Jan Satyagraha – March for Justice follow up and negotiations (India)

[Darren]

Press Release
(April 16th, 2013)
After the six month deadline expired from the date of the Ten-Point 
Agreement
between Jan Satyagraha and the Ministry of Rural Development in Agra on the
11th of October, substantial progress has been made towards a new land 
rights
policy in India as reported by Task Force members.
About 70 percent of the Agreement has been already fulf illed by the 
central government; there is also a
doubling of the allocation on housing and shelter land as incentive to 
increase the amount provided by state
governments; and the directive for the implementation of fast track 
courts for people who have been
marginalized and who are trying to get a resolution on their land plot. 
The finalization of the National Land
Reform policy is said to be finalized imminently and delivered to the 
next Parliamentary Session after its
resumption in the third week of August. Already last week, the Minister 
of Rural Development, Jai Ram
Ramesh urged the state governments to improve and expedite existing land 
reform measures to address the
needs of the poor and landless.
After a meeting on Monday with the Minister for Rural Development, the 
President of Ekta Parishad,
Rajagopal PV said in a video-statement, that the Minister promised to 
deliver a draft for a homestead
legislation too in the upcoming days, which will guarantee shelter for 
homeless people. Further Rajagopal
announced the implementation of a national land pool by the central 
government, which should be the
excess agricultural land that can be distributed to the poor. He 
emphasized that regularized and restoration
is a higher priority than immediate distribution.
The large meeting which was called by the National Alliance for Dalit 
Land Rights and Ekta Parishad led to
5000 people gathering at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi from all over the 
country to emphasize the promises by
the central government. But Rajagopal made clear in the video-statement 
on Monday, that the
acknowledgment of the demands of the landless poor in India is not only 
due to people’s action in India but
also due to a international support which was showed during a online and 
missed call campaign which was
launched by Ekta Parishad and The Rules. Five thousand people signed 
this petition or gave missed calls.
«The campaign launched by The Rules was a very important in gaining 
public support. For the last one
month we appreciated and understood, that hundreds and thousands of 
people were involved in an e-mail
and sms campaign. So we want to use this opportunity to thank The Rules 
and the 5000 people, who
supported this campaign», Rajagopal said.
He mentioned also, that the next step towards a Indian land reform on 
the national level will be to take the
issue into the next general elections in India in the spring of 2014. 
Together with other land right reform
movements Ekta Parishad launched here the slogan: «First land, then 
vote. No land, no vote.» They seek to
make the urgently needed land reform a central issue in the upcoming 
election campaign.
MORE INFO ON EKTA PARISHAD : see our press documents here :
www.ektaparishad.com / www.ektaeurope.org / http://js2012.wordpress.com/
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marie at organisehumanevents.com
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