By
10 a.m., several women in groups of 12-13 walked along the bunds to
reach plots of ripe paddy and began cutting and piling the crop in
heaps. Raju Toppo was the first to try carrying two bales balanced on
the ends of a stick back to his house. As an Assistant Sub Inspector
tried to stop him, his mother Sheela Toppo ran from the field, waving a
sickle. “It is my crop; why do I have to ask your officers?” she argued
and told her son to keep walking
In 2010, the Jharkhand government allotted 227 acres to build campuses of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ranchi, the National University of Study & Research in Law (NUSRL) and the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Nagri village, 15 km from Ranchi. But the Nagri farmers, more than 400 Oraon adivasi families, refused to move away. The government has imposed Section 144 (IPC) thrice at Nagri since July, prohibiting farmers from gathering on the farmland, and stationed paramilitary forces. In January, the government bulldozed their winter crop of wheat and potato.
The farmers possess proof of having paid taxes on this farmland till 2007 and even in 2011. Why not the government set up campuses on non-agricultural land instead, they ask. Further, they question if it is legal for the government to have acquired the land under clause 17(4) of the Land Acquisition Act, meant for situations of urgent public requirement, and not putting it to any use for 55 years.
In April, the farmers held a 150-day peaceful protest on their farms. On April 30, following a PIL filed by the Bar Association of Ranchi, the High Court ordered the government to “to secure the construction of the buildings of the educational institutions within 48 hours.” Three farmers — Mundri Oraon, Dashmi Kirketta, and Poko Tirke — died of heatstroke while sitting on protest on the fields in the blistering May sun. When the High Court dismissed the farmers’ application to review the government’s 1957 land acquisition claim, they approached the Supreme Court. But the Supreme Court declined to hear their special leave petition, saying that in this matter of land acquisition of 1956-57, it was not inclined to interfere in the High Court orders
Six students of the legal aid clinic of the NUSRL have since become intervener-petitioners in the case. They have submitted research showing that the Nagri village has poor quality soil that does not yield more than “1.98 grams rice per person per day,” disputing the farmers’ claim that agriculture was their primary sustenance. Lauding the NUSRL students’ “valuable data” and citing that the NUSRL had already paid Rs. 75 lakh in rent, the High Court, on September 11, ordered the State government to “clear the construction in the administrative side within two weeks.”
“There is no such unit as ‘gram per person per day’ for measuring soil fertility. Only 15 per cent of land in Jharkhand supports more than one crop and Nagri village is one such area. Because it lies by the Jumar river, farmers grow hybrid paddy, wheat, gram, and even vegetables,” said a senior scientist in the Agricultural Extension department of the Birsa Agricultural University.
Farmers are the backbone of our economy, we cannot disregard them. There seems to be a lot of confusion over who is the owner of this land. We are considering an alternative plot of land in Namkum,” said IIM Director M.J. Xavier.
“We will reap this harvest and plough the land again to sow gram and mustard. If the government tries to stop us, they should prepare for our response too,” said Vikas Toppo (35), who has emerged as one of the main leaders in the Nagri Bachao Samiti.“There are five-six families willing to act like dalals [middlemen] of the government or even real estate companies, but the village does not support them,” says Toppo, against whom the police have registered three cases in the course of the agitation. Toppo says he studied zoology for two years in the Ranchi University but graduated in arts. He spent some months in Delhi preparing for the civil services exam.
In 2010, the Jharkhand government allotted 227 acres to build campuses of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ranchi, the National University of Study & Research in Law (NUSRL) and the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Nagri village, 15 km from Ranchi. But the Nagri farmers, more than 400 Oraon adivasi families, refused to move away. The government has imposed Section 144 (IPC) thrice at Nagri since July, prohibiting farmers from gathering on the farmland, and stationed paramilitary forces. In January, the government bulldozed their winter crop of wheat and potato.
The farmers possess proof of having paid taxes on this farmland till 2007 and even in 2011. Why not the government set up campuses on non-agricultural land instead, they ask. Further, they question if it is legal for the government to have acquired the land under clause 17(4) of the Land Acquisition Act, meant for situations of urgent public requirement, and not putting it to any use for 55 years.
In April, the farmers held a 150-day peaceful protest on their farms. On April 30, following a PIL filed by the Bar Association of Ranchi, the High Court ordered the government to “to secure the construction of the buildings of the educational institutions within 48 hours.” Three farmers — Mundri Oraon, Dashmi Kirketta, and Poko Tirke — died of heatstroke while sitting on protest on the fields in the blistering May sun. When the High Court dismissed the farmers’ application to review the government’s 1957 land acquisition claim, they approached the Supreme Court. But the Supreme Court declined to hear their special leave petition, saying that in this matter of land acquisition of 1956-57, it was not inclined to interfere in the High Court orders
Six students of the legal aid clinic of the NUSRL have since become intervener-petitioners in the case. They have submitted research showing that the Nagri village has poor quality soil that does not yield more than “1.98 grams rice per person per day,” disputing the farmers’ claim that agriculture was their primary sustenance. Lauding the NUSRL students’ “valuable data” and citing that the NUSRL had already paid Rs. 75 lakh in rent, the High Court, on September 11, ordered the State government to “clear the construction in the administrative side within two weeks.”
“There is no such unit as ‘gram per person per day’ for measuring soil fertility. Only 15 per cent of land in Jharkhand supports more than one crop and Nagri village is one such area. Because it lies by the Jumar river, farmers grow hybrid paddy, wheat, gram, and even vegetables,” said a senior scientist in the Agricultural Extension department of the Birsa Agricultural University.
Farmers are the backbone of our economy, we cannot disregard them. There seems to be a lot of confusion over who is the owner of this land. We are considering an alternative plot of land in Namkum,” said IIM Director M.J. Xavier.
“We will reap this harvest and plough the land again to sow gram and mustard. If the government tries to stop us, they should prepare for our response too,” said Vikas Toppo (35), who has emerged as one of the main leaders in the Nagri Bachao Samiti.“There are five-six families willing to act like dalals [middlemen] of the government or even real estate companies, but the village does not support them,” says Toppo, against whom the police have registered three cases in the course of the agitation. Toppo says he studied zoology for two years in the Ranchi University but graduated in arts. He spent some months in Delhi preparing for the civil services exam.
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