In the early morning of October 1, at about 5 AM, four villagers were killed and a dozen others injured in a reported clash between the police and the villagers of Badkagaon village of Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand. According to media reports, the Police opened fire on the people, as they were demanding for the suspension of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) mining sites in Badkagaon, after promises of compensation and employment that had been made during the land acquisition had not been kept.  Moreover, contrary to the claim of the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and local MP, Jayant Sinha that “no land will be taken from anyone forcefully”, villagers allege their consent was never taken, violating the principle of free, prior and informed consent. Hence, the villagers have been sitting on a Dharna since September 15 of this year.

However, the villagers’ movement against the NTPC isn’t just a month old. They have been protesting against the irregularities and violations of land rights since 2004, when their multi-crop land was allotted to the company for mining. Similarly, the killing of villagers and the clash between the two sides is also not new. Concerning this project, in July 2013, a farmer was killed and four others were severely injured in police firing. In a similar case, on August 29 this year, two villagers had been killed during police firing in the neighbouring district of Ramgarh while protesting against pollution caused by the power plant, Inland Power Limited (IPL). In fact, the state has a long history of such incidents. In February 2001, within four months of formation of the state, eight tribal villagers were killed in police firing in Torpa block, then a part of Ranchi, the capital of the state.

Ironically, in all these cases, the victims or surviving families were hardly going to be a beneficiary of any of the energy or other things being produced out of it in the name of development. It’s well known fact that most of the villages or areas which provide energy or electricity to most of India live in conditions of near darkness, devoid of electricity and other basic facilities. If at all they get anything in return, these are large scale displacement, forced eviction, all kinds of pollution leading to serious health hazards and criminalization of the people and the area. Even government officials have acknowledged the fact that the levels of displacement have been high. “Studies of displacement and deprivation have been conducted in Orissa, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Goa, West Bengal and Assam. These studies show that displacement is high” reads a reference note (December 2013) of the Lok Sabha secretariat.

In Hazaribagh’s case, what is also interesting to note is that the land was acquired in the name of ‘public purpose’ (read ‘for a public limited company’) using Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act (CBA Act) and now being mined by two private companies, namely Thriveni Earthmovers and Sainik Mining. Here it is important to point out that under the CBA act it is not a requirement for the authorities to consult communities to be affected by the project. Moreover, if land is acquired under the CBA act, then it also exempted from the process of carrying out social impact assessments, a mandatory norm under the land acquisition law. However, there is a condition to the use of land acquired under the CBA act which is that has to be used for public purpose, which is been clearly violated in the current case. In other words, the government is using a clause of public purpose to promote private interest. What is of greater concern is that this is increasingly becoming the norm. It has been done through the back door, by way of creating joint ventures because there are strict norms for acquiring land for private purposes.  

Therefore, it is not surprising that villagers are opposing these ‘projects of development’ tooth and nail, often giving up their lives in the process. After all, it is not just connected to their livelihood but also the future of the coming generations. In the last few months, large-scale mobilisations have taken place in different parts of Jharkhand, opposing the move of land acquisitions and the dilution of progressive and pro-Adivasi laws such as the Santhal Pragana Tenancy Act (SPT Act) and Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (CT Act), two crucial legislations defining land transfer mechanism in the state. Likewise, protest meetings are also taking place against the policy of creation of Land banks at the district level. The idea behind the constitution of Land Bank is “to make the land available to intending entrepreneurs to overcome the delay in the land acquisition process”.

But the state government and its officials, instead of listening to the concerns of the people, are leaving no stone unturned in either killing the messengers or defaming these movements. Sample this statement of the state Chief Minister, Raghubar Das: “Christians behind protests”. In an interview with The Economic Times last month, the CM was reported to have said that, “There are parties that do not want tribals to progress; they want the tribals to remain poor, with no electricity. We are planning to bring development and progress, however those involved in conversions are opposed to this as they want the tribals to remain in the state that they are. If people remain poor, they can be easily converted.”

Even if one takes Das’s allegations as the gospel truth, the larger and fundamental question is this: whose development and at what cost?  Are more industries and mining going to bring progress to the tribals? The ground experience and empirical evidence, at least, show otherwise. According to Dayamani Barla, an anti- Displacement activist from the state, “After becoming a new state, the state government has displaced 80 per cent of Jharkhandis from their land only for the sake of development and within that, only 4.5 per cent have been relocated. The rest of the people are wandering in other big cities for their survival.”

In the Indian Labour & Employment Report 2014, prepared by the Institute for Human Development, Jharkhand stood sixteenth in the country on the Employment Situation Index. The report notes that, “(h)urdles like poor education infrastructure, alleged exploitation of mineral reserves, poor public health system, displacing people involved in menial jobs are some of the factors claimed to have halted the state’s march on the road of development. Also, discrimination between big corporate houses and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises is seen…as the reason for the state’s poor performance of ESI index.” Notably, in 16 years of its creation of the state, it has been mostly ruled (more than 10 years) by the current CM’s party, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), either directly or indirectly. Moreover, ever since it came into power, and this time with a full majority, their focus has been on single window clearance for industry in the name of sabka vikas.

In short, at the heart of these killings and violence lies the nexus of political power and corporate greed, which is aimed at the progress of a few, and tribals certainly don’t constitute these few. Hence, if the CM is really interested in seeing the tribals progress, the least he can do is to not deprive them of their essential sources of livelihood—Jal, Jangal and Jameen (water, forests and land).