ARnet Workshop Report: Strengthening the Land Rights of Marginal Tribal Groups in Uttar Pradesh, India

SDF Social Development Foundation - Uttar Pradesh, India
January 2000

Background

The Social Development Foundation (SDF) is one of the national nodes in India. 

Project : The land rights of the indigenous communities of Tharus and Mushahars form the focus of this project. The action plan revolves around raising awareness about their situation to the larger public (especially policy makers), as well as mobilising the tribal groups themselves. Initailly, in order to amass information, an inventory / mapping of grassroots activity will be done and documented in the form of case studies. An analysis explaining the various dimensions of the current situation will also be done.

Expected Outputs : Research material will be used to raise awareness on land and tenure issues affecting these two tribal communities at local and national levels. It is hoped that this will propel policy makers to take up the issue more seriously than in the past.

For further information , please contact : Mr. V.B. Rawat, National Node Coordinator, FIAN International, North Indian Chapter, V 118, KAMNA, Vaishali (Ghaziabad), U.P. PIW-201010, India. Tel./Fax: (0091-575) 775449 / E-mail: vbrawat@nde.vsnl.net.in.

Introduction

The Social Development Foundation, the ARnet node for Uttar Pradesh, India and FIAN-UP co-organised the first Agrarian Reform Network (ARnet) Workshop to take place in India. It took place in a remote tribal village of Uttar-Pradesh, a state of India. The event was highly successful and participatory in nature. Many of the participants welcomed the learning experience provided by the workshop and acknowledged the overall value of the initiative undertaken by the Social Development Foundation and FIAN. The meeting was also reported in the local media. A longer report of the Workshop is provided below.

The second workshop will be organised during April 2000, in Mau among the Mushhar tribal community and for the Tharus.

Work has already begun on the production of films and the collection of success stories, both of which will form an important part of the programme for the second workshop.

Report of the two-day workshop organised by Social Development Foundation at the premises of Chitrakoot Seva Ashram, Chitrakoot on 22nd-23rd January 2000

A two-day workshop on the awareness of human rights for grass-root level activists was organised as part of the Agrarian Reform Network (ARnet) programme in Uttar Pradesh, India.

This was the first programme organised by the Social Development Foundation/ FIAN UP in this predominantly backward region of Uttar Pradesh. The region has a long history of land issues and land-related problems. The region's general history is rich. It is said that the Hindu God Rama came here with his wife Sita and brother Laxmana after being exiled by his father for fourteen years in the forest.

The Kol tribal community is the principal focus of current ARnet activities in this region. This community is marginalised economically (high levels of poverty), socially (absence of welfare assistance) and politically (limited external representation and low levels of interest in the plight of this historic tribal community). In addition, the community suffers from confusion and ambiguity surrounding their land rights. The tribal area falls into two separate states of India: Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In the latter, Madhya Pradesh, the group has been designated an official tribal group, and has been granted tribal lands accordingly. The community has not been granted the same "tribal" status in Uttar Pradesh. This has meant that the community does not enjoy secure access to the land that forms the basis of their individual, household and collective livelihoods. The Social Development Foundation and FIAN are supporting the Kol tribal community in its struggle for their land rights in particular and their human rights in general.

Workshop Objectives

• To train grass root activists working among the landless agriculture workers about their human and constitutional rights.

• To increase awareness of relevant land laws and regulations in India

• To increase knowledge of the nature and scope of land-related fraud and to enhance their individual and collective ability to minimise the risk of fraud

• To develop clear strategies for lobbying and protest

• To identify ways of broadening the protest to include other groups and areas

• To identify the precise ways in which diverse rights are being violated in the case of the Kol tribal community

• To identify ways of engaging with the local Panchayats ( local self government in the villages).

Issues

The main agenda of the workshop included the following issues:

1. What are human rights and what are international human rights laws ?

2. What is the constitutional position in India on human rights ?

7. What are the constitutional rights of women?

3. How should and can people respond to different types of rights violations?

4. What are the most effective means of reporting rights violations?

5. What are the best communication strategies for protests

6. What do "networks" mean in practice and what benefits can they bring to marginalised communities?

8. What are the existing land laws ?

9 - What is the precise nature of land frauds and other related problems?

9. Is there a need for agrarian reform and if so, what does agrarian reform mean in the contemporary context?

10. What are the roles and responsibilities of local institutions such as village Panchayats ?

Workshop Location

Chitrakoot Seva Ashram, Mission Road, Karvi ( Chitrakoot) UP

Participants

There were about 40 participants from a wide-range of backgrounds. All however, shared a common interest and involvement in land issues and/or the struggle for land rights. Several of the participants were from Kol tribal community. Others were from "Dalit" and other marginalised groups. Dalit refers to people who belong to the lowest levels of the Hindu religious caste system. Although now illegal, many people continue to suffer discrimination on account of their "caste". Historically, the "dalits" have been the most discriminated and marginalised. Many of the participants were from from poor peasant communities in the region. Four women also participated in the discussions. Each of the women has been working on questions relating to women's rights in the area. Some of them have suffered from social ostracisation because their work challenges the rules and principles of the prevailing patriarchical (male-dominated) society and its norms.

Panel of trainers :

V.B.Rawat , human rights activist and co-ordinator of the programme

Sanjay Rai , a Dalit activist from Uttar-Pradesh, with wide experience on the issue of dalit rights and grass root struggles

Sanjay Vijayvergia : A human rights activist from Uttar-Pradesh and trained in the economic social rights of the people.

Hari Shankar Singh : Convenor of Chitrakoot Seva Ashram and a land measurement expert

Prof. Vinod Shankar Singh : Head of the Political Science Department at Mahatma Gandhi Gramodyog Vishwavidyalaya University ( Chitrakoot),

Prof. Amarjeet Singh , Department of Social Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi Graomodyog Vishvavidyalaya University ( Chitrakoot), an expert on Panchayat Raj System

Ms Madhavi Kukereja , from Vanangana (a women's group working for the rights of women)

WORKSHOP REPORT

Workshop Day 1

Opening the workshop, the co-ordinator of the Social Development Foundation introduced the ongoing Agrarian Reform campaign that is being organised as part of the Agrarian Reform (ARnet) Network activities.

The problem faced by landless agriculture labourers and other marginal groups in the area is both extensive and multi-dimension in nature. It should be remembered that modern visions of agrarian reform are far broader in scope than traditional models. As a result, government and the local state should look beyond the basic and often mechanistic provision of small plots of land to reform beneficiaries. Instead, contemporary reform arguments embrace a far broader package of measures and state support. He cited the example of South Africa where a National Land Committee (NLC) (another member of ARnet, and the national node in South Africa and the Regional Node for Southern Africa) had been formed by the government in order to provide a broader, more inclusive and more comprehensive examination of the land reform question.

In addition to the redistribution of land, the broader objectives of land reform include:

• redressing historical injustices,

• restructuring power relations,

• alleviating rural poverty

• contributing to economic growth

The vast majority of landless agricultural workers in the region belong to Dalit and tribal communities. These groups continue to be marginalised, both economically and socially. As a result, there is a pressing need to put agrarian reform back on the policy agenda in India. Mr Rawat informed delegates about the meeting that had taken place in Tagaytay in the Philippines, on 6-7 October 1999. This meeting was organised by the Popular Coalition (International Land Coalition - adapted from February 2003) and ANGOC (another member of ARnet, and the regional node for South East Asia). The meeting was in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the 1970 World Conference on Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (WCARRD). The Tagaytay meeting concluded with a strong call to:

• revive agrarian reform on national and international agendas,

• support the struggles of peasants to gain access to productive assets and

• popularise the need to empower the rural poor by insuring their secure access land, water, common property, credit, technology and markets,

Mr. Rawat also questioned the effectiveness of the so-called farmers movement in India, arguing that it was often "feudal" in nature and often works against the interests of those that it purports to support (i.e. small farmers). Hence there is a pressing need to provide landless agricultural wage labourers and marginal farmers with an alternative and more meaningful platform where they can voice concerns and articulate demands.

He further noted that few big farmers could not be expected to support land reform as in many cases, it jeopardised their self-interests. Furthermore, the entire land reform movement (if it could be said to exist at all) has been consistently hampered by the nature of the legal process, in particular, court proceedings. In the local region for example, not a single land reform case has yet been settled in the courts. Instead, it could be argued that the courts provide de facto protection to large land-owners, whereby they are able to file a writ petition to protect their holdings (i.e. ask the courts to make a judgement on the case), knowing that it is unlikely that the cases will ever reach final judgement, thereby abolishing, in practice, the claims of the landless peasant. The situation is further compounded by the absence of any means of appeal or counter-claim by the landless peasant. Instead, the marginalised peasant is destined to simply blame continuing "bad luck and misfortune".

There are then, clear needs for land laws to be effectively implemented and for detailed documentation of the situation at both government and NGO levels. Mr Rawat called for continued training on land laws and related legal issues in both the communities an din NGOs.

It was stressed that communities cannot afford to be passive. Instead, and in partnership with external supporters, they must be active agents of change. They must seek to change their own destinies. They need to assert their needs and articulate their demands whenever an appropriate opportunity arises. It is therefore important that they are skilled at demand-making and that they are able to identify the most suitable strategy in any given situation. In a democratic society, for instance, elected representatives should be questioned about their motives, approaches to planning and their level of action/inaction regarding critical issues. Indeed, this is a basic political right of all citizens in a democratic cotext: to lobby and pressurise the government and its elected representatives.

Mr Amarjeet Singh, from the Department of Political Science at the Mahatma Gandhi Gramodhyog University, trained the participants on their potential roles in Panchayat bodies ( local self government institutions at the village level). He informed the participants that Panchayats have become a powerful instrument for village government following the passing of the 73rd-74th amendments bills in Parliament which gave considerable power to Panchayats and their representatives. The panchayat is, he opined, a republic at village he opined. He also noted that a growing number of women are being elected to Panchayats. It is therefore important that they know about their rights and duties so that they can help the people and society. In many villages some previously unrepresented sections of society such as the Dalits and the so-called backward classes have also been elected to Panchayats, in many cases, with excellent results. He stressed that grass-roots activists should also seek and advise the Panchayat representatives and assist in village planning. It is therefore important for that activists at the village level exercise their democratic rights to participate in Panchayat activities. They can inform the Panchayat representatives about their rights and duties and help develop plans for the development of community and society.

In the afternoon session, Sanjay Rai spoke about the rights of Dalits and tribals recognised in the Indian Constitution. He also spoke extensively about the democratic movement in India for the rights of "have-nots". Sanjay cited examples from various clauses from the Indian Constitution which give special protection to Dalits and tribals including the Protection of Civil Rights Act, the SC-CT Atrocities Act, the Land Alienation Act and other similar acts. He discussed different ways of mobilising political and financial support and of ensuring maximum exposure for issues and protests. Similarly, he offered guidance on ways of networking with other groups and directly with state officials in the state capital, Lucknow, and in New Delhi.

Sanjay Vijayvergia, an expert on economic social rights explored the issue of food security, with special emphasis on the negative impact of globalisation on national and local food security situations. He illustrated his arguments with several local examples, including a description of how public forest areas in the region had been leased to multinational companies leading to the displacement of local tribal groups which resulted in immediate negative impacts for household and community food security levels. Similarly, a recent decision by the state to proclaim the forest area a "revenue forest" and a National Park have led to the further displacement of the local tribal community who depend on the forest area for their overall well being, livelihoods and security. It was concluded that these initiatives, and in particular, the negative impacts they generate, should be opposed at the local, national and international levels.

V.B.Rawat examined the international dimension of human rights and its relevance for national and local level discussions. He noted the need to know the exact commitments made by the Indian government in varied international fora and to understand the extent to which these decisions had been ratified and/or endorsed at the national level. It is for this reason that it can be claimed that ensuring human rights is not an act of mere charity or benevolence on the part of national governments: in almost all cases it is an obligation and responsibility. Mr Rawat provided participants with further information on various International Instruments relating to civil and political rights and on contemporary notions of economic, social and cultural rights. In the case of India for example, there are many instances in which these rights have been ratified by parliament. It is therefore the clear duty of the state to ensure that these commitments are acted upon in all parts of the national territory and for all sections of society.

The key lesson from these examples and explanations refers to the need and value of information . An understanding of these issues and in this case, the many commitments already made by the government, can greatly facilitate the struggle of marginalised groups and communities.

Workshop Day 2

In the first session, Mr Romesh Chandra of Chitrakoot Seva Ashram focused on the constitutional rights of women. Despite the depth of these supposed rights, many of the participants were able to provide clear examples of harassment against women. The gravity of many of these cases and their multifaceted nature demonstrated the need for a greater knowledge and understanding of the constitutional and related legal rights of women in India. The gap between "women's rights in theory" and "women's rights in practice" remains great. Women for example, have enjoyed the right to vote since 1950, have the right to equal employment opportunities and wages and possess the same rights to inherit property as men. In practice however, many many women do not enjoy the equality implied in these rights: they suffer discrimination in the labour market, receive lower wages and are denied equal access to land through either inheritance or other land transfer mechanisms. And of course, these are only a few examples of the discrimination.

Several speakers explored some of the other causes of the discrimination suffered by women, and in particular, the difference between women's rights in theory (as enshrined in Constitutions and laws etc.) and in practice (viz. the discrimination suffered in everyday life by millions of women throughout the region). It was argued for example, that everyday practice in many countries in South Asia is still determined more by religious/ethnic rules and laws rather than those laid down in formal Constitutions and other statutory legal frameworks. Despite the claims made in many secular and/or progressive Constitutions, there remain striking distances between many parts of South Asia and some of the more developed countries in which the gap between rights in theory and rights in practice is far smaller. Perhaps the single most important factor contributing to this difference is education and levels of literacy in particular. Stated simply, if people do not know about their rights, they will never demand their rights. And in many cases, even education cannot change a situation in which prescribed social practices are so powerful that most women feel unable to bring about changes.

Madhavi Kukrejea, a reknowned activist for women's rights in the region, spoke on violence against women after marriage. Other participants underlined the need to also recognise domestic violence on unmarried women in their family homes. Recognising the great importance of these issues, Madhavi called for a recognition that despite these many problems, growing empowerment had helped women in the region and elsewhere in India. She also suggested that in some ways, and contrary to many common perceptions, that rural women are more powerful than women living in cities. Despite higher levels of illiteracy, in some ways they are more integrated into the labour market and are better able to respond to harrassment. Citing examples such as women working as masons and women fixing village handpumps, she showed that Chitrakoot itself provides many examples of how dalit and Aadivasi women are overturning traditional gender relations. These, she stressed, are all important examples of change.

In the second session, Sanjay Rai advised participants on how to write protest letters to authorities. Participants were divided into five groups and were then required to prepare and present a "protest letter" to the wider group. The exercise was deemed valuable by many of the participants.

In the afternoon, V.B.Rawat provided guidance on methods for reporting human rights violations and other complaints. Participants were advised on how to lay out and organise reports and on the best people to contact on a range of issues. Once again, participants were divided into five working groups in order to prepare reports, but this time on actual concrete examples. The following session was devoted to the presentation and examination of the various reports. Once again, the session was deemed very useful by many of the participants.

The value of this type of simple learning experience for civil society is clear. A knowledge of how to articulate demands and to protest to the appropriate authorities is an important vehicle for empowerment and can greatly increase the likelihood of positive outcomes. One of the clear lessons emerging from these sessions of the workshop refers to the relatively low-cost and time requirement needed to provide communities with these important skills.

In the final session Mr Hari Shankar Singh lectured the group on the different types of inaccuracy and the types of frauds that can occur in the land measurement and registration processes. He had been involved in the land measurement process on many occasions, and as a result was able to provide many interesting and valuable insights into the possible distortions and problems that can occur. He also informed participants of the best responses to these problems and provided advice on the best people and institutions to contact. He also explained some of the complexities and confusions that can arise including for example, the differences that can occur in relation to the size of land holdings indicated in titles, the sizes measured and the sizes recorded in official land registry records. Mr Hari Shankar indicated his strong support for the Agrarian Reform Network and his willingness to provide further training for NGOs, and communities.

His talk reminded participants that one of the greatest disadvantages faced by poor and marginalised communities is ignorance and a lack of knowledge on the specificities of the land measurement and registration processes. In this instance, the support and involvement of people with the necessary technical knowledge can provide immense support to communities such as these.

Conclusions

The workshop unanimously passed a resolution thanking the Social Development Foundation, New Delhi , FIAN (UP), and the Agrarian Reform Network of the Popular Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty (International Land Coalition - adapted from February 2003) for raising the issue of marginal farmers and landless peasants and highlighting the problems faced by these communities.

The participants agreed that the land problem in Uttar-Pradesh was perhaps the single most important issue facing civil society in the State. The general strength of vested interests and specific instances of direct collusion between large powerful landowners and the local state was also recognised. For this reason, it is very difficult for individual communities to resolve their land problems in isolation. As a result, individual community land issues such as those discussed during the workshop should be highlighted at the local, regional and if possible, national levels. This highlights the importance and value of networking between communities and civil society in general. Participants also drew attention to the negative environmental and economic impacts of many of the new economic policies being pursued in India, and in particular, their impact on poor and marginalised communities. The need to identify alternative sources of agricultural and non-agricultural incomes for households in the area was stressed.

The importance of knowledge was recognised, in particular relating to 1) the measurement of land parcels and 2) understanding the various legal rights and entitlements pertaining to communities and individuals. The need to expand both the knowledge-base on these issues and to strengthen the capacity of local civil society organisations and NGOs to provide legal and other forms of technical advice to communities was highlighted. In this respect, the participants proposed that the Social Development Foundation begin formulating a village development project to provide assistance to the communities.

A series of further conclusions, recommendations and proposals were also made in the closing session, including:

1. Documenting land violations at the village level.

2. Increasing awareness on the legal aspects of land rights in the villages.

3. Increasing the availability of relevant information at the village level in a language and style of presentation that is accessible and understandable by villagers

4. Indigenous production need to be increased.

5. Improving sustainable land management

6. Banning fertiliser use in the villages

7. Improving field management and "carving"

8. Reducing / eliminating land taxes

9. Improving accurate land measurement

10. Improving education levels in the communities

11. Involving women at all levels of the decision-making process

12. Developing improved land use planning strategies

13. Increasing the availability of drainage and irrigation resources

14. Standardising land measurement practices

15. Implementing public sector water management programmes

16. Giving land on the ground to farmers rather than land on paper

17. Increasing awareness of the land allocation process

18. Increasing producer control over prices

19. Distributing community land to landless Dalits and tribal groups

20. Ensuring that agricultural labourers receive their full legal entitlements in terms of wage levels and rights

21. Granting agricultural wage labourers the same welfare rights as other workers

22. Forming special "land courts" to resolve the land issue as the existing legal process provides to much protection to the large land owners and suppresses the rights of landless and other poor groups.

Local Media Coverage

The workshop was reported in the local Hindi media.

The Value of Community Visits

The participants had the opportunity to visit several very remote and isolated areas in which tribal groups are struggling for their land rights. In one instance, participants required armed guards to protect them from local militia groups organised by interests opposed to the claims of the tribal groups. This provided a stark reminder of the reality of the land struggle in many of the more remote areas.

The community visits were important. They showed the communities that their struggle is not being ignored and that there are elements of civil society willing to support them in their quest for rights and security. It should be remembered that some of these communities had not been visited by "outsiders" for very long periods. These visits therefore provided an important boost to these people who are forced to struggle for their existence on a daily basis.

It is hoped that the next phase of the Agrarian Reform Network programme will be supported by additional funding. The need is great, as is the potential for making a very real difference in the lives of these highly marginalised groups. People have already offered their support for the programme. They need a platform, a support group capable of providing knowledge, ideas and technical skills rather than mere rhetoric and agitation. It is our earnest hope that the ARNet, FIAN International and other rights-based group will help attain basic human rights for these people and guarantee their secure access to the land upon which their livelihoods depend.

In the 21st century people must have the right to enjoy secure access to land on which to live and earn a living. People must have the right to natural resources and all agricultural workers must have the right to the same wages as all other workers, regardless of sector or location.