Peoples
Assembly (Jan Sansad) at Jantar Mantar
Voices of People’s Movements
in India’ Democracy
Countdown to 2014
PRESS RELEASE
Justice JS Verma with 600 people in
unison administered the pledge
to reclaim constitutional rights and entitlements for the marginalized
Delhi Nov 26, 2012: Over 600
people representing jurists, academia, campaign movement leaders, social
activists and community members came together at Mavalankar Hall to remind
themselves and the country that many of the basic constitutional guarantees
continue to remain unfulfilled. This included
farmers, slum dwellers and wage labourers from Pali, Bikaner, Kolkata,
Jhansi, Gwalior, Varanasi and Arraria, some of whom are also job-card holders
of MNREGA.
Former Chief Justice of India, Justice
(Retd.), J. S. Verma, who led the pledge-taking initiative, reaffirmed the
power of the collective as he stressed the need “to secure the yet unfinished
task of guaranteeing the right to justice”
Speaking on behalf of a coalition of
over 50 organizations and people’s movements, Aruna Roy set the note saying, “Despite the State’s apathy to the travails of hunger, injustice, people
still repose faith in the democratic institutions….. We are here to reassert that faith.”
The coalition seeks its strength in the
core principles of democracy, justice and equity in co-opting the various
people’s struggles of the country. Underlining a decidedly pro-poor collective
struggle, Baba Adhav starkly warned how “the
Government overlooks the fact that 37% of the
population lives below poverty line, conveniently forgetting the constitutional
commitment to a secular socialist republic”.
Even
as the array of speakers which included veterans like Kuldeep Nayar, Justice
Sachchar, Justice Leela Seth, P V Rajagopal, Wajahat Habibullah, Dr Sayeeda
Hameed, Dr Shanta Sinha, to name a few, we also saw representatives of a wide
spectrum of movement leaders ranging from land rights, dalit issues, labour
reforms and child rights converging on a singular platform. Deep Narayan and
Kalanand Mandal from Arraria, Bihar, participating in the Sansad, were
particularly concerned that “even to
get a residential certificate from the local block office, they have to pay Rs
100 to 200.”
While
Medha Patkar criticized the very premise of development, Ashok of Jagdamba
camp, Malviya Nagar stated that their “houses
have been razed to the ground and their rights to basic entitlements
denied.” Medha Patkar went on to
add that unless that present paradigm of development does not change, “no welfare-ism will be acceptable to
Dalits, Adivasis, farmers, fish workers and toiling masses.”
Sharing their woes, Ram Gopal Saahriya from
Jhansi pointed out that in “the name of rehabilitation we are being made to
suffer a lot with nearly four to five families being forced to live together in
a small hutment with no toilets or space for cooking.”
Speakers after speakers stressed the need to
adopt a unified stand to ensure that marginal communities are able to reclaim
their constitutional rights. Taking this forward, Ashok Chowdhary, representing
the National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers pointed out that the
country is in the deep throes of crisis caused by “multi-dimensional inequities”. Praveen Jha, Professor, JNU
challenged the “State’s continued non-seriousness to public provisioning of
'primary goods' for a rightful decent existence” by the majority of the
country’s poor.
The
civil society support visible for the campaign was symbolized by the sharing of
stage by eminent personalities and champions across sectors. Those present
included Wajahat Habib, Ashok Chaudhary, Harsh Mander, PV Rajagopal, Kamla
Bhasin, Ashok Bharati, OP Jain, Binayak Sen, Justice Leela Seth, Baba, Adhav,
Soli Sorabjee, Justice JS Verma, Kuldeep Nayar, Pramila, Praveen Jha, Shanta
Sinha, Justice Mudgal, Vrinda Grover, Syeda Hameed, alongside Medha Patkar,
Aruna Roy, Annie Raja, Smarajit Jana and the others.
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For
further information, please contact:
Farah
9560511667
Inayat
9811211449
