Odisha govt to examine 'indigenous' word in R&R policy

The state government will examine the “indigenous” word in its resettlement and rehabilitation policy 2006 after facing opposition from the industry bodies.

“We will examine why the inclusion of indigenous word in the state R&R policy is creating confusion for the industrialists in the state,” Surya Narayan Patro, State minister for revenue and disaster management told media persons on the sideline of CII roundtable on metals and minerals.

The state government has used the word as prefix to the communities in its resettlement and rehabilitation plan.

During the conference, Mukesh Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Vedanta Aluminum limited said that in the R&R policy, the state government has used the word indigenous and tribal community and the NGO (nongovernmental organisations) are using these words as their weapons.

“There is a United Nation Human Right Treaty called ILO 169 and ILO 107. India has signed the ILO 107 but didn’t signed the ILO 169 after they realized that constitution of India does not permit it,” he added.

Our constitution says we are all original habitants of India, he stated.

It may be noted that the international human rights group, Amnesty International in its report “Don’t mine us out of existence” had defined the Dongria Kondh the inhabitants of Niyamgiri Hill, where the mining project will be located as an indigenous community.

Speaking at the conference, Patro said that international aluminum lobbies are working against the Vedanta and they have engaged best of the NGOs against the company where the state government has no role to play.