Protestors Set Record Straight on Golden Peacock Awardee Vedanta
Twenty environment and social activists from different parts of India took over the opening ceremony of UK-charity World Environment Foundation’s “Global Convention on Climate Security” to denounce the Foundation’s Golden Peacock Awards. The activists highlighted the foundation’s choice of Vedanta Alumina as winner of the environmental management award to argue that the award was nothing but “greenwash” or deceptive use of “green” marketing or PR. Claiming the stage from the surprised WEF president Madhav Mehra, Mamata Dash of New Delhi-based Kashipur Solidarity Group and Guman Ji of Him Niti Abhiyan presented evidence about Vedanta Alumina’s ongoing pollution at the Lanjigarh facility.
Vedanta was allegedly chosen for the award on the basis of its claim that its controversial Lanjigarh aluminum refinery is a zero discharge unit. The company and its parent and sister concerns are mired in controversies involving human rights abuses, environmental degradation and financial irregularities including tax evasion, fraud and insider trading. Giving the 36 persons listed as jurors by WEF on their website the benefit of doubt, more than 120 people had earlier written to them with evidence on the company’s controversial track record. Dismissing the organisers of the award and the award winners as “birds of a feather,” the endorsers asked dignitaries and jurors to dissociate themselves from the awards or risk being tarred by the same brush. The Himachal Pradesh chief minister and a number of senior bureaucrats of the HP Government, who were slotted to attend the opening ceremony, withdrew in the last minute owing to the Vedanta-centred controversy around the convention.
School children brought to the venue to form a human chain dispersed after the activists took the stage at the Palampur Agriculture Universit grounds. Activists holding posters and banners saying “Stop Greenwashing” and “Stop Selling Climate Change” briefed the Tibetan Prime Minister in exile — Samdhung Rinpoche, one of the chief dignitaries, about the company, following which Rinpoche walked out of the venue. Delegates at the conference were also given pamphlets and copies of the letter written to jurors, and endorsed by more than 170 organisations.
In January 2009, WEF withdrew the Golden Peacock Award given to Satyam Computers, literally days before the company submitted its fraudulent balance sheet to shareholders. “We do not expect any integrity from the organisers of the Golden Peacock Awards. However, many of the jury members are persons of good reputation and integrity. We are concerned that your decision may have been arrived at in the absence of full information. We would also like to give you an opportunity to review some disturbing information regarding the conduct of Vedanta and its subsidiaries, and to dissociate yourselves from the award to Vedanta to avoid a Satyam-style embarrassment,” endorsers to the letter to jurors wrote.
Guman Singh, leader of Himalaya Niti Abhiyan who spoke on behalf of the campaign appreciated that Chief Minister of Himachal who was to be the Chief guest at the function had withdrawn his participation from the event after pressure from the campaign and the controversy around awardee company. Mamata Dash, an activist from Orissa tried to draw the attention of the delegates towards the crimes committed by Vedenta on the Dongria Kondh adivasis in the Niyamgiri hills for its bauxite mines. Just as she began speaking Madhav Mehra, founder of WEF, tried to shove her off the stage. After a scuffle with the activists, Mehra made a statement that he had no interest with Vedanta and that they would review the award and even withdraw just like they had done in the Satyam case if the facts were found to be true. As the tussle continued between the activists and the organizers, the ground echoed with slogans like “WEF down down” and “Vedanta company chor hai!”.
Himalaya Niti Abhiyan, Kashipur Solidarity Group, POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity, NFFPFW, PUDR, Saheli, The Other Media, Harit Swaraj Abhiyan
Green protesters steal show at WEF global convention
Palampur | Saturday, Jun 13 2009 IST
http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/India/20090613/1274312.html
Slogan-shouting Green activists barged into the venue of World Environment Foundation’s Global Convention for Climate Change and stole the show during the inaugural ceremony here last evening.
The activists, protesting against the WEF’s Golden Peacock award to the Vedanta Alumina Limited for its refinery in Lanjigarh Orissa, pushed their way and seized the microphone to highlight various environmental crimes and human rights violations that the company had allegedly indulged in, not just in its Orissa project, but at other project sites across the country. The activists briefed the Tibetan Prime Minister in exile- Samdhung Rinpoche, who was present as a Chief dignitary at the function about the national campaign that has built up against the company and the devastation caused by the company in Orissa. He immediately walked out of the venue.
Subsequently, hundreds of children from schools in Palampur, present at the ceremony held at Palampur Agriculture University grounds, cheered the protesters who were shouting ”Stop greenwashing corporate crimes” and ”Stop selling climate change” and later left the venue.
