Ekta Parishad March to Victory

Simon Morrow, one of four AVI supporters, spent the whole of February with Ekta Parishad on its land rights padyatra (foot march) through the Eastern state of Orissa.

Ekta Parishad is a grass-roots organisation that campaigns for the rights of landless people in several states throughout India. It employs Gandhian methods of non-violent civil disobedience to press for land reform.

In early 2004, Ekta Parishad launched a month-long padyatra (foot-march) through the state of Orissa. The aim of the march was to raise awareness of the problem of landlessness and to pressure the state government into distributing land to the landless. Although the Indian constitution theoretically guarantees sufficient land to enable everyone to be self-sufficient, the reality is different.

Poor people, particularly dalits (untouchables) and tribals (adivasis), are particularly vulnerable. Despite forming nearly 40% of the population of Orissa, dalits and adivasis are politically marginalised, only appearing on the government's agenda at election time. Many have no land and live at starvation level. Others face the constant threat of eviction from the land they are occupying, either with or without land title. They face pressure at every level, from government bureaucracy that does not recognise their land rights and government policies that causes them to be evicted or persecuted in order to make way for multinational corporations or wildlife sanctuaries and forest reserves. At a local level, villagers face threats of violence and bribery from local mafias and corrupt officials.

The padyatra visited over 100 villages throughout seven districts of Orissa. At each village a public hearing was held, where the villagers were given the opportunity to air their grievances and hand over petitions for Ekta Parishad to present to the government. Many villagers walked distances of up to 30km to attend these hearings. The hearings highlighted the sense of insecurity felt by many villagers. Without land the poor are marginalised. Land title (patta) gives them access to welfare and education. It means that they are not forced into looking for migratory work and they don't have to pay bribes to officials in order to stay on their land. Many are so restricted in what they can do, that they can be arrested for cutting down small amounts of fire wood from government forestry land, and in certain areas need permission from government officials to travel through the very forest that they have lived in for generations.

In Lanjigarh district, tribals told of how they were being evicted to make way for a multinational mining operation. Tensions were running so high that the public hearing had to be cancelled because of intimidation from locally-hired thugs. During the course of the padyatra, national elections were declared. This, coupled with a general lack of response from the state government of Orissa, led to a change of tactics on Ekta Parishad's part. An ultimatum was issued to the state government, stating that if they did not agree to adopt Ekta's ten point plan for land reform within ten days, then 5,000 people would close down the national highway for 3 days and march on the state capital, Bhubaneshwar.

Ten days passed without a response from the government, so the march commenced. No doubt influenced by the effect of the march and the new Ekta Parishad slogan, "Give us land, then we will vote", the chief minister of Orissa, Navain Patnaik eventually met with Ekta Parishad. He agreed in full to the ten point plan, the corner-stone of which was the setting up of a joint task force which will oversee land reform and distribution. This decision was publicly confirmed by Patnaik as he addressed the final rally of 3,000 people in Bhubaneshwar.

Now that the national election results have been declared, Patnaik has been re-elected. The question now remains as to whether Ekta Parishad can maintain the pressure on him to make sure that his election promises are kept and that the task force is effectively implemented. Since Simon wrote this piece, Ekta Parishad says that in a few Districts the local government has set up task forces and in Kalahandi, over 1300 people have been given secure title to the land they live on and cultivate.

Since Simon wrote this piece, Ekta Parishad says that in a few Districts the local government has set up task forces and in Kalahandi, over 1300 people have been given secure title to the land they live on and cultivate.