India failed to ensure rights to poor: Rights body

New Delhi, June 8 (PTI) India has tried to achieve
economic progress while ensuring civil and political rights to
its people, but failed to secure the interests of urban and
rural poor opposing exploitation of their land for industrial
projects, a prominent rights body has claimed.

"India has tried to achieve economic progress while
maintaining a solid commitment to civil and political rights,"
UK-based Amnesty International stated in its annual report for
2009.

"But the country could not manage to ensure the rights of
urban poor and marginalised communities in rural areas,
including landless farmers and adivasi communities, who oppose
exploitation of their land and other resources for industrial
projects," it said.

The international body noted that in several states,
authorities "ignored" existing constitutional provisions by
allotting the lands demarcated exclusively as adivasi
territories to mining and other industries.

"In most (of these) cases communities were excluded
from the decision-making processes," it added.

While India experienced economic growth, a quarter of its
population, approximately 300 million people, 70 per cent of
whom were residing in rural areas, continued to live in
poverty, the rights body noted. PTI PKU
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