Alok Shukla, defender of the Hasdeo forests and its people, receives the prestigious Goldman Award, May 2024. Abir Dasgupta interviews him for AdaniWatch. The Adani Group operates a coal mine in the forests and is attempting to develop more, despite the opposition of people who depend on the forests for their livelihoods and way of life.
The campaign to protect India’s Hasdeo forests from coal mining received a boost on 13 February 2024 when prominent Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, met with leaders of the movement and pledged the support of his party. The indigenous tribal people of the biodiverse Hasdeo forests have been struggling gamely to protect their ancestral homeland from a string of coal projects being developed by the Adani Group. A change of state government in December had disastrous consequences, with dozens of campaigners detained by police while a swathe of forest was felled.
In a controversial decision that will benefit the Adani Group to the detriment of tribal forest-dwellers, leaders of the Indian states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have sanctioned clearance of forests to expand an Adani coal mine. In an unpleasant twist, while Gautam Adani is perceived to be close to PM Narendra Modi of the BJP, this decision was made by leaders of the Indian National Congress, which opposes Modi’s party.
