Catching Up

So much to write about. There has been a hiatus of almost three years since the blog was active. Much water has flown under the bridge during these three years. The Supreme Court provided clearance to Vedanta to mine Niyamgiri; POSCO still continues to be stymied in Jagatsinghpur; Kalinganagar people still continue to hold strong against the TATAs. We had the Kandhmal riots against Christians and the break up of the alliance between BJP and BJD; internationally we are still blinking at the rapidity of the collapse of the neo-liberal bubble. A black man became the president of USA, and continues with the neo-imperialist policies of the Bush the Younger. We lost one of the most important activists in Orissa, Mr. Rajandra Sarangi, to cerebral malaria, a sore loss which continues to hurt all those who love Orissa.

We also have Professors from abroad advocating for industrialisation and displacement - NROs for "Corporations" and "Growth". More of that later.

At this point, I would like to inform you that Survival International has put a beautiful documentary on the Donagria Kondhs and Niyamgiri (and of course Vedanta) on its website at http://www.survival-international.org/films/mine . Please have a look at it - a poignant reminder of what is being lost in Vedanta's lust of bauxite. Professor Sahebs, aapan mane bhi dhekantu, this relates to the same company which is promoting Vedanta University.

Kundan