Abha Lal

The Indian Supreme Court brought iron ore mining in the state of Goa to a halt in 2012, a move read by many across the country as a major environmental victory. However, after a decade of concerted efforts by pro-mining advocates who see the industry as the “economic backbone of Goa,” extraction is resuming in the state. Various farmers, workers, environmental activists, truck and barge owners who have a stake in the mining industry have re-engaged with the legal and bureaucratic system in place to advocate for either a total ban on mining, the creation of friendlier conditions for Goan workers, or the redistribution of extractive dividends. Through an ethnographic study of the documentary, social and bureaucratic processes through which people fight for their vision of the future of Goa’s mineral resources, this project will contribute to anthropological understandings of the environment and the law, mining and labor, and bureaucracies and governance.