How Jharkhand govt broke law by taking fertile land from farmers for Adani

'We begged Adani's people to stop,' said Santali farmer Anil Hembrom. 'But they said our land was theirs now, that the government had given it to them'

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New Delhi: All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) members and farmers arrive for a two-day rally to press for their demands, including debt relief and remunerative prices for their produce, in New Delhi, Nov 29, 2018. Photo: PTI

Chitrangada Choudhury | IndiaSpend

Last Updated : Dec 03 2018 | 09:25 AM IST

Soon after police personnel drove up in a convoy of vehicles that Friday, August 31, 2018, “Adani ke log (Adani’s people)” arrived with earthmoving equipment, recounted Adivasi (tribal) and Dalit villagers in Mali, in this lush eastern corner of Jharkhand.

“There were eight to 10 police for each of us villagers,” said Sita Murmu, a wiry farmer in her 40s from the Santal community, one of India’s largest indigenous tribes, describing the attempt that followed to take over the villagers’ farmlands, abutting a clutch of mud and brick homes.

These fertile, multi-crop lands are their only source of livelihood, and the villagers were shocked when the earthmovers began uprooting valuable palm trees and bulldozing the young paddy stalks, laboriously sown weeks ago.

“We