Write a letter » Dongria Kondh

I am extremely concerned about the future of the Dongria Kondh tribal people of Orissa state, in the light of the Supreme Court’s decision to approve Sterlite/Vedanta’s application to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills.

Mining Niyamgiri will destroy the livelihoods, culture and self-sufficiency of the Dongria Kondh.

I understand that Sterlite/Vedanta is required to produce plans and funding for ‘tribal development’. No amount of funds can compensate for the destruction of the mountain that the Dongria Kondh revere, or for the loss of their land and way of life. When tribal people lose their land, ‘development’ does not improve their quality of life. Rates of depression, addiction and suicide soar and rates of ill-health, especially among children, rise.

The Dongria Kondh, like all other citizens of India, have the right to basic health care and education, but this right should not be dependent on the construction of a mine which will destroy them.

Mining Niyamgiri without the Dongria Kondh’s free, prior and informed consent would also violate the principles of the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples, for which India voted in September 2007.

I urge you to safeguard the rights of the Dongria Kondh, and to ensure that the proposed mine in the Niyamgiri hills is not allowed to go ahead.