This is part three of a series that looks at one of India’s most significant environmental movements, led by the indigenous communities of the Hasdeo Arand forest in Chhattisgarh. Through a sociological and legal lens, it investigates the complexities surrounding an area designated under the Fifth Schedule of the Indian constitution, yet allocated for coal mining to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RRVUNL), with operations subcontracted to Adani Enterprises Ltd. Since 2013, the villagers of Ghatbarra, Hariharpur, Salhi, and Fatehpur have actively resisted these developments, fighting for their identity, economic autonomy, legal rights, and communal way of life. Read the first part here, and the second, here.
It was evening when Ram Kumar’s family received the news. His uncle, a man of 70 years, had died a brutal and sudden death. “Who would have thought that our uncle would meet such a fate,” he said. Kotmi, a village nestled seven kilometres from Udaipur district in Chhattisgarh, is known for its tranquil beauty. Surrounded by lush green sal and teak forests, it is home to a small community of around 25 families, most of whom depend on rice farming and forest produce for their livelihood. But lately, these forests have turned into a danger zone, as human-elephant conflicts escalate.
Only 15 kilometres away from the larger Sarguja district, Kotmi is now in the heart of a fierce battle. For more than a decade, the Hasdeo Arand forests, one of the most expansive and biodiverse regions in central India, have been the battleground for environmentalists, the state, and Adani Enterprises Limited. The local Adivasi communities, reliant on the forests for sustenance, have been at the forefront of resistance against the destruction of their land. The clash, however, is not just limited to mining interests. It is an evolving story of wildlife, climate, and survival that reflects the complexities of modern development in India.
Hasdeo Arand: A Sanctuary Under Siege
Often referred to as the “lungs of Chhattisgarh,” Hasdeo Arand covers nearly 1,500 square kilometres of dense forest. The region is rich in biodiversity, home to over 25 mammalian species, many of which are endangered. A critical elephant corridor runs through these forests, connecting elephant populations in Jharkhand to Chhattisgarh’s Korba district. The forest also serves as the catchment area for one of the Mahanadi River’s largest tributaries, a lifeline for millions downstream.
In 2010, the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had declared the entire Hasdeo Arand as a “no-go” zone for coal mining due to its ecological significance. This was a rare designation, making Hasdeo one of the nine coalfields in India to receive such a status. The decision was based on rigorous assessments of the region’s dense canopy cover and the importance of its biodiversity. Approximately 1,176 square kilometres of the forest had over 40% canopy cover, and an additional 116 square kilometres boasted over 70% coverage. However, this “no-go” status has been slowly eroded over the years as the government, pushed by economic interests, reconsidered its position.
In October 2021, a new clearance was granted, allowing mining to begin Parsa and Kete Extension while operations had already begun in Parsa East and Kanta Basan (PEKB) coal blocks. This decision came despite a Biodiversity Assessment Report, prepared by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), warning of adverse impacts on the region’s ecology. The report, which was commissioned by the state government, acknowledged the risks but still recommended that mining could proceed with “strict environmental safeguards.”
However, this recommendation contradicted another key report, submitted in September 2021 by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The WII, in a more exhaustive study, advised that the entire Hasdeo region – except for the operational mines – should be kept free from any further mining. According to WII’s findings, coal mining in Hasdeo would cause irreparable damage, not just to the forest but to the communities that depend on it and the wildlife that thrives there.
This contradiction between two of MoEFCC’s own institutions – Wildlife Institute of India and ICFRE – set the stage for a debate. Both reports had been commissioned in response to a 2014 order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which mandated a comprehensive biodiversity mapping before any new mining approvals could be considered in the region. The NGT had specifically asked whether the proposed mining area overlapped with key migratory routes of wildlife, particularly elephants.
When the first phase of mining began in 2013, large swathes of forest were cleared, and a vital water source for elephants was destroyed, locals alleged. Photo: Shubhanghi Derhgawen
A Growing Human-Elephant Conflict
Hasdeo Arand is not just home to a rich array of flora and fauna; it is also a critical passage for elephants, particularly the razed PEKB coal block. In fact, the WII’s 2021 study using camera traps and sign surveys identified nine Schedule-I species in the area, which receive the highest level of legal protection under India’s Wildlife Protection Act. Among them were leopards, Indian grey wolves, striped hyenas, sloth bears, and the ever-looming presence of elephants. The report also highlighted that in 148 of the 647 forest compartments surrounding the region, elephants had been spotted consistently between 2018 and 2020.
Therefore, the expansion of coal mining in the PEKB block, however, has had devastating effects, say locals. When the first phase of mining began in 2013, large swathes of forest were cleared, and a vital water source for elephants was destroyed, they alleged. This forced the elephants to move farther in search of water, bringing them into closer contact with human settlements. As a result, conflicts have become common, with elephants now wandering into villages, sometimes leading to fatal encounters, residents say.
“Elephants used to move in predictable patterns,” explains Hari Prasad, a villager from Kanta Roli, one of the settlements near the mining area. “They would roam in herds, and usually, they wouldn’t harm anyone. But now, the forests are gone. They’ve lost their corridor, and they’ve become aggressive.”
This aggression has had tragic consequences. Over the past four years, 72 elephants have reportedly died, and human fatalities have spiked to the point where someone loses their life every five days due to elephant attacks. The villagers of Kotmi, who have been far removed from the presence of these majestic creatures, are now terrified. In the past two years, elephants have started wandering into smaller patches of forests and farmlands, even 15-20 kilometres away from the PEKB block.
The government’s 2021 elephant census, which remains unpublished, reportedly shows a 20% decline in the elephant population across India over the past five years. The numbers are even starker in central India and the Eastern Ghats, where a 41% drop has been recorded. The census attributes this to “mushrooming developmental projects” like coal mining, which have decimated habitats and fragmented migration routes.
But beyond the numbers, the real tragedy lies in the lives lost. Ram Kumar’s uncle is just one of the many victims of this ongoing conflict. Villagers have resorted to using WhatsApp groups to keep track of elephant movements. “Every day, before stepping out of our homes, we ask each other, ‘Where are the elephants now?’” says Kumar. This informal warning system is often the only line of defence for these communities.
Yet, even this system is flawed. The day Ram Kumar’s uncle was killed, some villagers had been warned of an elephant nearby, but the message didn’t reach everyone in time. The older man stepped out to run an errand, unaware of the lurking danger. “When we found him, it was too late,” Kumar says. “The elephant was still nearby, hidden in the trees. We could have saved him if we had better tools, better communication.”
‘The day Ram Kumar’s uncle was killed, some villagers had been warned of an elephant nearby, but the message didn’t reach everyone in time.’ Photo: Shubhanghi Derhgawen
A government slow to act
The financial and technical assistance provided to states under ‘Project Elephant,’ a scheme by the MoEFCC, aims to protect elephant habitats and mitigate human-elephant conflict (HEC). However, the implementation has been far from effective. While the ministry raised compensation for human deaths caused by wildlife from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh in 2018, and then to Rs 10 lakh, the funds allocated to Project Elephant have been inconsistent and inadequate.
In 2022-23, the budget for Project Elephant was slashed from Rs 35 crores to just Rs 16.36 crores. Since 2023-24 the budget has been combined with Project Tiger with limited clarity on its division. The reduction in funds has left states like Chhattisgarh struggling to manage the escalating conflict between humans and elephants.
In August 2024, Vishnudeo Sai said that the state’s top priority is to prevent human-elephant conflict. The state runs radio programmes called “Hamr Haathi Hamr Goth” to spread awareness, but the villagers feel abandoned. Between 2015 and 2018, the Chhattisgarh forest department disbursed compensation to 752 families in the Hasdeo area for wildlife-related damages according to an RTI by Ram Lal Kariyam. But as the conflict has intensified, so have the delays in payments.“The government warned us that mining would lead to this, but what are we supposed to do now?” asks Ram Lal Kariyam, a leader of Hasdeo Bachao Andolan. “We’ve been left to fend for ourselves.”
The way forward: Can there be coexistence?
As mining expands and elephant habitats continue to shrink, the question of coexistence becomes more urgent. According to the WII, elephants in the Hasdeo Arand landscape need large home ranges, sometimes spanning hundreds of kilometres. These home ranges are not limited to specific pockets of the forest, making habitat fragmentation a significant concern.
“We’ve been left to fend for ourselves.” Photo: Shubhanghi Derhgawen
Professor Abhiroop Chowdhury, executive dean of the Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability, has conducted extensive research in central and south India. He explains that although central India has a relatively small elephant population, the risk of human-elephant conflicts is significant due to the region’s dense forests, which include a mix of moist and dry deciduous areas, particularly in Chhattisgarh.
“Elephants are social animals; they travel in herds and need to traverse large distances to fulfil their nutritional needs. Mining operations, especially open-cast mines, have a direct impact on their movement patterns. These mines strip away entire layers of forest soil, creating vast areas that elephants cannot cross to reach food and shelter. This forces them to move through villages, which inevitably leads to disruptions,” Chowdhury notes.
The ripple effects of mining may not always be immediate, but they are far-reaching. As elephants lose their homes, they wander into human settlements, sparking fatal encounters. The tragedy of Ram Kumar’s uncle is just one of many, and without proper intervention, it won’t be the last.
Chowdhury adds that the impact on land use and land cover changes the landscape dramatically, disrupting elephants’ natural routes and habitat. Elephants, belonging to the family Proboscidea, pass knowledge down through generations, so any sudden obstacle in their path – like an open-cast mine – causes stress and disorientation. “No impact assessment is needed to understand that mining will disrupt these patterns,” he says, warning that as mining expands in Chhattisgarh, human-elephant conflicts are likely to intensify further.
We reached out to Mrs. Richa Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary for Forest and Climate Change in Chhattisgarh, to clarify why the WII report on the impact of mining on elephant habitats was overlooked and to understand what environmental management plans the Forest Department considered, given the region’s sensitive ecological balance and the known migratory patterns of elephants. We await her response.
The Hasdeo Arand conflict serves as a microcosm of India’s broader struggle between development and conservation. The government faces a difficult balancing act – one that requires acknowledging the human cost of its policies. If Hasdeo’s forests continue to shrink, more elephants will die, and so will more humans. It’s a reality that neither side can afford to ignore.
Shubhanghi Derhgawen is a freelance journalist and a lead researcher with the Visual Storyboard Team of the Centre for New Economics Studies (CNES), O.P. Jindal Global University.
Deepanshu Mohan is a professor of economics, Dean, IDEAS, and Director, CNES. He is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and an academic visiting fellow to AMES, University of Oxford.
This research forms part of a series of field-based essays produced by the Visual Storyboard team at the Centre for New Economics Studies (CNES), OP Jindal Global University, dedicated to amplifying the voices of tribal communities in Chhattisgarh.)
