New hurdles: Is Vedanta fighting a losing battle for Niyamgiri?

A month after the Supreme Court directed the Odisha government to conduct gram sabhasto decide the fate of bauxite mining at the ecologically sensitive Niyamgiri hills, it seemseven if Vedanta gets the green signal–which anyway is highly unlikely–it won’t be any time soon.

An MoU between Odisha Mining Corporation and Vedanta has come in for questioning from the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry, which has contended that the pact is against the letter and spirit of the Constitution and its provisions regarding scheduled areas.

“I think having MoU with Vedanta itself was wrong because it goes against the letter and spirit of both Article 244(1) and provisions of Schedule V (of the Constitution),” Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo told PTI. The MoU between Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Vedanta was signed in 2003 for mining in the tribal-dominated Niyamgiri forest areas of the state.

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The Minister questioned the very basis of formation of the state-owned mining corporations as quite often states sell shares in these firms and the partner firms, mostly belonging to private sector, benefit as a result of their association with such firms.

“This is against the provisions of the constitution,” he said, adding disinvesting shares of such a company to a firm not owned by tribals generally results in surreptitiously subverting and undermining the sanctity of the Constitution and safeguards guaranteed by it.

The Tribal Affairs minister has also said that Vedanta’s bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri hills is illegal as it violates the constituitional safeguards for tribal-dominated areas, reported TheEconomic Times. The minister claimed that the mining did not improve financial or living conditions of the people in these areas as development in Niyamgiri was never inclusive.

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“Development doesn’t mean mining ore and exporting to China. Making a few people or a few companies affluent at the expense of the marginalised people, is not development,” he said, adding people were the owners of natural wealth while states and the Centre were only custodians.

Meanwhile,the Odisha government today said it would seek six more weeks from the SC to conduct Gram Sabhas to decide on Vedanta’s mining project.

“We are going to request the apex court to grant us six more weeks for the conduct of gram sabhas, as it is not feasible to conduct these within the SC-stipulated timeline. The Sabhas will be held in 12 villages on the Niyamgiri hills,” state law minister Maheshwar Mohanty told Business Standard.

Last month, the SC had asked Gram Sabhas to decide on fresh claims, if any, regarding community, individual, cultural and religious rights of the Dongria Kondh tribe residing the Niyamgiri hills. The court had said the claims for these, to be taken up by gram sabhas, should be filed in six weeks.

The gram sabhas’ views will then be reviewed by the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and a final decision will be taken within the next two months, the apex court had said.

The court said the issue of tribal rights and religious rights must be settled by the gram sabha of Rayagada and Kalahandi districts. The Khondh tribals hold as sacred the Niyamgiri hills where the project is coming up.