Transcript Responses on the World Food Crisis

Responses on the World
Food Crisis :
Few observations from small &
marginal peasants in India
Ms. Ujjaini Halim
Institute for Motivating Self Employment (IMSE), India
Land Alienation
A major threat to smallholders
• Around 95% smallholders in India
• Lack of access to ‘Resources’
• Land alienation intensified (in line with neo-liberal
policies) SEZs, large scale agro-fuel production,
privatisation of common resources
• High costs of inputs making production
unprofitable (without support from the state)
• Genuine Agrarian reform agenda has taken a back
seat, despite several national/international
commitments (RTF, ICARRD, VGRF…)
Key Impacts
• Destruction of livelihoods of small farmers & rural labourers,
women more affected
– Large scale CAL, SEZ (64,000 hec) & further concentration
of land
– Denial of access (physical and economic) to productive
resources (land, water, CPR), Privatisation of water, patents
of seeds
– Evictions, displacements, violations & migrations
– Decrease in per capita landholding from 0.30 hec to 0.27
hec
– Environmental pollution
– Jobless growth of economy, rural unemployment
increasing alarmingly
– Lower wages
Land Acquired in Singur
In the name of ‘PUBLIC PURPOSE’ the Government of West Bengal
COMPULSORILY ACQUIRED 997.11 acres of fertile agricultural lands in
Singur through Land Acquisition Act 1894 and gave the same to TATA's
(India’s largest MNC) for construction of an automobile manufacturing unit
there in collaboration with FIAT. The process is declared complete in only
4 months amidst wide-scale discontents
LIVELIHOODS DESTROYED
• The majority of the residents
(75%) are small-scale and
marginal farmers with an average
land holding of 2.5 to 5 acres. They
depend solely on agriculture for
livelihoods.
• The lands acquired by the state
are multi cropping agricultural
lands with a cropping density of
220 % with a well established
system of irrigation.
• Livelihoods of around 30,000
people affected in Singur as they
were dependent on agrarian
economy as peasants, share
croppers, agricultural labourers and
other rural stakeholders
• Peasant women are worst
sufferers
Peasants faced violations
•The physical acquisition took place under the
cordon of a strong police force and no ‘neutral’
presence was allowed in Singur during the
process
•A state of emergency was then imposed on
Singur (75 days), barring people from outside to
enter and all public meetings, gatherings and
processions were banned during the eviction
process.
• On 2nd December 2006 police & goons
ransacked the villages, brutally attacked the
villagers and destroyed properties
•Women faced severe gender violence
•on 18 December 2006, 18 year old activist girl,
Tapashi Mallick, was raped and murdered, her
charred body was found inside the fenced-off area
for the proposed TATA Motors small car project.
Land Distribution in India up to 2007
Land Distribution in Selected Indian States
1600000
surplus land
1200000
Area Possession
area in acres
1400000
Area distributed
1000000
800000
600000
400000
200000
0
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GAR Challenges & Ways Ahead
• Land Equality: Measures to fulfil commitments of GAR
• Rejection: of global policies (World Bank model of LR)
which weaken LR and destroy livelihoods of farmers
• Protection from forced evictions: upholding RTF
principles and obligations (bilateral agreements, AOA)
• Effective participation: grassroots democracy to be
strengthened
• Recognition: Customary Informal and tenancy rights to
be documented and acknowledged
• Non Discrimination: Women’s rights to be effectively
protected
• Promotion of peoples alternative: Food Sovereignty
Enabling ‘Victims’ to take part in the
decision making and implementation
• A considerable part of one billion Euro
(allotted for food crisis) should go to
CSOs/NGOs/CBOs for establishing successful
alternatives and ensuring realisation of RTF
(e.g. social audit, monitoring based on VGRF,
ICAARD commitments)
• An inclusive process needs to be established,
with a bottom up approach, in identifying key
actors while planning the utilisation of one
billion Euro
We Urge EU Member States to:
• Play a significant role in motivating developing nations
to mainstream RTF in their food policies & programmes
(respecting & implementing commitments) and to
support smallholders by providing those
supports/services which ‘they need’ to ensure
livelihood security
• Respect their obligations under RTF and promote such
policies (protecting & promoting smallholders) which
would address the root causes of food crisis and would
lead to a sustainable solution (including climate change
concerns)
• Broad base the process of developing Guidelines on
CAL ,State land management, agro-fuel, climate change
(FAO) etc.