The Men’s Hockey World Cup starts in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in the state of Odisha in India on 13 January, but the build-up has been controversial.
Every Sunday, Mahesh Beck plays field hockey on a dry patch of land near his village in eastern India. Yet he had not heard of the men’s hockey World Cup happening in his state, or that a new multimillion-rupee pitch had been built 30km away.
Yet there have been recent protests in Odisha state — by villagers, charities and politicians — over the investment in hockey infrastructure using money set aside to boost local welfare, when communities are struggling with pollution, land degradation and water scarcity they say is caused by mining. Odisha’s Sundargarh region — where Beck lives — is rich in coal and iron ore. The expansion of coal mining is considered key by the government to meeting India’s rising energy demand, while iron ore feeds the numerous steel industries in the area.
“This is a community-driven fund and they should have a say in what is essential for their development and wellbeing,” said Oram Deme, the president of Anchalik Surakshya Committee, a group working for indigenous people’s rights in Sundargarh. DMFs, which have been set up in 600 districts across 21 states, held more than 600 billion Indian rupees as of March 2022, according to mining ministry data.
At the recent meeting in Beck’s village, worried residents discussed the possibility of mining reaching their doorstep.
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