Answer:

Earlier this year, Karbi and Adivasi farmers learnt of a company that was to take their lands to set up a solar power plant. The news of the power plant, to be set up by Azure Power Forty Private Limited, came through local dalals or brokers. They were told there is a company that wanted their lands, that they should take the money and give up their land. To set up the solar power plant in Mikir Bamuni, Azure Power has bought 276 bighas of land from the erstwhile zamindar’s family who was originally granted the Mikir Bamuni Land Grant. However, the validity of this land deal has been challenged in court, and at this moment it stands as a civil dispute with contested claims over the land.

Since the so-called “acquisition” of this land, a series of false claims by state officials have come to light, including the illegality of sale of this land, procedural fallacies and inconsistencies have been exposed, those who cultivate this land and fight to defend their right to it have been beaten, threatened, even coaxed into accepting money for leaving the struggle and the land, and arrested.

In the latest incident, the morning of December 29 saw yet another confrontation between the police and farmers as the company has been forcibly carrying out construction work in contravention of the court order and with the backing of the police. Male police personnel brutally attacked women and men, leaving many badly injured as they attempted to halt the construction on land they now cultivate collectively. On the night of December 29, at 1 am the police entered Amdanga village with their faces covered, broke into peoples’ homes and picked up Lakhiram Mardi, Sikari Rongpi and Bhaity Timung, and threatened others with dire consequences if they did not give up their fight. Police presence in and around the village has continued as they look to make more arrests and terrorise the villagers.

As cases of land acquisition and displacement are picking up pace in Assam, the system of land rights and land tenure lies at the heart of all conflicts around land. Land rights in Assam have not been settled since 1964 and this leaves the large majority of farmers and peasants in a state of constant vulnerability and precarity, leaving them exposed to manipulation of the law and a denial of rights to their lands. Further, it brings out the politics of ‘green’ energy built on vacuous claims of sustainability that seeks to produce ‘clean’ energy over the stolen lands of indigenous farmers.