Balco Agitation: A Brief History

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Balco Agitation is one of India’s less known but oldest green movements that took place in the 1980s. The main objective of this Agitation is to protect Gandhamardan Hill range situated between Balangir and Bargarh district of Odisha from mining operation of the Balco (Bharat Aluminum Company). Known as Ayurveda Paradise, Gandhamardan Hill with its rich medicinal plant diversity and hundreds of waterfalls and hosting important religious centres like Nrusinghanath and Harishankar has been the main source of livelihood for tribal dominated villages. Despite this place being remotely located, with poor communication networks, little media coverage and no financial backup in that period, an inclusive green agitation emerged that successfully protected the Hill. Tribal, women, children, elderly and youth actively participated in the Movement creating unique history of placing a longest blockade of the road leading to the Hill top for about four years. A section of Arya Samaj sanyasi played a major role in the shaping of strategies adopted. This documentary provides a brief history of how this green movement took place, reasons behind its emergence and strategies adopted by a cross section of its leaders.
Making a documentary on such an old green battle is always a challenging task. A team consisting of Shri Ajit Samal, Prof. Jaya Prakash Pradhan and Shri Hardik Bhatt travelled by road from Ahmedabad to different places associated with the Agitation in Odisha. Apart from meeting a cross section of leaders, the team climbed up to the top of Gandhamardan Hill to obtain information on Balco mining operation. The team is thankful to everyone who have given their valuable time to interact with us and especially grateful to Swami Some Veshji. We hope that this documentary will throw light on one of India’s most important green movements hitherto generally known little.

YouTube url:	https://youtu.be/pohA4DNUGo8
Created:	30. 3. 2021 16:25:30

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Balco Agitation: A Brief History