Just after sworn in as the chief minister, Das had promised that tribal land would not be put on sale and their land rights would be protected. But now Das is burning midnight lamp to help Adani, the blue-eyed of his mentor Narendra Modi. In fact, the ground-level situation is Santhal Pargana has turned volatile and the tribals are ready to face the government onslaught. For the last two days the opposition has virtually forced the Jharkhand assembly not to perform.

While the adivasi activists have resorted to agitation and bandh, the opposition in the assembly forced the BJP government to put on hold its 2015 notification that pulled down land rates in six Santhal Pargana districts for helping Adani and other corporate groups.

Land acquisition is a sensitive issue in Jharkhand. Though Raghubar Das just after becoming the chief minister had announced that he would not allow usurpation of the tribal land, his new land acquisition bill, which he framed last year, has created a volatile situation in the state and a series of protests and bandhs have surfaced in Jharkhand.

Says an activist, “The five criteria that are there in the current bill make it easier for people to take our lands forcefully. The government says that we are taking the lands for janhit (public interest), then who is going to define this janhit. Now what we are trying to say is that whether your proposed bill is for public welfare or not, let the Gram sabha (village assembly) decide that and not the government. Since the central government is not there, the Gram sabha should decide whether it is for janhit or not. The government wants land for corporate purpose and they want to take the land in their own way; that is why they feel that these tribal areas present complications because of the opposition they face.”

For Das, “Land acquisition Act is the need of the hour. It will help speed up development” and those opposing the bill were “obstructionists” to rural development. Nevertheless realising the mood of the people and the intensity of the protest, Das announced on March 10, 'The government is putting on hold the notification (of land rates). We propose to form a high-level committee chaired by chief secretary Rajiv Gauba to work out details of land rates after meeting farmers and the masses of Santhal Pargana. The (Gauba) committee will work out new rates in the next 15 days.'

Ironically, this announcement is candid rejection of the deal the BJP government has finalized with the Adanis. There is lingering suspicion in the minds of the adivasi people and activists that Das was simply buying time. He is determined to help Adani by providing cheap Santhal Pargana land, especially in Godda district. The Gauba committee has nothing to offer afresh. It would simply make some changes in the report of the earlier committee headed by Amit Khare, state planning-cum-finance secretary. Last year, Khare’s committee had suggested rates of non-saleable Santhal Pargana plots to be acquired for industrial or other purposes. For Godda, it was fixed at Rs 2,715 per decimal, for Dumka Rs 3,268, for Deoghar Rs 3,268, for Jamtara Rs 3,268, for Pakur Rs 5,380 and for Sahebganj Rs 13,000. Before Khare committee came out with its suggestions, Godda district administration had suggested the rate to be around Rs 12,758 to Rs 28,944 per decimal.

Jharkhand BJP government had agreed to provide the land for setting up Adani’s thermal power plant either in Godda or Sahebganj. In fact the MoU has already been signed during the recent Make in India event in Mumbai. Under the agreement while 75 percent of the power generated here would be exported to Bangladesh and rest 25 per cent would be sold to Jharkhand. Incidentally Das has been under opposition fore for compromising the economic interest of Jharkhand for appeasing Adani. Else, the opposition argues, how could he ignore the rate of the land quoted by the Godda district administration and decide to hand over the land to Adani at a throw away price of Rs 3.25 lakh per acre?

In fact, in the wake of the Adani episode, the displaced tribals of the state have started taking to roads. Over 1,000 displaced adivasis of Bokaro, in protest damaged a slurry pipeline that left a portion of Bokaro Steel Plant inundated. The agitators were lathi-charged and taken into custody. The agitators under the banner of Visthapit Sangharsh Samiti began their stir demanding job for all displaced at the PSU.

The Adivasis of Jharkhand have been the worst victims of forced land eviction. According to the Ministry of Rural Development’s Annual Report 2004-2005, Jharkhand topped the list of adivasi land alienation with 86,291 cases involving 10,48,93 acres of land. More than 15 lakh people who were displaced in Jharia, Bokaro, and Ranchi are yet to get compensation.

Ever since BJP government came to power in the state, it has been quite responsive to the needs of the industrialists and corporate houses. Last year, Das had assured them that the land bank in Jharkhand would become operational from July 2016. Paradoxical it would sound that while the state BJP government held that all transfers of tribal land to non-tribals, or to people living outside the police station area concerned, that took place after 1999 were illegal, and promised action against officials, in reality it was maneouvering the provisions of the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act to bail the industrial units out.

Instituted by the British the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 restricts transfer of tribal land to non-tribals. So far, the CNT Act has been amended as many as 26 times, latest in 1995. It is listed in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, so the act is beyond judicial review. It can only be repealed by the Parliament; the state government can only make amendments to it. Currently over 20,000 cases of land restoration are pending across Jharkhand, pointing to the blatant violation of the Act. There is also a provision that the Government can withdraw land transfer if it is not used for industrial and public purposes like hospitals or schools. But there are numerous cases where the land was used otherwise.

Nevertheless in spite of the popular tribal protest and agitation the state government is going ahead with the formation of the land bank. The lands which are deposited with the bank are primarily owned by the tribals. Keeping in view the directives of the chief minister the government officials are busy collecting the land to ease doing business in the backdrop of the Union government’s directives. The state's top bureaucrat had been holding the meeting on industrial policy and promotions, discussing the Centre's 98 agendas to give a big push to industry.

A number of micro studies, research papers and government committees have documented the process and mode of alienation in Independent India. Land alienation can be divided into four categories: alienation in urban and rural areas as well as tribal to non-tribal and tribal-to-tribal alienation. The alienation ostensibly on the plea of “public purposes” has been very high and at the time most dangerous. The tribals are virtually rendered homeless. The lands taken under this public purpose are both for big and medium projects. Usually they are not properly compensated citing the element of disputes.

The amendment of the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act in 1947 for the purposes of urbanisation, industrialisation and various 'development' projects also deprived adivasis of their land. Indeed, the laws on land have all been misused, violated and interpreted against adivasis by policymakers, bureaucrats and non-adivasis. As recommended by the National Advisory Council constituted by the Government of India the state is required to play a proactive role in monitoring the restoration of lands to adivasis. But the successive Jharkhand governments willfully ignored this responsibility. (IPA Service)