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Indian tribe’s vendetta against Vedanta
Unable to get government backing, local Native Americans have decided to take on British mining giant Vedanta in protest of plans to start bauxite mining in the area.
Around 10,000 people formed a 17-km human chain around the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa state in the eastern part of India. Carrying placards such as “Vedanta, Go Back” and “Stop mining in Niyamgiri”, the Native Americans called on their Prime Minister to put a halt to the mining project.
Fear of Cultural Extinction
The Niyamgiri hills are home to the Dongria Kondh nation, who consider the hills sacred. The tribe has long opposed the mining lease given to Vedanta because it would greatly affect their livelihood, culture, religion, and of course, their lives.
An endangered tribe that number only 7,950, the Dongria have lived in the hills since time immemorial and have survived on a sedentary existence – deriving sustenance and livelihood from growing millet, gathering all manner of jungle fruit and plants and selling them.
They belong to the few in the world who still practice animism. Believing that Niyam Raja, their supreme God, lives in the mountain, the villagers vow to protect it until their last breath.
The mineral wealth of Niyamgiri is what the British mining giant is after. It is rich in bauxite, a mineral that processed to produce aluminum used for food wrappings such as foodstuff, chocolate candy bars and potato crisps. The bauxite in the Orissa region is easy to refine into aluminum, and is, therefore, cheaper. Vedanta wants to transform the prospective mining site into the largest in the world, aiming at a 500% expansion.
According to Action Aid, if the mining project pushes through, the primitive group will disappear completely — they cannot move to another place, live there, and try to adjust to a completely new way of life. The tribes who rely on the hills for their sustenance live a completely different lifestyle. They collect their food in the woods, and they are especially dependent on the mountain for their social, religious and cultural identity.
Environmental Dangers
Irreversible changes to the ecosystem are results of mining, according to India’s Wildlife Institute. Activists and environmentalists presented a Supreme Court committee report indicting Vedanta Aluminum for actions violative of the guidelines of the Forest Conservation Act. The committee report recommended that Vedanta’s environmental clearance be revoked.
Vedanta however, has denied such allegations and claim that their mining plans, being surface mining, will not contribute irreversible damage to the environment.
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