Mining operations in Vizag to be kept on hold After the bold action taken by the Union Environment and Forest Ministry against Vedanta's plans to mine bauxite in Orissa, the clutch of bauxite and alumina projects in Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh may now feel the heat. Already, there is lurking fear in the bauxite mining and alumina refining industry that their projects could be next in the firing line by the...

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...

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...

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...

National Advisory Council member and former bureaucrat N C Saxena headed the four member panel which recommended that Orissa Mining Corporation (the company that was to supply bauxite ore to Vedanta’s Lanjigarh plant) not be permitted to mine on Niyamgiri hill. ET spoke to Mr Saxena a few hours after the environment ministry accepted his committee’s recommendations. Excerpts from the interview: What are the implications of today’s decision? Some sections of corporate India feel that laws such as...