Tag Archives: Sterlite

Authors pull out of Vedanta JLF, and a rebuttal to the organisers

May 17, 2016Newsbauxite, copper, Dongria Kond, Foil Vedanta, Human Rights, India, KCM, London, Mining, Niyamgiri, Pollution, protest, Sterlite, Supreme Court of India, Vedanta, worker's deaths, Zambialankoid

17th May. On 14th May we released an open letter calling for the renowned authors and artists participating in the Jaipur Literature Festival at Southbank, London, to pull out of the event in view of its sponsorship by Vedanta Resources – dubbed ‘the world’s most hated company’. The letter has now been signed by over 100 writers, academics, activists and people directly affected by Vedanta’s operations, including poets Nabina Das, Hemant Devate, Rafiq Kathwari and Surya Vahni Priya Capildeo and writers Tariq Mehmood, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, Courttia Newland and Gladson Dungdung.

In response two speakers have already pulled out. The scientist and broadcaster Aarathi Prasad and K. Satchidanandan, a Malayalam and English poet have both refused to participate. (Please see the full article critiquing the neocolonialist approach of the Jaipur Literature Festival by Kavita Bhanot here)

Despite this, Sanjoy Roy, the managing director of Teamwork Arts, which produces the festival, issued this statement to the media on behalf of the festival organisers Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple:

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Prosperity or plunder?: The real story behind the global mining industry

August 12, 2015Articlesbauxite, copper, Displacement, Foil Vedanta, Human Rights, iron ore, KCM, Mining, Samarendra Das, Sesa Goa, Sterlite, Supreme Court of India, Tom Albanese, Vedanta, Zambialankoid

modern technology: Australian iron ore being loaded onto ships

12th August 2015. This editorial on the ecological economics and social impacts of the global mining industry was published in the July/August edition of the socialist Hindi magazine Samayik Varta. Please click the link to read it in Hindi or download a PDF version of the article here: Prosperity or plunder? The real story behind the global mining industry

Prosperity or plunder?: The real story behind the global mining industry

Samarendra Das and Miriam Rose, Foil Vedanta

Foil Vedanta is a grassroots international solidarity group based in London. We aim to hold the FTSE 250 UK listed company Vedanta to account by building a global movement of communities opposing its operations, and using scholar activism to expose the real interests behind Vedanta and other mining companies. In 2014 our report Copper Colonialism: Vedanta KCM and the copper loot of Zambia, which followed our visit to Zambia, ignited protests and helped change Zambian mining policy.

A history of mining:

Scientists still don’t fully understand how the deposits of precious metal in the Earth’s surface were formed, but the most recent theory suggests that they were brought to the Earth by enormous meteors which smashed into the planet 200 million years after the earth formed (4.3 billion years ago).^¹The earth’s crust is mostly made up of Oxygen (47%) and Silicon (28%), followed by Aluminium (8%) and Iron (5%). Other metals are much more rare; Copper makes up 0.01%, Zinc 0.004%, Lead 0.002%, Tin 0.001%, Thorium 0.001%, Uranium 0.0004%, Silver 0.00001% and Gold 0.000001%. Only a fraction of these percentages are to be found in densities which are economically viable to extract.

In other words, metals are a very rare and very precious resource on our planet, and are completely irreplaceable. However, in 2014, after only a century of industrial scale mining, the speed and scale of extraction of metals has become so immense that most metals are predicted to run out in the next few decades. For example between 1.1 and 1.3 billion tonnes of aluminium has been extracted historically (until 2014), and at the current extraction rate of 40 – 46 million tonnes per year the remaining 8 billion tonnes will be used up in 20 – 40 years.^²

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Talwandi Sabo Power laborers strike for unpaid wages

August 12, 2015Actions, NewsIndia, protest, Punjab, Repression, Sterlite, Talwandi Sabo, Vedanta, Vedanta Ltd, worker's deathslankoid

Contract workers blockade gate demanding overdue payment

Aug 7, 2015. Banwali village, Punjab.

Contract Labourers at Vedanta’s Punjabi power company Talwandi Sabo Power Limited are striking today and protesting in front of the plant gates demanding payment for which they have been waiting for four months.

The Talwandi Sabo plant will be Punjabs biggest greenfield power plant. It is being constructed by SEPCO, the Chinese firm who were found guilty alongside Vedanta for causing more than 40 deaths at the Korba plant in Chhattisgarh when a chimney collapsed on workers in 2009 . Like the Talwandi Sabo workers they were contracted, un-unionised and without rights.

Hardeep Singh, engineer said, “27/28 contractors working for Vedanta have not received salaries for the last 4 months for which we are holding a non-violent protest in front of the gate of Vedanta/ TSPL. In this matter we met the DC and the GM of SEPCO. Nothing has been resolved. We will not stop our protest until our due wage worth 80 crores is settled. We demand from the company and the government that we are given what is owed to us.”

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Extractive Industries on Trial! Protest at the Responsible Extractives Summit 2015.

June 25, 2015Actions, UncategorizedFoil Vedanta, Human Rights, KCM, London, Mining, Oil and Gas, Pollution, protest, Repression, solidarity, Sterlite, Tom Albanese, UK government, Vedanta, Vedanta Aluminium, worker's deaths, Zambialankoid

Please join us to oppose the 6th Annual Responsible Extractives Summit at Tower Bridge Hilton on Monday 29th June.

Expose crooked executives from Shell, Vedanta, Rio Tinto, JP Morgan, Bechtel and more, co-opting UN’s human rights mechanisms and using sustainability and CSR spin to cover up their extensive and ongoing crimes against humanity and the environment.

Monday 29th June, 12 midday. Hilton Hotel, Tower Bridge, London, SE1 2BY.

Bring drums and placards!!

download the flyer here: Responsible Extractives demo flyer

More info on the true neocolonial faces of the key speakers at the event:

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Anil Agarwal anonymous in New York

February 9, 2015ArticlesAGM, Anil Agarwal, bauxite, copper, Corruption, Displacement, Dongria Kond, Foil Vedanta, India, KCM, London, Mining, Niyamgiri, Odisha, Pollution, protest, Sterlite, Supreme Court of India, Tamil Nadu, Thoothkudi, Tuticorin, Vedanta, Zambialankoid

7th February 2015 The New York Times has published an exposé of Vedanta boss Anil Agarwal as part of a series on the people behind shell companies buying up New York real Estate, entitled ‘Towers of Secrecy’ by Louise Story and Stephanie Saul. The section on Vedanta is copied below and the full article is highly recommended.

Like most Time Warner owners, Anil Agarwal, an Indian mining magnate, is anonymous in New York. While interviews and private documents reviewed by The Times confirm he is behind condos purchased by the Amantea Corporation for $9.1 million in 2004, his name appears nowhere on public records. The deeds for Amantea’s Time Warner condos — one on the “maids floor” and another with sweeping views of Central Park — are signed by a New York lawyer named Constance Cranch. When contacted, she said: “You cannot say anything with respect to me. It’s a client of mine’s apartment, and I pay their bills.”

For all the secrecy at Time Warner, Mr. Agarwal is hardly private about his wealth. He spends much of his time in London and told a newspaper in 2005: “I have to have a Bentley, the best of chauffeurs and butlers.”

But Mr. Agarwal and his company, Vedanta Resources, are known in some parts of the world for having left financial and environmental problems in their wake.

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Global protests rage against Vedanta AGM

August 1, 2014Articles, NewsAGM, AGM 2014, Anil Agarwal, bauxite, Cairn, copper, Displacement, Dongria Kond, Foil Vedanta, India, KCM, Lanjigarh, London, Mining, Niyamgiri, Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, Odisha, Pollution, protest, Repression, solidarity, Sri Lanka, Sterlite, Supreme Court of India, Tamil Nadu, UK government, Vedanta, worker's deaths, Zambialankoid

August 1st 2014. Protesters from Foil Vedanta, MPs and other organizations today held a loud and colourful demonstration at the AGM of controversial FTSE 250 mining company Vedanta at the Lincoln Centre, Lincoln Inn Fields, London. On 31^st August parallel demos were held in Odisha, Delhi and Johannesburg. 400 miners protested Vedanta’s Konkola Copper Mines in Ndola, Zambia. In Odisha, India, a consultation on the proposed six fold expansion of the Lanjigarh refinery on 30^th July met with major opposition after Vedanta lost permission to mine the Niyamgiri Hills this year. Meanwhile, Vedanta are accused of tax evasion and mismanagement at their Konkola Copper Mines subsidiary in Zambia after investigations revealed they may be externalising up to $500 million per year in profits.

60 people railed against Vedanta’s London AGM today, representing a variety of organisations including diaspora from Zambia, Goa, Tamil Eelam and Odisha where Vedanta is currently embroiled in scandals and accused of major illegalities. Tamil Parai drummers kept up a loud rhythm throughout the demo. Shortly before the AGM started at 3pm a huge banner was unfurled from the top of the next door building saying ‘Vedanta out of London’ eliciting cheers from the crowd. The protesters were joined by a 6m inflatable blade of grass referring to Anil Agarwal’s repeated claim at previous AGMs that Vedanta ‘have not touched a single blade of grass’ at the Niyamgiri Hills. Company executives were hassled as they entered the AGM.

See the film of today’s demo in London here, and the Parai dummers here, and see MP John McDonnell and others update the protesters after the AGM here.

And photos on Demotix here and here

A full account of the questions asked inside the AGM, and Vedanta’s responses can be found at London Mining Network’s website here.

Coverage by: Economic Times, Activists protest at Vedanta’s AGM over alleged illegalities

The Ecologist, India: Foil Vedanta protests erupt in Delhi

Odisha Sun Times, Foil Vedanta stage protest in London; decries company’s move in Odisha.

The Statesman, Protesters target Vedanta, Govt.

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Lanjigarh expansion Public Hearing disrupted by hundreds

July 31, 2014Articles, Newsaluminium, bauxite, Corruption, Displacement, Dongria Kond, India, Lanjigarh, Mining, Niyamgiri, Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, Odisha, Orissa Mining Corporation, Pollution, protest, Repression, Sesa Sterlite, solidarity, Sterlite, Supreme Court of India, Vedanta, Vedanta Aluminiumlankoid

31st July, 2014. Yesterday public hearings on the six fold expansion of the Lanjigarh refinery, at the base of the Niyamgiri Hills in Odisha, were disrupted by around 1000 local people including Dongria and Kutia Konds virulently opposing the expansion.

Some Konds waved their axes demanding that Vedanta (Sesa Sterlite) leave Lanjigarh immediately and citing their objection to the Niyamgiri mine (voiced unanimously in a precedent referendum last year). The Land Losers Association also registered their objection citing the false arrests and imprisonment they have suffered since losing their land to Vedanta without proper compensation or employment as Vedanta had promised. A recent report from a local activist detailed how 34 of the Land losers have died since they lost their land, attributing this to poverty and disease from the Lanjigarh plant.

See a film of the public hearing and the key points raised by opposing groups here.

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MPs hear evidence for de-listing Vedanta and other UK listed mining companies

July 22, 2014Actions, NewsAGM, aluminium, Anil Agarwal, bauxite, Cairn, copper, Corruption, Displacement, Dongria Kond, film, Financial Conduct Authority, Foil Vedanta, Human Rights, India, KCM, Lanjigarh, London, Mining, Niyamgiri, Odisha, Pollution, protest, Samarendra Das, solidarity, Sterlite, Supreme Court of India, Tamil, UK government, Vedanta, Vedanta Aluminium, Zambialankoid

Miriam Rose, Samarendra Das, John McDonnell MP and Richard Solly in the House of Commons

Speakers from Foil Vedanta and London Mining Network yesterday presented evidence in the House of Commons on the criminal behaviour of some London Listed mining companies, and called for better accountability measures and the de-listing of criminal companies. Focusing on contentious UK miner Vedanta Resources, they exposed new evidence of tax evasion, illegal land grabs, displacement, major pollution and water poisoning, as well as the UK’s role in promoting and protecting the company, and called for its immediate investigation and potential de-listing in London.

In a packed meeting hosted by John McDonnell MP in the House of Commons speakers told MPs, journalists, diplomats and members of the public attending that high risk mining companies like ‘the world’s most hated company’ Vedanta Resources are bringing shame on the London Stock Exchange, and demanded better accountability measures and the de-listing of criminal companies. MPs attending were Jeremy Corbyn, Eric Joyce and John McDonnell.

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International protest call out! Vedanta AGM, Friday 1st August

July 4, 2014Actions, News2014 AGM, AGM, aluminium, Anil Agarwal, bauxite, copper, Corruption, Displacement, Dongria Kond, Financial Conduct Authority, Foil Vedanta, Human Rights, India, Jharsuguda, KCM, Koodankulam, Lanjigarh, London, MALCO, Mining, Niyamgiri, Odisha, Orissa Mining Corporation, Pollution, protest, solidarity, Sri Lanka, Sterlite, Supreme Court of India, Tamil, Tamil Nadu, Thoothkudi, Tuticorin, UK government, Vedanta, Vedanta Aluminium, worker's deaths, Zambialankoid

Protest call out! Join us at Vedanta’s AGM, Friday 1st August. 14:00-16:00

The Lincoln Centre, 18 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3ED

Join us for our major annual demonstration at Vedanta’s AGM.

We will bring the defiant energy of communities fighting (and winning) against Vedanta around the world to London: from the miners associations, to the looted people of Zambia, and the Dongria Kond tribe.

Parallel demonstrations are already planned in Zambia, Odisha and Delhi in India on this international day of action. Please contact us on foilvedanta@riseup.net if you would like to plan a demonstration at any Vedanta affected community, or in solidarity ANYWHERE!

Please find more info on the Delhi demonstration here.

download leaflets for your community and spread the word here:

Foil Vedanta AGM 2014 leaflet

Foil Vedanta Tamil leaflet AGM 2014

Foil Vedanta Afrika leaflet AGM 2014

Bring drums, placards, banners and lots of energy!

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Lingaraj Azad – Niyamgiri movement leader and political activist

April 7, 2014Articlesbauxite, Dongria Kond, India, Kishen Pattnayak, Lanjigarh, Lingaraj Azad, Mining, Niyamgiri, Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, Odisha, Orissa Mining Corporation, Pollution, protest, Repression, Samajwadi Jan Parishad, solidarity, Sterlite, Supreme Court of India, Vedanta, Vedanta Aluminiumlankoid

7th April 2014. This interview with Lingaraj Azad, one of the key Dalit leaders of the Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, who won in their ten year struggle against Vedanta’s bauxite mine last year, and a close associate of Foil Vedanta, was published in the Nov-Dec 2013 issue of Samayaik Varta. This English translation has just been released.

Niyamgiri mountain and the movement’s leader Lingraj Azad

– Shiuli Vanaja

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