Jharkhand gained its statehood…to give greater representation to tribes who…make up about 28% of the state’s total population…[T]he government…leased out...agricultural and forest land to PANEM Coal Mines [joint venture Punjab State Electricity Board & Eastern Minerals & Trading Agency of Kolkata]…The villagers mounted a dogged resistance...They claimed they had special rights under a 1949 law which prevents the transfer and sale of tribal land…[T]he court ruled against the claims…[A]ctivists appealed to the Supreme Court of India. Meanwhile, the company…reached an agreement…[and] promised…displaced villagers…alternative shelter and regular income…a share of mining profits…schools, a hospital and a job…and…to return the land — restored to cultivable condition — to the original inhabitants before a new mine could open…[T]he villagers withdrew their court appeal…The central government has since proposed a law that would require mining companies to give equity and royalties to those affected by mines…