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PRESS INVITE 

Whose Land is it Anyway?
New Land Bill: For People or Profit?
Public Meeting with representatives of political parties and social activists
on the relevance & implications of the proposed
RIGHT TO FAIR COMPENSATION, RESETTLEMENT, REHABILITATION AND TRANSPARENCY IN LAND ACQUISITION BILL, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012 | 3 – 7 pm 
Dy Chairman Hall, Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi
Dear Comrades, 
The current economic model of growth prevalent in India, with its strong neo-liberal leanings, needs to be re-assessed in the wake of increasing alienation and displacement of vast populations from their land and the wave of resistance, both violent & non-violent, against such activities that are being played out across the country.
The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Parliament in September 2011 and referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC), which submitted its recommendations in May 2012. Many of the key suggestions put forth by the PSC have been rejected and the Ministry of Rural Development is looking to get the Cabinet’s nod soon for virtually the same bill but in a new guise, now titled “The Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill, 2012”.
The government’s rejection of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for the second time on the matter of land acquisition is not only unconstitutional but also reveals a lack of will in bringing about peoples’ participation, with free and prior informed consent, in development planning. The repeated rejection of a PSC report poses a threat to the very role of a PSC, which is an important link between the parliament and the public.
The rapacious use of Land Acquisition Act 1894 by the government to secure land for ‘development’ projects has caused over 100 million people to be displaced from their land, livelihoods and homes. The country is dotted with communities resisting State sponsored land grab which resonate the demand for a just law to ensure that there is no forced acquisition of land and resources, including minerals and ground water. The government must respond to the voices from movements across places such as Narmada, Koel Karo, Singur, Nandigram, Sonbhadra, Chindwara, Bhavnagarm, Kalinga Nagar, Kashipur, Raigarh, Srikakulam and mining areas in central India with genuine efforts to address the longstanding crisis concerning land Acquisition and resettlement & rehabilitation.
It is in this context that SANGARSH invites you to discuss the relevance and implications of these half-hearted measures meted out to the millions of people who are struggling to retain their means of livelihood and seek meaningful rehabilitation from a system in which they no longer seem to have faith.
The meeting will be joined by the representatives of political parties, Members of Parliament, representatives of mass movements from across the country and some academics and researchers working on this issue.
We do hope you will be able to join us for this important discussion on an important legislation. 
 
Yours Sincerely,  
Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan - NAPM
RomaKaimur Kshetra Mahila Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Samiti - NFFPFW
Prafulla Samantara, Lokshakti Abhiyan, Orissa - NAPM
Dr. Sunilam, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, MP - NAPM
Gautam Bandopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha, Chattisgarh
Guman Singh, Him Niti Ahiyan, Himachal Pradesh
Bhupendar Singh Rawat, Bhumi Bachao Andolan – NAPM
Dr. Rupesh Kumar, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti,UP
Vimal Bhai, Matu Jan Sangathan, Uttarakhand – NAPM
 
Contact: Madhuresh 9818905316 | Bhargavi 9582452343 | Shweta 9911528696
--
Regards,

Bhargavi
PRESS INVITE

People's Hearing on Nuclear Energy

Date and Time:
August 22nd, 2012
11 am - 6pm
Venue:
Gandhi Peace Foundation,
221-223, Deendayal Upadhyay Marg
New Delhi-110002

A people’s hearing will be held on August 22nd in New Delhi on nuclear power in India to discuss grassroots concerns and people’s experiences, and to take note of violations of their human rights.

People from all the sites will make presentations with a special emphasis on Koodankulam and Gorakhpur. Also, experts will present their testimonies to a panel of judges consisting of eminent citizens, who will examine this evidence and give their verdict.

Background:

The Government of India is pushing through a massive expansion of nuclear energy in the most undemocratic manner, overlooking its dangerous impacts on the health, safety and livelihoods of local communities, the larger perspective of energy security for India, the economic and environmental costs of nuclear energy, and the global decline in the salience of nuclear energy after the Fukushima catastrophe.

There has been an upsurge of strong grassroots struggles against nuclear power projects and other installations in the recent past. At Koodankulam, for instance, a mass agitation involving tens of thousands of people has been sustained for a year since August 16, 2011. At Gorakhpur, in Haryana’s Fatehabad district, farmers have sat on a dharna every day for 2 years in protest against the planned nuclear power station. They are particularly agitated over a fraudulent public hearing which was held on 17th July without giving copies of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report to the people, as is mandatory.

Strong agitations have been launched in Jaitapur in Maharashtra, where the world’s biggest nuclear power park has been planned. Similar protests have broken out at other planned sites all over India.

The government has vilified these movements as “misguided” instigated by “outsiders”, has criminalized them and has filed hundreds of police cases against them. It has studiedly ignored their concerns about nuclear safety heightened after Fukushima and refused to part with basic documents such as Environmental Impact Assessment and  Safety Evaluation Reports (SERs) and the inter-governmental contracts etc.

The repression has led to blatant violations of basic rights at different sites – for instance, nearly 7000 people in Koodankulam who have led consistently peaceful protest face charges of sedition and war against the Indian state. Similar repression and undermining of democratic norms is under way at the other nuclear sites such as Jaitapur, Chutka in Madhya Pradesh, Mithi Virdi in Gujarat, Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh, Kota in Rajasthan, etc. More recently, a fresh protest broke out at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan where a nuclear fuel complex has been planned. The recent tritium leak in the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station exposing 38 casual workers to dangerous radiation has also put a question mark over the safety of existing nuclear facilities.

The Jury: Justice A P Shah, Usha Ramanathan, General V K Singh and others

Independent Experts: Praful Bidwai, Soumya Dutta, Surendra Gadekar, M G Devasahayam and others

We cordially invite you to this public hearing. Please also circulate this invitation to your friends.

With best regards,
Sundaram (CNDP) – 9810556134, cndpindia@gmail.com
Bhargavi (Delhi Forum) – 9582452343, bhargavi@delhiforum.net

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