Bauxite mining transforms living hills into emptiness [Commentary]

- An unjust approach to bauxite mining in Sijimali, Odisha, raises fears of repeat of long-standing conflicts witnessed in Eastern India since the 1980s. - These hilltops are unique ecosystems supporting biodiversity and communities through multiple uses. Seeing bauxite ore in isolation undermines the larger ecosystem. - The hills and the villages comprise an intricate sacred geography intrinsic to Adivasi life. - The views in the commentary are that of the authors. ‘‘In the mine lease area there is no natural water source cited … (In) the tree enumeration report, it is evident that we have hardly 2933 trees only.” An official from Vedanta (a multinational mining and metals company) said this when questioned about the potential environmental impacts of mining in the Sijimali Hills for a documentary. The implication of the statement is that the mining project poses no ecological threat to the region since the region itself lacks forests and water sources. Such an approach to bauxite mining raises concerns of a possible repeat of long-standing conflicts over hilltop (bauxite) mining witnessed in Eastern India since the 1980s. In the neighbouring Baphlimali hills, where bauxite mining operations have been ongoing since 2013, communities recalled that officials of the mining company, UAIL (Utkal Alumina International Limited), described the area as a ‘terra nullius’ [space without humans] — “only rugged terrain with small valleys where some ragi [millets] and grass grew.” Approaches to bauxite mining that ignore both the unique ecologies of the region and its people run through the contentious history of bauxite hill mining along the Eastern Ghats in places like Gandhamardhan, Niyamgiri, Araku and Jerrela. Even the 2013 landmark decision to protect Niyamgiri Hills from Vedanta’s bauxite mining doesn’t offer protection for other bauxite-bearing hills. Such definitions allow the project to be presented as risk-free, with the potential to even improve environmental outcomes. However, such an articulation rests on a series of omissions and blind spots that compel the affected Adivasi and Dalit communities to resist these mining projects. The disquiet in Sijimali today also stems from such a skewed perspective. Since the privatisation of India’s mining sector in the 1990s, several domestic and international mining companies have sought access to large deposits in eastern India’s bauxite hills. The results of these intrusions into Adivasi territories have generated some of the country’s most iconic resistance movements, leading to the withdrawal of mining giants like Tata and Norsk Hydro in the case of Kashipur, AnRak Aluminium Limited in the case of Jerrela, and Vedanta Resources in the case of Niyamgiri hills where the Supreme Court mandated that the Gram Sabha decision favouring protection of the hills against mining was binding. Sijimali hills are the latest in line for proposed bauxite mining, thereby threatening to upend Adivasi and Dalit lives and livelihoods, and the distinct ecologies that have sustained communities who, in turn, have sustained these ecologies through their cultural, social, and economic practices. The geomorphology of bauxite hills Bauxite, the ore containing the aluminium oxide from which aluminium is produced, is ravenously sought by mining companies. Aluminium oxide is part of the bedrock that constitutes the top of certain hills. Most of the hilly plateaus have grasslands; a few, like the Sijimali, Kutrumali, and Sasubohumali hills, have forest patches. These hilltops are unique, as prolonged exposure to heavy rains and accompanying leaching have concentrated the minerals as bauxite ore, making the mining process straightforward and obviating the need to dig up the hills. However, to see this mineral in isolation is to be blind to the larger ecosystem and the Adivasi cultures and livelihoods that are enmeshed with these hills and landscapes. Project promoters like Vedanta at Sijimali hills keep repeating the same technically defined boundaries and over-reliance on engineering solutions of past bauxite mining proposals, to the exclusion of community concerns and ecosystem care. These hills typically lack dense forests because topsoil and minerals have been washed away from their tops. Instead, unique grassland systems with significant biodiversity support livelihoods through livestock herding. And down the densely forested hill sides, communities collect a variety of Minor Forest Produce (MFP), including seasonal fruits like tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon) and chironji (Buchanania lanzan); sal (Shorea robusta) seeds and leaves used in industry and for making food plates; and several grasses for making ropes and brooms and providing medicinal herbs. Hydrologists have noted that these tabletop hills act as sponges, absorbing water and releasing it slowly over the course of the year. These hills thereby sustain small and large perennial streams that are primary sources of bathing, washing, irrigation, and fishing for all the villages in the area. Yet, these vital services are not valued by project promoters. On the contrary, the lack of tree density at the hill tops is often projected as a stark problem that can be addressed by mining and through compensatory forest plantations in the post-mining restoration scenario. Additionally, merely focusing on the mining lease boundaries risks overlooking the rich sal forests and hillslope farming (podu), a widespread traditional farming practice in the region, including the Sijimali Hills that sustain these communities. A unique cultural ecology The bauxite hills are some of the last refuges for India’s most marginalised groups, indigenous groups. For instance, the Dongria Kondh of Niyamgiri live only on Niyamgiri hill. Mostly, other communities such as the Kutia and Desia Kondh, Jhodia and Pengo, along with Dalit communities, live along the foothills. The villagers largely depend on a combination of hilltops, hillslopes and valley farming supported by streams from the hills, apart from the collection of MFP. If one takes a train from Rayagada to Koraput, one can spot seemingly unending flat-topped hills that spread over kilometres. These hills constitute a sacred landscape for the local Kondh, Jhodia and Dalit communities. Caves and tunnels of the hills are popular religious sites associated with famous annual cultural festivals that attract tourists from neighbouring towns. Folklore has it that kinship ties are inscribed in this sacred landscape. Each hill has a residing deity related to other deities, who reside either in the villages or the hills. Tiji Raja, a powerful lord, reigns over Sijimali and ensures peace among its people. A gentle lord, he is responsible for their welfare and asks little in return. Sijimali and Niyamgiri hills are connected with ‘relations of envy’. Local bard poets share that Tiji Raja stole the enchanting wife of Niyama Raja, who also secretly loved him. Since then, they avoid appearing in godly councils together. Another narrative suggests that there are matrimonial alliances between Baphlamali’s matriarch goddess, Baphlibudhi and Kodinga Raja (the King of Kodingamali hills). Baphlibudhi is also the aunt of Maikanch village deity, Patrubudha. The hills are therefore not merely geological formations of inert minerals but living cultural entities enlivened by social relations. From their everyday economic, social and cultural life to the extraordinary events of venerating the hills through annual worship, the hills are intrinsic to Kondh identity as ‘worms of the soil.’ This complex geography of the hills and the villages is a sacred space for the Adivasi-Dalits. A history of resource struggles Adivasis have fought bravely to protect their hills and villages for decades, often meeting with brutal violence. One of the most painful outcomes in bauxite struggles occurred in Kashipur when, in the year 2000, three Adivasi protesters were shot dead in Maikanch, Kashipur. Over time, collaboration between the state and the mining company crushed resistance to commencing mining in the Baphlimali hills in 2013. Since then, there have been dramatic changes affecting the region. Choking air pollution has led to a rise in skin and respiratory infections. Water streams have become carriers of industrial slurry and are no longer amenable to bathing or washing. Red mud waste spills are common, and fly ash accumulation on farmlands is damaging crops and rendering lands infertile. Niyamgiri and Gandhamardhan hills in Odisha and Araku and Jerrela hills in Andhra Pradesh may offer better historical lessons, as in all these cases protests led to the cancellation of proposed projects, at least for the time being. The movement to save the Niyamgiri Hills is the best-known internationally, as the community took the company to the Supreme Court, putting a stop to mining plans in 2013. A similar example comes from Andhra Pradesh, where private investment financed a refinery while a state-owned mining company proposed mining the [Jerrela Hills]. The AnRak Aluminum financed both the aluminium complex and bauxite mines while the state government offered to operate the mines to circumvent a constitutional ban on non-Adivasi land ownership. Similarly, the Andhra Pradesh state government attempted to support the extraction of bauxite from Araku and Jerrela hills, disregarding environmental and social impacts. Eventually, both these mining projects were scrapped due to Adivasi protests. There are reports claiming that Vedanta’s mining project poses a threat to the Adivasi- Dalit communities who depend on the Sijimali hills. In this race to accelerate mining, ultimately ecologies that supported some of India’s most marginalised groups and constituted a wide sacred geography will be lost forever. The present environment of secrecy and oppression in the region, where villagers are subjected to bulldozer action and where journalists and activists are unable to travel to the area openly, is concerning. Hillside communities require long-term stability and livelihood support that honours their profound knowledge systems, ecological wisdom, and rich culture. To instead, taking away even these fragile resources for private mining interests is a travesty of development. Minati Dash teaches at O.P. Jindal Global University and her Ph.D. research is on bauxite mining conflicts in Southern Odisha. Patrik Oskarsson, a researcher and teacher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, wrote his Ph.D. on bauxite mining conflicts in Andhra Pradesh. Banner image: Site of worship for Baphlibudhi, matriarch goddess of the Baphlimali Hills and presiding deity of the region. Image by Minati Dash.