The People’s Movement of 2006, focused on land and agrarian reform. This was further prioritized in the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) 2006, Interim Constitution (2007) and various periodic Development Plans, 2007-10 and 2011-12. However, implementation of land reform has been lacking. Recently Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC), the NGO that I have been volunteering for since June 2012, through Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), organised an international conference “Agrarian Questions and Comprehensive Solutions” in collaboration with the International Land Coalition (ILC), International Initiatives (II) and Forum for Agrarian Concern and Studies in Nepal (FACT-Nepal). Leading up to the conference there were field visits to Mahottari/Sarlahi, Rasuwa and Nawalparasi, Rupendi and a workshop on Land Reform and Non-Violent Land Rights Movement at the National Land Rights Forum (NLRF) in Thimura, Chitwan. The events were attended by activists from Nepal, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Nepal, Latin America, Senegal, Parliament Members as well as, high level bureaucrats.
Agriculture continues to be the main occupation for 69 percent of Nepali people. However the agricultural sector contributes only 34 percent to the GDP. Youth continue to migrate to other countries for employment, bonded labour continues in many areas, those who have been tilling land for generations are left landless maintaining a poverty cycle, while large amounts of land continues to be privatized. Questions remain as to how best to implement land reform, e.g. revolutionary, scientific, hybrid model, leading to stagnation and in-action. Although land reform policies have been put into place through High Level Land Reform Commissions, e.g. 2012 and legislation, e.g. 1964 Land Act, an actual implementation framework, leading to and securing long-term peace is not yet part of discussions. However this isn’t an easy or unique situation as noted by a number of the international representatives recently in Nepal for the conference/workshops.
I tried to get a sense of what is happening around the world in terms of land reform; the following are some snippets:
Dewi Kartika Abdul Hamid lives in Jakarta, Indonesia working for KPA, fighting for realization of a fair agrarian system. Dewi indicated that there has been a basic agrarian law since 1960; however land reform became tied up with communism. (In 1964-65 there were mass killings of those purported to be communists. Equating the land rights movement with communism is tantamount total inaction)[1]. This makes it very difficult to truly create land reform in Indonesia. However, KPA is trying to create more public awareness, indicating that this is more about pro-poor policies rather than any particular ideology.
Dr. Madiodio Niasse, from Senegal, is the Director of the International Land Coalition (ILC), a global alliance of civil society and intergovernmental organisations working together to promote secure and equitable access to and control over land for poor women and men through advocacy, dialogue, knowledge sharing and capacity building. ILC’s vision is secure equitable access to and control over land reducing poverty, contributing to identity, dignity and inclusion. ILC has its roots in the The Popular Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty (1995) and has 152 member organisations. Dr. Niasse indicated that land reform to reduce inequalities is not a simple question, but that there is a great need to build consensus with civil society having a large role to play to educate all actors. Typically people start the land reform discussion with ideology, which creates divisiveness.
Dr. Rigoberto Rivera from Venezuela works for Accion Compesina, which drives sustainable agriculture in collaboration with rural people and their organizations. In Venezuela the population size is similar to Nepal however the economy is dependent upon petroleum production which provides a great deal of revenue for the country. When Hugo Chavez was President he continued a land reform process started in the 1960’s which was to build up small and medium sized land holdings in the countryside. Approximately 70 percent of former land in large landholdings has passed through the State; however this land has been retained by the State so that the poor have the right of use of land but not true property rights.
Nathaniel Don E. Marquez is based out of the Philippines working for the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. ANGOC addresses issues and reforms institutions that impact significantly on Asian rural communities, by developing, disseminating and mainstreaming innovative, people-centered development agendas and experiences.
Mr. Marquez indicted that there seems to be more openness for civil society in the Philippines and due to the political dynamics in Nepal there seem to be many hurdles towards land reform. In 1988, there was a Congress of People for Agrarian reform which was a comprehensive program for land to the tiller, recognition of women, joint partnerships with farmers groups and NGOs. There was compulsory acquisition of private land by the government, however many politicians are landed elites and therefore there must be continuous pushing from civil society to improve this situation. According to estimates 60-70% of land, has been distributed, but many cases are tied up in court, so that land gets abandoned by farmers. During 2012 a delegation from Nepal went to the Philippines to learn about their version of land reform.
Raja Gopal PV from India works at EktaParishad, a people’s movement dedicated to non-violent principles of action. Activists work towards building community-based governance (gram swaraj), local self-reliance (gram swawlamban) and responsible government (jawabdeh sarkar). The aim is to see India’s poorest people gain control over livelihood resources, especially land, water and forest. Ekta is a federation of approximately 11,000 community based organizations with thousands of individual members.
Mr. Gopal explained to me that after India achieved freedom a Land Ceiling Act was legislated where one family could only keep 40 acres of dry land and 20 acres of wet land. This resulted in a great deal of surplus land, however it didn’t succeed because people would give the same amount to other family members, i.e. son, daughter, etc. Next was the Tenancy Registration Act, so that people could not be evicted, but this has not been implemented properly. The Forest Rights Act gave 1.2 million people who had been cultivating forest land before 2005, property rights. The Land Gift Movement, (Bhoodan) led by, Vinoba Bhave, who walked for 13 years throughout India, provided 4.2 million acres of land for redistribution.
In 2007 Ekta led a march of 25,000 people walking from Gwalior to Delhi, and in 2012, 100,000 people walked to remind the government not to forget about land reform. “Nepal is inspiring India, through social movements and putting pressure on the government. If a development model is growth centric or materialistic then justice will be left behind. If it is development/economics without ethics, then things will continue as they are now. How do you spin economics and ethics together, something which social movements are trying to do?”
Taneer Arif, works at SCOPE (Pakistan), involved in protecting the environment, including land governance and degradation and access to land for farmers. Approximately 71% of the population are landless, predominantly women. The 1977 Land Reform Act implementation has been halted by the Supreme Court, after challenge from a religious organisation. The challenge states that taking private property, i.e. land reform is not Islamic. The verdict in favor of the religious organisation was recently challenged; however the Act has been suspended. In Pakistan as in other countries, feudalism is the root cause of poverty; however Parliament is mostly comprised of feudal lords.
Zohanny Arboleda Mutis works for Cinep (Colombia) a Jesuit organisation focused on human rights. In Colombia there exist large land concentrations, a feudal model, with a long history of armed conflict and large societal inequalities. Large tracts of land are owned by cattle ranchers, but there is also mining. Zohanny felt that the bottom up process, i.e. Village Land Rights Forums (VLRFs) which is used in Nepal is a good learning for Colombia, as well as a focus on non-violence.
Conferences are always positive for sharing information and learning from others, however, as I learned, land reform models are unique to each country, depending on the political context. As in Nepal and other countries, these models must be non-violent and movements must persistently pressurize the government and be patient. Words and legislation mean very little, unless they are accompanied by implementation frameworks reached by consensus. Finally there must be political will from ideologies across the spectrum. Land reform is key to maintaining peace and enabling people living in agriculturally based societies to a life of happiness, dignity and fulfillment.
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