Blog by Miriam Rose, 1 August 2011

Last week noisy protests once again dominated the British-Indian mining company Vedanta's annual general meeting in London.

Demonstrators both inside and outside the AGM expressed outrage at the ever-increasing list of human rights and environmental violations levelled at the company. One investor, insurance giant Aviva raised serious concerns about the proposed Niyamgiri bauxite mine on sacred tribal lands in India for a second year running, while other 'dissident’ shareholders cited a toxic mine-waste disaster in Goa which swept away three people and flooded a whole village.

The company responded by repeating the same mantra: 'we comply with all environmental laws and follow guidance to the book'. Protests were also held in Delhi, Odisha and Tamil Nadu in India.

Two months ago I saw at first hand Vedanta's impact on two communities in Odisha.

I met Lodo Sidaka of the Dongria Kondh tribe, who told me of their ongoing struggle to save the sacred Niyamgiri Hills from mining. Vedanta is trying to overturn a ban last year on its controversial project and plans to expand a nearby alumina refinery by India’s Environment Minister who ruled the company had seriously breached environmental laws and shown a ‘shocking’ and blatant disregard for the rights of the tribal groups’.  In Puri I also met farmers whose land was taken over for the now-halted 'Vedanta University', a 6900 acre corporate project currently being investigated by the Orissa government's Lok Pal anti-corruption committee for alleged corruption and illegal land grabbing. 

With multiple investigations into their activities it seemed that this year the company was finally going to be held accountable and we looked forward to celebrating at the AGM. But just two weeks before the big day, a government reshuffle was announced to replace Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh with pro-industry Jayanathi Natarajan. Interviewed on CNN she declared that “the past is over” and would ensure a “speedy decision” to reverse the Niyamgiri case.

At the demonstration, protesters called for the trial of Vedanta founder, CEO and 62 per cent shareholder Anil Agarwal. He is Britain's 17th richest man, and lives in the Shah of Iran's old £20 million property in Mayfair.  Since Vedanta is registered in London - the world centre of mining investment and metals trading - protesters argue it should be subject to British law. But Vedanta's activities are mostly carried out in India by local subsidiaries answerable to the Indian legal system. This dual-domicile strategy allows a number of British-registered mining companies to be ambiguous with the law and literally get away with breaking it. Now Vedanta is venturing into oil and gas, attempting a $9.6 billion takeover of Cairn India, a subsidiary of Scottish oil company Cairn Energy, with licences to drill in the socially and environmentally fragile areas of Greenland and Sri Lanka.

The revolving mining door

So what is Britain doing about Vedanta? When the Indian government demanded an investigation into Vedanta's controversial record before agreeing to the Cairn deal, the British government stepped in to urge the deal along and prevent 'unnecessary delays'.  And in 2010 while protests raged at Vedanta’s last AGM, Prime Minister David Cameron met with the political architects of Vedanta's mine during an official visit to India to promote British industrial interests there. He did not comment on the activities of this British registered company and, speaking on his behalf, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) claimed "ultimately Vedanta's activities in India are governed by Indian law". Just one year before BIS had said that "Vedanta [has] failed to put in place an adequate and timely consultation mechanism fully to engage the Dongria Kondh, an indigenous community who would be directly affected by the environmental and health and safety impact of its plans."

So how can the British government justify its part in helping Vedanta to become one of the fastest growing mining companies on the planet? And why did the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and Department for International Development (DfID) help Vedanta onto the London Stock Exchange in 2003? Like other British registered mining companies, Vedanta has gained credibility from the revolving door between UK and Indian politicians, DfID, the financial sector and even international NGOs.

Take Naresh Chandra. He is a key Vedanta director and the highest paid board member in India, holding positions with BAE Systems and car producing giant Tata, both of which require large amounts of Vedanta's main product, aluminium. He is also the chairman of the Committee on Civil Aviation Policy and a director of the aforementioned Cairn Energy.  Chandra also sits on the board of the biggest conflict prevention NGO, the International Crisis Group. Most importantly, he is a former Indian Home Secretary, Cabinet Secretary and Indian Ambassador to the USA. Though it may seem hard to top Chandra's connections, India's current Home Minister P. Chidambaram was an executive director of Vedanta right up to the day he became finance minister in 2004.

Vedanta is one in a long list of mining companies who seem comfortable to face repeated legal cases and national investigations into their activities. They are comfortable because - with the support of PR and corporate social responsibility experts, and well-placed connections across diverse elites from NGOs to politicians to bankers they are confident that they will get away with it. When the well being of people and planet are at stake we cannot allow this to happen.

Miriam Rose is an independent researcher and activist on mining and metals, in particular the impacts of the aluminium industry.