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Vedanta Blocked: Indian tribe wins
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HOMEVedanta Blocked: Indian tribe wins (From The Economic Times) Vedanta Resources’ plans for India appear to be under siege, with the environment ministry on Tuesday rejecting its proposal to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa and slapping a show-cause notice on why the permit for its Lanjigarh refinery should not be cancelled. The refinery has allegedly violated the Environment Protection Act by increasing its capacity to 6 million tonnes per year (mtpa) from 1 mtpa without getting the requisite clearance. The refinery has also illegally diverted 26 hectares of forest land. Vedanta had plans to use bauxite from the Niyamgiri mines to operationalise the Lanjigarh refinery. The mine would have helped the company reduce raw material costs. The back-breaking blow comes at a time when the Anil Agarwal-promoted company is facing trouble from the government over its plans to buy 60% of Cairn India for $9.6 bn to gain access into the country’s biggest onshore oil field. Vedanta’s stock was hit hard after the environment minister made the announcement . It was trading 7% lower at £18.9 on the London Stock Exchange Tuesday midday . Sterlite Industries tanked almost 4% to close at 152.4 on BSE. Sesa Goa dropped 0.84% to 325.25. The environment ministry, which detailed serious violations by Vedanta at Niyamgiri Hills, said allowing mining at this site would deprive two primitive tribal groups of their rights and “shake their faith” in the law of the land. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh, who rejected charges of vendetta, said there was no ulterior motive involved in the decision. “There is no politics , no prejudice, no emotions in this decision . This is a purely legal decision and laws have been violated. No ministry can abdicate its responsibility to enforce the laws passed by Parliament,” Mr Ramesh said. He also said the decision did not amount to “blacklisting” of Vedanta. Mr Ramesh said his decision was prompted by the violation of the rights of the tribal people in the area, particularly that of the primitive tribal groups and Dalit population; violations of the Environmental Protection Act, 1986, as documented in the NC Saxena Committee report; and monitoring report of the eastern regional office, which documents violations of the provisions of the environmental clearance given to the Lanjigarh refinery. More (From a Survival International press release, Aug 24, 2010)
A tribe in India has won a stunning victory over one of the world’s biggest mining companies. In an extraordinary move, India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has blocked Vedanta Resources’ controversial plan to mine bauxite on the sacred hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe. Mr Ramesh said Vedanta has shown a 'shocking' and 'blatant disregard for the rights of the tribal groups'. The Minister has also questioned the legality of the massive refinery Vedanta has already built below the hills. The news is a crushing defeat for Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, Vedanta’s majority owner and founder. In recent years the project has come under unprecedented attack. The Norwegian and British governments, the Church of England, organizations such as Survival International, and even insurance giant Aviva have all criticized the company and its ethics. Survival International has been in the forefront of a global campaign against the mine for several years. Survival recruited celebrities such as Michael Palin and Joanna Lumley to champion the tribe’s cause; its supporters have written over 10,000 protest letters to the Indian government, and more than 600,000 people have watched Survival’s film ‘Mine’. The tribe’s plight even came to the attention of ‘Avatar’ director James Cameron, and the Dongria became known as the ‘real Avatar tribe’. The struggle has pitted the 8,000-strong tribe, nearly all of them illiterate, against the might of an $8bn company and its founder, himself worth some $6bn. The Dongria Kondh have mounted numerous protests, and two of their leaders were abducted and beaten before being released, in an atmosphere of increasing violence. In recent days an inquiry panel set up by Minister Ramesh recommended the mine be blocked, saying that Vedanta had acted illegally and with ‘total contempt for the law’. Survival campaigner Dr Jo Woodman, who experienced first-hand the atmosphere of intimidation in the Dongria’s hills, said today, ‘This is a victory nobody would have believed possible. The Dongria’s campaign became a litmus test of whether a small, marginalized tribe could stand up to a massive multinational company with an army of lobbyists and PR firms and the ear of government. Incredibly, the Dongria’s courage and tenacity, allied with the support of many people in India, and Survival’s supporters around the world, have triumphed.’ Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The era when mining companies could get away with destroying those in their path with impunity is thankfully drawing to a close, though it remains significant that Vedanta fought for its plans to the end, repeatedly denying everything the tribespeople said. The concerned public must remain vigilant about these so-called development projects – companies simply cannot be trusted voluntarily to abide by human rights standards, particularly when dealing with tribal peoples who can't know what they're up against.'
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