Skip to main content

Corporate-police 'nexus' behind Odisha tribal houses demolition for steel plant project

By Our Representative 

A New Delhi-based civil rights group called Forum Against Corporatization And Militarization (FACAM), protesting against what it calls “corporate loot” of Dhinkia village through “brute military force”, has said that just like the South Korean giant POSCO, forced to pull back following protests by Odisha tribals, an Indian corporate house, Jindal Steel Works (JSW) is now seeking “transfer of around 1,174 hectares of land for its 65,000-crore steel plant project.
Giving details, quoting villagers, FACAM alleged, on October 22, a private militia of the mining giant led by one of its top executives and assisted by the local police “stormed the village and demolished 20 houses.”
“Media persons were not allowed to document the demolition and a boy was beaten, detained and threatened with dire consequences just for recording the brutal corporate-state repression”, FACAM said in a statement, adding. “The houses were demolished without any notice and people were any chance to collect their valuables.”
Stating that this has not happened with the people of the village or the Jagatsinghpur taluka of which it is a part, FACAM said, it has been “centre of struggle against mining giants for a decade”, pointing out how it “strongly resisted state repression and pushed back South Korean mining giant POSCO in 2017, foiling its plan to set up a 12 million-tonne capacity steel project at the site with an investment of Rs 52,000 crore.”
“Now”, it said, “They are fighting against the transfer of around 1,174 hectares of land for JSW’s 65,000-crore steel plant to produce 13.2 million tonnes of steel per annum.”
Last year in January, the statement said, people resistance against “Jindal’s land grab of resources”, when 500 personnel of armed police and paramilitary stormed the villages of Dhinkia and beating and badly injuring more than 40 people, including women, old and children.”
Rolling out names of those who were arrested, the statement said, these included Debendra Swain, a local village leader, and activists Prakash Raut, Gautam Das, Sanatan Kandi and Pradeep Satpathy, all of whom continue to be in prison.
Insisting that villages of Jagatsinghpur fall under schedule fifth of the Constitution and the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) is in force there, FACAM said, “Both have been violated, adding, “fake” gram sabhas are being held to “allow” land acquisition, even when people are “not ready for corporate loot of their resources.”
Claiming that a similar repression is happening in Mali and Deo Mali in Odisha; Surjagarh in Maharashtra; Rowghat, Hasdeo and Amdai Ghati in Chhattisgarh; and villages in and around Parsnath Hills in Jharkhand, FACAM demanded that “land grab” in Dhinkia should stop, company staff and police officers responsible for the October 22 incident should be tried, arrested activists and leaders should be released immediately unconditionally, and fake gram sabhas for “implementing” PESA should be not be held.

Comments

TRENDING

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra*  The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Victim of communal violence, Christians in Manipur want Church leadership to speak up

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  The first eleven days of May 2023 have, in many ways, been a defining period of Indian history! Plenty has happened in a rapid-fire stream of events. Ironically, each one of them are indicators of how crimes and the criminalisation of society has become the ‘new norm’; these include, the May Day rallies with a focus on the four labour codes which are patently against the rights of workers; the U S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its Annual Report on 1 May stating that conditions for religious freedom in India “continued to worsen in 2022”; the continued protest by the Indian women wrestlers at Jantar Mantar for the expulsion of the chief of the Indian Wrestlers Federation on very serious allegations; the Elections in Karnataka on 10 May (with communalism and corruption as the mainstay); the release of the fake, derogative and insensitive film ‘The Kerala Story’; the release of World Free Press Index on 3 May which places India

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Polygamy in India "down" in 45 yrs: Muslims' from 5.7 to 2.55%, Hindus' 5.8 to 1.77%, "common" in SCs, STs

By Rajiv Shah Amidst All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) justifying polygamy, saying it “meets social and moral needs and the provision for it stems from concern and sympathy for women”, facts suggest the the practice is down from 5.7 per cent of Muslim families in 1961 to 2.55 per cent in 2006.

Modi govt 'wholly untrustworthy' on Covid data, censored criticism on pandemic: Lancet

By Rajiv Shah*   One of the world’s most prestigious health journals, brought out from England, has sharply criticised the Narendra Modi government for being “wholly untrustworthy on Covid-19 health data”, stating, the “official government figures place deaths at more than 530 000, while WHO excess death estimates for 2020 and 2021 are near 4·7 million.”

Undermining law, breastfeeding? Businesses 'using' celebrities to promote baby food

By Rajiv Shah*  A report prepared by the top child welfare NGO, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), has identified as many as 15 offenders allegedly violating the Indian baby food law, the Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1992, and Amendment Act 2003 (IMS Act), stating, compliance with the law “seems to be dwindling by the day.”

Delhi demolitions for G-20 summit: Whither sabka saath, sabka vikas?, asks NAPM

By Our Representative  Well-known civil rights network, National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), even as expressing solidarity with “thousands of traumatized residents of Tughlakabad and some other bastis in New Delhi whose homes have been demolished and whose lives have been ravaged both prior to as well as in the lead-up to the G-20 Summit”, has said this is in utter disregard to “their minimum well-being and gross violation of their rights.”

'Misleading' Lancet estimates on zero food intake in infants, young children of India

By Srinivas Goli, Shalem Balla, Harchand Ram*  India is one of the world's hotspots for undernourished children, both in terms of prevalence and absolute numbers. Successive rounds of National Family Health Surveys ( NFHS ) have revealed that the progress observed since the early 1990s is far from what is expected when compared to the country's economic growth.

Greater reasons for Asia to unite than Europe, 'overcome' costly hostilities, political egos

By Dr S Faizi*  Europe, once a theatre of internecine wars, now has a robust European Union shaping the common destiny of its people. Although Europe is only a subcontinent of Asia as Arnold Toynbee had observed and as is visible to anyone looking at a map, we still not have a common Asian platform for economic and political cooperation.  It is high time Asia had its well mandated regional organisation to secure a common Asian future, ending the costly hostilities and political egos. We can have the Asian Union even when the bilateral hostilities, unique to Asia, refuse to go away completely.