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Hasdeo Arand is a forest in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh in central India. The forest is 170,000 hectares in area and is home to a diverse ecology and adivasi communities such as the Gonds. It is on top of the Hasdeo Arand coalfield in the north of Chhattisgarh. The Government of India has proposed to mine the coal, which would destroy the forest. The Hasdeo river runs through the forest. The forest comes under the Korba, Surajpur, Surguja districts of the state.

People

The Hasdeo Arand forest is estimated to be home to 10,000 people from the Gond, Oraon and other tribes. A Wildlife Institute of India report also estimated that around 60–70% of the annual income of the local communities came from forest based resources.

Ecology

The forest is home to 82 species of birds, 167 varieties of vegetation out of which 18 are considered threatened, and endangered butterfly species. The forest is a habitat and a major migratory corridor for elephants, with confirmed sightings of tiger. Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education has described it as "the largest un-fragmented forest in Central India consisting of pristine Sal and teak forests."

Hasdeo Arand coalfield

The Hasdeo Arand coalfield is spread over an area of 1,879.6 km, and comprises 23 coal blocks. Hasdeo Arand is a large coalfield with 1.369 billion tonnes of proven coal reserves and 5.179 billion of estimated coal reserves.

Mining

The coalfield was recommended to be mined in by the Chhattisgarh government in 2010 by diverting 1,898.393 hectares of forest to the Parsa East and Kanta Bavan (PEKB) coalfields which would be allotted to RRVUNL, a state owned power utility of Rajasthan. In June 2011, the forest panel under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change recommended against allowing this on the basis of the ecological value of the forest and the amount of trees to be felled, however they were overruled by the then environment minister Jairam Ramesh, who cleared the proposal. This was challenged in the National Green Tribunal which suspended the mining work in 2014, but the order was stayed by the Supreme Court, where the matter remains pending.

On April 13, 2013 Adani Enterprises announced that it's subsidiary Adani Mines would become the mine developer and operator for the PEKB coalfields under a contract with RRVUNL, giving it access to the 450 million tonnes of coal reserves of the mine. The ongoing mining has been considered to be a fait accompli as the case challenging it is still pending in the supreme court.

Coal mining was halted in the PEKB coalfields by mid-August 2022 following widespread protests against the phase 2 extension of it led by local villages that would've been displaced or affected by it.

Protests and opposition

The local communities and villages have opposed mining activities for a long time in the forest as they depend on it for their livelihood, and as the mining activities would disrupt the ecology and affect their water supply, challenging the laws and orders allowing mining to take place in the forest legally in the High Court, NGT, and the Supreme Court. They have formed protest outfits such as the "Hasdeo Arand Bachao Sankarsh Samiti" (Save Hasdeo Arand Struggle Committee), they have been supported by civil society groups such as the Chhattisgarh Bacho Andolan, the protests have also received support from social media and many urban folk of the state. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that he had issues with the approval granted to mining activity in the forest, despite his party being in power in the state.

Widespread protests forced the state government to halt the second phase of mining at PEKB, due to opposition by local villagers to the felling of tees, they also claimed that the consent of gram sabhas required for such an exercise according to the Fifth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, was faked by the Chhattisgarh Forest Department as no official information about it was given to the villagers and some of the signatures in the attendance sheet of such meetings were of dead villagers.

References

1. Cassey, Brian (10 February 2020). "India's ancient tribes battle to save their forest home from mining". The Guardian.
2. Let India Breathe (25 October 2019). "Hasdeo Aranya protests to save the forests". The Ecologist.
3. Singh, Kuwar (24 October 2019). "An Indian mining conglomerate is eating up a sacred forest grove". Quartz India.
4. Nandi, Jayashree (21 March 2019). "Centre's nod for mining in 170,000 hectares of forest in Chhattisgarh". Hindustan Times.
5. Alam, Mahtab (16 June 2020). "Chhattisgarh: 9 Sarpanchs Write to PM to Stop Mining Auction at Hasdeo Arand". The Wire.
6. Dasgupta, Abir (25 June 2020). "Adani and the Elephants of the Hasdeo Aranya Forest". Adani Watch.
7. Bob Brown Foundation (2019). "Adani to destroy India's Hasdeo Arand forest for coal". Bob Brown Foundation.
8. Gade, Satwick (October 2018). "The elephant in the room: A graphic narrative on coal mining in the Hasdeo forest". Firstpost.
9. चौधरी, चित्रांगदा (24 February 2019). "If we give the Hasdeo forest, where will we go?: Jainandan Porte on mining protests in Chhattisgarh". The Caravan (in Hindi).
10. ^ "Explained: The battle over mining in Chhattisgarh's Hasdeo forest". The Indian Express. 29 May 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
11. ^ "Explained: What Is The Hasdeo Arand Protest All About". IndiaTimes. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
12. ^ tiwari, vishnukant (22 November 2021). "Govt Ignores WII's Report, Gives Clearance for Coal Block in Chhattisgarh". TheQuint. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
13. ^ "Yes, No or Maybe: Fate of Hasdeo Arand forest back in limbo". Mongabay-India. 23 September 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
14. Indian Minerals Year Book 2011 (Part-II) Coal & Lignite (PDF) (50th ed.). Ministry of Mines (India), Government of India.
15. "Adani begins integrated coal MDO operations in India". www.adanipower.com. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
16. "The Hasdeo Arand story: Is coal mining a fait accompli for the pristine forests?". Mongabay-India. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
17. "Production halts at Parsa East, Kanta Basan coal block operated by Adani Group". Business Standard. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
18. "The Indian Coal Mine That Razed a Village and Shrank a Forest". The New Yorker. 18 November 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
19. Anuradha Nagaraj, Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Threatened by coal mining, Hasdeo Arand forest is receiving a groundswell of support on the internet". Scroll.in. Retrieved 20 November 2022. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
20. MS, Nileena (24 June 2020). "The long battle of Hasdeo Arand residents against the Parsa coal project in Chhattisgarh". The Caravan.
21. "Hasdeo Arand: Second Phase of Tree-Cutting Begins for Coal Project, Stops After Protests". The Wire. Retrieved 20 November 2022.

22°36′00″N 82°48′00″E / 22.60000°N 82.80000°E / 22.60000; 82.80000

• Environment of Chhattisgarh
• Forests of India