On Firm Ground

Em/No/Nahin, published by Yaarbal Books, takes us to the West Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. The photobook is structured around a defining moment: when 90–year–old Kong Spillity Lyngdoh Langrin, from Domiasat, refused to allow uranium to be mined on her land, and the anti-uranium movement that this gesture sparked.

The photographs in this book, and previously unpublished notes—spanning from 2006 to 2023—are by Tarun Bhartiya, a documentary filmmaker, film editor as well as cofounder and editor of the webzine Raiot. The images and text are drawn from the show Em/No/Nahin, first exhibited at the National Photography Festival, only a few weeks before Bhartiya’s death on 25 January 2025. The book’s afterwords are written by the Meghalaya-based rights activist, and Bhartiya’s partner, Angela Rangad. In this excerpt, she reflects on uranium mining in the West Khasi Hills and traces the civil struggle against it.

URANIUM MINING reared its head in our Khasi Hills as early as the 1980s, when exploratory digging was carried out in Domiasiat. In the 1990s the plans for uranium mining were shelved, as a result of public pressure. The first public hearing on the proposed mining of uranium was eventually held in 2007, in Nongbah Jynrin, and was accompanied by protests by the Khasi Students Union and the youth groups of the West Khasi Hills. The objections to uranium mining were made amply clear, as was the single minded “em” by Kong Spillity Lyngdoh Langrin—a resounding “no” from a resident of Domiasiat, who happened to own most of the hills under which high-grade uranium lay in large quantities.