The Bokaro Grameen Raiyat Adhikar Morcha (Bokaro Rural Landowners Rights Front) organised a huge rally and general assembly in Bokaro Steel City (Jharkhand) on 10 January 2023. The rally began from Naya More after garlanding the statue of Birsa Munda. The rally, attended by displaced people from 20 maujas (a cluster of villages), culminated into a huge general assembly outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

The rally and the assembly was addressed by former MP from Bankura Basudeb Acharia, former MLA from Nirsa Arup Chatterji, Haldhar Mahto (general secretary, Marxist Co-ordination Committee), DC Gohain (Jharkhand Krantikari Majdur Union), Bacha Singh (Convenor, Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha) and others. The leaders demanded recognition of the rights of the villagers of 20 maujas from the government and administration.

The people of these 20 displaced maujas of Bokaro (Jharkhand) are fighting for their land rights since the last 5 decades. Generation after generation of these villages have fought against the unjust acquisition of their land by the government. Governments have changed; their villages which once belonged to Bihar are now in the jurisdiction of Jharkhand state, but their struggle rages on.

Political parties of all shades have supported the struggle of these people at some point or the other. But once in power, they have either ignored the issues of the displaced or have made it worse.

According to Arbind Kumar, youth leader of the Bokaro Grameen Raiyat Adhikar Morcha, Bokaro Steel Plant and city was built in the 1960s after acquiring lands in these areas. Hundreds of villages were displaced, and forest and community land was diverted for this mega-project.
These acquisitions happened on the basis of the draconian 1894 Land Acquisition Act. While, many villages were rehabilitated or compensated, villages of these 20 maujas who are protesting till today were left out of the process.

These villages initially received some meagre compensation but were left to fend for themselves after the plant was built. The villagers continued to live in their original villages. In 1973, the administration of the Bokaro Steel Plant declared that they don’t need the land of these villages anymore as they already had surplus land. 

But, despite declaring these lands as surplus, raiyats (landowners) from these villages like Kundori, Shibutand, Pachora, Baidmara, Basteji, Agardih, Pipratand, Mahuad etc. were never returned their legal ownership.
This is the root of their problems. While on the surface, rural inhabitants continue to live and work in these areas, their land rights are not officially recognised. As a result, new controversies keep erupting every now and then.

On 24 September 2022, 16 houses were demolished in Dhangari village for expansion of railway line by railway authorities. Protests of villagers against these demolitions were dealt with severe police repression. Railways authorities claimed that the land was given to them by Bokaro Steel administration. The people living in these houses were deemed as “illegal encroachers”.

Protestors have fought tooth and nail against this bureaucratic conspiracy and have started an indefinite strike in the village. Additionally, they have filed a legal case and continue to meet both railway and Bokaro Steel officials.
The rally and assembly of 10 January 2023 was another attempt by these villagers to raise their plight in front of the government. The fate of these villagers hangs in uncertainty. Under the banner of Bokaro Grameen Raiyat Adhikar Morcha and with support of Left organisations, they have presented a charter of demands:

• To restore the status of these areas as villages under Panchayat system.
• To return legal ownership of unused land to rightful raiyats according to land laws of the country.
• To give these villagers identity proofs of income, residence, and caste certified by higher authorities.
• To restore these villages on government maps that currently shows these areas as unoccupied.

The plight of the 20 maujas of Bokaro, their resilient struggle and reasonable demands are a lesson for the future of India. They serve as an example of the consequences of mindless urbanization at the cost of rural lands and livelihoods. This issue also reveals the complex relation between land rights and citizenship.
According to Kamaluddin Khan, committed social activist and member of the Bokaro Grameen Raiyat Adhikar Morcha, these villagers have become aliens in their own land. The government can come and demolish their houses without any due process like they did on 24 September.

Khan asked that if the railway authorities and local administration have the power to surround them with armed police, why they can’t show us the papers that were required by the law? Repeated requests by the displaced villagers to railway authorities and local administration for adequate papers and documents have not been met.

Members of the the Bokaro Grameen Raiyat Adhikar Morcha have demanded that officials who were engaged in this illegal demolition must be suspended as they have failed to show any evidence that they have followed the due process of law.

Courtesy: counterview.net

The post Jharkhand displacement: Bokaro villagers continue their five-decades-old struggle appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Telegraph reported as many as four persons were killed and over 500 injured in Hazaribagh on Sunday, as Ram Navami procession clashes again became an excuse to settle scores, fan inter-community passions and go amok on roads, prompting the district administration to impose an indefinite curfew starting from 8pm Friday.

The violence broke out that had begun on Friday broke out, once again, in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand on Sunday during another Ramnavmi procession. Processionists were the playing a banned cassette that contained objectionable and provocative slogans that triggered the violence, veteran civil and political rights activist, Razi Ahmed of the CPI, a resident of Hazaribagh, told Sabrangindia today. “The cassette played by processionists blared slogans like “Mussalmanon Bhag Jao Pakistan with unmentionable and obscene swear words especially for Muslims—some of these do not bear repetition,” he added  added.

Though akhara rally, with flags, spears, swords, maces and sticks started hitting the streets from 10 pm on Saturday through Sunday, skirmishes between akharas took a serious turn around 4am. At a rally at Jadu Babu Chowk, Sonu, the 28-year-old son of prominent BJP leader Deepak Nath Sahay, allegedly stabbed to death Anuj Kumar Sinha (19), a school van owner. Apparently, Sonu stabbed Anuj nine times in the stomach over an altercation, though the cause of his murderous rage is not yet known.

Sonu, his wife and son are absconding from their Lower Bodom Bazam mohalla home. Another victim, Saurabh Kumar alias Prince (14), a Class IX student of DAV and son of BJP Kisan Morcha leader, died instantly when he was stabbed and hit by a sharp object on the head. Prima facie, it appeared that Prince, who had come to see a Ram Navami rally, was attacked as his family in Vishnupur mohalla had an ongoing dispute with neighbours.

In the afternoon of Sunday, the body of one Bhairav Gope (55), a resident of Mohdar, was recovered from the place of an inter-community clash at Lepo Road, but DIG Upendra Kumar said it was due to an inter- akhara clash.

Lepo Road, however, was witness to ugly scenes when members of one community pelted stones at a passing procession of the Rewali Club and the latter retaliated by attacking a nearby mosque, which snowballed into a full-blown fight. According to sources, people in the procession then went on a rampage, gutting 18 shops, seven bikes and five four-wheelers, a mixture machine and a generator.

DIG Upendra Kumar, DC Mukesh Kumar and SP Akhilesh Kumar Jha rushed to the spot and ordered police to resort to lathi charge and disperse the crowds. They also deputed firefighters to douse the flames.

However, DIG Kumar, according to The Telegraph, has steadfastly maintained no one was killed at the Lepo Road violence. Section 144 was imposed at noon on Sunday but changed it to curfew at 8pm

Director General of Police, D.K Pandey spoke at length to Sabrangindia. He said that the deliberate circulation of provocative messages and incendiary slogans on social media and Whats App had led to the administration cutting off internet services which were only restored this morning (Monday). The confusions arose over new smaller processions that were attempting to join the larger Ram Navmi processions, he said. “The Ram Navmi processions take place over several days and they have loudspeakers. Apart from announcements and religious songs (bhajan kirtans)there were some objectionable things said. This and the confusions over the smaller processions caused tensions first at Bokaro but the Hazaribagh problems continued till yesterday. There were scuffles and some homes were arsoned,” he said adding that things were now under control.

“While no visible political leaders were part of this procession, the fact that the MP and Minister, Jayant Sinha had promised to shower the processions with rose petals from a helicopter worked to delayed its passage, through some areas,” Razi Ahmed further explained. Rose petals were indeed showered as the procession wound its way from Kud Revali to Hazaribagh; en route Khilgaon that falls within the limits of the Hazaribgh municipal corporation limits is where the violence broke out.

The abusive slogans led to a violent scuffle between youth of both communities and at spot of the Laxmi Cinema Mandir site, 10-15 shops, belonging to the minority Muslim community were set alight. The CRPF and RAF were deployed some time later, an action that residents felt could have been taken in advance to pre-empt the violence. Sabrangindia has some video clips of the violence which we are  withholding until tensions ease. Sabrangindia has forwarded these to the DGP on his request.

The post Hazaribagh Simmers Over Weekend, Internet Restored Today: Jharkand appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Curfew was imposed at four places in Bokaro Steel City after a group of youths clashed with a Ram Navami procession.

Ram Navami, which drew a crowd of over a lakh to Ranchi's Main Road, was celebrated peacefully today in the capital, but reports of violence sparked by stone-pelting came in from Bokaro and Hazaribagh in the evening, dampening the festive spirit that had spread cheer across Jharkhand in the last few days.   In the steel city of Bokaro, curfew was clamped at 8.45 pm on Friday, April 15, at four places after police resorted to lathicharge and fired teargas shells to control an angry mob of youths who had allegedly pelted stones on a procession led by Bokaro MLA Viranchi Narain around 6 pm. More than two dozen people were hurt, including Bokaro deputy commissioner R.M. Ray, 10 policemen and three journalists, one of them a photographer with The Telegraph, that newspaper reported.

Barely half an hour later in Hazaribagh, at least six persons were injured in stone pelting when a Ram Navami procession passed through Pandu village, around 60km from the district headquarters. Later, an earthmover was set on fire. Newspapers reported that Hazaribagh SP Akhilesh Kumar Jha reached the village promptly with additional forces. The situation, he said, was now under control. The police were talking to elderly members of all communities to ensure that there was no further flare-up.

Police sources told newspapers that trouble had erupted between two communities in Pandu village during the procession when some people objected to cars being parked along the route. “It was a minor issue which led to an argument and stone pelting. Security forces at the spot managed to control the situation. But some elements targeted houses deep inside the village. As per our information, three houses were set on fire, while a fourth was partially burnt,” said Jharkhand police spokesperson and ADGP (Operations) S N Pradhan.

Curfew was imposed in Bokaro steel city area, Maraphari, Balidih and Sector XII police station areas.
 

The post Violence erupts on Ramnavmi: Jharkand appeared first on SabrangIndia.