195 Jodhpur Park
Kolkata
Tel: 91 33 4732740/4836491
Fax: 91 33 4725571
Contact: Mr Biplab Halim

IMSE was established in 1970 with the aim of combining their development activities with a mass movement to bring about meaningful social change. Its programmes cover a few hundred villages in West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in eastern India.

In West Bengal (India) where land reform is more advanced than in other states and regions in the sub-continent, initiatives in the form of movements and campaigns by civil-society organizations have been able to pressure the government to enact laws and implement land reform measures up to a certain point.

Nevertheless, the post land reform situation in West Bengal has been neglected by the State since the early 1980s despite pressing problems in the field such as: the rise of a new land-purchasing class, problems related to new agricultural technology, and neglect of women's land rights. Realizing this, IME has been conducting a thorough research on the current situation.

ARnet

Advocacy

Launching LAND Parnterships at WSSD, Johannesburg, 2002

• To stimulate voluntarism among people to organize the poor, deprived and exploited sections of society, to create awareness so that they may raise their voices for a better society, free from exploitation and where social justice prevails;
• To motivate and organize the people, particularly rural and urban poor women to create their own livelihoods through gainful self-employment.

IMSE's Programmes and Activities

IMSE's major programmes center on creating awareness among the rural poor, especially women, regarding their basic human rights and responsibilities, health/sanitation and literacy. It also organizes training for gainful self-employment and leadership development.

Human rights education. In coordination with the Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN), IMSE undertakes various human rights eduction activities such as seminars and rallies. It also produces materials for use by various target groups including fisherfolk, women, farmers, workers, urban poor and indigenous/tribal groups. These education activities help to increase the knowledge and understanding by the poor of their rights, including their land and resource rights and equips them with the tools to protect and/or enhance these rights.

Research and documentation on post-land reform. IMSE is tackling the second generation problems of land reforms in West Bengal specifically focused on the following questions:

• has land effectively been given to the tiller?;
  
• has there been a reduction in landholdings by higher castes?;
• 
  have credit providing institutions been established for smallholders, sharecroppers, etc., thus reducing the role of traditional money lenders?; and
• 
  how far have land titles to women, which exist in law, been implemented in practice.

Study of land rights of tribals. The issue of land rights of forest dwellers and other tribal groups is also a crucial concern that IMSE is studying and documenting to inform its policy advocacy work with the State governments.

Agriculture Workers
Farmers
Fisherfolk
Forest Workers
Indigenous peoples
Landless
Peasants
Resettled People/Refugees
Rural women
Urban poor

Land Acquisition
Land Tenure Systems
Community Capacity Building
Network Building
Institutional Development
Lobbying and Advocacy
Legislations, Regulations and Legal Support
Policy Research
Post Land Acquisition Services
Land Literacy
Women's Access to Land
Indigenous Peoples Resources Rights
Conflict and Conflict Resolution
Land and Water Rights
Environmental Sustainability
Human rights education
Research and documentation on post-land reform situation