Prafulla Samantara is the 6th Indian to win the Goldman Environmental Prize, or the Green Nobel as it is called. Samantara was conferred the award on 24 April, in honour of his 12-year-long struggle to keep a Vedanta-led bauxite mine from functioning in Odisha’s Niyamgiri hills.

He worked to spread awareness about the dangers of unfettered mining among the local tribal population.