Ektha Parishad to protest for bringing in land reforms

Ektha Parishad, a Gandhian organisation, will hold a two-day protest this weekend at Jantar Mantar here to urge the government to speed up the process for bringing in land reforms and address the issues of the poor.
The protest, led by its president P V Rajagopal, comes against the backdrop of allegations that the government has not fulfilled all the demands on land reforms in the six months period as per the agreement signed between the Central government and Ekta Parishad in October last year.
"Land lobbyists and land mafia are there in the country. There are enough land in every state of the country and unless there is a political will nothing is going to happen," Rajagopal told reporters while announcing the protest plan.

He said the country has its 70 per cent population dependent on land and strict land reforms can only help eradicate poverty and bring development.
"Our agenda is to ensure restoration, regularisation, redistribution and protection of land. Government had signed a pact with us promising to fulfil some of our demands within six months of time. Some demands have been met but a few remain untouched," he said.
Announcing their further plans, he said as the six-month period has expired with the demands left unfulfilled, on April 13 and 14 there will be a huge protest at Raj Ghat, Jantar Mantar and a march to the Parliament has also been planned.

Over 5,000 people are expected to join the protest.
In October last year, the Centre had agreed to frame a National Land reforms Policy having statutory backing on the lines of MNREGA, bowing to demand of thousand of activists who marched towards Delhi to Gwalior. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh had signed an agreement with Rajagopal then.