Paper short abstract:

The micro-movement at Lanjigarh became globalised because it had powerful adversaries like a MNC and the mighty Indian state that had ushered in the FDI to mining sector because of its neo-liberal economic policy. The paper articulates the paradoxes and unanticipated outcomes of neo-liberalism.

Paper long abstract:

The Anti-Vedanta movement at Lanjigarh, Kalahandi had rocked the interior jungle district of Odisha in India. It was a fiercely fought movement (2002-2014) by the Adivsis/ Kondhs against State and Vedanta Plc the mining based metal MNC licensed under neo-liberal policy. The project had displaced 302 Adivasi families and the MNC was to mine in the Niyamgiri mountains to which the Adivasis were attached for livelihood/ shifting cultivation and religious-cultural purposes (worshipping the sacred mountain that maintains the pristine ecosystem). The displaced hence rallied around issues of cultural threats, environmental threats and adequate R&R measures against loss of livelihood and natural habitat. These issues form together Adivasi identity. The paper analyses:

(i) the threats posed to Adivasi identity by the modernization process ushered in by the project. Having shown empirically the endangered, cultural patterns, social relations and economic organisations among the Adivasis, the paper highlights the serious environmental and ecological threats posed by the project. The micro-movement was globalized by attracting environmentalists globally.

(ii) the contradictions of the contemporary development discourse based on neo-liberalism. The state imposes the development with its right to develop its subjects (by over riding the subjects' right to experience development differently). The civil society guided the movement to ensure implementation of relevant legal provisions like, 5th schedule of the constitution, Article 244 (i), PESA 1996, FRA 2006 and Odisha scheduled areas act 1956 meant to protect Adivasis.

(iii) how the state is being forced to share space with the civil society as outcome of neo-liberalism .