The Government of Odisha has filed an interlocutory application on February 25, 2016, before the Supreme Court for giving Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) permission to mine bauxite in Niyamgiri. This has been referred now to a three-member bench and a decision is awaited to come by April. It may be recalled that last year, the Odisha Government cancelled a JV agreement with Vedanta for bauxite mining. Instead, it plans to go ahead solo through the OMC. The application claims that the consent from the gram sabhas for the use of forestland is not required once the rights of people have been settled. It also explicitly claims that the resolution of the gram sabhas rejecting mining in the Niyamgiri hills cannot remain perpetually in force and has to be reviewed with changing times. It has also questioned the resolutions of the 12 gram sabhas on the basis of technical errors committed during the proceedings. The State Government further claims that tribal communities instead of fighting for the preservation of the holy place identified as Hundajali may have exceeded their brief by declaring the entire hill range as holy and therefore a no entry area for mining. The Supreme Court wanted to know through the gram sabhas as to how mining would affect Hundaljali, their place of worship, which is 10km away from the proposed mining site. This entire question was unanswered and the tribals were coerced by NGOs and vested political forces to simply say that they oppose mining. This was not the mandate of the gram sabhas. In Kalahandi and Raygada districts, Maoists are openly opposing the idea and resorting to create terror and fear in the hearts of tribals. Bandhs and dharanas have been organized and the Government is being forced to call off combing operations in the jungles even as the NGOs supporting them are organizing rallies and Press conferences and trying to block an emerging political and intellectual consensus for development. It is indeed a dichotomy that the very tribals, whose interests the Maoists and NGOs are trying to champion, continue to live in conditions that are truly obnoxious. Sixty years of independence has meant nothing for them. Roads are not allowed to be constructed to connect their villages. Electricity is denied to their villages. Basic health and education facilities continue to be conspicuous by their absence. Their forest produce is siphoned off by middlemen who continue to ensure that the tribals live an impoverished life. The Dongaria Kondhs, marginalized from the mainstream of development today, continue to not only live in abject poverty but also in fear of losing their lives in this cross-fire. It is widely believed that the gram sabhas that were conducted in 2013 were done under the shadow of Maoist threat coupled with an active connivance with NGOs some of whom had questionable funding sources. In fact an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report had pointed out that crores of rupees were given to local NGOs to whip up anti-industry voices. Voices from the ground echo these sentiments. Lanjigarh Anchalik Vikas Parishad president Sridhar Pesnia says, “Holding the gram sabha process without liberating the tribals from the clutches of the Maoists and NGOs will be counter-productive. The ground must be prepared first for a free from fear gram sabhas.” According to National Statistical Commission, Odisha during the 12th plan (2012-17) continued to lag behind in the vital barometer of annual average economic growth. What is Odisha’s take for the 13th plan? Whether an important mineral like bauxite will continue to burry under the hills or exploited to support the much trumpeted growth agenda of the Government remains to be watched by the economists and the geo scientists. BK Mohanty of SGAT, the geo-scientists’ body of Odisha, which supports mining for development, while welcoming the Government move, said, “The east coast bauxite has the potential to change the entire economic landscape of Odisha by ushering in industrialization. In fact the exploration process should be further intensified if we are to expedite the development of alumina/aluminium complex of global standards in Odisha.” Dhan Majhi, another tribal activist, asserts, “The tribal community must not be denied the benefits of road connectivity, basic health and education. The Maoists’ and NGOs’ strategy is aimed at marginalizing them and making them live under the fear of guns and violence.”