Deep inside the Sal forests, the hills behind Kudliba village has been allotted to three companies for mining. The villages, inhabited by the Ho tribes will not be displaced, but the forests will disappear. Once a stronghold of Maoist insurgents, the Saranda forests, so claims the government, has been sanitized following operation Anaconda in August 2011.

Photographs by: Sayantan Bera
Also read: Between Maoists and mines

Inside the dilapidated Tribal Research Museum in Ranchi, the state capital. Local activists complain the development plan has a clear mining interest. They are asking for implementation of constitutional rights guaranteed under the fifth schedule and progressive legislations like PESA whereby sale of tribal land without consent is deemed illegal.

Photographs by: Sayantan Bera
Also read: Between Maoists and mines

SAIL, till date was the only company mining inside Saranda. After it renewed and expanded its lease area in February 2011, SAIL spruced up its corporate social responsibility (CSR) package. Woolens were offered to these children as part of SAIL CSR. What use is of blankets, biscuits and clothes when our land is turning barren and zinda nalas (perennial streams) drying up? asked the local postmaster Bhimsen Gop.

Photographs by: Sayantan Bera
Also read: Between Maoists and mines

Of the Rs 263 crore development package Rs 164 crore will be spent on building roads and construction of integrated development centers (IDCs). The remaining Rs 99 crore will be spent on housing for BPL families, watersheds, residential schools and freebies like cycles, solar lanterns and radios. While World Bank officials visited as a part of the team which drafted the package, the tribals were kept aside during planning and for future monitoring.

Photographs by: Sayantan Bera
Also read: Between Maoists and mines

The mandatory public hearing for the mining leases are often held 20-30 kms away from their villages, complain residents. In 2012, Jairam Ramesh argued for no private mining inside Saranda and said ‘more mining means more Maoism.’

Photographs by: Sayantan Bera
Also read: Between Maoists and mines

Among the Ho’s it is customary to give burials in a corner of the village under the shade of trees. In 1889 when the British uprooted Ho villages in Saraikela by declaring them as reserve forests, the Ho’s argued the Sasandiris (burial stones) are their land titles. Eventually they moved southwards to Saranda forests.

Photographs by: Sayantan Bera
Also read: Between Maoists and mines

According to Indian Bureau of Mines’ 2010 report on mining leases and prospecting licenses, West Singhbhum is the most mined district in Jharkhand, and accounts for almost the entire share of iron ore mined in the state. Already 44 mining leases for iron ore is operational covering an area of 12,374 hectare. As of now most of the mining is concentrated around the periphery of the Saranda forests. The plan is to rip open the seven hundred hills of dense forests where sunlight cannot enter, to 19 new mining leases for the private sector, covering an additional 11,000 ha (approximately). Add to it the concrete roads, CRPF camps and ancillary developments for mining- there is little hope the forests and its perennial streams will survive the assault.

Photographs by: Sayantan Bera
Also read: Between Maoists and mines