Jal,
Jangal, Zameen
For
a majority of poor Indians, survival directly depends on access to
land, water and forest resources. Where communities have had
long-term rights to these resources, they have often regulated their
use to prevent over-exploitation and abuse, ensuring their own
subsistence while conserving nature. However, this relationship
between local people and their natural environment has been ruptured
by government policies that extract resources for industrial and
urban use. Accelerated exploitation has deprived village
communities of their right to subsistence and has destroyed the
natural base on which all life depends.
The
government monopoly over the use and management of land, water and
forests dates back to colonial times. It was only strengthened
after Independence when ‘national development’ policies resulted
in the government’s takeover of natural resources for industrial
and commercial use. More than 30 million Indians were directly
displaced as a result of this and millions more were forced into an
impoverished and insecure existence.
In
the 1990s, the Indian government adopted the strategy of economic
liberalization, giving incentives to private investors and exporters
in order to encourage economic growth and earn foreign exchange.
This strategy has worsened conditions for living for the poor:
agricultural land has been forcibly acquired for dams, mining, luxury
housing on the urban periphery, Special Economic Zones, and other
projects that bring few benefits to local communities. Water
resources have been depleted by intensive farming and by diversion to
high-consumption industries and well-off urban sections. Forested
areas are either given away to industries or are declared as
conservation areas from which local users are excluded.
SRUTI
believes that solving this ecological and social crisis requires that
local communities be recognized as the first claimants on natural
resources. The rights of poor communities should be respected
and their capacity to manage resources sustainably should be
strengthened. Several SRUTI Fellows are engaged in campaigns to
defend jal-jangal-zameen (water, forests, land) against destructive
projects. Others have mobilized communities to stake a claim to
resources that are rightfully theirs, using new laws like the Forest
Rights Act. Still others are working with villagers to
establish fair and sustainable ways of managing natural resources.
These initiatives have shown that local control over natural
resources is a key element in achieving socially just and
ecologically stable development.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)