[PETITION] INDIA: Priyanka Chopra WITHDRAW from VEDANTA’s ‘Our Girls, Our Pride’ Campaign

“We, ask you to withdraw as Ambassador from ‘Our Girls, Our Pride’, a discredited and damaging campaign and not lend your name to it , when its partner , Vedanta has a terrible record on human rights and the environment,they are destroying the lives of thousands of girl children in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and other states of India and its crimes have been exposed across India and internationally. Vedanta’s interests are directly opposed to those of India, its people and particularly the girl children from poor communities it claims to be helping. Countless children’s life chances have been affected by the deaths and serious injuries sustained by their parents who are workers in Vedanta’s mines, factories and other processing operations.Let them not use you and your name for cause that’s a sham and a PR exercise, for a brand like vedanta which has soaked their hands in blood of tribals of Niymagiri, including girl child.”

 

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Why this is important

India: Urgent call to halt Odisha mega-steel project amid serious human rights concerns

GENEVA (1^st October 2013) –Construction of a mega-steel plant in Odisha in Eastern India should be halted immediately, United Nations independent human rights experts* have urged, citing serious human rights concerns. The project reportedly threatens to displace over 22,000 people in the Jagatsinghpur District, and disrupt the livelihoods of many thousands more in the surrounding area.

“The construction of a massive steel plant and port in Odisha by multinational steel corporation POSCO must not proceed as planned without ensuring adequate safeguards and guaranteeing that the rights of the thousands of people are respected,” the group of eight experts stressed.

While India has the primary duty to protect the rights of those whose homes and livelihoods are threatened by the project, the experts underlined that “POSCO also has a responsibility to respect human rights, and the Republic of Korea, where POSCO is based, should also take measures to ensure that businesses based in its territory do not adversely impact human rights when operating abroad.”

INDIA: Consent of local village councils must for mining – Tribal Affairs Minister

Kishore Chandra Deo | Consent of local village councils must for mining

Gram Sabhas should become more effective as this will ensure transparency, and corruption will be minimized

Liz Mathew 

New Delhi: The environment ministry will not clear any mining in forest areas unless local village councils give their consent, Kishore Chandra Deo, minister of tribal affairs and Panchayati Raj, said in an interview. A Congress leader from Andhra Pradesh, Deo took charge of the two ministries in July. He said the revival of village councils is the best way to ensure larger people’s participation in governance Edited excerpts: