On Thursday, the home ministry suspended the registration that allowed Greenpeace to take foreign contributions for its activism in India. Seven of its bank accounts were frozen. A government notice said the NGO's activities "prejudicially affected the economic interest" of India.
This is the latest chapter in a continuing battle between the Indian government and the environmental NGO, which has come to to be focussed on the mobilisation carried out by Greenpeace in the forests of Mahan in Madhya Pradesh.
Every year in March, the tribal residents of the Mahan forest in Madhya Pradesh gather mahua fruits falling off trees and sell them to make a living. But this year, as they waited for the collection season to begin, there was a threat real looming over them: the Indian government was considering auctioning mining rights to a coal block in the region that is bound to have ruinous effects on local communities.
It was this danger and these people that Priya Pillai wanted to bring attention to as an activist with Greenpeace. In January, Pillai was offloaded from a flight to the United Kingdom where she was scheduled to testify before a British parliamentary committee on the impact that a coal mining project would have on the tribal population of Singrauli near the Mahan forest. The project had been initially allocated to the Essar group. But the allocation was cancelled last year by the Supreme Court, along with 200 other coal mines, following which the government had initiated auctions of the mines.
The government declared Pillai’s mission “anti-national” and claimed in an affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court that Pillai’s testimony before the British committee would have been “prejudicial” to India’s interests and foreign investments in India.
Ironically, a few days later, the government decided not to put the coal mine up for auction as the project had not received environmental approvals.
Meanwhile in Mahan, tribal villages were waiting the mahua collection season to begin.
Over the years, the fragrant mahua has become not just a primary source of food for Singrauli’s tribal communities but also their chief source of livelihood. A month of living in the forests and collecting the fruit allows a household to make Rs 40,000 in a season.
In this series of photographs, Greenpeace photographer Harikrishna Katragadda captures the many moods of the mahua collection season in Mahan.
For the locals, the mahua tree is not just a source for liquor and laddus. Every part of the tree is used by them, some for medicinal purposes such as the treatment of tuberculosis, snake bites and infections.
Mahan’s mahua collectors are unsure of their fate. But if the block eventually gets environment approvals from the Central government, it could destroy five lakh trees and put the livelihoods of 50,000 villagers at risk.
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This is the latest chapter in a continuing battle between the Indian government and the environmental NGO, which has come to to be focussed on the mobilisation carried out by Greenpeace in the forests of Mahan in Madhya Pradesh.
Every year in March, the tribal residents of the Mahan forest in Madhya Pradesh gather mahua fruits falling off trees and sell them to make a living. But this year, as they waited for the collection season to begin, there was a threat real looming over them: the Indian government was considering auctioning mining rights to a coal block in the region that is bound to have ruinous effects on local communities.
It was this danger and these people that Priya Pillai wanted to bring attention to as an activist with Greenpeace. In January, Pillai was offloaded from a flight to the United Kingdom where she was scheduled to testify before a British parliamentary committee on the impact that a coal mining project would have on the tribal population of Singrauli near the Mahan forest. The project had been initially allocated to the Essar group. But the allocation was cancelled last year by the Supreme Court, along with 200 other coal mines, following which the government had initiated auctions of the mines.
The government declared Pillai’s mission “anti-national” and claimed in an affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court that Pillai’s testimony before the British committee would have been “prejudicial” to India’s interests and foreign investments in India.
Ironically, a few days later, the government decided not to put the coal mine up for auction as the project had not received environmental approvals.
Meanwhile in Mahan, tribal villages were waiting the mahua collection season to begin.
Over the years, the fragrant mahua has become not just a primary source of food for Singrauli’s tribal communities but also their chief source of livelihood. A month of living in the forests and collecting the fruit allows a household to make Rs 40,000 in a season.
In this series of photographs, Greenpeace photographer Harikrishna Katragadda captures the many moods of the mahua collection season in Mahan.
For the locals, the mahua tree is not just a source for liquor and laddus. Every part of the tree is used by them, some for medicinal purposes such as the treatment of tuberculosis, snake bites and infections.
Mahan’s mahua collectors are unsure of their fate. But if the block eventually gets environment approvals from the Central government, it could destroy five lakh trees and put the livelihoods of 50,000 villagers at risk.