Your gods are mine

When patdehri (chief priest) Halu Thanapati, 68, gets possessed, he hastily dives into the badan khaal—the yoni of Goddess Duarseni, the supreme deity of his tribe—as though to suck the rare wisdom that ensures ‘existence’ on earth.

Bad example

In court, Vedanta's lawyers repeatedly said they would emulate the "successful" land reforestation undertaken by NALCO, in its mining area on the Panchpat Mali hill range. The company has received several awards for its contributions in the field of afforestation and wasteland development. But environmentalists say its reclamation effort isn't worth emulation. A visit to the mining site in Damanjodi revealed why.

Dreams of empire

Sterlite Industries of India Limited and Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) are subsidiaries of Vedanta Resources Plc, a publicly-traded British metals and mining company owned principally by London-based industrialist Anil Agarwal. Patna-born Agarwal started out as a scrap metal merchant in the 1970s in Mumbai. In 1983, he set up a small copper cable manufacturing unit. In 1998, his company, now called Sterlite, cashed in on the telecommunications boom in India, supplying copper cables to telecom companies, and raked in Rs 20 crore in profits.

Thin end of wedge

Vedanta isn't the only company eyeing Orissa's highquality bauxite. At least two more companies—Utkal Alumina India Ltd and multinational giant BHP Billiton— have mining and refinery projects in the pipeline. NALCO, one of the companies mining bauxite in the state, is mulling expansion of its mines.

Bending rules

How did Vedanta complete its refinery on schedule amid this fuss? With a little bit of help from the Orissa government and MoEF, it seems. Despite being aware since October 2004 of the company's violations of forest laws, it was only on March 23, 2005, after CEC questioned MoEF about the validity of an environmental clearance, that the ministry directed VAL to halt construction work till clearance was given for the 58.9 ha of forestland within the refinery compound.

Big impact

The project needs more than rich forests. It requires power generation as well as roads to transport minerals. The environmental impacts of the project are linked.

Is it a forest?

Niyamgiri hills comprise a 250-sq km massif of hill forests spread across Kalahandi, Rayagada and Koraput districts. A proposal is pending with the Kalahandi forest division's working plan (approved by MoEF in 1998) to notify the area as a wildlife sanctuary. The area was also listed as a proposed elephant reserve by the state in August 2004.

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