Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups native to a land or region. Usually they have a close relation to the land and live in consonance with nature.

They believe that land and people are inseparable and interdependent. It is this aspect of their lifestyle-the intertwining of their lives with their natural surrounding that are a subject of fascination to modern man.  Today at a time when man is moving further away from direct contact with nature, a study of people with a different mindset is not only a subject of fascination but an important learning as well. And this is just what inspired S. Davidson Sargunam, an environmental educationist from India to study the ‘Kaani Tribe’.

In this article he shares with us the work he is doing with ‘Kaani’ tribe: what he is learning from them and about his rehabilitative work.

 Kaani Tribe : A study in environmental ethics

by S. Davidson Sargunam

Growing up in the lush estates of Kerala, South India, where my parents worked, I got an early and wide exposure to forest ecology. My parents taught me how to live safely amidst animals and reptiles in the dense forests. When I was growing up, trekking up the forests became a favourite activity of mine. I liked to explore everything about these forests: animals, birds, reptiles and forest vegetations. My guides during these treks used to be the tribal people living there. So from early on I developed an intimacy with them.

Thus it was only natural for me to take this profession. I had read about the concerns raised by sociologists and folklorists about the disappearance of traditional tribal cultures and the loss of indigenous knowledge and wisdom in several areas especially their strong environmental ethic.

What does ‘environmental ethics’ really mean? Ethics refers to a sense of fairness, of right and wrong, and encompasses virtues such as honesty, compassion and loyalty in a way that benefits society.  Environmental ethics then, relates to the harmony in the relationship between humans and the natural environment. The ethics of sustainability ensures that in a world where individuals have to compete for resources, human beings learn to cooperate with each other and the rest of nature for the mutual wellbeing of all.

Realizing how modernization is affecting the tribes and their lifestyles, I felt there was an urgent need to study and document various aspects of the tribal culture. With this in mind I decided to study the ‘Kaani’ tribe.

The  Kaani Tribe

The Kaani tribe lives in settlements in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in South India. (Kanyakumari and Thirunelveli districts of Tamil Nadu and Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala in the Western Ghats region). They live in areas which are rich repositories of biological diversity, classified as ‘Hot Spots’ which are in remote, inaccessible forests and hilly terrains. They maintain their culture in the deep forests with unique environmental ethics and intrinsic value systems, which are models for others.

Initially I went with forest officials who are known to the tribe. Even though the Kaani people are friendly, they have an unspoken secrecy or veil beyond which they do not let outsiders into their life. Thus while I have known them for over 20 years now, staying with them is still not permitted and also not feasible. So I learnt about them by camping nearby and visiting them during the day and today you can say I am very much one of them: as much as they can allow outsiders to be.

A Kaani Tribesman wearing a hat made from the leaves of areca nut

The first thing one notices about them is how they use the natural resources in forests with minimum destruction. They are nature worshippers and revere the forest and its animate and inanimate inhabitants. They secure their food, fodder, medicines, tools and all other requirements for their sustenance from the forests.

Because of their close relationship with the forests the ‘Kaani’ tribe possesses inherent knowledge about the animals. The Western Ghats is one of the major habitats of the Asian elephant and the forests near Kanyakumari are considered as an elephant corridor. Due to the illegal demand for ivory, elephants often become the victims of poachers.  The Indian government is initiating efforts to save the elephants. The Kaani tribes have an inherent intuition to track elephants. Because of this the Tamil Nadu Forest Department engages the Kaani tribe to track elephants, monitor their habitats, breeding patterns and vigilantly watch their movements.

Bamboo Hut

For their housing needs they make use of the bamboo growing in the forests. They reside in small bamboo huts, where the entire infrastructure is established by bamboo poles, processed bamboo walls with reed or grass roof tops. Of late, however, they have incorporated longer lasting roofing like asbestos sheets. As with most of us, the tribe too like to believe that longer lasting modern housing materials are superior to traditional ones. Yes, asbestos sheets last longer for about 3 or 4 years but are definitely not very healthy.

Sustenance:

They get their food by hunting, harvesting or collecting forest produce and sharing the food among the community. They collect fruits like jackfruit, mango, edible green leaves, mushrooms, tubers, and hunt honey. They cultivate coconut, areca nut, banana, pineapple, and vegetables, mainly tubers. Tapioca used to their staple food but now they finding it impossible to grow them because they are being raided by animals. Deforestation has resulted in less forest sharing space for the tribes and animals.

A bamboo pen for chicken to roost safely at night

The land is fertile, and the people don’t use any artificial fertilizers. They do not use any pest control. Because their gardens are a manageable in size, large scale attacks by pests-the kind that threaten conventional farms covering vast acres of land is rare. For common types of garden pests they use local folk remedies to keep them out. Their main threat comes from increasing attacks by wild animals like elephants, wild boars, porcupines, monkeys, bats, Malabar squirrels and sloth bears. They use preventive methods to keep them away.

The Kaani people cook using fire wood. Cooking is done during evening or night as that is the only free time. Their day starts with Kanji (porridge). They also carry this in a vessel to their work spot. At noon depending on what is available it could be Kanji again or cooked rice or cooked tapioca. The men used to take liquor in the evening- a practice which is coming down due to government efforts.

Main Dish:Tapioca, Side dish:coconut gratings with a wild chilli, and black tea.They use teak leaves instead of plates.

The Government also helps to supplement their food by giving 35kgs of rice per family per year. They eat freshly cooked rice in the evening and put away the remaining rice in cool water to eat as ‘kanji’ the next morning. This practice of soaking cooked rice in water overnight to be consumed the next morning is a common practice throughout Tamil Nadu and a very beneficial food. The water is to prevent decay and also facilitate fermentation. This Kanji is generally eaten on its own in the morning. During noon, lunch it is accompanied by ‘Thuvayal’- ground paste of coconut, salt and chilies. They do not consume milk as they hold the cow sacred and Cow worship is an important aspect of their beliefs. They consume black tea and other herbal concoctions.

Earlier the people had domestic chicken (country breeds), but now many are being hunted by wild cats during night, by mongoose, kites, falcons and snakes during day. So, many have stopped rearing them.

Knowledge of Plants:

Medicinal Plant - Rawulfia species.Used in treatment of hyper tension, in indigenous medicine (Sidha)

The Kaani tribe possess a rich knowledge of Ethnobotany. They treat their diseases by extracting green resources from the forests. Plants are used for food, medicine, divination, building, tools, clothing, and rituals and in social life. They do not share or reveal their inherited traditional knowledge of medicinal system to others, as they believe that by doing so the medicinal formula will lose its efficacy.

Music

Magico-religious healing is an inherent part of the Kaani tribe culture. The community has a form of chanting of songs to the accompaniment of a traditional musical equipment-the ‘kokkarae’. They believe that the chants chase away malevolent spirits responsible for physical illness and ailments. The musical chant is led by the clan physician and usually starts at dusk and ends by dawn. It is repeated by a selected group of tribesmen well-versed in the process of chanting.

Most indigenous groups the world over have their own systems of singing and chanting.

Political system

The tribe adopts an egalitarian value system. No one claims a superior status, nor does the community allot a superior position to any one based on social, economic,cultural and literary criteria.

The tribal community administration is governed by a triumvirate, having a headman named Mootukaani, a secretary called Vizhikaani and a physician named Pilathi. The triumvirate administers the community in decision-making, judgement, punishment, celebrations, rituals and maintains the integrity and cohesion of the community. They solve their own problems, issues and disputes. They do not allow outsiders to interfere in their problem solving nor do they seek their aid. Major decisions are made at the community level.

Conclusion

Harvesting wild mushrooms

I respect the culture of the ‘kaani’ tribe. But at the same time I can see how modernization is affecting them. It is becoming difficult for them to continue their old ways of living. At one time, they lived undisturbed in the forests and had access to the abundant forest resources for food and sustenance. But things are changing now. Due to the rapid decline of the forests and wildlife in the region, there are now strict forest laws in place. Forest laws strictly ban extraction of rare forest produce. The tribals follow the law sincerely. This means they can no longer continue their old ways of hunting down wild animals. So I encourage them to look for alternatives. I introduced mushroom cultivation. Initially they did not agree to grow them because they thought it’s difficult to culitivate mushroom. They believed that mushroom grows only if lightning flashes on full moon or new moon days. When I cultured it in front of them, they were motivated to do the same.

At the same time, I do not wish to glamorise their life. There are now schools nearby but so far they kept away from formal education. I am trying to help them by removing their concerns about ‘education’. Since it is something they have not been exposed to before many have apprehensions about school. Many girls after attaining puberty are made to marry. I am encouraging them to study and delay the marriageable age. Breaking a community tradition is not easy. But through constant efforts, counseling, exposing them to educational institutions in towns, I am motivating them to look for better means of sustenance and a better quality of life. We explain how child marriage affects the health of the girls as well as the babies born to them. The efforts are slowly bearing fruit. One  success story is a girl who pursuing a college degree in botany.

The Kaani tribe is inevitably facing transition, in all aspects of life. The forces of globalization, free trade and the communication revolution have made indelible impacts in their lives. The impact is felt more severely in the younger generation which is not interested in their culture. Consequently, erosion and dilution of traditional ethics and values espoused by their ancestors is observed, and this is why documentation is so important. On the other hand, some influences from the external world can be beneficial to them. When the forces of change are inevitable, they can become better equipped to respond to them.

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About the Author: 

S. Davidson, a student of English literature with a post graduate degree in Education is a man who wears many hats. He has a diploma in mass communication and now doing his MPhil in Folklore. Davidson is deeply passionate about the environment and environmental issues and is involved in a number of activities to create awareness among students, tribes, and the general public. For his work in the field of environment he was awarded the NCERT National Award, in 2000 for ‘Imparting Environmental Awareness by innovative teaching methods’.

He may be contacted at ssdavidson9[at]gmail.com or at 23 Cave Street, Nagercoil-629 001, Tamil Nadu, India

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This is Mumbai. The city of dreams. This is where people from all across India come to chase their dreams and very often, they chase them successfully.

This is Mumbai where I live. Behind this water tanker is my building. It used to be a rather green area. Then the builder traded each clump of trees for a building. Now, there are shrubs, a few, and a lot of dust.
Dust that never settles down.

The rumble of these antique trucks kicks up the dust till it hangs sort of permanently in mid air.

These trucks are water tankers. My building receives several of those every single day. They carry water mercilessly pumped out of the ground. 
Today that water tanker guy said there is no more plentiful water in the ground. There will be short supply of water. (Not very different from the rest of India whose water tables are dangerously drying up according to this NASA report).

I have two 20 litre buckets of water filled with water so I can go about my daily life. The water is brown in colour. It contains the dregs of overhead cement tank, dust and I am sure microbes in millions.

I drink bottled water to help me survive acute diseases.

The coming days look tough and dry. I, like whole of India, long for the rains.

This is Mumbai. The heart of India’s development story. Mumbai – India’s answer to New York. Mumbai – India’s Shanghai. Or Dubai.

Or, a cesspool of development gone wrong?

If this is the development we are killing our tribals for, then God help us. Yes, you heard it right. India is in the midst of the ‘biggest social engineering’ that the world has ever seen. (click to read in detail Arundhati Roy’s essay) We want to dispossess and drive out countless millions who live in India. Their crime: they live on mineral rich land.

India is supposedly in the grips of Maoism. Maoists are fighting the government, and the government is driving them out. It’s all a little too convenient.

Here’s why.
All the Maoist affected areas are also the mineral rich areas.
Government has signed treaties with mining companies.
The problem is that the fifth schedule of our constitution gives rights over this land to the tribals.
But to remove the Maoists from these areas, the tribals will have to be shunted out.
No tribals, no rights. Land becomes free.
For all the tribals who stay on the land and protest that it is their land, the strategy is simple: Label them Maoists. And hunt them down.

The genocide in India has begun and if you, as a foreign journalist, want to go to places like Dantewada and see what is happening, god forbid. You will not be granted a visa. Ask your friends who work for Channel 4 and other such if what I am saying is wrong.

But of course there are 350 million people in India living in cities who fuel the consumerist fire. Who make India grow at a phenomenal 8% growth. Our government promises that we will keep growing at 8%. And we have promised a low carbon economy to the world.

Here is a story that will astound you. By 2030, our need for resources will be so high that the story above about the genocide of tribals will sound like child’s play. India will see what happened in America all those years ago when they drove out the Indians. Only magnified a million times. Or should I say 700 million times? Because that is the number of people who will need to be dispossessed of their land, their rights and their very basic right: to live.

All for development’s sake.

All for making more cities like Mumbai which have become gigantic mushrooms feeding off the nation. A mess of proportions so high that most of the people can’t scale the heights with their eyes. So they choose to look the other way.

What was that other Millennium Development goal? Gender?

We are a country where out of 8000 aborted foetuses in a day, 7999 are females. We are a country, the only country where the words female and infanticide co-exist.

Millennium Development Goals. Tell you what, development as it exists is a term which is like an expired medicine. It makes good placebo. But it can’t cure the cancer that is spreading fast through our society. We cannot have development that is based on consumerism. We need the best minds of our generation to sit down and chalk out an alternative.

What Bill Gates and Monsanto are doing in Africa is not it.

This article is by our Guest Writer, Hemant Anant Jain is a professional ad designer based in Mumbai, India. He weaves his skills as a Writer and Illustrator to tell stories that raise awareness about various environmental issues.  His websites include: The Great Indian Clearance Sale, Munna On The Run and EU Th!nk About It blog. 

Other links you may interested in:

EWTT: UN Millennium Development Goals : Short movies  Videos related to MDGs and important facts

EWTT: Endangered Tigers and the fate of the indigenous peoples: The Story of Jenabil

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Indian social workers Pushpanjali Sathpathy & Gunjan Jain highlight the real fate of tigers and the indigenous people of Simlipal Biosphere Reserve in the east Indian state of Orissa. Simlipal Biosphere Reserve was included in UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves. What is the official media account and what is the fate of the tribals who have been dislocated? Who bears the real costs of displacement, and who should in fact bear the responsibility?

Tiger at Simplipal Reserve

The latest tiger census says that there are only 1411 Royal Bengal tigers left in India. One of nature’s most feared yet revered species is on the brink of extinction. And the tiger is not just an ordinary species; the tiger is the symbol of the richness and health of the forest. But the number 1411 is a stark reminder that we have somewhere failed in protecting the tiger. The number has caused a furor in the so-called ‘tiger lobby’ and the Wildlife Department is making some last moment face-saving attempts to save the big cat. One of these last attempts is to get rid of human presence in tiger habitats on the assumption that the biggest enemy of the tiger is the human greed for the beauty of the tiger’s skin and the so-called medicinal properties of its bones, nails and teeth.

In one such effort to save the tiger Orissa’s forest authorities recently displaced 70 tribal families of the kuloh community (the official record says 61 families) from Jenabil, a village located in the core area of the Simlipal Tiger Reserve.
 
This appeared in a news story in the Times of India (India’s national newspaper) that said the people had happily moved out. It sounded like a fairy tale impossible in post-independent India’s history of the wildlife department which is marred by numerous cases of atrocities and forced evictions of forest dwellers. After years of hearing stories of how elephants were used by the Forest Department to demolish villages, the story of Jenabil happily relocating sounded unbelievable.

Simlipal Biosphere Reserve

So we hit the modern four-lane steel barricaded national highway number 5 on 15th March 2010 to meet the displaced families in the new resettlement camp. The forest dwellers are for the first time in their lives connected to the rest of the world by a road. These roads were not built for them but for the infamous extractive industries of Orissa. On our way to the resettlement camp we crossed Chandikhol, a major junction on the road connecting Sukinda, the biggest chromite mine in the country with the port town Paradip and it crossed our minds how the government has signed away thousands of hectares of forest to mining companies. Is that not bringing the tiger as well as several other rare and endangered species of flora and fauna closer to extinction than the forest dwellers? Is it not a paradox that the forest dweller, the one who lives in the forest, has to pay for the destruction of the forest by those who live outside the forest?

The real fate of the tribals

Out of the green into the dust

But the Times of India report popped back into our consciousness, after all, had not the forest dweller happily left the forest? We reached Ambadiha at 10:30pm, a village in Udala block of Mayurbhanj district where the families were resettled from Simlipal tiger reserve 8 days ago. If first impressions are to be considered as the sign of things to come then the sight that was waiting for us was the sign of a tragedy in making. Biting heat, dust and for miles together no sighting of the colour green. Just a long shiny tin shed divided into about a dozen tiny compartments that from a distance looked like a modern day cattle-shed. Hard to imagine how anyone would manage to live through the piercing tropical summer heat in this tin oven. Even harder is to imagine people who have lived in an evergreen rainforest for generations to survive in this heat chamber.

Sitting by the tin walls under the green roof

But indigenous people have indigenous survival skills and therefore the tin shed has been extended with a green shade, a roof made of leaves under which we sat and spoke to the displaced villagers. When asked why and how they were removed from Jenabil, we received several angry mixed reactions and reasons that had together compounded into the displacement. Nobody said they had happily moved out as the newspaper report had claimed. Rather people said forest officers and the police would regularly visit villages in Simplipal and book innocent tribals in false cases for sheltering Maoists. The Simlipal forest is supposedly a safe haven for the armed guerrillas of the CPI-Maoist who last year had attacked forest guards and tourists in the forest. The villagers were threatened that the men folk would be arrested if they did not agree to get displaced.

The dejection and fear among the displaced families was apparently not a new one. Life in the Simlipal Sanctuary area was full of strict restrictions by the wildlife department.

There was restriction on collecting and selling forest produce, free movement in the jungle, no healthcare and education facilities, so on and so forth. Every moment their basic human rights were being violated and they were denied a life of dignity. Always living in fear of the forest guard but not as much as of the last few tigers of Simlipal sanctuary. Despite the repressive conditions the people had abided to all these unlawful restrictions all these years because for them the forest was their home.

Water pump - looks new but doesn't work

Fear and coercion of the forest department and the police was balanced with the promise of a better tomorrow. The people were shown a pretty picture of Ambadiha where they were promised they would get all the facilities and comforts which they did not have in their villages like power and water supply, health and education facilities etc. The rehabilitation package verbally promised by the tiger project to each displaced family is farming land, land to build houses and monetary compensation in total amounting to Rs10 lakhs (USD 22,000). The collector promised to provide cooked food for 2 months. Water facility from the river through lift point would be provided. Every displaced family would be given an allowance of Rs2000 (USD 44)  for a temporary period.

But rude awakenings came in early. The people were distressed to not see a single tree or a stray bush in the vicinity. They said back in Jenabil, around this time of the year, the jungle and natural streams gave them an extremely cool and comfortable environment unlike Ambadiha. That day the tiger project authorities had stopped providing cooked food after 8 days of doing so. Also, there was just one water tanker provided everyday which was just enough for their drinking needs. People had not bathed ever since. Many have fallen ill especially the elderly and the children. The tin sheds were needless to say unbearable but the people were unable to start constructing their houses as the tiger project authorities were not allowing them to get their old wood from Jenabil.

No sign of the colour green

The displaced villagers are essentially farmers with secondary reliance on forest produce. On both counts it seems unlikely they will be able to make a living in Ambadiha. Land has been demarcated for them to cultivate but not yet formally handed over to the displaced. Even if it were done immediately it will be of little use as there is no irrigation available for the land earmarked for them. Then the closest forest from the resettled colony is 15 kms away which is being protected by another village and it is not possible for these people to have access to this jungle for their everyday fire wood collection, forget about other forest produce. The only option that remains is daily wage labour in the NREGA and if that does not work out then end up as migrant labour.

If ignorance were bliss then the displaced lot from Jenabil would have been happy as the newspaper report claimed. But ignorance of one’s rights being violated by the law keepers can never bring in the joy. The displacement of the Jenabil tribals is a blatant violation of the Forest Rights Act 2006 and the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act 2006.

Section 4 (2) (d) of the Forest Rights Act 2006 states the following as one of the conditions to be met prior to any relocation from a critical wildlife habitat –

A resettlement or alternatives package has been prepared and communicated that provides a secure livelihood for the affected individuals and communities and fulfills the requirements of such affected individuals and communities given in the relevant laws and the policy of the central government.

Further, Section 4(2)(e) requires that,

The free informed consent of the Gram Sabhas (local level government)  in the areas concerned to the proposed resettlement and the package has been obtained in writing

While Section 4(2)(f) provides that,

No resettlement shall take place until facilities and land allocation at the resettlement location are complete as per the promised package.

And, Section 38 (V) 4 of Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act 2006 states –

Subject to the provisions contained in this Act, the State government shall while preparing a Tiger Conservation Plan, ensure the agricultural, livelihood, developmental and other interests of the people living in tiger bearing forests or a tiger reserve.

During interaction with government departments, it was claimed that they have proof of consent given by the gram sabha but the villagers said the Gram Sabha had not given any formal consent.

The sub collector said the land has been demarcated but allocation will take some more time. Houses were not built prior to relocation, rather a temporary shed arrangement was provided. This arrangement is not sufficient to stay and survive for the displaced families.

Section 4(5) of the Forest Rights Act 2006 states –

Save as otherwise provided, no member of the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dweller shall be evicted or removed from the forest land under his occupation till the recognition and the verification procedure is complete

There are a large number of cases where forest officials have turned down FRA claims saying they are not applicable in the wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. In Simlipal the forest department went a step further and barred NGOs and other organizations to intervene and help the tribals of jenabil to file their FRA claims. The Village Level Worker (VLW) once managed to give the claim forms to the villagers but later there was no proper follow up. Hence, there was no filing of claims, verification and recognition of rights prior to the displacement of the tribals which is a clear violation of the Act.

38 (V) 5 (vi) of Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act 2006 states –

The facilities and land allocation at the resettlement location are provided under the said programme, otherwise their existing rights shall not be interfered with.

Forests as livelihoods for tribals

We were shown some 30 varieties of indigenous seeds of pulses, millets, crops, vegetables, and roots used or grown by the villagers in their village inside Simplipal. It was evident that it would be very difficult for them to practice the same kind of farming that they used to do in the new location. This time of the year, they could have prepared for the second crop on their original land. Now, however, they are not only jobless but have lost this season’s harvest as well. It was clear that the Project Tiger authorities had not ensured the basic amenities required for ensuring a secure livelihood before relocating the forest dwelling tribal families of Jenabil to Ambadiha.

Neighbours again after 12 years

The displaced from Jenabil have new neighbors who were once their old neighbors belonging to tribal families (23 families from Bathuri community, jenabil and 8 families from kharia community, Kabataghai) displaced in 1998 from the same Simlipal core area and settled here. When we met them, they were not at all surprised to hear the tall claims and hollow promises that the government had hardly fulfilled before displacing the families from Jenabil. They had faced the same problems, the same disappointment and disenchantment 12 years back.

The forest department and the block administration in Udala say it is the responsibility of the Project Tiger director to look into all the problems and promises of the displaced people. Since the resettled colony falls in their administration, they were trying to provide whatever facilities they could. On confronting the Forest Secretary U.N Behera in Bhubaneswar with the findings from the visit to Ambadiha and after highlighting the violations that the Project Tiger authorities have made during the relocation and rehabilitation process as well as the difficulties faced by the people relocated in Ambadiha, he promised that the FRA and WPAA will be followed properly from here on. There are plans of moving out the remaining villages in Simlipal. Now they are planning to displace Jamunagarh village in the core area. The question is if the authorities will displace more villages without first recognizing all rights of the tribals conferred by the FRA 06 and first ensuring that proper facilities in the resettlement area have been provided, or if the rights of the displaced will be recognized now.

Who are really destroying the tigers?

Protest against Vedanta mining

Tigers are an apex species and deserve the highest protection. But are the tigers being poached by tribals living in sanctuaries or rather by the powerful nexus of hunters and traders that cater to the ever demanding Chinese market for tiger products. Then, can tigers be protected by displacing tribals from the forest while signing off tiger habitats to mining companies like in the case of Niyamgiri hills in Orissa,  where Vedanta Aluminium is proposing to undertake open cast bauxite mining in an area known to be a tiger and elephant corridor? Be it Niyamgiri or Simlipal, these are cases of open violations of the FRA ’06, the only difference being that in Niyamgiri the Act is being violated for the greed of mining companies while in Simlipal it is for the protection of the tiger from human greed. In both cases tribal communities are marginalized, livelihoods are destroyed and a way of life in the forest and associated indigenous knowledge is lost forever. If tribals were the real enemies of the tigers then the only tigers left would not have been in tribal areas. Time can only say if the Simlipal tigers will be saved or not by the displacement of the tribals leaving only government forestry staff in-charge, but it is already evident that the tribals cannot be saved by relocating them in this manner.

The latest update, in the last one week, is that one middle aged man has died of heat stroke while fetching firewood from the nearest forest located 15 km away. Also a little child passed away from heatstroke in the village.

About the writers:

Puspanjali Sathpathy is a senior researcher and social worker in India, who has worked on strengthening forest livelihoods. She works with the Bhubaneswar (Orissa) based NGO called Vasundhara. Gunjan Jain is a textile designer and works with handloom weavers and handicraft artisans. She is a young social activist working independently and deeply involved in the “Save Niyamgiri” campaign.  This article originally appeared here.

Photo courtesy:

Tiger at Simlipal Reserve: Indiatzone.com
Simlipal Biosphere Reserve:  Wildboarhunt Blogspot.com
Protest against Vedanta mining:  Land Coalition.org
All other photos by Gunjan Jain

Further links you may be interested in:

1. British actress, Joanna Lumley in this Survival International video talks of the struggles of the Dongria Kondh tribe against the onslaught of the London based mining company, Vedanta

2. Hard News: Not the last battle of the Natives

3. Facebook groups: The Return of the Tiger (TROT), Save Niyamgiri and Support India’s indigenous peoples’ rights to natural & cultural resources 

4. Centre for Science and Environment India, Sunita Narain:  1411 tigers and unanswered questions 

5. VegVibe: ACRES’ Undercover Investigation Findings on Tiger Parts Trade in Singapore

6. AsiaOneNews, Bhutan : The Year of the (Threatened) Tiger

7. 2point6billion.com: India wants to work with China to save Tigers

8.  Prerna Singh Bindra : Report on impact of tigers and other wildlife in Corbett Tiger Reserve

9. Sanctuary Asia: Save our tigers

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