http://sanhati.com/articles/4656/
February 29, 2012Janta Ki Sansad, Janta ke Liye …
An Invitation
Rashtriya Jan Sansad / National People’s Parliament
New Delhi, March 19th – 23rd, 2012
Dear Friends, Colleagues, Comrades,
Zindabaad !
India, our country is at the crossroads today. The Constitutional endowment of freedom , equity and justice appear to be a distant dream, inspite of our human, natural, cultural and technological resources with intensity and diversity. A small section of the people have never had it so good. Top class infrastructure, privately run airports, relatively cheap air travel, fast moving cars, obscenely high salaries and promise of a 9 % growth. Farmers’ suicides, large scale displacement, use of police and para military forces to appropriate adivasi lands, forests and resources and killings in case of any resistance, dis-employment of the urban poor due to infrastructure projects, mega corruption scandals in every development project are of course unworthy of media attention! Corruption seems to be so institutionalised in character and monstrous in proportion as to make past scandals look like petty deeds. Are these stories of some other land or of our own?
Today we have the paradox of a ‘vibrant democracy’, ‘transparent investigation of corruption’, ‘fair courts’, ‘free media’, ’strong opposition’ as well as blatant violence unleashed by the State-corporate nexus, be it in Niyamgiri or Jagatsinghpur (Orissa), or Mahuva and Mundra (Gujarat), Forbesganj (Bihar) or Polavaram, Sompeta (AP), in the slums of Mumbai (Maharashtra) witnessed or numerous other places. Rampant violation of the intent and letter of law is where land acquisition, resource-grab or environmental clearances are concerned. What follows is a spate of movements big or small resisiting the attacks staking nothing less than lives. Martyrdoms pay but not always. There is also violent resistance by alleged ‘Maoists. In those areas we see the tragic spectacle of the State and non-State violence feeding off and justifying each other.
One is left to wonder if there is any place for people in this ‘Democracy’, real people, be they Adivasis, Dalits, farmers, farm labourers, factory workers, fisher people or other toilers. The crude reality is that the Government of the day puts up a pretence of willingness to talk on in the face of extreme violence, but doesn’t enter into a decisive dialogue even with the non-violent struggles.
All existing institutions, the reliable pillars of democracy have failed the people, as well as all those who struggled for our freedom and the founders of the Constitution. It is the landless peasants, forest dwellers and toiling masses who struggle not only for a living but to protect their homes, lands, forests, rivers and sea who in fact sustain our natural resources. Activists, concerned citizens and their organisations striving for change amidst this gloom continue to grow like never before and they are at the forefront in our battle against the sham of corporatised, West-controlled democracy, that is rich in pomp and glitz but bereft of substance. It is in this backdrop that we propose that a way out of this morass is for people’s grassroots democracy to be organised in a way that allows self assertion of rights propositioning a decision on aleternative perspectives, plans, budget to processes of planning and empowering themselves. JAN SANSAD seems to be the way to attain this.
An Invitation and Seeking Your Cooperation
Since July 2009, NAPM has been intending to start a process of organising Jan Sansads across the country. We held meetings in Delhi and other places. The idea was widely accepted and received attention in March 2010 in a meeting in Allahabad and since then NAPM and other organisations have together hosted Jan Sansads at different places – Almora, Bhadrawati, Mumbai, Nellore and Multai. We have held several meetings since June 2011 discussing ways to strengthen our collective struggles and work towards strengthening people’s politics,agenda and strategies. After several meetings in 2011, we started Lok Shakti Abhiyan in December, which has travelled through Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, karnataka and Goa in four phases. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab and Orissa are to be covered soon.
NAPM is now hosting RASHTRIYA JAN SANSAD in Delhi between March 19th to 23th.. Please see the schedule below. We invite you to join the Rashtriya Jan Sansad along with your organisation and members to do the following :
1. to endorse the agenda and participate in the People’s Parliament / Jan Sansad and to make decisions through intense deliberations.
2. to nominate members of your organisation to the Jan Saansad / People’s Parliment as Jan Saansads on March 20th to 22th.
3. Join us in large numbers in the concluding rally on March 23rd at Jantar Mantar.
Proposed Programme
March 19 : Lokshakti Abhiyan Programmes discussion at three locations in Delhi
March 20th – 22nd : Jan Sansad on the key issues mentioned above
March 23rd : A mass rally of people coming from across the country. Finalisation and adoption of Jan Sansad Resolution amongst thousands [a session with political party representatives] and March to parliament
We urge you to kindly support the Jan Sansad by sending volunteers, supporting us in cash or kind as well. You can support us by small donations, send those to us by cheque in the name of NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE’S MOVEMENTS to our office address NAPM C/O 6,6, Jangpura B, New Delhi 110014.
We are still working on the exact location and other details of the programme. We shall intimate to you of all logistics details as soon as we finalise things. Do get in touch with us for more information or send your suggestions. Our contacts are : 011 – 2437 4535, 9212587159, 9818 411 417 or jansansad@napm-india.org
Yours Sincerely,
Medha patkar, Prafulla Samantara (Orissa), Sandeep Pandey (Uttar Pradesh), Dr. Sunilam (Madhya Pradesh), Gautam Bandopadhyay (Chattisgarh), Suhas Kolhekar, Vilas Bhongade, Subhash Lomate, Sumit Wajale (Maharashtra), Shaktiman Ghosh (National Hawker Federation), P Chennaiah, Ramakrishna Raju (Andhra Pradesh), Gabriele Dietrich (Tamilnadu), Vimal Bhai (Uttarakhand), Rakesh Rafique, Manish Gupta, Rupesh Verma (Western Uttar Pradesh), Prof. Ajit Jha, Rajendra Ravi, Bhupendra Singh Rawat, Vijayan M J, Madhuresh Kumar (Delhi), Gurwant Singh (Punjab), Anand Mazgaonkar (Gujarat), Mahender Yadav (Patna, Bihar), Nizam Ansari (Bokaro, Jharkhand), Geo Jose (Kerala), Vijay Metrani (Nepani, Karnataka), Dinesh Vaghela (Goa) and others
(Jan Sansad Organising Committee)
