Press Release: Nation-wide condemnation of deployment of security forces in Mikir Bamuni, Assam

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May 11, 2021, 12:13:19 PM5/11/21
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PRESS STATEMENT CONDEMNING SECURITY FORCES DEPLOYMENT IN MIKIR BAMUNI, ASSAM

 

11th May, 2021: Academics, activists, students, lawyers, filmmakers, and concerned citizens from Assam, North- East and across the country strongly condemn the deployment of security forces in the midst of a raging pandemic in Mikir Bamuni Grant, Nagaon district, Assam to push forward the construction of Azure Power's solar power plant in an atmosphere of terror and fear on land forcibly taken over from cultivating farmers.

 

They call upon the Govt of Assam to immediately:


a. Withdraw state security personnel from the village and its surrounding areas.


b. Stop construction work on Azure Power’s solar power plant until the contested claims over the land have been settled and halt the forceful land grab.

 

c. Return the land to the cultivating adivasi and karbi farmers.


d. Take action against all state officials who have submitted false reports regarding cultivation and tenancy rights in Mikir Bamuni Grant

 

The full text of the statement with the list of signatories is below. Kindly publish the same through your media portal.


Contact for details:  Ph: 84869 44483 | E-mail: delhisolid...@gmail.com




FULL TEXT OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY STATEMENT BELOW: 


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

11th May 2021: 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




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Condemnation of police deployment - Statement on Mikir Bamuni.pdf
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