people from their lands – causing them not only to lose their homes and sources of livelihood but also shattering their culture and kinship linkages built over several generations. Businesses undertake large-scale displacement of rural families without rehabilitation owing to their interests in Special Economic Zones (SEZs). For large infrastructure projects, including dams, ports, mines, and environmental conservation projects, large and tax-free areas are designated as such. Majority of resource-rich areas are inhabited by indigenous peoples who face the onslaught of natural resource extraction projects. States like Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and the north-eastern States of Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Tripura, in particular, face acute threats of displacement due to such projects. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act of 2006, aimed at recognizing rights of forest dwellers, is not being adequately implemented and many tribals are being denied their right to forest resources. Rehabilitation measures extended to affected communities have been unsatisfactory and inadequate. The living conditions of those displaced remain deplorable, characterized even by lack of basic facilities. Since the early 2000s India has witnessed an alarming number of farmer suicides with a baseline of 15,000 each year primarily due to indebtedness and agrarian distress. Hunger among the producers of food is a reality in a country that ranks second worldwide in farm production. Liberalized trade, patenting of agricultural products, and the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) under the draft Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, could further aggravate India’s food crisis. It is because of these factors weighing heavy upon the basic human rights of the farmers that a comprehensive Business and Human Rights (BHR) framework is required in India’s agricultural sector. In keeping with the context of the three pillars of UNGP BHR: 1. There is an urgent need for the State to take responsibility to protect the human rights of the marginalized farmers and tribals against abuse by third parties. As there is a lack of a legal framework and zero accountability, business enterprises continue with the rampant exploitation. There is a need for the State to have a framework wherein it can prevent, investigate, punish, and redress the abuse by private actors. ANGOC and KPA 45

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