The article below should send the shivers down the spine of those who know that the mining of ore is destroying Goa. Now that Manmohanji has got this huge mandate from the people, and Montek Singh Alhuwalia may be minister of finance, expect even more of the same, shareholders of companies, and not stakeholders, are given priority.
Expect the Western Ghats and Goa's water resources to disappear after the coming rains. Sadly, Hartman Government approves controversial mine 18 May 2009 A Dongria Kondh woman. © Jason Taylor The Indian government has given Britain’s Vedanta Resources final approval to start a controversial bauxite mine in the hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe. The tribespeople, furious that the lush hills where they live will be devastated, have mounted a series of blockades and large-scale protests in recent years. They say the mine will end their way of life forever, and have vowed to block Vedanta from destroying the top of their mountain, which they hold sacred. The Indian ministry for environment and forests has now granted Vedanta the environmental clearance it requires to start mining. The mine, in the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa, eastern India, could begin operations within weeks. Dongria Kondh spokesman Lodu said that if government gave the mountain, we will ask them to sell their own mountain. This is the Dongria Kondh’s hill, it is not theirs to sell. Vedanta is already operating a bauxite refinery at the foot of the mountain.. Hundreds of people have lost their homes to the refinery, which has been condemned by government officials for its alarming rate of pollution. Actress Joanna Lumley, narrating Survival’s film Mine: Story of a Sacred Mountain, said that it was only because the Dongria have known their lands so intimately and for so long that this extraordinary forest survives. The Dongria know that the mine will ruin their homes, pollute their lands and destroy their lives. We cannot let their fate be decided in a corporate boardroom added Lumley. Survival director Stephen Corry said today that unless this decision was reversed, it would be the death knell for the Dongria Kondh. Much has been made during the elections this month of India’s status as the world’s largest democracy, but from the Dongria Kondh point of view there was precious little democracy at work added Corry. Please also see http://www.survival-international.org/news/4561
