About 26 Indians "most of them from eastern UP" have been held hostage near Malaysian city Ipoh for over a week now. According to reports, the hostages have been confined to a room surrounded by hills covered with Dense forests. All that they are being given is rice, salt, a few biscuits to eat and water from flush tank to drink. Besides, they have been tied to each other so...
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Cut out the shortcuts by Sunita Narain
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...
More »Anti-Vedanta MP once wanted alumina company in Niyamgiri by Priscilla Jebaraj
Today, he is known as a champion of tribal rights and a leader in the fight against Vedanta's proposal to mine bauxite in Niyamgiri. But 14 years ago, Bhakta Charan Das, Congress MP from Kalahandi sang a different tune. “The Government of India and the Orissa Government should take keen interest to set up at least a large alumina plant because we have got a heavy deposit of bauxite in Niyamgiri...
More »Sharing profits for new gains by Sunita Narain
The draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, or MMDR Bill, includes a crucial provision to share the wealth of mining — 26 per cent of the annual profits — with people who live near the projects. But industry wants this profit-sharing clause dropped. The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi) says it will breed lazy people, who will only drink and beat up their women. The Confederation...
More »FDI Vs Tribes by Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
THE Indian Bureau of Mines, in its Indian Minerals Yearbook–2005, notes that Chhattisgarh has 28 different types of minerals, with coal and iron ore being the most abundant. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), in its comprehensive book Rich Lands, Poor People: Is ‘Sustainable' Mining Possible?, says that around 16 per cent of India's coal reserves, 10 per cent of its iron-ore reserves, 5 per cent of its limestone...
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