Anti MNC Forum

Tree : A poem by Rajendra Rajan : Translated by Shaleen Kumar Singh

2009-11-01T23:12:00.003+05:30

It happened so often in my childhood
That someone pointed out
'You have swallowed
The seed with the fruit
So a tree will grow inside you'

Inside me any tree grew or not
I don't know
Because I didn't confer to anyone ever
Any shadow, fruit or whisper of spring

But when today I
Saw a young tree being cut
I listened within me
A green-flourishing shriek
A terror-stricken shriek
Burst out of me

Whether My shriek was heard by anyone or not
I don't know
Because I didn't grow like a tree inside others

Because to anyone I never conferred
Any shadow, fruit or whisper of spring

Rajendra Rajan
Translation : Dr. Shaleen Kumar Singh

पेड़

छुटपन में ऐसा होता था अक्सर
कि कोई टोके
कि फल के साथ ही तुमने खा लिया है बीज
इसलिए पेड़ उगेगा तुम्हारे भीतर

मेरे भीतर पेड़ उगा या नहीं
पता नहीं
क्योंकि मैंने किसी को कभी
न छाया दी न फल न वसंत की आहट

लेकिन आज जब मैंने
एक जवान पेड़ को कटते हुए देखा
तो मैंने सुनी अपने भीतर
एक हरी – भरी चीख

एक डरी – डरी चीख
मेरे भीतर से निकली

मेरी चीख लोगों ने सुनी या नहीं
पता नहीं
क्योंकि लोगों के भीतर
मैं पेड़ की तरह उगा नहीं

क्योंकि मैंने किसी को कभी
न छाया दी न फल न वसंत की आहट.

- राजेन्द्र राजन .

Kunwarnarayan's Poem

2009-10-19T14:41:00.005+05:30

Kunwar Narayan is the senior most contemporary Hindi poet.He has been awarded with India's most prestigious literary award Gyanpeeth this year. Here is a poem written by him along with its translation into English.The translation is done by young English poet Dr. Shaleen Kumar Singh.

क्या फिर वही होगा
जिसका हमें डर है ?
क्या वह नहीं होगा
जिसकी हमें आशा थी?
क्या हम उसी तरह बिकते रहेंगे
बाजारों में
अपनी मूर्खताओं के गुलाम?
क्या वे खरीद ले जायेंगे
हमारे बच्चों को दूर देशों में
अपना भविष्य बनवाने के लिए ?
क्या वे फिर हमसे उसी तरह
लूट ले जायेंगे... हमारा सोना
हमें दिखाकर कांच के चमकते टुकडे?
और हम क्या इसी तरह
पीढी-दर-पीढी
उन्हें गर्व से दिखाते रहेंगे
अपनी प्राचीनताओं के खण्डहर
अपने मंदिर मस्जिद गुरुद्वारे?
-कुंवरनारायण
Some other poems by Kunwarnarayan.

English Translation :

Shall it happen again
What we fear?
Shall it not happen
What we expected?
Shall we be sold again like always
In the Markets
A slave of our own follies?
Will they buy and carry our children
To foreign lands
To make their own future
Will they again grab us like always,
Rob us... Our gold
Luring us by the glittering pieces of glass
And do we like this
Generation after generation
Proudly show them
The ruins of our ancestry
Our temples, Mosques, Gudwaras?
( Original poem in Hindi by Kunwarnarayan,English translation by Dr. Shaleen Kumar Singh )

Stop abuse of media in elections Petition

2009-05-11T13:29:00.000+05:30

Stop abuse of media in elections Petition

Rights groups cry foul

2009-03-10T09:18:00.000+05:30

Rights groups cry foul

Staff Reporter

‘Doctors being made scapegoats’

BHUBANESWAR: Human rights activists and anti-displacement leaders on Saturday demanded that the State government should dismiss senior officials who were responsible for ordering the three doctors to chop off palms of tribals killed in police firing in Kalinganagar area.

Sympathising on doctors’ agitation to revoke dismissal proceedings against three doctors, three organisations, Lokshakti Abhijan, Samajwadi Jana Parishad and CPI (ML) New Democracy said that doctors were unnecessarily being made scapegoats.

“ The government led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is the main culprit in whole incident.

Not a single government official barring doctors was suspended in the incident of police firing that led to death of 14 tribals,” said Prafulla Samantra of Lokshakti Abhijan.

Pointing out that doctors came to the scene only after death of tribals, Mr. Samantra said, “former collector, Superintendent of Police and senior government officials of Jajpur district who were responsible for firing have let off.

A judicial inquiry which was instituted to probe the case has also been weakened.”

Similarly, Lingaraj from Samajwadi Jana Parishad said doctors were under pressure from senior administrators to do the chopping of palms.

He ridiculed the approach of State government to deal with issues associated with the gory incident.

Many tribals had become handicapped in the firing but instead of extending them a free treatment, State government had ignored the matter, Mr. Lingaraj said.

The activists said this was an attempt of State government to divert attention of people from the main issue by picking up doctors.

Courtesy
© Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu

An open rejoinder to Mr Shashi Tharoor

2009-03-05T21:21:00.001+05:30

From: S Faizi [mailto:ecology@dataone.in]

Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 10:13 AM

To: 'tharoor.assistant@gmail.com'

Subject: Coca Cola/Plachimada: An open rejoinder to Mr Shashi Tharoor

From: S.Faizi, R2 Saundarya Apartments, Nandavanam,

Thiruvananthapuram, biodiversity@rediffmail.com (Environmental Expert Member: Kerala Groundwater Authority. Chairman: Indian Biodiversity Forum)

Mr.Shashi Tharoor, Chairman, Afras Ventures, 230 Park Avenue, Suite 2525, New York, NY 10169

Dear Mr Tharoor,

I have read with interest your response to the Plachimada Struggle Solidarity Committee’s criticism of your being in a PR project of the Coca Cola company in India, in The Hindu and the full text on a web site that carries your PR material. I do not have a grain of opposition to your being in the cola PR outfit, for it is natural for people like to you to be in places like that. However, I am writing this public response to you in order to address the misinformation contained in your letter, outdoing even the PR staff of the company, and the unwarranted sweeping remarks you have made on Kerala development.

The High Court Division Bench verdict in favour of the company that you have referred to was made subsequent to a single bench verdict against the company. And the Division Bench verdict is being challenged in the Supreme Court by the Perumatti Panchayat and by the people’s groups agitating against the company. The CWRDM-lead report was flawed in many respects, as is being argued in the SC, which is also an issue of concern for CWRDM scientists as the institution has suffered an erosion of credibility. The very assumption of the report, in estimating the total groundwater availability in Chitoor block, that 20 per cent of the rainfall can be recharged is flawed as the Central Groundwater Board’s (CGWB) assessment in 2003 had put the recharge in areas such as Chitoor at 5-8 per cent. While the committee report put the annual recharge in the block at 74.1 million cubic meters (mcm), based on the CGWB’s scientific estimation of recharge rate it is only between 16.6 to 33.2 mcms. The report also suppresses the domestic and agricultural water needs. The central question in the High Court case was not as much about pollution and depletion of water resources, land pollution by heavy metals, or the right to life provision of the Constitution, as about the power of the local panchayat to ask for the closure of the factory. The Groundwater Dept, in a report on the groundwater of Palakkad dist prepared in 2006, presented an alarming picture of the state of groundwater in Chitoor block.

The legal status of groundwater has rightly become that of a public resource with the enactment of the Kerala Groundwater Act which came into force in 2003. However, this law (as well as several other points from the environmental jurisprudence) was not considered in the High Court case. Groundwater was considered as a private resource, while the said law asserts it as a public resource over which the appropriate agencies of the State have control in public interest. And this change in the legal status of groundwater is also going to be examined by the apex court.

You attempt to deny the toxic sludge. However, the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC), in its report following its site visit in August 2004, had determined the presence of heavy metals (cadmium and lead) in the sludge, and this was distributed by the cunning company to the unsuspecting farmers as ‘fertiliser’. And the State Pollution Control Board had directed the company to cease operations. The pollution of the well waters around the factory was reported by independent labs and the SPCB also confirmed it by asking the people not to use the water of the panchayat well it had tested.

I visited the area two weeks ago as a member of the expert committee attached to the State SC/ST Commission and found the situation of the local people, ST/SC in particular, extremely worrying- there is hardly any water in the wells and where it is present it is not usable. Pollution of drinking water is a crime under the SC/ST (Atrocities) Act.

On 14-9-2004 the company agreed to provide piped water to the residents of the area and the KPCB had constituted a committee to oversee this activitiy. This was upon the instruction of the SCMC, obviously as a compensation for the water crisis caused by the company and it was not contingent upon the functioning of the factory. The company reneged on this agreement too.

Polluter Pays Principle has become an integral part of our jurisprudence. The Rio Declaration (principle 16) upholds this as well as the liability and redress provision of the Biodiversity Convention (I had been a negotiator in the formulation of both), among other multilateral soft laws and treaties. And this is squarely applicable in the case of Coca Cola at Plachimada. This was why the Kerala Goundwater Authority, after study by a subcommittee, recommended to the govt at its 13th meeting in Oct 2008 that compensation should be obtained from the company, on behalf of the people, for the pollution and groundwater depletion it has caused. It also recommended to make a comprehensive, multidisciplinary assessment of the damage caused by the company to the environment, human health and agriculture. Bringing an offender to justice is in the best common interest of business lest the law abiding competitors are left at a disadvantage.

Your reference to the Global Compact was interesting. But you have carefully withheld the information from your readers that this was a project that was fiercely opposed by the civil society organizations. It was not a legitimate UN activity, negotiated and agreed by a policy setting body such as the GA. It was part of a series of initiatives to diminish the importance of the need for corporate bodies complying with the domestic laws of the countries, by introducing and promoting a voluntary code of conduct. It was also part of the move to whittle away the powers of multilateral bodies such as UNCTAD, supported by the developing countries. As a corporate boss you will be proud to have promoted the Global Compact, but its real twin role as a greenwash and as a means to belittle the importance of legal compliance is obvious to the public. Corporate responsibility is a crooked term, what the citizens expect from the corporates is corporate accountability to the laws of the country. If Coca Cola, for example, is willing to comply with the laws of the country, pay for the public resources it has used at the market rate and pay compensation for the damages it has caused that will more than suffice,

As for your remarks on Kerala’s development scene, it was certainly uncalled for. Kerala is one of the most globalised societies in the world, and we were at the centre of open global trade until 500 years ago when the Europeans came as savage invaders displacing the Arab traders. Your accusations of Kerala as ‘over-politicised’ and this as a reason for an imaginary discouragement of investment in the state are amusing right wing cliché that fit very well with the intellectual immaturity that characterizes your writings. It is an insult to India’s unity that you are ashamed that Keralites work in other parts of the India. It is diametrically opposed to the spirit of Kerala’s globalism that you are ashamed of our people working in the Gulf and other countries. But you are saying this sitting in an American city and heading a business firm in Gulf. And you claim to be a Keralite when your web site proudly announces your fluency in English and French but does not even mention Malayalam though our language and its literature has a longer history than English. But such contradictions are typical of an intellectual simpleton’s writings. The Kerala model of development is an unavoidable term in the international development discourse, not the least the UN’s, but you are blissfully uninformed even about this. In child mortality, for example, we fare better than the US city you live in.

Empowerment thru political conscientisation is at the core of the relatively high development indices we have achieved. Your understanding of India, as seen in your writings, is no deeper than a western tourist’s.

Let me refer to just a couple of such writings. In one of your articles you have chauvinistically chided Indian women for giving up sari for western dress. Even such chauvinistic opinions I have no problem in tolerating but the fun is when you see the photo of the author of the silly article dressed in western suit and neck tie totally alien to traditional male attire! And in a subsequent article you narrated an anecdote where your Danish boss in the UN abused the Indian kurta you wore as a surgeon’s coat and that made you resolve not to wear the traditional Indian dress any more. As a committed supporter of the UN cause and as a some times participant in UN events, I take offence in the incident you narrated and your acceptance of the same. As a multilateral body the UN respects the multiple cultures, and if someone derogatively talked about a country’s traditional dress he should not have been on the UN staff any longer, if someone had set a norm like that it should have been brought to the attention of the concerned decision making body. UN events indeed are also the occasion you find the most fabulous traditional dress of women and men from west African nations, the various Arab traditional dresses from Morocco to Yemen, the elegant sheravni, sari and churidar from south Asia, and so on. I myself presided over a youth conference organized by Unesco/UNEP in Moscow in 1987 (part of Tbilisi+10) wearing a white cotton kurta/pyjama, and nobody cared about what I wore (I wouldn’t have allowed it either). And your sectarian mindset blamed the Punjabis for giving masculine names for their daughters, forgetting that what you have done with your own name isn’t anything different. Sasi is how the masculine name is spelt in Kerala while Shashi, the way you spell it, is a feminine name in north India!

Your reply talks of the anti-Cola activists scoring some political point. No one can read any party politics in their letter, the Plachimada anti-Cola struggle is beyond divisions along party politics. The ruling LDF supports the Plachimada cause as much as the opposition UDF. And in the struggle itself you find people of all political affiliations and creeds. We are all one on the issue of justice, but you cannot perhaps understand that. But if you are talking about politics with your ambition to get a seat in the forthcoming Parliament election in view, I wish the Congress party gives you a ticket, for it deserves you. That will be a good self punishment for the Congress party for having allowed you once to embarrass the country with your UN election.

Best regards,

S.Faizi

Tribals plan to stop Vedanta vehicles

2009-02-03T09:23:00.000+05:30

Date:12/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/12/stories/2009011255210800.htm
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Other States - Orissa

Tribals plan to stop Vedanta vehicles

Staff Reporter

Niyamgiri Bachao Samity conducts meet

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Meeting also attended by other activists supporting the agitation

Over 7,000 primitive Dongria Kondh tribals live in the region

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BERHAMPUR: Members of the Niyamgiri Bachao Samity (NBS) on Sunday held a meeting at Sakata under Muniguda block in Rayagada district to plan their future plans to oppose mining in the Niyamgiri hills in south Orissa.

Around 1,000 delegates from villages to be affected by proposed mining in the Niyamgiri hills from Lanjigarh block of Kalahandi district and Bisamkatak, Muniguda, Kalyansinghpur blocks of Rayagad district participated in the meeting. Most of them were members of Dongria Kondh community, one of the ancient tribes of the country.

The tribals decided to stop entry of vehicles and officials of both Government and Vendanta Alumina Limited (VAL) into the Niyamgiri area. “We have also vowed not to allow construction of new roads in the remote Niyamgiri area which will facilitate mining in the region at the cost of the environment,” said Dongria tribal leader Jitendra Jakesika. The NBS has decided to hold a large tribal rally at Muniguda in the second week of February as a show of strength against the proposed mining in Niyamgiri area.

This meeting was also attended by environmental activist, Praful Samantra, Samjawadi Janparishad leader Lingaraj Azad and CPI-ML (New Democracy) leader, Bhala Chandra Sarangi, who have extended support to the agitation.

The Niyamgiri hill range houses dense forests, wild animals with ample bio-diversity. As per the official records 7,987 primitive Dongria Kondh tribals live in this region. From this region emerge the Rushikulaya and Nagavali rivers of south Orissa. It may be noted that the VAL is setting up an alumina refinery at an estimated investment of over Rs. 4,000 crores in Orissa. The construction of refinery unit is complete.

This refinery is to depend on ores mined from Niyamgiri region. But the mining has been delayed due to court cases and protest by green activists

The legal stumbling blocks in the path of mining in the region have got removed. Yet the stiff opposition of the locals of around 104 tribal villages to be affected by this controversial mining project has prevented start of mining work. Since Nov 10 last year the tribals have not allowed the VAL officials to enter the region and start construction of wider road for movement of heavy vehicles needed for mining work.

© Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu

Hooliganism in Karnataka : Gandhiji

2009-01-30T10:18:00.004+05:30

[ The correspondent had referred to a charity
show for Indians organized in Dharwad by a sympathetic(to non-cooperation movement) European lady. The original
idea of a play by Indian schoolgirls had been changed at the guardians' instance into a
programme of singing and recitations. During and after the entertainment a mob of
young men, instigated, the correspondent alleged, by non-co-operationists, had
stoned the organizers and guests. Source : Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi ]

HOOLIGANISM
The columns of Young India are open to all who have any
grievance against non-co-operators. ‘One who knows’ has sent to the
Editor a letter which I gladly publish. He has in a covering letter
giving his name pleaded for the publication of his letter. Such
pleading was unnecessary in connection with a matter of public
importance. If the facts related by the correspondent are true, they
reflect no credit on the young men of Dharwad. The correspondent
has connected the incident with non-co-operation. It is the fashion
nowadays to connect every incident of indecent behaviour with

non-co-operation. I wish that the incident had been brought to my
notice when I was at Dharwad. I would then have been able to,
investigate the matter and deal with it then. I may state that stones were
thrown at a meeting of Dharwad students that was held by me in the
open. One boy narrowly escaped being seriously hurt. And it was a
pleasure to watch the audience remaining unmoved in spite of the
stone-throwing. I was told too that stone-throwing at meetings was not
an unusual occurrence at Dharwad in connection with the
non-Brahmin movement. I state this fact only to show that Dharwad
enjoys the unenviable reputation for stone-throwing in a special
manner. I must therefore decline to connect the incident either with
non-co-operation or with any anti-European movement. Though the
correspondent’s letter is obscure on the point, it is evident from what
he says that resentment was felt at the idea of girls taking part in a
drama. The correspondent says that the drama was dropped “in the
nick of time at the desire of the guardians”. There must have been
persistence to provoke resentment.
But my position is clear. No amount of provocation could
possibly justify the hooliganism of the “mob of young men’. They
had no right to prevent the performance that was at last determined
upon, if the guardians of the girls did not mind it. The truest test of
democracy is in the ability of anyone to act as he likes, so long as he
does not injure the life or property of anyone else. It is impossible to
control public morals by hooliganism. Public opinion alone can keep
a society pure and healthy. If the young men of Dharwad did not like
a public exhibition of Dharwad girls on the stage, they should have
held public meetings and otherwise enlisted public opinion in their
favour. The movement of non-co-operation is intended to check all
such abuses. Non-co-operationists are undoubtedly expected, not only
to refrain from taking part in such violent scenes as are represented to
have taken place at Dharwad, but they are expected also to prevent
them on the part of others. The success of non-co-operation depends
upon the ability of non-co-operationists to control all forces of
violence. All may not take part in the programme of self-sacrifice but
all must recognize the necessity of non-violence in word and deed.
I am surprised that the correspondent in his covering letter
speaks of the hooliganism at Dharwad in the same breath as the
massacre of Jallianwala Bagh. He loses all sense of proportion when
he compares the cold-blooded and calculated butchery of innocent
men, who had given no provocation, with the undisciplined and
thoughtless demonstration of a “mob of young men”, who were

labouring under a fancied or real wrong. Both acts are worthy of
condemnation. But there is as much difference between the
programme of the Dharwad boys and the Dyerism at Amritsar as there
is between an attempt at simple hurt and a completed murder.
Young India, 1-12-1920
Gandhiji.

Peaceful bandh in South Odisha

2008-10-14T10:21:00.001+05:30

Issue Date: Tuesday , October 14 , 2008
Peaceful bandh in 5 districts
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bhubaneswar, Oct. 13: Normal life was paralysed in five southern districts, including Kandhamal, as the Left parties — CPI(ML), CPI(ML) New Democracy, CPI(ML) Liberation, SUCI and Samajwadi Jana Parishad — today observed a dawn-to-dusk bandh protesting against communal violence.

Vehicles stayed off the roads and shutters were downed at various places in Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Kandhamal and Ganjam districts, where the parties had called the bandh.

Security measures were tightened as bandh supporters blocked roads at several locations in the districts.

Schools and business establishments remained closed while transportation was affected.

“The bandh passed off peacefully and there had been adequate arrangements to avoid any untoward incident,” deputy inspector-general of police (southern range) R.P. Koche said.

At Phulbani, shops were closed and vehicles kept off the roads at other places, including Daringbadi, Bramhanigaon, Raikia, Tumudibandha areas.

The 12-hour bandh was called demanding compensation to the victims, arrest of the accused and release of the innocent.

The ripple of the bandh was felt at Rayagada, Gunupur, Padmapur, Muniguda, Gajapati, Kashinagar, Guma and Parlakhemundi where protesters blocked roads and burnt tyres. CPI(ML) state secretary Khitish Biswal claimed that the bandh was “a total success”.

Courtsey The Telegraph

POSCO has been ousted

2008-04-02T12:20:00.001+05:30

POSCO has been ousted declare thousands of villagers at Balitutha
2nd April 2008

Yesterday people from various parts of the state joined thousands of villagers of Dhinkia, Gada Kujang and Nuagaa to hold the Bikalp Samabesh at Balitutha where the adminstration had imposed Sec 144 for weeks and gave a clear signal to the the state Government that the majority of the people in the area were still opposed to the much hyped POSCO project. Earlier in the morning about three hundred people, mostly farmers, coming from sponge iron affected areas of Jharsuguda were detained by the police. At the same time more than one thousand people from Sukinda, Berhampur, Kalahandi, Jharkhand and other parts of the state and country reached the area and broke all police barricades to take out a massive and formidable rally upto Balitutha where they joined thousands of villagers of Dhinkia, Gada Kujang and Nuagaa who have been protesting against the porposed POSCO project for more than two years now under the banner of POSCO PRATIRODH SANGRAM SAMITI.

The rally then decimated all bamboo barricades put up by the police who tried to intimidate the five thousand plus strong assembly by pointing their machine guns at them, enraging the people, especially the women who then chased away the police to make way for the Bikalp Samabesh. At that point it seemed as if a Kalinga Nagar like disaster was inevitable but good sense prevailed over the administration and the police stepped back and maintained distance. As a symbolic protest against the heinous crude bomb attack by goons at women protesters at Balitutha on Nov 29 last year when their tents were set on fire, the people dismantled one of the police tents to spread it for the leaders to sit upon. The Samabesh was attended by leaders of the Left parties and many activists, all of whom gave fiery speeches and boosted the morale of the villagers who have been facing severe state and mafia repression for many months now.

Abhay Sahoo of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti warned the administration and police not to step the line as people had reclaimed their freedom in a democratic manner despite all attempts by the state to contain it by force. He said that the ruling Govt.'s attempts to merge POSCO foundation day with Utkal Divas (Orissa Formation Day) had been foiled and 'the motherland's birthday had retained its sanctity'. He then announced that the disobedience of Sec 144 and the successful Bikalp Samabesh was a clear indication that 'POSCO had been ousted'. He warned that if the state continued with pursuing the POSCO project in the area then 'the agitation would increase by many folds'.

Other speakers spoke briefly but strongly against the state's anti-people measures in implementing the POSCO project. They also criticised the project itself to be not viable and would spell the end of life and livelihood for thousands in the region. Those who had come from Jharkhand and other states confirmed that the whole nation was supporting the cause of the villagers of Ersama block who were opposed to the POSCO project. Support from Korea was also extended to the protest in the form of letters from the Korean Human Rights Commission and the Korean Steel Workers Union who condemned the state repression and also exposed POSCO misdeeds in Korea where it functioned in a similar manner using muscle power and greasing palms when required.

The meeting was also well attended by various sections of the press including some foreign journalists. The Samaj, a leading newspaper of Orissa has reported today that a team of women Maoists had sneaked into the area the night before referring to a team of media persons from New Delhi. The Times of India also indicated at a biased stance on the issue by terming the protest meet 'A Damp squib on All Fools Day' in the headlines completely undermining the symbolism of Orissa's people defying state terror at the behest of a foreign company on Orissa Formation Day. It must be noted that POSCO had taken journalists from all these publications on a foreign tour and such biased reporting has become a regular feature with them. For instance many leading dailies have slowly manipulated facts to present the bomb attack on Nov 29 to be carried out by pro-POSCO villagers and not goons. Nevertheless, people continue to fight for their life, livelihood, land and liberty.
Surya Shankar Dash
Independent Media

Letter to Chief Justice of India

2007-11-13T11:41:00.000+05:30

To
The Honorable Chief Justice of India
Supreme Court of India
Sub: Appeal for Justice to the Primitive Dongria Kandh Tribes of Niyamgiri, Orissa
Honorable Sir,
This is with reference to the case of Bauxite Mining by Vedanta in the Niyamgiri Mountain in Orissa which is awaiting judgment from the highest court of the country. You may be aware that for generations this mountain has been protected by the primitive Dongria Kandh tribes, for whom it’s the sacred mountain of “Niyam Raja.” The mountain has been the lifeline with rich biodiversity for the habitat surrounding it.
This Mountain is now facing the danger of bauxite mining by the Vedanta Company which will cause forced eviction of thousands of primitive tribes. After three and a half years of deliberations at various courts and commissioned studies showing the detrimental effects mining would cause to the mountain and the primitive tribes, it seems that the company will get a go ahead for mining.
This would prove fatal to the primitive tribes and the Niyamgiri Mountain. This is also to mention that in the entire court proceedings held so far, no scope has been provided to the tribals to present their side of the story although ample time and space seem to have been given to the company itself - thereby violating the ‘right to be heard’ of the tribals.
For example, in the last court hearing on 26 October 2007, the lawyer representing the tribals was snapped at by one of the judges in your presence and was never given a chance to present the 200-odd page objection to Vedanta’s mining report.
Presenting below a synopsis of the process for your reference:
It was on the 22nd of September 2004, that the Vedanta Alumina Ltd was accorded Environmental Clearance for its MTPA Alumina Refinery at Lanjigarh. This was challenged by three petitioners i.e Wildlife Society of Orissa, Prafulla Samantray and the Academy for Mountain Environics before the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) constituted by the Supreme Court.
One of the major grounds of challenge was the fact that the Environmental Clearance was granted on a wrong premise that no forest land was involved, whereas in actuality forest land was involved both for the mining component as well as the Refinery. However, Vedanta Alumina Ltd concealed both these facts while seeking environmental clearance for the project. This is a criminal offence.
The CEC appointed a fact finding team to visit the area in December 2004. The Fact finding report confirmed the fact that forest land was cleared in violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. It also raised crucial question as to why environmental clearance was granted before the grant of forest clearance to the project.
During the series of hearing before the CEC, the Vedanta Alumina Ltd kept changing its stand. Initially it stated that its refinery plant is independent of its mining project in Niyamgiri and therefore should be considered as an independent project. Later, it changed its stand and stated that the mining project is integral to the project and without it the refinery will be meaningless.
This was not the only instance. The issue of forest land in the Refinery was another instance where the Company shifted its stand. The Environmental Clearance did not state that 58 Hectares of forest land was involved in the project. However, during the pendency of the case, Vedanta sought permission under the Forest (Conservation) Act for use of these 58 hectares of forest land. Suddenly, doing a volte face, they took the stand that they do not require the 58 Hectares of forest land even though the entire area was located within the refinery. An application to this affect was sent by the Government of Orissa to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on a Sunday and the MoEF approved the same the very next day. According to the CEC Report the same was done at an ‘Unusual speed”.
The CEC on 21st September 2005 filed its report to the Supreme Court. It was perhaps the strongest report ever to the Supreme Court. It specifically recommended for the revocation of the Environmental clearance to the Refinery. The CEC made strong observation on the functioning of the State, it stated “the casual manner, the lackadaisical approach and the haste with which the…”
When the report was placed and heard by the Supreme Court almost 6 months after the CEC filed it, the MoEF accepted the fact that the studies were not complete and informed the court that the Wildlife Institute of India and CMPDI will be entrusted with the task of ascertaining the impact due to the proposed mining. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) submitted its report which highlighted the immense significance in terms of biodiversity, water and for the tribals. The CMPDI which is a subsidiary of coal India ltd concentrated on the mitigation aspects.
The Supreme Court started hearing the matter from May 2007. It is pertinent to point out that despite the recommendation of the CEC, the work on the Refinery was completed by the time the issue came up for hearing. The company could thus present a fait-accompli situation.
In the hearing in May, the Government of Orissa, MoEF and Vedanta Alumina and CEC through the amicus curiae were all allowed to speak. The only people not allowed were the three petitioners. When the advocate representing the petitioners rose to speak, the bench stated “NO NGO’s in this case”. Thus the NGO’s who were responsible for bringing up the case were reduced to mute spectators.
The CEC on the orders of the Court submitted a Supplementary report and reiterated its earlier position, that mining should not be permitted and that it would amount to ‘sacrilege if the same was permitted.’
The Supreme Court in its order on May 2007 sought details of other alternative mining sites. The Government of Orissa took the stand that no alternative site exists. Later, the CEC did point out that sufficient alternative sites do exist.
The Supreme Court enlarged the scope of the Petition in September by directing the MoEF to file a report on the impact on forest and tribals if mining takes place in Koraput and Kalahandi. The MoEF took the stand that mining positively impacts the environment as well as the tribal people!
At this time a Writ Petition was filed on behalf of the tribals, the Supreme Court directed that the Writ Petition be numbered as an Intervention Application and the Applicant were permitted to file written objections to the Report of the MoEF. The Applicant filed a detailed 200 page objection.
On the final day of hearing on 26 October 2007, every party was allowed to argue except the one representing the tribal interests. Not even a minute was granted in the one and half hour of hearing to the Petitioners. The hearings are now over and the Judgment Reserved.
In sum, this is a case where:
The Supreme Court is refusing to accept the fact that the Company in connivance with the State has violated all the environmental laws even in the face of irrefutable evidence.
The concealment of information on the existence of forests as well as de-linking of the mining and refinery is still to be highlighted.
The CEC has clearly held that undue favor has been granted and the functioning of MoEF and Government of Orissa does not inspire confidence.
In spite of the clear fact that tribals will be affected, the Court refuses to hear the tribals whereas it continuously hears the company.
The Court is relying on evidence of the State of Orissa and the MoEF in drawing up its conclusion on the impact on mining although these are the two agencies accused of undue favor to Vedanta.
The Court seems to be proceeding on the idea that grating 5 % of the profit will ensure that all wrongs are undone.
It is in this context, I/we would like to request you to re-look at the case before the final judgment is given. It is extremely crucial to uphold the tribals’ ‘right to be heard’ and I/we hope that you would protect the rights of the marginalized and the primitive tribes in this case.
Thanking you.
Yours sincerely,
Aflatoon,
State President,Samajwadi Janaparishad (U.P.)
[ Those who agree are requested to send similar letter ]

People's Movements salute a true socialist Jugal Kishore Raibir

2007-11-09T17:41:00.000+05:30

National Alliance of People's Movement

We share with a heavy heart the sad demise of our beloved leader and comrade Jugal Kishore Raibir. A highly revered social activist, a very close friend and comrade of people's movement, Jugal Kishre Raibir, passed away on November 6 th' while battling the rare type of leukaemia.

People's movements all over India and more so in North Bengal, have suffered a great loss. In his various roles as a Dalit Activist, a Social leader and the president of Samajwadi Jan Parishad, he will be sorely missed by everyone involved with people's movements.

He was a very active and close comrade of NAPM and was a guiding force.

Though being the founder president of a political party- Samajwadi Jan Parishad, Jugal Da, as popularly known among activists had never compromised on people's movements for electoral gains. Being an ardent Lohiawadi, he believed in people's power and people politics. His involvement in various movements spanned a wide spectrum right from the JP movement to language movement of Dr. Lohia to farmer and Dalit movements.

As a very active Dalit leader in North Bengal , he founded a strong UTJAT Organisation with values of non- violence when the Naxalbari Movement in the same area was on its peak. UTJAT advocated rights of Dalits and Backward class people in an aggressive manner. To advocate the cause of marginalised people, especially Dalits and backward classes, he worked effectively to bring various radical left parties and people of other ideologies together on a common platform.

Jugal Da believed in the tools suggested by Lohia and advocated that struggle, construction, electoral political and ideological communication should go hand in hand for bringing about social change. He gave up all his resources including land for the reconstruction and alternative development and established a Janata Kendra Centre in Adivasi areas of N. Bengal. The Kendra played a frontal role towards experimenting on various alternatives including agriculture.

Above all, he was a human being of great virtues and despite being busy and involved; he gave utmost importance to human and personal relationships.

He was a passionate human being with no-nonsense nature and a mature leader who always believed in solidarity and collective actions. He was a simple man practicing Samata, Sadagi and Swavalamban with a lot of sensitivity and sensibility. No one will be able to fill this great loss but we are sure his life will inspire us and always guide us in the path of struggle.

NAPM team salutes our great Comrade and leader

Aruna Roy , Gabriele D., Medha Patkar, Mukta Srivastava, P Chennaiah, Sandeep Pandey, Sanjay M.G. , Sr. Celia , Ulka Mahajan

Jugal Kishore Raybir passes away

2007-11-08T16:11:00.000+05:30

Shri Jugal Kishore Raybir, the National President of Samajwadi Jan Parishad and a leader of autonomy movement in North Bengal passed away in teh morning of 6 November at Jalpaiguri. A bachelor and full time political activist, he was 61 and was suffering from Lukemia for the last three months.

Shri Raybir was one of the few dalit activists in contemporary India to have founded and led several organisations with support cutting across social spectrum. He began his political life in his college days as an activist of the socialist movement in India and contested asembly election as a Janata Party candidate in 1977. In the 1980s he led a major social and political movement of the dalits and advisis of North Bengal under the banner of UTJAS (Uttar Bango Tapsili O Adivasi Sangathan). This was one of the few attempts to bring dalits (mainly sons of the soil Rajbanshis) and advisasis (mainly migratns from Jharkhand) together. Jugalda was convinced that peoples movements cannot have a future unless they connect with one another and become more political in their orientation and strategy. To this end he was instrumental in establishing many organisations. He was one the founders of the Janandolan Samanvaya Samiti (1991, a coordination of various Janandolans from across the country), the founder-President of Samajwadi Jan Parishad (1995, a political party committed to alternative politics and model of development) and the inspiration behind the formation of Swayattashasi Sangram Manch (coalition of seven organisations in north Bengal for regional autonomy) and Samata Kendra (an experiment in alternate living, an insitution founded near his village on land donated by him).

Jugalda stood out in the politics of north Bengal for highlighting the regional deprivation that the region suffered from, for focussing on teh conditions of dalits and adivasis wihtout giving up the aspiration to bring together all the sections of society and for demanding a solution in terms of regional autonomy rather than in ethnic terms. He stood out among the dalit leaders for his attempt to combine Ambedkar and Gandhi, for his attempt to build social coalitions and for his insistence on interrogating the received model of 'modern' and 'industrial' development. His politics stood out for its commitment to democratic and non-violent means in the face of repression unleashed by the state and the ruling party in West Bengal.

Mortal remains of Shri Jugal Kishore Raybir were kept at Samata Kendra for thousands of his comarades, followers and well wishers to pay their last respects. Many of his colleagues from different parts of the country joined his last journey alongwith hundreds of people form the region. The National Alliance of Peoples Movements, Orissa Krishak Sangathana, Sampoorna Kranti Manch Haryana, Kisan Adivasi Sangathan MP joined Medha Patkar and Gopal Krishna Gandhi, Governor West Bengal is sending condolence messages on his demise.
-- Yogendra YadavSenior FellowCentre for the Study of Developing Societies29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110054

People's messenger is gone

2007-05-30T10:49:00.000+05:30

It shocks you and shatters you down when the first message, as you set down to start your working day tells you that Sanjay Sangvai, a people's messenger, author of River and Life: a historical narration of people's struggle in the Narmada valley, is no more. He passed away at 7 am on May 29 th, 2007 while undergoing treatment at the Nature Life Hospital at Kochi run by Jacob Vadakkanchery.

Sanjaybhai, a frail bodied person with an unflinching commitment to be with people's struggle, was a people's messenger who penned numerous Press Releases and articles in English, Hindi and Marathi, and spread the news of ups and downs of struggles to a larger world. In two decades long struggle, there were also moments when he gripped pen to write obituaries on his comrades – Shobha Wagh from Domkhedi, Bhaijibhai from Canal affected Undva village, Kiritbhai Bhatt of PUCL, Baroda – and he wrote them pouring his heart out. I can't control my tears at the idea of having to type an obituary on him.

In the two decades long struggle, I had known and interacted with him for last five years, years when "one after another illnesses kept paying visits", as he put it while chatting a few months ago. I had met him first time on January 26 th, 2002 – the day when Mumbai Samachar reported Narendra Modi announcing in Rajkot about Gujarat's efforts to lobby with PM to raise the Narmada dam height from 95 to 100 metres before monsoon – travelling with him in local train to a hurriedly organised press conference by NBA. Last time when he appeared online, I pasted a news clip that said Narmada Control Authority meeting was scheduled on May 3 rd. "were they meeting to decide raising the dam height from 121 to 138 meters?" he asked wearily. He also talked about the Marathi book he was working on and I queried him on the need to bring out third revised edition of River and Life. He said, he wished, but "one after other illnesses kept paying me visits".

He was a source of inspiration, was always connected with people's struggles, and didn't let his ill health affect activism. Although trained as a media professional, after a short stint with teaching career - when he worked as a lecturer at the University of Pune – and as a journalist with mainstream Marathi daily, he immersed himself into Narmada Bachao Andolan as a full time activist in 1989. He wrote extensively in English, Hindi and Marathi on issues and political processes of Narmada and other such people's struggles. I don't exactly know whether he wrote in Gujarati, but every time we met, he used to speak in Gujarati while recalling the aborted discourse over Narmada in Gujarat and narrating anecdotes.

For last couple of years, he was closely observing the struggles against Special Economic Zones, land acquisitions and related injustices through his association with NCAS, Pune

His book River and Life starts by depicting tribals, peasants and activists celebrating the new year with mixed feelings of hope, anxiety, apprehension and will to fight in Nimgavhan, a submergence village on banks of Narmada in Maharashtra; even as in the cities the rich and mighty went dizzy on the night of December 31, 1999. Eight years later, when someone sent him an e-mail wishing sunlight, joy and prosperity on the last eve of 2006, he replied; "Thanks for the best wishes. But for many people the year started with the deprivation, displacement and destruction - be it in Narmda, Singur, Delhi or any number of things. It is good that we all want sunshine and prosperity etc. And surely, it is we who would get that.

Sorry for the melancholy inevitable -

I sing the same song,
cutting each time
nearer to the aching heart."

Himanshu Upadhyaya.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The reality of Orissa's iron ore mines, where the promise of prosperity is just empty rhetoric- Felix Padel

2007-05-10T18:08:00.000+05:30

Work apace on Jindal's 9-km-long pipeline along the road to Deojhar to draw water from the Baitarani river. The State Water Department had asked the company to stop the work and government officials initially insisted that all work had stopped. But later they said the matter was under litigation.

Hundreds of hectares of forests have been lost to mining over the years in a situation where encroachments are impossible to monitor. The most common illegality is to continue mining long after the lease has ended.

AS the shadows lengthen on Keonjhar's main street, the tube-lit sign above Hotel Arjun flickers to life, illuminating both the entrance to the hotel and the cigarette seller next to it. A traffic policeman walks up to the crossing right outside the hotel and assumes his position at what is the most significant crossing in town.
Fifteen kilometres down the road, the ground shivers as a queue of trucks, over a kilometre long, shudders to life. Engine after engine revs up as several hundred trucks begin the next stage of their 325-km journey from the iron-rich Keonjhar district in north Orissa to Paradip port on the east coast. This has been the practice ever since the District Magistrate issued orders prohibiting truck movement between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Further up, the highway narrows into the first of many bottlenecks, and branches off, capillary-like, into un-metalled paths that lead into the heart of the district's iron ore mines.
Across the Baitarani river, in Joda, Barbil, Deojhar and Thakurani, the low mountains are illuminated by high-powered halogens, as work continues at a relentless pace in the mines - visible as raw, red gashes on the otherwise thickly forested mountainside.
The source of an estimated 35 per cent of India's total reserves of haematite, Orissa produced more than 46 million tonnes of iron ore in 2004-05, of which three quarters came from Keonjhar. Almost all of it was, and still is, carted away in nearly 30,000 trucks from the 119 mines that dot the district.
The trucks move north from Joda, to the Jharkhand border where they supply ore to Jharkhand's rapidly expanding steel industry, and northwest to Haldia port. But the majority move south through Keonjhar town towards Cuttack and cut through to Paradip port, from where the ore is shipped in containers to one of the few countries that have a bigger appetite for steel than India - China.
Initially seen as the engine of an independent India - the first "swadeshi" steel mill was completed in 1920 by the Tata Iron and Steel Company at Jamshedpur in present-day Jharkhand just across the border with Orissa - it was cast into the shadows by the shining "new economy" of the 1990s.
A five-year rally in international prices has seen the iron and steel sector make a strong return on the business pages of newspapers.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pointed out in his keynote address at the India Steel Summit 2007: "In the last five years, the production and consumption of steel has grown at rates exceeding 9 per cent per annum. The pace of growth has further accelerated in the current year to over 10 per cent."
The recently formulated national steel policy has set the production target for 2020 at 110 million tonnes of steel, and a doubling of the present capacity from around 40 million tonnes to 80 million tonnes by 2012.
A buoyant national economy and a booming construction sector are expected to add to the optimism in the steel sector, and nowhere is this felt more than in the office of Padmanabha Behera, Orissa's Minister of Steel and Mines and Planning and Coordination. "We have signed 45 MoUs [Memoranda of Understanding] till date," he told this correspondent, "and production has already started in 23."
The Minister foresees a resurgent Orissa, propelled forward by his party's mantra of "progress through industrialisation". Behera believes that Orissa's future lies in using its vast mineral wealth to generate employment and, of course, create wealth. However, not everyone in the State shares this vision.

Privilege and corruption

To understand Orissa's trucks is to understand how privilege and corruption operate along dense, intricate networks where the legal and the illegal often overlap, making it impossible to make a concrete accusation. After all, what is an illegal mine? How can it be identified?
"It is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that the Union should take under its control the regulation of mines and the development of minerals to the extent hereinafter provided," states the preamble to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, one of a raft of laws and bylaws passed to govern the mining sector.
First enacted in 1957, and amended almost every four years up to 1999, the MMDR Act serves as the central axis on which mining law is framed. The Act classifies minerals into "minor" and "major" lists, lays down procedures for the granting of reconnaissance permits, prospecting licences and mining leases, and classifies violations and encroachments. While States have complete control over all minor minerals such as clay, gravel, sand and building stones, major minerals such as iron ore come under the purview of the Central government. For such minerals, Central permission is required prior to the granting of licence.
Apart from the MMDR Act, mining is subject to The Mines Act of 1952, the National Mineral Policy (amended in 1994), and a slew of laws concerning land acquisition and environmental assessment.
Acquiring a mining lease for a major mineral like iron ore or coal for a particular area is relatively easy now. The process has been simplified over the last 10 years, a development that has coincided with the liberalisation of the mining sector. Mining leases are granted on a `first-come, first-serve' basis, and the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy of 1999 allows for "up to 100 per cent foreign direct investment" in the mining and processing of minerals other than diamond, precious stones and atomic minerals. Thus, mining occupies a unique governmental space that is simultaneously highly legislated yet remarkably free of constraints for mine operators.
Under the laws governing mining, mines could be declared "illegal" on a number of grounds, the most obvious being that of mining in an area without applying for a lease. However, the pressure of rapid industrialisation has forced State governments to curb such practices.
Illegal mines
"No illegal mining is possible without political patronage," says a senior officer in the Directorate of Mines, "and local politicians have realised that the land occupied by illegal miners can just as easily be handed over to giant corporations for similar favours." This is not to say that outright capture of areas for mining has stopped entirely in the iron belt. The most common examples of illegal mining occur on the boundary of legality, where the violator can claim a degree of innocence on the basis of ignorance of the law.
The most common form of illegality is to continue mining long after the lease has expired. A document obtained from the Directorate of Mines under the Right to Information Act provides a complete list of mining leases in Keonjhar. According to the Directorate's own figures, dated December 31, 2005, as many as 52 out of 119 mines, or more than 40 per cent of all mines in Keonjhar district covering 52 per cent of leased area, operate illegally on expired licences. Of these 52 mines, 10 belong to the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), a government-owned enterprise, and operate on 7,051 hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres) or a fifth of the total area under mining in the district.
Many in the industry argue that the issue of expired licences is not an indication of corruption per se as the government has been dragging its feet for years over their renewal. The failure to renew leases, particularly those held by a State-owned corporation, seems inexplicable until one unpacks the terms of the mining lease.
As pointed out by Ritwick Dutta in a compilation titled "Undermining India", the renewal of mining leases in forested areas has been the subject of much litigation since the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act of 1980. Given that most mines, including those in Keonjhar, fall within the purview of this Act, the key question was whether the renewal of a mining lease required fresh permission of the Central government. The Supreme Court, in successive judgments, particularly in State of Tamil Nadu vs Hind Stones in 1981 and Samatha vs State of Andhra Pradesh in 1997, has ruled that the renewal of a mining lease is actually the grant of a fresh lease. Thus, a good reason for mining companies and associated State officials to go slow on the renewal of leases could be that, theoretically, the company shall have to reapply at the time of renewal and would be subject to monitoring by the Central Pollution Control Board, the Ministry of Environment and Forests and a host of other agencies.
Forest Act and mining
The Forest Conservation Act mandates that the Central government shall after careful examination of the proposal denotify forest land earmarked for mining and the mining company shall be subject to a series of restrictions to minimise the ecological footprint of the mine. It is also a useful tool to ensure that the mining companies stay within the areas allotted to them. Of course, the Forest Act, like any other Act, is only as good as its implementation.
Another document from the Directorate of Mines lists 40 mines in Keonjhar that are operating without clearance from the Forest Department; the OMC, once more, is one of the worst violators. District Forest Officer P.N. Karat says that as of February 2006 all such cases have been dealt with. However, this assessment is impossible to verify independently. In the absence of firm leases, many companies have been granted temporary licences, most of which are issued without guidelines or monitoring.
The absence of adequate monitoring is probably the most disturbing feature of the industry in Orissa. The highly technical language adopted by both the mining companies and the state effectively silences any local articulation of opposition by people directly affected by the projects. Thus, people's testimonies of a change in the colour of groundwater, an increase in the cases of asthma and respiratory conditions and a drop in the fertility of their fields are discounted in favour of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) readings collected by the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) and the findings of groundwater studies conducted by the State Groundwater Board that pollution is present but is within the mandated safety limit.
Barbil, to cite just one example, is a small town in the heart of the mining belt where it is difficult to breathe freely even during the day when the trucks do not run. But a study obtained from the SPCB states that the SPM readings in Barbil are "only" 456 micrograms per cubic metre against a reference value of 500 micrograms per cubic metre for mining areas, and so is acceptable. However, the Central Pollution Control Board reference value for "residential and rural areas" - which villages outside the mines are - is 200 micrograms per cubic metre and for a reserve forest, which could be classified as a "sensitive area" under the SPCB guidelines, it is 100 micrograms per cubic metre. Thus, the same arbitrarily fixed "standards" used to declare mining areas "pollution free" can just as easily be used to declare them unfit for human habitation.
Similarly, the only way to verify if a mining area corresponds to the area mentioned in the mining lease is to either refer to detailed contour maps in the possession of the government (and hence unavailable to the general public) or physically plot the coordinates of the mine using a global positioning system (GPS), which no one in Orissa has access to. Such opacity on the part of all privilege-holders in the system makes its impossible to level definite accusations against any party. But, as in all camouflaged sites, in Orissa, too, the veil slips occasionally to offer a glimpse of the arrogance of mining corporations vis-�-vis the law.

Road to nowhere

The road to Deojhar, as with most roads to hell, is paved with the best of intentions. Ostensibly built to connect Deojhar village to the highway under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana Scheme, it has turned out to be a useful way to connect the mines to the national highway.
Few villagers use this road; there are too many trucks. Of late, the trucks plying on the Deojhar-NH 215 route have had to contend with more than just crater-size potholes - a fleet of bright orange earthmovers engaged in digging deep trenches along the road. These vehicles have been employed by the Jindal company, a consortium of companies with interests primarily in iron, steel and power, to supply water to their 2,000-hectare iron ore mine in the hills above Deojhar village.
"Jindal is laying a nine-kilometre pipeline to draw water from the Baitarani river," says Arjun Saraswat, deputy general manager of Sarda Mines Private Ltd., the company that possesses the lease for the Jindal land. "This water will be made available through the soon-to-be-completed Kanpur dam project." At the time of this article going to print, the digging was almost complete and pipes two feet (0.61 metre) in diameter had been laid along a stretch of 4.5 km.
But has Jindal acquired the necessary permissions for this pipeline?
"The Jindal company's demand for water has been approved `in principle'," says Harish Behera, Engineer-in-Chief (Water Resources) for Orissa. "But the technical parameters are to be worked out. No permission has been granted for any pipeline and, as of now, no project work has begun." Behera is responsible for the allocation of water resources for the entire State, but seems to be unaware that the pipeline work has not only begun but is nearing completion. When confronted with photographs on the project work taken by this correspondent, he said "the matter is currently under litigation".
What sort of litigation? For answers, one is directed to C.V. Prasad, Chief Engineer, Project Planning and Formulation, of the Orissa Water Department (Irrigation). Prasad is more forthcoming. "Jindal has been allotted 1,500 cubic metres of water an hour, drawn in a phased manner, from the Baitarani river project, but the project is still awaiting technical clearance. As of now, the construction is in violation of the law," he says. Prasad adds that his office has written to the company several times asking it to stop construction, most recently on January 16. "We were under the impression that construction had stopped."
Granting a project approval "in principle" is no indication of its merits or demerits; those are only evaluated in the technical approval stage when a detailed project report (DPR) is submitted. "In principle" approval only indicates that the company may go ahead and prepare a DPR. If Jindal's pipeline does not pass muster the company will be forced to remove it. In going ahead with the project, it believes, perhaps, that government approval is a foregone conclusion or that such approval is of little importance.
The Baitarani pipeline also begs another question. At present, where is Jindal drawing its water from? Deputy general manager Arjun Saraswat admits that Jindal is currently drawing water from borewells in their area, but is unwilling to quantify the volume of water drawn every day. "It is only used for domestic purposes," he says. However, officials at the SPCB office in Keonjhar reveal that Jindal uses a 10-kilolitre truck to carry out water sprinkling three times a day in the mining area, that is, 30,000 litres of water a day just for sprinkling.
Apart from this, the scale of the mining operation, with most of the permanent workers living in the mining area, suggests a reasonably high rate of water consumption even for domestic purposes. Even Jindal probably does not know how much water it uses because none of its tubewells is metered. However, one group of people has a fair idea.
Deojhar's sorrow
Down the road from the mines, the residents of Deojhar have seen their streams dry up, the water table fall and the soil lose its fertility in the six years since Jindal began operations. "The very basis of village life has fallen apart since the project began," says Sridhar Nayak, a leader in Deojhar. The crops have died, there is no place to graze cattle, people cannot collect firewood in the project area and the handpumps yield foul, yellowish water. Nayak says the inevitable dust that any project breeds has severely affected the health of the residents, particularly the young, among whom the number of cases of lung congestion has increased.
When the project first began, protests were quelled by a combination of cajoling and coercion. A significant police presence was backed by promises of jobs, economic regeneration, security and "progress". Needless to say, none of it has materialised except, of course, the police, who regularly show up in impressive numbers to threaten `errant' residents.
The promise of prosperity - schools, hospitals, jobs - is usually the classic argument used to justify the well-documented horrors of mining. Minerals are a country's natural wealth, a gift from Mother Nature, a precious resource crucial to a nation's progress. The booming international market for metals has also cast mines and minerals as earners of valuable foreign exchange. It is hard to unpack the cold, hard logic of capital and corporations without sounding like a hopeless rural idealist. However, the people of Orissa are now asking who the beneficiaries of the mining sector really are. What if mining did not benefit the people it affected the worst?

Over 100 killed in Nandigram police firing

2007-03-14T20:56:00.000+05:30

NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE'S MOVEMENTS Haji HABIB building, Nai Gaon Cross lane, Dadar, Mumbai 400014 ph: 022-24150529
________________________________________________________________________
14th March 2007

· West Bengal Government with CPM Cadres Begin War against the People of Nandigram: · Over 100 killed, Including Children and Women and 200 wounded: People fight Back.
It is shocking and shaking news from the people of Nandigram that the state of West Bengal has waged a war against them with an intention of occupying their farm land, fish ponds, homes and hearths. As per the latest information, thousands of Police on entering the area, this morning, started firing, and at least 100 people are killed while hundreds are wounded lying on the street. About 45 people died in the hospital and over 50 + were killed in the villages. There is no count of the dead; the police threw their dead bodies clad in jute bags in the river. Police are forcibly taking away the dead bodies. Women are at the forefront and have faced the attack the most. Children and men along with women are on the streets coming out of homes and villages to stop the brutal State and Party forces who are trying to take the territory under siege for SEZ with MNCs. We are also informed that media persons were stopped from witnessing the brutal atrocities while two media persons from TARA News are said to be missing.
\u003cbr\>This is obviously a planed action since even last month when 4 meetings attended by over 20000 people was held, there was news that the CPM would launch its attack soon after the school exams were over. \u003c/font\>\u003c/div\>\n\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;text-indent:-0.25in\"\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;text-indent:-0.25in\"\> In spite of the rhetorical statements by the Chief Minister of WB that he would consult and convince the people, the State government claiming to be leftist by ideology, has resorted to brutal and barbaric way of using police force and party cadres to attack the unarmed, non violent farmers, fish workers, labourers and artisans in the district of East Midnapore for grabbing their land. The people from generations old communities who have a golden history of freedom movement and martyrdom are being not only forced but killed by the "free Indian state" which is shameful for the Indian democracy and its people. \n\u003cbr\>\u003cbr\>\u003c/div\>\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cbr\> \u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>Wo The women and men who continued to keep watch day and night were most worried expecting the armed attack and asked whether their non violent approach would work. Since yesterday, there was a fear and a threat of an action using thousands of Police and CPM Cadres, armed and prepared to forcibly occupy their land and the territory. The public statement to this effect was made by none else but Shri \nP.R.Roy Secretary, Home Affairs and Raj Kanojia IG- Law and Order, state of West Bengal. The opposition in WB, during assembly session, had demanded a dialogue to start immediately and not to resort to State violence.\u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>The news is that the firing and violence is still on and the people also have not given up. The intellectuals in west Bengal have come out in support of the struggling farmers and others and there is a need that the same happens in all the states. Imposition of industrialization, with or without SEZ, as also real estate development is to kill farm land and farming as a way of life. But Nandigram and Singur show that the corporotised stae does not mind even mind killing people to make way for the Multi National Corporations. \n",1]
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This is obviously a planed action since even last month when 4 meetings attended by over 20000 people was held, there was news that the CPM would launch its attack soon after the school exams were over.

In spite of the rhetorical statements by the Chief Minister of WB that he would consult and convince the people, the State government claiming to be leftist by ideology, has resorted to brutal and barbaric way of using police force and party cadres to attack the unarmed, non violent farmers, fish workers, labourers and artisans in the district of East Midnapore for grabbing their land. The people from generations old communities who have a golden history of freedom movement and martyrdom are being not only forced but killed by the "free Indian state" which is shameful for the Indian democracy and its people.
Wo The women and men who continued to keep watch day and night were most worried expecting the armed attack and asked whether their non violent approach would work. Since yesterday, there was a fear and a threat of an action using thousands of Police and CPM Cadres, armed and prepared to forcibly occupy their land and the territory. The public statement to this effect was made by none else but Shri P.R.Roy Secretary, Home Affairs and Raj Kanojia IG- Law and Order, state of West Bengal. The opposition in WB, during assembly session, had demanded a dialogue to start immediately and not to resort to State violence.The news is that the firing and violence is still on and the people also have not given up. The intellectuals in west Bengal have come out in support of the struggling farmers and others and there is a need that the same happens in all the states. Imposition of industrialization, with or without SEZ, as also real estate development is to kill farm land and farming as a way of life. But Nandigram and Singur show that the corporotised stae does not mind even mind killing people to make way for the Multi National Corporations.
\u003cbr\>This brutal attack must be immediately condemned and CPM must be compelled to stop murdering farmers immediately. Such state fascism and corporate war against people can't and must not be tolerated.\u003cbr\>\u003cbr\>What happens in Nandigram and West Bengal is to decide the fate of lakhs of farmers, fish workers, labourers, artisans who voted for left front but now are in unprecedented battle for survival. \n\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cp style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-family:Symbol\"\>·\u003cspan\> \u003c/span\>\u003c/span\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cspan\> \u003c/span\>We demand that the Union of India and UPA through the PM, Sonia Gandhi and others must immediately intervene and use various restraining measures in their hands to compel the CPM government to stop the murderous attack. \n\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/p\>\n\u003cp style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-family:Symbol\"\>·\u003cspan\> \u003c/span\>\u003c/span\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cspan\> \u003c/span\>Legal action must be taken against all responsible for the killings including the CM, West Bengal \n\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/p\>\n\u003cp style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-family:Symbol\"\>·\u003cspan\> \u003c/span\>\u003c/span\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>We expect that the National Human Rights Commission will send a team for urgent enquiry and take action. We assert that SEZ Act should be repealed and projects with conflict between the state and \n\u003cbr\>the people should be put on immediate hold across the country. An enactment on Development Planning, based on the draft submitted to the National Advisory Council under the Chairmanship of Smt. Sonia Gandhi should be taken for consultation with people's movements and approved. \n\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/p\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-family:Symbol\"\>·\u003cspan\> \u003c/span\>\u003c/span\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>WE appeal to the eminent and concerned citizens and people's organizations to condemn and protest against the inhuman imposition of projects in the name of development and stand by the struggling people of Nandigram and elsewhere. \n",1]
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This brutal attack must be immediately condemned and CPM must be compelled to stop murdering farmers immediately. Such state fascism and corporate war against people can't and must not be tolerated.What happens in Nandigram and West Bengal is to decide the fate of lakhs of farmers, fish workers, labourers, artisans who voted for left front but now are in unprecedented battle for survival.
· We demand that the Union of India and UPA through the PM, Sonia Gandhi and others must immediately intervene and use various restraining measures in their hands to compel the CPM government to stop the murderous attack.
· Legal action must be taken against all responsible for the killings including the CM, West Bengal
· We expect that the National Human Rights Commission will send a team for urgent enquiry and take action. We assert that SEZ Act should be repealed and projects with conflict between the state and the people should be put on immediate hold across the country. An enactment on Development Planning, based on the draft submitted to the National Advisory Council under the Chairmanship of Smt. Sonia Gandhi should be taken for consultation with people's movements and approved.
· WE appeal to the eminent and concerned citizens and people's organizations to condemn and protest against the inhuman imposition of projects in the name of development and stand by the struggling people of Nandigram and elsewhere.
\u003cbr\>\u003cbr\>\u003c/font\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cb\>Medha Patkar- 9869446684, \u003c/b\>\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cb\>\u003c/b\>\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cb\>Rajendra Ravi- 9868200316, \u003c/b\>\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cb\>\u003c/b\>\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cb\>Mukta Srivastava, \u003c/b\>\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cb\>\u003c/b\>\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cb\>Sukhendu Bhattacharya, \u003c/b\>\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cb\>\u003c/b\>\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cb\>Pranav Bannerje, \u003c/b\>\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cb\>\u003c/b\>\u003c/font\>\u003c/span\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-indent:-0.25in\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:11pt\"\>\u003cfont face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cb\>Murad Hussain\u003cbr\>\u003c/b\>\u003cbr\>National and State conveners, NAPM \u003c/font\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>\n",0]
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Medha Patkar- 9869446684,

Liberty Of The Press : M.K.Gandhi

2007-01-20T12:36:00.000+05:30

200. LIBERTY OF THE PRESS
One by one the pretensions of the Government that the reforms represent more liberty and more concession to popular feeling are dropping out under the stress of circumstances. The pretensions can be justified only if they can stand the test under a severe strain. Liberty of speech means that it is unassailed even when the speech hurts; liberty of the Press can be said to be truly respected only when the Press can comment in the severest terms upon and even
misrepresent matters, protection against misrepresentation or violence being secured not by an administrative gagging order, not by closing down the Press but by punishing the real offender, leaving the Press itself unrestricted Freedom of association is truly respected when assemblies of people can discuss even revolutionary projects, the State relying upon the force of public opinion and the civil police, not the savage military at its disposal, to crush any actual outbreak of revolution that is designed to confound public opinion and the State representing it.
The Government of India is now seeking to crush the three powerful vehicles of expressing and cultivating public opinion and is thus once more, but happily for the last time, proving its totally arbitrary and despotic character. The fight for swaraj, the Khilafat, the Punjab means fight for this threefold freedom before all else.
The Independent is no longer a printed sheet. The Democrat is no more. And now the sword has descended upon the Pratap and the Kesari of Lahore. The Vande Mataram, Lalaji’s child, has warded off the blow by depositing Rs. 2,000 as security. The other two have had
their first security forfeited and are now given ten days’ notice to deposit Rs. 10,000 each or close down. I hope that the security of Rs. 10,000 will be refused.
I assume that what is happening in the United Provinces and the Punjab will happen in the others in due course unless the infection is prevented from spreading by some action on the part of the public.
In the first place I would urge the editors of the papers in question to copy the method of the Independent and publish their views in writing. I believe that an editor who has anything worth
saying and who commands a clientele cannot be easily hushed so long as his body is left free. He has delivered his finished message as soon as he is put under duress. The Lokamanya spoke more eloquently from the Mandalay fortress than through the columns of the printed Kesari. His influence was multiplied a thousandfold by his incarceration and his speech and his pen had acquired much greater power after he was discharged than before his imprisonment. By his
death he is editing his paper without pen and speech through the sacred resolution of the people to realize his life’s dream. He could not possibly have done more if he were today in the flesh preaching his mantra . Critics like me would perhaps be still finding fault with this expression of his or that. Today all criticism is hushed and his mantra alone rules millions of hearts which are determined to raise a permanent living memorial by the fulfilment of his mantra in their
lives.
Therefore, let us first break the idol of machinery and leaden type. The pen is our foundry and the hands of willing copyists our printing machine. Idolatry is permissible in Hinduism when it subserves an ideal. It becomes a sinful fetish when the idol itself becomes the ideal. Let us use the machine and the type whilst we can to give unfettered expression to our thoughts. But let us not feel helpless when they are taken away from us by a “paternal” Government watching and controlling every combination of types and every movement of the printing machine.
But the handwritten newspaper is, I admit, a heroic remedy meant for heroic times. By being indifferent to the aid of the printing room and the compositor’s stick we ensure their free retention or restoration for all time.
We must do something more. We must apply civil disobedience for the restoration of that right before we think of what we call larger things. The restoration of free speech, free association and free Press is almost the whole swaraj. I would, therefore, respectfully urge the
conference2 that is meeting on Saturday next3 at the instance of Pandit Malaviyaji and other distinguished sons of India to concentrate upon the removal of these obstacles on which all can heartily join than upon the Khilafat, the Punjab and swaraj. Let us take care of these precious
pennies and that pound will take care of itself.
Young India, 12-1-1922, p.29

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
451. A BRILLIANT CAREER
Forward, a creation of Deshbandhu, fully lived up to its name and the aspirations of its distinguished founder. By its dash, enterprise, resourcefulness and, above all, fearlessness it proved a thorn in the side of the Government. It was therefore marked out for destruction by means fair or foul. It has had several prosecutions launched againstit for daring to speak out the nation’s mind by calling a spade a spade. But it outlived all the prosecutions. It rather thrived upon themand the imprisonment of its editor and printer. But it was impossible for a moneyless newspaper to survive vindictive damages. The Judge’s verdict may be right though his leanings one can read in his judgment. But the Government’s action and, which is the same thing, the Railway Company’s action was wrong. If the article of the Forward was an overstatement, surely neither of the parties attacked could suffer pecuniary damage, for they were too powerful. And no damage exacted by them could possibly recoup them if they did suffer material damage at all. If it was a question of moral damage, I suggest that neither the Government nor the Company had any reputation to keep in such matters as were the subject-matter of criticism by the Forward. In any case their amour-propre should have been satisfied by the obtaining of the precious verdict.
But the application for compulsory liquidation shows that the object of the action was not compensation for the plaintiffs but it was destruction of the defendant. Well, they have had their satisfaction. They are welcome to it. Only they are riding for a fall. The Forward so vindictively crushed will live in the lives of the people. The fire lighted by it will rage with redoubled fury in the breasts of thousandsas it will no longer be able to find legitimate vent through the columns of their favourite paper. Though during my tour in the villages of Andhra I cannot follow the events in their proper sequence, I observe that a mean attempt is being made even to prevent the publication of the New Forward. The legal resourcefulness of the brains that are backing the national movement in Bengal against
tremendous odds may circumvent the Government. But even if they cannot cope with the legal and extra-legal powers possessed and unscrupulously used by the Government, they will still have deserved the gratitude of the country for bravely and fearlessly engaging in an unequal fight with the Government. A spirit has been awakened that cannot be crushed by any power on earth. Forward is dead, long live Forward.
Young India, 9-5-1929,p.145
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DR. LOHIA’S CHALLENGE
It would appear from newspaper reports that Dr. Lohia3 went to Goa at the invitation of Goans and was served with an order to refrain from making speeches. According to Dr. Lohia’s statement, for 188 years now, the people of Goa have been robbed of the right to hold
meetings and form organizations. Naturally he defied the order. He has thereby rendered a service to the cause of civil liberty and especially to the Goans. The little Portuguese settlement which merely exists on the sufferance of the British Government can ill afford to ape its bad manners. In free India Goa cannot be allowed to exist as a separate entity in opposition to the laws of the free State. Without a shot being fired, the people of Goa will be able to claim and receive the rights of citizenship of the free State. The present Portuguese Government will no longer be able to rely upon the protection of British arms to isolate and keep under subjection the inhabitants of Goa against their will. I would venture to advise the Portuguese Government of Goa to recognize the signs of the times and come to honourable terms with its inhabitants rather than function on any treaty that might exist between them and the British Government.
To the inhabitants of Goa I will say that they should shed fear of the Portuguese Government as the people of other parts of India have shed fear of the mighty British Government and assert their fundamental right of civil liberty and all it means. The differences of religion among the inhabitants of Goa should be no bar to common civil life. Religion is for each individual, himself or herself, to live. It should never become a bone of contention or quarrel between
religious sects.
NEW DELHI, June 26, 1946
Harijan, 30-6-1946

A Tribute to Mailamma : Tony Clarke

2007-01-11T10:05:00.000+05:30

… India’s Grassroots Water Warrior

On January 6, 2007, Sathi Mailamma, leader of the prolonged struggle for water justice and the campaign against Coca-Cola’s water takings in Plachimada, India, passed away. Inspired by Mailamma’s spirited determination, the women of Plachimada and surrounding communities organized a relentless campaign against the

Mailamma with Tony Clarke

water takings by Coca-Cola’s state-of-the art bottling plant. Almost five years later, the campaign continues, sparking waves of non-violent protests against the water takings of Coca-Cola and Pepsico throughout India.

I first met Mailamma two years ago. I had been invited by my colleague and well known social movement leader Vandana Shiva plus M.P. Veerendrakumar the Member of Parliament from the region, to participate in the celebrations marking the 1000 days of protest and resistance against the Coke plant in Plachimada, January 2005. Other social movement leaders from India were also on hand to mark the occasion, including Metha Patkar of the National Alliance of Peoples’ Movements. As well, the event provided an opportunity to launch our just published report and book on the bottled water industry, Inside the Bottle.

When Mailamma discovered that she and her neighbour’s wells were being heavily polluted and/or rapidly drained by the Coca-cola plant operations, she founded the Coca-Cola Virudha Samara Samiti and mounted a campaign against the company in the spring of 2002. To capture water for its factory operations, Coca-Cola had drilled deep bore holes, drawing up to 1.5 million liters from local water sources a day. Meanwhile, waste sludge from the coke plant supplied to local farmers

was found to contain high levels of cadmium and lead causing skin disorders among villagers. On April 22, 2002, Mailamma organized a group of women to conduct a 24 hour vigil outside the gates of the Coke factory, demanding that the plant be shut down permanently. This vigil has continued every single day since.

In support of the vigil, the local government [panchayat] took measures denying the Coca-Cola plant’s access to the local groundwater. In 2003, the State’s High Court upheld the right of the panchayat’s decision and ordered the company to find other water sources. A year later, a Supreme Court monitoring committee in India also ordered Coca-Cola to retrieve its sludge waste from the farmers’ lands and to ensure that people around the plant had access to clean water. In March 2004, the Coke bottling plant in Plachimada was forced to shut down, and has remained so till this day. Following Coca-Cola’s final appeal, the Supreme Court of India is now expected to hand down it’s ruling on whether or not the High Court’s decision in favour of the villagers will be upheld. 1000th Day of Dharana

During the celebration of the 1000 days of resistance two years ago, I remember well the time spent with Mailamma. Speaking different languages, communication was not always easy. With the help of a translator, I learned a little about her early days in organizing the protest and about her family’s involvement in the struggle. I gleaned more by watching her interact with her people, working quietly behind the scenes at events or preparing a new group of women for the next phase of the vigil. Her dignity, courage and spirit of determination were radiant. And, then there was one special moment I won’t forget. During the ceremony, the two of us were invited to exchange gifts and say a few words to the gathered assembly. But, instead of speaking, we just looked at each other’s eyes, smiled and embraced. This was one time when gestures communicated more than words.

Spreading the word about her passing, Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center recently noted that Mailamma had been recognized for her leadership in India, receiving “the prestigious Speak Out award by the Outlook magazine and the Sthree Shakthi Award (Women's Power Award).” For many of us in the water justice movement around the world, Mailamma will also be remembered as an authentic grassroots water warrior.

As Gandhi activist Aflatoon reminds us, she gave new meaning to the American Indian proverb, “We do not inherit the earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children." Warning about the future dangers of the ‘water guzzling’ Coke plant, Mailamma declared: “…imagine the situation after ten-fifteen years! Our children would then curse us and would be forced to live on a barren land!'

________________________

By Tony Clarke, director of the Polaris Institute and activist in the global water justice movement. He is also co-author of Blue Gold: The Battle Against to Corporate theft of the World’s Water [with Maude Barlow, 2002] and author of Inside the Bottle: Exposing the Bottled water Industry [2005].

Mailamma,An obituary

2007-01-10T11:31:00.000+05:30

" Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.We do not inherit the earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."This an ancient American Indian proverb.American Indians were one of the first communities affected by modern industrial civilisation.Mark the similarity of feeling when Mailamma,the spirited woman leader of Plachimada cautions us about the future dangers of the water guzzling Coke plant and says,'If so much destruction has occurred in these three years, imagine the situation after ten-fifteen years!Our children would then curse us and would be forced to live on a barren land!' The marathon dharna in small 'samar manadapam' in front of the giant MNC,spread in 200-odd countries by the adivasi women of Plachimada,shall be recorded in golden letters in the history of Nonviolence Direct Action. 'Who has the right over natural resources?' 'Is it the right of a giant MNC?''Or the local community has the right over the resources?''Who shall lead this 'fight against the might'?I had these questions in my mind when I first visitedPlachimada on 21,22,23 January ,2004 on invitation of parliamentarian Shri M.P. Veerendrakumar,Managing Director of leading Malayalam daily,Matrubhumi as participant in the People's World Water Congress.Anti-Globalisation Farmer-leader;influenced by Gandhi,Jose Bove from France,Maud Barlow the author of 'The Blue Gold',the book which opened the world's eyes over the exploitation of water by MNCs,member of Parliament of EU,Senior literary figures,VT Vasudevan,Sara Joseph,Sukumar Azhikod andleader of the opposition in Kerala Assembly Shri Achutanandan(Present CM of Kerala) were a few of the dignitaries who participated in the Congress.One of the major element of attraction of these national-international figures to this remote village in Palghat was Mailamma's leadership.'One affected shall lead the struggle'-
This basic criteria of any people's struggle was satisfied in Placimada Movement through leaders like Mailamma.
Movement against Coke at Mehdiganj drew inspiration from Plachimada.Sathi Mailamma has taught us :
1. The local community has the primary right over natural resources.
2.The fight for this right shall be lead by the local leadership.
Rights over resources are decided by politics and Mailamma of Plachimada shall be remembered as a leader of Contemporary-Alternative-Politics.
This basic criteria of any people's struggle was satisfied in Plachimada Movement through leaders like Mailamma.
Movement against Coke at Mehdiganj drew inspiration from Plachimada.Sathi Mailamma has taught us :
1. The local community has the primary right over natural resources.
2.The fight for this right shall be lead by the local leadership.
Rights over resources are decided by politics and Mailamma of Plachimada shall be remembered as a leader of Contemporary-Alternative-Politics.
-By Aflatoon,State President,Samajwadi Janparishad,Uttar Pradesh

Threats Against Workers, Students and Others by Colombian Paramilitaries and Vice-President Francisco Santos

2006-12-21T01:39:00.000+05:30

Urgent Action Alert - December 20, 2006
Campaign to Stop Killer Coke Urgent Action Alert
Threats Against Workers, Students and Others by Colombian Paramilitaries and Vice-President Francisco Santos
Major News Stories Expose Ties of Colombian Government to Right-Wing Paramilitaries
Protest in London on Thursday, December 21st.
Dear Supporters of KillerCoke,
There have been recent death threats against three SINALTRAINAL leaders who are Coca-Cola workers as well as social leaders, students, trade unionists, and human rights activists. These threats occurred as Colombia’s Vice-President Francisco Santos criticized unions and others that disparage the reputations of companies such as “Coca Cola, Nestle, and other private companies.”
Meanwhile, new evidence reveals strong ties to paramilitaries by the Colombian government. Both The Boston Globe and The Washington Post have published major articles reporting that “a powerful paramilitary commander is to appear in a special court Tuesday to account for crimes that include massacres and assassinations" and that “the Colombian government is under siege as evidence mounts of links between rightist death squads and dozens of officials loyal to [Colombia] President Álvaro Uribe.”
Please read and take the actions suggested below. Look for an embassy or consulate of Colombia in your own country that you can contact to express your concerns.\n\nFurthermore, please contact your local and national Coca-Cola offices and express your concern for this situation. Urge Coke to publicly and strongly denounce the threats against these Coca-Cola workers who are also SINALTRAINAL leaders. In the United States and Canada, please call The Coca-Cola Co. at 1-800-GET-COKE to voice your protest. \n\nThe following is a plea for support in English and Spanish from Javier Correa, president of SINALTRAINAL, forwarded by Andy Higginbottom of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign in the UK and author of The Anti-Coke Manifesto .\n\n\nSOCIAL LEADERS, STUDENTS, TRADE UNIONISTS \nAND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS \nTHREATENED IN BARRANQUILLA \n\nOn 14 December 2006, in the city of Barranquilla, a death threat communiqué was left at the residence of Euripides Yance, a Coca-Cola worker and member of the National Committee of SINALTRAINAL. The communiqué is entitled BLACK EAGLES [AGUILAS NEGRAS] and threatens various student, social and trade union leaders, giving them a week to leave the city. Amongst them are members and leaders of SINALTRAINAL and workers at Coca-Cola EURIPIDES YANCE, LIMBERTO CARRANZA, and CAMPO QUINTERO.\n\nThis death threat occurred just days after Colombia’s Vice-President Francisco Santos made a public declaration referring to what he called campaigns to discredit Coca-Cola, Nestlé and other private corporations and contended that they are pushed by “sectors of the extreme left, radicals infiltrated into trade union sectors that are generating absolutely absurd campaigns against the corporations.” These threats have occurred at the time that we are negotiating our demands with the Coca-Cola bottling plants in the Santanders [the region in which Barranquilla is situated]. \nWe demand national government protection for the life of trade unionists, social leaders, students, defenders of human rights and an investigation into the facts to bring to justice [those making these threats].\n\n",1]
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Please read and take the actions suggested below. Look for an embassy or consulate of Colombia in your own country that you can contact to express your concerns.
Furthermore, please contact your local and national Coca-Cola offices and express your concern for this situation. Urge Coke to publicly and strongly denounce the threats against these Coca-Cola workers who are also SINALTRAINAL leaders. In the United States and Canada, please call The Coca-Cola Co. at 1-800-GET-COKE to voice your protest.
The following is a plea for support in English and Spanish from Javier Correa, president of SINALTRAINAL, forwarded by Andy Higginbottom of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign in the UK and author of The Anti-Coke Manifesto .
SOCIAL LEADERS, STUDENTS, TRADE UNIONISTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS THREATENED IN BARRANQUILLA
On 14 December 2006, in the city of Barranquilla, a death threat communiqué was left at the residence of Euripides Yance, a Coca-Cola worker and member of the National Committee of SINALTRAINAL. The communiqué is entitled BLACK EAGLES [AGUILAS NEGRAS] and threatens various student, social and trade union leaders, giving them a week to leave the city. Amongst them are members and leaders of SINALTRAINAL and workers at Coca-Cola EURIPIDES YANCE, LIMBERTO CARRANZA, and CAMPO QUINTERO.
This death threat occurred just days after Colombia’s Vice-President Francisco Santos made a public declaration referring to what he called campaigns to discredit Coca-Cola, Nestlé and other private corporations and contended that they are pushed by “sectors of the extreme left, radicals infiltrated into trade union sectors that are generating absolutely absurd campaigns against the corporations.” These threats have occurred at the time that we are negotiating our demands with the Coca-Cola bottling plants in the Santanders [the region in which Barranquilla is situated]. We demand national government protection for the life of trade unionists, social leaders, students, defenders of human rights and an investigation into the facts to bring to justice [those making these threats].

Against Impunity SINALTRAINAL Demands Justice.
LUIS JAVIER CORREA SUAREZ President SINALTRAINAL

Delhi pushes for cola ban in schools and universities

2006-12-17T10:39:00.000+05:30

Courtesy gulfnews.com

12/16/2006 10:29 PM Financial Times
New Delhi: The Indian government is pushing for a ban on colas and soft drinks in schools and universities across the country in a big setback to Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and other soft drinks groups trying to rebuild their image following a pesticide scare earlier in the year.
"Colas with or without pesticides are harmful for health and should not be consumed. We want all forms of junk food like pizzas, chips, samosas and burgers banned from canteens," India's health minister Ambumani Ramadoss told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on nutrition in New Delhi.
The minister, whose department backed the cola companies during the pesticide scare, said he had written to his counterparts at state level requesting them to make plans for a partial ban on fizzy drinks and junk food, blamed for rising levels of heart disease, obesity and diabetes across the country.
The soft drinks industry had until this week appeared to be making progress in putting the pesticide furore behind it. A court in the southern state of Kerala recently ordered the Communist-controlled government to reverse a ban on the manufacture and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Ramadoss said the country faced a "galloping" rise in heart disease, diabetes and cancer as India's 300 million-strong middle class ate more junk food and lived more sedentary lives. At the other end of the spectrum the country had some of the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the world.
"We have one India which is galloping on the economic front while in the other India, human development indices say we are 126th in the world," Ramadoss said.
He said he planned to introduce health and lifestyle classes in schools. The comments showed how concern about the impact of soft drinks and fast food on public health is spreading to developing countries, having previously been mostly concentrated in North America and western Europe.
In a statement, Coca-Cola said the amount of soft drinks sold in Indian schools and universities was "very low". It added that it offered a range of beverages in the country, and had "taken leadership" in promoting active lifestyles in India, citing its support for the country's Rural Games as an example.
The Indian Soft Drinks Manufacturers' Association said it was unable to comment as its secretary-general was on leave.
Marketing consultants close to Coke say the two emblematic US cola companies have been victims of "populist brand-trashing" at the hands of politicians.
The controversy over "pesticolas" began in 2003 when the Centre for Science and the Environment, a Delhi-based NGO, highlighted dangerous levels of residual pesticides in popular soft drinks brands as a means of drawing attention to high levels of chemicals in groundwater.

GOVERNMENT BETRAYED ON FOREST RIGHT ISSUE

2006-12-16T20:24:00.000+05:30

Schedule Tribe Forest Rights Bill has proved to be “Sap bhi mar jaye aur lathi bhi na tote”. The government has been successful in posing to the world that it has given rights to forest dwellers over forest. The Samajwadi Jan Parishad (SJP), Shramik Adivasi Sanghathana and Jan Sangharsh Morcha (JSM) condemn the government for betraying tribal community and other fellow forest dwellers like Dalits, on the issue of forest rights. The forest right bill as passed will prove eyewash to the numerous groups who have been waiting for generation to get their due forest rights. The apprehension that the bill is being brought to clear the way by getting rid of tribals forest right issu,e which was haunting since last 150 years, for government to lease out big chunk of forest to companies has proved right. The SJP, JSM along with other organisation of the country will launch a movement to secure full right to forest dwellers. We are not going to accept half cooked bill.
Anurag Modi convener of JSM said that the bill is designed in such a way that it will give from one hand takes away by other. Firstly the forest rights have been limited to gramsabha limit where as 90% of the usable forest falls outside the purview of gramsabha where forest dwellers won’t get any right as per the bill. The bill says Forest Dwellers will get forest right within gramsabha limit. Modi asked why forest dwellers have been limited to gramsabha where as all their needs get fulfilled from the forest which falls outside the gramsabha limit. Quoting an example he said in a village Jodiyamaw in shahpur Tahsil of Betul district tribals get Bamboo from the
by limiting forest dwellers to gramsabha government will be all free to hand over remaning 90% forest , which falls out the gramsabha limt to Companies. Shamim a state general secretary of SJP said it will create social tension as forest dwellers other than tribals will be almost left out since firstly it is hard to prove their residence prior to 3 generations and secondly many moved after that. She said the condition of one should be residing in forest may\n prove otherwise since there are more than 75 % village in the forest area.
ANURAG MODI SHAMIM Convener JSM State General secretary of SJP , MP

2006-12-05T12:03:00.000+05:30

Tribals demand right to livelihood ( Courtesy The Hindu :Date:27/11/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/11/27/stories/2006112712990500.htm )
Staff Correspondent
Restrictions imposed by tiger reserve
BHOPAL: The Tribals from the Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh have started a Satyagraha (peaceful agitation) to draw the attention of the State Government and society towards the "threat to the livelihood of tribal communities" due to restrictions imposed by the Satpura Tiger Reserve.
The protest, under the banner of the "Kisan Adivasi Sangathan" and "Samajwadi Jan Parishad" was launched this past Friday with a group of about 150 tribal men and women from various tribal and other villages gathering at Sethani Ghat on Narmada river at Hohangabad and marching to the office of the Director Satpura Tiger Reserve. The tribals presented a memorandum of demands and sat on a dharna outside the Tiger Reserve office.
The tribals have decided to continue their agitation for a month by sitting on a protest dharna outside the office of the Director, Satpura Tiger Reserve.
Each day an eminent person is scheduled to join the protest, according to a Kisan Adivasi Sangathan- Samajwadi Jan Parishad statement.
The Satpura Tiger Reserve has been formed by combining Satpura National Park, Bori Sanctuary and Pachmari Sanctuary. This area includes 75 tribal villages.
Almost an equal number of villages lie on the boundary of this Reserve and the people living in these villages depend on forest and the Bori reservoir for their livelihood. The restrictions imposed on farming, forest produce collection and other activities, including fishing in the Bori reservoir is threatening the survival of the tribals, according to the Kisan Adivasi Sangathan.
It is being pointed out that the tribals from 44 villages who were resettled due to the construction of the Tawa dam 33 years ago are once again facing the danger of getting displaced. The Fishermen's Cooperative which has been operating in this area was also facing the threat of closure.
© Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu

2006-11-29T12:50:00.000+05:30

Courtsey : http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blog
Thankful for Little Things and Big Things Filed Under: Water

Sometimes, you work for years and years . . .
. . . and then you win!

Earlier this month, a California judge ruled that the city of Stockton illegally privatized its water and sewer operations.

The Concerned Citizens Coalition of Stockton (CCCoS) led the fight and we congratulate their dedication, persistence, and patience. If the council now reconsiders private involvement they have to seek voter approval.

The victory in Stockton is only one of many things for which Food & Water Watch is thankful this day before Thanksgiving 2006. Read about some others here.

________________
By the way, the effort in Stockton was profiled in the film Thirst, which is available in the Food & Water Watch’s media library. Please contact us to purchase a copy or to borrow one for a screening in your community.

Seafood Eco-Labels: Ensuring Sustainability or Profit? Filed Under: Fish
Certifying products is all the rage these days. We see it with timber, bananas, coffee and even diamonds. In most cases, these certification schemes are designed to assuage consumer concerns about the environmental or social origins of the product, and of course, to encourage them to buy.

Increasingly, Americans are concerned about where their seafood comes from, how it’s harvested and whether the fish is a safe and healthy source of protein. For this reason, new eco-labels for seafood are popping up on grocery shelves across the country.

However, there is a lot of debate about how this labeling should come to pass. The problems arise when companies with a direct stake in the sale of the product determine the labeling criteria and even decide which products receive a label - a clear conflict of interest.

So what are the alternatives? The safeguarding of our oceans and food sources should not be left to private industry. The certifier must be a third party with no stake in the sale of the product. Otherwise, it’s awfully hard to know if that label really promises a more sustainable product or simply greater profits for a clever company.

November 20, 2006Tigers Helping Cows and People Filed Under: Food

LSU Tiger and Student
© Jim Zietz/LSU Public Affairs.LSU tigers, that is.

Citing a desire to support local farmers and provide a healthier option for their students, Lousiana State University campus dining switched to hormone free milk this fall.

Marketing junior Stanford Ponson summed up the issue nicely when he said "Well, there's a lot of unanswered questions. RGBH [recombinant Bovine Growth hormone] is illegal in Europe and lots of other countries. We don't know how it affects people. We know it's not healthy for the cow though." (Find resources for getting your campus to make the switch here.)

We've discussed on the blog before about how dairy producers and retailers are responding to consumer demand. Unfortunately, five years after the worlds largest coffee retailer started "discussing" the issue, still no action.

November 17, 2006Actually, You’re Suffering from “Very Low Food Security” Pains Filed Under: Food

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will no longer identify Americans who don’t have enough to eat as “hungry” when it conducts its annual survey of access to food. Now, instead of calling people who can’t afford to put food on the table “hungry”, a term well understood by the public, the USDA will categorize them as experiencing “very low food security”. The USDA says it made this semantic change because it found “hunger” to be an unscientific term for which there is not a clear definition.

Bread for the World, an anti-hunger group, and others strongly criticized this word change, saying “We . . . cannot hide the reality of hunger among our citizens." The amount of hungry people in the U.S. has been a source of shame for the Bush Administration, as the percentage of Americans that are the hungriest has risen over the past five years. Last year, eleven million Americans reported going hungry at times, and 35 million people could not put food on the table for part of last year. Considering that in 1999 then-Governor Bush claimed the USDA’s hunger statistics (which rated Texas poorly) were fabricated, it’s no wonder that this Administration would rather change the terms, than fix the problem.

While we found government attempts to call ketchup a “vegetable” and irradiation “cold pasteurization” disturbing, calling hungry people anything other than “hungry” strikes us as deeply wrong. Whatever the scientific reasoning, this linguistic gymnastics makes it easier to ignore a problem that shouldn’t exist in a country as wealthy as the United States. [End of Sermon.]

November 14, 2006
And Don't Let the Door Hit You... Filed Under: Food

There’s a reason why in most businesses, if you get fired you pack up your things immediately and are forced to leave. The reason being, of course, that if you stay around, you might muck things up.

In Congress, however, if you lose the election, you stay around for a few more months before your successor takes over your seat. That’s when the trouble starts (or is amplified, depending on your viewpoint). Right now, we are nervously awaiting this Congress’ last moves, with many bad agricultural and food bills waiting in the wings. Unfortunately, the “Animal Enterprise and Terrorism Act” (HR 4239, S3880), which we just warned you about, sailed through Congress yesterday. In fact, it passed on a “voice vote” so you are unable to see how your Representative voted. We are worried that this legislation will limit the ability of people to work on animal protection issues. In the next several weeks, be ready for more calls to action, so that we can try to stop some of Congress’ last minute moves!

On another note, our Winter issue of the Food Alert has hit the stands! Click here to read about the spinach E.coli scare, the move towards better food on college campuses, and Starbucks’ National Call-in Day.

Crossing the Sahara to Bring Attention to Africa’s Water Needs Filed Under: Water

Another superstar is taking initiative to bring attention to the world water crisis. Matt Damon is lending his voice to a film that documents the stunning trek of three men across the Sahara desert.

Charlie Engle (USA), Ray Zahab (Canada) and Kevin Lin (Taiwan) will run 4,000 miles – the equivalent of 2 marathons a day – from Senegal to Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, ending at the Suez canal on the Red Sea. That’s longer than the distance from Los Angeles, CA to Portland, ME!

It’s never been done before, and it will be captured on film, narrated by Mr. Damon.

According to the website, the runners hope to “bring a new vision of the Sahara and its people to the world—a more accurate vision intended to increase interest and understanding of our fellow humans, an unknowable land, and what each of us is willing to do to make a difference.” They also hope to bring attention to H2o Africa, Matt Damon’s new charity, which aims to “create widespread public awareness of the water crisis in Africa and gather support for clean water programs in critical areas. Clean water lies at the crux of many challenges facing African people – from health, to education, to human rights.”

I’d guess they’ll get pretty thirsty along the way.

November 9, 2006
End of seafood? Filed Under: Fish

Will seafood take the place of wild game and cease to be a major food source for the world?

In a widely publicized study that appeared recently in the journal Science, an international team of scientists and economists warns that marine fish and seafood species could collapse by the year 2048. The authors say there is hope, but not without a drastic change in how the nations of the world manage our fisheries.

The answer we’re hearing from the United States government: privatized fisheries and industrial fish farms.

As we have seen through individual fishing quota programs, turning the sea’s fish into a private property right provides incentives to waste fish. It is also contrary to ecosystem-based management – a core recommendation of the international scientists who authored the recent study.

And fish farms? As one of the study’s authors points out, fish farming can increase pressure on wild fish because many farmed species must eat processed wild fish.

While there is no easy solution, we can safely say that privatizing the commons and industrial sea farming are not the answer.

Don’t Label Me! Filed Under: Food

Creative Commons Licensed Flickr Photo
Originally uploaded by Matt Watts.I’m not really into labels but there are a few things that you can learn from them. For instance, my extremely fashionable shirt was made in Turkey, my 20oz water bottle was made in China, and fairly-paid, disabled workers made my tote bag in Cambodia.

Country of origin labeling (COOL) is supposed to do for meat, seafood, and produce what it has done for my shirt, water bottle, and tote bag. That is to say, consumers would finally know where their food comes from -- something they just might want considering the USDA’s recent approval of processed poultry product imports from China (a country with less than stellar food safety practices and currently suffering from an avian influenza epidemic.)

When we inquired about this decision and about actually implementing COOL (which was included in the 2002 Farm Bill), the USDA replied that, under the current restrictions:

1) The People’s Republic of China (PRC) can only import fully-cooked product into the United States.

2) All products that are imported are required to be marked with the country of origin.

3) Products removed from their original packaging to be further processed do NOT have to mark the country of origin.

4) Fully-cooked product is more likely to be imported in retail packaging and therefore not processed further.

Translation: “A lot of poultry product from the PRC will be labeled. Our well-orchestrated loopholes will allow the rest to go unmarked. It’s best to just not think about it.”

November 6, 2006Fishy Border Inspections Filed Under: Fish

Creative Commons Licensed Flickr Photo
Originally uploaded by Albert Almeyda. Last year Americans consumed more than 5 billion pounds of seafood. That’s an average of more than 16.5 pounds per person per year and a record for per capita consumption.

Of this, about 80% is imported, meaning it is caught or grown outside of the United States and shipped to your local market.

Unfortunately, the Food and Drug Administration only inspects 1.2% of import shipments, which as you might imagine, means a whole lot of contaminated seafood is never caught at the border. (Compare this to Japan where 12% of imports are inspected!)

Because we like seafood just as much as you, and we like it clean and fresh and free from chemicals, we are urging Congress to provide the FDA with funds to increase their inspections. Stay tuned for more information on how you can get involved.

November 1, 2006
Creativity Counts Filed Under: Water

Creative Commons Licensed Flickr Photo
Originally uploaded by Today Is A Good Day.
Water, it's serious stuff - the stuff of life. But, explain that to a kid running through a sprinkler.

Even those of us doing the serious work of organizing to protect a human right to water and for local, public control of our essential resources like to have a bit of fun now and then. We also appreciate a good song.

"Oh we got trouble right here in Lee
With a capitol T
And that rhymes with P and that stands for Profit
But People Power
We’ll show Veolia
We can organize then we’re gonna stop it"

- from Veolia by Tom Nielson

At the height of the 2004 campaign to ensure local water control in Lee, Massachusetts, calls offering help came in from people and groups from all over. Among them was a folk singer, Tom Nielson offered to write a piece specific to the Lee issue. The song “Veolia” is on a CD “Only Outlaws Will Be Free."

People power proved effective when the town representatives voted 41-10 against granting Veolia a 20-year contract. Did the song help? We think so.

October 29, 2006
Dasani's Uncomfortable Dance Filed Under: Water

Coca Cola fielded some tough questions on bottled water from the audience and the other members of the panel Friday morning at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference (because what we eat and drink has an environmental impact and journalists should cover it, after all).

At a panel on the green efforts of corporations, Coca Cola Vice President for Environment and Water Jeff Seabright touted Coke's great record and how they've reduced water use down to 2.6 liters of water used to every 1 liter of product produced (yes, you read that right 2.6L water used:1L soda or bottled water produced). "It takes a lot of water to wash bottles and clean machinery," he said.

Food & Water Watch didn't even have to respond to that because it turned out that Coke's loudest critic this morning was sitting right next to Jeff. Environmental journalist and author Bill McKibben repeatedly lambasted Coke for the wasteful practice of bottling water. When challenged, Coke pointed out how they can provide water in an emergency. Bill didn't think that was a particularly strong argument. He wasn't impressed with the 'we produce what the consumer wants' argument either and challenged Coke to eliminate all their bottled water advertising in order to evaluate the true demand for the product. Nice.

We'll be sending Bill our next copy of Aqua Bits, our quarterly newsletter on the bottled water industry. You should sign up to get it too (choose waterforall list).

October 27, 2006
Fishy Politics, Lame Ducks & Oil Filed Under: Fish

The next frontier of food production – if you ask the National Marine Fisheries Service – is industrial fish farming in the sea. Unfortunately for NMFS, too many Americans questioned their method of sea farming (contained in Senate Bill 1195) for being too environmentally harmful. As a result, this bill has been sent back to the drawing board and will likely resurface next year.

Politics can be ironic though. Despite all of the drawing boards, hoopla, negotiation and deliberation, a little known provision in energy legislation could open federal waters to industrial fish farms through the backdoor without proper public debate. This provision, dubbed “oil rigs to fish farms,” would let oil companies escape proper decommissioning of their oil rigs if they are converted to fish farms.

As if fish farms via energy legislation weren’t bad enough, this provision could be approved by a lame duck congress in November. Please stay tuned as we shine the light on this backdoor attempt to open your seas to industrial fish farms.

2006-11-04T19:13:00.000+05:30

NIYAMGIRI CALLING
Among the darkest aspects of Vedanta’s Lanjigarh project is the seeming subversion of the Law. A potent irony, since Niyamgiri, which Vedanta plans to mine, means “Law mountain”, and the presiding deity of the area for Adivasis and non-tribals alike is Niyam Raja - Upholder of the Law. So maybe it is fitting if the Lanjigarh case calls into question how well the Law is being upheld.
The CEC (Central Empowered Committee - advisory body to India’s Supreme Court) has written an extremely strong Report against the whole project. In its conclusions:
“The CEC is of the considered view that the use of the forest land in an ecologically sensitive area like the Niyamgiri Hills should not be permitted.
The casual approach, the lackadaisical manner and the haste with which the entire issue of forests and environmental clearance for the alumina refinery project has been dealt with smacks of undue favour/leniency and does not inspire confidence with regard to the willingness and resolve of both the State Government and the MoEF [Ministry of Environment and Forests] to deal with such matters keeping in view the ultimate goal of national and public interest…
Keeping in view all the facts and circumstances brought out in the
preceding paragraphs it is recommended that this Hon’ble Court may consider revoking the environmental clearance dated 22.9.04 granted by the MoEF for setting up of the Alumina Refinery Plant by M/s Vedanta and directing them to stop further work on the project…” (CEC Report 21st September 2004)
Despite this recommendation, the SC has repeatedly delayed judgement. This has allowed the refinery to be constructed nearly to completion, under contract with the Australian firm Worley-Parsons, which is assumed to have has strict penalty clauses in the case of delay. Are the commercial needs of foreign companies dictating the implementation of Indian Law?
And why is Vedanta so confident that permission to clear the Forest on top of the ridge and mine there is only a matter of time?
A quick survey of the company’s first Board of Directors suggests why. It included an ex-UK High Commissioner to India, and men who had been or were about to become senior figures in the Indian Government, including P.Chidambaram, the present Finance Minister. It seems that “Revolving Doors” between company and Government office guarantee that Vedanta has the highest backing. It is strongly suspected that one of the three SC Judges on the Vedanta case, Arjit Pashayat, has virtually promised Vedanta a favourable judgement. He is also known to have been pro-active in bringing archaic “contempt of court” against anyone who dares to question the integrity of how the Supreme Court functions. But what if it functions badly, upholding vested interests over and above the Law of the land?
Repeated delays to “allow Vedanta to comply with regulations” imply such vested interests are at work For now, Vedanta is not mining bauxite from Niyamgiri’s summit: it is trucking in a limited amount of bauxite from a new mine at Bodai-Daldali in western Chattisgarh, whose legality is also questionable, since the company inherited this lease from Balco, now 51% owned by Vedanta. Balco was granted this lease on the grounds that it was a Public Service Utility (PSU), but this status ceased when it was bought up by Sterlite/Vedanta in 2001.
So Vedanta’s state of the art bauxite conveyor belt up Niyamgiri’s side stands unfinished, waiting for forest clearance. In its last order, the SC actually ignored the CEC report and called for a new study by the MoEF, thus rejecting the CEC’s arguments, and ignoring its function as the nation’s watchdog on implementation of forestry protection legislation.
From the other side, the Govt. of Orissa (GoO) has drafted a critique of the CEC’s Report, casting doubt on its recommendation against the project. The main points of this document and their refutation is as follows document:-
i) It asserts that tribal people would benefit from the in-flow of funds into the
Lanjigarh area through two mechanisms - a 5% preferential equity share in the company and a condition that 5% of the net profit be spent within 50 km. radius of the project.
However the community of Lanjigarh’s tribals has already been split into those for and against the company. Funds in the company’s control ensure a system where those currying favour with company officials thrive at the expense of those who do not “play the game”. Studying the situation at Nalco’s Damanjodi refinery (Orissa’s one working refinery), shows that promises of compensation and jobs have been systematically betrayed.
>
ii) The GoO asserts that people moved voluntarily and happily from their villages on Vedanta’s refinery site, and that all 103 displaced families are either being given jobs or shops or one time cash compensation as per their eligibility and their wishes. That all displaced persons were not interested in availing compensatrory land for the land acquired by thye company, and that Vedanta has granted them a very generous compensation package of cash and rehabilitation in the beautiful colony of Vedantanagar.
It may well be that within officials’ hearing those displaced will only say what officials wish to hear. What the same people have said to human rights researchers on many other occasions is quite different – namely that they are devastated by the loss of their villages and land, above all because they can never grow their own food again, and that “even their gods were destroyed” because the sacred stones were also bulldozed. They were not given the option of land for land. Displacement has made them landless, and dependent on the Company’s goodwill to give them jobs, and it has started a process of destroying their traditional culture and community.
iii) The GoO asserts that local Councils were properly consulted and gave their unequivocal approval for the project (Gram Sabha, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad).
This is at variance with what local people say: basically that their village Councils were ignored when they did not support the project, and that in general they were manipulated and pressurized into agreeing.
iv) Answering objections that the project violates the Samata Judgement of 1997, which forbids the appropriation of indigenous land by non-tribal persons including private companies, the GoO’s sub-committee’s decision is quoted not to allow this judgement’s validity in Orissa.
However the validity of this argument is negated by legal experts, since the Samata Judgement was made by India’s Supreme Court, based on Schedule V of India’s Constitution. The mining lobby has sought in various ways to dilute the application of Schedule V and the Samata Judgement. This cannot be done without destroying the fundamental right of Adivasis: their inalienable right to remain the owners of their land according to India’s Constitution.
v) With regard to impacts on biodiversity, the GoO alleges that the CEC hasn't taken into account that only 20 hectares will be mined in any given year; that concurrent land reclamation will take place through compensatory afforestation; that the mountain top has no streams within 50 meters of the plateau top; that the bauxite bearing area is practically devoid of vegetation, and that Niyamgiri is a forest area with flora and fauna like many other places in Orissa where mining has been allowed normally. The petition also attacks the Donagria Kondhs’ practice of shifting cultivation and blames them for destroying the biodiversity of the whole Niyamgiri range. The report says that there ARE no rare and endangered species in the forest area applied for diversion. It attacks the CEC's contention that mining will affect the water regime. It takes the example of NALCO and says that water still flows from the hill ranges in the mining site of NALCO and that ITS quality is as pristine as before. It also says that the bauxite mining site presents a bright example of how dense forest can be created in a mined out area after excavating bauxite. The track record of NALCO is shown to be excellent in maintaining the environmental quality of the mining area.
The distortions here are considerable:-
1. Compensatory re-afforestation is no substitute for original primary forest such as exists in abundance in the mining lease area and around it. Nalco’s attempts at afforestation in mined-out areas on Panchpat Mali are derisory.
2. Excellent streams start from Niyamgiri’s flanks at around 50 metres from the top. It is well known that bauxite, where covered, as on Niyamgiri, by abundant vegetation, has a porous quality which means it plays a vital role in holding water on the summit and releasing it throughout the year, in the hot season also. Tribal people living all around Panchpat Mali assert that Nalco’s mining operations have seriously disrupted and polluted these streams.
3. Vedanta representing its mining lease area as “practically devoid of vegetation” is a most serious distortion, as is the criticism of the Dongrias. Dongria religion actually requires them to refrain from cutting forest on the summit, because it creates a “magnetic force” which ensures their lands’ fertility, and is the abode of Niyam Raja. Their patches of shifting cultivation are on the hill-sides, never the summits. This is why there is excellent Sal forest right on the summit Vedanta plans to mine.
All these points about the impacts of mining Niyamgiri and about impacts on society could be cleared up by a proper, neutral survey of Nalco’s operations at Panchpat Mali and Damanjodi.
vi) Last but not least the GoO document imputes that those resisting the project are working for the interests of the international aluminium cartel who will be undercut by Orissa’s lowest cost production of aluminium.
This argument can be shown to be spurious: when his company was Sterlite, Anil Agarwal was convicted of tax evasion by spiriting profits out of India via his Mauritius-registered holding company, Twinstar. Vedanta Resources is a London-registered Company. Its major shareholders include several leading European banks, such as Barclays, Deutsche Bank and ABN Amro. In other words, whatever the status of the international aluminium cartel, Vedanta is part of it.
Producing aluminium cheaply in Orissa involves extreme forms of exploitation for Orissa’s inhabitants through pollution, lack of proper compensation for those displaced as well as those injured in work accidents. It involves heavy subsidies in the price of electricity, water, and transport. The European Banks (Barclays, Deutsche Bank and ABN Amro) which are financing Vedanta’s projects in Orissa and Chattisgarh ensure that the main profits will be made outside India, especially in London where the holding company Vedanta Resources is registered on the London Stock Exchange. Anil Agarwal is in the latest Forbes list as number 245 among the world’s billionaires, and he owns a multi-million pound home in London.
The dangers are proved by an appalling accident today (3rd May 2006), when the dam burst which held the Vedanta’s ash pond for the coal-fired power station which supplies its Chattisgarh refinery at Korba. The first rush of toxic waste is reported to have killed 35 workers and spread over 2 square kilometres.
For Adivasis Mountains are spiritual entities, at the apex of the Natural Order that sustains them. Niyamgiri represents Konds’ mythical origins and identity - in short, the continuity of everything they hold as sacred. Who is to say they are wrong about the forest on Niyamgiri creating a “magnetic force” that ensures the land’s well-being for miles around? A generation ago this might have been looked on as superstition, but advances in anthropology as well as environmental awareness now reveal the accuracy and wisdom in this conception. Adivasis sustain themselves without using up the natural resources around them. They understand better than any geologist or engineer that these Mountains give Life to all the surrounding areas, through the streams which start from their sides. The Water which emerges out of these Mountains is pure and rich in Minerals, especially in aluminium itself, and this accounts for Orissa's outstanding fertility and Forest. Bauxite has a deep connection with abundant plant-life, and Bauxite-rich areas include most of the world’s best tropical and sub-tropical Forests.
But what’s in a name? Advaita Vedanta is the non-dualistic philosophy which inspired great thinkers in India from Vedic times to Gandhi. What kind of cynical mockery of India’s tradition uses this name for a company which assaults the Mountain of Law?

2006-11-04T19:12:00.000+05:30

ANTHROPOLOGY OF A GENOCIDE:
TRIBAL MOVEMENTS IN CENTRAL INDIA AGAINST
OVER-INDUSTRIALISATION
By Felix Padel and Samarendra Das for the SAAG 2006
India's present investment boom, as it opens its markets and "resources" to foreign companies, has a shadow side too few are aware of. Essentially, the boom is at the expense of uprooting indigenous communities all over central India, and at the cost of permanent damage to India’s environment. The “mineral wealth” lying in the mountains of Orissa, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand States – a non-renewable resource - is being opened up to an unprecedented scale of mining and metal manufacture by Indian as well as foreign companies. Extracting vast quantities of iron-ore, bauxite, chromite, coal etc from these mountains not only affects the immediate and long-term well-being of India's environment. It also leads to mass dispossession. Even more so the huge factories which process this ore into metal, and the huge dams being constructed. It is a little-known fact that supplying electricty and water to metal factories has always been one of the main reasons for big dams.
Adivasis show an increasing determination to stand up and refuse to be displaced. Even the most generous "R & R packages" offer only cash and promises of jobs (which in practice are rarely kept): not land for land (as required by international standards set by the International Labour Organisation etc). This means Adivasis inevitably lose their traditional lifestyle of cultivating their own food as their own masters. This is what lies behind the police killing of 14 Adivasis at Kalinganagar on 2nd January, who were protesting against a steel plant about to be constructed on their land - the most high-profile of a long train of similar events.
This situation is also connected to the spread of Naxalite and Maoist influence in these areas, and the recent escalation to a state of war and mass displacement in the Bastar region of Chattisgarh, famous as India's "tribal heartland", where at least 60,000 Adivasis have been displaced within the last one year (June 2005-June 2006), as part of a military policy to starve the Maoists of their support base. An estimated 670 villages of exceptional beauty lie burnt and abandoned. Here too, the driving force is the State’s plans for more mines and metal factories.
What should be or could be our role as anthropologists in relation to these swiftly unfolding events?
One need is for anthropologists to speak out about what is at stake here: the qualities of tribal society, the reasons why displacement and loss of their land and self-sufficiency lead to a cultural genocide, and consequently, the validity of Adivasis' struggle to keep their land and culture intact. As I suggest in this paper, this needs to start off through a questioning of popular and semi-official concepts about the nature of tribal society and development.
Another role can be to analyse the power structures which impose these changes on Adivasis, including the mining companies themselves, as a means not just to affirm the validity of these movements to maintain Adivasis' lifestyle, but actually bringing anthropology into another world of possibility, which opens up when we invert our usual perspective and make the social structure of the world's rich and powerful into our object of study, as opposed to our usual role of analysing the world’s most marginal or traditional communities. Felix Padel’s first book, The sacrifice of human being: British rule and the Konds of Orissa (1995), pioneered analysing the colonial power structure imposed over a tribal people during the 19th and 20th centuries. The book we are now writing together analyses the invasion of aluminium companies into the same tribe’s territory, and the indigenous movement to prevent their mountains being mined for bauxite and people’s land being taken over by metal factories and dams.
Corporations in particular cry out to be understood afresh through the tools of social anthropology. It is increasingly clear that nowadays large mining and other companies have an influence and impact over and above that of elected Governments. As anthropologists we need to ask: What are these impacts? How do these companies exercise such power, trans-nationally? And how can we contribute to civil society by using our expertise in social structure and symbolism to analyse the web of relationships and the value system of those who are imposing changes not just over tribal India, but over all of us?
For the highly complex structures of power which dominate life in modern society are surely visible in their most naked, starkest form in what has been and is being imposed on tribal people in the name of “development”. If so, then analyzing this process of imposition, in a way that involves seeing it through the eyes of those being imposed upon or resisting, gives anthropologists our most potent way to reflect back from the traditional societies we know about to our own modern society.
The genocidal impact on India’s Adivasis is replicated in almost every country where tribal societies have managed to survive into the 21st century. The parallels with events all over the Americas, Africa, and elsewhere in Asia and Australasia are very strong. Analysing these parallels uses our understanding of events in the world’s remotest corners to cast light onto the mainstream social system we are part of ourselves.
This reflection back to “us” is all the more necessary because several of the mining companies involved in the most controversial Indian projects are based in London or other foreign cities, and all the projects are facilitated by a background situation dominated by financial imperatives which derive from World Bank-orchestrated loans, and policies designed by the DFID (Department For International Development of the British Government). In every country, the World Bank and financially dominant foreign governments play a similar role controlling or manipulating policy and facilitating the entry of multi-national corporations “behind the scenes”. Is it not time for anthropologists to analyse this system of control head-on and call into question its defining concepts?
There has obviously been a general process of displacing mining and heavy industry from Western Europe eastwards, towards East Europe and Asian countries, as well as southwards to Africa. While officially this is invariably couched in terms of bringing “development” and “foreign investment”, when seen from the viewpoint of those displaced, it is actually based on the most rampant dispossession and exploitation. Financial investment in many cases is a direct cause of displacement. As Dai Sing Majhi, one of the leaders of the Lanjigarh movement, expressed this, “They are flooding us out with money”. Literally, money coming into the area buys up Adivasis’ land and resources and buys them out.
This brings up a more painful level of the reflection back to “us”. Could it be that we are materially “over-developed”, and that this over-development is based on dispossession in the “fourth world” of indigenous people? Cars and supermarkets are among the most obvious symbols of “over-development” to anyone who comes fresh to life in Britain from the third world. The choice of models and brands, and the rapid turnover and wastage, tell a story which links material prosperity in the West directly with the poverty and exploitation in the East. Since every car and all the aluminium-wrapped goods in the supermarket use, and essentially destroy and waste (despite recycling claims), metals that are mined and manufactured in highly exploitative conditions far from our eyes. In this sense our own lifestyle here is not separate from the struggle of tribal people in India against the imposed industrialisation of their own land.
Anthropology excels in understanding relationship, and the elements which give structure to social relationships. The main tendency has always been to study tribal societies as if they were separate entities. In fact they have always existed in relationship to neighbouring peoples. A few of the best studies focused on this, and some also suggested that “the administration operating from various centres” be included in the overall social structure of a land or a people.1
Some recent anthropology subjects colonial life and its discourse to anthropological analysis. What is a matter of urgency is to understand the power structures which are imposing changes onto tribal societies now, as part of the whole pattern of relationships which have formed between Adivasis and outsiders, including the administration: a pattern which is in many ways oriented towards exploiting and dispossessing indigenous people.
Vedanta Resources and the fight for Orissa’s Bauxite Malis
Focusing here in most detail on Orissa, famous for its ancient cultural traditions, not least those of diverse tribal societies, the names Vedanta and Kalinganagar are today’s symbols of the extreme pressures which tribal people face, as well as of powerful movements to prevent industries taking over tribal territory.
For Orissa is in the throes of great controversy just now about plans to expand bauxite-mining and aluminium manufacture on the one hand, iron-mining and steel plants on the other, as well as new mega-dams for supplying both industries. A British registered company called Vedanta Resources is highest profile in the aluminium field, though projects by several other aluminium companies also make headlines. The killings which took place on 2nd January at Kalinganagar were brought on by the Indian company Tata’s attempts to construct a new steel plant there. This event has put the spotlight on numerous iron-ore and steel projects in the State, particularly the terrible effects of large-scale iron-mining in north Orissa and over 70 sponge-iron factories there, and a highly controversial deal with the Korean company Posco (Pohang Steel Company) to mine Orissa’s iron and build a huge new steel plant and new port facilities near Paradeep.
Vedanta’s huge alumina refinery is nearly complete at Lanjigarh in southwest Orissa, right on the source of the Bamsadhara river where it forms below the Niyamgiri mountain range. The location was dictated by a lease to mine bauxite on the northwest ridge of this range, though environmental clearance to carry out mining there has not yet been granted. The ridge is extensively forested right up to its summit, and is sacred to the Konds. Beyond the summit, in the valleys and hill-slopes of the Niyamgiris, live one of Orissa’s most traditional tribes, the Dongria Konds.
What follows is a brief history of the aluminium industry in Orissa, recounted as a way into comprehending the complex structures behind today’s situation.
Back in the 1920s several of the biggest mountains in south Orissa were identified as sources of good quality bauxite, when a geologist named Fox outlined the very plans for an integrated aluminium industry in south Orissa which are being pushed forward now, 80 years later. Plans based on mountain-top mines, refineries and smelters, big dams harnessing Orissa’s biggest rivers, a railway network, and port facilities for export. The base rock of these mountains had recently been named Khondalite after the Konds (early British sources usually called them Khonds) – a naming which acknowledges the close relationships which exists between these mountains and this people. 2 Most of the bauxite mountains occur in Kond territory, and when asked their religion by Census officials Konds have often answered simply Pahar or Donga (Mountains).
In the 1950s-60s Indal (Indian aluminium), a subsidiary of Alcan (Aluminium Canada), built an aluminium smelter at Hirakud in northwest Orissa, processing bauxite mined and refined to the north of Orissa. This obtained hydro-power and water from the State’s first mega-dam of the same name, near Sambalpur, which displaced at least 160,000 people, more than 50% of them Adivasis. Few if any were properly rehabilitated. The dam was justified in terms of irrigation - a canal system irrigates about twice the area of cultivated land indundated by the reservoir; hydro-power - of which an inordinate proportion went to the smelter - and flood control - though major floods in 1980 and 1999 caused by the need for sudden release of heavy rainwater to save the dam, caused more damage and loss of human life than anything that had occurred previously.3
In the 1970s an extensive survey was carried out of the bauxite mountains.4 This resulted in the setting up of a new Orissa-based aluminium company in 1980, Nalco (National Al.Co.), which established an extensive mine on top of the biggest mountain (Panchpatmali in Koraput district), a refinery nearby at Damanjodi, powered and watered by the Upper Kolab dam (which displaced an estimated 3,000 and 14,000 people respectively, mostly Adivasis) and its smelter at Angul (central Orissa), linked by a new railway through the south Orissa mountains (Koraput-Rayagada). Nalco is a Public Sector Utility (PSU), which makes a large profit for the State. Attempts to privatise it in 2003 met with stiff resistance from employees.5
Subsequent attempts to set up bauxite mines and aluminium factories have been opposed by large-scale movements, in which Adivasis and Dalits have played a central role, facing frequent arrests and beatings by the police and “company goons”. First came an attempt to mine the top of Gandhamardan in west Orissa by Balco (Bharat Al.Co.), another PSU. This is another exceptionally well-forested range. Local people made great sacrifices to oppose Balco’s plans. When their husbands were jailed, women stopped the police and company vehicles by putting their babies in the vehicles’ path, to show they had no future if the mountain was mined. The company went so far as to construct a colony for several hundred employees – never used and now taken over by the jungle, after the Minsistry of Environment and Forests denied clearance to the project in 1987.
In 1993, several companies made a concerted effort to set up bauxite mines and factories in Kashipur, an isolated region in Rayagada District, against strong opposition. The front-runner was a consortium called Utkal, whose basic plan was to mine bauxite on Bapla Mali and refine it in a big factory on the site of a small Kond village called Ramibera. At first the consortium consisted of Tata and Indal with Norsk Hydro (Norway’s biggest corporation). Between 1998 and 2000 as the local movement against Utkal gathered strength, Tata left, and Alcan bought up a major share in its subsidiary Indal, and sold it on to Hindalco (Hindustan Al.Co), India’s other major al.co, which had been set up by the Birla family in the 1960s in collaboration with the US company Kaiser.
As opposition to Utkal hardened, so did local politicians’ anger with the Adivasis who stood in the way of development plans. On 16th December 2000, police opened fire on a gathering of Adivasis opposed to Utkal in the village of Maikanch. Days earlier there had been meetings in Rayagada organised under the World Bank’s scheme of Business Partners for Development, while the DFID had commissioned a report on Utkal from the Centre for Development Studies at Swansea University, whose team witnessed the tension in the build-up to this event: armed youths blocking the road to Maikanch, and politicians of all three main parties calling those supporting the company “patriots”, and those those who opposed the project “traitors”, who should be “taught a lesson”.6
On the 15th people from many villages had gathered at Maikanch, Konds, Jhorias (Jharnia), Dalits and others. A group of politicians and journalists from Kashipur and Rayagada tried to pass Maikanch and cow them. They came off worst in the fight and evidently (pulling Ministry strings) called out the armed police to come the next day. When the police lorries approached the entrance towards Maikanch, the large crowd of men retreated up the hill, afraid of provoking a fight, leaving the women and children as a pacifying factor between themselves and the police. But the police got into a fight with the women, “laid their hands on them”. So the men came nearer, down the hill. The police retreated out of the village, and opened fire. Two Jhoria men and a youth died at Maikanch, and a dozen were seriously wounded.
Far from cowing opposition, the movement against Utkal had won the moral high-goround and hardened its resolve. Norsk withdrew, under pressure from human rights activists in Norway, leaving the consortium to two different companies from the original three: from Tata + Indal + Norsk, it had become Alcan + Hindalco – and yet it remained inscrutably, the same Joint Company venture.
Also, an Enquiry into the causes of the Maikanch killings was set up. This was headed by a Judge named P.K.Mishra, who took extensive evidence, and altogether 3 years to file a report. Witnessing one session of this Enquiry on 29 May 2002, we saw a senior executive of Utkal who professed ignorance about company accounts and a missing sum of 70 crore rupees, allegedly used by Utkal officials for bribes. We also saw an Adivasi woman and a Dalit woman taking the stand. Each kept her hands clasped in Johar/Namaste in an appeal for truth and justice, as they recounted how the police had attacked them that day. Mishra’s verdict in the Report was ambiguous, censoring certain police officers, but condoning the project.
Vedanta started up while Utkal was stalled, compensating for earlier company defeats by moving swiftly to start construction of its Lanjigarh refinery. The company’s original name was Sterlite. It already had a major share of India’s copper and zinc industry when it bought up Balco in March 2001 in a notoriously undervalued privatisation sell-off of a PSU.7 Sterlite bought a controlling 51% share in Balco, which gave it a new centre at Korba in Chattisgarh, where Soviet assistance had helped build a refinery and smelter back in the 1960s-70s, supplied with bauxite from several mountain-top mines in central India (especially Amarakantak and Mainpat).
The great prize for all the aluminium companies is Orissa’s bauxite, which is of a
better quality than Chattisgarh’s (higher alumina content in relation to silica and iron), allowing it to be refined at a lower temperature, saving costs. Sterlite had let go the leases on Gandhamardan and Sosubohu Mali (Mother-in-law Daughter-in-law Mountain) on the east of Kashipur (where it had also met opposition), but retained Niyamgiri’s north-west ridge. Orissa’s recent history is a patchwork of MoUs (Memoranda of Understanding) between the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and a large range of Indian and foreign mining companies. All the biggest mountains in south Orissa have now been the focus of such deals.
Vedanta is not primarily an India company. In December 2003 it was launched on the London stock exchange as Vedanta Resources Plc (VRP), through the services of the world’s highest paid mining executive, Brian Gilbertson, in order to raise funds for modernising its Balco facilities at Korba and building the Lanjigarh refinery, whose design was entrusted to an Australian firm named Worley. By the end of January 2004, the Collector of Kalahandi, Saswat Mishra, had persuaded half a dozen Kond villages to accept financial compensation and a concrete house on Vedanta’s behalf, and these were given a sudden order to vacate their villages, which were immediately bulldozed along with their embedded sacred stones. Amoro devata bi nasht kole ( “they even destroyed our gods”) as one woman said. These villagers were moved in police trucks to “Vedantanagar”, a new colony, where they became a captive labour pool, living without land between refinery and mountain.
So technically, the Lanjigarh refinery is being built by an Indian company, Vedanta Alumina Ltd (VAL), based in Mumbai. But actually, VAL is a subsidiary of the London company, Vedanta Resources Plc. During the ‘90s, several cases were brought against Sterlite for non-payment of taxes and conjuring its profits out of India via a holding company in Mauritius, Twinstar Trading. Now the route for collecting profits abroad is streamlined.
The head of Sterlite-Vedanta is Anil Agarwal, who owns a multi-million house in London and is on Forbes’ list as one of the world’s top billionaires. The other Directors of Vedanta Resources included some people of great influence: Sir David Gore Booth had been Britain’s High Commissioner to India (1996-8), Jean-Pierre Rodier had been a senior executive in Pechiney (France’s aluminium company, which had helped set up Nalco and was now merging with Alcan), Naresh Chandra (India’s Home Sec. 1990, Cabinet Sec. 1990-2, Senior Adviser to the PM 1992-5, and India’s Ambassador to the US 1996-2001), and P.Chidambaram, who left to become India’s Finance Minister in the Govt. elected in May 2004.
The major investors in Vedanta include Barclays, Deutsche Bank and ABN Amro. Financial investment is pouring into what was a remote area of west Orissa, much of it, according to common knowledge, in the form of bribes. The refinery is nearly complete.
An enquiry and strong report from the CEC (Central Empowered Committee, advisory body to India’s Supreme Court), recommending closure of the whole project on environmental grounds has gone unheeded by the Supreme Court, which has repeatedly delayed judgement in the case during the very space of time when the refinery is fast nearing completion. It will be hard to order the dismantling of a modern, brand new alumina refinery, however dangerous for the environment its siting may be, right at the start of the Bamsadhara river. Adivasi opposition under the Niyamgiri Surakshya Samiti (Niyamgiri Protection Society) was at first relatively muted in the face of violent attacks and arrests by police and goons. These culminated in the alleged murder of Sukra Majhi, a Kond leader run down alone in the evening of 27th March 2005, on the newly metalled road to Lanjigarh.8
Recently though, opposition to the refinery has swelled, as local people witness the corruption which Vedanta has brought to the area on many levels, and awareness increases of the environmental effects on what has been an extremely fertile area. The refinery’s red mud pond (a notorious source of pollution, where a ton of toxic waste is dumped for every ton of alumina produced) is sited right beside the Bansadhara, one of Orissa’s major rivers, near its source. Adivasi families have been torn into opposing factions. There have been numerous, though unrecorded cases of rape, work deaths in the harsh conditions at the refinery site, suicide and even murder in an area that previously had a low crime rate.
Huge bribes have reportedly been offered to facilitate environmental and forest clearance for the mining lease on top of the mountain. Yet this has not been forthcoming: the Supreme Court’s delay in passing judgement has not allowed Vedanta to start bauxite mining, while it has allowed the refinery to be finished, for the case involves environmental clearance to mine Niyamgiri, as well as whether to allow the refinery. If this clearance is given and Niyamgiri starts to be mined it is a clear violation of India’s legal system on several counts. What heightens this symbolism is the name and deity associated with this mountain range. Niyam means Law or Rule, and the local god, worshipped by Hindus and Adivasis, is Niyam Raja: Lord of Law. As a Dongria shaman tells his story:
“There are five brothers, and the youngest one is Niyam Raja…
Niyam Raja wondered what to do and decided to become the guardian of the streams and mountain range. So he decided to stay on the top of the mountain, and created mango, jackfruit, pineapple, orange, banana, and seeds. He said to us “Now live on what I have given you.” Actually Niyamgiri is the first Dongria, he is one of us, but he wants to stay at the top. We like to be here at his feet.
At the top you have all the herbs and plants creating a magnetic force which keeps us healthy. We worship Niyam Raja by sacrificing goats and pigs. We have to offer him the first taste, otherwise he won’t accept our offering. That is why we don’t disturb anything on the top part of the mountain. Niyamgiri is sacred for us.” 9
It seems that Dongrias have a clearer understanding about the life-giving role of these mountains than most scientists. The majority of experts in bauxite have long since limited their expertise to studying how to extract it and measure its properties for the al.co.s. Yet it is generally known that the bauxite cappings on top of mountains promote exceptional fertility in a wide surrounding area. Large tracts of the tropical forests of Brazil and the Guianas, west Africa, and north Australia are associated with a wealth in bauxite. Aluminium is the commonest mineral in the soil, forming around 8% of the earth’s crust. Its bonding properties play an important role in the soil’s ability to retain moisture. Bauxite’s percentage of aluminium is the most concentrated of any rock, at up to 50% or higher. The layer of bauxite, usually 10-30 feet thick just below a hardened outer crust, retains moisture near the mountain summits even in the hot season, releasing the monsoon rain throughout the year in numerous streams that form on the mountain’s flanks. It is this water-retaining capacity that is under threat. Where bauxite is mined, the surrounding area hardens and fertility-promoting qualities go into reverse. The results can be seen around Panchpatmali, where a process of dessication has taken place all around the mountain. The Dongrias’ taboo on cutting trees on Niyamgiri goes deep in their culture and religion. Who are we to say their concept of a “magnetic force” created by the wild plants and trees on top of the mountain is superstition?
And the environmental degradation that is certain to follow if Niyamgiri is mined
is replicated in numerous other Malis, whose fate hangs in the balance. Near Karlapat to the west, Khandual Mali is now leased to the world’s biggest mining company, BHP Billiton, which is sponsoring social work in Orissa to pave its way with “good works”. Utkal is all set to go ahead and build its refinery in Kashipur to be fed by a mine on Bapla Mali (Bat Mountain), and a police post has been built near Kucheipadar to intimidate Kond resistance, alongside numerous arrests and other forms of intimidation. Just to the south, Hindalco has got clearance to build another refinery at Kansariguda, applying for clearance to mine Kodinga Mali; Larsen and Toubro has plans for similar mines on Kuturu Mali and Siji Mali; Jindal plans a mine on Mali Parbat; Nalco reportedly has plans to expand its operations onto Deo Mali, Orissa’s highest mountain; a company called Jimpex has carried out a survey of the mountains in the remote area of the Kuttia Konds in southwest Kandhamahal district, where several villages are known to have been marked for displacement; and a Canadian company called Continental Resources has taken over the lease for Gandhamardan.
And without waiting for clearance to mine Niyamgiri, Vedanta is already starting construction of the new smelter it plans to supply from Lanjigarh. This is near Jharsaguda. Hindalco too plans another smelter in northwest Orissa. The DFID has given a grant for expanding the use of water and hydro-power from the Hirakud dam for multiple industries. New dams are also planned: a Lower Suktel dam (Balangir district) has already met determined resistance, which in turn elicited ferocious police repression.10 There is likewise both heavy investment in and resistance to plans for a massive new dam called Polavaram south of Orissa in Andhra Pradesh, where one element is likely to be Jindal’s plans for bauxite mining at Anantagiri and a refinery and smelter near Vishakhapatnam.
Several of Orissa’s biggest reservoirs have a close association with the aluminium industry. The Upper Indravati project involved seven dams. It reversed the Indravati’s flow from south to north, where part of it is channeled along canals, where richer farmers have bought up land for intensive fertilizer-based farming, and part of it joins the Tel river. Vedanta has had a pipe constructed to bring water from the Tel near Kesinga to its Lanjigarh refinery, a distance of about 50 kms. The pipe is in place, but leaders in Kesinga have called a series of strikes, and are unwilling to allow their water to be taken to Vedanta’s factory.
Indravati displaced about 40,000 people. As in all of Orissa’s big dams, no proper record was kept of those displaced, and few if any were properly resettled while their compensation at a rate of Rs.14,000/- per acre for land taken has never been paid. Surrounding villages who were promised electricity from the huge hydro-power to be generated are still without any. Two of the four turbines got silted up and stopped working after a short time. The loss of forest alone has been horrific: the reservoir’s sides are a ghost-city of dead trees, and displaced people have felled much of the remaining forest all around the reservoir, simply to sell the wood as a means to survive. The project was funded by loans from the World Bank. As a tribal women said to a WB official visiting a site to be affected in April 1993, “If we starve, you also bear a responsibility”. A movement against the dam had been crushed by mass arrests in April 1992.11
For Orissa’s indigenous and cultivating population then, all these projects spell worse poverty and a destruction of their accustomed lifestyle. Hence the movements of indigenous people and activists, facing great odds and taking risks, but a steady stream running through Orissa’s history since Gandhi’s time and before. These movements across Orissa are increasingly well co-ordinated and supported both by intellectuals and activists in India as well as from abroad. The Kashipur movement in particular has long been seen as the cutting edge of People’s Movements in India.
For the mainstream, non-cultivating, urban and town-based population, the industry promises a whole new era of prosperity, kicked off by huge sums of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), where those with initiative and business acumen can make a quick fortune.
Yet the aluminium industry’s history world-wide clearly shows the tendency of a struggle for profits between the companies and local governments at the expense of indigenous people – a struggle which the companies always win, backed up by the world’s most powerful governments. 12 The companies’ profit starts from getting bauxite cheap. Its value rises exponentially along the production line, especially with the huge subsidies the industry invariably receives in costs of electricity, water etc.
Social Structure of a Company
The situation outlined above unfolding in Kashipur and Lanjigarh is replicated in its structural features across all the continents. Probably a majority of the world’s surviving indigenous peoples have faced displacement and a consequent onslaught on their culture and community from mining companies in recent years. As anthropologists, what can we offer in the way of a clear analysis of these structural features?
In its formal internal structure, a company such as Vedanta shows hierarchy in quite an extreme form from Directors and many layers of officials, down to those who mine Vedanta’s bauxite (around 50-75 rupees per day at Vedanta’s mines in Chattisgarh) and others who do the hardest labouring jobs.
But at the unformalized level of what actually happens, a company is not a discrete entity. Vedanta alumina (VAL) is a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, and both form part of a conglomerate of interlocking companies. Then there are the lawyers who work for Vedanta, the Banks which invest in Vedanta, the political parties which become close to Vedanta….
And the security forces they hire to patrol their sensitive projects such as Lanjigarh. For villagers in that area, Vedanta is half-way to being their new authority, in control of jobs, housing, electricity and water supply, education, medical care, law and order…. The new factory and those in charge of it dominate their world now. Police tactics co-ordinate with the company’s designs. At Maikanch and Kalinganagar, why were the police supporting the companies against those being dispossessed of their land by the company?
The way society divides when a mining company enters a new area is another structural feauture. Splitting Kond villagers into those who have accepted compensation and those who have refused it is a classic divide-and-rule tactic, used by companies to divide the opposition. In Kashipur and Lanjigarh, many such tactics have repeatedly splintered the movement, though without managing to destroy it. In general, those who follow the company at any cost, rise some way up its hierarchy, while those who do not stay down. So families and villages become divided by different interests and levels of prosperity that never existed before. Commenting on this division generally within the large local area affected, people say:
Jo Loko companyro paise khauchanti support korichanti.
Jo loko companyro paise nahee khauchanti virod korichanti.
Those who eat the company’s money support it.
Those who don’t eat the company’s money don’t.
“Paise khauchanti” refers particularly to accepting bribes, and the almost universal conviction that the companies “buy people up” through various forms of donation or bribe.
In many ways, the dividing line between company and government is very tenuous. They form policy and take action together through business deals and shared interests, and also connect through “revolving doors”, as in P.Chidambaram’s transition from being a Vedanta Director (business executive), to becoming the Indian Government’s Minister of Finance. Do his business interests and aims as director of Vedanta not continue to inform his policies as Finance Minster?
And Sir David’s place among the Directors indicates a definite though discrete link with the UK Government. The DFID’s role in Orissa comes into crucial question here. They helped lay the groundwork of “liberalization” that allows a British registered company to lease land and build factories in Orissa. They are known to have helped Vedanta set up in London. The DTI (Dept for Trade and Industry of the British Government) advertised Vedanta’s Lanjigarh project as an investment and employment opportunity. The biggest question is whether the DFID’s main purpose in Orissa is really “poverty eradication” and “development”, or whether promoting British commercial interests is actually a higher priority – whether, in Vedanta’s case, there is a strong ulterior motive of gaining access, through a company financed and registered in Britain, to Orissa’s bauxite and expanding metal production?
The DFID co-ordinates its policy closely with the World Bank, whose loans are bigger to Orissa than to any other State. Orissa is India’s most badly indebted State. It can only repay its loans + interest with massive further loans.13 Obviously, behind closed doors, the Orissa Govt. has been persuaded that the only way out is to open up their mineral assets to foreign companies. And in a way, perhaps this is why Orissa entered the debt trap – lured there by the very projects which created the initial infrastructure for future foreign-controlled mining projects. The loans ensured it is the Govt., and even more the people of Orissa, who bear the real cost, while foreign companies are guaranteed the final profits.
A brief history of Alcan’s relationship with British industry makes these connections clear. The company was vital as a source for Britain’s arms industry during the first and second world wars. During the 1960s its interests in Guyana and Ghana were supported by threats from the WB to withdraw loans to those countries. 14 It also acquired control of the British Aluminium Corp., and now controls the major share of aluminium plants in Britain. The threats make it clear that Alcan has the strongest support from the US as well as British Governments. In Britain and the US, a regular, guaranteed supply of aluminium at the cheapest possible rate is a matter of highest concern, since it supplies one of the arms industry’s basic resources, and “aerospace/defence” is central to both nations’ economy. This is why aluminium is classed as a “strategic metal” by the US Administration, meaning its supply is to be guaranteed and stockpiled.
. The connection between companies and political parties is another key part of the social structure. During the expansion of aluminium companies in the USA from the 1940s on, for example, Alcoa (Aluminum Company of America) was closely associated with the Republican party, Reynolds with the Democrats. Utkal in Kashipur was supported by an “All-Party Committee” from the three dominant parties from the early 1990s. Vedanta’s links have been closer with the BJD and BJP parties, under Orissa’s present Chief Minister, Naveen Pattnaik. In May, his administration made a joint statement with Vedanta about setting up a new Vedanta University in the State, making clear his full support for the Lanjigarh refinery. Meanwhile the Congress party has taken a firmer stand against the Vedanta deal and refinery, stressing the transgressions of the law.
But what difference do elections really make? If the Congress party come to power in Orissa, will they continue to try and prevent companies like Vedanta taking over tribal land, or will they succumb to pressures behind the scenes – pressures from foreign consultants backed by the WB and DFID, as well as “inducements” from the companies? In the US and UK too, no Government confronts the power of the big companies head-on: if a major part of Britain’s revenue comes out of arms manufacture and sales, is it surprising if regulations controlling export to countries using them for internal repression have regularly been broken? And if revenue generated by exploiting Orissa’s “mineral wealth” appears to be needed right now, not least to pay off the vast debt to the WB, what party elected in Orissa is going to be able to withstand the pressure and inducements, and say “No” to more mining deals?
In other words a company’s political connections and finances are extremely complicated. But in anthropological terms, at the same time, the basic power structure imposing itself on Adivasis is in some ways very simple. They understand better than any social scientist the rough end of the company’s power, and how it affects the behaviour of the administration towards them.
As anthropologists we are trained to look at the difference between how a society represents itself, and how it actually behaves – the emic and etic viewpoints. Companies are an interesting case, in that their “façade of caring” often contrasts starkly with their methods of manipulation and domination. BHP Billiton has been working carefully to build up a caring image in Orissa before it starts up any mining, through workshops with NGOs and a mobile eye clinic.
Vedanta’s promotional literature emphasizes their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), and the benefits they bring to those they have displaced in education and medicine. The choice of name is highly significant. Vedanta encompassing the whole body of ancient Vedic and Upanishadic knowledge. What does the name signify? What does it mean that a company with this name invades an area so ruthlessly, as part of its plan to become India’s biggest aluminium producer? That it wishes to mine the sacred Niyamgiris? And what is the relationship between company codes of behaviour and the Adivasi codes of behaviour of those displaced or opposing the project?
From a tribal point of view, the company is essentially invading their territory, taking over their land and common space, and bringing in outsiders who serve the company or set up many side businesses. The police are completely with the company, arresting people who oppose it, and failing to register assaults on tribal people, including the death of Sukra Majhi and others.
The most striking model for this kind of takeover of a territory is a slow invasion staged by another company, many years ago: a British company, and one of the world’s first registered companies. The East India Company set a model of legal and financial manipulation, backed always by the threat of force, to gain ever more territory, until it had become the Government of India, uniting a vast area under its control. Its first priority, like any company, was to make a profit. The hierarchy it established to make its profit is essentially still in place: the Collector in charge of a District is a post inherited from when he was the Company’s Tax Collector. So how did a Company become a Government back then? And is the same thing happening today, in a different, more complex form?
Company Indian Government UK Govt.
Vedanta Resources in London DFID, DTI & other
and its investors, including Ministries
Barclays Bank
VAL office, Mumbai Central Ministries of Finance, Mining, DFID ,WB & UN Envir. & Forests, etc Agenbcies in Delhi &
Korba complex, where Vedanta Orissa & their Consultants
Controls Balco’s integrated alu-
industry within Chattisgarh
The elected Govt. of Orissa & the
administration, Civil, Police, Forestry
The Lanjigarh project, The Collector, SP, DFO and the hierarchy
Hierarchy of officials of Police, Forestry officials etc
& employees
Daily contract labour on bauxite
mines and construction
______________________________________________________________________________________
The displaced and affected villagers,
and the movement against Vedanta
Social Structure of an aluminium company
This diagram suggests a model for Vedanta’s social structure in its internal and external aspects, with head offices abroad, and co-ordination with certain Ministries and officials in the Indian and foreign Governments. Contrast in salaries alone shows the extent of the hierarchy: from the pay of a top Vedanta official or foreign consultant for the DFID and other agencies, down to the daily contract labour in a bauxite mine etc, for about 50/- rupees per day. And outside and below the model, those who are displaced without rehabilitation, those who are forced or choose to remain outside the Vedanta system. Dumont’s Homo Hierarchicus stressed the hierarchical aspects in Indian society, but isn’t this type of company hierarchy, that grew up in the West, a type even more extreme?
The question of development
Now that we have a model of the companies’ social structure, how can we gauge the effects on what anthropologists usually study – the social structure of a tribal community?
The convention in company and government discourse is to assume that industrialisation increases people’s standard of living through a handful of main indices, such as income, education, mortality rate. But statistics are easy to manipulate, and even if they could be collected in a perfectly neutral way, they tell a very one-sided story. In fact, none of the big displacements in Orissa kept even the most basic statistics to show the number of displaced and where they resettled.
And the indices themselves are highly flawed: a higher income does not mean a higher standard of living, because prices are rising, and money has assumed far greater importance than it used to have. Tribal people in Lanjigarh villages before Vedanta came grew most of their own food, so had relatively small financial needs. A tribal family working its land for instance, needs to hire people to work in the fields at the busiest times of year. But no-one, even from the same village, will work for 30/- rupees a day any more, since the Company pays 70/- a day for stone-crushing. Tribal people in Vedanta’s colony for the displaced may have got cash compensation and their children get more schooling, but does this make up for the land and sense of community they lost? And how much of this schooling is a form of indoctrination?
To indicate the effects on tribal villages in the Lanjigarh area, let’s divide the social structure into the various domains conventional in anthropology:
Religion & value system: Underminined by loss of connection with the land and divisions in the
community, and the penetration of money into relationships. The very act of breaking up the earth
for mining and construction contradicts the traditional reverence for Darni Penu, the Earth Deity. Traditional values, beliefs, norms of behaviour are thus torn apart, and shared festivals for first fruits of various crops etc that traditionally bring a village together fall into disuse.
Kinship & Clan system: Strong tensions emerge within and between families according to the stand
different individuals take seeking employment or opposing the company. One of the biggest splits was between the six villages who accepted compensation for their land, who were displaced to “Vedantanagar” colony, and those which refused, and were left just outside the refinery walls. The first group will never grow their own food again and have lost the spatial community of a Kond village. Their fortunes now depend on pleasing company officials. The second group are also affected at every level, and blame the first group for giving in to the pressure and allowing the company in.
Political organisation: The process of land acquisition for the company involved side-lining the gram
sabha (village council): according to the “Panchayat Raj” (empowerment of local government), no project should buy up tribal land without a due process of consulting this council. This side-lining effectively rendered village political organisation powerless. Almost every aspect of life that a village used to decide for itself is now in the hands of the company hierarchy.
Education: Most schools in tribal villages are set up with no understanding about indigenous knowledge
and values, so indirectly or directly undermine them
Economy: The most basic change is from owning land and growing their own food to dependence on the
company for earning a living: a complete break from the traditional, largely self-sufficient economy that defined their lives just 3 years ago.
Effects on tribal social structure
If any culture on earth is sustainable in the true sense of a lifestyle that does not damage the environment and can sustain itself for hundreds of years, a tribal culture is, where people grow their own food, and interact with nature without taking too much and basically without waste. Their concept of niyam, as rule or law, is very strong, and so are communal values of sharing and equality. Yet company literature actually suggests they are bringing Adivasis a more “sustainable” lifestyle! The use of this word “sustainable” has actually lost any environmental content and the new concept of “sustainable mining”, disseminated in the report by the world’s 10 biggest mining companies on Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD), has come to mean simply “profitable over a number of consecutive years”.15
Corporate culture comes down to a single value: profit. Companies are legally
bound to put the aim of profit for shareholders above any other consideration. Green issues are only considered important in their PR aspect. 16
In the name of “development” enormous sums have been allotted to tribal areas, and almost none of it reaches the people or helps to pull them out of poverty. 17 Much of the money, such as loans for the Indravati reservoir, has actually reduced tribal people to a far worse poverty than they ever endured while living on their own land.
The main concept of development which generates projects from the DFID to the DKDA (Dongria Kond Development Agency) is “evolutionist” in its concept of fixed stages of development from “primitive” to “modern, industrialized”, and based in the idea that financial investment stimulates development. Obviously, big industrial projects represent a very one-sided kind of development, neglecting community values at the expense of material change, and they follow a model of change set by the West. Social evolutionism came out of Darwin’s theory of how species have evolved, but in many ways the application to society was done badly: every species has its own line of development, there is no single path.
Obviously tribal people wish for development in the overall sense of better water supply, education, healthy care, as well as better administration and justice from the law, but they wish to be in charge of the process. To quote Bhagwan Majhi, one of the leaders of the Kashipur movement against Utkal:
“We ask one fundamental question: How can we survive if our lands are taken away from us? We are tribal farmers. We are Earth Worms. Like fishes that die when taken out of water, a farmer dies when his land is taken away from him. So we won’t leave our land. We want permanent development. Provide us with irrigation to our lands. Give us hospitals. Give us medicines. Give us schools and teachers. Provide us with lands and forests. The forests we want. We don’t need the company. Get rid of the company.
We do not oppose development. In fact we all want development. But what we need is stable development. We won’t allow our billions of years old water and land to go to ruin just to pander to the greed of some officers. We ask them not to get engaged in these destructive works. Stop this work. Give us what we want if you really mean development. We tell this to our leaders. But the government has not even agreed to talk to us. They should think that nature is not only for just one or two, or three or four generations. Nature has created us, it helps us survive.
Being rulers, how can you adopt policies that would destroy our land in the coming 30-35 years? Stop the company. We ask these questions. They say that you are fools. You don’t understand, if you did, you would not oppose the company. The collector says this. The SP [Superintendant of Police] says this.
I put a question to the SP. I asked him, Sir, what is development? What worth is development if it ends up in relocation of people? The people, for whom development is meant, should reap benefits. After them, the succeeding generations should reap the benefit. That is development. It should not be merely to cater to the greed of a few officers. To destroy the age-old resources is not development.” (from an interview in A. & S.Das’ film, Matiro Puko)
In the name of development, a cultural genocide is being waged against Adivasis: a slow death of everything which made their life meaningful.
Those who die in police shootings as at Maikanch and Kalinganagar are the most blatant deaths. These shootings follow a pattern set by the colonial rulers. General Dyer’s slaughter in Amritsar in 1919 is the biggest, most infamous shooting on a crowd. But similar shootings took place in Orissa during the “Quit India” movement in 1942, in Balasore and Koraput Districts. The biggest police shootings in Koraput were against largely tribal crowds attacking the police stations at Pappardahandi and Maithili, where 15 and 5 people died respectively. For leading the latter attack, Lakshman Naik was executed by hanging in August 1943.
But this bloodshed is only the highest profile deaths. Well over one million people have been displaced by big industry in Orissa since Independence, over half of them Adivasis. Few indeed ever received adequate compensation. The rules restricting sale of tribal lands to non-tribals, which form part of the 5th Schedule of India’s Constitution, have not been applied properly. This is the verdict of B.D.Sharma, ex-Collector of Bastar, and ex-Commissioner for Scheduled Tribes and Castes. As he says, the dominant attitude from the present administration seems to be that “a good tribal is a displaced tribal”.18 How can we even begin to know how many people have died from this displacement, in work accidents, from starvation, suicide, murder? Bhubaneswar is full of tribal refugees living in slums. What will they preserve of their culture and society?
For Adivasis, these big projects are not development at all. If pushed to admit that they obviously have not raised most oustees’ standard of living, supporters of further industrialisation bring in another argument which justifies Adivasis’ displacement as a “sacrifice” they have to make “for the nation’s progress”. Essentially, this is the modern idiom of human sacrifice – the “price of progress” in an endless stream of modern “consumer durables”. Until we destroy the whole earth? And why should Adivasis of all people be sacrificed?
The main trend is to depict resistance to industrialisation as “anti-development”, and the tribal people themselves as “primitive” and “backward”. One stereotyped argument that is often repeated, which was first used against Verrier Elwin, is to distort any positive view of Adivasi society or idea that they should be allowed to remain in their villages on their own land, into the intention to “keep them in a museum” – “Do you want to keep them in a museum? How can we let them remain in their primitive state?”
To understand the origin of this stereotype, one needs to comprehend the role which anthropology played during British times. Many administrators and missionaries wrote books about the tribes of central India. The theoretical or ideological framework almost without exception is “evolutionist”, promoting the idea that tribal society represents a “primitive stage of development” (Padel 1995). Modern anthropology rejects this view, and looks on tribal societies as no less sophisticated than mainstream society: more developed than us in many areas, less developed in others. The areas where tribal societies are more highly developed than us include a huge sensitivity and knowledge about relating to nature – in effect, the art of living sustainably.
The same administrators who wrote ethnographic volumes defining tribal societies through negative stereotypes, also set up ethnographic museums which displayed tribal artifacts, and even lifesize models of tribal family groups (in Bhubaneswar museum for instance), which again emphasize the idea that Adivasis are “primitive”. These museums “preserve” tribal culture by taking their tools, instruments and dresses from villages and placing them in museum cases to gather dust, where their life as objects of daily use simply dies. Everywhere, ethnographic museums have supplemented a political reality of systematically destroying tribal culture. In the US countless such museums preserve beautifully the artifacts of America’s indigenous tribes who suffered genocide from European settlers and soldiers. In Orissa, this process of death-by-museum continues today. Alongside the Damanjodi and Kolab dam development projects which dispossessed thousands of tribal families in Koraput District during the 1980s, the authorities paid for an ethnographic museum in Koraput town, to preserve a memory of the cultures they were destroying.
“Genocide” is thus not too strong a word for what is happening to Orissa’s Adivasis: a slow death. Not literally the physical death of every individual, as happened in the paradigm cases of America’s and Australia’s tribes. But a psychic death: technically, “ethnicide” - the killing-off of cultures. And without their culture, seeing the sudden confiscation of the land where their ancestors lived and the collapse of their communities, no longer able to grow their own food and forced to eke a living through degrading, exhausting coolie work for the very projects which destroyed their homes, Orissa’s displaced Adivasis exist in a living death, witnessing the extermination of all they have valued. The fact that their artifacts and traditional hand-made, home-dyed bark-cloths are safe in museums adds insult to their loss: these too are preserved in a living death.
So “preserving them in museums” is part of the genocide. And their traditional lifestyle, which Adivasis are risking their lives to maintain in Kashipur or Kalinganagar, is not primitive at all. It’s highly developed and a lot more sustainable than mainstream lifestyles.
Commemorating Kalinga through Steel
The mountains in north Orissa are as rich in iron as those in south Orissa are rich in bauxite. In fact what this means is that the Iron quantity is slightly higher in north Orissa: there the alumina content goes for waste. In south Orissa’s refineries, it is the iron content that goes for waste. Hitler, or one of his metallurgists is said to have remarked that “he who controls Orissa’s iron, controls the world”.19
The iron-ore mines are already extensive, and around 80 sponge iron factories in north Orissa process the iron-ore into a form acceptable to a steel plant. Orissa presently has 3 or more working steel plants, the biggest at Rourkela run by SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd). Deals recently signed plan a huge expansion, in the mining as well as steel plants: over 30 new steel plants, most of them in an area named Kalinganagar
The first event in Indian history fully attested by inscriptions was Ashoka’s conquest and slaughter of the Kalinga people in the 3rd century BC. This is because Ashoka set up inscriptions all over his Mauryan empire commemorating this conquest. These were almost India’s first inscriptions. Ashoka was adopting and Indianising what was essentially a Greek custom, from Greek influence at his father’s court. But Ashoka’s inscriptions had an element of honesty and self-criticism unique in history. Far from glorifying his conquest, he is ashamed of it, because of the thousands of Kalinga people he had slaughtered and enslaved. Two of these inscriptions are cut on rock faces in Orissa, where the Kalinga lived. To justify his rule, Ashoka describes his administration in terms of dharma - human law based on divine law - and promises justice for everyone, including the “forest tribes”.20
Konds, who call themselves is Kuwinga, are probably essentially the same people as the Kalinga. From early British Gazetteers it is clear that as Orissa’s Rajas near the coastal areas came under British control they threw out large populations of Konds, in order to increase the revenue from their lands and make them more “profitable”. These joined the main concentration of Konds in central-west Orissa, where Konds number around a million – Orissa’s largest tribe. Konds still live in many parts of Orissa’s coastal plain. A recently constructed Arati steel plant has displaced Konds from villages close to the city of Cuttack.21
Whether or not Konds are one and the same as the Kalinga people, to planners the name evokes merely Orissa’s “glorious past”. Hence “Kalinganagar”, an “industrial park” 13,000 hectares in size in Jajpur District where various companies have drawn up plans for new steel plants. Another supremely ironic naming, since the outrage which Orissa’s indigenous people suffer now evokes the outrage which Kalinga suffered at Ashoka’s hands.
Orissa’s present plans for expanding iron-ore mining and steel plants are on a staggering scale. Head of the list is the Orissa Govt.’s deal with Posco, whose main objective is Orissa’s iron, but agreed to set up a steel plant in Orissa if it could import a certain percentage of iron-ore from outside India. At a range near Keonjhar named Gandhamardan (like the bauxite-range in west Orissa), Rio Tinto Zinc has been involved in tests in a joint venture with SAIL, with “illegal” unregistered mines adjacent to the Public Sector mines. The negative impact on tribal villagers is hard to convey. Streams from the mountain they always relied on are running dry, forest is disappearing, and their life is dominated by the earth-moving vehicles operating above and all around them.22
Plans for Kalinganagar’s steel plants were formulated during the 1990s, when land acquisition was entrusted to IDCO (the Industrial Development Corp. of Orissa). Presently two steel plants are working, and two or three others are at an advanced stage of construction. The biggest working one belongs to Nilachal Ispat Nigam Ltd. It displaced 639 families, of which only 183 have members working for the company.23
On 9th May 2005, a company called Maharashtra Seamless Steel planned a puja to propitiate the earth (Bhumi) on the site chosen for their steel plant. Film footage shows the authorities disarming seated Adivasis of their bows and arrows, before attacking them with lathis, the event culminating in a woman run over by a truck and killed, and many arrests. 24 women from Chandia and other villages were arrested and kept locked up for over 3 weeks.24 Since then, Maharashtra Seamless has cancelled their project.
Two days after this on 11th May, another Bhumi Puja in west Orissa caused similar violence. This was to inaugurate construction of the Lower Suktel dam project in Balangir District, displacing at least 26 tribal villages. Already the authorities had tried to force people to accept advance compensation, though most refused. Villagers beaten by the police at this event, whom we met, were still stunned at the violence, saying, surely this is how police behaved during the Freedom Struggle against the British Raj? 25 Adivasi religion tends to honour the Earth above other deities, so they are incensed by Hindu pujas to the Earth performed by Brahmin priests as a prelude to dishonouring the Earth by bulldozers which level it – especially when the piece of Earth in question is their own land.
The two biggest steel plants planned at Kalinganagar are by Tata and Mittal.. Tata’s attempt to set up a big new steel plant at Gopalpur in south Orissa was defeated by a popular movement in 1996. On 23 July 2005 Tata performed their Bhumi Puja at Kalinganagar, despite a protest by around 3,000 Adivasis. A public hearing on the issue came 4 days later on the 27th! And so the ground was laid for the Kalinganagar massacre.
On 2nd January 2006 the Jajpur District authorities were determined to inaugurate construction of Tata’s steel plant, which Adivasis from various villages were determined to prevent. When the authorities refused dialogue with Adivasi leaders, protestors broke through a police cordon. After a policeman was killed, police opened fire on the crowd, and firing continued a long time. The final death toll was 12 Adivasis dead (later rising to 14), and 70 badly wounded. Dead and wounded included women and children. Six Adivasi corpses were returned for cremation two days later with their hands cut off, and genitals mutilated.26
From then till now (Jan.-April) Jajpur Adivasis have blockaded National Highway 200 from north Orissa, affecting transportation of iron-ore being taken for export via Paradeep. This blockade is organised by a local Adivasi organisation set up in the Kalinganagar area in 2004, Bisthapan Birodhi Jan Mancha (People’s Platform Against Displacement), whose demands include proper land-for-land compensation and punishment for the officials responsible for the massacre, including Saswat Mishra, who had been posted as Collector here in Jajpur District after his evident “success” promoting Vedanta as Kalahandi Collector. The Adivasi blockade like the massacre has divided opinion in Orissa. Some mainstream commentators have depicted these Adivasis as “terrorists” who “asked for it” or “outsiders”, since 80% of them are of the Ho tribe, who may have migrated from the area north of Orissa in the early 20th century. The Orissa Govt. has rushed a new “R & R policy” (Resettlement and Rehabilitation) through the Legislative Assembly, determined to end the blockade as soon as possible for fear of its negative impact on potential investors, and the stalling of Tata’s steel plant.
This new R & R policy was effectively written for the GoO by the DFID and UN
officials overseeing policy in Orissa.27 It still falls short of compensating land for land lost, and its intension of making those displaced “stakeholders” in the project is little more than nice words: it does not mean being in a position to dictate policy about what happens on their dispossessed lands.
Meanwhile, protests against iron mining and sponge-iron plants in north Orissa have been growing in strength. In one case, near Orissa’s biggest steel plant at Rourkela, several of these factories had been targeted by a large crowd of protestors on 24 March 2006, complaining of lack of compensation, heavy pollution and the Govt.’s failure to ensure factories’ compliance with laws restricting pollution, more employment of local people (since the tendency in all these projects is to bring in outsiders, who get more jobs than locals do). Police charged the crowd, and arrested about 100 people, many of them women and schoolchildren, who have been held for several months. 28 In another case, on 20th May, security forces from Bhushan Steel Company opened fire on a crowd of protestors during construction of the boundary wall for a steel plant in Dhenkanal District. Ten were injured, but this time, the Collector arrested 5 of the company officials in charge. 29
The history of Iron and steel is also the history of war and conquest, from the start of the iron age to the various steps in the development of steel, to the US steel magnates known as “the robber barons”, who formed many of the patterns of modern company behaviour, to the steel companies such as Krupp who fuelled the first world war, to the use of local bauxite, limestone & dolomite in Orissa’s steel plants. Arms companies use as much steel as they ever did, while it is as true now as in 1951 that
“at the very core of the military-industry complex… Aluminum has become the most important single bulk material of modern warfare. No fighting is possible, and no war can be carried to a successful conclusion today, without using and destroying vast quantities of aluminum… Aluminum makes fighter and transport planes possible. Aluminum is needed in atomic weapons, both in their manufacture and in their delivery… Aluminum, and great quantities of it, spell the difference between victory and defeat…” 30
The civil war in Bastar
Tata’s steel plant in Orissa may have been stalled by the Kalinganagar protest, just as its plans for a steel plant at Gopalpur were stopped by a movement in 1996. In neighbouring Chattisgarh the civil war has created a climate where tribal resistance is greatly weakened, and Tata’s plans for a steel plant at Chitrakut in Bastar (just beside the area’s largest waterfall on the Indravati river) are moving ahead. Several MoUs for mining and metal factories have been signed for the Bastar region. Since over 60, 000 tribal people have been removed from their villages by the war, their ability to fight displacement has been seriously weakened.
Latest reports from a BBC correspondent suggest that the number of displaced Adivasis has reached 100,000, and that destruction of villages and forced relocation of their population has become a routine practice by the Salwa Judum and security forces, carried out with beatings, killings and rape. It is even said that villagers refusing to join Salwa Judum are punished with 7 lashes and a fine of Rs.700/-. From June 2005-June 2006 the official death toll in the war inflicted by the Maoists numbered 191 civilians, 25 paramilitaries (including soldiers of the Naga battalion brought to Bastar in 2005), and 12 SPOs (Salwa Judum). The death toll inflicted by security forces on civilians and Maoists is not forthcoming. It is unlikely to be lower, and could be significantly higher than these figures.31
Bastar shows how quickly the division of society over mining issues can descend to the extreme level of civil war. Briefly, Naxalites have controlled the remoter parts of Bastar for over 20 years.32 Their base there has got stronger, and alliance with Nepal’s highly successful Maoist uprising has turned them into Maoists, in the popular mind at least, so that the terms Maoist and Naxalite are almost synonymous now. Within the last year, the Indian army has launched a full-scale war against them, partly to try and prevent Maoists’ power increasing to the level it has in Nepal, since the PM has declared this war against the Maoists the greatest internal security threat India has ever faced. And partly in order to impose rapid industrialisation on the Bastar region without the kind of protests which have held up projects in Orissa. The forced relocation of over 600 tribal villages has been spurred by trying to cut the Maoists’ support base. It also opens up the land to be taken over much more easily by corporate ventures.
The war really took off when Salwa Judum (“Peace March”) was founded in June 2005 as a tribal youth militia against the Naxalites. It was started by a tribal politician of the ruling BJP party, Mahendra Karma. Advertised as a “spontaneous uprising of the Adivasis against the Naxalites” it was actually a police-armed and –trained militia, which has effectively divided most Adivasi communities in Bastar, polarizing people into having to take either the Naxal or the Salwa Judum side. There are reports of police and army burning tribal villages suspected of supporting the Maoists, and forcing the youth among the refugees to train as Salwa Judum cadres, where they automatically get a salary as SPOs (Special Police Officers). This instigates the Maoists to attack and kill Salwa Judum people, and there have been a number of gruesome cold-blooded killings by Maoists of tribal Salwa Judum members. Yet the Maoists too are largely Adivasis, even if their leadership may be from outside Bastar. 33
And atrocities of the security forces and Salwa Judum against Maoists and civilians are not reported. The Chattisgarh Govt. passed a special Security Act earlier this year which imposes a complete censorship on reports on the Bastar war that do not follow Govt. sources, and journalists who have tried to bring out real news or reveal the real status of Salwa Judum have been hounded. 34
The dominant model of warfare now is the US-led war in Iraq, and the Bush administration’s rejection of the Geneva Convention on the spurious basis that terrorists sometimes target civilians and do not observe the conventions of warfare either, brings a degeneration in the rules of war. In Bastar too, it is clear that numerous atrocities are being committed by both sides, even though only one side’s atrocities are being given coverage in the media – the side labelled “terrorists”. Yet both sides are clearly using terror as a weapon.
This civil war is thus a classic example of the “resource curse”, where a region’s mineral (or other natural resource) wealth becomes a cause for a breakdown in social norms, leading to civil war (as in Chattisgarh) and impoverishment (Orissa).35 Many countries in Africa and South America have gone down this road. In Columbia for example, the polarisation of large areas between FARC (and other communist-inspired military groups) and right-wing militias supported by the army, has long targeted anyone who makes an independent stand for human rights. And in Peru, the rise and fall of Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) serves as a close model for what has happened in Nepal and Bastar: the high level of exploitation combined with Govt. attempts to impose projects and displace indigenous people allowed the most extremist faction of Maoists to emerge as Sendero Luminoso, which was as uncaring of indigenous people and their traditions as the mainstream was.
Mao himself imposed rapid industrialisation, aimed at maximizing steel production, with unparalleled ruthlessness: 30 million people are said to have died as a result of his enforced shift away from agriculture to industry. 36 Most of the Maoists in Bastar appear to have little respect for tribal traditions, and by undermining the old patterns of leadership and political organisation they may have weakened the very tradition of resistance which Bastar has been so famous for. Since the widespread rebellion in 1910, Bastar Adivasis have shown a strong ability to unite in direct action, which paid off in resistance to plans for a steel plant at Mavalibhata in 1992. 37
Bastar is India’s tribal centre. The best books on tribal India are about Bastar’s most famous tribes, the Muria and Maria Gonds.38 Until June 2005 the position of Bastar’s Adivasis was still generally free-er than elsewhere in India, in the sense of being less controlled and imposed on and less displaced, even though the level of exploitation had steadily increased.
If Bastar shows the extreme form of dispossession and de-tribalisation by civil war, Orissa shows a slower genocide. Both patterns were set long ago throughout North and South America, where settlers gradually took over almost all the land that had belonged to indigenous people, and justified doing so by a rigid set of negative stereotypes about the indigenous people, and a mindset completely closed to “the other”, whose land they invaded. More tribes were exterminated than survived. In many cases, conflict was brought on by miners pursuing the mineral wealth in the mountains, gold and silver first, followed by other minerals. Often soldiers or settlers pursued a conscious policy of genocide. 39
Orissa’s Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, has staked much on a series of deals with mining companies, in the belief that exploiting the State’s rich mineral resources will transform Orissa from poor to rich, and pay off its debts. In the Orissa Assembly on 4th Dec. 2004 he stated:
“No-one – I repeat no-one – will be allowed to stand in the way of Orissa’s industrial development and the people’s progress.”
But who defines the people’s progress? It is a striking feature of the whole controversy that the voices of Adivasis have rarely been heard. The media and staged events in Bhubaneswar give them only snippets of coverage, compared to the Ministers and others at the apex of the power structure. The same Naveen Patnaik wrote in his introduction to his book The garden of Life: an introduction to the healing plants of India (1993):
“The fundamental philosophy of Ayurveda says that suffering is a disease…, that man is interdependent with all other forms of life. Spirit is described as the intelligence of life, matter as its energy. Both are manifestations of the principle of Brahman, the oneness of life.
To the founders of Ayurveda… The man who recognizes how he is linked with universal life is a man who possesses a sound soul because he is not isolated from his own energies, nor from the energies of nature. But as the highest form of life, man also becomes its guardian, recognizing his very survival depends on seeing that the fragile balance of nature, and living organisms, is not disturbed.
In Ayurvedic terms this means that man must prevent wanton destruction. What he takes he must replace, to preserve the equilibrium of nature. If he cuts down a tree for his own uses, he must plant another. He must ensure the purity of water. He must not poison the air… If a man wilfully disturbed the balance of living things, he disturbed himself.”. 40
This is a great description of the philosophy of advaita Vedanta. Presumably when he wrote these words in America, Naveen did not know he would one day try and impose a programme of rapid industrialisation in his native Orissa. Speaking against this programme, Kishen Pattnayak, a leader of Orissa who followed the Gandhian socialist path, summarised the argument as follows:
“Orissa has enormous mineral reserves. This is considered to be the biggest asset to increase the prosperity of Orissa. This is really a myth. Mining areas of Orissa have never been known for being rich or developed. Now the condition is becoming much worse……A few national/multi-national companies and their contractors and those ministers and officials helping these companies in unlawful, unethical manner become the owners of huge property. Orissa as a state is not going to get any benefit from this……Overall the state and the people will suffer the loss, only a small class of rich people will be created. Rich will become richer, poor poorer. Mining is a curse to the indigenous people and the environment.” 41
For Adivasis then, the idea of more projects displacing them is anathema, and a case of over-industrialisation, not real development at all.
Anthropologists have often served the administration as well as mining corporations, as gatherers of data and legitimizers of imposed change.42 How do we help to build up a concensus in favour of allowing Adivasis their land and separate identity? How do we build an authoritative critique of the genocidal policies still being imposed on indigenous people before it is too late?
REFERENCES
1. This is from Evans-Pritchard’s Nuer (1940), which is excellent on Nuer inter-relationships with their neighbours, the Dinka. He was with the Nuer in South Sudan during the time of their effective conquest by British-led forces, and must have witnessed the complete disruption of their normal life. Although he sketched out the need for anthropological analysis of the administration, he did not actually do it, perhaps because during the 1940s it was still too hard to escape the colonial paradigms of discourse, and might have been seen as too subversive to the establishment.
2. Fox, C.S. 1932, Bauxite and Aluminous Laterite. (2nd edition) London: Technical Press, pp.135-6.
3. Viegas, Philipx 1992.,“The Hirakud Dam Oustees: Thirty Years After”, in Thukral, Enakshi Ganguly ed.
Big Dams, displaced people: Rivers of sorrow, rivers of change. Delhi: Sage.
4. Rao, M.G. & P.K.Rama October 1979. East coast bauxite deposits of India. Report by the Geological Survey of India.
5. Jojo, Bipin K. 2002, ‘Political economy of large dam projects: a case study of Upper Kolab Project in
Koraput District, Orissa’, in Thakaran ed. 2002. On the attempt at Nalco’s disinvestment see V.Sridhar in Frontline 17 Jan. 2003.
6. From an interview with Ian Barney, whose report for DFID gives a reasonably balanced account of the Utkal project up until the Maikanch firing: Ian Barney A.B. Ota, B. Pandey & R. Puranik 2001. Engaging stakeholders: lessons from three eastern India Business case studies. Swansea: centre for development studies and Bhubaneswar: Resource Centre for the social dimensions of business practice.
7. Bidwai, Praful 2001. “Balco’s privatization”, in Alternative economic survey 2000-2001. 2nd
generation reforms: Delusions of development, By Alternative Survey Group, Delhi: Rainbow Publishers, Azadi Bachao Andolan & Lokayan.
8. PUDR (People’s Union for Democratic Rights) May 2005, Investigation into the impact on people due to the Alumina projects in south Orissa, Bhubaneswar. On Vedanta, our main sources include VRP’s anuual reports and “Nostromo Research” 2005, Ravages through India: Vedanta Resources plc Alternative Report, London and the India Resource Center, Delhi.
9. Quoted from A. & S.Das’ film Matiro Puko, Company Loko (Earth Worm, Company Man) about Orissa’s indigenous people’s response to mining.
10. Interveiews with villagers opposing the Lower Suktel dam appear in Matiro Puko.
11. Quotation from Catherine Caufield, 1998, The World Bank and the poverty of nations. London: Pan, p.227. On the Indravati movement, see State of Orissa’s Environment: a Citizens’ Report, 1994, Bhubaneswar: Manoj Pradhan & Council of Professional Social Workers, pp.144-5.
12. Graham, Ronald 1982, The aluminium industry and the third world. London: Zed: the best overall account of the aluminium industry.
13. Govt. of Orissa, Finance Dept.: Fiscal and Governance Reforms, Bhubaneswar 2001.
14. Graham 1982 on Alcan, passim.
15. Moody, Roger 2005. The risks we run: Mining, Communities and Political Risk Insurance. Utrecht:
International Books.
16. Bakan, Joel 2004, The Corporation: the pathological pursuit of profit, London, Constable.
17. Sainath, P. 1996, Everybody likes a good drought: Stories from India’s poorest districts, Penguin.
18. B.D.Sharma, Press release, Mysore, 22 Feb. 06, forestrights@yahoogroups.com.
19. Hitler’s interest in Orissa’s bauxite/aluminium and iron-ore is outlined in an article in Oriya by Ajit Mahapatra in Samaj (3 May 2005), who met one of Hitler’s key metal experts, and the widow of another.
20. Romila Thapar: Asoka and the decline of the Mauryas, Delhi OUP 1961.
21. L.E.B.Cobden-Ramsay: Feudatory States of Oriss, Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, 1910, no.21 of the Bengal District Gazeteers. The Konds displaced by the Arati company’s steel plant have a court case in process for compensation etc, and invited us to visit but so far we have not been able to do so.
22. Footage of iron-mining on Gandhamardan is shown in Matiro Puko.
23. Some of those displaced (though only 25 of the 183 families working for the company) live in
Gobarghati, the resettlement colony. Families who cannot get work for the company have to travel 15 kms
daily to work crushing stones for construction, for just 40 rupees a day. Of the other steel companies that
have started up at Kalinganagar, Mesco and Jindal displaced 50-60 families each, and Rohit 12 families. A
corridor linking the plants has displaced 28 families. From Pradhan, Satapathy Feb. 2006. Police firing at
Kalinganagar: a report by People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Orissa.(www.pucl.org/Topics/Dalit
-tribal/2006/kalinganagar.htm)
24. Matiro Puko shows footage of this police att.ack, as well as the arrested women.
25. Lower Suktel villagers interviewed in Matiro Puko.
26. Pradhan 2006, news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4686638. Early reports (but not Pradhan’s Report) say that five or six of the dead had been taken away injured by police who returned them later as the mutilated corpses (ind_media@rediffmail.com). Kin burnt the dead without requesting independent verification of the genital mutilation.
27. A Committee on R & R was formed on 6th Jan. which declared its results in mid-April, based on a policy drafted with UNDP/DFID guidelines (agamiorissa@yahoogroups.com). But this does not offer land for land as the Adivasis demanded, and International Labour Organisation regulations require.
28. About 40 sponge iron factories operate in Sundargarh District alone. Most lack proper approval or safety measures (an article in Sambad dated 11/4/06 names 4 factories where workers had recently been killed). Nepaz, the focus of protest, is the District’s largest. It started up in 2002, without the required Gram Sabha permission. The gherao outside this and 4 other factories on 24th March was attended by about 5,000 people, supported by a local MLA. They were demanding statutory pollution controls, more employment for locals, and proper development of the surrounding area. According to news reports the police attacked first, and after people entered the Nepaz factory gates, police lathi-charged and made a first wave arrests. More followed in the evening to dispel a road block, and more the following night and morning, tracing protestors to their villages. A month after these arrests no bail had been granted, even for the schoolchildren whose ages had been falsified. Such “false charges” have been a consistent weapon used to harass those who protest against industrial projects. Informatiion from Voice for Child Rights Orissa (vcrorissa@yahoo.com) and a freelance journalist (pradeep_baisakh@yahoo.com).
29. Statesman news service, see epgorissa@gmail.com.
30. Dewey Anderson, Aluminum for Defence and Prosperity,. Washington: US Public Affairs Institute, 1951.
31. Gill McGivering: “Journey with Naxalites”, June 2006 at bbc.co.uk, and “Chattisgarh – the ugly physiognomy of counter-insurgency” via vskvizag@yahoo.co.in..
32. Bastar was a single District till 2000, when it was divided into three.
33. Among many recent articles see “Naxals regrouping to strike back at Naga jawans” 26/2/06 (www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=9.13.270206.feb06), “K.P.S.Gill as Chattisgarh State Security Adviser” 19/4/06 (thehindu.com), “Naxalite antidote: ten troopers for a rebel” 23/4/06 (telegraphinidia.com), “An appeal to stop the most heinous kind of displacement in Chattisgarh” (April 2006 at gnsaibaba@gmail.com & sanjay.gathia@gmail.com), and the PUDR Report April 2006: Where the State makes war on its own people at www.pudr.org/pages/salwa.judum.pdf, Statement from Amnesty International dated 10/3/06 criticising atrocities by Maoists and State forces alike, and particularly the formation of Salwa Judum.
34. On the censorship and harassment of journalists: an article in the Times of India 17/2/06 on a statement from the International Federation of Journalists in London urging India’s President not to assent to the Special Public Security Bill passed by the Chattisgarh Assembly (indiatimes.com).
35. Michael Ross, Jan.1999, “The political economy of the resource curse”, in World Politics no.51.
36. Jung Chang: Mao, the unknown story (London: Cape 2005), and Wild Swans: three daughters of China (NY: Simon & Schuster 1991). 30 million people are estimated to have died of starvation at this time and anyone who tried to inform the great leader of what was really happening was liquidated.
37. Nandini Sundar: Subalterns and sovereigns: an anthropological history of Bastar 1854-1996, 1997. On the steel plant defeated during the 1990s, see the writings of B.D.Sharma, ex-Collector of Bastar and ex-Commissioner for Scheduled Tribes and Castes, who opposed the project vociferously.
38. W.V.Grigson: The Maria Gonds of Bastar (1938), Verrier Elwin: The Muria and their Ghotul (1947).
39. Darwin witnessed a general undertaking bthe extermination of tribal people in Argentina in the 1830s. “Ishi’s tribe” was exterminated by settlers in California during the 1860s.
40. Naveen Patnaik, Doubleday, New York 1993.
41. This is part of a passage intended as a forward for our book on the aluminium industry, Out of this earth: Orissa’s indigenous lifestyle and the aluminium cartel. Kishenji died in September 2004.
42. Chapter 7 of Felix Padel’s book The sacrifice of human being analyses the role of the anthropologist in the colonial social structure.
Felix Padel is a freelance anthropologist trained at Oxford and Delhi Universities. His first book analysed the imposition of colonial structures over a tribal society. For the past 4 years he has been researching and writing a sequel to this with the Orissa writer and film-maker Samarendra Das about attempts to set up an aluminium industry based on mining the Konds' mountains, and the indigenous movement against.