Building India at the cost of Bharat

The conflict is poignant, the exploitation is downright. India has started rampaging Bharat in a more unrelenting manner ever than before. From Niyamgiri to Dhinkia and from Jaitapur to Bhatta-Paursal, the war of land acquisition has finally turned ugliest. Farmers and landholders brutalized, state went berserk on agitators, many fled away from their ancestral homes, and many were killed in the tug of war between India and Bharat. How long will this desperate war continue? And for what reason? Why is that every time the people of Bharat are stripped off their marginalized property to help build a modern India? Why is that they turn victims in every episode of development that they never relish its fruits? Why is that the modern India becomes so callous in exploiting the resources of Bharat? Perhaps, nobody has a rational answer to all these queries, but the fact remains that every time India makes a visible progress, the farmers, the tribal people, and the poor people living in JJ colonies become the inevitable sacrificial lambs. Because these people are helpless, gullible, and maybe have no access to power.

Let's look at how Posco with support from the state administration of Orissa tries to destroy the livelihood of thousands of betel farmers by offering them a miniscule compensation. Calculate this: a normal betel farmer earns somewhere between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 20,000 a month from an acre of land whereas the onetime compensation for the land hovers around Rs. 250,000. Is this justified? Now the moot question is if the same farmer who can earn the compensation amount within a year or two from a perennial crop, why would he settle for such a lower amount? Moreover, given spiraling inflation, the same farmer can achieve even higher returns from the crop in future. Isn't this a clear exploitation of gullible farmers? Is there any future dividend even Posco will skyrocket its profit margin once production gets started? No. Everybody from state administration to company board will forget the fact that the plant which is built on thousand acres of land was once an economical, social, and emotional storehouse of thousands of farmers. And if this huge economic progress has been possible couldn't have been materialized without the utter sacrifice of these farmers or local people. No one does care how a piece of Bharat metamorphoses into an enlightened India in such a short span and some elites of that modern India will take credit for what they never had sacrificed even few moments of their life.

How long this exploitation will continue? When will the growing hiatus between Bharat and India be put on a reverse gear? Here we are forgetting a glaring fact that so long as we continue exploiting Bharat, we are pushing India to a stage of unsustainable development where progress would be there, but without sustained prosperity.

An open letter to Rahul Gandhi

Dear Rahul,

When India is poised to switch over to the next orbit in socio-economic revolution, a plain vanilla political opportunism in farmers' agitation at Bhatta Parsaul can't qualify you to become the prime minister of this country. For that you should think beyond the contemporary political think-tank. Your solidarity with the victims of Bhatta Parsaul and empathy for the poor farmer families who lost their members in a protest against state apathy may temporarily yield some brownie points for you in politics, but in long run these political activism will never transform you to a world-class leader that billion plus Indians are eagerly waiting for.

Previously, you also visited Niyamagiri in Odisha to solace the poor tribals and also promised them to fight for their cause. I am not sure whether justice has been delivered to them. And there are numerous incidents when you have shown your genuine interest to reach out to masses and listen to their grievances, that way you have unquestionably proved yourself a leader of the masses, but will that suffice to catapult you to the top job of this country? You are not just another Indian political leader who at best can only aspire for a cabinet berth at the centre in his life time, you are different from the herd. You represent the collective aspirations of millions of youth who dream an India the next superpower in global economy, an India where the fruits of democracy are not restricted to few millions but every citizen of this country gets empowered to lead a life with dignity, an India where a flawed tradition, however deep routed, can't overpower the fundamental rights of any citizen, an India where justice will never be denied.

India is struggling with diverse socio-economic issues. Even after 64 years of independence, millions of people are dying of hunger, millions of children are exploited as child labourers, thousands of farmers are taking suicidal route to escape from the state apathy, and on the contrary, the ruling class is basking under the glory of India shinning, an irony that always narrates the sordid state of our development, a development which is partisan, non-inclusive, and unsustainable. For last 64 years we have been tinkering with the symptomatic treatment of a malaise, which could have an otherwise sure-shot preventive therapy. We wait for a problem to happen and then act partially to suppress it, rather than eradicate it from the root. How long India can afford to bleed on these pernicious ideologies?

Rahul, it's time now for you to take a stand beyond myriads of political limitations. India can't be ruled within the ambit of party ideologies. As a youth leader, you must ensure that the most bright and deserving young leaders join you to embark on a mission to transform India from an emerging economy to a world superpower in every dimension. And a last thought, you shouldn't be “ashamed of to be an Indian” by noticing one grave incidence of state apathy, rather you must ensure that every citizen with self conviction can say “I am proud to be an Indian” and for that you must act now to deliver justice to the victims of state atrocities.

Sincerely,

An honest Indian

The ugly face of land grabbing

The war of land acquisition for industrialization among poor farmers and state agencies or corporate houses simmers everywhere, from hinterland to heartland of cities. From Dhinkia (Odisha) to Singur (West Bengal) to Greater Noida (UP), the woes of farmers have never been addressed, rather state authorities have flaunted their might through engaging law enforcement agencies to suppress peaceful protests. In most cases, the protesters face the brutality of state power as a result many innocent farmers meet their tragic end, but the ugly war of land grabbing fashionably turns into maximum political opportunism. The opposition political leaders of all shades show their pretentious support to the victims just to grab the media attention and when the same parties come to power behave equally unabashedly in the same manner. When will the political hypocrisy take the least importance while mediating for the issues universal in nature? When will the states and the centre stop becoming the agents of corporate houses? When will the true spirit of sustainable development take off in this country? When will the poor farmers across India get justice for their constitutional rights? When will the nexus between government agencies and corporate houses be legally renounced? There are many unanswered questions though pop in the minds of people, the government shows its usual reluctance to address them.

Irrespective of India's economic growth in the post liberalization era, the hiatus between poor and rich has conspicuously grown further. In the name of SEZs, IT parks, real estate projects, and heavy industries, the state governments and corporate houses in tandem prefer farm lands to be acquired first essentially for two reasons: first, it's bit easier to dupe poor farmers, and second, the corporate houses find it quite easy to immediately start their projects, as they don't have to invest a lot on land filling and building connecting roads from the highways and expressways to the project location. Thus, the corporate houses give kickbacks to government agencies to act on their behalf. So what happens then is an unending saga of exploitation by state agencies. The state authorities purchase lands at a rate eligible for farm land and in turn sell it to corporate houses with lower to medium margins, but again the selling price falls far below the rate of industrial land. Eventually, the corporate houses receive all the benefits out of this illegal transactions.

Now the moot question is how long the state agencies will exploit the poor people? The manner in which farm lands are getting their ways into the land bank of corporate houses, few decades down the line India will face serious shortage of farm produces and the ever growing inflation in food grain and vegetable prices will touch the sky. The time is not too far from today when we will carry bag full of cash to buy half a basket vegetables. This is the time for serious introspection. We need a stringent bill on land acquisition for industrial purpose. India can't afford to loose any amount of farm lands for lopsided industrial development given the rising population. Development which is not sustainable is worse than underdevelopment. Is anybody listening?