At 63, Thupa Singh lost ancestral land to Jharkhand’s controversial Land Bank. Thupa’s case is not an exception. The 2.1M acre Land Bank, created in 2016 by BJP-led Raghubar Das govt, included community lands without consent, threatening Adivasis & forest-dwellers’ rights.

A resident of Latehar's Daldalia village, Thupa and seven other families were ousted from land that they cultivated and paid taxes for, to make way for a govt-sponsored Eklavya School. No gram sabha consent was taken, as is mandatory.

The Land Bank was created to ease land allocation for industries. But activists allege that including community lands has led to violations of constitutional protections and “land robbery.” Protests against it have intensified amid these elections.

The issue is of Gair Majarua lands, their reclassification in records & subsequent stoppage of tax receipts in 2015-16, paving way for their inclusion in the bank.Activist Shashi Panna says the records’ revisions were error-prone & victimised families settled for generations.

Activist Gladson Dungdung argues that the Land Bank deliberately “ignores” land rights of the marginalised. He says that 48% of the bank includes forest land, in violation of the FRA. “Even sacred Sarna sthals were added, ignoring their cultural and spiritual significance.”

The Supreme Court's Niyamgiri judgment emphasised the centrality of the gram sabha’s role over land, forests, and resources. Activists say the Land Bank violates constitutional protections, such as Articles 25 and 26, for Adivasi religious freedoms.

The JMM promised to revoke the Land Bank in 2019 but did not act. Now, Congress, CPI(ML) and other rights groups have demanded its cancellation. Meanwhile, affected families like Thupa's wait. “Our future is uncertain,” he says.

Read full story by LCW Researcher @mhassanism in @MaktoobMedia

here: https://maktoobmedia.com/india/jharkhands-controversial-land-bank-is-undermining-rights-of-marginalised/…