Foil Vedanta Press Release, Friday 7th June 2013
Reports from the Niyamgiri hills have confirmed that CRPF special forces have been targeting villages who are opposing Vedanta’s proposed mine, threatening them not to do so, and destroying grain stores and items of worship in their homesteads. One incident involved unprovoked firing on a group of women and children bathing in a waterfall at Batudi village. A Dongria woman has been filmed reporting these abuses. Meanwhile in London, a group of UK members of parliament have expressed their concern over the Palli Sabha process, alerting UK authorities to monitor the behaviour of British mining company Vedanta Resources, who are attempting to mine the mountain with Odisha state support.
Interviews with Dongria Kond people taken yesterday evening confirm recent reports that Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been active in the Niyamgiri hills carrying out ‘combing operations’ and threatening villages. They have allegedly set up a base in a cotton market yard in Muniguda (a nearby town) and make frequent trips to the mountain, in particular to Jarpa, Khambeshi and Lacpadar villages(1). The reports, sent by local journalists, claim that CRPF forces have told the tribals not to oppose the mine, asked to see their leaders, spilled their food stores, and taken their traditional weapons and guns which are kept to protect them from elephants. Even NGOs and other service providers – who had gone to Niyamgiri to try to assist in the current gram sahba process which will decide the fate of the mountain vis a vis Vedanta’s proposed mine – are leaving the area afraid for their lives following the harassment, they state.
In a film, now posted on the internet a Dongria woman (who did not want to reveal her name for fear of retribution by the forces) states;
“Few days back we were gathering forest products near our village. At that time so many armed forces arrived and they pointed guns at us and surrounded us. They started asking “where is Lada (the tribal leader)? Where have you hidden the maoists ? Where have you hidden the weapons? Why are you opposing mining?” Some one from the behind yelled – ‘If you resist the mining you will be killed like dogs’.”
Local activist Satya Mahar of Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti has now made a statement on the harassment online.
A letter from social activists who reported these abuses to the Human Rights Commission of Odisha is also posted below.
On June 3rd CRPF forces opened fire on a group of women and children bathing in a waterfall at Batudi village on Niyamgiri. Bullets missed the children by only a few inches as they ran away into the forest. The firing continued for five minutes according to a report from activists who took statements from those present (see letter below).
The children, not surprisingly, were immensely shaken after the experience, and recounted how terrified and scared they felt as the bullets flew on their sides and above their heads. Duku Jakesika, in a powerful statement, said,
“This is an assault on our very lives. The CRPF has no right to shoot at us without any provocation. Villagers bathing in a stream are not Maoists. Little children are not Maoists. These are our mountains, our forests, our land. Because of the CRPF, today, we cannot roam around freely in our own area. We do not feel safe anymore, we have to live in fear and insecurity. Our lives do not matter to the state, they can kill us whenever or wherever.”
Earlier in the interview the Dongria Kond woman videoed had also stated:
“We do not want such development where our lives are threatened every moment by the armed forces! We kept some weapons to safeguard our selves and our crops from wild animals. We do not want to kill the animals, but to drive them away. Occasionally when these animals attack or come too close to us we get killed. They (CRPF) came and barged into our houses, took away our belongings, threw our stored food grains and cooked food, took away our worship weapons and the guns we kept for our protection from wild animals. We have been living and preserving the mountains and the soil and everything around us since centuries. You can see us living in harmony with nature. But since past ten years our peace and life has been disturbed by the company and police.
Since the armed forces presence our freedom to move around in our mountains has been restricted. We are living in a state of fear. Our social and cultural life has been affected very badly.”
The Minster of Tribal Affairs had previously asked the Odisha Government to ensure the gram sabhas were held ‘in a free and fair manner, uninfluenced by any vested interests and without coercion‘. There has already been considerable controversy over the Odisha government’s interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling which initiated the gram sabha process. The Minister of Tribal Affairs, the Dongria Kond and others have condemned the selection of just twelve out of hundreds of affected villages in which to hold the meetings, and a number of other concerns have been raised (see comprehensive analysis on Foil Vedanta website).
Meanwhile in London, an open letter signed by a group of Members of the UK and Scottish Parliaments has been officially submitted to London’s two main financial ombudsmen (who are currently under pressure to investigate and de-list Vedanta) (2) and the OECD’s UK National Contact Point (which previously upheld a complaint against Vedanta’s Niyamgiri project).
The letter expresses concern with ‘the track record of Vedanta and the supporting Odisha state at Niyamgiri’, and a desire to ensure ‘that this decision making process should be fair, fully informed and un-influenced by Odisha state (and its officials including police) or Vedanta itself – following the principle of Free Prior Informed Consent.’.
The members of parliament note that they will be monitoring the current decision making process via reports from lawyers and social activists, and will demand an investigation by UK authorities if foul play occurs. The letter states:
Vedanta is a British company listed on the London Stock Exchange and overseen by the UK Listings Authority. If Vedanta fails to adhere to Indian and UK law and basic human rights and environmental conventions – including the Indian 2006 Forest Rights Act – they should be investigated, held to account and de-listed from the London Stock Exchange. (3)
Ends.
Notes to Editors:
- As well as the incidents described in this release other reports include tribal girls being chased by CRPF while on their way to a wedding and hiding in a nearby village for a few days in fear. Also, two young men who were guarding their crops allegedly ran away when they saw armed forces and were later caught and severely beated up.
- The letter was submitted today to: Lord Adair Turner – Chief of the Financial Services Authority and UK Listings Authority, Martin Wheatley – Head of the Financial Conduct Authority, and the OECD UK National Contact Point.Foil Vedanta submitted a series of documents to the Financial Services Authority in January this year, who subsequently launched an informal investigation via the UK Listings Authority into whether Vedanta has breached ethical and corporate governance guidelines of its’ London Stock Exchange listing.
Previously in a parliamentary debate on 28th Nov 2012, MP John McDonnell made the case for Vedanta and other ethically contentious mining companies to be strongly regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, including possibly de-listed ‘because of their behaviour in the developing world.’
Vedanta was described in Parliament by Labour MP Lisa Nandy as ‘one of the companies that have been found guilty of gross violations of human rights’ . Ms Nandy in her speech quoted Richard Lambert the former Director General of the CBI: ‘It never occurred to those of us who helped to launch the FTSE 100 index 27 years ago that one day it would be providing a cloak of respectability and lots of passive investors for companies that challenge the canons of corporate governance such as Vedanta…’..
To
The Secretary
Odisha Human Rights Commission
Bhuwaneshwar
Date: 11th June 2013
Sub: CRPF atrocities and human rights violations in villages of Niyamgiri mountains
On 3rd June 2013, at around 11am, the Central Reserve Police Force opened fired on a group of three Dongria Kond tribals (1 adult and 2 children) from the interior Batudi village of the Niyamgiri mountains who were bathing in the stream near Panimunda village. A group of adult men and children from Batudi village had gone to bathe to the nearby Panimuda village as the water streams around their village were still dry. Around 11 Dongrias (6 adults and 5 children) were bathing at a higher level of the stream, and one adult and two children were bathing at a lower level. Suddenly, the CRPF opene fired. The two children, Munna Jakesika (14years) and Ravi Jakesika (10years), and Pakru Jakesia (25 years) were present in the area where the CRPF open fired. Their photo is attached. Terrified, three of them started running uphill towards where the the other people were. Bullets flew through Munna, Ravi and Pakru’s sides and above their heads. The adults who were on a higher level of the stream, on hearing the bullet sounds rushed towards where the sound was coming from. They saw Munna, Ravi and Pakru frantically running uphill, as bullets missed them by inches. This open firing by the CRPF lasted for around 5 minutes.
This incident was reported by villagers of Batudi who witnessed the firing to a group of activists (Samarendra Das and Devangana Kalita) who visited the village on 7th June 2013. The names of the 11 people who saw the firing on Munna, Ravi and Pakru, and who reported the incident to us are as follows:
-
Duku Jakesika: 30yrs
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Derku Sikaka: 20yrs
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Janju Mandika: 22yrs
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Bindu Jakesika: 32yrs
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Momo Jakesika: 20yrs
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Druku Jakesika: 21yrs
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Babula Jakesika: 8yrs
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Lanji Kuturuka: 6yrs
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Swadevo Jakesika: 10yrs
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Manni Kuturuka: 8yrs
-
Lassu Jakesika: 12yrs
We also spoke to the three people on whom the CRPF had fired. The two children, not surprisingly, were immensely shaken after the experience, and recounted how terrified and scared they felt as the bullets flew on their sides and above their heads. Duku Jakesika, in a powerful statement, said,
“This is an assault on our very lives. The CRPF has no right to shoot at us without any provocation. Villagers bathing in a stream are not Maoists. Little children are not Maoists. These are our mountains, our forests, our land. Because of the CRPF, today, we cannot roam around freely in our own area. We do not feel safe anymore, we have to live in fear and insecurity. Our lives do not matter to the state, they can kill us whenever or wherever.”
This incident in Batudi is indeed a gross violation of national and international human and children’s rights. It is however, one of many similar incidents of CRPF atrocities in the Niyamgiri mountains. CRPF’s ‘combing’ operations have been generating immense fear and insecurity amongst the Dongria Kond, and threatening people’s lives, livelihood and culture. On 5th June in Kesarpadi village, a meeting of Dongrias from various villages was held to discuss on the gram sabha process ordained by the Supreme Court. In the meeting, a Dongria woman, in an interview with Oriya journalist, Amitabh Patra, narrated the following experience of CRPF atrocities,
“Few days back we were gathering forest products near our village. At that time so many armed forces arrived and they pointed guns at us and surrounded us. They started asking “where is Lada (the tribal leader)? Where have you hidden the maoists ? Where have you hidden the weapons? Why are you opposing mining?” Some one from the behind yelled – ‘If you resist the mining you will be killed like dogs’…………….We do not want such development where our lives are threatened every moment by the armed forces! We kept some weapons to safeguard our selves and our crops from wild animals. We do not want to kill the animals, but to drive them away. Occasionally when these animals attack or come too close to us we get killed. They (CRPF) came and barged into our houses, took away our belongings, threw our stored food grains and cooked food, took away our worship weapons and the guns we kept for our protection from wild animals. We have been living and preserving the mountains and the soil and everything around us since centuries. You can see us living in harmony with nature. But since past ten years our peace and life has been disturbed by the company and police. Since the armed forces presence our freedom to move around in our mountains has been restricted. We are living in a state of fear”
The video of the women’s interview can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5D7FAUhNQg&feature=youtu.be . She did not want to reveal her name or village in fear of retribution by the armed forces. She felt without her name and village, it would be difficult for the CRPF to easily locate her, since she lived in the villages inside the forests.
Such atrocities and gross violations by the CRPF are threatening the existence, livelihood, mobility and freedom of the Dongria Kond. The Dongria Kond only live in the Niyamgiri mountains, and such immense repression by the CRPF and the atmosphere of fear and vulnerability generated by this are violations of international standards and protocols for protection of tribal groups.
We demand an immediate enquiry by the Orissa Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights into these violations by the CRPF in the Niyamgiri mountains. These inhuman atrocities need to be immediately stopped, especially in the context of the democratic process of conducting gram sabhas for determining Dongria’s religious, cultural and habitat rights that has been initiated by the Supreme Court judgement on the Niyamgiri mining case. No democratic process can be truly free and fair, in a context of such repression and violation of the Dongria’s basic human rights.
We look forward to hearing from you at the earliest and hope that immediate action will be taken on this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Samarendra Das, Activist, Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti and Foil Vedanta (London)
Devangana Kalita, Independent Researcher and Activist, New Delhi.
Amitabh Patra, Journalist and Activist, Orissa.