Top Jharkhand tribal activist "offloaded" at Delhi airport, was to attend workshop on environment, politics in UK

Gladson Dungdung

By A Representative
In a second controversial incident of “offloading” at the Delhi International Airport, young tribal human rights defender, Gladson Dungdung, who happens to be general secretary, Jharkhand Human Rights Movement (JHRM), Ranchi, was on Monday morning not allowed to board the Air India Delhi-London Flight AI 115.
One of the most activist tribal human rights activists in his region, Dungdung was going to London to attend the Workshop on Environmental History and Politics of South Asia, which was to be held in the University of Sussex, UK on May 10.
The officials at the airport, according to Dungdung, told him that since his passport had been impounded in 2013, hence they would need to send it to the regional passport office, Ranchi, for verification, before being allowed to fly abroad.
However, Dungdung suspected the reason lay elsewhere, He said, “The fact is that my passport was impounded in 2013 and returned to me after proper verification in 2014.” Thereafter, he attended a couple of international conferences in Denmark and London in 2014 and 2015 subsequently, “but there was no issue at all.”
“Therefore”, he pointed out, “I am sure, this is a clear impact of my book ‘Mission Saranda: A War for Natural Resources in India’.”

"Offloaded" remark on Dungdung's ticket

The book, it is well known, is based on Dungdung’s travel to the so-called Red Corridor of India, offering a plethora of evidence to prove that the state-sponsored effort to curb Naxalism in Jharkhand is actually a war against the Adivasis to snatch their resources – lands, forests, water, hills and minerals — in one of the densest forests of India, rich in its biodiversity with an extraordinary variety of wildlife.
In a Facebook post, Dungdung said, “The centre of the war is mineral resources, which I am able to establish through my mission to Saranda forest”, adding, “While defaulters of millions of rupees like Vijay Mallya cannot be offloaded, activists like me are bound to be offloaded.”
“However, my fight for the adivasis' ownership rights over the Natural resources, Adivasi identity, human rights, ecology, and against unjust development processes will continue till they take away my right to life forever… Jai Adivasi”, he concluded.

Priya Pillai

In January 2015, senior Greenpeace India campaigner Priya Pillai was “offloaded” at Delhi airport from a flight to London where she was scheduled to make a presentation before British MPs regarding alleged human rights violation in the Mahan region of Madhya Pradesh, where coalmining is rampant.
Pillai was told by the immigration officer that he couldn’t fly out of the country, even though she had a valid six-month visa. When she sought the reason, a senior officer at the airport told her that she was on a database issued by the Government of India of individuals who can’t fly out of the country.
Later, in March 2015, the Delhi High Court ordered to expunge the “offload”remark from the passport of Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai, and remove her name from a database and allow her to travel abroad.
Stating that the right of free speech and expression “necessarily includes the right to criticise and dissent”, Justice Rajiv Shakdher, in a 39-page order, said: “Criticism, by an individual, may not be palatable; even so, it cannot be muzzled."

He added, "Many civil right activists believe that they have the right, as citizens, to bring to the notice of the state the incongruity in the developmental policies of the state. The state may not accept the views of the civil right activists, but that by itself, cannot be a good enough reason to do away with dissent.”
---
Click HERE to download Dungdung’s book “Mission Saranda”

Comments

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

The 'glass cliff' at Galgotias: How a university’s AI crisis became a gendered blame game

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan* “She was not aware of the technical origins of the product and in her enthusiasm of being on camera, gave factually incorrect information.” These were the words used in the official press release by Galgotias University following the controversy at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi. The statement came across as defensive, petty, and deeply insensitive.

The Galgotia model: How India is losing the war on knowledge

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Galgotia is the face of 'quality education' as envisioned by those who never considered education a tool for social change or national uplift — and yet this is precisely the model Narendra Modi pursued in Gujarat as Chief Minister. In the mid-eighties, when many of us were growing up, 'Nirma' became one of the most popular advertisements on Doordarshan. Whether the product was any good hardly seemed to matter.

Bangladesh goes to polls as press freedom concerns surface

By Nava Thakuria* As Bangladesh heads for its 13th Parliamentary election and a referendum on the July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus has urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests and prioritize the greater interests of the Muslim-majority nation, regardless of the poll outcomes.

Search This Blog