STOP THE FORCEFUL LAND GRAB OF ADIVASI AND KARBI FARMERS FOR SOLAR POWER PLANT

CONDEMN AZURE POWER’S ENTRY INTO MIKIR BAMUNI GRANT WITH HEAVY DEPLOYMENT OF CRPF PERSONNEL IN THE MIDST OF INDIA’S WORST PHASE OF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

WE DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL OF STATE SECURITY PERSONNEL FROM THE VILLAGE

STOP THE FORCEFUL LAND GRAB OF ADIVASI AND KARBI FARMERS

For more than a year Karbi and Adivasi farmers of Mikir Bamuni Grant village in Nagaon district have been fighting to protect their lands, forcibly taken over by Azure Power Forty Private Limited for building a solar power plant. The land in question was cleared and cultivated by the ancestors of these farmers for generations. Further, they possess inheritable occupancy rights to the land in the form of a khatiyan that was issued to their families in 1981. Ignoring their rights, the land was sold by descendants of the original land grant holder to Azure Power in August 2020. While multiple title suits challenging Azure Power’s claims to ownership over the land are ongoing in Nagaon district court, and the land stands as disputed land, Azure Power has refused to take into account the gross violations involved in sale of the land to them. The land in question was sold to Azure Power by 8 family members of the descendants of the grant holder of Mikir Bamuni Grant. This was done in gross violation of the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act 1956, by transferring 276 bighas of land to a single family, even as the ceiling limits it to not more than 50 bighas. It was further done without first settling the rights of tenant cultivators to the land, as held under the Assam (Temporarily Settled Areas) Tenancy Act 1971. These two key legislations that aim to democratise land ownership in Assam and ensure land to the tiller have been blatantly ignored, violated and trampled on, in order to unlawfully place the land exclusively in the hands of the landowner, who had no right to sell the land to Azure Power in the first place. 

On at least two occasions the protesting farmers have been jailed for voicing their protest against this forceful takeover of the land under heavily police and the use of violence against them. On 8 October 2020, as Azure Power took possession of the land, once again under heavy police protection and after razing nearly 200 bighas of ripened paddy crop, 14 people were arrested and remanded to judicial custody to be released only 12 days later. On 29 December, while villagers resisted construction work on their lands, 4 people were arrested after a brutal midnight raid that night and were kept in jail for 63 days. In contrast, no action has been taken against the Lat Mandal who gave a false report that states the land in question has not been under cultivation for the last 10 years. The government’s Census data exposes this lie and clearly indicates Mikir Bamuni Grant is an agrarian village. No action has been taken against the Samaguri Revenue Circle Officer or Deputy Commissioner of Nagaon District who did not settle the rights of the tenant cultivators before placing the land exclusively in the hands of the landholders. Ignoring all the violations involved in the transfer of land to Azure Power, the company has repeatedly used state security forces to bulldoze their way into the village, grab the land, and terrorise the villagers into accepting the power plant. In the latest brazen use of violence to carry out their project, on 10 May 2021, in the middle of the worst peak of the coronavirus pandemic Azure Power has re-entered the village backed with heavy deployment of CRPF to once again terrorise villagers and suppress their right to protest against the theft of their land through coercion, violence and fear. Moreover, they have jeopardised the safety and security of all residents of Mikir Bamuni Grant by bringing in large number of outsiders at a time when the whole country is reeling from the debilitating impacts of pandemic. 

We demand:

• an immediate withdrawal of the security personnel from Mikir Bamuni Grant village and its surrounding areas
• stop construction work on Azure Power’s solar power plant until the contested claims over the land have been settled
• return the land to the cultivating farmers
• take action against all state officials who have submitted false reports regarding cultivation and tenancy rights in Mikir Bamuni Grant

Signed, 

1. Virginius Xaxa, Academic, Formerly with Delhi University
2. Aditya Nigam, Academic, CSDS, Delhi
3. Holiram Terang, Political activist, Assam
4. Amit Bhaduri, Former Professor Emeritus, JNU, Delhi
5. Madhu Bhaduri 
6. Ashok Choudhary, All India Union of Forest Working People 
7. Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan and NAPM
8. Soumya Dutta, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha, Delhi
9. Prafulla Samantara, Lokshakti Abhiyan, Odisha
10. K.P. Fabian, Former Ambassador
11. Ashish Kothari, Environmental researcher, Pune
12. Apurba Kumar Baruah, Retd. Professor, Northeast Hill University, Shillong
13. Santanu Borthakur, Advocate, Gauhati High Court
14. Pranab Doley, Jeepal Krishak Shramik Sangha, Assam
15. Manas Das, Assam Majoori Shramik Union (NTUI)
16. Gautam Mody, New Trade Union Initiative
17. Sanjay Barbora, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati
18. Ramanand Wangkheirakpam, Coordinator, Indigenous Perspectives, Manipur
19. Bonojit Hussain, Farmer and researcher, Assam
20. Tarun Bhartiya, Image maker, Raiot Collective
21. Soneswar Narah, Jeepal Krishak Shramik Sangha and IPTA, Assam
22. Amrapali Basumatary, Assistant professor, Kirorimal College, University of Delhi
23. Vasundhara Jairath, Assistant Professor, IIT Guwahati, Assam
24. Raju Deori, Advocate and tribal social activist, Assam
25. Meera Sanghamitra, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)
26. Balindra Saikia, Krishok Mahasabha, Assam
27. Praveen Jha, Professor, JNU, Delhi
28. Sandeep Pandey, Socialist Party (India)
29. Dolly Kikon, Anthropologist, University of Melbourne, Australia
30. Paresh Malakar, Intellectual and publisher, Guwahati
31. Sarat Phukan, Professor, Gauhati University
32. Vani Subramanian, Independent filmmaker
33. Hiren Gandhi, Darshan, Gujarat
34. Saroop Dhruv, Darshan, Gujarat
35. Rashmi Rekha Borah, Writer, Assam
36. Nikhileswar Baruah, Artist, Assam
37. Nakul Singh Sawhney, Filmmaker, Delhi
38. Neha Dixit, Journalist, Delhi
39. Amit Baishya, Faculty, University of Oklahoma
40. Amit Kumar, Student, Faculty of Law, Delhi University
41. Sriparna Bandopadhyay, Assistant Professor, IIT Guwahati
42. Biswajit K Bora, Academic, Delhi University 
43. Jagmohan Singh, All India Forum for Right to Education
44. Soibam Haripriya, Postdoctoral fellow, Dept. of Conflict and Development Studies, Ghent University, Belgium
45. Vimal Bhai, National Alliance of People’s Movements
46. Dr. Neeti Bhai, NAPM Varanasi
47. Pamela Philipose, Journalist
48. Tanvi GS, Student
49. Firoz, Teacher
50. Sanjay Kak, Filmmaker
51. Samar Bagchi, NAPM West Bengal
52. Usharani Acharya, Retd. Professor, Berhmpur University
53. Jennifer, Dalit Camera 
54. Ashwin Lobo, Environment Support Group, Bangalore
55. Eric Pinto, NAPM Goa
56. Salil Joshi, NAPM
57. Suhas Kolhekar, Social activist, NAPM 
58. Aysha, Right to Food Campaign 
59. Arundhati Dhuru, NAPM
60. KJ Joy, Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India
61. Madhuri, Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan 
62. Nisha Biswas, Activist
63. Uttam, Visual artist
64. Debal Deb, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies
65. Mita Deutta, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies
66. Shefali Saini, TISS Mumbai
67. Shyam Narayan Bharti, TISS 
68. Noihrit Gogoi, Student, Ramjas College, Delhi University
69. Dayasagar Kalita, Jatiya Itihas, Assam
70. Shilpi Shikha, Student
71. Trishita Shandilya, Research scholar
72. Shruti, Student, Cotton University, Assam
73. Debajit Rajbangshi, Citizen
74. Nilanju, Independent activist
75. Kennet Moses Arul, Lawyer
76. Shrestha Chowdhury, Environment Support Group, Bangalore
77. Indukamal Bhuyan, Student, Dept. of Political Science, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh
78. Raj Shekhar Nath, Intern, Journalist, TheSocialTalk
79. Shankar SR, Research scholar and journalist
80. Debarti, NAPM
81. Bidisha Barman, Activist, Assam
82. Tani Alex, Delhi
83. Kamal Nayan Misra, Prerona Puthibhoral (Library), Nalbari, Assam
84. Aruna Rodrigues, Founder, Sunray Harvesters
85. Kavita Kowshik, Swaraj India
86. Mehzebin Rahman, YUVA, Assam
87. Mijanur Rahman SK, Centre for Relief and Rehabilitation
88. Aniruddha Bora, Public Health Professional
89. Sima Saikia, Social worker
90. Dishanka Gogoi, Graduate student, Anthropology, University of California, Merced, USA
91. Julina Kashyap, Research scholar
92. Amod Shah, PhD researcher
93. Parmod, Concerned individual
94. Priyadarshi, Citizen of Union of India
95. Ramnarayan, Nature Educator, Uttarakhand
96. Sana Haque, Environment Support Group, Bangalore
97. Pracarsh Rastogi, Ashoka University, Delhi
98. Navrose, Ally
99. Napoleon S Mawphniang, Entrepreneur
100. Persis Ginwalla, Ahmedabad
101. Tanvi Krishnakumar, Student, Ashoka University
102. Sudha N, Researcher-activist
103. SP Yadav, Social worker
104. Abha, Student
105. Himansu Sekhar Fatesingh, Adani DAV Public School
106. Geeta K
107. Shewli Kumar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
108. Akriti Singh
109. Vikash Shivram
110. Kailash Anerao, Save Environment Save Earth 
111. Tara Murali 
112. Girija Godbole, IIT Bombay, Mumbai
113. Pushkar Kulkarni, Citizen
114. Tara Rai, Democracy Collective
115. Nayanjyoti, Delhi University
116. Akash Basumatari, Filmmaker
117. Rakesh Agarwal, Independent writer and researcher
118. Anjali Dalmia, Student, Activist, Yugma Network and NAPM 
119. Geeta Sahu, Housewife, Nature lover
120. Sharanya, Rangmatipadar Commune, Koraput, Odisha
121. Rajaraman Sundaresan, Rangmatipadar Adivasi Commune, Koraput, Odisha
122. Hans Raj Jakhu, Dalit NRI
123. AK Dave, Activist
124. Chitra, Mumbai
125. Abhijit Chakraborty, All India Youth Federation
126. Sandhya Lakshmi Chella, Citizen
127. Samira Nadkarni
128. Mrinal Borah, Students Federation of India
129. Nuchiso, Social workers
130. Reema Shah
131. Deepika Joshi, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Chhattisgarh
132. Abha, One Billion Rising
133. Bitupan Gogoi, All India Students’ Federation
134. Saumya, Aatmanirbhar berozgaar
135. Vignesh Nayak
136. Kul Bhushan Upmanyu, Himalaya Bachao Samiti, Kamla Chamba
137. Pavithra Raghavan
138. Sunil Hembram
139. Bittu KR, Karnataka Janashakti
140. Ashfaque EJ, Independent journalist
141. Sushma, Grassroutes Journeys
142. Dr. Sanjay Mangala Gopal, National Convenor, National Alliance of People’s Movements
143. Putul Sathe, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai
144. Smruthi Ananth, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
145. Puloma Pal, Film Editor
146. Nidhi
147. Prabir Banerjee, PondyCAN
148. Preeti Mehra, Independent journalist
149. Kalyani Menon Sen, Independent researcher
150. Bebaak Collective 
151. Roshmi Goswami, South Asians For Human Rights 
152. Sushil Khanna, Professor (Retd), Indian Institute of Management Calcutta 
153. Sharmila, IIT Bombay
154. Angshuman Sarma, Research scholar, JNU, Delhi
155. Bondita Acharya, Human rights activist, Assam