When I started researching my book ‘Elusive India: tribes’ little did I think that a couple of paragraphs on p 37 would touch on a major conflict that is likely to become an historic event.  It is time for a reminder and an update.

There are vast amounts of high-grade bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills in Odisha (formerly Orissa) and Vedanta Resources wants to mine this valuable asset.  Vedanta has already established a large operational refinery, recently shut, at Lanjigarh and violated various laws in the process. This resulted in a licence being rescinded in August 2010 by Jairam Ramesh, then Environment Minister, after the Saxena Report.  The indigenous Dongria Kondh tribe has lived here rightfully for millennia, and as animists hold the hills sacred.  With the support of international organisations the Dongria Kondh and the hills are safe for the time being.

However the State owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) holds the mining lease and a 24% share in the joint venture with Vedanta Resources. OMC has appealed to the Supreme Court of India to have the 2010 decision overturned so mining can proceed. 

Generally the Government wishes to exploit natural resources. But there is the Forests Rights Act that is supposed to protect tribal peoples. Suddenly the Prime Minister’s Office wants to dilute those rights to ease industrial projects. In contrast the Minister for Tribal Affairs has recently called for a strengthening of the Act. The argument seems to centre on whether tribes have ‘inalienable or compensatory’ rights.

How this will play out is anybody’s guess but it is sure that the Appeal decision will have a significant impact on the 437 Indian tribal communities, many of which live in similar mineral rich areas and their rights are equally important.The hearing has been postponed for a long time but restarted on 21st January 2013. It was immediately suspended while the Government collates information and a new hearing date has yet to be announced. A quick decision would be surprising!