Unfortunately for India, almost all its minerals are in the same regions that hold its greenest forests and most abundant river systems. These lands are also largely inhabited by India’s poorest and most marginalized people – the scheduled tribes and scheduled castes – who depend on the very same forests and watersheds for their survival. Mining in India, therefore, is not a simple ‘dig and sell’ proposition…It is…a highly complex socio-economic and environmental challenge: at stake are natural resources as well as people – forests, wildlife, water, environmental quality and livelihoods.