“Let’s unite to save our livelihoods,” say India ’s poor

Farmers, weavers, artisans, mill workers and fishing and tribal communities are losing their homes and occupations in the wake of economic policies that put profits before lives and livelihoods. But at an event held by ActionAid in the India Social Forum, those affected revealed how resistance is growing.

Write off farmers’ debts

Farmers from Vidharbha – the cotton-growing region of Maharashtra where more than 1000 farmers have killed themselves since June 2005 – feel that the government not only sidesteps their issues but also compounds them.

Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar suggested in a now notorious interview that farmer suicides are a “normal thing” in a country of a billion people.

In line with this apathy, the government has refused to hike the cotton procurement price to bail the farmers out who now find cotton cultivation a losing proposition.

Banks take hold of homes and other property when farmers can’t pay off debts. This often acts as the immediate trigger for their suicides. 

“What the government immediately needs to do is waive the debts,” says Narendra Baes, President of Vansampada, an environmental organisation based in Amaravati in Maharashtra .  

Let fishing communities live by the sea

Other instances of state negligence abound. Communities who face losing coastal land in the wake of the tsunami, or through policies that favour commercial developments over local livelihoods, are challenging attempts by authorities’ to stop them living by the sea and fishing in traditional areas. 

Magline of the Kerala Fisher Folk Federation reports on the impact of displacement on families and communities uprooted by big business interests. Fishing groups not only find their hard work and time wasted but also money spent on boat diesel as industrial trawlers that catch fish in bulk leave little for them. These communities also worry about the removal of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). 

CRZ was formulated in 1991 to ban industries, disposal of hazardous substances, fish processing, land filling, mining, and landscape alteration along the coast. This law is poised to be replaced by the Coastal Management Zone to boost tourism. The new law does not necessitate protection of traditional rights of fishing communities, which were recognized in the earlier regulation. 

Magline disclosed that with the boom in commercial developments, coastal areas are seeing an increase in sex tourism. Sand mining is another issue. “The mining of thorium is controlled by the mafia, and they leave the carcinogenic, radioactive material exposed once the mining process is over,” she points out.

Land grab

The government is apparently using Land Acquisition Act to grab fertile land from farmers and award them to big corporate houses. D K Dhara, a farmer from Singrur in West Bengal , asks, “Where will the poor go if the left government of their state acts in the interests of the capitalists.” Dhara's agricultural land is being given away to Tata Motors.

Weavers hanging by a thread

Sidiqui Hasan of the Benares Weavers’ Association outlines challenges faced by weavers in Uttar Pradesh where suicides and death from starvation are on the rise. Hasan reveals that large-scale manufacture of Benarsi silk saris on power looms promoted by favourable government policies have ruined their livelihoods. Power looms found cheap labour in the weavers of Bhagalpur in Bihar who had migrated to Benares away from the communal riots of their city. This is compounded by the refusal of subsidies to handloom weavers. Hasan says, “Weavers are pulling rickshaws and have even resorted to selling their blood to get food.”

Shares for those who belong to the land

In Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh, the construction of small dams and hydro electric power projects are displacing millions of people from their original habitats, depriving them of their livelihood. In fact, an entire village in the Parvati Valley of Himachal Pradesh has recently refused to vacate their homes for the Parvati Phase 3 Project.

The villagers demand proper rehabilitation before being evicted, and also say that they were not compensated according to the market rate of their land. Ghumman Singh from Navrachana, an NGO working on issues related to Himalayan environment, poverty and displacement in Himachal Pradesh says, “We don’t want a one-time compensation, we want preferential share in the undertakings; we want an equal stake. We also want our lands to be returned to us when the government is through with its projects.”

Let’s raise our voices

Finally, Professor Jayati Ghosh examined ‘exploitative policies of the neo-liberal system’. She explained that millions in our country have become more vulnerable. But the media paints a different picture. India is being described as a global super power in the newspapers. “Our country is actually following the policy of rampant capitalism. Country’s progress is being equated with the progress of capitalism. And so, whatever a capitalist asks for – land or infrastructure– government will fulfil his demand,” she says. Ghosh feels that the voices of the majority are not being heard where it matters. “Right now the government is listening to the capitalist’s voice. Let us raise our voices so that we are heard where our policies are formed,” she adds.