Vijay Singh (activist)

Vijay Singh

Place of agitation, DM office Muzaffarnagar (U.P.,INDIA)
Born (1962-05-10) 10 May 1962
Village Chausana
Nationality Indian
Other names Master ji
Occupation Activist
Years active Since 26 February 1996
Known for Longest agitation in India
Notable work Raised voice against land mafias
Religion Hinduism

Vijay Singh (born 10 May 1962) is an anti-corruption activist in Muzaffarnagar District, Uttar Pradesh, India. He has been carrying out a dharna (non-violent protest) against illegal possession of public land[1] by private actors since February 1996.[2][3] His action has been recorded as the longest such protest in various books of records including the Limca Book of Records.

Anti-corruption activism

Vijay Singh in the early days of his protest

Singh was spurred to action when he saw a hungry child, who was crying for bread and asking his mother to bring flour from a neighbour. He started conducting research on land ownership in his village, and found that four thousand bighas of village assembly land was illegally occupied by private individuals. Singh resigned from his post of teacher in order to carry on his work against the illegal occupation.[4][5][6]

Singh submitted a memorandum to the administration, and in 1995, the government handed over the investigation to the Division Commissioner. Under his leadership, a team of officials began an investigation into the matter, and found the charges of illegal possession to be true. However, no action against the people involved was taken, and Singh started his protest in front of the District Magistrate office in Muzaffarnagar on 26 February 1996, with the demand to free the land for the poor so that it could be used for public development.[7][8]

Achievements by the movement

In 2008, when the erstwhile Principal Secretary Home JN Chamber was briefed on the matter, he ordered the local administration to take action in this regard. The administration team led by District Magistrate R Ramesh Kumar visited the village and freed 300 bighas of illegally encroached land. In this case, 136 cases were filed against those who had been encroaching. 3200 bighas of land encroachments in the investigation have been proved as of now.[9][10][11][12]


Other than this, in Muzaffarnagar district, there were 1250 bighas public land in the purquazi area and 50000 bighas in Ramraj and Bhopa area also freed from illegal possession. There is six revenue employees are in jail for involvement.

Walk to Lucknow

Midway to Lucknow
Start of Foot March from Muzaffarnagar
Vijay Singh at CM residence after meeting

On 30 March 2012, Singh started a foot march from Muzaffarnagar to Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. He walked the 600 kilometers in 19 days. The objective was to meet State CM Akhilesh Yadav and raise public awareness of illegal encroachment onto public land.[9][10][11][12] Now it is about four years to complete, when Chief Minister ordered for a secretary level inquiry and referred to secretary revenue. But there is no action taken into the matter till now while Vijay Singh still hopes for strict action by the administration as CM assured him in the meet.[13]

National and World records

The strike by Singh has been entered as the world’s longest strike by a single person in the Limca Book of Records, India Book of Records,[14] World records India[15] and Miracles World Records.[16][17][18][19][20]


References

  1. ↑ "UP govt to constitute team to save public land from mafias". WebIndia123. 17 April 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "19 years of protest: The longest one-man dharna". Indian Express. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "A one-man army has been taking on the land mafia of Uttar Pradesh". The Week. 13 September 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "Keep it up Master Vijay Singh, We are proud to have people like you". Bhadas4Media. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "15 yrs at DM's office, no end to land grab woes". Indian Express. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "18 साल से भ्रष्टाचार के खि‍लाफ लड़ रहा दुनि‍या का सबसे बड़ा सत्‍याग्रही". Dainik Bhaskar. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2016. zero width joiner character in |title= at position 27 (help)
  7. ↑ "विजय सिंह के आत्मदाह की अफवाह पर दौड़ी पुलिस". Jagran. 3 February 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  8. ↑ "घोटाले की जानकारी देने मुजफ्फरनगर से लखनऊ पैदल आ रहे हैं विजय". OneIndia. 1 April 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  9. 1 2 "CM's prompt action raises Masterji's hope". Times of India. 29 April 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  10. 1 2 "धरने का 20वां साल, अभी भी नहीं मिला मुजफ्फरनगर के मास्‍टर विजय सिंह को न्‍याय". Dainik Bhaskar. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2016. zero width joiner character in |title= at position 55 (help)
  11. 1 2 "मास्टर विजय के धरने को सत्रह वर्ष पूरे". Samachar Varta. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  12. 1 2 "मास्टर विजय सिंह को मिली मोहलत". Amar Ujala. 2 February 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  13. ↑ "PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News". pressreader.com.
  14. ↑ "Longest Strike (Satyagraha)". India Book of Records. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  15. ↑ "Longest Agitation (Satyagrah) against Corruption". World Records India. 6 March 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  16. ↑ "Longest Agitation in the world". Miracles World Records. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  17. ↑ "Longest continuous one-man agitation in the world". Unique World Records. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  18. ↑ "Guinness Records longest protestor to meet Akhilesh". WebIndia123. 31 March 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  19. ↑ "Limca Book of Records". limcabookofrecords.in.
  20. ↑ "Longest Agitation (Satyagrah) against Corruption". worldrecordsindia.com.
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