Tribals in Jharkhand are invoking their gods fearing the state government plans to take them to tour India as a ploy to displace them from their habitats.

The government was planning to send groups of tribal people on 'Bharat Darshan' tour of smaller and metropolitan Indian cities to make them familiar with the development activities in the country.

But the government move to acquire land to facilitate the investors to set up industries in the state has unnerved the tribals. After securing investment proposals of Rs 1.2 trillion in steel, mining and power sectors, the government is now concentrating on acquiring land.

At a ceremony Monday, hundreds of tribals gathered at Jamuari village, 40 km from Ranchi and offered prayers to their deity Singa Bonga. Amid beating of drums, they participated in prayers with their traditional weapons and sacrificed a goat to appease the god.

"It is our protest against any move to displace us from our land. Past experience have forced us to protest any further displacement," said Surya Narayan, a tribal priest who carried out the rituals that continued for five hours.

"Here development means displacement. The government displaces people without compensating them. The state government has signed scores of MoU, but it has yet to come out with any compensation package," said Ratan Tirkey, vice president of Jharkhand Janadhikar party, who participated in the rituals.

Jharkhand has signed an MoU earlier this month with global steel giant Mittal Steel Company for setting up a steel plant in the state with an investment of Rs.400 billion. The state has also signed MoU with Tata.

Following the signing of MoU in the steel sector, the state needs to provide more than 60,000 acres of land to the investors. To acquire land, the districts administration of some districts came out with notices to donate land.

Industrialisation and mining have led to displacement of more than 20 percent population in Jharkhand over the years. Several industries including Tata's steel plant in Jamshedpur; Bokaro Steel Plant; Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC), Ranchi etc. have caused major displacement in the past.