[Reader-list] Public Meeting on Anti-Vedanta struggle-19th November

[S.Fatima]

Oh, so this is "Vedanta Alumina Ltd", I thought this
was anti-Vedanta, and now we'll have Vedavatis and
Dhatris jumping up again. And its most ideal for them
- anti-Vedanta meeting at ISI, where else?


 
--- sridevi panikkar <whitenoise24 at gmail.com> wrote:

> *Meeting with the Dongaria Kondhs from Niyamgiri,
> Orissa*
> 
> *on Bauxite mining by Vedanta Alumina Ltd.*
> 
> *19 November, 3 p.m,*
> 
> *Indian Social Institute (ISI),Lodhi Road, New
> Delhi*
> 
> 
> **
> 
> Dear Friends
> 
> The rich habitat of Niyamgiri mountain and its
> adjoining area in Orissa,
> with around 3 lakh population and hundreds of
> villages, faces the danger of
> bauxite mining operations by Vedanta Alumina Ltd, a
> UK-based mining company.
> For generations, this mountain has been protected by
> the primitive *Dongria
> Kondh *tribes, for whom it is the sacred mountain of
> "Niyam Raja"—is central
> to their life and culture.
> 
> After 3.5 years of deliberations at various courts
> and
> Government-commissioned studies showing the
> detrimental effects of mining,
> it seems that the Supreme Court is all set to grant
> mining rights to Vedanta
> to mine bauxite from the Niyamgiri mountain in
> southwestern Orissa.
> 
> On 26 October 2007, the Forest Bench of the Supreme
> Court comprising Chief
> Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice Arjit Passayat and
> Justice S H Kapadia
> took the decisive step of 'reserving for judgement'
> the case of
> Vedanta/Orissa Mining Corporation to mine bauxite on
> the Niyamgiri mountain.
> The lawyer representing the tribals was snapped at
> by one of the judges and
> was not even given a chance to present the 200-page
> objection to the
> Vedanta's mining report.
> 
> This happens as the Norwegian Government has decided
> to withdraw its stake
> in Vedanta on the grounds of grave environmental
> damage and human rights
> violation; the same charges that Vedanta is facing
> in the Supreme Court.
> 
> Also important is the first-time public revelation
> by Hon'ble Justice S.H.
> Kapadia in the court that he is a share-owner and
> hence a stake-holder in
> the Sterling India Private Limited, a sister concern
> and operations head for
> Vedanta Alumina Limited in India. In such
> circumstances, it is only natural
> that the Hon'ble judge should have recused himself
> from hearing the case.
> 
> The mining clearance if granted will amount to a
> complete destruction of the
> rich biodiversity of the area and of an entire
> culture and a way of life. It
> will also have extremely grave wider implications.
> It will open the
> floodgates for several mining projects to be allowed
> on Adivasi lands in the
> region and elsewhere. It will also reinforce the
> view that entire
> communities can be sacrificed for projects whose
> gains for the people at
> large will be slight or even non-existent.
> 
> *Following the adverse hearing in the Supreme Court,
> a group of Dongria
> Konds from southwestern Orissa, representing
> thousands of other people in
> the area, have come to Delhi* to meet the President
> of India, MPs, MLAs, to
> press their case that destructive mining not be
> allowed in the area.
> 
> We have organized a meeting with the delegation from
> Orissa as well as
> Prafulla Samantara, Praful Bidwai, Mahesh
> Rangarajan, Manoranjan Mohanty
> among others.
> 
> *It is crucial for all of us to attend this meeting
> and widely circulate
> this invite.*
> 
> *Date: Monday, November 19, 2007
> Time: 3 pm onwards
> Venue: Indian Social Institute, 10 Institutional
> Area, **near Saibaba Mandir
> **Lodhi Road*
> 
> Looking forward to your presence and active
> participation.
> 
> In solidarity,
> 
> Mamata Dash, Vijayan MJ, Ranjana Padhi, D Manjit,
> Sridevi Panikar, Souparno
> Lahiri, Shree Prakash  and other friends from
> Kashipur Solidarity Group and
> Delhi Solidarity Group
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "There ís something standing in a crowd
> Something which queries that.
> Why should it query that?
> What cheek to query that!
> The State just shoots-for that ís allowed-
> And something falls down flat.
> What was it that fell down flat?
> What made it fall like that?"
> 
> -Bertolt Brecht
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