The Ministry of Environment and Forest’s decision to stall the Vedanta project in Orissa must be understood. The ‘story’ is about a powerful company breaking the law. But it is equally about a development puzzle in which the richest lands of India are where the poorest people subsist. The N.C. Saxena committee has indicted the mining conglomerate on three counts of breaking the environmental laws. One, it took over and...
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Martyrs to transparency by Venkitesh Ramakrishnan
In the five years of the Right to Information Act, activists who use it have faced reprisal across the country. OCTOBER 2010 marks the fifth anniversary of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The Act and its implementation have been described in both administrative circles and civil society as “revolutionary” , “a blow for transparency”, “a check on corrupt practices” and “a people's intervention tool with tremendous impact”. Social activists and...
More »My work as your ‘sepoy' has just begun, Rahul tells tribals by Prafulla Das
He lauds them for their success in the fight against Vedanta mining project All-India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday told the Dongria Kondh tribals living in and around the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa that his work as their “sepoy” in New Delhi had just begun. Mr. Gandhi was speaking at a rally at Jagannathpur in Kalahandi district. He congratulated the tribals on emerging successful in their fight against the proposed...
More »Vedanta plans scuppered as Rahul Gandhi champions tribals' cause by Nageshwar Patnaik
It was a classic case of David turning into Goliath almost overnight. Less than two days after the environment ministry rejected Vedanta’s bid to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills of Orissa, the odds swung heavily in favour of the ancient Dongria Kondh tribe when Rahul Gandhi congratulated them on their victory and promised to stand shoulder to shoulder with them in their fight against injustice. In the process, he...
More »Revenge attacks by Lyla Bavadam
In Maharashtra, attacks on citizen-activists have increased with the greater use of RTI; four activists have been killed in the last seven months IN the late 1970s, a woman named Shobha Shirodkar was the victim of a hit-and-run in Mumbai. It was no accident. It was a case of murder because Shobha, who was the principal of a prestigious school in the city, had opposed the land mafia and was believed...
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