| National
Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) National Convention on Development, Displacement and Rehabilitation Delhi, 30 November – 1 December 2004 |
|
Believing
in, and committed to, a rights-based, people-centred approach to development, Affirming
the principles of justice, equality, democracy, and sustainability, Opposing
ethnic discrimination and the unjust treatment of, and burden placed on,
marginalised populations, in particular adivasis, dalits, and women by the
prevalent development paradigm dominated by the state, corporates and global
lenders, Recognizing
the distinctive but often neglected contributions of these peoples, Asserting
the Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and other basic features of the
Indian Constitution, Noting
Government of India’s international legal obligations under the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the
International Labour Organization’s Convention 107, among other international
conventions, and Upholding
the pluralist, secular nature of the Indian polity, Believe
and assert that: There
certainly is an alternative to the prevalent model of development that causes
displacement, deprivation, and destitution in the guise of the ‘greater common
good.’ ·
The choice of technology for development must be one that generates more
livelihood opportunities; is least destructive of natural resources and least
displacing of people; enables fulfilment of basic needs; ensures equitable
distribution of benefits; and supports sustainable use of natural resources. Such
technologies must be approved, facilitated and prioritized. This must be done
with full information given to affected people. ·
The Government of India and each state must urgently initiate a wide
social consultation involving various sections of the population, especially
the disadvantaged sections, through mass-based, active peoples’ organizations,
to work out and declare a sectoral policy with a clear vision, purpose and
objectives, modus operandi, and process. This should be in keeping with the values
of the Constitution, respecting special national policies and international
covenants, protecting the poor and disadvantaged, including dalits, adivasis,
women, peasants, informal sector workers, manual labourers and fisher people. ·
The interpretation of the principle of eminent domain, on which the laws
enabling displacement of people and appropriation of common property resources
is based, is unacceptable. ·
For every project, the government concerned must publicly justify the
‘public interest’ sought to be served by the proposed project or activity,
prior to clearance by the concerned authority and consent by the affected
community, and this should be legally challengeable. This should be applicable
to every public and private agency. ·
In every sector and project/plan, the clear objective should be to
minimize displacement. All options and alternatives for a project must be
assessed, and the non-displacing or least-displacing option must be chosen.
Eviction and deprivation of adivasis should be avoided to the maximum, in the
spirit of Schedule V of the Constitution. All attempts to amend Schedule V that
would weaken the rights of tribals should be stalled. ·
In no case rural or urban should displacement or evictions be forced or
involuntary. In case of a project affecting dalits and tribals, no displacement
should be permitted without concurrence of the Commissioner for Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes. ·
No project should be finalized or considered a fait accompli unless each
of the affected communities is fully informed of the social, environmental and
economic costs and benefits of a project/plan, and its consent is sought
through gram sabhas in rural areas and ward sabhas in urban areas with a
participatory process involving all communities and families, paying special
attention to issues of class, caste and gender. Detailed legal rules and
resolutions must be worked out for each sector, government and private agency,
in the spirit of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments, and the PESA (Panchayat
Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act of 1996/97, aiming at tribal self-rule. ·
After evaluating all options, if displacement is found inevitable in a
certain project, it must be kept to the minimum, and it must be ensured that
all affected people are properly rehabilitated, ensuring that they are not
worse off than they were before displacement, and that the process of
rehabilitation is humane, just, transparent and participatory to the maximum
extent. ·
‘Affected people’ should be defined as all the individuals, families and
communities that are either physically displaced from their homes, or whose
livelihood activities in formal or informal sectors or access to private and/or
community resources is adversely affected by the project and related works. ·
Unless former displaced people are fully rehabilitated, no new projects
should be sanctioned in any unit of planning such as river valley, tehsil or
city. ·
Land reform for equitable redistribution and recognition of common
property rights over natural resources should form an integral part of any
development plan. ·
The planning process must begin with full benchmark surveys of families
and their private and public/community resources, with a time-frame of at least
one year prior to the survey and two years prior to acquisition. Investigations
regarding these must be undertaken to estimate all impacts of the project and
related works on livelihoods, incomes, health, social matrix, natural environs,
and equity/inequity in development. ·
There should be an Auditor General to review the ownership and
distribution of natural resources including land and forests, and present
regular audits before the people and the government. ·
Prior to any acquisition of land in rural or tribal areas, all land
rights must be settled through a special drive ending before land acquisition
commences. Prior to acquisition in an urban or semi-urban area, a zonal plan
and a city/town plan updating all records of habitats, houses, amenities,
livelihoods must be prepared and taken as a basis for granting due rights and
replacement, if necessary. ·
In all cases, the policy of land-for-land should apply to all
project-affected landholders losing more than 25% of their landholding or those
who are left with less than 5 acres to make it a minimum 5 acres holding. A
special effort must be made to provide land to all peasants, landless families,
and especially to all tribal families. In the case of a medium or major
irrigation project, land should be purchased/acquired from farmers in the benefited
areas. This land should be allotted according to the principle of
rehabilitation as public purpose. ·
Alternative livelihoods must be ensured for all project-affected
non-agriculturalists and urban poor, including traders, artisans, hawkers, and
providers of other services in the affected area. Similarly, for urban
displaced persons too, alternative livelihoods must be ensured and until this
is done, all schemes applicable to the urban poor must be made available to
them. ·
Land for housing of urban poor should be provided near their workplaces.
Industrial and urban land ceiling laws should be formulated to prevent
concentration of land. ·
Compensation for any property should be based on replacement value at
actual market prices. Compensation must be for lost property and for lost
livelihoods or opportunities. Common property resources must also be replaced
or compensated. ·
The community (as defined by the affected people themselves), not
individuals or families, should be the basic unit for resettlement and
rehabilitation (R&R). ·
No physical displacement of any families should take place until one year
or more after providing the basic means and resources for social and economic
rehabilitation. ·
The process of selecting R&R sites as well as agricultural land for
rehabilitation must be done along with the consent of the project-affected
families (PAFs). ·
PAFs must have the first right to, and be granted an appropriate share
in, the benefits arising out of the project, including livelihood opportunities,
irrigation water, power, fisheries, etc. ·
It must be ensured that no individual family is displaced more than once
within two decades, on account of any developmental project or land acquisition
for public purpose. ·
The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 (amended in 1984), a remnant of the
colonial era - must be abolished and replaced by a National Enactment, which
defines all development parameters, indicators, processes of planning, the
least-cost technological option, along with the objective of minimising
displacement and ensuring just rehabilitation of people whose lands are
acquired. In addition, the National Forest Act of 1927 must also be abolished
and replaced with another law that ensures peoples’ rights over their
resources. ·
The National Rehabilitation Policy must be reformulated, keeping in mind
all these principles, and this must lead to the formation of the National
Rehabilitation Act. These must be applicable to both publicly and privately
owned development projects. ·
Special Commissions on Displacement and Rehabilitation should be
constituted both at national and state levels with judicial powers in certain
cases, and quasi-judicial powers in others. In due course of time, these should
be made constitutional authorities. These bodies must approve the
rehabilitation plan for all projects causing displacement; the state
commissions to approve in the case of state-level projects and the national
commission in case of inter-state projects. Each commission should have an
in-built grievance redressal mechanism. ·
We reject the economics of gigantism and instead prefer small, local and
decentralized projects. ·
We challenge neo-liberal economic globalisation, privatization and increasing
commercialization, as propagated by the World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund, and the World Trade Organisation among others, which leads to alienation
of people from their rights and resources. Instead, we advocate a pro-people
economy and society as our aim and struggle is to build a non-violent,
communitarian and inter-dependent social order, which ensures the security and
well-being of all. ENDORSED
BY: National
Alliance of People's Movements |
