NEW DELHI, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- India has blocked a major mining development, a move seen as a message that the government is serious about a cease-fire with insurgency groups.
Vedanta Resources is pushing for alternate bauxite sources in the Indian state of Orissa after its proposed site was blocked for environmental and security reasons. A federal government report published last week condemned the way that the state government and Vedanta allegedly ran roughshod over the rights of isolated tribes in the jungle.
Their existence is threatened by forest clearances around the tribes' sacred Niyamgiri Hills to be followed by heavy bauxite mining operations to feed Vedanta's $1.7 billion aluminum processing plant in Lanjigarh in the northeastern coastal state.
The report comes as the government and several Maoist insurgency groups are edging toward peace talks that could end their decades-long confrontation in which thousands of guerrillas, security forces and civilians have been killed.
The Maoists have been fighting for a greater share of the local and state resource wealth to be passed down to the rural poor, including money from operations such as Vedanta's proposed Orissa mines.
The report and subsequent halting of Vedanta's mine project coincides with the federal government's public appeal for peace talks, as well as the Maoists' acceptance in principle for a simultaneous cease-fire. A meeting by both sides is more likely, although none has happened yet.
Campaign group Survival International called the report and the decision to halt Vedanta's plans "a stunning victory" for the Kutia and Dongaria tribes. UPI
