To be a Dongria Kondh is to live in the Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa state, India - they do not live anywhere else. Yet Vedanta Resources is determined to mine their sacred mountain's rich seam of bauxite (aluminium ore).
The Dongria farm the hill slopes, grow crops in among the forest and gather wild fruit and leaves for sale.
There are over 8000 members of the tribe, living in villages scattered throughout the Niyamgiri Hills.
They call themselves Jharnia, meaning ‘protector of streams’, because they protect their sacred mountains and the life-giving rivers that rise within its thick forests.
To the Dongria, Niyam Dongar hill is the seat of their god, Niyam Raja. To Vedanta it is a $2billion deposit of bauxite.
Vedanta’s open pit mine would destroy the forests, disrupt the rivers and spell the end of the Dongria Kondh as a distinct people.
The Dongria, and neighbouring Kondh tribals who also revere Niyam Raja, are determined to protect their sacred mountain.
They have held road blocks, a human chain and countless demonstrations against the company.
A Vedanta jeep was set alight when it was driven onto the sacred plateau.
Mining the Sacred Mountain
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.
Suffering
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’.
Compensations Rejected
India’s Supreme Court recently approved the project, and mining could begin in a matter of months.
The Dongria remain united in their determination to stop Vedanta from turning their sacred mountain into an industrial wasteland.
One of the Court’s conditions is 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 will 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.
Under Siege
Vedanta is still waiting to clear the final red tape before they are able to begin mining. Meanwhile, the Dongria are 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, are refusing to allow any outsiders, including journalists, to enter Niyamgiri and visit Dongria Kondh villages.
The reason is simple: they do not want the world to hear the Dongria’s voice.
The Refinery
Vedanta built a bauxite refinery near the Dongria’s mountain before getting legal clearance to mine, but they need the bauxite from Niyamgiri to make the refinery profitable.
The refinery destroyed fields and forests. Over a hundred families lost their homes, including Majhi Kondh families who also worship Niyamgiri and are as determined as the Dongria to defend the mountain.
Dust and disease
Red mud, a toxic slurry, is the refinery’s main waste product. It dries in the sun to become a fine dust that villagers say engulfs and suffocates their crops.
Government pollution inspectors have described ‘ground water contamination’ caused by ‘alarming’ and ‘continuous’ seepage of red mud.
Locals also report sores developing on their bodies after washing in rivers close to the refinery. Cattle have died after drinking the same water.
Lost lands and livelihoods
Kinari village was completely destroyed to make way for the refinery. Over one hundred families were moved to a settlement known locally as the ‘rehab colony’.
It is a walled compound of two-room concrete houses, circled with barbed wire. Residents have no farmland and although some work as labourers for Vedanta, most survive on handouts.
A Kondh woman living in the rehab colony told Survival, ‘All I can do all day is sit on this concrete. We are only sitting here and getting rice. What life is that?’
In October 2008 Dino Majhi was found hanging from the neck inside his rehab colony house. His throat had been slit. He was well known locally as an activist against Vedanta. Local police arrested a suspect, and declared the attack was borne out of personal grievance. But many believe Dino’s murder was politically motivated.
Roads and resistance
Vedanta is building roads from the refinery to the top of the Dongria’s mountain. They now have an access road to the mountain-top, which has been widened to several metres without permission, even though that involved cutting down hundreds of trees.
Vedanta will carve through the forested hills and open up some of the most remote parts of Niyamgiri to illegal loggers. The Indian Supreme Court’s environmental experts were clear about this: ‘the use of the forest land in … the Niyamgiri Hills should not be permitted.’
Niyamgiri is sacred to all local Kondhs, not just the Dongria. Many have already lost their land and livelihood to Vedanta’s refinery; they are determined not to lose their mountain as well.
Together, local Kondh communities have been blockading roads and holding protests. Their fight continues.
Hope for Niyamgiri
In 2009 India’s Minster for Environment and Forests stated ‘There is still hope for Niyamgiri’ and the Ministry is currently investigating the project.
In 2010 the Church of England withdrew its investments from Vedanta stating that the company had failed to show, ‘The level of respect for human rights and local communities that we expect.’
The Norwegian Government and investment firm Martin Currie have also sold their shares in Vedanta Resources over concerns for human rights.
International pressure to save the Dongria Kondh is mounting.
How You can Help
Your support is vital if the Dongria Kondh are to survive. There are many ways you can help.
Survival International
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