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The
Bihar padyatra will highlight a key human rights issue –
the issue of land and the need for land reform. Ekta Parishad
(United Forum), a people’s organization, and the convener
of the march, is demanding that the Indian government redirect
its attention back to the land issue. The violence that has
been witnessed in Bihar for the last two decades is a result
of the state and central government not giving due attention
to the plight of the landless and the marginal farmers in this
state. Any land reform will be central in changing the lives
of the dalits, who unfortunately make up a large section of
the landless population. (Dalit is a generic term that refers
to the former "untouchables" in the Hindu caste system,
who are still routinely discriminated against. The term means
oppressed or downtrodden and is a symbol of assertive pride
and resistance to the linked oppressions of caste and class.)
An important dalit group in Bihar is the Musahar, meaning, "rat
eaters," - a low caste group that has suffered so acutely
from food scarcity that they are known to eat mice and rats.
Most land rights, involving land ceiling, and rights to the
tiller, have been guaranteed in Indian laws and in the Indian
constitution. Yet they are routinely abused in Bihar. For example,
millions of small farmers are denied pattas or land titles to
land which they and their families have been tilling for centuries.
In the absence of a legal title, they are harassed by village
landlords, have low status and live in abysmal poverty. Many
are forced to migrate, taking up jobs as agricultural labour
where possible. Others migrate to cities to work on construction
sites, industry and in other hazardous occupations. Women, who
are often left behind in the villages, continue to endure a
life of hardship as agricultural labourers with very low incomes,
always vulnerable to the designs of landlords and government
officials.
The mass mobilization for land rights: Collective strategic
action and a common front, called "bhu adikar abiyan,"
or land rights campaign, is one means to deal with the situation.
The Bihar padyatra is an important part of this advocacy strategy.
With villagers, district level officials, politicians, NGOs,
the padyatrees (marchers) will expose the land which is illegally
held, and which the government can redistribute. By identifying
revenue land or other common property resources, some of the
landless communities can lay claim to some land for cultivation.
The most important feature of the Bihar Padyatra is that it
hopes to mobilize and give voice to some of the most marginalized
in Bihar, including poor women.
Land rights for women: The campaign is also an opportunity
to question the image that Bihar is a "lost state".
Over the years the state has acquired the image of being lawless
and "backward." There is nothing worse than self-fulfilling
prophecies, often perpetuated by mainstream media. Bihar has
many positive features such as the number of self-help groups
working at the village level, the number of women that recently
got elected to the panchayats (local government at the village
level) and so on. One of the most interesting aspects is the
number of women who are collectively cultivating land in various
villages, assuming responsibility in land development because
they have entitlement. Ekta Parishad has set up a women’s
group that works directly to campaign for women holding independent
land title, and promoting more cooperative arrangements among
women on common lands.
A land campaign like this could therefore make a significant
contribution by putting land reform back on the political agenda.
Such gains were made in 1999-2000 when a six-month padyatra
focusing on land rights was undertaken in the central Indian
state of Madhya Pradesh (MP). During that padyatra, the Chief
Minister of MP sent a negotiator to work with the leaders of
the padyatra. This resulted in a Land Commission at the state
level, which then set up local Land Commissions in approximately
40 districts all through the state to help with redistribution
of land. Apart from longer-term policy reform and implementation,
the Bihar padaytra can provide some immediate relief to some
landless people and marginal farmers by making land available
to them. Please go to the homepage
in India for more articles on agriculture in Bihar, the
history of land reform in India, etc.
Subscribe by sending a message to indialink@sapcanada.org
for updates of the Bihar padyatra and backgrounders on some
of the issues.
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