"This Indian billionaire is trying to get Trump to drop his bribery charges. Meanwhile, his company is forcing out another Indigenous tribe for coal", 9 April 2026

Amrit Lalbhagat and his family have always relied on the forest next to their village in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh for their sustenance…

But this forest, which Lalbhagat and 500 other Oroan families have relied on for more than four generations, is now under threat from Gare Pelma Sector II, a coal-mining project operated by a conglomerate owned by the second-richest man in the world’s most populous country…

…, according to India’s Forest Rights Act of 2006, forest-dwelling communities have the right to use, manage, and own certain forest lands. If any such project desired to use or manage these forest lands, the local village government, also known as the gram sabha, had to consent to the project…

Additionally, according to India’s Forest Rights Act of 2006, forest-dwelling communities have the right to use, manage, and own certain forest lands. If any such project desired to use or manage these forest lands, the local village government, also known as the gram sabha, had to consent to the project.

“[The project] did not receive a No-Objection-Certificate from the gram sabha,” Lalbhagat says, indicating that the project is a clear violation of the tribal and forest rights…

… Three weeks after the Wall Street Journal report, contractors engaged for the project uprooted nearly 5,000 trees to clear space for the Sector II project, while about 2,000 police personnel held back hundreds of tribal residents who attempted to resist the operation…

Tribal opposition to the Sector II project stems from decades of historical injustices these communities have faced, especially as the Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh became a cluster of coal-mining projects. These projects have already polluted the air, contaminated groundwater, and reduced the soil’s fertility for farming….