The Hindu Business Line : NGOs ‘disturbed’ by their ways

The incidents at Nandigram and Singur in West Bengal over land acquisition for industrial purposes have no doubt prompted the Union Government to set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to come out with a rehabilitation policy for Project Affected Families (PAFs).

The GoM, which met twice, could not arrive at a consensus on this crucial issue, though the Prime Minister promised the nation a couple of months ago to put in place a “humane” rehabilitation policy for the PAFs within six months.

Be that as it may, the concept of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) has come to stay with the number of notified SEZs swelling and many more getting formal and in-principle clearance, with the riders that there would be a ceiling of 5,000 hectares for SEZs, and that no forcible acquisition of land would be allowed.

While the draft rehabilitation policy of the Ministry of Rural Development stipulates the mandatory compensation for all PAFs, including the original title-holder of the land, and the labourers and tenant families dependent on the land for their livelihood, tension continues around the Nandigram area, where a chemical industry SEZ is to be put up by an Indonesian group.

Political parties in West Bengal, particularly the Trinamool Congress led by Ms Mamata Banerjee, have been demanding that the land belonging to farmers who were reluctant to part with their holdings be returned unconditionally with due compensation to the families that lost their breadwinners in the violent incidents.

Alongside political parties that are vying with one another to score brownie points in a conflict that has pit industry against peasantry in a State known for its espousal of the cause of the farmers as also the weak and the vulnerable, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are also pitching in.

Disturbing Develoment

A delegation led by the West Bengal chapter of the Confederation of NGOs of Rural India (CNRI), under the Chairmanship of Mr L. V. Saptharishi, a retired civil servant of the West Bengal cadre who served in the Commerce Ministry as Additional Secretary before his superannuation, visited Nandigram on June 30.

With a mandate to strengthen, coordinate and facilitate NGOs working at the grassroots for integrated development of Rural India and enjoying a membership of over 5,000 NGOs across the country, the CNRI, founded by veteran socialist leader Mr Mohan Dharia, says it is disturbed by the SEZs turning into a land-grab that destroys not only vast swathes of prime agricultural land but also endangeres the livelihood security of the hapless rural people

Recalling the setting up of the Falta Export Processing Zones (FEPZ) in the early 1980s, Mr Saptharishi said, as the Officer on Special Duty for the project, he held dialogues with the villagers and coordinated withthe district authorities to ensure that 300 acres were acquired amicably, and handed over by the Calcutta Port Trust.

Ominous Change

Mr Saptharishi said that though compensation for land was paid under the Land Acquisition Act, he had insisted on rehabilitation of the 2000 affected families.

He said that the then Commerce Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, allocated Rs 10 crore for that purpose. While the same players, including Mr Mukherjee and the Left government, are now in the picture, the development today has assumed ominous connotations with the land acquisition for industrial projects or public purposes becoming a bone of contention among various stakeholders and the issue of rehabilitation of PAFs remaining unsolved.

Mr Spatharishi said that if SEZs do sprout as they are, not only would there be de-agriculturalisation and pauperisation of farmers but the country’s food security would also be imperilled.

That is the reason why he was pleading for a thorough study on the SEZs and the social cost of such industrialisation so that development does not aggravate the prevalent angularities and rough edges.