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India's very own 'AVATAR'

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Last week I travelled to a remote place in India called Lanjigarh, which is located in the state of Orissa. It was a trip I'd been looking forward to for a few months.
I am sure you'd have heard/read of how mining, sometimes illegal, is destroying the remaining forest cover in India and displacing tribal communities living in these forests for hundreds of years.




This is a story of one such primitive tribe called the Dongria Kondh that lives in Orissa's Niyamgiri Mountains, which are part of India’s Eastern Ghats range. These tribals have been fighting a nine-year long battle for survival against British mining giant Vedanta Resources, incidentally owned by an NRI (non-resident Indian).
The story is simple yet complicated.




Vedanta wants to mine the bauxite (raw material for making aluminium) in the Niyamgiri Mountains, which are worshipped as God by 8,000+ tribals that reside here and have never known any other home. These tribals, like any of us, cannot allow the destruction of their home.
But Vedanta has the Orissa state administration and police under its control. It is trying very hard to gain control of the mountain. There are scores of human rights violations that are taking place against the tribals on the behest of the company. The tribals are up in arms ... the administration is calling 'Maoist influence'.
I reached the Niyamgiri Mountains after hours of trekking; I stayed with the tribals there. The tribals are a very shy people; they keep to themselves and have very little to do with the 'developed/developing' India. Their existence is restricted to their home...the mountain. They come down from the mountain only for one thing ... salt. The rest, Niyamraja God takes care of, they believe; they will not allow their God to be humiliated for a company's profits.




Vedanta is getting desperate. The company that has already started its aluminium factory at the foothills is running into losses, as it has to get its bauxite from a long distance. Meanwhile, Niyamraja is sitting tonnes of bauxite and teasing Vedanta. I guess the former knows ...his children, the Dongrias, will die for him.


© Danish Siddiqui Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

Comments

  1. crookedlinesMarch 2, 2010 at 10:37 PM

    They lack the tool that a giant multinational possesses ... money, and yet they fight. They are driven ... a certain "shy people" launch a struggle. They are driven...their "all" is at stake; their "existence" is at stake.

    It is amazing Danish that you have spoken for a people that have rarely found takers for their side of the story...least of all, for reasons of language barriers. But maybe a visual depiction of the "struggle" that you speak of could've added more substance to your narration. It would've laid bare the might of the giant versus the modest fight of a neglected people...

    But this is a great contribution to your blog. Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Faisal AhmedMarch 3, 2010 at 12:01 PM

    Painfully beautiful....you are back...the arm with the tree is my favourite...way to go man...keep it up..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shuja ul haqMarch 3, 2010 at 5:59 PM

    The kid, the arm and the tree is a beauty...great picture...sordid tales captured in such a rich manner...keep up the good work..

    ReplyDelete

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