Country: India

Agrarian reforms key to climate justice

Posted on by Tom

A new briefing paper, Land for Food and Climate Justice: The Case for Redistributive Agrarian Reforms released today underscores a powerful yet underutilized solution to the intersecting crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity, and inequality: redistributive agrarian reform. Drawing on case studies from Argentina, Mali, and India, the publication presents evidence that placing land and ecosystems under the control of Indigenous Peoples, small-scale food providers, and rural communities is key to achieving climate justice and food systems transformation.

The paper, based on the landmark report Lords of the Land: Transnational Landowners, Inequality and the Case for Redistribution, highlights how global land inequality and resource grabbing—particularly so-called “green grabs” made in the name of environmental protection—are accelerating environmental destruction and undermining human rights.

“Corporate control over land is not only driving environmental collapse but also pushing millions into hunger and marginalization,” said Philip Seufert, policy officer of FIAN International.

“The solution lies in the hands of those who have always safeguarded ecosystems – small-scale food providers and Indigenous Peoples. It’s time to prioritize redistributive tenure policies as a climate strategy.”

Key messages from the briefing include:

  • Land inequality is a major driver of environmental degradation. One percent of farms now control over 70% of farmland globally. This concentration of land is deeply linked to increased carbon emissions, deforestation, and biodiversity loss.
  • “Green grabs” are displacing communities. The paper shows that over 20% of large-scale land deals today are made in the name of environmental objectives. These land grabs, including those earmarked for carbon markets and biodiversity schemes, often displace people who are the most effective stewards of land and ecosystems.
  • Small-scale food providers feed the world. Despite using just 35% of cropland, they produce over half of the world’s food, manage landscapes more sustainably, and support greater biodiversity. Their continued viability depends on control over land and natural resources.

The briefing paper includes three case studies that illustrate how rural communities in Argentina, Mali and India are setting the foundations for sustainable and just food systems, anchored in human rights and social and environmental justice.

The briefing paper calls for a bold rethinking of climate and food policy: agrarian reform and redistributive tenure policies must be recognized not only as social justice tools but as ecological imperatives.

“Small-scale food providers, Indigenous Peoples and rural communities are not just victims of climate change – they are frontline climate actors,” said Philip Seufert.

“If we are serious about just transitions and climate justice, land redistribution must be at the center of global policy efforts.”

Download the full briefing paper here.

For media inquiries or interviews, please contact: sullivan@fian.org

UN report confirms urgent need to respect fisher people’s right to food

Posted on by fredsaxo

Around the world, millions of people depend on the fish caught by almost 500 million fisher peoples for the essential protein in their diet. The full enjoyment of human rights by fisher peoples is a prerequisite for realizing the right to food and nutrition for all.

However, despite international recognition of their human rights, fisher peoples continue to encounter unprecedented levels of marginalization, eviction, and dispossession. Their right to food, nutrition, and other related human rights is abused and violated by the actions and inactions of states.

Revisit blue economy agenda

We welcome the report Fisheries and the Right to Food in the Context of Climate Change from the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food – and in particular his call for states to respect, protect and fulfill fisher people’s customary tenure rights – including full implementation of the FAO Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF) Guidelines and measures to “revisit the blue economy agenda”.

“This report illustrates that fishing should not be considered merely an industry or a commodity, but rather as a way of life for fisher peoples,” says Jones Spartegus, a representative of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples.

In the name of green and blue sustainable development, states are seeking to transform into liberalized global superpower economies at the cost of nature and nature resource-based indigenous peoples.

“In the vast expanse of our shared waters, fish is not merely sustenance – it is our commons, and fishing rights are fundamental human rights. The realization of the right to food becomes hollow if the harvest of the sea is tainted by the subjugation of fisher peoples,” says FIAN International case work and research officer Yifang Slot-Tang.

State-driven exploration and extractive blue economy and blue growth initiatives – along with coastal infrastructural and industrial development projects, conservation efforts, and extractive industries – encroach on fisher commons and further marginalize these communities.

Disregard for fishing communities

For example, in South Africa, the government continues to grant permits for oceanic oil and gas exploration without involving local fisher communities in decision-making.

“Small-scale fishers in South Africa see the continuous expansion of oil and gas applications and coastal mining. Despite active participation in opposition to these developments, fishing communities' voices are often disregarded,” says Jordan Volmink, from the South African small-scale fishers’ community development group Masifundise.

“Conservation efforts often infringe upon the livelihoods of small-scale fishers, who have historically relied on ocean and forest resources. This leads to harassment and violence, impeding their ability to sustain themselves and exercise their customary rights, thus impacting human rights, particularly the right to food and nutrition.”

Marginalization and violence

The conversion of small-scale, artisanal, and subsistence fishing economies into export-oriented seafood industries – fueled by globalized economies – has led to the deterioration of marine and coastal ecosystems. Mechanization, corporate interests, and colossal aquaculture projects result are driving dispossession of coastal lands, loss of marine biodiversity and marginalization of fishing communities.

India, driven by a growing global appetite for shrimp, has become one of the world's top shrimp producers, supported by government policies at the expense of fisher people’s health and livelihoods.

In the name of combating “illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing”, some states use extreme violence against fisher peoples. In Uganda, armed forces have been deployed since 2017 in an attempt to combat illegal fishing leading to overzealous arrests, the destruction of property and fishing gear and boats, and physical assault.

States must recognize the crucial role played by fisher people in feeding our planet and realize their right to food and nutrition by fully implementing the FAO’s SSF Guidelines and revisiting the blue economy agenda.

For more information or media interviews please contact Tom Sullivan sullivan@fian.org

Shrimp farms threaten livelihoods of small-scale fishers

Posted on by fredsaxo

FIAN International is working with fisherfolk representatives in Tamil Nadu to highlight the situation in two small fishing communities, in Chandrapadi and Chinnakottaimedu, who depend on traditional boat fishing.

A new case study Impact of Shrimp Aquaculture on Fisher People’s Right to Food and Nutrition in India: A case study from two fishing hamlets in Tamil Nadu describes how the encroachment of shrimp farms since the early 1990s has led to severe environmental degradation. Mangroves have been cleared and tidal flats dredged for artificial canals, disrupting once thriving ecosystems.

Livelihoods devastated

“This is a prime example of why aquaculture is a false solution to food security. Its expansion has devastated the lives and livelihoods of fisher peoples around the world and particularly in Asia,” says FIAN International Case Work and Research officer Yifang Tang.

“Aquaculture is diverse. Even seemingly small-scale projects can harm the environment and have a huge impact on the right to food and nutrition of local fishing communities.”

The reckless expansion of shrimp farming has been linked to water contamination, degradation of soil fertility, loss of livelihoods, denial of access to fishing grounds, adverse health effects, water shortages and social and cultural disruption.

The Tamil Nadu government has failed to enforce existing laws and protect the communities’ rights.

“We demand that government agencies monitor the closure of the farms based on the Coastal Regulation Zone of 2019 and existing court orders on shrimp industry since 1996,” says Jones T Spartegus from the Tamil Nadu Coastal Action Network, referring to a court ruling this week, the latest in a series ordering the closure of illegal shrimp farms.

“We also urge the Tamil Nadu government to redistribute the coastal common lands to the fisher people’s villages to secure and protect the ecology.”

The human toll of shrimp farming

Contamination of water bodies through the discharge of untreated chemicals has led to a reduction in the size and quality of fish and shellfish, threatening the communities’ main source of food in Chandrapadi and Chinnakotaimedu.

The loss of farmland to shrimp farms has also disrupted local food systems, forcing families to buy – rather than grow – their food, which affects household incomes. The denial of access to fishing grounds and the loss of traditional fishing techniques has caused economic hardship for fishing communities.

The communities have also experienced adverse health effects, including allergies and skin diseases, which they believe are linked to shrimp farm pollution.

The state government's promotion of shrimp farms through financial incentives and its failure to enforce its own regulations underscores the urgent need for action to protect the human rights and livelihoods of these fishing communities.

Download here – Impact of Shrimp Aquaculture on Fisher People’s Right to Food and Nutrition in India: A case study from two fishing hamlets in Tamil Nadu.

For more information or media interviews please contact Clara Roig Medina roig@fian.org or Tom Sullivan sullivan@fian.org

Indian steel giant eco destruction devastates livelihoods

Posted on by fredsaxo

The communities have faced eviction, loss of livelihood, and criminalization since their land was first forcibly allocated to the now abandoned POSCO steel project in 2005. That project sparked strong local resistance against the environmental destruction and illegal seizure of community land on which local people largely depend for their livelihoods.

Their protests forced POSCO to withdraw in 2017 but Odisha’s state government then handed the community’s land to a subsidiary of the Indian steel major Jindal Steel Works (JSW) group, JSW Utkal Steel Ltd. (JUSL) prompting local communities in Dhinkia, Nuagaon, Govindpur and neighboring villages to continue to resist the takeover of their land.

The new planned megaproject includes an integrated steel factory, a seaport, a cement grinding plant, mines and a power plant which can displace up to 40,000 people, according to estimations. The project will have disastrous impacts on their rights to food, water, work, health, adequate housing, as well as a healthy environment.

Rich biodiversity

Most of the people in this area are agricultural workers and fishers whose livelihoods are based on the rich biodiversity and fertility of the area. Many are daily wage laborers from the marginalized Dalit community who already live in precarious economic circumstances.

“The Odisha government must recognize our rights over forest land as per the forest rights act 2006. Without taking our consent, handing over our land to Jindal by the Odisha government is illegal,” said Manas Bardham from Dhinkia.

The destruction of betel vines and mangroves, as well as restrictions placed on fishing, illegal sand mining and forceful and illegal cutting of trees have already destroyed the livelihoods of at least 1,000 families. These families have farmed beetle leaves for generations as their sole source of income.

In addition to the income stream provided by the cultivation of betel or cashews, families in the affected villages also significantly supplement their livelihoods by accessing common resources, including rice, fish and forest products that are gathered locally and used for household consumption. The destruction of forestland and community resources has impacted their ability to secure adequate food. Severe restrictions to local communities’ freedom of movement have reduced their ability to get work, access educational facilities and access crops and markets, forcing them to pay inflated prices for daily necessities.

In October 2022, police and JUSL officials demolished 20 houses in Dhinkia village alleging that the houses were on Jindal land and leaving the families homeless. They have lived on the land for more than 100 years and were given no notice of the evictions nor where they allowed to collect their belongings before the demolitions.

State authorities have pushed through plans to forcefully evict them and strip them of their livelihoods in clear breach of existing laws and court orders, with total disregard for India’s international human rights obligations and without the consent of the affected communities. The Ministry for Environment approved the project despite many irregularities.

 

Eco-destruction

Sand dunes and mangroves, which have been destroyed, had long protected the villages and surrounding areas from the effects of cyclones. This natural eco system acted as barriers against seawater entering villages. Communities are now exposed to tidal surges, powerful storms and cyclones, which are common in the region. Some villagers have also reported a visible rise in temperature, widespread soil erosion and a shortage of firewood.

Deforestation and reports of jungle areas set on fire have also resulted in wildlife entering human habitations, raising risks to domestically farmed animals and the local community. The coastline is home to a rich and diverse variety of animals including one of only three worldwide nesting sites for the endangered Olive Ridley turtle. Trees have been cut down and land cleared for the project with no consideration for environmental damage.

Violent repression and arbitrary arrests

Villagers have peacefully protested against the proposed projects and the destruction of their livelihoods for nearly two decades and have faced severe repression. Police have injured women, who have been at the forefront of the protests, as well as children and the elderly. There are ongoing, nearly weekly arrests of community members, especially leaders and human rights defenders campaigning for justice.

The situation in Jagatsinghpur demonstrates clearly the degree of influence and the grip that powerful companies often have over state institutions. It highlights the urgent need for a binding UN treaty to reiterate the primacy of human rights over investment agreements.

This should include provisions in relation to the state’s obligation to safeguard human rights from the harmful activities of business enterprises, It should also ensure that states do not violate human rights by facilitating projects such as those supported by Indian authorities in Jagatsinghpur.

For more information or media interviews please contact Clara Roig Medina roig@fian.org or Tom Sullivan sullivan@fian.org

Digital agriculture: A new frontier for data rights

Posted on by fredsaxo

One morning in 2019, the inhabitants of Naya Toli, a village in eastern India, woke to find that they had become landless overnight. This time, it was not bulldozers or armed gangs driving them from their land but a state government program to digitize land records. The new digital registry attributed 108 acres in their area to the previous owner, who had sold the land to 19 families in 1973. 

What might appear to be a simple technical glitch reveals a fundamental problem with the rapid deployment of digital technologies: it risks entrenching existing exclusion and increasing inequalities.

Power imbalances embedded in digital technologies

The promise we so often hear about the future of food is that digital technologies will make food systems more productive, sustainable, and efficient, as well as help to address rising world hunger. In reality, the digitalization of agriculture is set to benefit mainly large corporations, while small-scale food producers, Indigenous peoples, and other marginalized groups risk losing out. Smallholder farmers fear that their data will be extracted and used without their consent to create products and services that will then be sold to them for profit—deepening their dependence on external actors while lining the pockets of corporations. After all, there are enormous power imbalances between rural communities and multinational technology conglomerates.

The Indian government began digitizing land records in the 1990s and launched its ambitious Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP) in 2008. By 2019, the state of Jharkhand had digitized more than 99% of its land registry records. However, with only 2.3% of land physically surveyed in the fast-paced process, the land rights and claims of many communities, such as those in Naya Toli, disappeared in the newly digitized registries. When villagers there tried to pay their land taxes, officials refused, claiming that they could not pay taxes for land they did not own, according to DILRMP records. The villagers have since tried, with great difficulty, to correct the information in the registry.

Communities across India relate similar experiences, especially smallholder farmers and Indigenous peoples, who possess traditional claims to common lands or collective forms of land ownership. The new digital registries have proved unable to document the diversity of tenure types, further disenfranchising marginalized groups. Indian communities are not alone: from Brazil to Rwanda and Georgia to Indonesia, people face similar challenges.

The pitfalls of “digital agriculture”

The digitization of land records is one part of a rapid and far-reaching transformation of food systems, sometimes referred to as “digital agriculture.” The Indian government announced in 2021 that newly digitized land records would be included in Agri Stack, a government-backed data exchange that enables the integration of land data with farmer profiles and other non-human sourced agricultural data (weather, soil health, hydrology, etc.). The stated goal is to create a pool of aggregated data to create customized products and services for farmers.

But as in other sectors of the economy, there is a race underway for profitable data and data collecting and processing technologies—including artificial intelligence. In recent years, several of the world’s leading agribusiness companies have partnered with large technology companies such as Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon. These provide the technical infrastructure, such as cloud-based systems and artificial intelligence, that underlies a range of new applications and services that agribusinesses sell to farmers. In India, massive farmers’ protests challenged new agricultural laws adopted by parliament in September 2020, which opened up the country’s agricultural sector to corporations. The new laws coincided with the launch of Agri Stack, reinforcing farmers’ fears of a new wave of data-driven land grabs. 

Just digitalisation 

Two important lessons can be drawn from the experiences of communities in India and other countries. First, the development and use of digital technologies are firmly embedded in a given socioeconomic context. Technology does not develop in a bubble but is shaped by money and power, both of which are highly concentrated in a few large companies. Second, the implications of digitalization go beyond data protection and privacy. More specifically, digitalization impacts equity and the distribution of resources and wealth. It must be shaped proactively to make our societies more just rather than reproducing patterns of exclusion and discrimination. There is an urgent need for strong human rights–based governance frameworks that establish principles and standards for the use of digital technologies in the context of food and agriculture.

Governments and the United Nations appear to be finally rising to this challenge. The UN Human Rights Council recently adopted a resolution on “new and emerging digital technologies and human rights.” While highlighting the potential of these technologies, the resolution also recognizes the risks they may pose to human rights, including the economic, social, and cultural rights of marginalized groups such as Indigenous peoples and people living in rural areas. In addition, it calls on states to establish governance frameworks to prevent, mitigate, and remedy the adverse effects of digital technologies on human rights, including regulating the activities of technology companies.

The UN’s Committee on World Food Security also recently agreed on a set of policy recommendations on the collection and use of data in the context of food security and nutrition. This document includes the first formal attempt to describe how data and related technologies are affecting food systems and to propose guidance on how to manage the associated opportunities and risks. Significantly, the recommendations, to be adopted in October 2023, recognize farmers, Indigenous peoples, and other small-scale food producers as rights holders over their data and related knowledge, with the right to an equitable share of any benefits generated from that data. 

Whether these global initiatives will help to shape the use of digital technologies in food and agriculture in a way that supports human rights remains to be seen. However, they clearly demonstrate that the issues raised by digitalization are inherently political. We cannot leave it to technicians and corporations to shape the future of our societies. 

As seen with the massive farmers’ mobilizations in India, food producers’ organizations are putting forward an alternative vision in which technologies are at the service of people and the planet, not financial interests.

Philip Seufert is a FIAN international policy officer working with small-scale food producers to support the realization of their right to food in the context of land, biodiversity, and digital technologies.

This article was originally published in OpenGlobalRights on September 22, 2023.

For more information or media interviews please contact Tom Sullivan, FIAN International Communications and Campaigns: sullivan@fian.org

Communities resist state sanctioned land grab in Jagatsinghpur, India

Posted on by fredsaxo

Local communities have been facing eviction, loss of livelihood, and criminalization since 2005, when their land was first forcibly allocated to the now abandoned POSCO steel project. That project sparked strong local resistance against the environmental destruction and illegal seizure of community land on which local people largely depend on to make their livelihoods cultivating betel vines and cashew trees.

Disastrous human rights impacts

Their struggle forced POSCO to withdraw in 2017. But then Odisha’s state government handed the community’s land to JSW subsidiary, JSW Utkal Steel Ltd. (JUSL) prompting local communities in Dhinkia, Nuagaon, Govindpur and neighboring villages to continue their struggle that began with POSCO.

The new planned megaproject includes an integrated steel factory, a sea port, a cement grinding plant, mines and a power plant. If it goes ahead it would displace up to 40,000 people, according to estimations, with disastrous impacts on their rights to food, water, work, health, adequate housing, as well as a healthy environment.

Most local people are agricultural workers and fishers. Their livelihoods are based on the rich biodiversity and fertility of the area. Many are daily wage labourers from the marginalized Dalit community who already live in precarious economic circumstances.

State authorities have pushed through plans to forcefully evict them and strip them of their livelihoods in clear breach of existing laws and court orders, with total disregard for India’s international human rights obligations and without the consent of the affected communities. The Ministry for Environment approved the project despite many irregularities.

Violent repression and arbitrary arrests

Ever since the first violent land grabs in 2005, villagers have been subjected to arbitrary arrests and detention. According to the Anti-Jindal & Anti-POSCO Movement, anyone involved in protests faces criminalisation with an estimated 400 cases pending and warrants issued for about 700 people.

The situation has escalated since December 2021, when police attempted to arrest a village leader in Dhinkia village, the epicentre of the protest. Subsequently, the administration began destroying the communities’ valuable betel fields. On January 14, a group of about 500 people were attacked by police who injured many of them including women, children and the elderly. Since then the area around Dhinkia village has been heavily militarized with local people placed under close surveillance, and subjected to regular ID checks and harassment including arbitrary arrests which have robbed many of their livelihoods.

“I couldn’t go to my daily work being a daily wage laborer working in the nearby betel vines of our village Dhinkia along with my son,” said one villager.

“After the horrific incident by the police brutality on 14th January 2022 we were forced to be in exile with my entire family but eventually got arrested and been kept in judicial custody for more than a month with my wife and 18-year-old daughter. My son and his wife are still in exile to avoid arrest. My family got ruined due to the forceful betel vines demolition and police atrocity.”

The situation in Jagatsinghpur demonstrates clearly the degree of influence and grip that powerful companies often have over state institutions. It highlights the urgent need for a binding UN treaty to reiterate the primacy of human rights over investment agreements.

This should include provisions not only in relation to the state’s obligation to protect human rights from the harmful activities of business enterprises, but also to respect human rights by ensuring states do not violate human rights by facilitating projects such as those supported by Indian authorities in Jagatsinghpur.

Read FIAN's UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submission here

For more information, please contact Sofia Monsalve monsalve@fian.org

 

India government must end illegal forced land acquisition and criminalisation of human rights defenders in Odisha

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We call on the Government of India to put an end to all types of repression and violence against the resisting communities, immediately release all the human rights defenders arrested, withdraw all charges against them, and refrain from using force and intimidating people. Furthermore, the government must hold those responsible to account; process individual and community forest rights claims and provide compensation for the damages and loss of life and livelihood. People demand to halt the establishment of large-scale industries and rather encourage small and local initiatives preserving the traditional livelihoods. India has to ensure that all its commitments under international law are prioritized and implemented.

Since 2005, when land was  forcibly acquired for the now abandoned POSCO project, local communities have been facing eviction, loss of livelihood, and criminalization. The proposed project sparked resistance against environmental destruction and illegal land and community forest acquisition. After POSCO finally withdrew in March 2017 the government of Odisha handed over the community’s land to Indian steel major, JUSL. It is estimated that, if implemented, the planned projects would displace up to 40,000 people from their land and livelihoods, impinge upon their human rights to food, water, work, health, adequate housing, healthy environment and other economic and social rights, and will have disastrous effects on the environment.

The State of Odisha has responded with severe repression to the protests. Women have always been at the forefront of the resistance, and many of them, including children and elderly people, were injured while protecting their villages and lands. More than 60 community members have been arrested over the past seven months as a result of their resistance to the projects.

Co-signed by:

ESCR-Net – International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Forum Asia

Frontline Defenders

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Read the letter here

Read FIAN's UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submission here

India: Stop eviction and environmental destruction in Odisha

Posted on by fredsaxo

According to estimates, the projects will destroy the livelihoods of at least 40,000 farmers, agricultural workers and fishers. The planned projects are being carried out in disregard of the Indian legal framework and international human rights obligations and without the consent of the affected communities. Most of the land required is officially classified as forest land – and thus actually exempt from rezoning for other purposes. Although environmental clearance is still pending, construction work has already begun: Valuable sand dunes have been damaged and hundreds of thousands of trees have been cut down. Villagers are also subject to state violence, arbitrary arrests and increasing criminalization.

FIAN International’s German section has launched an open letter appeal to the Indian government to draw the attention of the Indian government, the relevant ministries and the Odisha state government to the destruction of the livelihoods of the affected farmers, agricultural workers and fishers.

The frontline communities demand that the Indian national government, the relevant ministries and the state government of Odisha immediately withdraw the police forces, restore freedom of movement and withdraw the cases against protesting villagers. Furthermore, they demand the immediate processing of the forest rights claims that have been enshrined in law, as well as the renewed implementation of the procedures required under the environmental impact assessment. In addition to compliance with the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Human Rights (especially the right to food), all of India's commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) must be implemented.

Read also a recent report by FIAN International submitted to the Universal Periodic Review mechanism 2022 of the UN Human Rights Council

Extreme state violence used to curb protests against India mega steel project

Posted on by fredsaxo

People who have been peacefully resisting the grabbing of their forests and agricultural lands for the last two decades are now facing a crackdown from police forces.

More than 100 people in the village of Dhinkia in Jagatsinghpur District in the state of Odisha have allegedly been injured, including women and children. Many others have been arrested, including the leader of the people’s movement opposing the mega steel project that was earlier proposed by the South Korean firm POSCO and now by the Indian firm JSW Utkal Steel Ltd. 

The goverment has already cut down numerous betal vineyards, the main agricultural crop and the economic lifeline of people in the area, even without their free consent and the absence of an environmental clearance for the project. This was done when majority of the men in the village fled their homes in fear of police action against them. 

According to estimates, the corporate takeover of 1,173.58 hectares of land will lead to the devastation of livelihoods of over 40,000 villagers.

In a recent open letter to India Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav, FIAN International expressed its concern over the issue and reiterated its previous requests 2019 and 2020 for the government to adhere to its legal frameworks and established procedures such as the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, and the Forest Rights Act.

FIAN International also urged the country to abide by its international obligations and commitments related to the right to adequate food and nutrition and the environment such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention on Biological Diversity; the Paris Agreement on Climate Change; the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals; and the UN Convention on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas.

 

Global social movements stand in solidarity with Indian farmers a year after protests began

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JOINT STATEMENT: Salute to India’s Farmers! A Big Win for Peoples’ Power!

In a big win for India’s protesting farmers, who were leading a historic agitation for nearly a year, the Government of India – on the 19th of November – announced the repeal of three controversial farm laws that threatened to corporatize the country’s agricultural sector. It is an inspirational account of what peoples’ power can achieve even in the most adverse conditions.

The Indian farmers' protest, one of the largest mobilizations in recent history, completes a year on 26th November 2021. In the course of this historic protest, peasants and workers have braved harsh winters, heavy rains, brutal crackdowns and a wave of campaigns that tried to criminalize, imprison, defame and delegitimize the protestors and their supporters.

According to Samkyukta Kisan Morcha, the coalition spearheading this agitation, at least 650 farmers have died in the past year while on protest. Among these are five farmers who were heinously mowed down by a car in October 2021, allegedly driven by a Union Minister's son.

Despite all the adversities and oppressive measures, the millions of farmers who have laid siege to the borders of New Delhi for a year are in no haste to call off their protest. While they welcome the announcement to roll back the three laws as a step in the right direction, their other crucial demand to bring a legal guarantee for a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce remains unmet. The government is planning to constitute a committee that would make the procurement system more transparent, but agitating farmers insist that a legal guarantee is an absolute necessity. They also demand that the government withdraws all the criminal cases filed against the protestors during the year.

India’s farmers have inspired the world with their resilience. They have shown us what a united struggle of the working class and the peasantry can achieve even in the face of all adversities. Over the last year, this protest has stitched alliances with workers unions and other social movements and issued inspiring messages of solidarity, communal harmony and unity among rural societies.

We, the global civil society members, offer our unwavering support and solidarity for India's farmers. We salute your resilience. You inspire every social movement everywhere. We stand with you in your demands to resist the corporatization of Indian agriculture that endangers India's food sovereignty. Your protest resonates with every peasant and indigenous community in every corner of the world. Behind you, we stand united and alert to the daily developments.

The threat of privatization and corporatization of agriculture is not unique to India. But what is at stake for India is the lives and livelihoods of nearly 600 million people linked to agricultural and allied sectors.

History teaches us the perils of agribusiness expansion. Europe, the US, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and several wealthy nations are living evidence of how agribusiness expansion marginalizes small-scale food producers and tilt agricultural production to large industrial farms. It is a model that pushes millions out of their farms, leads to large-scale land concentration, and turns precious natural resources into the hands of a few. It is a model that takes away small-scale food producers' autonomy and control over their seeds, farm inputs, and farm machinery. It is a model favouring large-scale monoculture with devastating consequences for the planet, soil health, biodiversity, and our communities' nutritional choices.

For a predominantly agrarian society like India, to undergo this path of corporatization – primarily when a large majority of its peasants comprise tenant farmers and small-holder farmers – is akin to inviting despair to the doors of millions. And when farmers of the country lose autonomy over their food production, it endangers their food sovereignty.

India is a signatory to the UN Declaration on Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), which lays out the obligation of the State in guaranteeing adequate income and fair price to its food producers (Article 16). Despite its commitment to the UN Declaration, and contrary to the spirit of this Declaration, the Indian government brought in three controversial laws, in the middle of a pandemic year, without consulting the farmers. We insist that any attempts to reform Indian agriculture must be conducted with due consultation with the small-scale food producers through a transparent and democratic process.

Over the last two decades, the agitating farmers in India have carried out several mobilizations demanding a legal guarantee for a minimum support price and a robust mechanism to ensure efficient public procurement of their produce. At this point, the protesting farmers fear that in the absence of such a legal guarantee, there is still scope for a backdoor entry for private corporations. That is why they insist on a legislation that ensures a Minimum Support Price to farmers in every state of India.

As a signatory to the UNDROP, India must listen to its people, and institute a process to consult the unions before instituting any reforms. It must bring in a legal guarantee that offers a minimum support price for its farmers. It must acknowledge and compensate the families of those who lost their lives in this struggle. It must immediately bring to justice the culprits who mowed down protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri. It must stop any actions that criminalize the leaders or members of the protesting unions and immediately resume the dialogue and negotiations.

Call for Global Solidarity Actions:

On 26th November, we the members of the global civil society will carry out peaceful solidarity actions – online and offline – in support of India’s farmers.

Hashtag #SalutetoIndiasFarmers 

Send photos, statements, videos to samyuktkisanmorcha@gmail.com 

Globalize the Struggle, Globalize Hope! 

Salute to India’s farmers! You inspire us! 

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Statement Signed by:

FIAN International

FIMARC – International Federation of Adult Rural Catholic Movements

FOEI – Friends of the Earth International

HIC – Habitat International Coalition

IITC – International Indian Treaty Council

LVC – La Via Campesina

URGENCI – International Network for Community Supported Agriculture

WAMIP – World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples

WWM – World Women March