Sandy Vedanta
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Transcript of Sandy Vedanta
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Metal and mining giant Vedanta·s Rs. 50000 crore investment in
Orissa get embroiled in a mess of politics and environment
activism.
Brief history of Orissa case
Feb 28,2005
Orissa govt. forwarded the proposal of mine bauxite in kalahandi (
Niyamgiri and lagegarh ) to Union Ministry for Environment and
Forests ( MOEF) .Sep 9,2007
Supreme court orders a study on the impact of Vedanta mining .
Oct 5,2007
Provisional clearance to granted by Union Ministry for Environment
and forests (MOEF).
March 7,2008
Rahul Gandhi goes on a four day tour to Orissa and attacks the Biju
Janta Dal(BJD) on its farmers Policy
Aug 8,2008
The supreme court gives approval to sterlite Vedanta Pvt. Ltd to
starts projects delayed over protest and land disputes in Orissa.
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June 5,2009
The compan y talks to syn dicate s of ban ks to raise mone y for
e xpan din g its alu minu m produ ction capacity in Orissa .
June 19,2009
An il aggarwal,chairman , Ve dan ta r e sou rce s plc. Goe s pu blic on hisstrate gy on min in g an d acqu isition s.
F e b 9,2009
Amne sty in te r n ation al prote st again st the mine plan s .
March 14,2010
Orissa·s for e st an d en viron men t de ptt. Spe cial se cr e tary B.P.Sin ghsays the propose d min in g by Ve dan ta r e sou rce s join tly with
Orissa min in g corp. is n ot in violation of ´an y act··.
March 16,2010
Ve dan ta wan t to mine bau xite for its alu min a r e fine ry in Orissa bu t is
oppose d by Tribal's an d Ngo·s .
June 30,2010
A ne w pane l to in ve stigate the ´spe cific impact on the live lihood,
cu ltu r e an d mate rial we lfar e ·· of a local tribal grou p in Orissa se t
u p.
Au g 16,2010
Govt. pane l says allowin g Ve dan ta min in g will aff e cts the tribal rights.
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Aug 23,2010
Orissa CM Naveen Patnayak meets Prime minister Dr. Manmohan
Sing h to end the impasse.
Aug 24,2010
Jairam Ramesh denies permission to mine in Niyamg iri.
Aug 26,2010
Rahu l Gandhi visit Niyamg iri to make his ´ I am you r Soldier·· speech.
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The OMC has bauxite mines leasehold over an area of 721.323
hectares in the Niyamgiri forest. Dongria is tribal cast is habitant
to Kalahandi.
Source of 2000 million mt Bauxite in Orissa.
It had confronted hungry drought many times and tribal people
used to sold their Childs .
It is one of the poorest area in Eastern part of Orissa.
Total tribal population residing within 10 kms radius of project
impact zones of these bauxite deposits is 63742.
Some plants at Kalahandi District are VAL ,NALCO , HindustanAeronautics Limited , OMC plant.
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Saxena committee r epor t
S ome sa lien t fin din gs o f S a xena ·s commi ttee repor t
The pro je ct wo uld se vere ly di stur b impor tan t wi ldli f e ha bi ta t tha t
ha s been propo se d a s a par t o f Ni yam giri wi ldli f e san ctuar y .
Lin gara j pan da ²the con ve yer be lt to suppor t ba u--xi te ore to the Ve dan ta a lumin um re f iner y a t lan -
-gar h in Ori ssa ka la han di di stri ct bui lt wi tho ut an y
F orma l appro va l.
More than 1.21 la kh tree s wo uld nee d to be
cleare d f or minin g. Pop ula tion o f man y en dan gere d spe cie s li ke f o ur horne d an te lope ,
bar kin g deer , go lden ge cko were de cline d i f minin g o ccur s.
The minin g opera tion s in vo lve strippin g o f more than 7 square
km s. Of the Ni yam giri Hi lltop , whi ch wo uld dra sti ca lly a ff e ct the
wa ter supp ly .
If minin g i s permi tte d on thi s si te , i t wi ll no t on ly be i lle ga l, but
wi ll a lso de stro y one o f the mo st sa cre d si te s o f the Kon dh PTGs.
It wi ll ma ke the area ea si ly a cce ssi ble to poa cher s an d tim ber
sm uggler s, threa tnin g the ri ch bio di ver si ty o f the hi lls .
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FAC endor sed the repor t
The FAC on August 23 endor sed the saxen a co mmittee repor t
accep tin g that there was lack o f d iligen ce in saf e guard in g the
r ights o f the PTGs in the ad jo in in g f ore st are as and f o und it a fit
case fit case f or app lyin g the pre caution ar y pr in cip le to o bviate irrep ar able d amage to the aff e cted peop le . The pr in cip le re quire s
the go vt. author itie s to an ticip ate , pre ven t and attack the cause s
o f en viron men tal po llution .
The FAC, there f ore , re co mmended te mpor ar y withdr awal o f the stage -
1appro val accorded by the MOEF f or the d iver sion o f 660.749
he ctare s o f f ore st land in favo ur o f Or issa Min in g Corpor ation Ltd .After givin g d ue oppor tun ity to the state go vt. to pre sen ts its
vie ws on the Saxen a Co mmittee repor t, Jair am Rame sh
e labor ated on cer tain factor s that he con sidered while arr ivin g at
his de cision .
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MINING AND POLITIC S
T he ruling Biju Janta D al(BJD ) has come out strongly in support of
the company and denounced the MO EF decision as being ´anti-
O rissaµ. C ongress general secretary Rahul G andhi visit to
Lanjigarh two days after theMO
EF decision has made the BJD
angrier still.
Rahul G andhi described the decision as a victory for the tribal
people, in his address to a rally organized by the O rissa pradesh
youth congress to celebrate the day as Adivasi Adhikar
D ivas(tribal rights day) at Jaganathpur village in the foothills of
N iyamgiri. Asserting that he is not against industries, he said that´genuine voicesµ of the common people should not go unheard.
T ribals and other populations opposing displacement have
announced plans to challenge the alleged violation of various laws
of projects such as the T ata steel project in Kalinganager and the
Posco project in jagatsinghpur.
Land acquisition has become a major issue with the state govtsigning memoranda of understanding with various companies
without consulting the people who will be displaced to make
space for the proposed industries. T he poor rehabilitation of the
thousands of the families displaced by both private and govt. run
industries in the past decades has added to the fears of those
facing displacement.
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Contd.
The use of force to suppress anti-industry agitation and the
branding of agitators as ´Maoistsµ has also been a cause for
concern for those trying to protect their land and homes. An
attempt by the police to brand Lado sikaka, a leader of NiyamgiriSuraksha Samiti, as a suspected Maoist in the wake of Rahul
Gandhi·s visit to Lanjigarh faced critisim from various quarters.
The state govt. backing of plans for diversion of huge volumes of
water from the state·s river to run privately owned industries is
facing opposition too. There are not many takers for the chief
minster·s assurance that not a drop of water meat for agriculturewill be diverted to industries. In the 10 years that Naveen Patnaik
has been in power, his govt. has signed MOUs for 49 steel plants,
27 thermal power plants and several other for ports, alumina
refineries and industries. Those opposing displacements and
violation of environment laws and the Forest Rights Act have
demanded that the govt. set up a panel of experts to review theongoing industrialization process.