Selfish eyes on a sacred hill
Can a mining company dig up a hill that tribals worship as sacred? ERVELL E MENEZES outlines the issues
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When the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) last week rejected the Vedanta bauxite mining proposal in the Niyamgiri Hills, Orissa, it most certainly struck a blow for ecological consciousness. Not surprisingly, the motives of the central government in general and of Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh in particular were in doubt; they were accused of political deviousness in targeting a ‘beneficial’ project in a non-Congress state .
Vedanta is an 8-billion-dollar mining and industrial giant that projects itself as a benevolent godfather spreading prosperity and cheer wherever it goes. But the truth is sometimes contrary to the image. The Niyamgiri project is a $1.7 billion bauxite operation meant to feed Vedanta’s aluminium refinery. Opposing the project all the way from the Niyamgiri hills to the plains of New Delhi and the Supreme Court is the indigenous Dongria Kondh tribe. For them, the hill is sacred; the home of a pantheon of deities. The Vedanta plan to disembowel their sacred hill is seen as the work of a demon. Till very recently, the Kondhs had been short-changed with the lure of prosperity.
Their protest has got support from the Environment Protection Group to Amnesty International. Bianca Jagger (former wife of Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger) visited the site earlier this year and wrote an article in ‘The Guardian’, a major British newspaper.
But perhaps the most damning indictment came in the 120-page report by the Dr N C Saxena committee, submitted on 16 August, on the basis of which the MoEF acted. It is a compelling report that leaves little doubt about the fundamental issues involved, and dispels even the last iota of suspicion that it could be politically motivated.
Of the various charges made, the most serious is of grabbing village forests without permission, sourcing material from illegal mines in violation of an express condition, and a massive six-fold expansion of Vedanta’s refinery capacity without taking any permission whatsoever. That all this was blatantly done seems to indicate that law and order was conspicuous by its absence.
Ms Jagger was interviewed by Tehelka in its 1 May issue, and provided much information about the till-then fairly unknown project. Why did she make a trip to interior Orissa?
She said she has been a human rights, social justice and environment protection advocate for the last 30 years. “I am the founder of the chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation. I also love India and have a long relationship with this country. This is why Action Aid approached me to meet Sitaram Kulsika, a tribal leader who was coming to London to testify at the Vedanta shareholders’ meeting,” she said.
She was moved by his compelling testimony and commitment to his homeland. “Once they start mining, the mountain will be bulldozed, the rivers will dry up and our livelihood will be lost,” he said. “We don’t know how to adapt and survive… we will be lost… extinct,” he went on.
Ms Jagger was so appalled by what Vedanta was doing in Orissa that she bought the company’s shares to be able to attend its shareholders meeting. “Vedanta screened a glowing film of all the wonderful things they were doing in India,” she told Tehelka, but there were many activists present, like Amnesty International, Action India, Survival International and other Indian groups who work in areas where Vedanta is operating. They asked serious questions and presented evidence of its less-than-satisfactory human rights record.
Vedanta founder-director Anil Agarwal had no answers for these questions, so she wrote an article for ‘The Guardian’ asking its shareholders to reconsider their involvement with Vedanta. “The trip to Orissa was the next logical step,” she said.
She felt at the heart of what was wrong was a very basic question. Are we saying in the 21st century that in the name of progress and development, we are prepared to sacrifice the fundamental rights of tribals and indigenous communities?
“The Niyamgiri mountain is a very important rain forest. Not only do the Kondh tribals see it as sacred, they have managed to retain their traditions and live completely self-sufficient lives in harmony with nature,” she said. The only things they buy from the outside world is salt and fuel. One of the tribal elders told her: “Just as fish cannot live outside water, we cannot live outside Niyamgiri.”
But the Kondhs are not the only issue. The top of the mountain is a bauxite-rich plateau. Bauxite collects rain waster very efficiently. These waters feed two major rivers and approximately 34 streams. So the Vedanta project will not only affect the Kondhs, it will also dry up water sources and impact communities further downstream. “Is such a project worth it?” she questions.
The only reason it came through was because the Orissa state government owned 25 per cent of Vedanta’s Indian subsidiary, a very lopsided partnership to say the least. But this is how devious projects go through. Sheer corruption!
Born in Nicaragua, Ms Jagger has been brought up on a country which had many foreign occupants. She cites examples of vast natural resources in South America being exploited by foreign corporations. South American governments are known to change as frequently as fashionable women. The inequality is so stark that 10 per cent of the population owns 90 per cent of the wealth.
I met a Brazilian filmmaker, Sandra Wasnik (I think, not too sure of the surname) who made a film on street kids. She told me: “At least in Mumbai they are not shot… as they are in Rio.” Living conditions, we know, are appalling.
But back to India. Two days after permission to mine was refused to Vedanta, Rahul Gandhi visited the Niyamgiri hills and told the tribals: “You have been fighting for your rights peacefully. You have saved your land, mountain and religion.” He promised to be their representative:. “I will always remain your sipahi in Delhi,” he promised.
Rahul is a symbol of hope, and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh is another stalwart one can depend upon. Together, they can achieve much. Getting to the origin of a problem is a better way to solve it. If this approach was adopted in Central India, the Maoists movement would not have grown to this size and strength. It’s an old adage: ‘A stitch in time saves nine’, but no one seems to care.
Finally, coming to our own beautiful state of Goa, we have illegal mining too. I saw it personally in Salguini around five years ago. One is not too sure what action is being taken against the illegal mine owners. We have CRZ violations, and SEZs are still in a grey area, despite Chief Minister Digambar Kamat’s assurances.
So maybe Rahul and Ramesh should pay Goa a visit, to check on our errors of omission and commission. Don’t we all know the state’s dubious ‘distinctions’? You can send them an invitation, Mr Kamat.
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A room of their own
By Marc de Souza
I was not upset with the impulsive rearrangements – now scuffling, now a bumping, a thumping, a long-drawn-out scraping, moving furniture in one of the upstairs rooms – I was just amused at their frequency. It reminded me of my own feelings when I was a teenager, as our children now were. The startling and rapid evolution of body, mind and emotions; the need to invent and reinvent yourself through clothes and hairstyle; and through the arrangement of the decor of your bedroom.
When we were building our bungalow in Miramar, one day my three children took me aside and asked me if they could each have a room of their own. So, with the master bedroom on the first floor, we made three bedrooms; one for each child.
One day our son came to tell us that he would now not be living in the family home any more. His eyes lit up with all the love that had passed between us over the years.
One by one, my three children graduated from Dhempe College and, ultimately, left the family nest in search of greener pastures abroad. The nest was now empty.
Their three rooms, now unoccupied, were so much a part of our lives over so many years. In these I taught them; we constructed architectural wonders out of blocks, and set up elaborate desks. It was there that they perfected their art work and struggled with university applications. It was the place my wife and I told them a thousand stories, and where we had a million conversations. I could almost touch the little boy and girls; I knew had gone forever.
It was there our son banged away at his drum set while the music played softly. It was there that our daughters played the organ. Both these instruments were bought in London, taken to Iran, where we were stationed, and subsequently brought with us to Goa.
Neighbours still remember our son playing the drums, and they ask us if he still plays. As conscientious parents, we strive to foster independence. But when it actually happens – when you pause outside their doors and look at the blank panels – it is always enormously unsettling. Parenting is a series of letting go by degrees.
At regular intervals, they came on short holidays, from Dubai, London and Canada. And we jumped into the task of cleaning the rooms, closets and drawers full of marathon letters and what not. I know the letters to friends must have been filled with thoughts and opinions they did not share with us. Things like snapshots, a stack of homemade thank-you cards, old report cards that stung me with pride…
All my three children are married now, but they still keep coming home, one by one, with their extended families. We are grateful grandparents now.
I cannot express what I felt when our first grandchild arrived. Pride and joy filled me when I beheld her with my eyes and cradled her in my arms. I felt like ringing the bells, blowing the trumpet, lighting crackers and popping the champagne. That was Hannah Clare. She plays and dances like a dream.
Then it was Eve Sofia’s turn. She manages her own movements gracefully and handles objects skilfully. The third is Daniel Robert. He is the Creator’s masterpiece. He is musically gifted.
Grandparents are enchanted with the wonderful things their grandchildren do. They certainly add such a great deal to our lives.
