"Despair looms over Sijimali, as tribals continue 365-day struggle to save their hills", 3 March 2024

"Odisha’s tribal community finds itself in a rut in its decades-long fight against private players that seek to mine minerals in the Niyamgiri hill range. For the past 365 days, the people of Sijimali have been protesting to protect their land from corporate giants’ takeover.

Its dense forest cover has piqued the interest of London-based Vedanta Limited which emerged as the leading bidder for the Sijimali Bauxite Block in an auction conducted by the Odisha government on February 15, 2023, according to a press release by Vedanta Limited...

Labanya Nayak of Banteji village of Rayagada district, says, “Sijimali is the only source of our life and livelihoods. We can’t imagine our status without the Sijimali hills. We are against the government’s decision to hand over the hills to Vedant for mining purposes. So we are opposing such an anti-people policy of the government through peaceful movement”.

The situation in Sijimali got intense by August, last year, when there was a huge deployment of police forces in the area.  Earlier, on 6 August, last year, nine leaders associated with an anti-mining protest were booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and were later released on bail...

Activists claim that there was a lot of ruckus created by police and company officials on the days of the hearing to deter the villagers from attending the hearing. Villagers pointed out that Vedanta’s Environmental Assessment Impact (EAI) report does not mention the sacred abode of the supreme deity Tiji Raja revered by Kandha and Damba communities and the annual rituals and festivals the local people perform at Sijimali hilltop in December every year.

They also pointed out that the report makes no mention of the 200-odd perennial streams that emerge from Sijimali, or the dense forests on the hilltop that are home to a variety of tree species such as sal, tamarind, piya sal, amla, harida, and bahada. The report also fails to include the primary source of revenue for locals: the collection of Siali leaves and honey.

Some of the most important caverns, including Parapar and Baghpar, which are venerated as the abodes of animals and where every year ceremonies are done to invoke animal spirits, are also not included. All those who testified stated unequivocally that the EIA report makes no mention of the local peoples’ cultural heritage, generations-long relationship with nature, or the traditional community forest governance principles that they use to protect the land in Sijimali...

“How can we destroy our mother (Dharani Maa)? We all have been really worried for the past few months. These forests and mountains were protected by our ancestors. These mountains do not belong to the government or the company”...

According to a press statement issued on December 10th and signed by 36 activists and leaders, on December 8th, nearly ten buses of armed police forces were dispatched around villages in the Sijimali hills to help the district administrations of Rayagada and Kalahadi to jointly hold gram sabhas.

The goal was to compel indigenous people to attend hastily scheduled gram sabhas to legitimise the diversion of forest lands for Vedanta’s Sijimali Bauxite Mining Project. The statement also alleged that the police and company officials have managed to conduct gram sabhas forcefully in a few villages like Chulbadi village (Kalahandi district) by threatening the villagers, and by giving Rs 1000 as a bribe...

Tushar Das, an advocate for forest rights, explains the condition in Sijimali as a clear violation of the Forest Rights Act, of 2006. “FRA applies to all forests. Whenever there is any diversion of forest land for non-forest use, the state government should fulfil two conditions. They should ensure that any proposal entailing the diversion of forest land comes under the clauses of FRA 2006. Further, they should take the consent of gram sabhas for the said proposal.”

Das said that both these prerequisites were ignored in Sijimali. “FRA should be taken into account since it defines both notified forest area and deemed forest area,” he added.

Vedanta Limited? the Odisha government and the Union Government didn’t respond when reached out for comments."