India’s anti-mining activist awarded ‘Green Nobel’ prize
(Vatican Radio) An Indian anti-mining activist in eastern India’s Odisha state, is among 6 winners of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize 2017, also known as the “Green Nobel.” Prafulla Samantara and five others were honoured at a special ceremony at the San Francisco Opera House, USA, on April 24. Samantara spent more than a decade battling the Odisha government and Vedanta Resources, a London-based mining corporation seeking to extract bauxite from an area belonging to the Dongria Kondh, an 8,000-member indigenous tribe in the state. The other winners of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize are from Slovenia, the US, Guatemala, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Australia. The prize – which was first awarded in 1990 and focuses on grass-roots environmental activism – gives each of its recipients a $175,000 no-strings attached cash grant.
“An iconic leader of social justice movements in India, Prafulla Samantara led a historic 12-year legal battle that affirmed the indigenous Dongria Kondh’s land rights and protected the Niyamgiri Hills from a massive, open-pit aluminum ore mine,” is how Goldman Environmental Prize described the 65-year old environmental activist.
Odisha is among the mineral-richest states of India. In October 2004, the Odisha State Mining Company signed an agreement with Vedanta Resources to mine bauxite, an aluminum ore, in the Niyamgiri Hills. The agreement was made without consulting the Dongria Kondh tribals who have lived in the area for several generations. The $2 billion mine would have destroyed 1,660 acres of untouched forestland in order to extract more than 70 million tons of bauxite, polluting critical water sources in the process. The mine would also require roads to transport the bauxite, which would leave the forest vulnerable to loggers and poachers, noted the Goldman Environmental Foundation. Samantra and other activists not only rallied the tribal people living in Odisha’s Niyamgiri region but used the law to thwart Vedanta’s plans to mine bauxite.
Father Ajay Kumar Singh, another Odisha activist who has worked with Samantra in opposing mining and displacement in Odisha, welcomed the award. “We are thrilled over Prafulla’s award,” he told Matters India soon after Indian media reported the award. Anto Akkara, an Indian rights advocate and journalist also congratulated Samantara “for standing up for voiceless tribals of Niyamgiri Hills against the might of Vedanta!” He noted that Samantara has also been “a staunch supporter of the hapless victims of Kandhamal carnage and fraud,” referring to the anti-Christian violence by Hindu zealots in Odisha’s Kandhamal District.
Samantara, the son of an Odisha farmer, has earned degrees in economics and law and is married to a college professor. He has been involved in activism for nearly four decades. He began his activism during the “Total Revolution,” a movement Gandhian Jayaprakash Narayan launched-in mid 1970s. He is however, best known for his championing of the rights of the Dongria Kondh, who consider the Niyamgiri Hills as sacred and regard themselves to be its custodians. When Samantara learned of the bauxite mining project, he set about the Niyamgiri Hills area on a bicycle to warn local people about the threat to their land and livelihood. In 2004, Samantara petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene on behalf of the Dongria Kondh tribals, and kicked off a 12-year legal battle.
The environmental activist alleged he was kidnapped twice – the last time in April 2016 – by goons working on behalf of Vedanta. Police were also used to suppress the growing anti-mining movement; women were also jailed without cause, said Samantara. Finally, in 2013, the Supreme Court issued a historic verdict, ruling that the Odisha government had no authority over the tribals’ land. The Supreme Court ruled that only the village council could take such decisions. The precedent-setting ruling was applied throughout the state and had the effect of staunching similar mining projects, said Samantara.
Past Indian winners of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize include Narmada Dam activist Medha Patkar; public interest attorney M.C. Mehta; Bhopal activists Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla; and Chhattisgarh environmental activist Ramesh Agrawal, who fights against coal mining.
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