The Challenges of Neoliberal Policies and the Indigenous People’s Resistance Movement in Odisha, India

This paper focuses on a social movement struggling to preserve the natural environment and the traditional livelihood of the Kondhs who live in the shadow of the Niyamagiri mountains in the Indian State of Odisha. This region is rich in bauxite and people are exploited by the state and Vedanta, a multinational private company in the name of extraction and development. These developments are indicative of the state and central government’s covert and overt resolve of becoming a facilitator for the big corporate houses to take over the development projects at the cost of local communities and natural resources. The Indigenous people’s resistance movement is primarily in opposition to such projects, which have harmed their social and natural environment. The Kondhs have organized themselves in opposition to neo-liberal economy rut by globalization and promoted by the state. Niyamagiri has become a site of resistance of forces unleashed by capitalist neo- liberal economy and the state run by upper caste elites