NITYANAND JAYARAMAN Activists are a cynical bunch. When a good thing happens, they wonder why.
On August 24, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh issued a well-argued order denying forest clearance to a bauxite mining project by Sterlite Industries, a Vedanta subsidiary.
Continue reading Why the Vedanta verdict is just new wine in an old bottle
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The Times of India, October, 15 2006
BHUBANESWAR: About 150 people, majority of them women, led by Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar, on Sunday staged a demonstration outside the residence of Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here, opposing the establishment of the South Korean Posco steel project near Paradip.
Shouting slogans against the Chief Minister and the state government, they vowed never to allow the 12 million tonne project to come up there as it threatened them with displacement.
The demonstrators, who had been sitting on a dharna on the Mahatma Gandhi Marg for over three weeks, suddenly took out a procession and marched towards the Chief Minister’s residence.
The police, who was apparently not prepared for such an eventuality, was caught napping as the protestors virtually ran towards their destination near the airport.
The few police personnel present could not stop the demonstrators who reached the main gate of ‘Naveen Nivas’ leading to scuffles between them and the protestors.
Slogans like “ladenge, jitenge” and “Naveen Patnaik hai hai,” rent the air as reinforcements were called in to control the situation.
Police soon took away over 50 people in a truck even as other protesters continued to shout slogans demanding an audience with the Chief Minister.
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