Meanwhile, more and more Bengalis were migrating into the area, usurping the land. In 1973 the Adivasis initiated an insurgency. To counter it, the government, in 1979, started issuing permits to landless Bengalis to settle there, with title to tribal land. This practice continued for six years and resulted in a mass migration of approximately 400,000 people into the area – almost as many as all the tribal groups combined. Countless human-rights abuses occurred as the army tried to put down the revolt.