He has been carrying out a dharna (non-violent protest) against illegal possession of public land[1] by private actors since February 1996.

[3] Singh was spurred to action when he saw a hungry child, who was crying for bread and asking his mother to bring flour from a neighbour.

However, no action against the people involved was taken, and Singh started his protest in front of the District Magistrate office in Muzaffarnagar on 26 February 1996, with the demand to free the land for the poor so that it could be used for public development.

[7][8] In 2008, when the erstwhile Principal Secretary Home JN Chamber was briefed on the matter, he ordered the local administration to take action in this regard.

The administration team led by District Magistrate R Ramesh Kumar visited the village and freed 300 bighas of illegally encroached land.