This picture, released by ActionAid on Tuesday, shows demonstrators during a candlelight vigil in New Delhi on Monday night to express their solidarity with the Kondh tribe against proposed mining activities on Niyamgiri hills.
The Niyamgiri Hills, which range over 250 kilometres across the districts of Rayagada, Kalahandi and Koraput in Orissa, are home to more than 8,000 Dongaria Kondhs and other tribals who are now wholeheartedly engaged in what they have been doing for centuries: defending their hills, forests and streams. This time, however, they face a more formidable enemy than ever
Armed with 'Stage I' clearance, mining major Vedanta has announced its plan to start bauxite mining project in Orissa's Niyamgiri Hills within a month and to invest Rs 25,000 crore more for its aluminium units in the state in next two years.
A careful analysis of the computed Agricultural Development Indices for different districts of Orissa reveals that the four coastal districts (Balasore, Cuttack, Puri and Ganjam) and two districts of central table land area (Sambalpur and Bolangir) are agriculturally more advanced than other districts in the three reference years over three decades (1980-81, 1998-99).
In a socio-economically backward district like Kalahandi, where most people are not so well educated, Kshamanidhi could have got a job. But he did not do that and instead concentrated on agriculture.
In 2008, Kshamanidhi got Rs 40,000 from mango cultivation, Rs 15,000 from jackfruit, Rs 15,000 from vegetables and Rs 28,000 from other crops.
A man quenches his thirst at a drinking water shed in Balangir.
BHAWANIPATNA: Kalahandi is in the grip of acute water crisis sans rains since September last. Most of the water sources have dried up and farmers are apprehending loss of paddy crops in many minor irrigation ayacut areas.
