The Hindu : Kerala News : Rashtriya Mahasabha condemns cut in lease rent of revenue land

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 15, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Rashtriya Mahasabha condemns cut in lease rent of revenue land

By Our Staff Reporter

KOTTAYAM, JUNE 14. The Rashtriya Mahasabha will launch a Statewide agitation against the move to cut lease rent of revenue land by half, party leaders said here today.

Speaking to reporters, the Mahasabha chairperson, C.K. Janu, and the general secretary, M. Geethanandan, said that the move was a clear pointer to the privatisation of the revenue land, which had now been leased out to private parties.

The move would also pave for the handing over of the right of large plantations to the private parties who were running it under lease from the Government.

The immediate consequence of the move would be that the Government itself would find it difficult to find land for its own use in urban areas, he pointed out.

The double-standard followed by the Government with regard to the Adivasi land issue had come out in the open following the move to cut lease rent of Government land, Ms. Janu said.

On the one hand the authorities were going slow on the Adivasi land issue and on the other they were going in for privatisation of Government land, she said.

According to her, in spite of the tall claims being made by the authorities, nothing tangible had been done to speed up the Adivasi land reclamation programme.

The only positive sign during the past many months was the decision on Aralam Farm, she said and added that it, however, goes to the credit of the Central Government.

They alleged corruption on the part of the Revenue Minister in the decision to bring down the lease rent of Government property and called for a comprehensive inquiry into the affair.

The Mahasabha leaders also expressed serious concern over the privatisation of the education sector that has pushed the Adivasis and Dalits to the fringe.

The reservation and other economic facilities enjoyed by these segments were gained through struggles during the last one century, they said.

The leaders pointed out that these facilities were now systematically being withdrawn by the authorities.

They alleged that the claims on the part of the UDF Government that they would ensure the Constitutional protections to the merit seats. It was an attempt to hoodwink the people, they said.

"Such a move would have no Constitutional validity," the leaders said.

Reacting to a question, the leader said the Mahasabha would continue to be in the electoral politics in the coming days and that the party could go a long way in mobilising Adivasi and Dalit votes which in other times would have gone to the traditional political parties.

The party would stage a dharna in front of the Secretariat in Thiruvnanathapuram on June 30.

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