BharatNotes ⚖️ Social Justice
Niyamgiri Judgment (2013)
GS1GS2
Niyamgiri Judgment (2013)
Supreme Court ruling (Orissa Mining Corporation v. MoEF) requiring gram sabhas of 12 villages in the Niyamgiri hills to decide whether their religious and cultural rights would be violated by a bauxite mining project — effectively giving tribal communities a veto over resource extraction on sacred lands.
Context & Background
Vedanta Resources' mining project in Odisha; Supreme Court held that the Forest Rights Act required free, prior, informed consent through gram sabha before any forest diversion.
UPSC Exam Relevance
Landmark on tribal rights, prior informed consent, and FRA implementation; cited in GS2 questions on tribal rights vs development projects.
Seen in UPSC Question Papers
- Prelims 2024Internal Security
- Prelims 2024Disaster Management
- Prelims 2020Internal Security
- Prelims 2017India's Foreign Policy
- Prelims 2017Internal Security
- Mains 2021 · GS3 · 15 marksAgriculture
- Mains 2015 · GS3 · 12.5 marksSecurity / Science & Technology
- Mains 2014 · GS3 · 12.5 marksAgriculture / Economy
- Mains 2013 · GS3 · 10 marksEconomy
Each entry is a real UPSC previous-year question whose text mentions “Niyamgiri Judgment (2013)”. Practice the full question sets in the Social Justice PYQ bank.
