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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Campaign in many Avatars

Campaign in many Avatars

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published Published on Feb 10, 2010   modified Modified on Feb 10, 2010

Vedanta Resources is under fire from heaven and earth, and even Hollywood has been asked to join in.

Tribal rights campaigner Survival International has appealed to Avatar director James Cameron, through an advertisement in US entertainment magazine Variety, to help it stop the company from mining for bauxite in an Orissa forest.

The ad drew parallels between the Na’vi tribe in Avatar, who try to stop humans from mining under their sacred “home tree”, and Kalahandi’s 8,000-strong Dongria-Kondh who are against Vedanta mining the Niyamgiri hill which they worship.

The appeal came on a day Amnesty International too asked Delhi not to let the company, owned by NRI businessman Anil Agarwal, mine in Niyamgiri till it had obtained “informed consent’’ from the local tribals.

Last week, the Church of England sold its shares in Vedanta on “ethical grounds’’, saying the company had failed to show “the level of respect for human rights and local communities that we expect”.

“Avatar is fantasy… and real,” the Survival ad says, adding: “We’ve watched your (Cameron’s) film — now watch ours.”

Survival’s 10-minute documentary, Mine: Story of a Sacred Mountain, claims to expose the Dongria-Kondhs’ plight.

“The fundamental story of Avatar — if you take away the multi-coloured lemurs, the long-trunked horses and warring androids — is being played out today in the hills of Niyamgiri,” Survival’s director Stephen Corry said in a media statement.

“The mine will destroy the forests…. I do hope that James Cameron will join the Dongria’s struggle.”

Vedanta is waiting for a final clearance from the Union environment ministry for the project.

Amnesty said the mine would destroy the area’s ecosystem and threaten the future of the Dongria-Kondhs. “No process to seek the (tribal) community’s informed consent has been established,” it alleged.

Last October, a British government agency tasked with promoting guidelines for multinational companies had alleged that Vedanta had violated international standards by failing to “respect the rights and freedoms” of the tribals.

In 2007, Norway had dropped Vedanta from its government pension fund saying it feared being complicit in “human rights violations”.

The mine planned by the India-focused Vedanta is intended to feed a nearby alumina refinery the company has built. Amnesty said the refinery, now being fed with bauxite from other states, was already causing air and water pollution that “threatens the health of local people”.

It claimed Vedanta was planning a six-fold expansion of the plant, and said this should not be allowed till pollution and health issues affecting the tribals were resolved.

Vedanta, whose subsidiary operates the mine, said: “The majority of the (Amnesty) report is based on an outdated document which was subjected to intense scrutiny by the Supreme Court.”

It said the apex court’s August 2008 order had “reviewed, refined and endorsed the scrupulous approach manifested by Vedanta Resources in every aspect of the project’s operation”.

The company claimed it had offered to get the allegations jointly verified in eight villages and to discuss every aspect of the report, but had been turned down.


The Telegraph, 10 February, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100210/jsp/frontpage/story_12088613.jsp
 

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