Skip to main content

Cancel Jindal project seeking to 'dispossess' people from forest land: Odisha govt told

By A Representative 
The civil rights group, Indian Community Activists Network (ICAN), commenting on the “barbaric” police action on the night of December 3 against the people of Dhinkia village, Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha, has said that the attack took place on people who were “peacefully protesting against the proposed project of JSW Utkal Steel Limited by forcefully acquiring their land.”
In a statement, it said, “Even as Odisha was bracing for the fury of Cyclone Jawad and people were being evacuated to shelters, the police attacked the village, attempted to arrest a leader of the protest, Debendra Swain, and injured four village residents who resisted them.”
According to ICAN, “This is an area where people’s resistance was successful against the State Government’s attempt to grab land for the project of the South Korean steel company POSCO. Now, in the name of development, the Biju Janata Dal government of Odisha is attempting a land grab on behalf of the Indian corporate Jindal, dispossessing people and depriving them of their livelihoods from betel, prawn and fruit cultivation.”
Stating that this area has forests on revenue land, on which, according to the Forest Rights Act, 2006, ICAN said, “The local people can have individual, community and community forest resource management rights under the aegis of their Gram Sabhas. Instead of decentralised, community-led development based on local natural resource-based livelihoods, the State government is seeking to violently impose a model of corporate-led development that will destroy natural resources and the livelihoods of local communities who manage these resources.”
Putting forth a series of demands, it said, the injured “must be provided medical treatment and compensation by the government”, action must be taken against the police personnel “involved in this grave violation of human rights”, the Forest Rights Act must be “implemented and management rights over the local natural resources be vested in the Gram Sabhas.”, and the “proposed project of Jindals in the area should be cancelled.”

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

100,000 dead, 4 million displaced: Myanmar's post-coup war grinds on as the junta loses ground

By Nava Thakuria*  At least 100,000 people, including civilians, have been killed in Myanmar's conflicts since the military coup of 1 February 2021, according to the UN. Kelley Anne Eckels-Currie, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, gave the figure to the UN General Assembly in New York on 27 October 2026. She called President Min Aung Hlaing a tyrant who still deliberately attacks civilians to force them into submission.
Post a Comment
»

Delhi’s waste-to-energy plants emit 3.5 times more carbon than coal, new report reveals

Counterview News  Centre for Financial Accountability exposes the “plastic paradox” and calls for an end to climate finance for incineration, urging a shift to genuine zero-waste systems *** A damning new report by the Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) and the National Alliance for Climate and Ecological Justice (NACEJ) has exposed the severe climate cost of waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration in India. Titled “The Climate Cost of Burning Waste,” the study reveals that Delhi’s WTE plants produce electricity that is significantly more carbon-intensive than coal, challenging the government’s classification of these facilities as "renewable" energy sources.
Post a Comment
»

Israel’s political deadlock: Arab parties may emerge as potential kingmakers

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  The final results of Israel’s recent general election have produced a deeply divided parliament, placing Arab-led political parties in a potentially decisive position in determining the country’s next government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing alliance have secured 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while the opposition alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot has won 48 seats. Arab-led parties have secured 19 seats. Since a majority of 61 seats is required to form a government, neither of the two main political blocs has the numbers needed to govern independently.
Post a Comment
»