British mining company threatens sacred mountain
Vedanta Resources, a British company, intends to dig an open-pit bauxite mine on Niyamgiri mountain in India.
The mine will destroy the forests on which the Dongria Kondh depend and wreck the lives of thousands of other Kondh tribal people living in the area.
India’s Supreme Court has given the go ahead for the mine, but the Kondh peoples are determined to prevent the destruction of their most sacred site.
At the centre of the struggle is the Dongria’s sacred mountain, the ‘mountain of law’. The Dongrias worship the top of the mountain as the seat of their god and protect the forests there.
Vedanta Resources wants to mine the bauxite from the top of the same mountain.
The Dongria Kondh would lose their livelihood, their identity and the sanctity of their most religious site.
In common with other displaced tribal peoples worldwide, they would also lose their present good health, their self-sufficiency and their expert knowledge of the hills, forests and farming systems that they have nurtured.
Other Kondh groups are already suffering due to a bauxite refinery, built and operated by Vedanta, at the base of the Niyamgiri Hills.
Villagers who have been removed from their homes for the refinery have suffered threats and intimidation. They have lost both their land and their means of supporting themselves.
They are also suffering from health problems due to pollution from the refinery, which they blame for skin problems, livestock diseases and crop damage.
The Orissa government’s pollution control board has ruled that chemical emissions from the refinery are ‘alarming’ and ‘continuous’.
A village of a neighbouring Kondh tribe in the Niyamgiri foothills is bulldozed to make way for the refinery.
India's Supreme Court denies Vedanta permission to mine Niyamgiri, but invites its subsidiary, Sterlite, to apply for a licence.
The Dongria Kondh stage regular large-scale protests against the mine.
UK government condemns Vedanta's treatment of the Dongria, demands change
Victory: India's Environment Minister blocks Vedanta's proposed mine.
