OneWorld.net (U.S.)

NEW DELHI, Apr 28 (OneWorld) - Nearly 2,000 people marched Friday under Delhi's blazing summer sun to protest government policies that are causing people to lose their homes and land across India in the name of economic development.

The marchers submitted a memorandum to Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam seeking to stop construction work on a controversial dam until displaced locals are properly compensated and calling for a national law to prevent other government-sponsored projects from displacing people from their homes in the future without proper compensation.

India boasts one of the world's fastest growing economies, but vast numbers still live below the poverty line in what is also the world's second most populous country.

More than 20 Delhi-based groups organized Friday's protest to show solidarity with the people of the Narmada River Valley in central India who have been forced out of their houses and off their farm lands by the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam and are still awaiting long-promised compensation.

Recent demonstrations led by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Campaign to Save Narmada, or NBA) spurred Delhi NGOs to march Friday to highlight the larger cause of people being driven from their homes because of "beautification drives" in cities and the setting up of industrial projects in rural areas.

The Delhi NGOs have aligned themselves under the banner of Delhi Support Group (DSG) for NBA.

"All that we want the government to do is to be more humane in its approach. If displacement of people has to be done, it should not happen without proper rehabilitation," said Sri Prakash from the Indian Social Action Forum, which is part of the DSG.

The marchers wore slogans on their bodies and carried large banners, covering a distance of about four kilometers (2.5 miles), all the while shouting slogans and singing songs. Many came from the Narmada Valley while a majority were from slums in different parts of Delhi.

"We believe that big and centralized projects do not benefit people," said Kamla Bhasin from the South Asian Network of Gender Activists and Trainers. "These benefit governments, big technologies, and bigger people. Smaller projects, particularly those related to water, are ecologically sound, people-centered, and work for the benefit of communities."

According to Shivani Chaudhry from the Housing and Land Rights Network, "All over the country it is the same issue. Farmers are being removed from the Narmada Valley, tribals are being displaced from the east Indian state of Orissa and slum dwellers' houses are being demolished in Mumbai. This kind of development is perverse development."

The marchers gathered at Raj Ghat--where the leader of the Indian freedom movement Mahatama Gandhi was cremated--as a symbolic gesture. "We are starting the protest march from Raj Ghat because Mahatama Gandhi was a leader of non-violence and advocated democratic protest," one of the speakers shouted over a megaphone.

The memorandum submitted to the President said: "The poor citizens have left their native villages to come to Delhi and Mumbai in search of a job, shelter, education for children, and a minimal home. Now Delhi wants to become a Paris and Mumbai wants to become a Shanghai. Everywhere the poor citizens of India are being swept off into the dustbin of history. Where can they go, for a second time?"

In their appeal to the president, the groups said that there should be an immediate halt to the demolitions of slums in Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata, India's three largest cities, which each have populations of more than 12 million. The government should also allow people their age-old traditional livelihood alternatives like local bazaars, weekly bazaars, and vendors without these being considered a blemish on the new Master Plan, the groups said.