Friday, February 29, 2008

JAN HAKK YATRA in JHARKHAND- Media


NAFRE JAN HAKK YATRA welcomed by the leaders of the Local movement struggling for the shelter and human right in Jamshedpur city of Jharkhand. The movement is fighting against the TATA comapny lease and exploitation of the tribal in local area, NAFRE leadership addressed the mass meeting in the town

JAN HAKK YATRA and PRESS

JAN HAKK YATRA reached to the Industrial city of Jharkhand ie Jamshedpur and organsied series of Public meeting in the town and focussing over the common School system, against the displacement by the companies. In this occasion the representatives of the NAFRE JAN ANDOLAN, CREJ JAN MUKTI ANDOLAN and the local movement delivered their speechs among the mass and made appeal to the youths to join in the movement against the SEZ, displacement, child rights etc.
NAFRE JAN HAKK YATRA and CREJ JAN MUKTI ANDOLAN organised Youth Conference in Ranchi, Jharkhand and appeal made to the youths to join in movement


Jan Haq Yatra in Madhya Pradesh - Through The Eyes of Media

Nasreen JI Addressing the Gathering at Sheopur District From where Yatra in MP Began


Plight of Saharia Primitive Tribe voiced out in NPM Jan Haq Yatra in Karhal Block of Sheopur, MP


Common School System was advocated by a Local Daily in Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh

Jan Haq Yatra in Madhya Pradesh - Through The Eyes of Media

Nasreen Ji Addressing the Media Persons in a Press conference at Satna
Issue of Displacement raised before the arrival of Jan Haq Yatra in Vindhyacal Region
Nasreen ji Addressing Public Gathering at Satna


JAN HAKK YATRA IN MADHYA PRADESH

NPM Jan Haq Yatra
Madhya Pradesh
SHEOPUR
On the night of 8th February activists from Saharia Mukti Morcha, Madhya Pradesh gave a warm welcome and greeted Jan Haq Yatra members of Rajasthan State in the village Baintha bordering Bara district of Rajasthan and Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan members were full of energy and enthusiasm despite relentless traveling across the state for more than 12 days. In the Baintha village small deliberations were made by Nasreen, Uma Chaturvedi, Ajmal ji, etc. about the objectives of Yatra and the experiences of Rajasthan. Then they formally handed over the Yatra to MP which was heartening. Slogans were shouted and the Yatra started in MP.
After taking rest on 8th Night at Karhal block of Sheopur Yatra proceeded to Jakhda Jagir village about 40 Kms from Karhal. Before that the Yatra Jeep was decorated with the banners of Jan Haq Yatra and Saharia Mukti Morcha (Local CBOs of Saharia tribes). Jakhda jagir village is inhabitated by Saharia tribes here around 200 people welcomed the Yatra by binding threads to all yatra members and putting teeka in the forehead. The meeting started with revolutionary songs and slogans. Then the objectives of Yatra were briefed by Rajiv and Uma and invited local people to share their ideas. About 10 community people stated their plight in the village and enlightened the yatra members about the issues they are facing.
Issue of Land: In Jakhda Jagir village about 84 landless families have been given patta in 2001 but even after 7 years their land is not demarcated by the government official. The local revenue officer took money several times but no avail. Most of the saharias migrate to the nearby Rajasthan and other cities for their livelihood as they do not have any employment opportunity in the village vicinity. They own very little land mostly unproductive and unirrigated therefore their livelihood is in jeopardy.
NREGA: Surjabai from the village said that since last two years she got only 14 days of employment through NREGA programme. The job cards are with the Sarpanch. If they could get job in the village itself they won’t prefer to migrate so that they can educate their children.
Education: There is one school in the village in which around 100 students re being taught by one teacher, though there is one more teacher appointed but he never comes to school.
Similar kind of concerns was raised by other speakers also be it Kastoori bai or be it Matadin. Their main concern was on how to get their entitlements and how they can be free from the local feudalist.
Then Nasreen from NAFRE Jan Andolan gave her speech summarizing the feelings of present crowd and said that this yatra is basically an attempt to raise such voices in the adequate forums. She also commented about the existing situation of globalization and capitalism and questioned that why development efforts of government is developing only elite section of the society. She then called for a unified effort from the community to change the situation.
After this slogans shouted and people took resolution to unite and fight for their rights. Then the Yatra proceeded towards Bhanwarkuan village where about 70 women were waiting. Most of the men from here went out for their daily works or migrated. Here also deliberations were made by the speakers from the Yatra and then the community discharged their anger on the government systems and corruption on various issues as mentioned above.
Similar to Jakhda Jagir here also about 195 families got land patta but their land is encroached by the local Jamindars and Brahmins. Despite several memorandums submitted to the collector they are still awaiting for their land to be distributed. The status of other government schemes is also very poor. ANM visits here once in 3 months, facilities from Anganwadi center are not available for the Saharias, etc. Here also about 7 women from the community spoke about their condition in the village.
SHIVPURI
From Bhanwarkuan the yatra left for Shivpuri where a press conference was organized. In this press conference about 10 reporters were present from all dailies and one electronic media. Nasreen and Rajiv answered questions from the journalists about the yatra objectives, NAFRE, and other ideological issues like education, displacement, SEZ, etc.
GWALIOR
After night halt at Shivpuri the Yatra moved to Gwalior where a programme organized in one of the slums named Shankarpur in which Sapera community lives. The village Shankarpur is located near to the transport center of Gwalior. The majority of the population of the village is Muslim and minority group is the schedule caste- Sapheras. The Sapheras are the most deprived groups in the society whom are the most neglected. The majority of the members of the community were labours in the stone crushers which were running near by and now they became jobless since the crushers were shut down by district administration recently. The children belongs to Saphera between the age group 3-6 are not admitted in the anganbadis. Only a small percentage of the children above 6 years are going school. Others are either school dropouts or not registered yet in school. Majority of those children are child labours and use to collect plastic and iron materials from garbages for their daily breads. Some even beg for single meal a day. The males migrate to neary by cities for job and women sometimes accompany children in collection of recyclable materials from garbages. The local leaders belong to the other community and their preferences are for their own community and not for the deprived community.
The Yatra team arrived at 1.30 pm on 10 Feb 2008 at Shankarpur village where two members from Alliance for People’s Rights (APR), Delhi also joined the Yatra and they were welcomed warm. About a crowd of 150 community members from Saphera (SC) and Muslim community were present in the village. Other than the community, the Sarpanch, Panchayat secretary were also present in the meeting. The head of Social work department Prof. Vivek Bapat from Jeevaji University Gwalior and selected MSW students were are invited for the programme. Mr. Pradeep, the president of Parvarish organization welcomed the Jan Haq Yatra team and briefed the community about the objectives of the team. He also explained the local issues of the community in the village the team.
Nasreenji from Nafre Jan Adolan explained about Nafre and its activities. She also explained that what Jan Haq Yatra is and its objectives which cover the issues like displacement due to SEZs, Brahmanism, Patriarchic system, child rights, common school system, Special arms force act etc. She said that it is the struggle of the people for their rights and NAFRE is coordinating it. She later asked the community to come forward with their issues and problems as they had come to hear from the people rather than to say more to them. She invited the ladies to explain the problems

Gorabai from Shankarpur village said that all the benefits from various governmental schemes are provided to the only one community in which the Sarpanch belongs and the Sapheras are neglected in all developmental activities. We are not having own land and women are harassed by other communities. There is no provision of drinking water in the slum hence the women have to travel more than a kilometer to fetch water. There also the communities become the victim of discrimination. The entire community use open areas for their primary activities since they have no latrine facility. Nasreen explained that the caste system is a national issue and it started since centuries back. It is very difficult to break it in a day. But the unity and common objective of the community will help them to achieve their goal and for that a struggle for the rights is essential. We also have to focus in group activity than individual effort. She also asked the community to raise their voice and highlights the issue to the local leaders like Sarpanch, parshad for the solution.
Meerabai said that only a few have the BPL ration card and others are not having cards and our voices are not heard yet. Mr. Vinay from Nafre said that the situation is same in big cities like Delhi. Initially nobody was interested to hear the voice of the poor but the people had struggled lot for their rights. That spirit and activeness should be initiated here for the community development. Prof Vivek Bapat from Jiwaji University, Gwalior said that being a professor of concerned department we use to discuss about the issues which are already highlighted in the meeting. But seeing the reality is some thing different feeling and touching. He also expressed that always we cannot blame the government for the situation often we are not initiating to high light the issues and struggle for the rights. The rights granted to us by the government is no the privilege but it is way to respect the individuality of each citizen of the nation.

Mrs. Nisha the social worker explained that we started work with community a few years back and at the time the community were unaware about their rights and hesitated to come forward. Gradually the groups are formed and motivated to work together for the development. She thanked the community for attending the meeting though they had to quit their one day wage. She also added that the food to be feed to the hungry. Mangalabai said that the district administration is acting thoughtless. They shutdown all stone crushers in the areas with out providing any alternative source of livelihood to the people residing in the localities. This cause the unemployment and related problems. Many are migrated to other places. She said that the government against the people cannot be called as government they are dictators. The drinking water system is not there in the village and majority of the BPL families are not having ratio card too. She also added that the women in the village are often harassed. The voice of the poor are not heard and their condition is still worst.
The Sarpanch of Shankarpur village said that some BPL cards are already distributed and rest of the cards will be distributed by the end of March. He also thanked for Nafre organization to conduct such a Yatra for the rights of the people. Mr. Rajiv from the cry explained that while Jan Haq Yatra reached Sheopur the Saharia Adivasi tribe also highlighted the same issues. But we have to raise our voice too loud so that the government is revealed about the issues and problems. The struggle to be continued still the rights are obtained. Miss Samta Singh MSW student from Jiwaji University said that until unless we unite for a common cause the result will not be positive. She also explained that the leaders are coming out from you only and you have to select the leaders carefully so that they will work for the community. She also said that being women is a weakness we have to aware about our strength and never be oppressed.
At the end Mr. Amit Srivastava gave the vote of thanks to Nafre and bid farewell to Jan Haq Yatra so that it can also organize the struggles of rights of the people in Rewa and Satna Districts.
REWA
Around 6.00 PM the Yatra team moved towards Rewa and reached Panna at 1.00 AM. Night stay was arranged in Panna and again in early morning the Yatra moved for Java Block of Rewa District.
The Yatra team reached Java at 11.30 AM on 11th Feb traveling 80 kms from the district headquarters. There was a gathering of around 900 people at the Block Office ground from different villages of Java, Tyonther and Dabhoura blocks. The representatives from CBOs Birsa Munda Bhumi Adhikar Manch, Samaj Chetna Adhikar Manch and Bhumihin Krishak Adhikar Manch welcomed the Yatra and the meeting was started.
Sasmita Jena stated the objectives of the Yatra and its details to the people and invited the community to share their issues and concerns. Many villagers came forward and put forward their views on different issues and problems they are facing. Some of them are listed below
Land and forest: For centuries Tribals in this area are residing here. History proves that tribes ruled this region. Gradually with the advent of Mughal and British the tribal were thrown out from the power by the upper caste people like Brahmins and Thakurs. They were forced to live into the deep forest. Slowly due to the depleting forest resources and ban & atrocities by forest department tribal people wanted to settle themselves. For this government has also extended its support by distributing land to such families. But skewed distribution of land, increasing landlessness and rampant land alienation are the hallmarks of the land distribution system this region. Leave aside the cases of landlessness, land alienation and skewed distribution of land, there are numerous cases of entitlement without possession, possession without entitlement, forced dispossession from the land despite having legal documents, etc. There are innumerable instances where land had been demarcated but the beneficiaries were not allowed to cultivate due to physical harassment. There are also instances in which even after possessing a legal document the demarcation has not been done by the patwaries. And there are instances when the beneficiaries cultivate a piece of land after toiling day and night, and the production of that land is snatched away by the powerful landholders. Not only this, the poor beneficiaries are debarred from getting possession of the land, for which they have been given the land document, owing either to the snail paced process of judiciary, or by flexing muscle or sometimes with the manipulative support of the village Patwari and so on.
This is majorly due to apathy of the local administration and nexus between ruling class and administration. The fear of the upper caste people is so high that nobody dares to utter a word against them. The true picture of feudalism can be seen in this area where village resources are controlled by one or two families in the villages be it natural resources like land, water or social assets like schools, health centers, panchayats etc. Tribals have been cultivating their own land as laborers as their land has been snatched by the landlords. The wage rate is based on the whims of the landlord and protesters are severely punished.
Due to this problem the life of tribal and dalit children are in grave condition. Concerted efforts are made by the local landlords so that these children do not go to schools. The hand to mouth situation of these families compelled for enforcing their child also into labor. Non ownership of any kind of resources is hampering the child to lead a dignified life right from their birth. The tribal or dalit families in the villages here do not have ownership over the land in which they are residing. Threat for eviction from their houses always loomed before them. This leads to restricted movement of children in their surroundings and thus they can’t move freely and fear of these landlords affects the proper mental health of the children. They are subjected to abuse by the landlords. Most of the families migrate for 4-6 months in search of better livelihood and dignity along with their children. This has a very negative impact in the health and education of children.
Water: This region faces acute water scarcity due to its geo-cultural location. Most of the villages do not have drinking water facilities, the hand pumps and taps of waters are established only in the neighborhood of the influential class houses. Therefore such facilities are inaccessible for tribes and dalits here and they have to depend on contaminated water obtainable from ponds or chonhras.
Education: In this region, elite group or feudal forces have created terror into the mind of many poorer sections who fear to send their children to schools to study with the children of privileged group. In certain cases even the teachers are threatened by the village chiefs that they should not enroll the children of downtrodden in schools. It was observed that there are many villages in the concerned districts where people of backward classes are not allowed to take water from the local public wells. If such is the terror of feudal forces in the villages, how can these backward classes think of sending their children to schools to learn with the children of privileged groups? Indifferent attitude of teachers towards their profession is also the cause for drop out of children. If teachers are not dutiful and treat children like animals, so that they are not able to learn even alphabets after 2-3 years of schooling, how can parents allow the children to continue in schools?
NREGA: A large number of tribal and dalit families from this region migrate every year during March - April to the neighboring states especially Shankargarh in UP. The trend of migration is on rise and now the families are migrating along with children and even cattle. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was flagged off in February 2006 with the basic purpose to check migration and provide employment at the doorsteps. But the District Administration couldn't have effective measures to check the migration. Job cards were not being distributed timely. In most of the places jobs cards were lying with the Secretary for the past few months. Photographs were not pasted on the job cards which were being put forward as an excuse for non-issuance of job cards. It was also observed that people were not aware of the utility of the job cards. It was also found that touts asking for Rs. 200 in lieu of helping in getting the job card made. There was gross discontent among villagers about low wages, especially in areas of hard soil strata. Payment was done on the basis of the work done, however it seems there is no difference in the rates for normal soil and hard strata. Thus people did not get the complete wage for the work done. Delays in wage payment was common at worksites, attribute this to non-release of funds from the office. In some places, gender discriminatory in wage payment was also observed. The impact of migration has far reaching effects on socio-economic life.
After the deliberations of the Members of CBOs and community Nasreen gave a speech on Nafre Jan Andolan and about the Yatra. After this a rally was taken out in the block demanding for people’s rights. Slogans were shouted and finally the rally reached again into the Java block office premise where memorandum was submitted to the Tehsildar. Before that the memorandum was read out by the activists highlighting the local issues and a warning was given to administration that if these rightful demands are not sorted out soon then they will opt for aggressive protests. The tehsildar assured the people that he will do whatever he can within his reach.
After this the people dispersed and the Yatra team came back to Rewa where the night stay was arranged.
SATNA
On 12th Morning the Yatra Team reached Majhgawan block of Satna district which is around 110 kms from Rewa. More than 1200 people from Adivasi Adhkar Manch (AAM) and Majdoor avam Adivasi Adhikar Gathbandhan (MAAG) have welcomed the yatra by shouting slogans like Jo Jameen Sarkari Hai wo Jameen Hamari Hai…. Nafre Jan Andolan Sagharsh Karo Hum Tumhare Sath Hain….
The meeting was organized at Block Office premise and started at 12 PM. Rajiv Roy informed the community about the Yatra and its experiences in MP. After this the Manch was handed over to the community for their sharing. Here also similar issues were emerged as mentioned above in Java Meeting. However, another important issue emerged in this meeting which was government notification for Reserve Forest which was fiercely protested by the CBOs here. In this region about 70 villages covering 50 Sq Km area of Rewa and Satna District have been declared under the reserve forest area. This unwarranted action of the government without any prior notice is a new threat for the villagers. They will now not only be displaced but also their major source of livelihood from forest is in danger. In this meeting all the villagers openly challenged the government and said that they will not give an inch of their land (Jan Denge par Jameen Nahi denge) and take a resolution to fight against this notification.
After the meeting the Yatra team came to Satna where a press conference was organized. Here about 10 correspondents enquired about the Yatra and ideology of Nafre Jan Andolan about various issues including displacement and education. Nasreen from Nafre, Prateek and Praveen from Local CBOs and members of APR, Delhi answered their questions.
Night stay was done again in Rewa from where next day on 13th Feb Yatra team proceeded for Shankargarh in UP. At Nari wari near Shankar Garh Govind from VOP welcomed the Yatra and a small meeting was organized here. After the speeches and slogans the yatra again moved towards Shankargarh where VOP Mahasachiv Mr. R. B. Pal greeted the Yatra members from MP and formally taken over the responsibility of Yatra in Uttar Pradesh.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Jan Haq Yatra in Madhya Pradesh - Through The Eyes of Media


NPM Jan Haq yatra Reached Satna District of MP and Uproar of People

Media Response to Jan haq Yatra before its arrival in Baghelkhand region of MP



JAN HAKK YATRA in Jharkhand

NAFRE JAN HAKK YATRA reached to the Giridih district of Jharkhand state and the leaders of the Yatra is organising the gathering

Route map of yatra in Orissa