MNCs eyeing control of India's resources: activist

Monday, 14 October 2002, 19:30 IST
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PATNA: An activist group opposed to unbridled entry of multinational companies in the Indian economy is planning a national convention on command over natural resources. B.D. Sharma, chairman of the Bharat Jan Andolan, asserts that unchecked entry of MNCs in India is posing a real danger to resources as these companies are eyeing their control. "We will organize the convention in New Delhi in November or December to discuss this serious issue neglected by all political parties," Sharma told IANS here. He alleged that the growing entry of MNCs was part of a conspiracy to deprive tribespersons of their rights to the jungle and its produce in the guise of joint forest management projects. "They are coming to India to take control of resources to dictate terms and deprive the most deprived sections of society -- the tribespersons," Sharma said. A former bureaucrat, Sharma, who has made it his life's mission to work among the poor and socially disadvantaged tribespersons, said the national convention would be a forum to convey the message that the community, and not the state, is the master of natural resources. "Today the most important question is to spread the message who owns the resources in terms of jal, zamin and jungle (water, land and forest) -- it is the people, not the state," Sharma said. He said to date not a single political party had come forward to raise the issue of command over resources even though it had begun to affect the lives of thousands of tribespersons, who have lived off the forests for generations, taking only what they need. "A tribesperson's relationship with the forest is like that of a fish with water; you cannot separate them," he said. Sharma claimed his message had begun to spread. He said in 10,000 villages of Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, people have started asserting their right over resources. He said that after a constitution amendment in 1996 on "scheduled" areas, resources belong to a 'gram sabha', or village assembly. The government has no right to give village land or resources to MNCs without the gram sabha's approval. "The government cannot sell to MNCs resources that belong to the people," Sharma said, adding that his group was opposed to the economic policies of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government.
Source: IANS