Land acquisition, NRP & human right violation
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 01, 2014 -
Whereas the State Government has been planning to send a proposal to the Government of India for acquisition of 3000 acres of land at Haollenphai village, near the border town of Moreh, the chief of the particular village came out with an emphatic and unambiguous reaction saying that it is against their customary law and tradition to sell land for any reason.
Earlier the Chief Minister of Manipur stated on the floor of the Manipur Legislative Assembly during its latest session which concluded recently that the State Government was negotiating with land owners for acquisition of 3000 acres of land for development of a Smart City at Haollenphai.
There is a huge incongruence between what the Chief Minister stated and what the village chief declared in media.
As of now, only time can establish the facts.
Assuming that the Government equipped with the infamous Land Acquisition Act browbeats its way, which the State has done many times before, certainly compensation and eviction would come into the picture.
Displacement from one’s habitual residence and the loss of property without fair compensation is a serious form of human rights violation.
In addition to violating economic and social rights, arbitrary displacement can also lead to violations of civil and political rights, including arbitrary arrest, degrading treatment or punishment, temporary or permanent disenfranchisement and the loss of one’s political voice.
Of course, there is a legislation called the National Rehabilitation Policy or NRP in short for addressing problems created by the State through the Land Acquisition Act.
The NRP has certain provisions for compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement of affected people but ironically it makes no attempt at addressing various rights violations which are common in these circumstances, specially that of vulnerable groups whose vulnerability increases manifold in these situations.
It uses the word ‘Right’ in two instances, once to give cash compensation to tribals in lieu of loss of their customary rights over forest produce and secondly to grant fishing rights in the reservoir, in the case of large dams.
Of late, Manipur has witnessed displacement caused by different factors such as construction of dams, expansion of highways and airport, laying of railway tracks, armed conflict, ethnic conflict etc.
Though certain sections of these displaced people have been compensated with cash, we fear if any single displaced family have been rehabilitated or given land for resettlement with the exception of those families displaced by renewed Imphal airport expansion and resettled at Langthabal.
This is understandable given the content and spirit of the NRP.
Again, the cry of the people displaced by the ethnic conflict of early 1990’s for rehabilitation and justice would always get lost in the wind for there is no specific provision to address displacement caused by ethnic conflict.
Unfortunately, anti-dam lobby groups, resistance movements and the general public are either standing opposed to projects that entail displacement or are demanding compensation when they cannot resist the State’s design.
But very few people are asking for proper rehabilitation and resettlement. Sadly, this is the missing part in the people’s movement against Government sponsored projects.
This is understandable given the prevailing situation in Manipur where all other issues are overshadowed by the armed conflict.
Nevertheless, deprivation of ancestral land, displacement and human rights violation entailed therein cannot be overlooked.
The State should be sensitive enough to the issues of land acquisition, displacement and concomitant human rights violation.
If the State is not sensitive enough, people should not simply surrender.
The civil society organisations as vanguards of the society should harness all their resources and energy for a sustained and well orchestrated collective struggle, specially in view of the vulnerability of the indigenous people of Manipur.
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