Vedanta Resources is willing to relocate a controversial mine planned on land considered sacred by tribal groups in India, the company’s boss was quoted as saying yesterday.
Vedanta’s plans suffered a blow this week when a report commissioned by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests said the company’s planned project in the state of Orissa would threaten the “very survival” of the 8,000-strong Dongria Kondh tribe.
“We are willing to look at alternate locations,” Anil Agarwal, the billionaire chairman of Vedanta Resources, was quoted as saying in the Hindustan Times.
“Without the requisite approvals and clearances, we will not even move an inch,” he added.
Vedanta, India’s second-largest aluminum producer, wants the proposed mine to secure a supply of bauxite needed for its nearby aluminum refinery.
The ministry’s report said that going ahead with the mine in Orissa’s remote Niyamgiri Hill range would have a huge environmental impact.
The mine would “drastically alter” the region’s water supplies, affecting ecological systems and communities, the report said.
It also declared Vedanta was in “illegal occupation” of 26 hectares of land in the area and called it “an act of total contempt for the law.”
Vedanta has said it follows all government procedures, insisting the refinery and mine will help alleviate poverty in the deeply deprived region by providing jobs, healthcare, education and midday feeding schemes to locals.
However, the tribal population and social activist groups including Amnesty International, ActionAid and Survival International have become vocal campaigners against the project.
The Dongria Kondh tribespeople believe the lush hills are the home of their god Niyam Raja and depend on the land for their crops and livelihood.
Many investors such as the Church of England have attacked the company and sold off their shares to protest the planned mine.
The ministry’s Forest Advisory Committee is due to meet tomorrow to consider the report’s recommendations and then submit its views to Indian Minister of State of the Ministry of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, after which a final decision will be taken.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique