The wanton and violent annihilation of ancient ecosystems and communities in east-central India for mining projects, catering to short-term greed rather than meaningful development, is not widely recognised. At the centre of this story is Vedanta, a company that abuses an ancient name to mask its iniquities and pursuit of bauxite, across Odisha’s mountains. 

Defeated in 2013 over its plans to mine bauxite from Niyamgiri, through Supreme Court-mandated gram sabhas that voted unanimously against it, Vedanta has had to buy bauxite from elsewhere to supply its Lanjigarh refinery: from Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Australia and since 2018, from another mountain, Kodingamali. Bauxite is carried from here in cargo trucks, spreading dust and danger through villages along the route.    

Tijmali (known as Sijimali in the Kond Adivasi language) is one of the great bauxite-capped mountains of south Odisha, spanning the border of Rayagada and Kalahandi districts. In February 2023, Vedanta acquired mining rights to its bauxite deposit – estimated at 311 million tonnes (mt) to be mined at 9mt per year for 30 years. Villagers for miles around oppose this decision. They have already witnessed the devastation caused by existing mines nearby and know the history of three other movements aimed at preventing bauxite mining in Gandhamardan, Baplamali (Baphlimali) and Niyamgiri. The Gandhamardan movement of the 1980s succeeded; the Kashipur movement on Baplamali mining was eventually defeated after ten years of police repression and Niyamgiri, as mentioned above, was won but remains under pressure.

Resistance movement and the state response

The Tijmali movement follows this tradition and is characterised by remarkable solidarity between Adivasi and Dalit communities. In 2023, they jointly founded the Maa Mati Mali Surakhya Manch (Mother Earth-Mountain Protection Platform) to protect Tijmali, Majingmali (earmarked for Vedanta) and Kutrumali (over which Adani obtained rights). Women’s participation has been integral from the beginning, with key leaders such as Medha Patkar risking arrest to show their support. Women have also been central in establishing tent blockades to prevent the construction of access roads in mountains. Since May 2025, a community has prevented the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha (IDCO) from constructing a three kms access road up Tijmali. 

Residents of Talampadar village standing together on the morning after the 21 overnight arrests, Photo: Malika Singh.

Meanwhile, the state’s response has been increasingly violent. On April 3, 2026, the Rayagada sub-collector imposed a curfew to break a blockade, but around 300 women and men from a dozen villages refused to budge, manning it in relay. On April 6, police staged a night-time attack on Kantamal, one of the ‘resistance’ villages. Over 100 policemen and masked ‘goondas’ arrived around 3 am, firing tear gas bombs that set fire to thatched homes. Over 70 people were severely injured, a cow was killed and cash and gold jewellery stolen.

This followed a similarly violent pre-dawn raid on Talampadar village on March 11, in which 21 people were forcibly arrested, including a pregnant woman and elderly women. Permanent police surveillance of hamlets has since become the norm, compounding the blatant fabrication of ‘consent’ at coerced public hearings in 2023 and the systematic trampling of pro-tribal and environmental legislation. A Bharatiya Janata Party MP Malvika Devi, along with other political leaders, have demanded an inquiry into the April attack and called for the principle of Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) to be upheld.

Extractivism in India

India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, who laid down the ‘Panchsheel Principles’, promoted a ‘hands-off’ tribal policy, asserting Adivasis’ right to develop ‘according to their own genius.’ Yet his government simultaneously initiated a new degree of industrialisation in tribal areas, including mega-dams, mines and metal factories, displacing tens of thousands of people in Odisha alone. The Hirakud dam project (1948-1957), the Indal aluminium smelter it supplied and the Rengali dam built for Rourkela steel plant, displaced thousands and led to considerable violence. These and other mega-projects initiated a form of human sacrifice: Adivasi citizens’ well-being was sacrificed at the altar of economic development, which is yet to yield the benefits promised.

After India’s new economic and mining policies in 1991-93, mining and metal factories escalated sharply.........

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