The New Deli Government has ordered Vedanta Resources not to proceed with its bauxite mining project in Orissa’s Niyamgiri hills until local tribal communities give consent. A government panel said that allowing Vedanta to mine in the area would shake the faith of tribal people in India’s laws. Vedanta Alumina, part of the Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Resources, however, said that mining permission in the hills was essential for it to reduce the cost of production. In a devastating report, a committee set up by India’s Environment Minister has ruled that Vedanta has acted illegally and with “total contempt for the law”; that local officials have “colluded” in the company’s illegal activity and falsified documents; that “it is established beyond any doubt that the mining area is the cultural, religious and economic habitat of the Dongria Kondh”; and that to allow Vedanta’s mine would be “illegal”.
