MHA report links Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti of Dongria Kondh adivasis with ‘Maoists’
NB: This is the latest example of the surreptitious defiance of law by the Modi government. People should take note of it and resist by all peaceful means possible. Behind the language of 'development' this government is undermining the constitutional protections available to Indian citizens: DS
Dear friends
In a very disturbing
development, the following reference is made in the 2016-17 Annual Report of
the Indian Union Ministry of Home Affairs to Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, an
organisation of the the Dongria Kondh community who have valiantly
resisted mining by Vedanta in the thickly forested and sacred Niyamgiri
hills of Orissa:
"2.8 The Maoists
tried to strengthen coordination between its mass organizations and other
like-minded organizations to undertake programmes against alleged state
violence and for protection of democratic rights. In 2016, the issue of
displacement of local communities remained the main plank of mobilization by
the mass organisations. In Niyamgiri Hills area (Districts Rayagada and
Kalahandi, Odisha), the outfit continued to guide the activities of the
Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti."
In protest, please
find enclosed a letter addressed to the President of India, endorsed by a wide
range of peoples movements, social and environmental justice groups and
individuals, urging him to "direct the MHA to retract the statements
made about the NSS in its report, to stop the intimidation of the adivasis and
attempts to restart the mining, and to allow the Dongria Kondh and other
communities of the Niyamgiri hills to live a dignified life of self-determination
for their present and future."
In solidarity with the
struggle of Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, we appeal to you to send this or a
similar letter to the President of India. We reiterate our
support for the struggle of the Dongria Kondh, and of the Niyamgiri Suraksha
Samiti, in safeguarding their habitat, livelihoods, identity, and dignity.
*****************
To:
Shri Pranab Mukherjee
The President of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi
19 April 2017
Sub: Concern regarding MHA report linking
Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti of Dongria Kondh adivasis with ‘Maoists’
Dear Shri Pranab
Mukherjee,
We are writing to
express our concern and anguish at the recently released Annual Report 2016-17
of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which has linked the Niyamgiri Suraksha
Samiti (NSS) with ‘Maoist’ organizations. The report states that Maoists
‘guide’ the activities of the NSS.
The Niyamgiri Suraksha
Samiti is a collective of the Dongria Kondh adivasi people and other local
communities who have been organizing themselves for more than a decade against
bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills (Odisha), which is their only home. The
continued targeting of the Dongria Kondh community (with a population of less
than ten thousand people) in reports like these, and in continued state actions
on the ground, raises serious doubts: is this being purposely done to break
their continued resolve to oppose the mining of the Niyamgiri hills?
The resistance of the
Dongria Kondh to the mining proposal is based on several grounds: Niyamgiri is
their traditional and ancestral home, it is a sacred landscape, it is the
source of their livelihood and culture, they have special rights guaranteed in
the Constitution, and they have full rights to it under the Panchayat
(Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and the Forest Rights Act, both laws passed
by the Indian Parliament. In fact under the Forest Rights Act, the community
has the right and is empowered to protect their habitat, and natural ecosystems
in it, which is precisely what they are doing in resisting the mining. All this
was recognized by the NC Saxena Committee set up by the Government of India in
2010, which strongly recommended against mining in the hills.1 Subsequently
the Supreme Court too recognized these aspects.
However, since the
Supreme Court ordered that the Dongria Kondh need to be consulted about mining
in the region in April 2013, and the subsequent unanimous rejection by the
Dongria Kondh gram sabhas of the mining proposal, we have observed with great
perturbation the repeated attempts by the state government to reintroduce the
proposal and to start mining in the region. Recently, the Odisha Mining
Corporation filed a petition in the Supreme Court to reopen the mining. The
Supreme Court refused to admit the petition.
Apart from these
attempts, there has been constant intimidation and violence on the community by
security forces. In the last 2-3 years, several Dongria Kondh youth and elders
have been arrested, harassed, and killed, and one has committed suicide after
repeated harassment and alleged torture by security forces. In none of these
cases, have the forces been able to produce evidence linking them to so-called
Maoists.
The Ministry of Home
Affairs appears to have ignored the overwhelming response of the Dongria Kondh,
when Maoist organisations told them to oppose or boycott the gram sabha
meetings organised by the state at the behest of the Supreme Court order of
April 2013. Hundreds of Dongria Kondh had flocked from village to village to
take part in the meetings, openly defying this call.2
The Government should
also pay heed to the wisdom of the Supreme Court expressed in the case of
Nandini Sundar and Ors vs The State of Chhattisgarh (WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.
250 OF 2007), also referred to as the Salwa Judum Judgement. In this it
reiterated that the current social order which treats any person speaking for
human rights and questioning the current paradigm of the State, as a ‘Maoist’
or a ‘Maoist’ sympathizer, has become a serious problem affecting our nation.
It noted that any peaceful dissent or dissatisfaction which is a positive
feature of democracy, is often not recognized by the authorities and is met
with severe repression.
The MHA appears to be
questioning the credibility of the Supreme Court’s orders and observations in
the above matters; and additionally of the Indian Parliament by ignoring the
Dongria Kondh’s rights under PESA and FRA.
Actions such as what
the state is doing in the Niyamgiri hills, and language such as that used in
the MHA report, only serve to undermine democracy. Apart from the suffering and
injustice that the state’s repressive actions cause, they also push people who
are peacefully exercising their freedom of speech to turn to violence, which
helps no one.
We therefore urge you
to use your responsibility of upholding the Constitution, and in particular the
safeguards for adivasis contained in it, noting also that the Dongria Kondh are
a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group with special safeguards. We urge you to
direct the MHA to retract the statements made about the NSS in its report, to
stop the intimidation of the adivasis and attempts to restart the mining, and
to allow the Dongria Kondh and other communities of the Niyamgiri hills to live
a dignified life of self-determination for their present and future.
We reiterate our
support for the struggle of the Dongria Kondh, and of the Niyamgiri Suraksha
Samiti, in safeguarding their habitat, livelihoods, identity, and dignity.
(Meenal Tatpati /
Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh)
on behalf of the
undersigned organisations and individuals
Copy to:
Prime Minister's
Office
Ministry of Tribal
Affairs
Ministry of Home
Affairs
Governor of Odisha
CM of Odisha
Commissioner of STs
Endorsing
organisations
Tultul Biswas, Madhya
Pradesh Mahila Manch, Bhopal
Sudha Bharadwaj,
General Secretary, Chhattisgarh People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
Binayak Sen and Kavita
Srivastava, PUCL
Nitin Rai, Ashoka
Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore
Ananya Mehta,
Karnataka Alliance for Safe Food, and Buffalo Back Collective
Shripad Dharmadhikary,
Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, Pune
Viren Lobo, Convenor,
Community Control of Natural Resources and Indian Community
Activists Network
Sangram Mallik,
Ambedkar Lohia Bichar Manch, Bhubaneswar
Seema Kulkarni, Mahila
Kisan Adhikar Manch (MAKAAM) and Society for Promoting
Participatory
Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM), Pune
Joy K J, SOPPECOM,
Pune
Soma KP and Rukmini
Rao, MAKAAM
Teesta Setalvad,
Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai
Bittu Karthik, Women
against Sexual Violence and State Repression
Prashant Paikray,
Spokesperson, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), Odisha
Aakar Patel, Amnesty
International, India
Ananthoo, Safe Food
Alliance, Tamil Nadu
Gopi Deva, Organic
Farmers Market, Chennai
Balaji Sankar,
Tharcharbu Iyakkam, Sirkali
Radhika Rammohan,
reStore, Chennai
Pamayan, Thalanmai
Uzhavar Iyakkam
Medha Patkar, Narmada
Bachao Andolan (NBA) and National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM)
Suhas Kolhekar, Suniti
SR, and Prasad Bagwe, NAPM Maharashtra
Meera Sanghamitra,
NAPM Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
Sudhir Vombatkere,
Senior Activist, NAPM, Karnataka
Gabriele Dietrich,
Penn Urimay Iyakkam, Madurai, Tamil Nadu
Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey,
and Shankar Singh, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) and
National Campaign for
People’s Right to Information (NCPRI)
Anjali Bharadwaj,
NCPRI
Prafulla Samantara,
Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Odisha
Sandeep Pandey,
Socialist Party, Uttar Pradesh
Geetha Ramakrishnan,
Unorganised Sector Workers Federation, Tamil Nadu
Arul Doss, NAPM Tamil
Nadu
Arundhati Dhuru,
Nandlal Master, and Manesh Gupta, NAPM Uttar Pradesh
Richa Singh, Sangathit
Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, Uttar Pradesh
Vilayodi Venugopal, CR
Neelakandan, and Prof. Kusumam, NAPM Kerala
Vimal Bhai, Matu Jan
Sangathan, Uttarakhand
Jabar Singh, NAPM
Uttarakhand
Sister Celia, Domestic
Workers Union, Karnataka
Rukmini V.P., Garment
Labour Union, Karnataka
Anand Mazgaonkar and
Krishnakant, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, Gujarat
Kamayani Swami and
Ashish Ranjan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, Bihar
Mahendra Yadav, Kosi
Navnirman Manch, Bihar
Sister Dorothy, NAPM
Bihar
Dayamani Barla,
Aadivasi-Moolnivasi Astivtva Raksha Samiti, Jharkhand
Dr. Sunilam and Adv.
Aradhna Bhargava, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, Madhya Pradesh
Bhupender Singh Rawat,
Jan Sangharsh Vahini, Delhi
Rajendra Ravi, Nanu
Prasad, Madhuresh Kumar, Amit Kumar, Himnshi Singh, Uma Kapari, Zaved
Mazumder, NAPM Delhi
Faisal Khan, Khudai
Khidmatgar and J S Walia, NAPM Haryana
Kailash Meena, NAPM
Rajasthan;
Samar Bagchi, Amitava
Mitra, and Avik Saha, NAPM West Bengal
P. Chennaiah, Andhra
Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruttidarulua Union (APVVU), Andhra Pradesh
Ramakrishnam Raju,
United Forum for RTI, Andhra Pradesh
Gautam Bandopadhyay,
NAPM, Chhattisgarh
Kaladas Dahariya,
Relaa Collective, Chhattisgarh
Bilal Khan, Ghar
Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan, Mumbai
K. Sajaja, Freelance
journalist and documentary film maker, Caring Citizens Collective,
Hyderabad
Prabhat Kumar Sinha,
Convenor, All India Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Samiti
Prahlad Singh
Shekhawat, Director, Alternative Development and Research Centre, Jaipur
Rajesh Yedida, Jeevan
Kumar, and Jayasree Kakumani, Human Rights Forum, Telangana and
Andhra Pradesh
Vissa Kiran Kumar and
Ajay Kumar, Rythu Swarajya Vedika, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
V. Rukmini Rao, Executive
Director, Gramya Resource Centre for Women
Shivani Chaudhry,
Housing and Land Rights Network, Delhi
Babloo Loitongbam,
Human Rights Alert, Manipur
Leo Saldanha,
Environment Support Group, Bangalore
P. Shankar, Dalit
Bahujana Front, Telangana
Chakri, Samalochana
Adv. MA Shakeel,
Centre for Study of Constitution and Society, Hyderabad, Telangana.
S.Q. Masood, Centre
for Peace Studies, Hyderabad, Telangana.
V.A. Ramesh Nathan,
General Secretary, National Dalit Movement For Justice-
NDMJ (NCDHR), New
Delhi
Henri Tiphagne,
People’s Watch, All India Network of Individuals and NGOs working with
National and State
Human Rights Institutions (AiNNI), and Human Rights
Defenders’ Alert –
India (HRDA)
Indira Jaisingh,
Lawyers Collective
Meenal Tatpati and
Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh
K. Ramnarayan, Himal
Prakriti, Munsiari
Malika Virdi, Maati
Sangathan, Munsiari
Priya Pillai, Mahan
Sangarsh Samiti , Singrauli , Madhya Pradesh
Endorsing
individuals
N P Chekkutty, Chief
Editor, Thejas Daily, Calicut
Rajinder Chaudhary,
Former Professor, Department of Economics, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana
Dr. G. Vijay,
Assistant Professor School of Economics, Adjunct Faculty Centre for Human
Rights and Secretary, Centre for Social Concerns, University of Hyderabad
S. Durga Bhavani,
Associate Professor, School of Computer and Information Sciences University of
Hyderabad
Sujit Sinha, Faculty,
Azim Premji University, Bangalore
Manasi Karthik, SOAS,
University of London
Sanjana Kumari, MPhil
Research Scholar, Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD)
Chitra Ravi, Azim
Premji University, Bangalore
Rakesh Ranjan,
University of Delhi
Felix Padel,
Anthropologist, Activist
Miloon Kothari, former
United Nations Special Rapporteur for Housing Rights, Delhi
Rahul Maganti,
Independent Journalist, Vijayawada
Gutta Rohit, Human
Rights Activist
Vimala Morthala,
Independent Writer, Activist, Hyderabad
Usha Seethalaksmi,
Independent Researcher
Adv. Ravi, High Court
of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
Shobha, Theatre Artist
and Human Rights Activist, Bangalore
Aruna Chandrasekhar,
Researcher and Independent journalist
Kamayani Bali Mahabal,
Feminist and Human Rights Activist, Mumbai
Divya Narain,
Independent Researcher
Admiral L. Ramdas
(Retd.), Former Chief of Naval Staff, Alibag , Maharashtra
Lalita Ramdas, Social
Activist, Hyderabad, India
Tara Murali, Architect
Deba Ranjan, Filmmaker
Surya Dash, Filmmaker,
Bhubaneshwar
Asad R. Rahmani,
Conservationist, Mumbai
Mona Mishra, Social
activist, Delhi
Ashim Choudhury,
Communications Consultant
Usha Rai, Senior
journalist, New Delhi
Achin Vanaik, Delhi
Aravinda Potluri,
Hyderabad
Nikita Gandhi,
Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu
Anupama Potluri,
Hyderabad
Harini Nagendra,
Bangalore
K.S. Manjunath,
Bangalore
Ravishankar B.T.,
Bangalore
Prasenjit Dasgupta,
Ghaziabad (Delhi NCR)
Abhilash C.A,
Chikkabalapur
Adnan Khan, Bangalore
Sunita Rao, Sirsi
Ratheesh Pisharody,
Bangalore
Sharada Ganesh,
Bangalore
Priti Rao, Bangalore
Ranu Garg, Bangalore
Arvind Kumar, Kanpur
Ajaya Kumar Singh,
Bhubaneswar
Sandeep Kumar
Pattnaik, Bhubaneshwar
E. Theophilus,
Munsiari
Chhaya Datar
Samhita Barooah
Arundathi Vishwanath
Uma Shankari
Narendranath
Swagato Sarkar
2 http://www.thehindu.com/todayspaper/tpnational/tpotherstates/tribalpeopledefymaoistsdiktatattendgramsabhas/article5031351.ece
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Environment Support Group
[Environmental, Social Justice and Governance Initiatives]
1572, Ring Road, Banashankari II Stage
Bangalore 560070. INDIA
Tel: +91-80-26713559-61 Fax: +91-80-26713316
Email: esg@esgindia.org Web: www.esgindia.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/esgindia/
Environment Support Group
[Environmental, Social Justice and Governance Initiatives]
1572, Ring Road, Banashankari II Stage
Bangalore 560070. INDIA
Tel: +91-80-26713559-61 Fax: +91-80-26713316
Email: esg@esgindia.org Web: www.esgindia.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/esgindia/
Please check out your
new online Donation payment gateway:
