Kanyakumari to Delhi: A cycle yatra for a cause

Following is a Press Release invitation by Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) and Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE):

KANYAKUMARI TO DELHI

A Cycle Yatra demanding an Agricultural Policy and Agricultural Act for the protection of small and marginal farmers.

Villages and villagers of India are suffering as a result of their sacrifices that they have made towards boosting our GDP and food security. The various policies being developed are benefiting the so-called farmers who are ploughing their fields from air-conditioned rooms. The villages have neither been considered as the centers of development in the last 60 years of independent India nor any efforts are going on towards that end.

Global industrialization and privatization policies are creating ECONOMICALLY GULAM VILLAGES.

The policies imported and followed by the Indian Government without considering the pros and cons, like SEZ, are snatching land rights. The agricultural land may not be offered for such activities. But, no land can be called wasteland or barren land. Our rural people, the villagers, pursue certain activities on these lands! It is high time that we oppose such policies.

Thus, we people, from the Himalayas, will be travelling from Kanyakumari, the southern tip of India, to Delhi, campaigning “to save agriculture for the future of our hungry villages“, generate awareness among farmers demand for the farmer-friendly agriculture policy along with an AGRI-ACT that address the rights of small and marginal land holders and land-less farmers.

In this respect a Press Conference has been organized, to convey details of the cycle yatra and the campaign to the National Media.

The Press Conference will be addressed by Shri Anil Joshi and the members of the campaign.

Venue: Press Club of India, New Delhi
Date: 9th January 2008, Wednesday
Time: 1.30 PM – 3.00 PM

For further information, please contact:

Rahul Choudhary
Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE)

C-86, Lower Ground Floor
East of Kailash
New Delhi – 110065
Telefax- 011-46570551/52
Email- lifedelhi@gmail.com