Date:28/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/28/stories/2008092851810300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Rights panel for safeguards against violations in projects’ implementation

Staff Reporter

Changes to land acquisition and resettlement laws recommended, says panel Director

Amended laws reflect the holistic approach to the issues, he says
NHRC directly monitoring implementation of human rights in 28 districts

Kakinada: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has recommended to the Central Government to make certain changes to the laws governing land acquisition (LA) and relief and resettlement (R&R) issues so as to incorporate inbuilt safeguards against violation of human rights in projects such as special economic zones.

The amended acts which are in the drafting stage, will be tabled in Parliament soon. They will reflect the holistic approach taken by NHRC to human rights issues from `conflict/disaster induced displacement’ perspectives in addition to the actual displacements by projects, according toNHRC Director (Research) YSR Murthy.

Livelihood issues

Mr. Murthy said the NHRC had taken cognizance of a huge number of individual complaints pertaining to a whole gamut of livelihood issues involved in small and big projects.

It found that the current focus was on matters pertaining to compensation only. What the NHRC suggested to the Central Government was to make the LA and R&R Acts `justiciable’, which implied that the affected people would have all issues sorted out before the projects were grounded. Serious human rights violations were noticed in some projects and the NHRC was taking appropriate action to ensure that the people were not put to hardship and they got their due for having their lives at stake.

Mr. Murthy said the NHRC was directly monitoring the status of implementation of human rights in 28 districts in India and it had active collaborations with various government departments, academic institutions and NGO to spread awareness about human rights. The NHRC members visit the districts and personally take stock of the situation vis-a-vis health care, education, custodial justice etc. The feedback was being sent to the Central Government to make necessary changes in its policies. The NHRC hasmulti-pronged approach to human rights issues so that a discernible change could be brought about in near future.

Asked to rate India’s human rights record, Mr. Murthy said it was better than that of many other countries which still did not have their own commissions. It was a continuous process which encountered multiple challenges that have to be collectively faced. The higher level of public awareness augurs well, he said and observed that there were no quick-fix solutions.

The NHRC was active and alert than ever before, he said.