Expressbuzz, Sept 29, 2010
Calm has returned to little Jagannathpur, in the foothills of the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa’s Kalahandi district. The rallies are over, the decision by the Union ministry of environment and forests to deny Vedanta Resources permission to mine the hills for bauxite has been handed down, so the flurry of excitement leading up to that moment is over. The tribal village near the company’s refinery now looks deserted. As the hullabaloo over the victory march of Rahul Gandhi, self-proclaimed soldier of the tribals, dies down, people in the region are beginning to get along with their uncluttered life. But the struggle has taken its toll. If the recent past has been stormy, the future is now uncertain for a lot of people who wanted a change. The coming of a major industrial project had raised hopes of an improvement in infrastructure, amenities and communications, something the state has neglected to provide all these decades. Now that the company has been denied permission, these hopes are most unlikely to be fulfilled. This means the population of the tribal villages that dot the region will continue to wallow in neglect, fending for themselves in the absence of roads, schools, hospitals and other basic amenities.Not everyone is unhappy, though. Sana Majhi is not bothered, in fact. The Dongria Kondh tribal of a remote Lakhadpur village is a visibly happy man. “Our Niyamgiri has been saved,’’ he says as he takes a seat on a wooden bech in front of a makeshift tea stall at Jagannathpur on his way to the weekly haat at Muniguda.Sana’s village is not connected by road. The neighbouring village, also Dongria, is a 10km to 12km walk. None of the villages are very big. The number of houses in a village does not often cross 50. There are 112 Dongria Kondh villages in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts with a population of 8,500. These are among the remotest settlements, virtually untouched by the hand of progress. Vedanta’s mining proposal would certainly have spelt doom for these tribals. They subsist on traditional cultivation and collection of forest produces, including sal leaves, amla and jhuna. They cultivate mango, banana, jack fruit and lemon on forest land with small holdings of one or two acres. They also cultivate ‘Dhanua’ chilli, one of the hottest peppers, famous across the world. Life would have become very difficult for these people if the mining proposal had gone through. “The streams on which the villagers depend for their farming would have gone dry. Agriculture would be lost, livelihoods devastated,” Sana Majhi says. In fact, hill-top mining would have destroyed the pastures of the Dongrias. The plateau at the top of the hills is used by the Dongrias as pasture for livestock. As the land near the villages is now used for farming, the hilltop is used for sheltering cows for the three-to-four month agricultural season.Lado Sikaka, one of the better known Dongria Kondhs, who shared the dais with Rahul Gandhi, echoed the sentiment. “We want to be left alone. The refinery would bring in people from other cultures and traditions. Our culture would be corrupted,” he says.Siddhartha Nayak, an activist avers that the Dongria Kondhs have applied for pattas of forest land after the Forest Rights Act (FRA) came into being in 2006. However, the state government wanted to give land rights to the tribals in places other than Niyamgiri with an ulterior motive. This has met with fierce opposition from the tribals.But this is not the whole story. While many people rejoiced after the Centre slammed the brakes on the mining proposal, there are an equal number who dread the fallout. What happens if the refinery closes down, they ask? The project had raised hopes among many people for development, infrastructure, and a steep improvement in living standards, more jobs, houses, schools, hospitals, electricity, and so on.“What will the future hold for us,” Kutli Majhi, a Dongria of Dumorpadar village wonders. She was at Jagannathpur recently to attend the Save Orissa rally organised by the Biju Janata Dal to protest the rejection of Vedanta’s mining proposal. She asked this of whoever seemed to be knowledgeable enough to her eyes. She has reason to be worried.“Vedanta provided metal roofing for our houses and suraj ukia (solar lighting) in the village. Schools and child care centres have been constructed by the company,” she said. She herself was given a machine by the company to stitch leaf plates and sell them in the market. There are 20 others in her village who have been provided with these stitching machines. “If the company people go, who will take care of our livelihood?” she asked. Kutli is one of the tribals who have benefited from the attentions of Vedanta.The company certainly brought in many changes in the villages in and around Lanjigarh. These villages are inhabited by the Kutia Kondhs, another primitive tribal group. Jitu Jakesika, a Dongria, who has changed from a Niyamgiri activist to a champion of mining in the hills, says that the tribals need education, health care and not politics.“Illiteracy has given the chance to political parties to exploit us for their benefit. But only education can help the tribals.” Jitu was the man who had urged Rahul Gandhi to save Niyamgiri from mining during his last trip to the area in 2008. “I was illiterate then and swayed away by the political parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs),” he now says.Hari Majhi, a Kutia Kondh and Class Eight dropout from Kinari village says everything will return to the old days once the refinery closes down. Majhi now rides a motorcycle, thanks to Vedanta. He prefers it to walking, any day. But if the company decides to pull out altogether, he may have to return to his old pedestrian ways. The roads for which people like him are hoping will remain a dream. Two opposing viewpoints, each strongly held, and both will be heard in the area as long as (and perhaps even after) the fate of the refinery is not decided. — bijay@expressbuzz.com
Violent fallout of a denialOnly days after the Ministry of Environment and Forests withdrew Stage II clearance to bauxite mining plans of Vedanta and slapped showcause notices on its alumina refinery expansion, the repercussions were loud and clear. The administrative office of the company's refinery at Lanjigarh witnessed violence as hundreds of contract labourers ransacked the premises. The incident came a day after Vedanta reportedly suspended its contract with L&T, roped in for expansion of the refinery. Vedanta which had set up and received clearance for a 1 million tonne refinery had scaled up its capacity to 6 million tonne. But the expansion was carried out even before the company could receive clearance from the MoEF which came down upon it and threatened to cancel its permit. Under pressure, Vedanta suspended its contract with L&T which in turn served retrenchment notices on 5,000 workers on contract leading to serious discontentment. The employment loss led the enraged contract workers to barge into the office seeking adequate compensation. They sought three months salary as compensation but the company agreed just for 45 days. That was the trigger for violence.
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