Prafulla Samantara (born 1952) is an Indian environmental activist from

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

Biography

Samantara has been a spokesperson for the

Dangaria Kandha The Dangaria Kandha people are members of the Kondhs. They are located in the Niyamgiri hills in the state of Odisha (formerly Orissa) in India. They sustain themselves from the resources of the Niyamgiri forests, practising horticulture and shif ...

indigenous people, in their protest against plans for

bauxite Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...

mining in the

Niyamgiri The Niyamgiri is a hill range situated in the districts of Kalahandi and Rayagada in the south-west of Odisha, India. These hills are home to Dongria Kondh indigenous people. The hills have one of India's most pristine forests in the interior. ...

hill range. A 2013

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

ruling stopped the mining plans. Samantara was awarded the

Goldman Environmental Prize The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists. History Awardees are named from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, an ...

in 2017.

Bibliography

References

1952 births Living people People from Odisha Indian environmentalists Goldman Environmental Prize awardees {{Environmentalist-stub