India, Kalahandi District, Orissa: Forcible Eviction of 35 Adivasi Families from Kinari village in Lanjigarh block

On February 01, 2004, 35 Adivasis (indigenous people of India) households were forcibly evicted from the village of Kinari in Lanjigarh block, Kalahandi district of the Indian state of Orissa. They were evicted by the people of the company Sterlite Industries India Limited and the local police, to make way for bauxite mining and refinery activity on the Niyamgiri hills in Southern Orissa. The Adivasis are solely dependent on these hills and the forests for their livelihood. Eviction and alienation from their land will lead to hunger and starvation. Furthermore mining would also dry up rivers, streams and ground water in the area and toxic from the red-mud would leach into the soil making it infertile and useless.  

International action is urgently needed to halt forcible evictions and to safeguard the right of the Adivasis to the land and forests, which is their major source of livelihood. Please write polite letters to the caretaker government of Orissa with a copy to the Prime Minister of India, requesting them to stop the evictions and alienation of the Adivasis from their land.