Tuesday, August 20, 2013

God Nimmagiri Vs Dadagiri of Vedanta




Odisha in India is fighting another battle of freedom in the remote hilly tracks of Niyamgiri. This hill range is probably 250 kilometers long in the most backward district of Kalahandi and Rayagada. These forests are rich in minerals and forests , inhabited by lesser-known indigenous , primitive, tribes of Dongriya Kondh and Kutiya Kondh who speak kui ,a dialect very local to Niyamgiri area. These indigenous people survive mainly of forest produce, shifting cultivation and animal hunting. The outreach of any kind of government programmes are almost nill and they survive on their own laid out system of medicine and food habits. Sometimes they come down to local markets with some kind of collected forest produce to exchange it with salt and oils.

I would like to share with the readers that I have also worked as an NGO worker in Kalahandi District of Odisha in Thuamul Rampur Block which is accessible by road from Bhawanipatna . These are hilly areas still very poor in road,electricity, mobile phone and health service connectivity. The tribal people are surviving on their indigenous systems of birth , marriage, markets and death. There  are repeated attacks of malaria, cholera and other viral-diseases which go unreported in mainstream media. It is also very difficult for dedicated social workers to work here due to presence of wild animals, forest mafia and Maoists who have pre-defined territories which no one can violate. Even the local police  and forest personnel do not want to visit these villages due to lack of roads and risk of life for them.

Kondhs, the indeginous tribe,  in these mountains must have been reduced to a few thousands now but they are being approached by the State machinery due to a Supreme Court order to hold Gram Sabha, locally called as palli Sabha , in these some 12 bigger villages.  Vedanta want to mine some 70 million plus tonnes of bauxite from this area spread below the land area believed to be possessed and owned by God on the hilltop of Hundal jali called as Nimmagiri- the God who protects these tribal from the eyes of the evil forces. Supreme Court passed an order in April 2013 to ask for a vote from the inhabitants of the villages residing in the remotes of Niyamgiri.

Vedanta wants to mine bauxite from more than 660 hectares of land in the area. Even before all permissions were received they had constructed an alumina refinery at Lanjhigarh near the base of Niyamgiri with a cost estimated to be close to 1.7 billion dollars. The promoter of Vedanta have offered these villagers a series of vivid plans under corporate social responsibility  (CSR) but they are yet to be accepted by the inhabitants. The last of the 12 big public hearing-cum-gram sabhas held there have unanimously rejected the plans of Vedanta and it is now for the District Judge to finalize the reports and submit it to the Hon. Supreme Court of India.

So what we saw was an open-air , first ever, environmental- hearings , being conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court thanks to timely intervention of the son-of-the –soil leader Sri Rahul Gandhi supported by the Ministry of Forest to protect the rights of the tribal through Forest rights Act by denying the permissions for Vedanta. Vedanta approached the Supreme Court which then ordered these open-air referendum, through palli sabha ( Gram Sabha ). The local leaders also supported the efforts to approach the indigenous people for this referendum.

The followers of  Nimmagiri have expressed their votes in favour of their God, now it remains to be how the Highest Court of the civilized- land deals with the dadagiri of Vedanta !

Will Nimmagiri win over   dadagiri ?
 I pray it, the former, wins !

Dated 20th.August, 2013 written with inputs from various published media reports and supported in strict confidence with  my own experience of working in Odisha.

tag : odisha @vedanta. Vedanta. Supreme Court of India, Dongriya Kondh,  Kutiya Kondh, Rahul Gandhi, Gram Sabha, Forest Right Act, CSR,

feedback may be sent to ameerparvez@gmail.com

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