Cold numbers hide warm bodies. 153 hectares, 588 houses, two days in Goalpara, and a label like “demographic invasion.” Where was the Forest Rights Act screening, the gram sabha process, the appeals window? When the weakest face the bucket brigade first, power looks efficient yet unjust. Run the hard test: identify title claimants, issue pattas where due, and only then evict true encroachers. Otherwise it reads like collective punishment dressed as conservation.