Direitos Territoriais através da organização
Esta inscrição foi selecionada como finalista no desafio
Direitos Territoriais: Identidade, Dignidade & Oportunidade para Todos .
O ato de organizar ajuda famílias tribais a reconquistarem o título de suas terras de onde eles foram violentamente expropriados, além de proteger e conservar seus direitos à terra através de uma combinação estratégica de 1) manifestações pacíficas 2) ação legal 3) atuação de instituições de Advocacy pública, e 4) cooperação. Esta combinação de organização do trabalho sindical e as cooperativas agrícolas garante que comunidades de baixa renda possam garantir seu direito legal à terra e prosperar economicamente.
Sobre você
Sobre você
Nome
Paromita
Sobrenome
Goswami
Página na internet
Organização
País
Índia, MM
Sobre sua organização
Nome da organização
Shramik Elgar
Página da organização na internet
Under construction
Telefone da organização
09422910168
Endereço da organização
Tadala Road, Taluka Mul, District Chandrapur, Maharashtra, PIN 441224
Sua organização é
OSC/ONG
País da organização
Índia, MM
Sua ideia
Nome do projeto
Direitos Territoriais através da organização
País onde o seu trabalho tem foco de atuação
Índia, MM
Descreva seu projeto
O ato de organizar ajuda famílias tribais a reconquistarem o título de suas terras de onde eles foram violentamente expropriados, além de proteger e conservar seus direitos à terra através de uma combinação estratégica de 1) manifestações pacíficas 2) ação legal 3) atuação de instituições de Advocacy pública, e 4) cooperação. Esta combinação de organização do trabalho sindical e as cooperativas agrícolas garante que comunidades de baixa renda possam garantir seu direito legal à terra e prosperar economicamente.
URL do website
Inovação
O que há de especial na sua ideia ? Qual o seu diferencial?
A reliance on legal action and policy advocacy alone falls short of securing land rights. Movements for land rights can achieve unprecedented success through a strategic combination of nonviolent community organizing, lobbying democratic institutions, media campaigns, and, importantly, agricultural (or other livelihood based) cooperatives. This concept recognises that due to structural injustices the laws supporting land and livelihood rights for the poor are often rendered ineffective through non-enforcement.
Demands for enforcement must emerge from organized grassroots pressure. Deprival of land rights affects the marginalized across boundaries of caste, gender, and religion Movements based around securing these rights can become powerful forces for uniting the poor. As these communities assert their rights as citizens under the law, they overcome their fear and perceived lack of power. They come to experience strength in numbers and the efficacy of nonviolent action in transforming power relations.
Grassroots organizing must be based on a thorough understanding of the legal and political systems. The movement's demands must tackle land rights in its entirety, including tenurial security, physical access and enjoyment of the produce. One without the others is meaningless. These comprehensive demands should be brought before administrators, elected officials, and the media in a strategic manner. Recourse to the judicial system to be undertaken where necessary.
Once land rights have been secured, economic interventions based on group strength are crucial to retain and sustain those rights. These interventions ensure that formal titles do not remain pieces of paper but are converted into sources of livelihood. One such economic intervention is the formation of agricultural cooperatives. These serve to free poor farmers from oppressive moneylenders and losing land and/or produce through mortgages.
O seu projeto é patenteado?
Impacto
Temas relacionados à inscrição
Quais foram os impactos sociais gerados por seu projeto até o momento?
Shramik Elgar helped around 500 tribal families regain 2,000 acres. These title-holders had been violently dispossessed by nontribals. Two villages that had been forced to flee to the nearby state returned. Rs. 9,000,000 was allocated by the state government for rehabilitation. 17 criminal offences were registered against the land grabbers and 80 offenders were arrested.
We organised five villages about to be displaced for a government project to raise the compensation for their land from Rs. 28,000 per hectare to around Rs. 625,000. Similarly, we organized farmers about to be ousted by a cement factory to retain their hold on the land for 5 years until the company agreed to pay market rates.
We organised Bhumi Hakka Abhiyaan (Land Rights Campaign)for protection of forest dwellers through which (a) 5,000 people filed individual claims and several villages for community rights under Forest Rights Act, 2005. (b)trainings were conducted for community volunteers and elected representatives (c) campaign initiated for better documentation of titles in the state and (d)demand for amendment of unjust provisions adversely affecting nontribal forest dwellers (e) intervention petition filed in Supreme Court in the famous T.N.Godavaran case.
We are part of network in Vidarbha region against rampant coal mining and construction of thermal power stations. We participated in campaign to prevent destruction of 5000 acres (majority forest) for coal mining.
We run a centre to address specific issues of women's land and movable property rights through community organising, direct negotiation with family members, police action and representation in courts.
The union facilitated the formation of farmers' cooperatives, dairy cooperatives and women's credit cooperatives with total membership above 1,000. The farmers’ cooperatives collects advances from members to provide seeds, fertilisers and pesticides at LESS than marked price through planned market engagement.
Problema
Laws protecting the land and property rights of the poor are not implemented. Dispossession of tribals and dalits (formerly known as untouchtables) from their lands is a criminal offence but land grabbers are rarely arrested.
Women have rights to parental and matrimonial property, but these rights remain on paper, denied by patriarchal structures.
Cultivators of forest land are entitled to full title but in most cases have yet to receive them. Land laws are scattered and written in difficult language. Often documents are missing, inaccessible, or not updated.
Industrialization and urbanization are also stoking tensions. Large scale acquisition of land for private and government projects are regularly undertaken without following prescribed procedures or offering adequate compensation.
Little access to formal credit, the complexities of the agro market and monsoon dependence means that landowners struggle to make productive use of it. This asset may in fact lead to cycles of indebtedness, loss of land through mortgages to moneylenders and farmers' suicides. Land rights do not automatically convert into viable livelihoods.
Ações
1) Study and document the ground-level situation regarding various types of land-related injustices and conflicts. Analyze the issues vis-a-vis (a) the land-related laws and policies of India and Maharashtra (b) industrialization, environmental sustainability and viable agriculture (c) past experiences of the region and contemporary experiences in other parts of the country.
2) Trainings for leaders on understanding the constitutional provisions, laws, and procedural aspects of land rights, including special provisions for women as also dalit and tribal communities. Plan strategies with community leaders to identify action-points based on legal provisions, drawing on grassroots strength, court action, police action etc. to leverage substantial gains. Network with other organisations and professionals.
3) Extend cooperative membership to agricultural labourers by changing rules/byelaws that restrict membership to landowners. Strengthen and federate coops.
Inability to take calculated risks, to constantly follow through on initiatives, to preempt or withstand backlash and to continuously seek solutions might prevent sustained success.
Resultados
LAND RIGHTS MOVEMENT
We shall (1)build the movement for land rights in Vidarbha region, comprising 11 districts, by addressing tribal land rights, women's entitlements, forest rights, and land acquisition by companies and governments, (2)expand the membership base of Shramik Elgar and network with likeminded individuals and groups, (3)document the specific land issues in all 11 districts to be addressed in grassroots movements and advocacy efforts, (4)institute fellowships for media persons to study and report on land rights violations, (5)train 200 people every year (women, youth leaders, and elected representatives) in land rights, (6)hold workshops, public rallies, seminars.
COOPERATIVES
(1) Document the status of existing farmers' cooperatives in Vidarbha to identify common problems and strategize for change.
(2) Include landless agricultural labourers as members.
(3) Establish processing units at the district/regional level.
(4) Train 250 people per year in cooperative leadership, apart from workshops for members.
(5) Link cooperatives to government programs for subsidies and technology inputs.
(6) Address issues of women farmers.
O que será necessário para que seu projeto seja bem sucedido ao longo dos próximos 3 anos? Descreva cada ano separadamente, se possível
(até 300 palavras)
O que impediria seu projeto de ter êxito?
1) Fast track courts should be formed for time-bound disposal of land-related cases.
2) Forcible dispossession of land by tampering with possession or title (especially of women, dalits and tribals) should be a cognizable offence under the law.
3) Environmental impact assessments of development projects requiring land acquisition should not be done for individual projects but within the context of the overall human, environmental, and industrial development plans for a district or region.
4) Copies of all land records, maps and individual titles, as well as personnel and technology for land surveys, should be made available to gram panchayats (village assemblies).
5) The state’s licensing and subsidy system in the agriculture sector should be streamlined such that government subsidies benefit impoverished farmers and not companies or financial institutions.
We want to impact public policy in following ways;
1) Strengthening Vidarbha level network for nonviolent actions on land rights.
2) Strategic lobbying of politicians and senior bureaucrats, including opposition members to raise issues.
3)Test cases of individuals and writ petitions or representative cases in High Court and Supreme Courts with wide impact.
4)Strategic selection of issues during elections for commitment by candidates.
5)Sharing information with mediapersons, press conferences on issues etc.
6) Presenting models that can to adapted and adopted by state and other agencies.
Quantas pessoas, por ano, serão beneficiadas por sua inovação?
Menos de 100
Qual é a renda média das famílias na comunidade beneficiada por sua inovação, em US$?
Menos de US$50
A sua inovação busca influenciar políticas públicas?
Em caso positivo, como?
(até 250 palavras)
Sustentabilidade
Em que fase está seu projeto/inovação?
Em qual país?
Seu projeto está vinculado a uma organização estabelecida?
Se sim, mencione o nome da organização
Há quanto tempo a organização iniciou suas atividades?
Menos de 1 ano
Sua organização possui Conselho Diretor ou Conselho Consultivo?
Sua organização possui alguma parceria não financeira com OSCs?
Sua organização possui alguma parceria não financeira com empresas?
Sua organização possui alguma parceria não financeira com o governo?
Por favor, explique de que forma o estabelecimento de parcerias é importante para o sucesso de sua inovação.
From the past experience of Shramik Elgar's work on land rights we can say that the following partnerships would be critical for the innovation.
1) Other social organisations and networks who will support the struggle directly and indirectly by sharing space, vehicles, ideas and contacts.
2) The print and electronic media - in order to give wide publicity to the issues.
3) The district administration - which includes revenue department, forest, survey department, etc. who are directly concerned with land administration and adjudication.
4) The police - in order to provide protection to tribals and women, register offences, and arrest land grabbers.
5) Politicians at all levels who are responsive to the issues and can raise the issues on the floor of the House or impact policies on our behalf.
6) Lawyers who represent the cause pro bono.
7) District cooperative bank, cooperative department, dairy development department, agriculture department and local self-governance institutions have to be partnered with for financial and training inputs to cooperatives.
8) We have to partner the cooperatives with business organisations.
Quais são as 3 ações mais importantes para ampliar sua iniciativa ou organização?
Shramik Elgar is a membership-based organization that regularly collects membership dues and donations. At present the membership fees is Rs.5 and an annual donation of Rs.25 per member.
The associated cooperatives collect share money and deposits from members and also raise loans from the district cooperative bank.
Elgar Pratishthan is a voluntary organisation which serves as support organization for Shramik Elgar in organising training and other resources. Elgar Pratishthan raises funds from foundations, government, personal donations, sale of publications etc. Elgar Pratishthan has on-going partnerships with HIVOS, the Fund for Global Human Rights, the American Jewish World Service, the Holdeen India Program and the Edelgive Foundation. It has, in the past, been funded by the Government 0f Maharashtra's Human Development Mission and the Tribal Development Department.
Elgar Pratishthan has recently developed a training campus over 3 acres which is available to other organisations on payment.
There is a rule that every person who benefits from the organization must make a donation. Members have donated office space, pieces of office furniture, cash and, in one case, a tribal family donated an acre of land to be used for the farmers' cooperative.
Sua história
Descreva o momento definidor que o(a) levou a criar esse projeto/essa inovação?
When Shramik Elgar started working in 1999 the first problem villagers described was that of 'irregular' land titles. We were amazed to see that these titles, issed by the government in 1960s and 1970s for revenue land cultivators, were marked in bold as 'irregular.’ The titleholder cultivated the land but did not have tenurial security and could not use it as collateral or transfer it. It took six months of backbreaking work to convert 17 irregular titles into regular ones. This process could have been completed two decades ago but the farmers were unable to take on bureaucratic negligence, lack of political will and rampant corruption. Land rights, we realized, were a political issue that could not be resolved through legal action alone. Our experiences for land rights for the poor across caste, tribe and gender has only strengthened this conviction.
In 2004, at a village meeting a young man made a speech about how some men had beaten up a tribal woman named Bheembai for entering her own land. We went immediately to meet her. Bheembai was lying on the floor inside her mud hut and could barely speak. Her entire body was swollen and bore the marks of a severe beating. The men who had stolen their land attacked her for trying to enter it. We were enraged that all the laws, the police and the broader system, had failed to protect this frail woman.
Our meeting with Bheembai started the movement for restoration of tribal land rights across the district. Our insistence was that the system MUST work for everyone. Bheembai could barely walk but came to the first demonstration. Most other tribals did not have her courage and were threatened by nontribal land grabbers to remain out of sight. We went from village to village openly speaking out against land grabbers, encouraging the dispossessed to come forward. Slowly we got an overwhelming response from the tribal community. They started to overcome their fear and united to get their land back, after losing it over several years. They filed hundreds of applications to the district magistrate and, through court action and organizing, hundreds of hectares of good, cultivable land was restored.
When state assembly elections approached, people in one village announced that they would only vote for the candidate willing to sign a pledge of support to the tribals in their struggle for land. The candidates did sign!
Even though tribals got back their land they lived in constant fear of moneylenders who charged them 150% to 300% on agricultural loans. This led us to experiment with agriculture coops. Bheembai and many others became members.
I was eleven when I first read the preamble to our Constitution, 'We the People of India...' That was the defining moment for me. Ever since I have tried to find out what the promise of the Constitution means for the poorest people in my country. And it is this deeper search that has led me to this 'innovation'.
Conte-nos sobre a pessoa – o(a) inovador(a) social – que está por trás dessa ideia
The idea of organizing for the rights of the poor has been used in India and countries around the world. We draw inspiration from these struggles. However, the movement for land rights in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra was started by Paromita Goswami, an alumna of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and St. Xavier's College, Kolkata. She was intent on working on human rights issues in a rural area and moved to the district in literally a leap of faith.
In Chandrapur, she found support from Vijay Sidhawar, a teacher who also reported for a Marathi language daily. They formed the team that founded Shramik Elgar in 1999. It became a peoples' movement for social justice, a membership-based organization of the poor and marginalized. She was the founder president and Vijay the general secretary. Together they developed Shramik Elgar into a an organization helping communities take up issues that directly impact their lives. These issues included the challenges faced by unorganized rural labor, such as implementation of the Rural Employment Guarantee Act, policing, land rights, violence against women, forest rights, and public distribution system. 58 members were elected in the recent Gram Panchayat elections.
They formed Elgar Pratishthan, a social organisation that supports Shramik Elgar in training and raising resources. They also facilitated the formation of agriculture cooperatives for the members, women's credit cooperative and a weekly newspaper with a focus on community initiatives and human rights.
Paromita has been attacked physically on several occasions because of her work. In 1995 she was falsely accused of murder. The trial went on for 12 years before she and her colleagues were acquitted. In 2000 the district collector and local politicians sought to destroy her work by labeling Shramik Elgar an 'anti-national' organization. Several 'inquiries' were initiated against the organization in an attempt to shut it down. The district collector wrote letters to foundations supporting the organization, directing them not to make grants. Politicians started a smear campaign through one section of the press. Yet she successfully challenged these attempts in court and strict orders were passed against the collector, who had to apologise publicly for his actions.
Paromita was a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Rural Development, where she organized a national seminar on 'Women's Concerns in Land Reforms.'
She helped to organize two Land Rights Dialogues through Ashoka's Law for All Initiative.
She completed her LLB in 2003 and is presently registered for a Ph.D. course program at the Centre for Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Some articles based on her organizing experiences are:
1) Restoration of Land to Tribals:
http://papers.ssrn.co /sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=981262
2) A Re-reading of Gandhi's 'Satyagraha in South Africa' for Contemporary Community Organising -
http://cdj.oxfordjournals.org/content/44/3/393.abstract?sid=fc4611eb-b3e...
3)A Critique of the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act in 'Economic and Political Weekly', VOL 44 No. 11 March 14
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| Anexo | Tamanho |
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| Change_in_rajora-1.jpg | 454.45 KB |
| mapping_change_-_4.jpg | 395.49 KB |
| farmers_coop_-_7.jpg | 363.04 KB |
| activist_training.jpg | 417.39 KB |
| officials_handing_over_documents_-_3.jpg | 354.24 KB |
 | 59 weeks agoMatt Guttentag said: On February 2, 2011, the judges reviewed entries for the Changemakers Property Rights: Identity, Dignity, and Opportunity for All ... about this Competition Entry. - leia mais > |
| 67 weeks agoParomita Goswami said: 7th Feb, 2011. A meeting was organised by the Forest Department attended by Conservator of Forest and Chief of Tadoba Tiger Reserve to ... about this Competition Entry. - leia mais > |
| 70 weeks agoParomita Goswami said: Thanks from Shramik Elgar to all friends who voted!! about this Competition Entry. - leia mais > |
| 70 weeks agoParomita Goswami said: 18th January - 16 Sarpanches (village council chairpersons) met officials of forest department and district collector to press for their ... about this Competition Entry. - leia mais > |
| 70 weeks agoParomita Goswami said: Dear Ashish Thanks for voting and for your support as a mediaperson and as friend. Best regards Paromita about this Competition Entry. - leia mais > |
| 71 weeks agoAshish Ambade said: Dear Tai, The job you have taken to your hands is a difficult one but there are hurdles to get a ROSE and to put forth TRUE things. Best ... about this Competition Entry. - leia mais > |
| 73 weeks agoParomita Goswami said: Dear Mahua So good to find your support. Thanks so much! Paromita about this Competition Entry. - leia mais > |
| 73 weeks agomahua Chatterjee said: Paromita my childhood friend i am proud of you. You are doing a very good job. Keep it up may god bless you. about this Competition Entry. - leia mais > |
| 78 weeks agoParomita Goswami said: Agree 200%!! about this Competition Entry. - leia mais > |
| 78 weeks agoParomita Goswami said: Agree 200%!! about this Competition Entry. - leia mais > |