Dear Reader,
Sometime this February, in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district, villagers came together to protest against uranium exploration on their land. Their fight feels familiar—because nearly 50 years ago, a small village in Meghalaya stood against the same forces, refusing to give up their home for mining.
Domiasiat is a remote village with just a handful of households. But what it lacked in numbers, it made up for in resolve. Its matriarch, Spillity Lyngdoh Langrin, said no to uranium mining when no one else dared. The Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) found uranium in the area in 1975, and mining began with the villagers’ permission. But soon, cattle started dying. Women suffered stillbirths. Water turned acidic. That’s when Spillity decided enough was enough.
She asked the miners to leave. In the years that followed, powerful corporations and government agencies tried to return. In the early 2000s, the Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL) offered her Rs 45 crore to lease her land for 30 years.
In 2016, after years of protests led by Spillity and student groups, the Meghalaya government put a stop to uranium mining in the region. But the price of resistance was high. The village was neglected. No electricity. No water supply. No school. When the media finally visited Domiasiat in 2020, they found a village left behind.
This was one of the stories The Quint worked on with Shillong-based filmmaker and activist Tarun Bhartiya, who recently passed away. For 15 years, he filmed Spillity Langrin’s fight, capturing a story that might have otherwise been forgotten. His work gave a voice to those the world ignored.
We’re celebrating 10 Years of The Quint with our most powerful documentaries – and today marks the last in this series. Over the years, The Quint has challenged conventions and highlighted urgent matters with such documentaries. To explore more, CLICK HERE.
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Thanks,
ZIJAH SHERWANI
Creative Director
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