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The South
Asian Life & Times - SALT |
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Contents Adventure
Art
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Dongria Kondh
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The close of 2013 brought
us some surprises – among them the meteoric rise of the Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) and the more-than-meteoric rise of Arvind Kejriwal – the newly
appointed Chief Minister of Delhi.
He is seen as a hero of the times -
despite his imaginative fashion statement – a scarf tucked under his
text-heavy white cap.
He is indeed a people’s man – rode on a
metro for his swearing –in ceremony; refuses to live in a sprawling Lutyen’s
bungalow – wants a modest government flat instead; and refuses security
cover. He is fighting corruption, and fighting for the much-needed women’s
security. This is music to one’s ears. The start to 2014 was
almost blessed. What a triumph for the Dongria Kondh! Their decade-long
battle with the mining giant Vedanta was resolved in their favour with the
support of the Government of India. The bauxite-rich Niyamgiri Hill
(Odisha), held sacred by the Dongria, is now safe from Vedanta’s
billion-dollar mining ambitions.
They became India’s first tribal community
ever to be allowed to hold a referendum - their explicit ‘No’ to mining was
upheld by the government. We rejoice in their victory. One hopes the
extraordinary cultural sensitivity shown by the Supreme Court of India and
the Ministry of Environment & Forests, will also extend towards other tribal
communities – especially the Jarawa – whose dwindling numbers have turned
them into a tourist curiosity in the Andamans.
SALT
supports the ‘Proud not Primitive’ campaign that challenges prejudices
against tribal peoples. We have carried two fascinating adventure stories in
this issue – one is the 36,000km-long overland journey from the Arctic to
the Antarctic by the intrepid traveller Akhil Bakshi and the other on the
newly opened Great Himalaya Trail in Nepal – a network of trails amidst the
highest mountains in the world. Wish you a great year
ahead.
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