The Dongria Kondh tribe of Niyamgiri Hills are among the best conservationists in the world. Known for the spirited defence of their forested habitat against short-sighted industrialisation, they have through millennia evolved a lifestyle that is in perfect harmony with nature. Across India, there are scores of indigenous people who …
Quick step by govt to provide alternate source only hope for Lanjigarh refinery The 12-0 drubbing in gram sabhas held to seek a referendum on bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills has pushed into uncertainty the fate of Rs 5,000 crore one million tonne refinery of Vedanta Aluminium (VAL) at Lanjigarh, …
Decision of palli sabha crucial for running one million tonne of alumina refinery plant of VAL at Niyamgiri foot hills Tribals of Lakhapadar village in Rayagada district voted against the plan to mine bauxite on Niyamgiri hills, making it the 10th gram sabha to reject the proposal. Earlier nine gram …
Vedanta is unlikely to get clearance to mine Niyamgiri hills to feed its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Odisha. With a majority of the selected villages rejecting the state's proposal to allow bauxite mining in the area, the Union environment ministry is likely to stick to its guns and hold …
“The government should remember they have no right over Niyamgiri. Every gram sabha has said a loud no to mining.” Has the government created Niyamgiri that you can do whatever you like with it?’ a banner hanging from a tree outside the Odisha Bhawan enquired on Wednesday. Few paces away, …
All the five villages of Kalahandi have voted against mining in Niyamgiri hills. Ijurpa, the last in the series of villages holding gram sabhas to establish their socio-cultural and religious rights, wrapped up the exercise for the district on Tuesday. All the four voters, incidentally from one household, expressed their …
Sourcing bauxite from other states to add Rs 600 cr to cost. In what could be a jolt for Vedanta Aluminium Ltd, the fate of the beleaguered proposal to mine bauxite in Odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills was sealed on Monday, with the seventh of the 12 gram sabhas — at Phuldumer …
Vedanta Aluminium Limited belonging to London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc appears to have received a setback on Monday with the rejection of the proposal by tribal people at all gram sabhas held in Odisha to find out whether mining bauxite ore in Niyamigir hills was an infringement of religious, community, cultural …
Vedanta Resources Plc's plans to mine bauxite to feed its alumina refinery in the eastern Indian state of Odisha have suffered a blow after a majority of local residents voted against mining around the hills they consider sacred. Failure to source bauxite from within the state might force the London-listed …
The tribals of Niyamgiri hills on Monday unanimously rejected the proposal of bauxite mining in the seventh gram sabha held at Phuldumer village in Kalahandi district. The vote of the Dangaria, Kutia and Jharnia tribes against mining in the hills was a major jolt to the Vedanta Company which had …
The overwhelming rejection by Dongria Kondh tribals, of a proposal to mine their sacred lands in Niyamgiri Hills is an unprecedented victory for indigenous rights in the face of business interests. Read this press release by Amnesty International. The overwhelming rejection, by India’s Dongria Kondh Adivasi (indigenous) communities, of a …
The Dongria Kondhs of Kunakeda in Kalahandi district on Wednesday declared that worshipping their presiding deity, Niyamraja, was their birthright and no force on earth could snatch away their religious right. Repeating the trend witnessed in other palli (gram) sabhas held as per the Supreme Court directive to find out …
Kunakadu : Rainclouds hung over Niyamgiri hills, but the cloud of uncertainty over Vedanta Alumina’s 1 million tonne per annum alumina refinery plant at Lanjigarh, Kalahandi, deepened further after the fourth pallisabha on Wednesday rejected the company’s plan to mine the bauxite-rich hills. At Kunakadu, under Trilochanpur gram panchayat, where …
Three-hour-long sabha was attended by 33 of 36 adult voters from Kesarpadi. Rayagada District Judge Sarat Chandra Mishra had to trek 10 km (to and fro) crossing two overflowing hill streams on Monday to conduct a palli (gram) sabha in this non-descript village in Sabapadar to know the views of …
Bhubaneswar : Four days after tribals, in the first pallisabha, unanimously rejected Vedanta Aluminium plan to mine bauxite from Niyamgiri hills, another village has joined the chorus. Of the 36 voters in Kesarpadi village in Rayagada district, 33 of them claimed religious and cultural rights on the hills on Monday. …
With the tribals of Niyamgiri hilly region in Kalahandi district rejecting the proposal for bauxite mining in the first Gram Sabha held on Thursday last in Rayagada district, the outcome of the second Gram Sabha scheduled on Monday at Kesarpadi village in Rayagada district is eagerly awaited. The district administration …
Apart from keeping a watch on proceedings, NGOs are also holding mock gram sabhas to tutor villagers on how to express their opinion in these meets. A couple of days after Dongaria Kondhs of Serkapadi village unanimously rejected bauxite mining over Niyamgiri hills, Lanjigarh Vikash Parishad (LVP), an organization supporting …
lanjigarh : Thirty two voters from the remote Kesarpadi village, part of the adjoining district of Rayagada, are expected to participate in the second Gram Sabha on Monday for deciding on allowing bauxite mining on Niyamgiri hill range. The Gram Sabha at Kesarpadi will be the second meeting to be …
The Society of Geoscientists and Allied Technologies (SGAT), a body of pro-mining lobbyists, today said that the bauxite mining project at Niyamgiri Hill in Kalahandi district will not affect the lifestyle and cultural rights of tribals living in the area. "There is no habitation or cultivation on top of the …
Even as State Government is facing opposition over conducting Gram Sabhas to decide the mining in Niyamgiri hills, Society of Geoscientists and Allied Technologists (SGAT) has batted for permitting mining in the region. With more than adequate safeguards provided for protection of environment, forest, rights and traditions of the tribal …
KORAPUT: With the Supreme Court leaving it to villagers to decide the fate of Vedanta's mining plan at Niyamgiri hills at gram sabhas, the anti-mining campaign at villages situated in and around Niyamgiri hills has gained momentum. Hundreds of tribals, including Dongria Kondhs, assembled at Rayagada's Parsali village on Sunday …
