Human Rights and Land Acquisition: A Case Study of
North Joynagar Village in Tripura
By Khumtiya Debbarma
North Joynagar village is one of the Autonomous District Council (ADC) villages under Jirania Sub-division in the district of West Tripura. At present this village is under the threat of land alienation of the indigenous peoples, though the land acquisition is completely justified under Eminent Domain & Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, despite the government, without free prior informed consent, had acquired the land for public purpose since 2011. This land was, however, not completely acquired by the Government but may be acquired completely and evict the indigenous people at any time. There had been many protests made by the village peoples of Joynagar for protecting their land against acquisition and they are not ready to part away with their land, and would oppose any attempt to grab their land. If their land is completely acquired for the said project, and people being evicted there would be irreparable misery to the people, affecting their socioeconomic, cultural and spiritual life. This paper also discussed the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 and to what extent it protests the interest of victims of land alienation. In this regard, The Land right of the indigenous peoples internationally was also studied so that international pressure can be created on the nation states to grant the rights to indigenous peoples over their land.