Skip to main content

Vedanta is out but corporate loot continues in Odisha: Local activists tell NAPM yatra

Lok Shakti Abhiyan leader Prafulla Samantara, winner of the Goldman Environmental (also known as Green Nobel) Prize in 2017, has regretted that though Sundergarh in Odisha, like other forest areas, is a fifth schedule area, where Forest Rights Act (FRA) and Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) is applicable, but these laws are being “outrightly violated to facilitate corporate loot.”
Talking with activists of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), participating the nationwide Samvidhan Samman Yatra reached Odisha, Samantara said, “Even after complete rejection to Vedanta in Niyamgiri hills and other areas, the state government is hell bent to favour corporates and consistently trying to appropriate people’s voices.”
The yatra, which began at Dandi in Gujarat on October 2, will end in Delhi on December 10, International Human Rights Day.
Bhupendra Rawat of the Jan Sangharsh Vahini told yatra activists, “Odisha is one of the places abundant in terms of mineral resources and yet one of the most impoverished. We must question where the wealth is going? Adivasis are still deprived of it.”
Sipriori William Kiro of the Aadivasi Moolnivasi Adhikar Suraksha Samiti said, “Even after hundreds of memorandums, demonstrations and meetings with the district collector that no project must get approval without the consent of Gram Sabhas, things have not changed. We have even lodged FIR with criminal accusations against the district collector after legal provisions were violated to favour the projects.”
“There are 12,000 MW National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Reliance thermal power plants each in Sundergarh. There are plans to set up power plants of more than 70,000 MW capacity. The whole belt between Brahmani River and Mahanadi is rich in coal and then in iron ore in northern Odisha. The corporate and state nexus has eyes on all of this”, said Kalyan, a senior activist.
“The three already installed hydro power plants have become example of ecological destruction. They don’t have adequate water due to which only a fraction of power generation is possible, and the dam is also not able to irrigate lands as promised. When the reservoir doesn’t have water for irrigation, how are Jindal and Bhushan able to get uninterrupted water supply?”, he wondered.
“More than 26,000 acres of land have been acquired just for coal mining. There is a power plant with generation capacity of more than 8,000 MW in the area. People have been displaced because of the Hirakund dam. Pollution is becoming a major issue. Youth were promised employment, which is still a distant dream. Majority of the population is adivasi and is facing poverty, while the government is shamelessly claiming it to be one of the richest districts of Odisha”, Lingraj Behra, convener, Paschim Odisha Krushak Sangathan Samanvya Samiti (POKSSS), said.
“The main issue is of sharing of water from the Hirakund dam in the region and demand of loan waiver”, he added.
At Balangir, yatra activists learned about struggle against Sahara India’s 1,320 MW Titalgarh thermal power plant since 2010, which is stayed as per Supreme Court directions. Lower Suktel Dam is another such issue where people are strongly against the land acquisition since 2000. Thirty villages are getting affected as a result of this project.
Here the Zindabad Sangathan has been struggling to get land entitlement for adivasis in Patnagarh and Titlagarh areas of Balangir district, the activists were told.
At Niyamgiri, Lado Sikaka, a leading activist and a resident, sharing the experiences from the struggle to save Niyamgiri from corporates, said, “If we protect our land, water, and forest, we protect our lives and families. Land, water, and forests are not merely a resource for us but our soul and we cannot let anybody else to take control of our lives.”
He added, “The entire struggle of Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti has been peaceful but the government tried to label us as a violent struggle. We have fought from the village to the Supreme Court and asserted our rights through our Gram Sabhas.”
“We need to understand and declare the state violent, extremely violent. They don’t even know how to respect our culture and traditions. We are the ones, who have kept the forests alive, rivers alive, the environment breathable. But what we are receiving is the beatings in the jail, bribes to cheat our people and sell our lands to corporates”, Sikala said.
He added, “We have rejected all the corporates and fighting for our lives, our culture, our dignity. We appeal people of the country to expose the government and tell them to stop the violence meted out on the adivasis.”
Lingraj Azad, a key activist of the Niyamagiri Surakhya Samiti, and Samantara, talking with activists, said that the struggle of Dongaria Kondh adivasis has “made sure that Vedanta cannot mine our hills.” But they lamented, “They are still in Langigarh refinery, violating environmental norms. They are exploring bauxite mining in Koraput district. We need to stand united and throw them out from Odisha once and for all.”

Comments

TRENDING

Irrational? Basis for fear among Hindus about being 'swamped' by Muslims

I was amused while reading an article titled "Ham Paanch, Hamare Pachees", shared on Facebook, by well-known policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy, an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Guruswamy, who has also worked as an advisor to the Finance Minister with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, seeks to probe, as he himself states, "the supposed Muslim attitude to family planning"—a theme that was invoked by Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister ahead of the December 2002 assembly polls.

Why's Australian crackdown rattling Indian students? Whopping 25% fake visa applications

This is what happened several months ago. A teenager living in the housing society where I reside was sent to Australia to study at a university in Sydney with much fanfare. The parents, whom I often met as part of a group, would tell us how easily the boy got his admission with the help of "some well-meaning friends," adding that they had obtained an education loan to ensure he could study at a graduate school.

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

Gujarat slips in India Justice Report 2025: From model state to mid-table performer

Overall ranking in IJR reports The latest India Justice Report (IJR), prepared by legal experts with the backing of several civil society organisations and aimed at ranking the capacity of states to deliver justice, has found Gujarat—considered by India's rulers as a model state for others to follow—slipping to the 11th position from fourth in 2022.

Punishing senior citizens? Flipkart, Shopsy stop Cash on Delivery in Ahmedabad!

The other day, someone close to me attempted to order some goodies on Flipkart and its subsidiary Shopsy. After preparing a long list of items, this person, as usual, opted for the Cash on Delivery (popularly known as COD) option, as this senior citizen isn't very familiar with online prepaid payment methods like UPI, credit or debit cards, or online bank transfers through websites. In fact, she is hesitant to make online payments, fearing, "I may make a mistake," she explained, adding, "I read a lot about online frauds, so I always choose COD as it's safe. I have no knowledge of how to prepay online."

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Of lingering shadow of Haren Pandya's murder during Modi's Gujarat days

Sunita Williams’ return to Earth has, ironically, reopened an old wound: the mysterious murder of her first cousin, the popular BJP leader Haren Pandya, in 2003. Initially a supporter of Narendra Modi, Haren turned against him, not sparing any opportunity to do things that would embarrass Modi. Social media and some online news portals, including The Wire , are abuzz with how Modi’s recent invitation to Sunita to visit India comes against the backdrop of how he, as Gujarat’s chief minister, didn’t care to offer any official protocol support during her 2007 visit to Gujarat.  

Area set aside in Ahmedabad for PM's affordable housing scheme 'has gone to big builders'

Following my article on affordable housing in Counterview, which quoted a top real estate consultant, I was informed that affordable housing—a scheme introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi—has deviated from its original intent. A former senior bureaucrat, whom I used to meet during my Sachivalaya days, told me that an entire area in Ahmedabad, designated for the scheme, has been used to construct costly houses instead. 

Just 5% Gujarat Dalit households 'recognise' social reformers who inspired Ambedkar

An interesting survey conducted across 22 districts and 32 villages in Gujarat sheds light on the representation of key social reformers in Dalit households. It suggests that while Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's photo was displayed in a majority of homes, images of Lord Buddha and the 19th-century reformist couple, Savitribai Phule and Jyotiba Phule, were not as commonly represented.