Identity, Power, and Development: The Kondhs in Orissa, India

Abstract

This study is an attempt to examine and understand the nature of the nexus between the state, multinational companies (MNCs) and international financial institutions (IFIs) in the context of development projects and the latter's impact on tribal and indigenous peoples. I do this with a case study of the alumina refinery project at Lanjigarh, in the Kalahandi district of Orissa, India. Vedanta Limited, an Indian MNC listed on the London stock exchange, is executing the project, which involves setting up a refinery capable of handling one million ton of alumina and a 75-megawatt captive power plant. The company has also proposed an investment of Rs 40,000 million (US$800 million) to extract three million tons per annum of bauxite , of which 50 per cent is for export. The mines of the project are located on the Niyamgiri mountain range, adjacent to the refinery and a heavily forested area. The people affected by the project are the Kondhs, especially the Dongaria Kondhs, who number less than 6000 as per the 1991 census (see Figure 9.1). The problem under study is developed along three axes. First, the nature and distribution of power among key institutional actors and how it is deployed in the conception and execution of development projects affecting indigenous peoples. Here, an analysis is provided of how IFIs and MNCs influence and act on the state which, in turn, promotes and facilitates their interests. The state's relationship with indigenous peoples, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other civil society organizations is also assessed here. The second axis examines how state policies, MNC practices , and IFI initiatives lead to simultaneous and contrary developments depending on where one trains one's lens: a degree of disempowerment and fragmentation coexists alongside evidence of empowerment, cohesion, and politicization leading to articulation of identities. Finally, the study explores lines along which indigenous peoples conceive and articulate their identities , in particular the role of state policies and development plans as well as the attitudes and practices of IFIs and MNCs in shaping the expressions, forms, and content of identity. S. Sawyer et al. (eds.), The Politics of Resource Extraction