India Update
Published by MAC on 2006-05-05
India Update
5th May 2006
We start with a major - and exclusive - "op-ed" on Vedanta's exploits in Orissa, as its illegal refinery moves closer to completion.. One of MAC's correspondents sums up what's happened since the Indian Supreme Court's failed earlier this year to implement its own forest protection committee's recommendations calling for a halt in construciton.
Rio Tinto is another UK company interested in exploitating Orissa - especially the iron ore district of Keonjhar, an indigenous forest area already grossly over-mined. This is one of the poorest parts of the most impoverished state in India. Can even more exploitation change the situation for the better?
As concerned Canadian shareholders urge Alcan not to proceed with its own joint venture Orissa aluminium project , so another grop of women has taken over the continued blockade against Tata's steel project at Kalinganagar.
The BBC revists India's first uranium mine and its correspondent is appalled at what he finds. And Maoists (Naxalites) in Chhattisgarh issue a statement explaining why they're especially targetting mining.