Palghar: In Damkhind, a small tribal village in Palghar taluka, it is 4 pm and the office of the Adivasi Parishad is locked. We are told that the octogenarian who runs the organisation that fights for tribal rights will be here any minute. And, he is.

Kaluram Dhodade—recognised as the pioneer of the Adivasi movement in Western India—apologises for being late. He got caught up washing his clothes at a nearby well. "The government says they are doing only one project—the bullet train—but it is a lie. For decades, this scheduled area has been destroyed for development projects. Apart from the bullet train, the Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway and the Freight Corridor constructions are slowly killing both fertile land and forests here."