http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/aug/25/slide-show-1-a-few-disturbing-questions-in-the-vedanta-issue.htm
Vedanta issue: A few disturbing questions Last updated on: August 25, 2010 20:24 IST Nilmadhab Mohanty The decision of Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh not to grant Stage II forest clearance to the proposal of the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) for bauxite mining in Niyamgiri in Orissa has been welcomed in many circles, in particular by the environmental activists, for the protection it will provide to an ecologically sensitive area of the country and to the Kondh tribes (and Dalits) living in the area. There are, however a few disturbing questions that need to be answered by the ministry in order to buttress the minister's claim that the decision was an objective one with no prejudice or politics influencing it. First, the manner and time-line followed in the decision-making. The Orissa state government seems to have applied for final clearance in August 2009. The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has been deliberating the proposal at least since November 2009. In addition to the information submitted by the State and the central government's own agencies, it had the benefit of the recommendations made by a three-member expert group which submitted its report in February 2010. FAC then asks for yet another committee under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which is the nodal agency in the central government for tribal rights. The environment minister, however, appoints his own committee (the Saxena Committee) in the last week of June 2010. Then the pace quickens: The environment minister writes to the law ministry on July 19 to obtain the Attorney General's opinion if the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) apply its mind and decide in the light of the Supreme Court's earlier decision giving forest clearance.
