In a rapidly changing world, there are some communities that struggling to keep their identities intact in trying to keep up. Mohan Kumar Bhuiyan belongs to one such adivasi community who live dangerously perched between the open minefields of Tata, on one side and Central Coalfields, on the other. He and his neighbors have already been given eviction notices and…

Mohan Kumar Bhuiyan

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On October 1, 2016, newspapers across India flashed the news that four civilians were killed protesting against National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), along with dozens of others who were injured as police opened fire in Jharkhand near Hazaribaug. Most of these reports briefly mentioned that the people fired upon, were protesting and demanding suspension of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) mining sites in Barkagaon. The majority of the reports sadly focused on what the Police had to say about what happened on the ground and focused on the fact, that the person heading the protest was a Congress MLA. This media-bias paid no attention to why the community had gathered. 

But in the melee of these reports, the voice of the common man and the community was lost. No reports featured the community's voice, the reason for their protest, or their struggle against NTPC since 12 years. How is a reader, or a viewer supposed to know what was at stake? 

Video Volunteers correspondent Mohan Bhuiyan brings the untold story of that fateful day from the perspective of the community and the real story of the protest in Badkagaon, Hazaribaug against NTPC. The video features the voice of the indigenous community of Jharkhand, their struggle to hold on to their fertile lands - the only source of their livelihoods, the displacement and injustice they  continue to face as being the weaker pawn in the game of development.

Through the video, the community also asks the most important question to the rest of India, "The people of Jharkhand want to ask the country, what do you think of the people here?"

This video was made by a Video Volunteers Community Correspondent Mohan Kumar Bhuiyan.

Community Correspondents come from marginalised communities in India and produce videos on unreported stories.
These stories are ’news by those who live it.’ They give the hyperlocal context to global human rights and development challenges.

See more such videos at www.videovolunteers.org. Take action for a more just global media by sharing their videos and joining in their call for change.