Coalmines expansion in India's tribal belt forced on people without human rights impact assessment: Amnesty

Counterview Desk
A new study by well-known international NGO, Amnesty International, basing on on-the-spot interviews around three coal mines of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, has said that despite a “raft of laws” requiring Indian authorities to consult or seek consent from adivasis, the “requirements are regularly flouted.”
The interviews – conducted in areas around South Eastern Coalfields Limited’s Kusmunda mine in Chhattisgarh, Central Coalfields Limited’s Tetariakhar mine in Jharkhand, and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited’s Basundhara-West mine in Odisha – lead the study to conclude that adivasis, who traditionally have strong links to land and forests, “have suffered disproportionately from development-induced displacement and environmental destruction in India.”
Titled "When Land is Lost, Do we Eat Coal? Coal Mining and Violations of Adivasi Rights in India”, “About 70 per cent of India’s coal is located in the central and eastern states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, where over 26 million members of Adivasi communities live, nearly a quarter of India’s adivasi population.”
Based on research conducted between January 2014 and June 2016, the study says, authorities “have not conducted any sort of meaningful human rights impact assessment at any stage of expansion of the Kusmunda mine. ” It adds, “The adivasi communities who are likely to be displaced by the expansion are not named in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.”

Pointing out that there is “no reference to the fact that the mine exists in a constitutionally-protected Fifth Schedule district”, the report says, “Every person interviewed in the villages of Barkuta, Pali,
Padaniya, Barpali or Padaniya said they were neither consulted nor interviewed as part of the impact assessment process.”
“The EIA also does not analyze the ways in which these communities currently use water, wood and other natural resources, or how they grow crops and their traditional land usage, and how these could be affected by the mining project”, the study says.
Underlining that the EIA does not even consider “the damage that is likely to be caused to traditional and existing livelihoods and the impact any such effects could have on the culture of the Adivasi communities”, the study says, “It also fails to analyze or consider the impact of the influx of outsiders and machinery from the existing mine or its proposed expansion.”
Analyzing different laws, the study particularly criticizes the Coal Bearing Areas Act, 1957, under which “there is no requirement for authorities to pay compensation before taking possession of land”, the says, adding, “The law has no provisions for ensuring that human rights impact assessments are conducted prior to land acquisition proceedings.”
In Kusmunda, which one of India’s largest coal mines, covering about 2,382 hectares (ha), the proposal for expansion – involving the acquisition of additional 1,051 ha land in the five villages (Amgaon, Churail, Khodri, Khairbawna and Gevra), where 13,000 people live – was published through “a notification in the official government gazette”, which was not made public.
While the government did invite objections to be submitted within 30 days, the notice was “pasted on the wall of the office of the panchayat, and people did not come to know anything about it”, the study quotes an adivasi as saying. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Coal's plan to acquire land in the five affected villages remains a suspense.
Similarly, in Tetariakhar, Jharkhand, where the the Ministry of Coal published a notification on August 18, 2015, the official government gazette declaring its intention to acquire 49 ha in Nagara and 25 hectares in Basiya villages under the CBA Act, yet local communities were “unaware” about it, and had “only heard rumours that more of their land was going to be acquired.”

Comments

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Labour unrest in Manesar trigger tensions: Recently enacted labour codes blamed

By A Representative A civil rights coalition has expressed concern over recent developments in the industrial hub of Manesar in Haryana, where a series of labour actions and police responses have drawn attention. A statement, released by the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), said it stood in solidarity with workers in IMT Manesar and other parts of the country, while also alleging instances of police excess during ongoing unrest.

Search This Blog