By Ashirbad S Raha
17 Aug 2010
With the government appointed expert panel also finding the proposed Vedanta project hazardous to Niyamgiri hills and the Dongria Kond community residing there for centuries, the tribals' struggle to save their culture, livelihoods and land has got a major boost.
Tribal soldiers of a silent war in a candle light protest in Delhi
(photo: Ashirbad Raha)
Being a tribal, Kunni Kadraka’s natural instinct is to greet a person with an innocent smile. But of late, the smile does not reach her lips. The innocence and cheerfulness in her mind is entangled in fear.
Her dreams and smiles are threatened to be devoured by the voracious appetite of a corporate giant but the hope to survive all odds is still breathing. A battle she started with her folks sans any financial or political support is finally being noticed.
But for Kunni, who lives at Bundel village in Orissa's Kalahandi district, the war is far from over. She is a member of Dongria Kond community that is defending their lands, livelihoods and culture against Vedanta Resources, a mining company listed in London Stock Exchange. The global mining giant has plans to mine about 70 million tonnes of bauxite for commercial exploitation from the environmentally sensitive Niyamgiri Hills.
However, the poor tribals’ consistent struggle against the destruction of their revered Niyamgiri hill by the global company has begun to bear fruit. A four-member panel appointed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests has reported that the mining giant consistently violated several laws in Niyamgiri, encroached upon government land, yielded clearances wrongly and illegally built an aluminium refinery at Lanjigarh, Orissa.
Though a GDP growth rate obsessed government may find avenues to discard the observations of its own expert panel, but some environmentalists see the latest report as a useful weapon to protect the threatened Niyamgiri hills. Some activists even hope that this stern report could finally lead to the shutting down of the company's project in Orissa.
For Kunni and the entire Dongria kond tribe, Niyamgiri has never been just a hill but their God which they have been worshipping for thousands of years. Perhaps, it is this sentiment that has given them the courage and optimism to continue their fight to save Niyamgiri. This, to them, was a war that had no midway solution.
On being asked about what Niyamgiri means to her, Kunni’s otherwise calm face lights up as she says, “For us, Niyam Raja (Niyamgiri) is our purpose for existence. From our food, water, air to our livelihood, all come from Niyamgiri. It’s our God.”
Vedanta, however, plans to mine their ‘God’... and that too illegally and with muscle power. In fact, to rope in the Konds, it has constantly propagated the idea of bringing 'prosperity' to the tribe.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a journalist who has been following the Niyamgiri struggle for some years says, “Vedanta promises good homes, jobs and ‘better lives’ to the konds for giving up their demand but the company doesn't realise that for these tribals, despite being away from the winds of growth and development, survival has never been an issue. The rivers, streams, forest produce and even medicinal plants of Niyamgiri have sustained them properly and hence there is no question of providing better lives.”
Undoubtedly, the Niyamgiri Hills are extremely rich and significant both culturally and ecologically. Being the source of Vansadhara River as well as a major tributary of Nagavali River (both rivers cater to the drinking and irrigation needs of lakhs of people in south Orissa and Andhra Pradesh), Niyamgiri boasts of miles of some of the most pristine forests in Orissa inhabited by a number of vulnerable wildlife species including tiger, leopards, sloth bear, pangolin and palm civet. It is, however, anybody's guess how bauxite mining will affect the mountain and its flora and fauna.
The last few years have been difficult for the villagers in the region. They accuse the company of intimidating them to give up their cause. Kulesika Basko of Kadraka village in the adjoining Rayagada district says, “Ever since Vedanta has come in, we cannot leave our ladies and the elderly alone in the village. They are always accompanied by some male members. Earlier the men folk would carelessly venture into the forest for collecting the produce but now there is always a fear that the company's hired men might harm our families.” And not to forget the fact the refinery at Lanjigarh that Vedanta has already put in place is alleged of gifting diseases like tuberculosis to the Konds.
And it’s because of these irreversible ecological, cultural, social and societal damages caused by the project that Vedanta is now facing stiff resistance not just by the Konds but an expanding international community that is rallying for the cause.
Supporters like Bianca Jagger, Arundhati Roy, Michael Palin, Survival International, Amnesty and Action Aid, have already been instrumental in bringing to the fore the plight and danger that linger over the Niyamgiri. And the results have been quite remarkable. Over the past three years, major Vedanta shareholders have withdrawn their investments from the company. Most recently, Dutch pensions giant PGGM withdrew investments worth $16 million. Earlier this year, the Church of England sold its shares. In 2007, the Norwegian government divested its shares in Vedanta followed by Martin Currie, a Scottish investment company in 2008, clearly raising questions about the company’s credibility.
“The fact that the international community has recognised the Niyamgiri struggle is the first sign of our victory. It’s a tough struggle but we have all the reasons to feel hopeful. If we can drive out the British rulers and earn our Independence then why can’t we save Niyamgiri,” says Bratindi Jena, Tribal Thematic Head, ActionAid India.
Earlier in March this year, a team of experts from the Indian government had slammed Vedanta for its mining plans in Niyamgiri. The investigation prompted by a series of complaints made to the Ministry for Environment and Forests clearly concluded: “This acquires importance in the context that disruption of the habitat and the way of life of this Primitive Tribal Group (PTG) cannot be remediated or compensated, and may lead to the destruction of the Dongria Kond as a PTG. This is too serious a consequence to ignore.”
More@ http://www.d-sector.org/article-det.asp?id=1341
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