om e 's Ali a - Land ss De elo en - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, India Office

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Women’s Alienation
process was in violation of the
constitutional mandate for
scheduled areas. They further stated
that senior officials, including the
Collector and the Chief Executive of
NMDC were involved in a conspiracy
and indulged in certain criminal
offences such as destruction of
public records and fabrication of
false records. Further, national
guidelines for establishment of
industries in scheduled areas
(1974) had not been followed. The
National Commission advised the
state government and NMDC to
restart the process honouring the
spirit of the Constitution and legal
provision as who to take action
against the concerned officials.
The advice of the National
Commission was totally ignored
and pressure was mounted to take
over the land illegally. The people
Women Leaders Inspire a Struggle
Case study: Phulmati Kashyap & Kachra Bai
I. Phulmati Kashyap wife of Basudev Kashyap, is a 65-year old resident of Nagarnar gram
panchayat and belongs to the Bhatra adivasi community. When she came to know about
the displacement she started participating in meetings and dharnas. When her son Samson
Kashyap was jailed along with the leader, Satyanarayan Sethia of Kissan Sangharsh Samiti
in October 2002, she sat up the whole night in dharna in front of the jail protesting the
arrests. Around 1500 villagers took part in the dharna of which 50 per cent were women.
The police beat her up. She works as a daily wage labourer in someone’s field, so indirectly
she stands to lose her source of livelihood due to the steel plant. A series of false court
cases are also going on in her name.
II. Kachra Bai is 45 years old and an aggressive leader of the Kissan Sangharsh Samiti and a
resident of Nagarnar village. She belongs to the Sundi community. Her husband Bansidhar
Sethia is also an important figure in the whole movement. She is a direct victim of the steel
plant. She lost her 9.18 acres of land due to the steel plant and got only 1,45,000 in all,
instead of the promised 1,20,000 per acre. When she refused to accept the cheques she
was beaten up by the police and things were thrown out of her house, her children were
beaten up as were other women members of the family by the police force. There was
extreme pressure by the administration and the police force on her to accept the cheques.
She complained to the gram sabha and sarpanch to no avail and met the local politicians
but failed to get justice.
(Source: ISED study–Displacement in Chhattisgarh: An overview)