[Announcements] Invite for press-cum-activist meet on 9th July

[Monica Narula]

Under the Land Acquisition Act, 3 crore people have lost their homes 
and livelihoods in the name of development.
50% of these are Adivasis.

Umbergaon (Gujarat), Kashipur (Orissa), Koel-Karo (Jharkhand), 
Mehendikheda (Dewas, MP) are part of the
recent history of violation of the people's rights to natural 
resources and to organise themselves politically in response to them. 
Nagarnar is another addition to this list. In all these cases the 
State response has been brutal. 

The people of Nagarnaar and two other adivasi villages in Bastar 
district of Chattisgarh have been resisting the illegal acquisition 
of their land for a steel plant to be set up by the NMDC. A reign of 
state terror has been let loose upon them for daring to assert the 
constitutional authority of their Gram Sabhas. Though this is typical 
of the way adivasi communities are dealt with everywhere in India, 
the existence of clear evidence pointing to gross fabrication of the 
records of the Gram Sabhas by the local administration, in order to 
show their consent to land acquisition, makes Nagarnar a significant 
case.

The Indian People's Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights 
conducted an inquiry at Nagarnar. Justice Bhargava, Retd. Judge of 
the Sikkim High Court, headed the panel. The panel found that the 
local administration made no effort to dialogue with the people even 
after the report of the (SCST) was out.

The Delhi Support Group for Nagarnar invites you to a 
Press-cum-Activist Meet and Release of The Indian
People's Tribunal Report on 9th July, 2002 at Gandhi Peace Foundation 
, 222-223 Deen Dayal Updhaya Marg,
from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Programme:
1. Introduction by Dr. B. D. Sharma, of Bharat Jan Aandalon
2. Screening of the film - Development Flows from the Barrel of the 
Gun that captures the voices of project-affected people in Umbergaon, 
Kashipur, Koel-Karo, Mehendikheda and Nagarnar. This will be followed 
by presentations by adivasis and people from these five affected 
areas.
3. Release of the Indian People's Tribunal Report on the inquiry 
conducted at Nagarnar.
4. Panel discussion and Open Forum.

Panel Members:
· Justice R. Sachar
· Kuldip Nayar
· K.B. Saxena
· Dr. Ram Dayal Munda

Looking forward to your participation,

In solidarity,

KRITI team for
Delhi Support Group for Nagarnar

PS: please confirm your participation
-- 
Monica Narula
Sarai:The New Media Initiative
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
www.sarai.net