People from eleven villages around the Mahan forest area hold a rally – Van Adhikar Sammelan – to tell Essar Power they won't allow coal mining in their forests, just as the inhabitants of Niyamgiri have stopped Vedanta from taking over their forests for mining. The communities, including women and their children, vowed they would not allow anybody to violate their rights under the Forest Rights Acts that give them the power to determine whether the land they have been dependent on for centuries, should be given for mining to corporate companies.