Controversy over forests and tribals

HI,

I'm adding a press release about an ongoing issue with protecting the rights of tribal peoples in India to access their traditional lands. A multinational corporation called Vedanta was granted rights to build and mine on the land:

Here are excerpts from the beginning of the press release, and a link to the full article:

Representatives of the Dongria Kondh, both men and women were travelling from Niyamgiri to attend the conference in Delhi and narrate the atrocities Vedanta is committing against them and the forests when, in a shocking incident - signal of Vedanta’s rule of terror - they were beaten and abducted by armed men, later found to be policemen. The two Dongria leaders Lado Sikaka and Sana Sikaka were untraceable till Kalahandi’s MP intervention, after which they were finally released.

Niyamgiri means the mountain (Giri) that upholds the Earth and the law of the Universe (Niyam). These mountains are the ancestral domain of the Dongria, Kutia and Jharania Kondh; the mountains not only provide them with life and livelihoods, they are also worshipped as the upholders of the Earth and the laws of the Universe.

http://www.navdanya.org/news/120-report-on-policy-dialogue-niyamgiri-a-test-case-for-the-defense-of-our-forests-and-tribals-

The report is prepared by the staff of Navdanya, an organization founded by the ecofeminist activist, Vandana Shiva. In MPS 521, we are going to read her book, India Divided.

Thanks,

Pat Bombard