Kalinga Nagar
Last summer I wrote about an incident that took place in Orrisa when tribals protested plans to mine their sacred land. Tensions have only increased since then, resulting in this tragedy:
Twelve tribal villagers in India were shot dead by police on January 2 during a demonstration against the development of the Kalinga Nagar steel complex in the eastern state of Orissa. The impoverished protestors were demanding a halt to construction by steel developers on their traditional land. A 13-year-old boy and three women were among those killed.
At least this time the story got national attention. Even Sonia Gandhi visited the site and offered money to the victims. Filmmaker Vinod Raja continues to document the story as it unfolds. I look forward to seeing his film.
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Comments
The coverage and attention being given to the Jessica murder case in comparason to that what the Kalinga Nagar massacre got is a serious reflection of how less we care for our first peoples. The fact that the Tata Company used landmines to trap and kill them should have received much more an outcry. Please download and view the documentary on Kalinga that we have produced http://www.firstpeoplesfirst.in
An anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, 
KF, have you been following the textbook controversy in California? It seems that in key US states, including California, BJP-types have been trying to take over the presentation of Hindu history in textbooks, so that it eliminates everything negative. Because Cal is so large and centralized, if they capture that, they can dominate the US high school textbook market. An interesting struggle over history taking place right in our backyard.
Michael