Victory over British mining company
The Dongria Kondh have won a historic battle to save their lands and forests from an open-pit bauxite mine.
Vedanta Resources, a British company, intended to dig a bauxite mine on Niyamgiri mountain in India.
The mine would have destroyed the forests on which the Dongria Kondh depend and wreck the lives of thousands of other Kondh tribal people living in the area.
The Dongria remain united in their determination to stop Vedanta or anyone else from turning their sacred mountain into an industrial wasteland.
Before they managed to stop the mine, India’s Supreme Court had approved the project ‘in principle’. One of the Court’s conditions was that some of the mine’s profits are put towards ‘tribal development’.
But no ‘development’ or ‘compensation’ package could cure the problems that mining Niyamgiri would cause: the destruction of a unique environment and culture.
The Dongria have accused Vedanta of ‘trying to flood us out with money’ and have made it clear that:
‘Mining only makes profit for the rich. We will become beggars if the company destroys our mountain and our forest so that they can make money. We don’t want the mine or any help at all from the company.’
Vedanta was founded by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, who owns more than half the shares.
In the final months before the Dongria won their battle to stop Vedanta’s mine, they were effectively being held siege in their hill range.
Non-tribal villagers, who do not farm the land but rely on wage labour to survive, have blocked the routes into the Niyamgiri hills.
Young men, sometimes armed with axes, were refusing to allow any outsiders, including journalists, to enter Niyamgiri and visit Dongria Kondh villages.
The reason was simple: they did not want the world to hear the Dongria’s voice.
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.
