PEOPLE NEWS NETWORK (PNN)

(An alternate media service devoted to promote struggles against corporate colonialism and to establish Poorna Swaraj in India

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;Phone- +91-9235406243, +91-532-2466798, e-mail- peoplenewsnetwork@gmail.com Editorial Board : Aseem Shrivastava, Banwari Lal Sharma, Harsh Dobhal, Javed Naqvi, Krishna Swaroop Anandi, Madhu Bhaduri, Manali Chakrabarti, Manoj Srivastava Manoj Tyagi, Mithilesh Dangi, Neeraj Jain, Pradip Kumar, Prashant Bhushan, Rahul Varman, Rohit Dwivedi, Swapnil Srivastava, V.C. Nanda, Vandana Shiva, Vishwambhar Pati, Editor: Swapnil Shrivastava Editorial Assistant: Piyush Verma

Volume : 5

Number : 03

July 19, 2011

Special Report

Anti-POSCO Movement gaining momentum in Odisha

Protesters and Agitators raising Slogon POSCO! Quit India
More than 200 activists of various organisations of Odisha and from outside, like Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Samajwadi Jan Parishad, Rastriya Yuva Sangathan, Utkal Sarvoday Mandal, Ekta Parishad, NAPM, Azadi Bachao Andolan, Niyamgiri Sangarsh Samiti, POSCO Pratirodh Sangarsh Samiti (PPSS) and many other organisations of Odisha participated in the Anti-POSCO Satyagrah. The Satyagrah was scheduled to be held in front of the CMs residence but since no permission was given to the organisers to hold the Satyagrah there, hence it was held at lower PMG Circle on July 14-15, 2011. On July 15 afternoon, the Satyagrahis marched to the CMs residence. They were stopped by the police on the way and arrested but released later. On July 16, about 65 Satyagrhis visited the sites of dharna in the villages Dhinkia-Govindpur and participated in the dharna. Apart from the participants from Odisha, activists from Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajashthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh participated in the Satyagrah. A special feature of the Satyagrah was that the tribals--men and women in their traditional costumes from Niyamgiri hills--participated in the Satyagrah and visited the dharna site. Participants from other states did not attend the Satyagrah though they were expected. The Satyagrah was inaugurated by veteran socialist leader, thinker and former Loksabha Speaker Sri Rabi Rai. Giving his full support and blessings to the movement, he declared POSCO! Quit India. Sri Praful Samantra of Lohia Academy and one of the main organizers of the Satyagrah presented the report of the movement going on in the villages. Sri Prashant Paikrai of PPSS described the main problems faced by the movement and suggested that complementary movements going on against water and iron ore to be taken from Khandadhar hills should be strengthened. Sri Lingraj, President of Smajwadi Jan Parishad described the political scenario of Odisha and emphasised the necessity of a clear-cut strategy of the movement. Justice P.K. Mishra touched upon the legal aspects of the movement and declared that participation by school children is in no way against Childrens Rights Act and Human Rights Act. In fact their participation was more justified than that of their parents . Sri Amar Nath Bhai, former President of Sarva Seva Sangh, Kumar Prashant and Prerana Desai of Rastria Yuva Sangathan, Bijoy Pradhan of Ekta Parishad, Sri Lingraj Azad of NAPM also spoke and gave their suggestions to strengthen anti-POSCO struggle.

Need for National Movement

After two days of intensive discussions the following decisions were taken to strengthen the local movement and to make it a national movement : i) On a fixed date (to be decided by the main Odisha organisations) anti-POSCO day will be observed at each district headquarter of Odisha. On this day, dharna and rallies will be a organised in which participation of school children will be ensured. ii) Movement against water to be taken by POSCO, fisherfolks movement against Jatadhar captive port of POSCO and movement against mining of iron ore in the Khandadhar hills will be strengthened with the help of local organisations and trained volunteers to support them. Fifteen volunteers were identified for this purpose : 5 from Samajwadi Jan Parishad, 2 from Koraput, 3 from Anugul (through Prashant Mishra) and 5 from Jan Sansad through its national coordinator Prof Banwari Lal Sharma. A two-day volunteers training camp will be held before they go to their fields. iii) At the national level the following programmes were decided:- . a) Demonstration at South Korean Embassy in Delhi. b) A delegation to meet the new Minister for Environment and Forests and the Minister for Panchayat Raj. c) Lobbying in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha through some MPs to raise POSCO issue in Parliament. d) Anti-POSCO dharna at Jantar-Manter, New Delhi. e) Anti-POSCO day at state capitals and important cities. iv) Attempts will also be made to build international pressure through international bodies. The first day meeting was conducted by Dr. Biswajit Roy, convener of RYS and on the second day by Dr. Banwari Lal Sharma, national coordinator of Jan Sansad. (PNN)