Dhinkia | SabrangIndia

Petition: Stop Repression Against Villagers In Dhinkia, Odisha

Fri, 16 Sep 2022 04:31:12 +0000

The South Korean Company POSCO backed out from Odisha due to a long struggle of the local communities. However, the Odisha state Government is allowing Jindal to take over the lands and livelihood of the same local villagers. The struggle for the protection of local resources, livelihood, human rights and environment is going on.

The state Government has unleashed severe repressive methods on the activists and local villagers, instead of solving the problems of people. The Jindal-POSCO Pratirodh Committee, which is spearheading the struggle of the local communities against such severe repression has demanded to release all prisoners immediately and withdrawal of Jindhal, the company which is taking over their lands.

In this context, many writers, artists, human rights activists, academicians, organisations and many well known personalities have demanded withdrawal of Jindhal, protection of the lands and environment of the local villagers and release of the activist prisoners from jail, through a petition to the President of India. They have appealed to the civil society to widen this campaign by circulating the petition and endorsing the same.

The petition can be endorsed through the following link: https://www.change.org/IStandWithDhinkia

We also appeal to you to forward this petition to your contacts and networks in social media requesting for further endorsements.

Petition:

To,

Hon’ble Draupadi Murmu,

President of India.

Respected Madam,

We, the following human rights activists, artists, writers, people’s movements, academicians, cultural personalities, and social organizations, would like to bring to your kind notice the oppression let loose by the Government of Odisha on the people of Dhinkia of Odisha since the last 17 years. This is by holding the sword of displacement almost continually over their heads, by harassing them for protesting, by denying them right to peaceful existence and untroubled perusal of their lives which any govt. is duty bound to ensure to citizens. The Odisha Govt. is blatantly violating their democratic and human rights, including making large scale arrests. There is incarceration of local activists in jail on trumped up charges, restrictions on the right of village people to peacefully protest against their threatened displacement while allowing free movement of and threats to local people by goons of companies. The following are a few key points which are elaborated with the facts.

In 2005, the South Korean steel-making company POSCO was allowed by the State Govt. (BJD) & Central Government (UPA) – despite the unwillingness of the villagers of Dhinkia and nearby locality – to establish its project by taking over their lands. The local cultivation is betel vines, which ensured prosperity and contentment to the local peasantry and big revenue to the Govt. by export of the leaves.The State Government is still run by Mr. Naveen Pattnaik, leader of the ruling party the BJD, which was ruling the state at that time also. The Odisha state Government deployed its state agencies to grab the land forcefully from the native villagers.To safeguard their ages long possession (of more than 100 years) over the lands and traditional livelihood, the villagers started protesting against the proposed project in masses under the banner of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS).

The State Government being intolerant & furious due to the peaceful yet strong protest against the proposed project, misused its law enforcement agencies against its own people by framing false charges and thus registering more than 200 FIRs which are still pending against hundreds of villagers of Dhinkia for the anti POSCO movement. The conspiracy of the administration, Company & its goons and police brutality then, resulted in the loss of 5 precious lives from Dhinkia Panchayat. Even in the aftermath, the local people remained deeply traumatized, leading even to suicides.

Meanwhile, in the forcibly acquired areas, betel vines, fish ponds, paddy fields were destroyed and other traditional livelihoods were lost. However the protest lasted more than 8 years and ultimately POSCO backed out. People hoped this would bring back long awaited harmony in that area.

But again the State Government (BJD) allowed another project from a company named Jindal Steel Works (JSW). This time, in 2019, there was even more aggression against the unwillingness of the local people. With the same approach by the state Government led by the same Chief Minister Mr. Naveen Pattnaik, there was forceful acquisition of land using state agencies. However this time the approach of the police was very rough and they didn’t spare even women, children and the elderly. The worst police action, which the entire world witnessed, was on 14th January 2022. It was broadcast and published in all forms of news all over the world. The visuals were so disturbing that it baffled the entire country.

Moreover the Governments, both the State (BJD) and the Central (BJP/NDA), ignored the anomalies in the Report provided by JSW to the Environmental Ministry and the Ministry approved the Environmental Clearance ignoring those anomalies. In the process of acquiring the land, so far almost 100 police cases have been registered since 2020, 50-60 people arrested and few released later on bail, though the leader of the Jindal-POSCO Pratirodh Committee (JPPC) Mr. Debendra Swain has been kept in prison since Jan. 14th 2022 along with some other protestors. The protest and its movement have been subjected to police brutality and inhuman torture by Government agencies. Dhinkia village and other nearby villages have already been severely affected due to effects of rapid industrialization in Paradip by either establishment of new industries or upgradation of the existing industries. These effects have already caused loss of lives and livelihoods of people of nearby villages due to exposure to natural disasters caused by environmental & climate degradation and injustice.

Needless to say that the present invasion of Jindal on the resources of the local communities is also a blatant violation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), since this law recognizes the rights of the local communities and other forest dwellers.

In this context, we appeal to you to intervene so that the protests of Dhinkia villagers to save their Land, Lives & Livelihoods are considered legitimate and to ensure that the Governments (both Union & State) act immediately. We therefore request you to take the following steps immediately for the welfare of the local people, environment and precious human rights of the local villagers.

Cancel the proposed JSW project at Dhinkia.
Stop police brutality against the villagers of Dhinkia and targeting of the protestors by all means.
Cancel the Forest Clearance given to JSW and return the Forest land to villagers as per Law.
Cancel the Environmental Clearance granted in favor of the proposed project.
Settle the forest rights of the people in an unbiased manner without hostile environment as per Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.
Provide the legitimate land records to the landless people of Dhinkia.
Take strict action against the police officials involved in police brutalities that caused physical & mental trauma to thousands of villagers including children, women and elders.
Quash all the false & fabricated cases registered against the villagers starting from protests against POSCO to JSW which are roughly around 300.
Release all the protesters including their leader Mr. Debendra Swain from prison.

With Regards,

List of Initial Signatories:

Anand Patwardhan, Film Maker
K. Satchidanandan Poet, Writer, Former Secretary, Kendra Sahitya Akademi
Lalit Vachani, Filmmaker, University of Göttingen
Mani Shankar Aiyar, Former Cabinet Minister
Binoy Viswam, Former Forest Minister, Government of Kerala
Advocate Ansar Indori, NCHRO, New Delhi
Annie Raja, General Secretart, National Federation of Indian Women
Madhumita Dutta, Assistant Professor, Ohio State University, USA
Dr. Sandeep Pandey, General Secretary, Socialist Party (India)
Prof. Anjali Monteiro (Retd.), Film Maker, Researcher, Educator
Prof. K.P. Jayashankar (Retd.), Film Maker, Researcher, Educator
Kavita Srivastava, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)

13, Sunlam, President, Madhya Pradesh Kisan Sangarsh Samiti (MPKSS)

Malini Subramaniam, Independent Journalist

15, Maj Gen Dr. Sudhir Vombadkare, (Retd)

Dr. Ram Puniyani, National Solidarity Forum

17, N.D.Pancholi

Dr.Gabriele Dietrich, Pennurimai Iyakkam,T.N. and NAPM
Leo Saldanha, Environment Support Group
Susmit Bose, Musician
Dr. John Dayal, Journalist, Author & Researcher
Meena Menon, Journalist
Bijaya k Panda, National Convenor, Bharat Jan Andolan
Advocate Ansar Indori (National Secratary,NCHRO)
Binu Mathew, Editor, Countercurrents.org
26, Amudhan RP, Film Maker
27, P. Baburaj, Film Maker

Antonella Visintin, Member of Oikotree movement and Glam commission of the Protestant Federation
Meera Sanghamitra, NAPM
National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)
Vijayan M.J, Delhi Solidarity Group
William Stanley, Oikotree Movement
Brinelle Dsouza, Academic and Activist
Rev. Dr. Susan E. Davies, United States of America
35, Pervin Jehangir
Prafulla Samantara, Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Recipient of Goldman Environmental Prize for Asia, Bhubaneswar

Srikanta Mohanty, Secretary CPIML, Odisha State Committee
Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh, Pune
Dr Walter Fernandes, Director, North Eastern Social Research Centre
Sailen Bhattacharya, General Secretary, ECL COLLIERY SHRAMIK UNION
Shamsul Islam, Author
Central Executive Committee, AIKMS
Dr.Suhas Kolhekar,(Maharashtra), National Alliance of People’s Movements
Prakash C. Jha, Independent Researcher
K.Padma, Advocate, Visakhapatnam, Andhrapradesh
Tara Murali, Architect, Chennai
Dr. PM Tony, Director, Social Research and Training Centre, ATC, Namkum, Ranchi
Justice Coalition of Religious – West India
Jan Swasthya Abhiyan – Mumbai
Aruna Rodrigues, Sunray Harvesters
Pradip Pradhan, Convenor RTI Odisha State Committee
Arundhati Dhuru, National Alliance of People’s Movements
Sathish Reginald Samuel, Secretary, ECODAWM
Ranjan Solomon
Sadananda Sahu, Advocate and Trade Union Leader, Raurkela, Odisha
Dr. B Karthik Navayan, Advocate, High Court for the state of Telangana
Lelin Kumar, Writer and Journalist of Janabadi News Weekly .
Manu, Researcher
Shalini Gera, Advocate, High Court of Chhattisgarh
Sonu P. Yadav
Nadita Narain, Delhi University
Nisha Biswas, Kolkata
Madhuri,Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan
Pradip Sahu,CSD , Odisha
Biswapriya Kanungo,Adv Odisha
K.P. Sasi, Film Maker, Writer, Cartoonist
Antony Raju, Bangalore
Neelima Sharma (Theatre)

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Dhinkia: Three more anti-Jindal activists arrested by the police!

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 07:40:42 +0000

At least three more activists were arrested by June 22, 2022 evening for leading the anti-Jindal movement against a developmental project near Dhinkia village of Jagatsinghpur, Odisha. Already over-60 arrests and bail releases of activists have taken place over the last six months.

Seven leaders of the anti-Jindal movement including main leader Debendra Swain have been arrested by the local police so far. This barrage of arrests continued on Wednesday with the arrest of protester Dilip Swain. Protester Kuni Malick was arrested on June 20 and protester Sumanta Naik was arrested on June 14. Overall, Movement Spokesperson Prashant Paikray estimated 72 criminal cases against a thousand people. This is aside from the over-400 allegedly fabricated criminal cases pending against 2,500 people during the Anti-POSCO Movement.

Enraged by this systematic oppression, Dhinkia villagers approached the Odisha High Court alleging that the government is trying to implicate activists and residents in various criminal cases. Further the plea said that the police worked with local goons to terrorise locals asserting their fundamental and legal rights to the forest land. Therefore, they demanded that authorities pay a compensation of ₹40 lakh to each petitioner for damaging their houses and beetle vineyards.

Why are villagers and police in conflict?

Dhinkia villagers in the Ersama block of the district depend upon the adjacent forest land for beetel and cashew cultivation. Residents had to fight a long and hard battle to keep their land from being handed over to a South Korean company POSCO Pvt Ltd in the past. Following the enactment of the Forest Rights Act 2006 (FRA), inhabitants filed their individual and community claims with evidence to prove their Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers status. However, the process is yet to be concluded.

Instead, the state government handed over the land to the Jindal Steel Works’ (JSW) subsidiary company for developmental projects. The company claimed to have gotten a forest clearance for the same – a point that villagers have challenged.

“While the project is full of irregularities and illegalities, the Opposite parties are hell bent on acquiring the concerned land illegally by flouting the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013,” said the plea.

Villagers accused the administration of ignoring their repeated attempts to voice their concerns at public hearings and via other regular modes of addressal. In their plea, the people said the government had violated their Right to Life and Livelihood under Article 21 of the Constitution. Further, they challenged the provisions under which the land acquisition and the demolition of their betel vines was allowed.

“The non-compliance of the requirement of prior consent of the affected families under section 2(2) (b) [of the Land Acquisition Act] also renders the process of acquisition illegal and arbitrary,” said the plea.

Petitioners submitted that since they belonged to the scheduled caste category as well, the state has a constitutional responsibility under Article 46 to promote the economic and educational interest of SC and ST groups.

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The post Dhinkia: Three more anti-Jindal activists arrested by the police! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Dhinkia: Betel plantation destruction hits local economy

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 11:47:59 +0000

Image Courtesy: india.mongabay.com

More than half of Dhinkia villagers in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha are protesting the loss of a local Betel plantation, their main source of livelihood, to a “development project”.

For years now, Dhinkia residents have protected their land against government-sanctioned developmental projects. The people’s movement began with the anti-POSCO movement in 2005. Locals resisted the idea citing the issue of settlement of forest rights under the Forest Rights Act 2006. It was a triumphant moment for the people when the company backed out in 2017. Still, the High-Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik transferred the land to the JSW Utkal Steel Limited (JUSL).

This move in itself violated the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (LARR) of 2013. Yet, authorities even granted a forest clearance despite claims that the villagers faced severe oppression from police. By December 2021, locals voiced complaints of administrative attempts to destroy the betel vines in the area.

This forceful demolition of the traditional betel vines has particularly affected the women and children in the region. Majority of the women in the village either worked as daily labourers in the betel plantations, or were involved in the export process. With the destruction of the plantation, 50 percent villagers engaged in betel cultivation and another 30 percent vine owners have lost their main source of livelihood without any other alternative.

“They don’t have any [other] skill set. Forceful demolition of yards or vines resulted [in] them being jobless and penniless not only to them but also to their families,” said anti-Jindal movement leader Prashant Paikray.

More than 60 people were arrested then released on bail since January 2022, following 72 criminal cases against nearly a thousand people. While there are already over 400 false pending criminal cases against 2,500 people from the Anti-POSCO movement, the alleged police aggression this year adds to the physical and mental pain of locals.

Already, seven leaders have been arrested including the man who led the movement from the beginning, Debendra Swain. Aside from this Paikray spoke of how a family with an 18-year-old daughter were put in jail while their 20-year-old son had gone missing on January 14.

Impact on children and elderly

Following conflicts between local police and villagers, children have also been kept from attending schools. Police personnel occupied all nearby primary and secondary schools, making it impossible for students to attend schools.

“There is now a struggle to get a proper meal for most of the Dhinkia villagers who are mostly of a scheduled caste and were self-dependent upon their long traditional culture and were living happily before, depending upon their forest,” said Paikray.

However, with the heavy security deployed around the area, villagers also cannot remain dependent on forest produce any longer. It is noteworthy that the company has repeatedly attempted to get an environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) since 2018. However, as per the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006, the EC requires the permission of the affected people via gram sabha consent.

Villagers claim that authorities called a public hearing that was allegedly hijacked by District Collector Sangram Mohapatra, the Land Acquisition Officer during the earlier POSCO project. Villagers then called for a “palli sabha” (Village meeting) and passed a resolution rejecting the proposed project of JSW Utkal Steel Ltd. However, since the EC request is yet to be dismissed, Dhinkia villagers have repeatedly demanded the completion of their individual and community forest rights claims on land.

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Dhinkia has become a war-zone: Say activists

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 10:41:17 +0000

According to Anti-Jindal & Anti-POSCO Movement Spokesperson Prashant Paikray, Odisha police have created a war-zone in Dhinkia village. Although residents are vigilant, Paikray told Sabrang India that many families are still harassed by police officials demanding the sanctioning of the demolition of betel vine plantations.

By Friday, as many as 19 activists and villagers had been arrested by the police for protesting the illegal demolition of plantations – the local means of livelihood. On January 14, the first 6-7 people including Human Rights Defender Narendra Mohanty, Debendra Swain and Murlidhar Sahu were arrested shortly after the release of a fact-finding report on administrative crackdown. Since then, Swain has reported severe custodial torture in jail. According to Paikray, Swain lost two teeth and has suffered a back injury.

“His mother is going to file an FIR. Mr. Mohanty will hopefully be released after a few months because he does not have as many cases against him. However, police have lodged many charges against Debendra,” he said.

On Friday, around 13 Opposition political party leaders will approach the police to talk about the release of protesters. However, the main concern for villagers remains the police violence and the attempts to hand over their land to the JSW Utkal Steel Limited (JUSL) for development projects.

Villagers claimed the police had taken to rapping on their windows every day, demanding that whoever present sign the agreement to demolish the house and plantation. Most men have gone into hiding fearing arrest, leaving the women to deal with the officials.Although women have stood firm in refusing to sign the document, Paikray said their property is still destroyed. When questioned, the police claim they have the permission of the plantation owners i.e., Dhinkia villagers.

“This is oppression. Over 400 land claims are pending but still Jindal is brought in, and locals are slapped with false charges. They are deliberately causing financial harassment to break the movement, but we are united,” said Paikray.

He further said that all neighbouring villages and their residents are now forced to show their Aadhaar card whenever they want to go outside the region. This has made normal life a distant dream for residents.

Villagers are aware of their forest and constitutional rights and thus stand firm even in the face of lathi-charges. Members of the movement have pointed out that the company does not have an environmental clearance because they do not have the villagers’ permission to build a 13.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) integrated steel plant comprising of a 900 MW captive power plant and a 10 MTPA cement grinding and mixing unit on the land.

Villagers have stated again and again that such projects will destroy their livelihood and even won previous battles based on this stand. Yet, of late, the police have taken to extreme force against Dhinkia folk for asserting their rights.

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