URGENT ACTIONS

India: 15,000 peasants face eviction from their lands in Singur, Hooghly District, West Bengal

CASES

More than 15,000 peasants in Singur are facing eviction from their lands and livelihood resources as the Government of West Bengal has taken their land for the building of "Tata Motors", a car manufacturing unit of the Indian multinational Tata Corpora-tion.
Already 997 acres of land are enclosed by fences. Violence in the area has continually escalated, including brutal attacks on members of Singur including beatings, arrests, and the destruction of their houses. 72% of the people of West Bengal live in rural areas with the majority depending on agricultural activities to survive. The state of West Bengal has not found other non-agricultural land for the car manufacturing plant nor has it offered any adequate compensation or sustainable rehabilitation package for those affected by the plant. Loss of land and earning opportunities from the land has lead to hunger, mal-nutrition, and starvation.

Background

Tata, which has been voted the 3rd most transparent and accountable corporation in the world by the One World Trust in December 2007 has recently launched its new “people’s car” Nano,” which is to be manufactured at the Singur factory and expected to be rolled out in the market by October 2008. The Italian company FIAT International is collaborating in this project. Caparo, a UK auto parts maker had announced to build three plants within the Singur premises. To make way for Tata’s car manufacturing plant, the government of West Bengal had ordered the peasants of Singur to immediately stop their agricultural activities on their land and accept the State’s decision to acquire close to 1000 acres of their fertile agricultural lands. Yet there have been no efforts made by the state to find other non-agricultural land instead and to protect the peasants’ access to land and their livelihoods. As a result of this abrupt land acquisition, around 1500 small holders were evicted on December 2nd, 2006. Altogether around 15,000 peasants, agricultural labourers, unregistered sharecroppers, cottage industry workers, and local small business people who depend on the agricultural land were directly and indirectly affected. By losing access to fertile land, these farmers and village workers are threatened with hunger, malnutrition, and starvation.
Moreover, several farmers of Singur who lost their lands due to land acquisition and failed to find any alternative livelihoods have committed suicide. During the last months, four cases of farmers’ suicides have been reported: Shankar Patra, a non registered sharecropper, suffered from acute depression and committed suicide following land acquisition. Prasanta Das was suffering from depression due to forcible acquisition and hanged himself from the ceiling. His one-acre land had been fenced off for the small car plant, he refused money as compensation for his agricultural land. Haradhan Das committed suicide by consuming pesticide. Having been a strong supporter of 'Krishi Jami Raksha' (save farmland) committee, Haradhan had also undertaken hunger strike to protest the acquisition of agricultural land for setting up industries. The body of Srikanta Shee was found hanging from a tree near his hut. He had been out of work for a month because the farmland where he worked has been acquired by the government for the project. Farmers, who have organized themselves in different groups against the expropriation, are facing severe repression by the state government. Besides a huge number of people who were injured on 2nd December 2006 in police baton charges and teargas shell firing, there have been seven deaths so far in Singur, including the gang rape and murder of Tapasi Malik, the death due to police atrocities of young Raj Kumar Bhul, the starvation death of Bimala Khamaru and four suicides. Women are sexually harassed and several activists and journalists have been arrested by the police.
Emergency Act 144, which prohibits meetings and retains outsiders from entering Singur, had been imposed on the region in September 2006 and continued for several months. Over the past year, the people of Singur have struggled a lot to demand their right to land and livelihood security. However, adequate compensation has not been provided to them by the government and many villagers have not accepted their compensation.
The group litigation, which had been filed at the West Bengal High Court, has been dismissed by the court along with all the relating cases, claiming that those who have filed them have nothing to do with Singur, although the government acquired land in Singur in the name of public purpose and many of the petitioners were victims from Singur.  The case is now with the Supreme Court of India.
FIAN has intervened in this case with UA 0622 of 21-12-06 and UA 0615 of 27-07-06

FIAN Mandate
As a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, India and therefore the state of West Bengal are duty bound under international law to respect and protect the peasants’ right to adequate food. By acquiring their lands without taking effective steps to ensure the peasants’ right to feed themselves in a sustained manner, India and the state of West Bengal would violate the people’s human right to food and to feed themselves.

Call to Action
An international action is urgently needed to protect the right to feed themselves of the peasants and to stop the ongoing violent oppression. Please write letters to the Chief Minister of West Bengal with copies to the President and Prime Minister of India and to the Tata or FIAT Company. The authorities should immediately refrain from the forced evictions, stop brutality, and violence and respect the right to food of the Singur people.

0805UIND

Honorable Ministro Principal:

He sido informado de las alarmantes noticias sobre los 15.000 campesinos que fueron obligados a abandonar sus tierras y que fueron privados de sus fuentes de sustento en Singur, Hooghly, debido a la adquisición por parte de su gobierno de las tierras agrícolas de estas personas para la construcción de la planta de Tata Motors, una unidad de producción de la compañía multinacional Tata. Me han informado de que se han instalado vallas alrededor de 997 acres de tierra con la ayuda de la policía armada y de que ya ha comenzado la expulsión de los campesinos. Los actos brutales de la policía contra los campesinos de Singur está escalando, y provocando la destrucción de los hogares de los aldeanos, que están además siendo víctimas de palizas. También he sido informado de que la Ley de Emergencia 144 fue impuesta en Singur. Esta ley prohibe las reuniones y la entrada libre a la región de Singur.

La tierra escogida es tan fértil que los campesinos pueden hacer tres cosechas al año. A pesar de ello, la compañía Tata está ocupando esta tierra para su planta. No se escogieron tierras no agrícolas ni se ofreció compensación apropiada a las personas afectadas. Debido a la adquisición de las tierras, el sustento de miles de trabajadores agrícolas, aparceros y otros que dependen de la tierra está en peligro. Perderán su acceso a los recursos productivos y estarán expuestos a la malnutrición y a la inanición.

Como Estado Parte del Pacto Internacional de Derechos, Económicos, Sociales y Culturales, India y, con ello, el Estado de Bengala Occidental, tiene la obligación de derecho internacional de respetar y proteger el derecho de los campesinos a una alimentación adecuada. Como defensor a nivel internacional del derecho humano a alimentarse, me gustaría solicitarle que:

1.        Retire las vallas y permita a los campesinos afectados reanudar su trabajo

2.        Detenga inmediatamente la construcción de la planta de fabricación de Singur y espere al veredicto del Tribunal Supremo

3.       Garantice el derecho a la alimentación de las personas durante el periodo intermedio y garantice su acceso a los recursos productivos en el futuro

4.       Asegure que las autoridades policiales y otras partes implicadas en los violentos ataques sobre los aldeanos sean debidamente penadas.

Le recomiendo encarecidamente que tome pasos inmediatamente para encontrar nueva tierra agrícola para la construcción de la planta de fabricación automovilística.

Por favor, manténgame informado de los pasos que prevé dar a este respecto.

Un cordial saludo,

View the Urgent Action in a print format