An investigation by the Indian government has struck a blow to plans by Vedanta Resources for a bauxite mine in Odisha. Concern over Vedanta recently led the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust to sell its shares in the company (‘JRCT sells Vedanta shares due to alleged human rights abuses’, 5 March).
The mine is planned for the sacred land of the Dongria Kondh people. Two Dongria Kondh activists, Lodu and Sena Sikaka, are reported to have been abducted at gunpoint last week. They were released within days, but at least one of them is alleged to have been beaten.

The state government of Odisha supports Vedanta’s mine. But a committee set up by the Indian central government reported this week that Vedanta had acted with ‘total contempt for the law’ and that the planned mine would ‘threaten the survival’ of the Dongria Kondh. They said that local officials had ‘colluded’ with Vedanta’s lawbreaking.

The report concludes that the mine would be illegal. The Indian environment minister had already said he would use the report when deciding whether to grant permission for the mine.

‘Let’s hope this is the final nail in the coffin for Vedanta’s plans,’ said Stephen Corry of Survival International.

Lodu Sikaka said last year, ‘If the whole universe came to try to convince us about Vedanta, we still would not allow this mine’.