I woke at 3.30 am today (Friday) and could not sleep so turned on the TV. At that moment BBC World News announced that the Environment Ministry had just rejected Vedanta’s bauxite mining proposal in Odisha’s (Orissa) Niyamgiri hills.
This is the first time an environment referendum has been conducted on a directive by the Supreme Court to find out whether mining in Niyamgiri will be tantamount to an infringement of the religious, community and individual rights of local forest dwellers. In this case mainly the Dongria Kondh tribe.
My name is Bittu Sahgal and I edit a magazine caelld Sanctuary Asia. Some of our past campaigns can be seen on http://www.sanctuaryasia.com. I have served on the Expert Committee of the Government of India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests and was thrown off because I worked to protect species and habitats, as against the interests of project proponents. For years NOT EVEN ONE OUT OF ALMOST 1,000 MINING,LARGE DAM OR OTHER MEGA-PROJECT APPLICATIONS WAS REJECTED. The Vedanta Project has “managed” to get environmental clearance though the forests are critical to tigers, elephants, the tribal people downstream and communities in Kalahandi to depend on the water sources of the Lanjigarh area. How? would be a good question to ask. In an era of climate change this is a disgrace and clearly tribunals against environmental crimes against humanity will soon need to be held to fix accountability for the vicious war that profit-makers have declared on people, species and the planet.