Vedanta, have faith; tribal belief is ecological
India's ecologically rich areas happen to be sacred places for local communities. Do you see the connect? Tribal religious beliefs are codes to preserve resources critical to their people's survival. The recent Supreme Court order on the Vedanta project brings this into focus. But there is hesitation in accepting the tribal ecological beliefs that run contrary to contemporary development model
(documented in Sikkim High Court records, 1995)
On April 18, the Supreme Court ordered that the village councils in Odisha's Rayagada and Kalahandi districts would decide whether their right to worship is violated by projects of mining and metals giant Vedanta. The court in no uncertain terms upheld the tribals' right to worship. The much-contested project now depends on local communities' religious beliefs.
Vedanta wants to mine bauxite from the Niyamgiri hills. The Dongria Kondhs treat these hills as their god, or Niyam Raja. “Needless to say, if the bauxite mining project, in any way, affects their religious rights, especially their right to worship their deity, known as Niyam Raja, in the hills top of the Niyamgiri range of hills, that right has to be preserved and protected,” the apex court ruled.
The apex court upheld two major rights: the constitutional right of tribals to their own way of life and the right of the community through village councils to decide on affairs that may negatively impact their lives.
Memories are interactive. As I jog my memory, I land high in the Himalaya in Sikkim. To be precise, in Yuksom, the first capital of Sikkim located at the head of the Khangchendzonga National Park. Some 15 years ago, the local communities here waged a similar battle to protect their sacred beliefs, and the ecology.
Forest deities
—input from Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava |
One can't have a whole landscape as a god, many argue. Interestingly the government environmental regulations and the laws that protect tribal population have the same axis: save ecology to save tribal lives.
On the face of it there is no conflict between tribal belief and government's intent to save environment. So, from where does the the conflict originate? It is from the battle over who wants what resources for which purpose. A Dongria Kondh worships a hill top full with bauxite ore because it sustains the perennial streams. The streams are so critical to Kondhs' survival that there is a tribal sub-group that calls itself Jharania (streams) Kondhs. Every stream, every hill, every corner of a Kondh house and in totality the whole ecology is considered sacred because each of the resource plays critical and supplementary roles in their lives. The belief of 'us' contradicts it. Bauxite is a material need for us; for Kondhs it is the sponge that soaks life-giving water.
In the next five weeks, the Kondhs will assemble in gram sabhas as directed by the court. Activities have already started—at the government, non-government and corporate levels—to make sure the village councils deliver a favourable decision. One way there are efforts to pursuade Kondhs to trade their belief for sustaining the new belief that Vedantas of the world advocate. It will be a perfect testing case for the cliché: belief moves mountains.