biju, Madurai

9.      Mr. Rajagopal.P.V

Shri. Rajagopal.P.V welcomed all the participants and it was followed with a round f self introduction by the participants.

The first round of discussion was bout the kind of work in which the participants were involved. This was important for all of us to know each other and also feel that we are part of South India coordination committee. The second round was more about the need and possibility of coordination at the South India level. All the participants agreed that all the nine subjects proposed are very important, but it is also important to develop an inter connectivity between these subjects and related actions. It was agreed that we will hold three more round of meetings by the end of May to deepen our understanding about these subjects. It was also agreed that we can invite subject experts from within or from outside to initiate a discussion on each subject.

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks by Biju