[Reader-list] Mining Company's PR Campaign Backfires in India

[Hartman de Souza]

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2012/04/5032

Please read when you have some time to spare...

On 25 April 2012 16:23, asit das <asit1917 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Date: 25 April 2012
> Subject: Mining Company's PR Campaign Backfires in India
>
>
>
> Mining Company's PR Campaign Backfires in India -
> Bloomberg<
> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-24/mining-company-s-pr-campaign-backfires-in-india.html
> >
>
>
> Mining Company's PR Campaign Backfires in India
> By Chandrahas Choudhury  Apr 25, 2012 3:59 AM GMT+0530 Tue Apr 24 22:29:53
> GMT 2012
>
> On a recent visit to Bhubaneswar, the capital of the large eastern state of
> Odisha <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orissa>, I found the airport
> plastered
> with advertisements and slogans expressing the nurturing, socially
> conscious side -- caring for the poor, growth with inclusive values,
> creating happiness -- of the many steel and aluminum
> companies<
> http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/orissa-diverts-12000-ha-forest-land-for-mining-industries/468443/
> >that
> have major operations in one of India's poorest but most mineral-rich
> and business-friendly states.
>
> The most prominent voice in this cluster belonged to
> Vedanta<http://www.vedantaresources.com/>,
> a London Stock Exchange-listed "globally diversified natural resources
> group with wide-ranging interests in aluminium, copper, zinc, lead,
> silver, iron
> ore <http://topics.bloomberg.com/iron-ore/>, oil and gas and power,"
> headed
> by Anil Agarwal<
> http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/77/india-billionaires-11_Anil-Agarwal_WDNS.html
> >,
> one of India's richest and most controversial businessmen. Vedanta's main
> interest in Odisha is represented by its subsidiary company Vedanta
> Aluminium <http://www.vedantaaluminium.com/>, which has over the last
> decade set up, in the face of concerted opposition from tribal
> groups<
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/12/vedanta-versus-the-villagers
> >,
> an alumina refinery in the district of
> Lanjigarh<
> http://lanjigarhproject.vedantaaluminium.com/lanjigarh-project.htm>,
> the most bauxite-rich area of a state that has over half of
> India<http://topics.bloomberg.com/india/>'s
> reserves of that mineral. A Vedanta ad at the airport declared that
> "Education is the backbone of a rising community," and announced, somewhat
> improbably, that the company was providing "quality education to all local
> children across [the districts of] Lanjigarh and Jharsuguda."
>
> This month, Vedanta also put up on
> YouTube<http://www.youtube.com/user/VedantaGroup/videos>the last
> installment of a massive advertising and public-relations campaign
> it launched at the beginning of the year called "Creating
> Happiness<http://www.creatinghappiness.in/index.html>."
> The hub of the campaign was a 90-second ad
> film<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWOwat5FO00>widely played on
> Indian television this year, telling the story of a girl
> named Binno in a village in the state of Rajasthan. Made by one of India's
> most celebrated ad filmmakers, Piyush
> Pandey<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piyush_Pandey>of Ogilvy
> & Mather <http://topics.bloomberg.com/ogilvy-%26-mather/> India, the film
> supplies touching scenes from the lives of Binno -- who attends a school
> supported by Vedanta -- and her brothers. It is accompanied by commentary
> from a somewhat patronizing male voice asking if the girl's parents had
> access to the same opportunities, and demonstrating by this comparison that
> the company was "creating happiness."
>
> Alongside the Binno film, the company also announced that it was sponsoring
> a Creating Happiness Film
> Competition<http://www.creatinghappiness.in/index.html>that would
> invite "film students across the country to visit any of the 550
> villages where we have a presence, and find their own Binno." In a piece
> called "Vedanta touches souls with 'Creating
> Happiness',<
> http://www.exchange4media.com/45190_vedanta-touches-souls-with-%E2%80%98creating-happiness%E2%80%99.html
> >"
> the news platform Exchange4media reported:
>
> In an effort to make people aware of the social side of their existence,
> Vedanta Group [...] has unveiled its first ever national corporate campaign
> under the platform of ‘Creating Happiness’, sharing with people the stories
> of hope, change, success and a better future. Vedanta Chairman Anil
> Agarwal’s vision of contributing to building sustainable communities and
> integrating sustainability as a core part of the business is at the heart
> of this campaign. [....]
>
> Talking to exchange4media about the campaign, Piyush Pandey, Executive
> Chairman, O&M, said, “Beyond business, Vedanta is doing extensive work for
> sustainable development. We wanted it to be as realistic as possible unlike
> an ad, and thus we have shown real people with real stories. Binno, the
> main face of the campaign, is so amazingly charming. Her true story, with
> that charm, emotion, sentiment and happiness, will inspire many.” [...]
>
> Adding to the idea of inspiring others, Pandey said, “You get inspired when
> you see that there is so much being done. It inspires and moves me. I feel
> that I may start small, but I can make a difference. Large brands are not
> made in the head, but heart, that is why when you take the softer side and
> touch people, people remember you.”
>
> Fair enough, but there were some inconvenient facts that Pandey omitted to
> mention, as did most of the media channels that ran the advertisements. The
> missing facts point to a yawning gulf between the kind of information
> supplied by advertising, and the kind of information generated by
> investigative journalism, regulatory bodies, or even states. Were one to
> place these facts alongside the company's campaign, it would appear that
> Vedanta is less the leader in sustainable development and social
> responsibility in India's universe of corporations, and more the black
> sheep<http://forbesindia.com/printcontent/12382>of that world. It
> stands accused of habitually forging ahead with its
> mining and quarrying operations before the requisite permissions have been
> granted, and of dividing and
> destroying<
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/12/vedanta-versus-the-villagers
> >local
> economies and fragile ecosystems, such as those in the hills
> of Niyamgiri in
> Lanjigarh<
> http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/avatar-tribe-defeats-vedanta/1/110160.html
> >,
> Odisha, with its economic might and ability to influence state policy.
>
> To cite only a small number of such inconvenient truths that muddy the
> company's narrative: In August 2010, India's then-minister for environment
> and forests, Jairam Ramesh <http://topics.bloomberg.com/jairam-ramesh/>,
> canceled<
> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-24/vedanta-s-bauxite-mine-rejected-by-india-hampering-8-billion-investment.html
> >Vedanta
> Alumina's clearances to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills of
> Odisha. At that time, the Times of
> India<
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Vedanta-mines-illegal-must-be-shut-down-Green-panel/articleshow/6321872.cms
> >reported:
>
> Mining giant Vedanta
> <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Vedanta>consistently
> violated several laws in bauxite mining at Niyamgiri,
> encroached upon government land, got clearances on the basis of false
> information and illegally built its aluminium refinery at Lanjigarh,
> Orissa<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Orissa>.
> As the company engaged in these violations, the Orissa government colluded
> with it and the Centre turned a blind eye. These are some of the findings
> of the four-member N C Saxena
> committee<
> http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Saxena_Vedanta.pdf>,
> which on Monday recommended that the company not be allowed to mine in the
> hills that are the abode of the Dongaria Kondh and Kutia Kondh tribes in
> Orissa.
>
> The no-holds-barred indictment of the state and private sector in the $1.7
> billion project brings out the short shrift given to concerns about tribal
> rights and environmental protection. It is significant also because it
> underlines the changed sensibilities of the government towards the issues
> against the backdrop of Left-wing
> extremism<
> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-04-07/deadliest-maoist-attack-highlights-india-challenge-for-nmdc-arcelormittal.html
> >and
> why Naxalites are finding it easy to influence alienated tribal belts.
>
> And in July 2010, Peter
> Popham<
> http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/peter-popham/peter-popham-vedantas-very-embarrassing-silence-2039015.html
> >reported
> from Vedanta's annual general meeting in
> London <http://topics.bloomberg.com/london/>:
>
> Nyamgiri is regarded as a god by the Dongria Kondh tribe that lives on it,
> so for them and their supporters, tearing the peak of the mountain apart
> for bauxite would be sacrilege. In their effort to spike this argument,
> this year the company rolled out the top manager at the company's nearby
> bauxite refinery, Mukesh Kumar, who claimed that the tribe no longer
> worship the mountain and welcome the mine's arrival. Music to shareholders'
> ears – but was it true?
>
> This was the point seized on by Samarendra
> Das<http://www.sacw.net/article1237.html>,
> an Indian research scholar and activist from Orissa, who rose from his seat
> to ask Mr Kumar a simple question: by what name do the Dongria Kondh refer
> to Nyamgiri, their holy mountain? The silence was deafening – until filled
> by the boos and catcalls of the activist-shareholders at the meeting, which
> from that point onwards went down hill. [...]
>
> Dr. Felix Padel<
> http://www.indianexpress.com/news/out-of-this-earth/871454/0>,
> the anthropologist who happens to be Darwin's great-grandson [...] was
> among the shareholder-activists witnessing Vedanta's discomfiture this
> week. Padel has lived among the tribals of Orissa for years, and in his new
> book, Out of this
> Earth<
> http://www.amazon.com/Out-this-Earth-Adivasis-Aluminium/dp/8125038671>,
> co-authored with Samarendra Das and launched in London last night, the
> techniques by which mining giants set about breaking the resistance of
> tribal people who happen to be in their way through fraud, forcible
> occupation, corruption and intimidation, are documented in painstaking
> detail.
>
> From these testimonies it seems clear that one doesn't have to be a
> left-wing revolutionary (opponents of Odisha's huge mining projects are
> routinely tarred as "Maoists" by the government) or a crusader against big
> business to have serious doubts about Vedanta's approach to law, ethics,
> transparency and due process. Indeed, it isn't clear that at a time when
> the world, and especially developing economies, need vast quantities of
> aluminum and steel, it is realistic to insist (as Samarendra
> Das<http://www.sacw.net/article1237.html>does in an essay and the
> prominent Indian writer Arundhati Roy does in her
> recent book on left-wing extremism, governments and mining in India,
> "Walking
> With The Comrades<
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/walking-with-the-comrades-by-arundhati-roy/2011/11/07/gIQAIPR2yO_story.html
> >")
> that states and societies can agree to "leave the bauxite in the mountain"
> for good.
>
> Even so, it's one thing to accept that mining is a necessary reality. It's
> quite another to accept the reality of Vedanta's collusion with the
> government of Odisha to try and pay off tribals to vacate mineral-rich land
> to generate vast profits. Those profits are only derived from the
> development of one of India's poorest states. The company then uses the
> thin gruel of its own corporate social responsibility measures to generate
> the material for PR campaigns such as the one that swamped India's
> television screens in January. As Padmaja Shaw wrote last month in the
> media-analysis website The Hoot, in a piece called "Creating
> Happiness<
> http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=5777&pg=1&mod=1&sectionId=19
> >?"
> democracy is reduced to a farce when capital-rich entities are allowed to
> control the message on a matter of wide-ranging importance merely because
> they have the cash to control the medium:
>
> Very little debate has been allowed in the mainstream media on why the
> mining enterprise is suddenly the private property of corporations to
> exploit and profit from national wealth while brutalising the very people
> in whose name this is supposed to be happening.
>
> Corporate entities further compound the absence of debate on this reality
> by buying the best of advertising talent to promote an idyllic image of
> themselves as messiahs of liberation and transformation for the tribal
> people, specially using images of children. [...] The advertising industry
> in India boasts of some of the world’s best creative minds. It is not an
> industry that we can accuse of being unaware of the reality in India. When
> advertising of dubious nature shows up on the media, it is, therefore,
> roundly condemned. [...]
>
> It is somewhat disheartening to see people such as Piyush Pandey, Chairman
> of Ogilvy & Mather, and renowned filmmaker Shyam Benegal associate
> themselves as jury with a film festival, Creating Happiness, that Vedanta
> has launched.
>
> The outrage<
> http://www.firstpost.com/india/piyush-pandey-and-the-vedanta-open-letter-221531.html
> >generated
> by the ad campaign meant that Benegal and the actress Gul Panag pulled
> out<
> http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120301/jsp/odisha/story_15196796.jsp#.T5ZZprPJeNY
> >of
> the Vedanta jury, leaving Pandey as the sole judge. After the student
> films had been made, Aman Sethi and Priscilla
> Jebaraj<http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2964322.ece>reported
> in the Hindu:
>
> Vedanta's “Creating Happiness” campaign, according to company spokesperson
> Senjam Raj Sekhar, is part of an “initiative to tell our side of the
> story”; yet the hostile reception on blogs and social-media networks like
> Facebook and Twitter highlights the risks of exposing a tightly controlled
> corporate message to the anarchy of the internet. [...] Activists have even
> started a viral “Faking
> Happiness<
> http://kractivist.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/lets-vote-faking-happiness-spoof-ad-competition-in-reply-to-vedantas-creating-happiness/
> >”
> campaign in an attempt to highlight Vedanta's alleged malpractices. [...]
>
> “We told them do not make a corporate film,” Mr. Sekhar said, “find the
> story of either an individual or a family or the entire village or the
> community whose lives have changed…so it's not about the programme but
> about individuals.”
>
> The films themselves are student productions showcasing a variety of CSR
> initiatives such as hospitals, football academies, company run schools,
> rural entrepreneurs and anganvadis. Yet, none of the films explore themes
> such as ecological damage or the impact of mining on forest communities.
> The sole film to address the issue of rehabilitating project-affected
> individuals describes Vedanta as a “path-breaking leader of social
> upwardness [sic]” that has rescued “the lives of tribals from the darkness
> of backwardness.”
>
> Meanwhile, far from the worlds of advertising, PR and industry -- all part
> of India's booming post-liberalization New Economy, but also responsible
> for currents and narratives that have made the burgeoning middle class
> unsympathetic or oblivious to the problems of those beneath them, different
> from them, or dissenting from them -- the tribals of Niyamgiri are still
> agitating<
> http://www.tehelka.com/story_main52.asp?filename=Fw170412SACRED.asp>to
> keep their sacred mountains unmolested.
>
> (Chandrahas Choudhury, a novelist, is the New Delhi correspondent for the
> World View blog. The opinions expressed are his own.)
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