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Aluminium mining in Baphlimali, India, has caused environment devastation and has wrecked the lifestyle of thousands of Adivasis. For centuries, Adivasi communities like the Paraja, Jhodia, Penga and Kondh have been living amidst the Baphlimali foothills. For generations they have lived in harmony with nature. They lived through rain fed subsistence agriculture of millet, cereals, pulses, rice and collection of non-timber forest produce, e.g. nuts, roots and fruit Domestic animals like sheep, goat, cow and buffalo used to be a very important source of income too. With widespread mining activities and linked deforestation, they have lost access to forest products and to the much needed pasture land in the vicinity of their villages. This affects everyone but one tribal leader, Sumani Jhodia comments particularly on the impact on women who have ‘an increase in domestic work hours since the disappearance of the forests, shrubs, bushes and contamination of water sources resulting from bauxite mining.’ On top of the damage to the local environment and income opportunities, wide roads and checkpoints have been built over the years and Advasis have been forbidden from accessing to the top of the hills, where they go to worship, meaning a loss of social and cultural practices and life. Your help will mean that MRG can support communities like these to help decision makers listen better to get priorities right for local people and help them to protect their environment and restore what has been damaged.
The above picture is of a tribal woman forcibly displaced from her home and land by District Forest Officers in the district of Ganjam, Odisha. Her cashew plantation burned in the name of protection of forests. Please note that the picture is to illustrate the story and is not from Baphlimali. Credit: Sarita Barpanda, Omkar Devdas and Sujata Dash, Human Rights Law Network, India.
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