For the tribals in the Chandragiri-Pottangi subrange in Odisha, Maliparvat (mountain) is an integral part of their lives and their livelihood. The ecological, religious and economic pull of this land is such that, despite years of corporate pressure, local communities continue to defend the land against mining auctions proposed by the state government.

On July 7, 2021, the Mines, Steel and Mines department Director tendered for the grant of mining lease for iron ore, bauxite, manganese and dolomite. Corporates like the Aditya Birla Group’s Hindalco Industries Limited (HINDALCO), TATA and Vedanta were reported as the main bidders for these mines. However, local activists pointed out that among the 11 mines auctioned by the state, seven are virgin blocks and the rest are expired lease blocks.

Particularly, regarding the bauxite mining lease in the area, Lok Shakti Abhiyan (LSA) President Prafulla Samantara said that the permission was given to HINDALCO as far back as 2007. Samantara said the government allowed it to apply for fresh environmental clearance, which will be considered on September 22, 2021.

“The illegal construction still continued in the cleared area. The repression on people has not decreased because the plant remains and the Odisha government is going to hand it back to corporates,” Samantara told SabrangIndia.

For the Dongria tribe, this re-auctioning of leases poses a threat to their livelihood. HINDALCO’s earlier Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report said that there were no significant streams and forests in the area. However, in a letter addressed to Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik, Samantara argued that the small mountain contained 36 perennial streams that sustain River Kolab – a major river in the state. Further, the streams allowed locals to carry out agricultural activities, including vegetable farming in over a hundred villages.

Moreover, the area is home to thousands of trees, including Sal, and medicinal plants. It is also an important elephant corridor for the region. However, following the mining turmoil, the animals have begun straying from their traditional habitats.

“Unlawful mining transportation is just one of the many problems faced by locals due to the corporate projects. Elephants now live inside villages. The community lost 240 sq.km. land to mining and 140-160 years old trees. Meanwhile, corporates made a super-profit of Rs. 2 lakh. But the money was never used to create a steel plant that would have helped the people,” said Kirankumar Sahu, another activist working with the locals against the mining auction.

Similarly, local activist Damodar Jani spoke about how the affected villages were yet to receive road connection let alone other forms of development like drinking water. “These projects only benefit the leasing companies and the government. Till date, no individual has received a job, adequate educational or health facilities. Even people living around areas where production was carried out 38 years ago, received no relief,” he said.

On Wednesday, he said that as many as 20,000 people will gather for the public hearing regarding the clearance of the lease. Activists said the demands of the people are simple: improved livelihood and freedom from police repression and non-bailable arrests.

HINDALCO’s environmental clearance

In 2020, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Environment Ministry objected to renewing the green clearance to HINDALCO as violator of law and said the company deserved punishment.

Locals allege that authorities allowed illegal mining even before 2012-2014 when the company received the clearance. They claimed that such activities came to a halt due to their democratic resistance.

“We ask should everything be destroyed for mining? This small mine of 14 million tons is not necessary for immediate use for industries in the state. The government will get little revenue as royalty because it is allotted not by auction. But the permit’s ecological and sustainable economic value of livelihood for tribals are immense,” said Samantara.

On top of providing fodder and grazing area for domestic animals, Mali Parvat is a sustainable resource for climate justice, said locals. They argued that sustainable development should not be sacrificed for the profit of private entities who aim to monopolise Odisha’s mines.

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Under the aegis of social organizations like Campaign for Survival with Dignity (CSD), Odisha Nari Samaj and Jan Jagran Abhiyan, many tribals held around 402 gram sabhas and passed resolutions urging the state government to halt the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NRC) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Odisha, reported the The Daily Pioneer. Out of these 402, at least 65 gram sabhas were held in Ganjam, CM Naveen Patnaik’s home turf, followed by 56 in Sundargarh and 53 in Malkangiri district.

The gram sabhas were held in 15 districts – Ganjam, Gajapati, Sundargarh, Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Kandhamal, Balangir, Bargarh, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj, Jharsuguda and Jajpur. This was the first time such resolutions were passed by Gram Sabhas in Odisha. CSD convening body member Narendra Mohanty said that post the passing of the resolutions in the villages, a memorandum was sent to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the district Collectors of 15 districts.

Calling the CAA, NPR and NRC as “anti-tribal and anti-people”, senior member of the CSD, Pradeep Sahoo demanded that the Odisha government pass a resolution in the Assembly against the “regressive decisions of the Central Government.”

Jan Jagran Abhiyan’s President, Madhusudan Sethi said, “STs and SCs constitute 40 per cent of Odisha’s population. The Dalit and tribal communities have faced a long-lost battle with displacement for the sake of development, landless problems and natural disasters like Cyclones Phailin and Titli. So, providing birth certificate and land documents is a major issue to prove citizenship.”

The publication reported that Karmi Besra of Odisha Nari Samaj; Anna Kujur of Athakosia Sangathan of Sundargarh; and Bhisma Pangi of Malkangiri and Bijay Swain of Ganjam Zilla Gramsabha Samiti played a significant role in convincing and getting the gram sabhas to pass these resolutions.

Jharkhand passed resolution against NPR and NRC

After the Pathalgadi tribals wrote to Jharkand CM Hemant Soren last week, asking his government to stop the implementation of the CAA, NPR and NRC in the state, the Jharkhand government has now passed a resolution against the NPR and NRC, reported The Hindu.

Breaking: Jharkhand assembly passes resolution against National Register of Citizens and requests the centre to withdraw them. The Jharkhand assembly also requests the centre to stick to 2010 NPR manual @IndianExpress

 pic.twitter.com/wSlEw3V5hg

— Abhishek Angad (@abhishekangad) March 23, 2020

“In the present format having 15 points, people will be asked about date and place of birth of parents. Most of people in Jharkhand will not be able to answer these questions. In Jharkhand, most people even don’t know their own date of birth,” Alamgir Alam, Jharkhand Rural Development Minister and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, told The Hindu.

The move was also the result of the heavy criticism against Soren by the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM) which came down heavily on him for his silence on the matter. In a letter to the Jharkhand CM, activists had said, “The main purpose of the NPR is to lay the ground for NRC. The NRC is a wasteful exercise that is bound to lead to exclusion and harassment of a large number of people especially poor as has already happened in Assam. It will wreak havoc on the poor of Jharkhand especially tribals, Dalit, Muslims and women. The combination of CAA and NRC could easily become a weapon to reduce many Muslims to second-class citizens.”

How the CAA, NPR, NRC will affect tribals

In the letter to the CM, the Pathalgadi tribals outlined four reasons how the NRC would affect the lives of Adivasis and Moolvasis, National Herald repoted.

Khunti’s Ghaghra Gram Sabha has written to CM @HemantSorenJMM to immediately stop NPR and pass resolution against CAA-NRC. Also demanded implementation of 5th schedule provisions and PESA.
Ghaghra had done pathalgadi in 2018. It was followed by severe repression by earlier govt. pic.twitter.com/TDvgXntPat

— Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (@JharkhandJanad1) March 17, 2020

The tribals and Adivasis area community which strive hard to make ends meet and depend on nature for their lives and livelihoods. Most of them do not have documents by birth and the implementation of the NRC will only compel people to run from pillar to post to gather documents leading to a loss of time and money.

With land being their major asset, Adivasis have to unfairly suffer the arm-wringing of corporates and the government who illegally acquire their land. Land documents are a must to be shown in the NRC. For tribals who have lost their lands to the government, how will they prove their citizenship?

The Ghaghra Gram Sabha which wrote on behalf of the Pathalgadi tribals also alleged that the implementation of the CAA-NPR-NRC would make the exploitation of Adivasis much easier and asked it to focus on the implementation of the Fifth Schedule and Panchayat (Extension of Scheduled Area) Act.

Ramji Munda, a member of the Ghaghra Gram Sabha said, “In most of our villages, people do not have birth certificates, so how are we going to produce them now. In our Adivasi villages, we know all of our neighbours, but how will we be able to prove to the government that we are residents if we don’t have documents. We have never had any documents. The land we live on is ours and it falls under the fifth schedule.”

He also added how the implementation of the NRC would pose a problem for most women in India. Saying that most women changes villages after marriage, he asked, “How will they prove their residency. They never had documents either in their own village or here. The NPR and NRC will cause immense displacement and pain to Adivasis, in addition to targeting Muslims, Christians and Dalits in the villages.”

Forest-dwelling communities, apart from women and minorities, will be the worst-affected by the CAA-NPR-NRC. They have a history of having lost their land and forests for the sake of development projects which has led them to migrate to remote settlements. Entire villages have disappeared in such displacements and these will not come up in the system even if they manage to name it.

Most people from the earlier generations don’t have birth certificates. Most forest dwellers do not have Aadhaar cards.

Speaking to The Citizen, Aloka Kujur, a Jharkhand-based Adivasi rights activist explained that the 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) do not have any documentation as they reside in isolated and remote areas. Furthermore, she explained that most of the Adivasi population had become Christian. But groups like the Sarna Dharmik group and the Bhisai Dharma practiced by the Munda community have not been recognized by law.

How then will the government’s decision of implementing the CAA and granting citizenship by religion not affect these indigenous Adivasis and tribals who devoid of documents will not even be able to fathom the legal implications of the Act?

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Image: Bibhuti Pati

Kodingamali hill has rich deposits of bauxite over 428.31 hectare of area. The villagers had earlier placed their demands before the state government stating that bauxite mining could only be allowed on the hill if it establishes a plant in the area and employs local youth on the basis of their merit. Additionally, it demanded improvement in healthcare service, education, transport, power and drinking water facilities in the affected villages, for carrying out mining activities.

However, the government has allegedly turned a deaf ear to their pleas and is carrying out bauxite mining operations on the hill. Meanwhile, OMC has reportedly signed a contract with Vedanta Alumina in Lanjigarh to transport the raw material to the latter’s plant without conducting a Palli Sabha in the area, a villager Jawaharlal Bagh said. 

These villagers have threatened to stop allowing mining from the hill and subsequent transport of raw material, if their demands are not met. Two days ago, the villagers had blocked the road connecting to the hill. They withdrew the protests after Lakshmipur SDPO Tapan Narayan Rath assured them of looking into their demands. They have called upon the state government to act on their demands failing which they will move the apex court for justice.

They have alleged that the OMC and the consultancy agency carrying out bauxite mining, are trying to foil their protests by using the service of middlemen and anti-social elements. However, villagers claim that they are determined to stay put despite such threats. Villagers from Odisha have won historic struggles against the Vedanta conglomerate, the POSCO Company and several others.

Related Articles:
1. Odisha Village Gram Sabha Opposes Vedanta
2. Intimidation & Illegal Incarcerations of Adivasis: Odisha Police Acting at the Behest of Vedanta?
3. SC Rejects Odisha Govt Plea for Mining in Niyamgiri: Watch 6 videos on Save Niyamgiri Struggle
 

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