Write a letter for the Dongria Kondh

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How you can help

Please write to the Prime Minister of India expressing your concern for the Dongria Kondh and asking him to safeguard their rights.

Dr Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister’s Office
South Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi 110 001
India

7 January 2009

Your Excellency,

I am extremely concerned about the future of the Dongria Kondh tribal people of Orissa state, in the light of the Supreme Court's decision to approve Sterlite/Vedanta's application to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills.

Mining Niyamgiri will destroy the livelihoods, culture and self-sufficiency of the Dongria Kondh.

I understand that Sterlite/Vedanta is required to produce plans and funding for 'tribal development'. No amount of funds can compensate for the destruction of the mountain that the Dongria Kondh revere, or for the loss of their land and way of life. When tribal people lose their land, 'development' does not improve their quality of life. Rates of depression, addiction and suicide soar and rates of ill-health, especially among children, rise.

The Dongria Kondh, like all other citizens of India, have the right to basic health care and education, but this right should not be dependent on the construction of a mine which will destroy them.

Mining Niyamgiri without the Dongria Kondh's free, prior and informed consent would also violate the principles of the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples, for which India voted in September 2007.

I urge you to safeguard the rights of the Dongria Kondh, and to ensure that the proposed mine in the Niyamgiri hills is not allowed to go ahead.

Yours sincerely,

(your full name)

Will my letter make a difference?
Yes. Time and again, letters from Survival supporters have called governments and organisations to account. Policies have changed and lives have been saved.

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