Landless People Warn Govt of Fresh Protests (Kathmandu)

[struggle4progress]

THT Online
Kathmandu, September 17

The National Land Rights Forum (NLRF), in a press release issued on Saturday, warned the government that landless people would gherao the offices of political parties, stage chakkajam and announce other protest programmes on Sunday evening if the next round of talks with the government failed to address the 13-point demand put forth by the landless people. The landless would not call off their protests even during Dashain, it said ...

The forum also demanded that a high-level all-powerful commission, comprising the landless people and others, be formed to meet the demands put forth by the landless. The next round of talks are slated for Sunday ...

Demanding that four bighas be set as land ceiling for land owners, the NLRF demanded that at least 10 katthas of land be distributed to each household of freed bonded labourers, landless farmers, Haliyas, and other landless people.

It also called on the government to do away with the concept of the Land Bank, which was introduced by the royal government ...

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullstory.asp?filename=aFanata0va2qzpa4a1Va7a8a.axamal&folder=aHaoamW&Name=Home&dtSiteDate=20060917

gherao ... to surround and detain an official, employer, or manager, usually at the workplace, as a political or industrial protest
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_561509230/gherao.html

... chakkajam --- obstruction of vehicular movement ...
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:gLtdmCEtWO8J:www.southasianmedia.net/index_opinion.cfm%3Fcategory%3DSocial%2520sectors%26country%3DNEPAL+chakkajam+definition&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2&ie=UTF-8

kattha or katta
a traditional unit of land area in South Asia, equal to 20 dhurs or 1/20 bigha. Like the bigha, the kattha varied in size from one region to another. In Nepal, where the unit is still in use, the kattha equals about 338 square meters or 442 square yards
http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictK.html