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Corporate Swindling amounts to Human Rights violations
Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan | 14-Jun-2025
Two days ago, I came across a YouTube video in which a group of human rights activists are campaigning in a bus in Chennai. The motive of the campaign was to sensitise the common people about corporate companies looting the forests in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha. One of the activists invites the public to attend a seminar organised on June 14, 2025 in Chennai on this burning issue. The activist’s fiery speech was indeed inspiring.
It is said that Jal (water), Jameen (land) and Jungle (forest) are the resources belonging to the tribal/indigenous communities who have been living in the forest areas for many generations. Today, the tribal communities are losing their right over these resources.
Where and how?
- Coal mining and coal use have been the most significant cause of global warming. It damages the environment and affects the lives, livelihood and culture of the indigenous people who live in a coal mining area. Resistance and rejection have been strong among those people. A people’s movement in Jharkhand resists an open-pit corporate coal mine. It is sad to note that the corporate companies aiming at profit try to kill tribal movements.
- “When the coal mine was dug, the jungle and the fields were destroyed forever. The routine of taking cattle for grazing stopped, and the hills and waterfalls sunk into a hole in the ground”, said a tribal leader. Because of the ecological sensitivity of the region, the federal environment ministry declared Hasdeo Aranya a ‘no-go zone for mining’ in 2010. However, this status was revoked in 2011, and two years later, the first coal mine in the Hasdeo forests - the Parsa East Kete Basen (PEKB) - began operations with Adani Enterprises as its mine developer and operator.
Over the past 18 months, more than 40,000 trees have already been cut down in Hasdeo’s rich forests, where a total of 1 million trees are set to be felled for coal mining. These forests are home to precious trees like sal, mahua, bija, and tendu, along with endangered flora and fauna. The mining operations have also put the historic Ramgarh hills and Sita cave at risk, further intensifying the environmental crisis.
- Deep in the jungles of central India, forest-dwelling tribes are marking the one-year anniversary of a continuous agitation against a new coal mine to be developed by the Adani Group. These woods are said to be the largest contiguous stretch of dense forestland in central India, spanning 170,000 hectares or 1700 sq. km (65.6 sq. miles) and often called the "lungs of Chhattisgarh". They are also home to the proposed Lemru Elephant Reserve.
It is shocking to that a 6-month-old girl was killed and her mother was hurt in firing between security forces and Naxalites in Bijapur in Chhattisgarh. The fight is essentially to clear the tribals from their forests. In order to have a hold on the tribal land filled with natural resources, the corporate companies brand the innocent tribal communities as Maoists and try to harass them in various ways.
CPI (ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya alleges that the tribal lands are being looted in the country under “pro-corporate” policies. “Today, the looting of Adivasi land in the country has become an organised process. Governments are undermining legal protections like CNT-SPT under pro-corporate policies,” he said while addressing the national council meeting of the Adivasi Sangharsh Morcha (ASM).
- Senior CPIM leader Brinda Karat has accused domestic and foreign companies of exploiting tribal land in Jharkhand's Santal Pargana region. She claimed that these companies, with the help of local brokers, are violating the Santal Pargana Tenancy Act, which aims to protect tribal land.
Rythu Coolie Sangham Andhra Pradesh State president Simhadri Jhansi alleges that the corporate companies are extracting mineral wealth indiscriminately in tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh with the relaxation of norms under Forest Conservation Act-2023. “The relaxation has paved the way for indiscriminate mining activity and tribals would retaliate if the government failed to distribute ‘pattas’ and protect their rights”, said Simhadri Jhansi.
The 330-acre multi-purpose port near Chennai - originally built by Indian conglomerate Larson & Toubro (L&T) - was acquired by Adani Ports in 2018. The company later proposed to expand it more than 18-fold to an area of 6,110 acres by claiming portions of land along the coast.
- The fishing community say that the port expansion would submerge their lands and wreak havoc on their livelihoods. The expansion has met with resistance from environmentalists as well, who claim the plan would lead to massive coastal erosion and a loss of biodiversity, especially of the indigenous fish species and the crabs, prawns and small turtles found in the region.
Possible solutions: Realising the ecological imbalance, several Indian companies are now funding and implementing large-scale afforestation projects as part of their CSR activities. Here are some notable examples:
- The Tata Group has initiated several tree plantations drives across India, with a focus on degraded lands and urban spaces. Tata Steel’s “Green School Project” educates students on environmental conservation while involving them in tree plantation activities.
- ITC’s social forestry initiative has transformed over 900,000 acres of degraded land into thriving green spaces. The program not only increases forest cover but also generates sustainable livelihoods for rural communities.
- Reliance has invested in reforestation programs that aim to enhance biodiversity, promote sustainable farming practices, and improve community well-being.
- Infosys, as part of its carbon neutrality commitment, has undertaken extensive afforestation projects to offset its carbon footprint. The company also collaborates with NGOs to increase green cover in rural and urban areas.
- The Aditya Birla Group conducts CSR activities that include tree plantation drives involving local communities, ensuring their active participation and creating a sense of ownership.
These small efforts could go on. In addition to these efforts, both state and federal governments must stop allowing corporations to exploit natural resources. We are only the custodians. Hence, it is our collective responsibility to protect Jal, Jameen and Jungle.
(The author is a freelance journalist who writes columns on social and religious issues. He can be reached at mlsatyan55@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal)
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