Abstract

The case recounts the ongoing conflict between Vedanta Alumina and the indigenous people and environmentalists over the mining and refining of aluminium at Niyamgiri in Orissa in India. Vedanta Alumina is a subsidiary of FTSE listed Vedanta Resources Plc. The company acquired a license for mining alumina from the state owned Orissa Mining Corporation and began work on the project that would make it the world’s largest integrated producer of aluminium. Sincethe very beginning, this project has faced stiff resistance from the endangered indigenous tribes of the area and the environmentalists for its adverse impact. The case depicts the several ups and downs of both the company and the resistance movement and the methods employed by each of them during the decade old struggle that has been fought over continents and is now a very charged political issue in India. The case also illustrates how the state and political leadership has, at times supported the indigenous people, and at other times the corporate interests.