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INDIA: Two hundred Adivasis made homeless over land rights

July 30, 2003

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

29 July 2003

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UA-35-2003: INDIA: Two hundred Adivasis made homeless over land rights


INDIA: John P Abraham; land rights; indigenous groups
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Dear Friends


On 21 July, about 100 police and the Maharashtra State Farming Corporation (MSFC) security personnel destroyed about two hundreds huts of adivasis - indigenous people - and more than thousand acres of crops. No notice was given to the people. Several hundred adivasi children and women have been rendered homeless. The adivasi people have been fighting the MSFC for their legal rights on land where they've lived for several decades.

The Maharashtra Agricultural Land (Ceiling on Holdings) Act, which came into effect in 1961, was intended to redistribute land among landless farmers. In Maharashtra and some other states, almost no land was successfully re-distributed. Instead, the government set up the MSFC and gave it cultivation rights over the land. However, the MSFC has never cultivated the 35,000 acres. Seeing the land lying fallow, adivasis have in recent years occupied it and staked a legal claim that is still pending before state authorities.

Meanwhile, a new amendment which will come into effect in 2003, enables the government to withdraw the land from the MSFC and grant any area of land for any "public purpose". There is a strong likelihood that much of the land will return to the hands of the former landlords, which will have a disastrous effect on those living on the land.

However, recently, the MSFC has started a brutal crackdown against the adivasi people by destroying their houses and crops. This action on 21 July was taken by the MSFC, and strongly backed by the government, despite the adivasis' claim that the land they are on is theirs and their appeal is pending before the Revenue Commissioner at Nashik. Mr John P Abraham, who is leading the fight, was detained in police custody from 10am until 7.30pm on that day. The adivasi people fear that this monstrous act will be continued.

In his email to the AHRC on 27 July, Mr John P Abraham described how miserable the current situation is and how desperately they need help from others:

"They have burnt down all the remnants of the huts. It is a heart-rending scene to see the young ones lying in the bushes without any cover above them. Only barbarians can do such acts of cruelty to a hapless people. Is there any way you can stop this atrocious act of the government machinery?......All this to return the land to the powerful landlords or to lease it out to big companies. All this land had been acquired under the Ceiling Act. Now all this is government land lying fallow for three decades. Our beloved nation, our beloved leaders. To hell with all these pious thoughts......No body wanted to listen to us. Is there anybody listening to the feeble cry of these people? We informed number of Human Rights fellows. They need papers. Bull shit. People are dying here......Let those who still have some conscience judge the way in which the government is misusing the resources acquired under Ceiling Act and government fallow land, detriment to the interest of the landless and the poor. I hope our cry for justice is heard by someone. We need your solidarity."

A hunger strike is proposed for 30 July, to bring attention to the plight of the adavasi people who have been negatively targeted by the MSFC and the government of Maharashtra.

Please support the adivasis in their fight for justice immediately.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

After the independence of India in 1947, the British left behind large acres of land formerly owned by industrial corporations. The Indian government had the idea of distributing the unoccupied parts to landless people. Related to this, in the following years, the Ceiling on Holdings Act, no:XXVII in 1961 was adopted by the Maharashtra State Government with the purpose of "distribution of agricultural lands as best to serve common good". An amendment was made to the 1961 Act 14 years after "to limit landlords' holdings", to secure a still more equitable distribution of land and for the purpose of removing economic disparity and thereby for assisting more effectively landless and other persons".

The campaign of the adivasis to occupy 'ceiling' land involves documentation, community renewal, advocacy and support for the legal battle. At present, there are over three hundred families on the land being contested, and another two hundred actively involved.

Mr John P Abraham, who is leading the fight, has been under personal threat but continues the campaign for the landless. Despite a lack of resources and lack of support from the legal community, he is now attempting to file a second writ on the case (the first one failed on a technicality) and is following up on an appeal with the Revenue Commissioner who oversees the land.

In addition, a protest was filed with the Tahasildar of Rahata with the request that the adivasis be compensated for their loss, but to date nothing has happened. Other planned action includes a campaign to file First Information Reports (FIRs) on the incident at the Police Station (to date 108 have been lodged); a new memorandum to Tahasildar; and an indefinite hunger strike, to take place from 30 July 2003.

SEND LETTERS/FAXES/EMAIL TO:

1. Revenue Commissioner
Nashik Revenue Commission
Nashik Road
Nashik
Maharashtra
INDIA
Fax: +91 253 2461063
SALUTATION: Dear Sir

2. Police Inspector
Rahata

Ahmednagar District
Maharashtra
INDIA
SALUTATION: Dear Sir

3. Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde,
Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Office of the Chief Minister
Mantralaya
Mumbai 400 032
Maharashtra
INDIA
FAX: + 91 22 2029214
E-mai: sectocm@maharashtra.gov.in
SALUTATION: Dear Chief Minister

4. Shri. Shivajirao Bhaorao Patil
Revenue Minister, Maharashtra
Nilangekar Post Office
Shejari, Nilanga
Tehsil Nilanga

Latur
Tel: +91 22026658
E-mail: min_rev@maharashtra.gov.in
SALUTATION: Dear Minister


with copies to:

5. Justice Shri Arivind Sawant
Chairperson
Maharashtra Human Rights Commission
MUMBAI, INDIA
Fax: +91 22 2885858

6. Vijay Sonkar Shastri
Chairperson
National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
c/o The National Human Rights Commission
Sardar Patel Bhavan
Sansad Marg, New Delhi - 110 001
INDIA
FAX: +91 11 334 0016
EMAIL: nhrc3@alpha.nic.in
SALUTATION: Dear Commissioner

7. Mr. Jean Ziegler

Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
c/o Sally-Anne Way
Assistant to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
IUED, 24, rue Rothschild
CP 136, CH 1211 Geneva 21
Switzerland
Fax: +41 22 906 59 83
E-mail: sally-anne.way@iued.unige.ch

8. Mr. Miloon Kothari
Special Rapporteur on adequate housing
Room 4-066
UNOG-OHCHR, CH-1211, Geneva 10. Switzerland
E-mail: rhada.hcr@unog.ch
Fax: +41 22 917 90 10

SUGGESTED LETTER:

Dear

I am very concerned about the brutal crackdown on the adivasi people currently happening in Maharashtra. On 21 July, about two hundred adivasi huts and more than a thousand acres of their crops were destroyed by about 100 police and Maharashtra State Farming Corporation (MSFC) security personnel, with no warning. Several hundred adivasi women and children have been made homeless. This incident was a result of the dispute between the MSFC and the adivasis about the ownership of land.

In addition, a protest was filed with the Tahasildar of Rahata with the request that the adivasis be compensated for their loss, but to date nothing has happened.

According to the Maharashtra Agricultural Land (Ceiling on Holdings) Act, which came into effect in 1961, advivasis do have a legal right to this land. Nevertheless, a new amendment of the Maharashtra Agricultural Land Act, which will come into effect in 2003, guarantees that the land will return to the hands of the former landlords. At present, there are over three hundred families on the contested land and they have submitted an appeal to the Revenue Commissioner who oversees the land.

I urge the Maharashtra State government to take strong action in the matter of the adivasis and the dispute over the tenure of the land, which they have been living on and have claimed as theirs. I also call upon the Maharashtra State government to order an immediate and impartial investigation into the case of violence against the adivivasis and bring those responsible before a tribunal.

I further urge the Maharashtra State government to take steps to ensure the personal and proprietary safety and security of the tribal community, and resolve the issue of land ownership. I also earnestly request that immediate action be taken to uphold justice and protect the civil liberty and human rights of the adivasis.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully



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Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-35-2003
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.