Ramakrushna Pradhan, Sudarsan Das
Keonjhar and Kalahandi districts
fall under the purview of the Fifth Schedule of the Indian Constitution which
entitles ownership right to tribal over their natural resources. It also ensures tribal rights
to maintain their unique culture and language.
In the Keonjhar district, mining has been carried out with remarkable
speed for the longest period of time. It
has been contributing immensely to the state's mineral output. But the district
remained one of the poorest regions in Odisha and has maximum people living
under high BPL (below the poverty line). Still, there have been no successful
antimining protests taking place here. On the other hand, the Kalahandi
district witnessed an organised successful protest by the Kondh tribes in
opposing the Vedanta plan of extracting minerals from Niyamagiri mountain. The
comparison is an attempt to explore diverse linkages of the impact of mining on
tribal livelihood.
Mining,
Culture, Livelihood, Protest, Keonjhar and Kalahandi
VOL.14, ISSUE No.1, March 2022