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131<br />

cent from the previous year. 251 The most important minerals<br />

in the state are coal, bauxite, chromite, iron ore, manganese<br />

ore, limestone and dolomite. Together they constitute 99.2<br />

per cent of the state’s total mineral production.<br />

In 2007-08, there were 227 reporting mines in the state. The<br />

total mine lease area covers 721,323 ha of land. This inclu<strong>des</strong><br />

over 16,795 ha of forestland which has been officially diverted<br />

for mining. 252<br />

NALCO conveyor belt (Photo by Samata)<br />

The major source of bauxite in Orissa is found in Koraput<br />

district, which produces 98.82 per cent of the state’s total<br />

bauxite production. The remaining 1.18 per cent of bauxite<br />

is found in Sundergarh district. 253 Fifty per cent of the<br />

state’s adivasis lives in these two districts. Damanjodi is a<br />

small town in Koraput district. The vast majority of the<br />

population of Damanjodi are employees of the National<br />

Aluminium Company (NALCO), a public sector enterprise<br />

of the Government of India, which is the world’s seventh<br />

largest producer of aluminium. NALCO operates Asia’s<br />

largest aluminium complex, which comprises bauxite mines,<br />

alumina refining operations, smelting plants and power<br />

generation. The NALCO mines have bauxite reserves<br />

expected to last for 120 years. Despite this, Koraput is<br />

still classified as a ‘backward district’ by the government<br />

and 83.8 per cent of the population here live below the<br />

poverty line. 254<br />

With the inception of the New Economic Policy, the<br />

Government of Orissa has begun inviting both national<br />

and multinational companies to extract mineral resources<br />

in the state. The number of companies who have signed<br />

Memorandum of Understandings to set up steel plants in<br />

the state has increased to 50, including the South Korean<br />

multinational Pohan Iron and Steel Company (POSCO),<br />

which has agreed to construct a Rs. 580 billion steel plant near<br />

Paradip port. This will be the largest FDI in India’s history. 255<br />

However, the local population in these areas, who are mostly<br />

SCs and STs, are resisting these projects, fearing displacement<br />

and a loss of livelihoods. 256 Orissa is an example of how every<br />

possible corporate crime and human rights violation happen<br />

when mining is involved and how a state’s doom is led by the<br />

havoc created by such large-scale mining.<br />

The region of Lanjigarh, in Kalahandi district, has come<br />

under severe pressure from mining development in recent<br />

years and is now the site of one of India’s most high profile<br />

mining struggles. In 2003, an agreement was signed between<br />

the Government of Orissa and the British Vedanta Group<br />

to establish a bauxite mine and alumina refinery in the<br />

Niyamgiri hills. However, the project has come under intense<br />

scrutiny and opposition from local communities, NGOs and<br />

environmental activists. Lanjigarh is the home of the Dongria<br />

Kondh tribe, with a population of 7,752. The community<br />

is objecting to the refinery project, which will displace them<br />

from their indigenous habitat and <strong>des</strong>troy their traditional<br />

forms of livelihood.<br />

That the government has entertained mining in Lanjigarh<br />

even while the existing adivasi struggles in neighbouring<br />

Kasipur of Koraput districts where the Utkal Alumina<br />

International Limited (UAIL) project has been facing fierce<br />

opposition on similar grounds and was also witness to police<br />

firing and death of adivasis speaks of the brutal disregard to<br />

people’s voices of dissent.<br />

Displacement for mining activities is a major problem in<br />

Orissa. There are no up-to-date figures to reveal the number<br />

of people who have been displaced in the state for mining.<br />

However, between 1951 and 1995, around 100,000 people<br />

251. Ministry of Mines, Annual Report 2008-09.<br />

252. Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 234, dated 20.10.2008, Selected State-wise Forest Land Diverted for Mining by Ministry of Environment and Forests in<br />

India (25.10.1980 to 30.09.2008).<br />

253. Department of Information and Public Relations, Government of Orissa, Orissa Review, November 2007.<br />

254. Census of India 2001<br />

255. Domain-b.com, Orissa steel project back on track, says POSCO, 27 August 2009, http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_p/posco/20090827_steel_<br />

project.html, uploaded: 10 September 2009.<br />

256. Prajna Paramita Mishra, Second Colonialisation: Mining Induced Displacement in Orissa, Research Scholar, CESS, Hyderabad.

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