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LAND, WATER,
BASIC LIFE SUPPORTING FACILITIES
and
HUMAN RIGHTS
By:
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It had been wisely said that
Man is Born Free, but is in Chains Everywhere!
And, because of that
the World
had opted for Democracy!
That
Democracy
is the Govt of the People, by the People and for the People.
But here in this Country, the Realities are different. Here, The Govts are OFF
the People, to BUY the People, and is FAR from the People.
Why is this so?
Because, here the People are not in Power.
The People here
are far away from Power, Govts and State!
All those
who hold the Reigns of Power here, are sadly the Exploiters and Oppressors of
the People! They are really not People! They are actually cutthroat criminals,
untrustworthy elements out to cheat simple trusting and hopeful People,
especially the poor minorities and weaker sections. That explains why the Govts
go to great lengths to create infrastructures to suit Business, Trade,
Industries, BPOs etc. Govts in fact are
gifting, out to acquire procure and transfer huge tracts of land at throw away
prices, just for the benefit and use of private operators, to make easy
comfortable profits conveniently!
Invariably they are rich fertile well irrigated cultivable and Farm
Lands. The huge complex networks of
Irrigation Canals have mostly died; become stinking cesspools of stagnating
sewage. They are proving to be both
health and security hazards. Nithari Killings in NOIDA, bordering
The Question that must come to our
Mind is that, why many of our International Award Winning, Investigative and
Human Rights Journalists had not recognised these Facts or Dangers over which
so much of Anger, Agony, Sufferings, Protests, Marches, Violence, Human Pain,
Pages of Print Media, Hours of Electronic Media poured over this Issue
suddenly, but only after Bengal Burned.
That too we are sure will be forgotten very shortly, and the land acquisition,
land grab and land swap will take place in future
silently discreetly and in some other form.
Then every conspirator and every one else will keep discreet silent, and
keep quiet!
In this
Country, none had bothered till date, when Thousands of fertile irrigated Acres
of Agricultural Lands were taken away for New Housing, Settlements, Townships,
Industries, Cinema Theatres, Malls; and were diverted from cereal, pulse,
oilseeds and other food products and were used for raising cash crops like
Sugar Cane, Banana, Casuarinas, Eucalyptus, teak and other Products?
Why State
is Giving Free Power to such cultivators and farmers insensitive to the needs
of society, people, and hungry mouths?
How big business land-lords are being allowed 24x7 hours 52 weeks all
through the 365 Days to Pump out the highly valuable irreplaceable Ground Water
accumulated over the Millenniums? Whose
Water is that? Whose Resource is that?
Law says
that anything below the Ground is that of the State. In a Democracy where People are
Sovereign, that is the Property of the People, Past Present and also of the
Future Generations to come. How then
can a few take that out, virtually waste it, and swallow everything for their
personal private benefit? To grow more rich, still more powerful and further more exploitative?
Why no
one, no Organisation, no Human Rights Organisation, either individually or
collectively, are not taking up this Issue of Water and Wise Optimum
Utilisation of Water, when Water is going to be the Future big Business in this
Country, and all over the World?
There may be much more bigger and larger Carpet Bombings to get Water, than
that the World had seen to Capture Oil!
Are we Waiting for some American or European,
or some Latin American Nation or NGO to take up the Initiative? Will we move and stir out of our cocoons only
then? Or will we branding those who
speak out exhort and protests as Naxals or Radicals
or PWGs or as Terrorists, or come out with some new
phrases and terms?
We must
Recognise the basic fact that
All beings living or dead are made
of Carbon Nitrogen, Hydrogen and Oxygen.
Various Permutations and Combinations of C, N, H and O are the basic
signature of most life forms on the earth!
Almost all living beings breathe O2, and invariably every being need H2O.
In spite of the above, most
valuable of all, Water is being allowed by us, the society, authorities, administration, Govts, States and
the Nation to be polluted beyond redemption.
Already most of our Rivers are Dry or are Dead
as stinking sewages bereft of any useful life.
And there are no Forests to Attract Encourage and Precipitate
Rains. And whatever falls down are
allowed to runoff, without any storage anywhere, as we have either carelessly
or systematically destroyed lakes ponds and open wells.
The most
important cause of Pollution of our Water Bodies are the Chemical Industries,
Scent and Soap Factories, Liquor Distilleries, Soft Drink Companies, Water
Purification and Bottling Plants, set up for the Comfort and Needs of the
Tables of the Rich, Officials and Politicians.
Each litre of these renders tonnes of Air, natural Water waste, and acres of Land as polluted and useless.
Very few, including the rich,
ruling elite, business classes, and even the industrialists realise that they
can not live or exist without Air Water and Land, the Triple Basic
Elements. They are the Life Giving Life
Generating and Life Sustaining Basic Elements.
They are the Natural Resources and Basic Essential Elements of all Life
Forms on the Earth. And they are finite,
and hence not either renewable or elastic to be stretched as we like or want,
or to be increased to meet our needs, or adjust to our foolishness and
stupidity. Why then are we allowing them
to be destroyed? Are we foolish to cut
the branches in which we are sitting?
In this
Country over the Ages Fire, Water, Land, Air and Body have been recognised as
the Five Elements of Human World. And being the
most unjust unfair cruel and inhuman Country that we are, they have all along
been very systematically used to oppress break and destroy the People!
Traditionally
and historically Fire had been used to Kill, Destroy, Chase-out, Eliminate,
Burn Alive or Sacrifice.
In a most
in-human manner Water, especially good potable Water had been denied to many
millions of People.
Significant
Sections of People in different parts of the Country,
had been Systematically denied the Right to own, hold-on, cultivate and reap
their Lands!
Even today, one can see massive isolated Green Patches like oasis amidst dry barren
cracked up vast spaces of Land! How does
this Happen, and why? Because the Ruling Classes and Kulaks openly
allow their own rich people to hold on to massive tracts of land, with
plentiful of water, through irrigation facilities, uninterrupted free power to
pump water. Thus they have monopoly on
Land Water Power and Wealth! When they
choose, they sell everything for huge profits to Land Mafia and Big Business.
Real
Rural India stays steeped in and weeps without Land, Water, Power, Money, Cash
etc to Survive in Caste Cash Class dominated oppressive Villages. Who will Speak for
them? Who can take up their Case? Not Parties Politicians Govts
Administrations that I can think of, and in fact Nobody!
No
Teacher, No Academician, No Scholar, No Researcher, No Intellectual, No Poet,
No Writer, No Media, No Jurist, No Court is going to Recognise the Sad Rural
Situation Farmers Suicide or Protests or Appeals.
We can directly and proudly invest millions and millions of Rupees or
Dollars, Marks, Pounds, Yen etc to create power road rail and other industrial
infrastructures. But
nothing to tackle the Penury Poverty and Misery of the Rural Poor and the Weak. And when we talk about these, great Scholar
Economists Administrators and Academicians raise up to talk about the Virtues
of Self-Help, Hard-Work, Enterprise etc, and about the Desirability of
Percolation Theories. Hence
the Necessities of big scales and volumes of Economic Sizes that again benefit
mostly or only the Rich Powerful and Influential.
We can go to Cambridge California
Harvard Manchester Oxford to speak our Capabilities and successes. But we have neither an
heart nor a word, and we dont have any guts to recognise poverty hunger
sickness misery and end results of malnutrition and death. Yet no
one has the Wisdom to Ask
When
Power is given free, why should that be to Individual Farmers or the Rich?
Why
should the Responsibility to Pump Water in Private Hands?
How can
the Rich be allowed to Consume Totally, make
Exclusive, and Take Benefit of Water, and also the Land?
How can We as a Nation, Allow the Rich to Divert Water and Land to
Cash Crops?
Who will
Produce Rice Wheat other cereals, Pulses, Oil Seeds, Fodder and Fibre,
including that Required for Food by the Rich?
How can a
Republican Govt in a Democracy, that too in the 21st Century allow
the Rich Big Powerful Farmers to grow more Rich, Bigger and further Big?
How can
any Civilised Society, see, keep quiet, and tolerate the big feudals swallowing all small helpless Weaker Sections in
the Third Millennium?
Any Answers? I want one and all here and outside to Think,
and come up with your own individual Plan of Actions for Justice Peace, and
Human Rights of the People, for the overall Good of the Country!
__________________________________________________________________________
This Paper, was presented in the Human Rights Training Programme,
organised by DIET the District Institute for Education and Training,
Bangalore, Govt of Karnataka, at Sagar, near Shimoga, as part of the National Programme for Human Rights
Education in Schools, on 18th March 2007, at Hotel Vardasree, Sagar, near Shimoga, Karnataka
*
Mr Prasad, was
the former Private Secretary to Mr Ram Vilas Paswan. He was the then PS/Welfare, to the then
Cabinet Minister for Labour and Welfare in VP Singhs Govt during the Years
1989-90. He was also PS/MR to the
Minister for Railways, Parliamentary Affairs, and Leader of the House in Lok Sabha during the Years
1996-97. And was also the OSD to the
Minister for Health and Family Welfare during the Year 1998
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