Odysseys of Vedanta and POSCO in Odisha: an enviro-legal critique

Abstract

The article attempts to find reasons for violations of the Environmental Impact Assessment process, perpetrated by multinational companies Vedanta and POSCO in Odisha, India. Vedanta’s mining proposals led to India’s first “environmental referendum” and POSCO is scheduled to be the biggest Foreign Direct Investment in India, upon completion. Suggestions to mitigate flaws have been offered. Judicial pronouncements of the Supreme Court on Vedanta’s bauxite mining and refinery project in Niyamgiri, have been analysed. The POSCO project site in Kujanga and its proposed mining site in Khandadhar are located in highly fragile ecosystems. Hence, POSCO is facing and is scheduled to face even more opposition from the local indigenous people of those areas. The article argues that biodiversity and the laws relating to it must be attributed importance, in order to safeguard endangered flora and fauna species from extinction. Biodiversity laws per se should be effectuated to protect forests and the species living in them. The approach adopted while conserving them, should be eco-centric, not anthropocentric. Environment cannot continue being a pawn in the hands of human beings, being exploited and destroyed for human activities like mining and industrialisation at such a large scale. An equitable balance must be maintained.