Battling illegal mining in India: Devi is everywhere!

[Guest guest]

Kinkri Devi, 82, battled illegal mining in India

By Haresh Pandya

The International Herald-Tribune

Sunday, January 6, 2008

 

Kinkri Devi, an illiterate and impoverished woman who

waged a long and at least partly successful fight against

illegal mining and quarrying in the mountainous

northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, died Dec. 30

in Chandigarh, India. She was 82.

 

Devi was born into a poor Dalit, or untouchable, family

in the village of Ghaton in 1925. Her father was a

subsistence farmer. That she came from a low caste

made her struggle against powerful and politically

connected mining interests all the more remarkable.

 

With no hope of an education, she began working as a

servant in early childhood and, at 14, married Shamu

Ram, a bonded laborer. He died of typhoid when she

was just 22, and she was forced to become a sweeper.

 

Over the years, she watched the world around her

change for the worse. Uncontrolled quarrying despoiled

the fabled hills in many parts of Himachal Pradesh,

harming the water supply and destroying once-rich

paddy fields. Seeing the damage in her own district, she

vowed to take on the mining interests.

 

Backed by People's Action for People in Need, a local

volunteer group, Devi filed a public interest lawsuit in

the High Court of Shimla, the state capital, against 48

mine owners, accusing them of reckless limestone

quarrying. The quarry owners dismissed her campaign,

saying she was only trying to blackmail them.

 

After a long period with no response to her suit, she

headed for Shimla and staged a 19-day hunger strike

outside the court until it agreed to take up the issue. The

strike won Devi national and international headlines. In

1987, the High Court not only ordered a stay on mining

but also imposed a blanket ban on blasting in the hills.

 

Faced with the prospect of closing their operations, her

opponents threatened to kill her, but she continued to

fight. The mine owners appealed to the Supreme Court

of India, which ruled against them in July 1995, adding

to Devi's renown.

 

The same year, still working as a sweeper, she was

invited to attend the International Women's Conference

in Beijing because of the keen interest taken in her by

Hillary Rodham Clinton, then the first lady [of the U.S.].

 

A private organization sponsored her trip to China,

where Clinton asked her to light the lamp at the

inaugural function. She spoke to thunderous applause

about how the enchanting Himalayas were being

degraded by illegal limestone quarrying and how it was

up to ordinary people like her to save the environment.

 

Despite Devi's efforts and the Supreme Court ruling,

quarrying continues not only in the hills but also in the

forest preserves, though with some improved regulation.

 

She is survived by a son and 12 grandchildren.

 

Devi, who could neither read nor write and learned to

sign her name just a few years ago, also waged a long

campaign for opening a degree-granting college in

Sangrah, the village where she spent most of her life.

 

" It wasn't in my destiny to study, " she said, " but I don't

want others to suffer the way I did for want of

education. "

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/06/asia/obits.php

[Guest guest]

I am not too familiar with this figure, but from what this article has said, I

shall have her in my thoughts as I pray tonight. Everyone dies, but not

everyone dies with the dignity that comes from supporting a " just cause " , for

lack of better words to describe it.

 

In some ways, Devi (the one in the article) reminds me of a woman who battled

dowries. I forgot her name, but she had a comic named after her and became a

national heroine for the females of India, at least from what I understand.

 

Jai Ma!

 

 

Sincerely,

Christina

 

 

 

 

---- msbauju <msbauju wrote:

> Kinkri Devi, 82, battled illegal mining in India

> By Haresh Pandya

> The International Herald-Tribune

> Sunday, January 6, 2008

>

> Kinkri Devi, an illiterate and impoverished woman who

> waged a long and at least partly successful fight against

> illegal mining and quarrying in the mountainous

> northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, died Dec. 30

> in Chandigarh, India. She was 82.

>

> Devi was born into a poor Dalit, or untouchable, family

> in the village of Ghaton in 1925. Her father was a

> subsistence farmer. That she came from a low caste

> made her struggle against powerful and politically

> connected mining interests all the more remarkable.

>

> With no hope of an education, she began working as a

> servant in early childhood and, at 14, married Shamu

> Ram, a bonded laborer. He died of typhoid when she

> was just 22, and she was forced to become a sweeper.

>

> Over the years, she watched the world around her

> change for the worse. Uncontrolled quarrying despoiled

> the fabled hills in many parts of Himachal Pradesh,

> harming the water supply and destroying once-rich

> paddy fields. Seeing the damage in her own district, she

> vowed to take on the mining interests.

>

> Backed by People's Action for People in Need, a local

> volunteer group, Devi filed a public interest lawsuit in

> the High Court of Shimla, the state capital, against 48

> mine owners, accusing them of reckless limestone

> quarrying. The quarry owners dismissed her campaign,

> saying she was only trying to blackmail them.

>

> After a long period with no response to her suit, she

> headed for Shimla and staged a 19-day hunger strike

> outside the court until it agreed to take up the issue. The

> strike won Devi national and international headlines. In

> 1987, the High Court not only ordered a stay on mining

> but also imposed a blanket ban on blasting in the hills.

>

> Faced with the prospect of closing their operations, her

> opponents threatened to kill her, but she continued to

> fight. The mine owners appealed to the Supreme Court

> of India, which ruled against them in July 1995, adding

> to Devi's renown.

>

> The same year, still working as a sweeper, she was

> invited to attend the International Women's Conference

> in Beijing because of the keen interest taken in her by

> Hillary Rodham Clinton, then the first lady [of the U.S.].

>

> A private organization sponsored her trip to China,

> where Clinton asked her to light the lamp at the

> inaugural function. She spoke to thunderous applause

> about how the enchanting Himalayas were being

> degraded by illegal limestone quarrying and how it was

> up to ordinary people like her to save the environment.

>

> Despite Devi's efforts and the Supreme Court ruling,

> quarrying continues not only in the hills but also in the

> forest preserves, though with some improved regulation.

>

> She is survived by a son and 12 grandchildren.

>

> Devi, who could neither read nor write and learned to

> sign her name just a few years ago, also waged a long

> campaign for opening a degree-granting college in

> Sangrah, the village where she spent most of her life.

>

> " It wasn't in my destiny to study, " she said, " but I don't

> want others to suffer the way I did for want of

> education. "

>

> http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/06/asia/obits.php

>

>