Protesters lined up outside the annual meeting of British mining company Vedanta Resources on Monday to put pressure on its shareholders over plans to mine bauxite on a tribal community’s sacred land in India.
As well as listening to the chants of the demonstrators outside the building in London where the meeting took place, the investors heard a barrage of questions from activists including human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger, who had bought shares in the company in order to voice their opinions at the meeting.
See http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/27/vedantaresources-mining.
See also:
Undermining human rights (Comment by Bianca Jagger)
An Indian settlement built on mineral deposits is at risk from a mining company. As consumers, it is up to us to protect it
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/27/mining-india-human-rights

Business as usual: Vedanta mine plans threaten India’s poorest (Comment by Arundhati Roy)
An ecosystem destroyed. A way of life gone forever. Private profit and public pain. And we call this progress?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/jul/27/arundhati-roy-orissa-mine
Protest held against Indian mine
Activists have demonstrated outside the annual general meeting of British mining company Vedanta, protesting against its plans for a mine in India.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8170328.stm
and http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8171652.stm
Profile: Anil Agarwal
Indian ‘Bollygarch’ made fortune helping the state privatise its mining
industry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/28/anil-agarwal-profile
Anglican Church in controversy as Orissa tribals protest mining project
The Church of England is embroiled in a controversy for its partnership with a multinational mining company that is facing flak for setting up an alumina refinery in Orissa’s Niyamgiri Hills.
http://in.christiantoday.com/articles/anglican-church-in-controversy-as-orissa-tribals-protest-mining-project/4284.htm
Vedanta runs into a London storm over Orissa mining plans
London, July 27 (IANS) The Church of England and other shareholders of the mining company Vedanta braced for major protests at their annual meeting here Monday with a young Kondh tribal joining celebrities to demand an end to mining plans on the bauxite-rich mountains of Nyamgiri in Orissa.
http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/34785.htm
PRESS RELEASE
Kashipur Solidarity Group and Forum Against Oppression of Women
Members of Kashipur Solidarity Group and Forum Against Oppression of Women expressed solidarity with Khond adivasis struggling against the Aluminium company Sterilite, a subsidiary company of Vedanta by distributing 300 pamphlets in front of the Corporate Office of Vedanta, in Vile Parle, Mumbai on 27th July 2009 when Vedanta was having its Annual General Meeting in London. They shared with Vedanta workers too the state of degradation in Orissa as a result of bauxite mining which the company is planning to do in Niyamgiri mountain, in Lanjigarh, Orissa. Vedanta is already operating refinery for bauxite mining banned in First World countries for the devastation it causes to land, water and lives of people. There is worldwide support protest against the company. There was a successful protest on 25th July 2009 against Vedanta in Lanjigarh, Orissa despite company goons attempt to stop activists on the way. The supporters in Mumbai believe that the degradation due to mining will not only affect life in Orissa but it will affect the world’s ecology.
‘Niyamgiri’ is God to Khond adivasis and they have been struggling to save the invaluable resources of ‘Niyamraja’ since the project was known to them. The refinery is already creating health problems and the degradation of the rivers is reaching as far as Andhra Pradesh, the bordering state of Orissa. As the livelihoods are being affected, people in both the states are campaigning against the mining. The proposed open pit mining will damage and destroy the delicate ecology and environment of the jungle covered mountain with rare species of flora and fauna.
Vedanta group was black-listed by the Norwegein govt. for their large scale violations of both human rights and environmental laws. The Supreme Court of India took notice and said that “national resources” like large bauxite deposits can’t be handed over to such bad pvt. Companies but ‘recommended’ that Sterlite — a subsidiary company of Vedanta which is the ‘black-listed’ holding company – can go ahead and do this, forgoing that Gram Sabhas are against it!
The Kashipur Solidarity Group demands that these issues be addresses
·           the Rights of the tribal people / Forest Dwellers,
·           large scale human rights violations going on there,
·           the possibility of total devastation of a very sensitive & fragile eco-system of dense  forests & sparkling rivers,
·           the intimate relationship of the forest dwellers with this “hill of law (Niyam) Niyamgiri”
·           the real need for such an extremely energy-intensive material like Aluminum                                             (which is also a bio-accumulative toxin)
on behalf of Kashipur Solidarity Group,
Sachin Masurkar, 9869324085,
chanda asani,
8/9 Arvind nagar, Kalina, Mumbai 400029
chanda_asani@yahoo.co.uk, bula1957@gmail.com