Starting the EPG Orissa Blog

One can consider this blog a composite of the various people who constitute EPGOrissa - Environmental Protection Group Orissa. This group emerged into being in the crucible of the Vedanta fight - over Niyamgiri hill and the Vendanta Alumina Refinery in Lanjigarh. It is response to the incredibly dangerous trend of industrialisation in Orissa based on mineral and natural resource extraction - an industrialisation powered by Foreign Direct Investment, which aims to convert Orissa's resources and environment into profits, and leave us holding the monstrous baby of environmental degradation and destroyed lives and livelihoods.

The EPG Group hopes to become a forum and collaboration of people who would like to come together and contribute towards protecting Orissa's incredible environment, and its tremendous social, cultural and natural diversity. One of our first effort at collaborative work was the production of "A Brief Report on Ecological and Biodiversity Importance of Niyamgiri Hills and the Implications of Bauxite mining". This report has been circulated both on the web as well as through hard copies.

We hope to post recent developments and initiatives on this Blog and keep people who are interested in Orissa informed about Orissa situation.

The Picture shows the Sakata Nala as it flows down the Niyamgiri Hill. The Niyamgiri Hill top is proposed to be mined for bauxite.