Kalahandi (Rayagada border), July 25: Singeri Wadeka has hardly experienced the pangs of starvation in the 50 years she has walked the face of earth.

Unlike the malnourished and starved tribals of Orissa?s hinterland, Wadeka, a widow and mother of two daughters in Khambesi, a village of Dongaria Kondhs on the slopes of the Niyamgiri hills, never really had to struggle for food.

The food, mostly fruits such as mango, pineapple, jackfruit, orange and tuber, are available in the village throughout the year. For the Dongaria Kondhs, who derived their name from dongar meaning agricultural land on hill slopes of Niyamgiri, life is in complete sync with nature.

But this harmony may be short-lived as Sterlite Group?s Vedanta Alumina plans to blast the Niyamgiri hilltop for bauxite ore for their one million tonne alumina refinery in nearby Lanjigarh block. Apart from devastating the biosphere of the Niyamgiri forests, the open cast bauxite mines would sound the death knell of one of Orissa?s most distinctive and aboriginal tribes of the State.

When the mining starts in the hilltop, the tribals will have to leave their home and hearth for an uncertain future. ?If mining is allowed, the Dongaria Kondhs may end up being nowhere,? says Lokanath Pradhan, an NGO worker, who is leading the tribals to rise against the alumina refinery.

The 2001 census revealed that the total population of this tribe was only 7952, including 4529 females. The percentage of the total population of this primitive tribe in comparison to the state?s population is a mere 0.021 per cent.

For these tribals the refinery is nothing but disaster. To the Dongaria Kondhs, the Niyamgiri hilltop is sacred as they regard it as the seat of their deity Niyamraja Penu. They believe that Niyamraja Penu observe their activities and protect them from all odds. Hence hunting, cutting and felling of trees, on the Niyamraja range continues to be a taboo, owing to long-standing belief in his sovereignty and omnipresence.

Thus Vedanta Alumina?s plans to blast the Niyamgiri hilltop is searing their well-entrenched belief system. ?We would rather die than allow mining. The gods will never forgive us,? said Sonari Wanjelka, a widow, who has nothing but contempt for the owners of the alumina factory.

But the resistance may not mean much as over 100 families in four Dongaria Kondh villages of Kinari, Kothadwar, Bargota and Sindhwa in Lanjigarh gram panchayat have been evicted by the Vedanta Alumina for their refinery.

To the anthropologists, Niyamgiri is better known as the Dongaria Kondh country. According to anthropologist P.S. Daspattnaik the Dongrias have a distinguished heritage, because their dress styles, mode of living, indigenous skills, cultural pattern and social system are inter linked with nature and forests.

The tribe enjoys a critical and symbiotic relation with the Niyamgiri forests. The Dongarias claim themselves to be descendants of Niyam Raja. Distinguished particularly for their expertise in horticulture, they claim that the right to cultivate hill slopes has been conferred to them by their Niyam Raja.

Though life is tough on the intertwining slopes of the hills, the Dongarias are a proud lot and consider begging food as derogatory. Their day starts at four in the morning when the womenfolk make their way to the forest with bamboo baskets on their heads to collect forest produce from Niyamgiri Forests.