Cultural genocide and the rhetoric of sustainable mining in East India

In mining projects and metal factories proliferating in tribal areas of eastern central India, a gross disparity is evident between the dispossession and violence experienced by tribal communities on the one hand, and the rhetoric of 'sustainable development' put out by mining companies through public relations companies and the media on the other. While a large section of India's middle classes accept and identify with this rhetoric, grassroots movements of resistance to industrial displacement are gathering strength. 'Sustainable mining' is a concept promoted by mining companies through the International Council on Mining and Metals through its Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development report. Yet long-term sustainability is the essence of the tribal communities being dispossessed of their land and resources, and a 'reality gap' exists between the rhetoric of development and events on the ground. Poverty is increasing, and 'cultural genocide' is a fitting description of the displacement process experienced by hundreds of tribal communities, while the war against the Maoists is in many ways a classic 'resource war'.