The Hindu | Sumit Bhattacharjee | 09 Feb, 2022

Activity picks up at plant, power plant trial run held

Anrak Aluminium Limited (AAL) which was set up in 2014 with an investment of around ₹6,000 crore at Rachapalle in Makavarapalem mandal of Visakhpatnam district, is yet to go into production. The plant was set up with an installed capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per year, but with the cancellation of G.O. 97 by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government and the company failing to get a linkage for bauxite ore, the operation of the plant has been stalled. Now there are strong rumours that the company is gearing up to start production and it is learnt that initially February 5 was the date given but it had to be postponed to a later date. (more…)

Down to Earth | Shagun | Jan 29, 2022

Villagers near Andhra-Odisha border are fighting the state for calcite reserves two decades after securing Supreme Court victory

In 1997, the residents of Nimmalapadu, a village in Andhra Pradesh, achieved the unthinkable: They won a legal battle against the state government and a private company to save their village from mining.

The Supreme Court overruled a 1993 Andhra Pradesh High Court order in favour of the state government, it declared that only people belonging to the Konda Dora tribe and their cooperatives can exploit the minerals in Fifth Schedule areas and that private mining here, even with government backing, is illegal. (more…)

Down to Earth | Vivek Mishra | July 30, 2019

आंध्र प्रदेश उच्च न्यायालय ने केंद्रीय वन एवं पर्यावरण मंत्रालय की उस अधिसूचना को रद्द कर दिया है, जिसमें कहा गया था कि लीनियर प्रोजेक्ट में ग्राम सभा के मंजूरी की जरूरत नहीं होगी।

करीब छह साल बाद ग्राम सभा को अपनी खोई हुई ताकत वापस मिल गई है। गांव में आर्थिक और सामाजिक विकास वाली योजना और परियोजनाओं को जमीन पर उतारने के लिए पहले ग्राम सभा की मंजूरी लेनी होगी। आंध्र प्रदेश उच्च न्यायालय ने केंद्रीय वन एवं पर्यावरण मंत्रालय की ओर से जारी की गई उस अधिसूचना को रद्द कर दिया है, जिसमें ग्राम सभा की भूमिका को कम करते हुए विकास परियोजनाओं और कार्यक्रमों के लिए जमीन अधिग्रहण व लैंड यूज में बदलाव जैसी गतिविधि में ग्राम सभा से मंजूरी लेने की शर्त को खत्म कर दिया गया था। यह अधिसूचना 5 फरवरी, 2013 को जारी की गई थी। (more…)

Counterview.net | July 22, 2019

By Our Representative
A delegation of two civil rights groups, Samata and mines, minerals and People (mm&P), has impressed upon several of India’s members of Parliament (MPs) to discuss and raise issues relating to illegal mining, the Samata judgment, children in the mining areas and the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) in Parliament, adding, the issue of involvement of gram sabhas in decision making ought to be central for allowing any new projects in forest areas.

The delegation — consisting of mm&P’s Ravi Rebbapragada (chairperson), Ashok Shimali (secretary general), Deme Oram, Mukesh Birua, Raju Pandara, Shivkumar malagi, and Swaraj Das; and Samata’s Mithun Raj, BP Yadav and Sree Harica — told Kirodilal Meena, MP, Rajasthan, about the need to implement the Samata Judgment in letter and spirit in Rajasthan. (more…)

The Hindu | July 13, 2019

‘They are neither regularised nor given share in income’

Rebbapragada Ravi, founder of Samata, an NGO, met District Collector Vinay Chand on Friday and represented the long-pending case of the tourist guides of Borra Caves.

The tourist guides at the million-year-old Borra Caves, which is one among the most sought after tourist destinations, are in dire straits. They have been fighting a battle with the authorities concerned over regularisation of their employment, since last two decades.

About 20 guides, were recruited by the Tourism Department in 1993, on temporary daily wage basis, with promise of regularising them in a short time. (more…)

The CSR Journal | By Kasmin Fernandes – July 2, 2019

The order of the Supreme Court issued on February 13, 2019 with respect to the claims of forest-dwelling peoples in India — the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers — is a case of the Supreme Court speaking against itself.

In effect, the court has ordered the eviction of lakhs of people whose claims as forest dwellers have been rejected under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, or FRA. As a matter of fact, this order negates the claims of citizens under special protection of the Constitution, viz. the Scheduled Tribes and other vulnerable communities, who are already pushed by neglect precariously to the edge. (more…)

The Hindu | Vizag | June 27, 2019

A question mark hangs over the future of the 1.5 million-tonne alumina refinery set up by Anrak Aluminium Limited (AAL) in Visakhapatnam district with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announcing the cancellation of a key Government Order.

The refinery, set up in 2013 with a total investment of over Rs.6,000 crore, was allowed to mine bauxite ore in Gudem and Chintapalle blocks through G.O. Ms. No. 97. The mining was done by A.P. Mineral Development Corporation in the reserve forest area. (more…)