Living Farms Themes The Dongria Kondh The Dongria Kondh and Vedanta Mining Company

The Dongria Kondh and Vedanta Mining Company

The niyamgiri hill is sacred to the Dongria Kondh. They have always lived there. The hill is not only their god, it is also their home and livelihood. Now, British mining company Vedanta has plans for open-cast mining on Niyamgiri hill. The effects will be devastating for the hill's eco-system and the future existance of the Dongria Kondh. They do not want to live without their mountain. How will they be able to survive?

They prefer to live in the hilly areas of the Rayagada district. Traditionally the Kondh are horticulturists. They grow pineapple on the slopes of the hill. Most of their livelihood and food comes from the mountain. Since they live very remote from other public places they have to rely mostly on themselves for their resources. Often they have a hard time during the dry period, when their food is not guaranteed. They see the hill as their creator. It is the thing that is most important to them. Their entire culture is built around it.

In their language, Kivu, they call themselves Jharnia : "They wo live amongst the streams". They see themselves as the guardians of the hundreds of perennial streams that flow from Niyamgiri hill. The reason for this abundance of streams is the presence of Bauxite, the base material for aluminium.

A dark future lies ahead for the Dongria Khond

Vedanta is a British FTSE 100 mining company, lead by london based billionaire Anil Agarwal.  The company wants to extract the bauxite from the hills of the Dongria Kondh through open-cast mining. This means their living environment will be destroyed. The bauxite holds the water that forms the many rivers upon which the eco-system is dependent. If the bauxite is removed the streams will disappear. The Kondh, who are dependent on this eco-system for their livelihoods, will be destitute. They will not only lose their livelihood, but also their culture, as the god who created them has to crumble.

Furthermore, they will lose their homes.  Recently, some of their people were already removed from their homes to build a bauxite refinery on the base of the hill. They claim to have been removed by force and after having received threats. Already the refinery has changed things on the hills. When it rains there is a white coloured covering on the fields. Their crops don't grow like they should and people and cattle experienced negative effects from drinking and bathing in the river. Some cattle has already died. 

Originally, the mining plans of Vedanta were forbidden by Supreme Court. On 7 august 2008, however, Sterlite, the Indian subsidiary of Vedanta, got approval. However they received the guidelines to provide funds for "tribal development", these will do nothing to replace the destruction of the grounds the Dongria Kondh have lived and worked upon for ages.

The Dongria Kondh will resist with their lives

Upon hearing the news, the Kondh promised to defend their homes with their lives. They blocked the road to the site with tree trunks, holding banners saying : "We are Dongria Kondh. Vedanta cannot take our mountain". After hearing that Vedanta started survey work at the planned mining site, they were making arrows and preparing their axes. This demonstrates what it means to them. To lose their lands is to lose everything.

"If the government decides to allow for mining, we will have to fight. This is our land; for generations we've been living here. They have money, power, guns; they can kill us in five minutes. So we'll tell the government: "Please kill us all and then you can have your mine. Because without Niyamgiri we cannot live." (Jitu Jakesika)

Unable to appeal the decision of the Supreme Court, they will submit a petition to court focusing on violation and violation of cultural and religious rights. They held protest actions in bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa, with hundreds of them armed with traditional weapons.

Tribals also claim vedanta has bribed them into praising the company in a video on Youtube. People were offering them clothes and other gifts if they would say they didn't object to the mining operations. When the Kondh refused, the people said that other villages had approved and already received the presents.

International protest against the Vedanta project is rising

Survival internation has started a campaign to lobby for the cause of the tribals. Hoping to make investors of Vedanta change their opinions and supporting the claims of the Dongria Kondh.

The mining company says none of the claims are true. It says to have a strong focus on environmental responsabilties and a proud record of helping communities. Other important parties have countered these claims. Recently, the Norwegian Investment Fund withdrew its investment from the Vedanta mining project after investigations on its subsidiary companies claimed the allegations against Vedanta were well founded. They called the future operations of Vedanta "an unacceptable risk of complicity in present and future severe environmental damage and systematic future human rights violation".

International pressure on Vedanta is rising. Scottish investment group Martin Currie has sold its shares. The BP pension funds also withdrew their investment out of "concern over how the company operates". Academy award winner Julie Christy is campaigning for the cause of Dongria Kondh. Amnesty International has joined.

Unfortunately the number of investors withdrawing will hardly be noticed by a large company as Vedanta. The investment of the Norwegian Investment fund, about USD 14 million, is a mere 0.16 percent of the total investments. Unfortunately it is also very hard to find investors that use moral as a rule in their investments.

Time is running out. The threat is imminent: the mining could begin soon! Unless Vedanta stops it's activities, the Dongria Kondh will face extinction.