Shawrina Salam highlights the courageous resistance of late Dalit Indian activist and environmentalist Kinkri Devi, who dedicated her life to fighting the extractive industries that devastated the land, water, and forests in her hometown. After witnessing the immense destruction that limestone quarrying inflicted on the local landscape, Devi began a campaign to raise awareness to the issue. In 1987, she filed a public interest lawsuit against 48 mining owners and won, successfully restricting the mining operations that had caused so much harm to the environment. By 1995, she was well-renowned across the globe, and she was invited to attend the International Women’s Conference in Beijing. She received the Jhansi Ki Rani Lakshmi Bai Stree Shakti Puraskar in 1999 and continued raising awareness as an environmental activist until her death in 2007. Photo credit: Flickr
