People's Voice - April 1-15, 2008

I am writing to thank the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India for carrying the letter written to the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Rural Development dated March 8, 2008, in response to the call for reaction on the proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill 2007, and the Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, 2007 written by several signatories led by the President of the Lok Raj Sangathan (LRS).

The letter is a remarable piece of writing and it is my fervent hope that it will have the desired effect of withdrawal of the Bills from the floor of the Lok Sabha. In any event, it would be interersting to hear the debates on the floor of the House on the provisions of the Bill. I thank the signatories of the letter for going public with the contents. No person who is interested in the well being and future of India can dispute the contents of the letter, and it is also my fervent hope that letters such as these and the contents therein will throw open the doors for the liberation of Indian people.

I would like to recall several significant features of the letter in bullet form as under:

The letter points out that original Land Acquisiton Act is a hated colonial act.
The doublespeak in the law which purports to place public good above private necessity, while the reality in colonial times as well as now is the supreme transcendency of the rights of private property. In the present context, it is to deprive the lands and livelihoods of essentially marginal people and to turn it over to the interests of giant (possibly publicly held) or private corporations (keeping in mind the rider that publicly held property in India is really that of the entire capitalist class, rather than being property of the Indian people),
Loopholes in definition of such phrases as "public purpose" which is essentially to allow grabbing of natural wealth and resource of the peoples of India by powerful private players such as big industrial houses and ruling families and their enterprises, by giving concrete examples,
Reminding the Hon. Chairperson of the tradition and patterns of land ownership in the country, and also educating the reading public by publishing the letter,
The rightful demand that the human factor not be subjugated through the series of demands in the letter.

Also of great importance is the departure of this letter from the conventional baggage of Eurocentrism and not kowtowing to the pressure that there can be alternative to the pattern of `development' put forth by the Indian ruling circles. In order to meet this end, there is now an insatiable demand for land, resources, minerals, and of course cheap labour. The activities of the UPA Government in tabling bills such as this go towards meeting such aims, which are really that of the big bourgeoisie.

In the wake of the contents of this letter, an alert reader would be able to derive that the Indian State and all Governments are not just guilty of derogation of their sacred duty of providing security for the peoples of India , have not modernized the relationship between the governed and the ruler, but have instead taken retrogressive steps to become purveyors of the worst plunder of the land and its peoples. Let letters such as this become the axis around which further discussion can take place on the State and its obligations. By exposing the activities of the present state and putting forth modern definitions, let all those interested in a bright future of India unite towards meeting that aim. Once again I would like to express my gratitute to the party for carrying the letter on its web-site.