FTSE 100 mining company Vedanta Resources’ billionaire owner Anil Agarwal has pulled out of a London conference, where he was due to speak, after Survival International announced plans to demonstrate outside.
According to London police, Agarwal pulled out of the conference two days after Survival announced plans to picket the event. He was supposed to be talking at the London Business School about ‘inclusive growth’.
Survival’s protest was to highlight Vedanta’s plan to mine the land of India’s Dongria Kondh tribe, who have become known as ‘the real Avatar’ because of their iconic struggle to save their sacred mountain.
A recent report commissioned by the Indian government agreed that Vedanta’s mine could mean the ‘destruction of the Dongria Kondh’ as a distinct people. The Church of England, the Norwegian government and others have sold their shares in the company because of its ‘serious violation of fundamental human rights.’
According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2010, Mr Agarwal is the UK’s tenth richest man, after his wealth increased more than 500% in the last year to over $6 billion.
Stephen Corry, Survival’s director said, ‘Anil Agarwal needs to know that the destruction he wreaks in India will not pass unnoticed in the rest of the world. As long as he and his company are abusing the Dongria Kondh’s basic human rights, Mr Agarwal will have to face an angry public. His injustices will not be forgotten, and they must be stopped.’
To read this story online: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/5936