Sunday, October 28, 2007

INDIA LANDLESS MARCH NEARS DELHI !

About 25,000 protesters are due to arrive in the Indian capital Delhi later on Sunday after marching 325km (202 miles) to demand land reform.
The protesters, mostly low-caste tenant farmers and landless indigenous people, say they have been left behind by India's economic boom.
The marchers set out on 2 October, the national holiday marking the birthday of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.
The government has promised to set up a commission to examine land reform.
Demands for land redistribution have been a familiar part of India's political landscape for many years, but now the government seems ready to listen, says the BBC's Jatinder Sidhu in Delhi.
The protesters have already met Sonia Gandhi, president of the ruling Congress Party and they hope to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday.
The marchers are converging on Delhi on Sunday and on Monday they say they will bring the centre of the capital to a standstill.
They are calling for a national authority to oversee land reform and a system of fast track courts to deal with the long delays in resolving land disputes.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

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