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By Ranjan K Panda
Even as the Supreme Court clears Vedanta’s mining activities in Niyamgiri, Orissa, the Dongria Kondh tribals argue that the abode of their deity cannot be demolished for “development” or profit any more than St Paul’s Cathedral can. It’s a last-ditch stand
In what came as a major setback to Orissa’s agitating tribal communities, the Supreme Court of India on August 8, 2008, approved a controversial mining project by Sterlite Industries, Vedanta’s Indian company, to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa’s Kalahandi district.
Members of the Dongira Kondh tribe, which lives at the base of the Niyamgiri hills where the bauxite mine will be located, have been battling the move for three years. They say it will destroy a large swathe of pristine forest and reduce their most sacred site to a wasteland.
Now, a special forest bench of the Supreme Court has given the go-ahead. This will help Sterlite Industries fulfil its plan of building a $ 800 million Lanjigarh alumina refinery in the Niyamgiri hills. The court order came with a directive to the Ministry of Environment and Forests to proceed in accordance with environmental laws, and to Vedanta to invest at least $ 2.5 million in the region to help local tribes develop.
Niyamgiri’s tribals maintain that mining in the sacred hills will not only destroy their culture but also their life and livelihood.
So, even as the company expresses its delight at the court’s decision and promises to proceed within the laws and safeguards, the tribals’ fight is all set to gain momentum.
The struggle so far
The battle to stop bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills, by Sterlite, a subsidiary of London-based mining and aluminium major Vedanta, has been going on for almost half a decade.
The Niyamgiri hills boast a number of botanical species that are unique to the region. They support 22 perennial streams that are the source of two important rivers in south Orissa and northeast Andhra Pradesh. Apart from being environmentally valuable, the hills also provide livelihood options to thousands of people living in the adjoining areas who depend on the natural resources.
Although activists and local communities have succeeded in delaying the project, they appear to be losing the battle as the company has been able to procure various licences, clearances, no-objections and go-aheads from government and the courts. Much of the opposition’s case rode on environmental and livelihood arguments. The campaign against mining revolved mostly around damage to the environment and loss of livelihoods caused by mining activities. The Supreme Court of India, at one point, quashed mining clearance on grounds that the socio-environmental cost of the mining project would be too great. However, the company has managed to persuade the court and concerned departments by saying that it will adopt the best environmental standards and get the all-important environmental clearances very soon.
In a last ditch effort therefore the local population is now pinning its hopes on the ‘sacredness’ of the hills. The Kondh tribes consider the hills to be the abode of their deity, Niyam Penu. They argue that, if not for environmental reasons, the mining proposal should be shelved for religious purposes.
Londoners shocked!
The Kondhs’ protests took a new form recently. On July 31, the international agency ActionAid filed an application with the governing body of St Paul’s cathedral in London seeking demolition of the cathedral. The move caused ripples from London to Kalahandi in Orissa. Though the application at first seemed innocuous, it represented a last-ditch attempt to save the Niyamgiri hills.
Would Londoners agree to demolish the cathedral for somebody else’s profit? If they didn’t, why should the Kondhs be subjected to forcible alienation from an area they consider sacred? Brendan O’Donnell, an ActionAid campaigner, explained: “This is a David and Goliath struggle -- we’ve applied to knock down St Paul’s to raise awareness about Vedanta’s outrageous plan to destroy the Kondhs’ spiritual home.”
The ActionAid campaign was launched against the backdrop of Vedanta’s annual general meeting that was held in London on July 31. The idea was to convey the message to the company’s shareholders. “Vedanta’s investors should be appalled that their money is backing the desecration of a sacred Indian site and the destruction of forests on which people rely for food, clean water and a living,” O’Donnell said.
Representatives of the Kondh tribe also staged a demonstration near the venue of the meeting. “We have opposed mining right from the start. Niyamgiri is a god for us,” said Kumuti Majhi, a Dongria Kondh, who attended the AGM on behalf of the Kondhs. Majhi directly addressed the chairman of the company, Anil Agarwal, saying: “We are here to appeal to you to help save our mountains. Progress to us means living on our mountain. How can your development replace our god?”
This sudden development caught the company unawares and its effects echoed at the AGM where Agarwal had to declare that the company “would only start work if we have complete permission of the court and the people”. However experts who know how Vedanta operates, especially in India, remain sceptical. Vedanta’s name has become almost synonymous with controversy relating to its mining initiatives in ecologically and culturally rich areas where people’s livelihoods and sentiments are deeply entrenched.
Vedanta has also stirred up a hornet’s nest by filing a fresh application to mine the Gandhamardan hills, another sacred hill with rich natural resources, for bauxite. This development has opened up a 20-year wound, where, after a long campaign, locals successfully stalled mining activities by public sector major BALCO and forced the company to abort the project. Incidentally, BALCO has now been taken over by Sterlite.
The Gandhamardan hills, spread over Orissa’s Bargarh and Bolangir districts, are a rich habitat for countless species of animals and birds and over 200 perennial and seasonal streams. It is believed that the Pandavas stayed here while in exile. There are two ancient temples on either side of the hills that are places of pilgrimage for Hindus. It is also believed that when Hanuman failed to identify the lifesaving bishalyakarani plant and carried the whole mountain from the Himalayas to Lanka to save Laxman’s life, a part of it fell here. That is why, people say, the hills harbour many valuable herb species found nowhere else. An ayurvedic medical college has been set up in the foothills.
After its first abortive attempt, BALCO made a second unsuccessful attempt in 1991. The company was ultimately forced to pack up, leaving behind an investment of over 10% in the area. In the early-’90s, Continental Resources of Canada too made an unsuccessful attempt to lease the mines. And in 2007, NALCO applied for a bauxite reserves in Gandhamardan. Local resistance deterred both companies from going ahead with their plans.
ActionAid’s application to demolish St Paul’s cathedral aims to make people aware of the importance of sacred places like Vatican City, Mecca, Jama Masjid, the Jagannath temple, etc. Can such places be demolished for economic gain the way Vedanta is set to destroy the abode of Niyam Penu?
And so, although the Supreme Court’s verdict on Niyamgiri has been welcomed by the company and officials of the state who believe that it will put industrialisation back on a fast track, the tribals continue their struggle. Participating in a recently concluded public hearing in Bhubaneswar, organised by the Bisthapan Birodhi Janabikash Andolan (Anti-Displacement People’s Movement), Lingaraj Azad of the Niyamgiri Surakhsha Samiti said: “Mining in Niyamgiri is, at the very primary level, a violation of the Constitution. The Indian Constitution has clearly spelt out that land belonging to tribals cannot be transferred to non-tribals; still, attempts are being made in Niyamgiri. It’s the people who are the real deciders. Unless we, the people living in and around Niyamgiri, want the mining to take place no one can use force to dig the hills for bauxite.”
Meanwhile, on August 11, thousands of devotees gathered at the Harishankar temple in the Gandhamardan hills as part of the Bol Bom ritual that’s performed during the month of Shravan, to pledge that they would fight until death to protect the Gandhamardan hills.
(Ranjan K Panda is an Orissa-based researcher and writer)
InfoChange News & Features, August 2008
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