Indian tribe in ‘stunning’ victory over mining giant

The Dongria Kondh and their supporters have won a momentous victory.

A tribe in India has won a stunning victory over one of the world’s biggest mining companies. In an extraordinary move, India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has blocked Vedanta Resources’ controversial plan to mine bauxite on the sacred hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe.

Mr Ramesh said Vedanta has shown a ’shocking’ and ‘blatant disregard for the rights of the tribal groups’. The Minister has also questioned the legality of the massive refinery Vedanta has already built below the hills.

The news is a crushing defeat for Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal , Vedanta’s majority owner and founder.

Media kit with background info and hi-res photos

In recent years the project has come under unprecedented attack. The Norwegian and British governments, the Church of England, organizations such as Survival, and even insurance giant Aviva have all criticized the company and its ethics.

Survival has been in the forefront of a global campaign against the mine for several years. Survival recruited celebrities such as Michael Palin and Joanna Lumley to champion the tribe’s cause; its supporters have written over 10,000 protest letters to the Indian government, and more than 600,000 people have watched Survival’s film ‘Mine’. The tribe’s plight even came to the attention of ‘Avatar’ director James Cameron, and the Dongria became known as the ‘real Avatar tribe’.

The struggle has pitted the 8,000-strong tribe, nearly all of them illiterate, against the might of an $8bn company and its founder, himself worth some $6bn. The Dongria Kondh have mounted numerous protests, and two of their leaders were abducted and beaten before being released, in an atmosphere of increasing violence.

In recent days an inquiry panel set up by Minister Rameshrecommended the mine be blocked, saying that Vedanta had acted illegally and with ‘total contempt for the law’.

Survival campaigner Dr Jo Woodman, who experienced first-hand the atmosphere of intimidation in the Dongria’s hills, said today, ‘This is a victory nobody would have believed possible. The Dongria’s campaign became a litmus test of whether a small, marginalized tribe could stand up to a massive multinational company with an army of lobbyists and PR firms and the ear of government. Incredibly, the Dongria’s courage and tenacity, allied with the support of many people in India, and Survival’s supporters around the world, have triumphed.’

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The era when mining companies could get away with destroying those in their path with impunity is thankfully drawing to a close, though it remains significant that Vedanta fought for its plans to the end, repeatedly denying everything the tribespeople said. The concerned public must remain vigilant about these so-called development projects – companies simply cannot be trusted voluntarily to abide by human rights standards, particularly when dealing with tribal peoples who can’t know what they’re up against.’

Background Story                                                                                                                                                                                                 The Real Avatar: Mine – Story of a Sacred Mountain

Behind the Lies

Due to the mounting tribal protests and international criticism of their actions in Orissa, India, Vedanta initiated a PR offensive extolling their virtues. But this short film reveals how easily their lies and manipulations can be debunked

Reference Link
http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6385

Courtesy
Survival International

Obama's special envoy hails Super 30

PTI U.S. President Barack Obama’s special envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Conference Rashad Hussain shakes hands with students during his visit to the ‘Super 30’ institute in Patna on Sunday.

‘Super 30′, which provides free coaching to underprivileged Indian Institute of Technology aspirants, received praise from United States President Barack Obama’s special envoy Rashad Hussain, who termed it the “best” institute in the country.

“Super 30 is the best institute in India and an example of change, a dream which U.S. President Barack Obama harbours in the field of education, irrespective of caste and creed,” Mr. Obama’s special envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference said here.

“In India wherever I have gone, I find it the best thing I have come across.”

After meeting students at the institute, the envoy, accompanied by officials of the U.S. Consulate in Kolkata, said he was overwhelmed by the academic atmosphere on the campus.

The institute, which was recently featured by Time magazine as “the best school in Asia,” has the distinction of all its 30 students making it to the prestigious IITs for the third consecutive year.

“This is a very good beginning. People irrespective of caste and creed are living like members of a community. And back in the U.S., I will discuss the experience of ‘Super 30′ and ‘Samman’ and explore if anything could be done there,” Mr. Hussain, an Indian-American whose father hailed from Bihar, said. Mr. Hussain visited the ‘Samman Foundation,’ which provides healthcare services to rickshaw pullers, their family members and the unorganised migrant labourers, on Saturday.

He assured the students at the institute, founded by mathematician Anand Kumar, that he would convey their invitation to Mr. Obama to visit them during his coming India visit.

The Obama administration was committed to bringing social harmony, just as it was maintained under the roof of ‘Super 30,’ he said.

Mr. Anand Kumar, who himself could not pursue higher studies abroad due to poverty, has been giving full scholarships, including travel and stay, to a select batch of 30 poor students since 2002.

Altogether 212 of the 240 ‘Super 30′ students have cleared one of the country’s toughest exams during the last eight years. Discovery Channel had also made an hour-long documentary on the institute.

The Hindu File photo shows Anand Kumar, founder of Bihar’s Super 30 coaching centre, among his students. All 30 students of the free training centre cracked the IIT-JEE this year.

Reference Link
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article559325.ece

Courtesy
The Hindu

Tejaswini wins with a world record

Tejaswini Sawant.

NEW DELHI: Tejaswini Sawant became the first Indian woman shooter to be crowned a World champion when she won the 50m rifle prone event with a World record 597 in the 50th World shooting championship in Munich on Sunday.

The 29-year-old Tejaswini shot a series of 100, 100, 100, 99, 99 and 99 to pip Joanna Ewa Nowakowska of Poland, who also equalled the world record with a 597, with a better tally of inner tens, 41 to 39.

Olga Dovgun of Kazakhstan, who has so far shot the World record thrice in prone, had to settle for bronze with a 596, while the seasoned Sonja Pfeilschifter of Germany had to be content with fourth place.

Since women’s prone does not figure in the Olympics, there was no question of Tejaswini doubling her joy with an Olympic quota place.

The soft-spoken shooter from Kolhapur, Tejaswini joined Abhinav Bindra and Manavjit Singh Sandhu as the only two other Indian shooters to have won a World championship gold. Of course, they had done it in Olympics events, air rifle and trap respectively.

Among the juniors, Asher Noria had won the double trap gold in the current edition with a junior World record, while Navnath Fartade had won the gold in air rifle in the last edition in Zagreb, Croatia, in 2006.

It was a quantum leap in international performance for Tejaswini, as she had won only a bronze in the World Cup in rifle 3-position event so far. That performance, when she shot a National record 588 also happened in Munich, last year.

In fact, Tejaswini had not competed in the prone event on the world stage so far, and had been restricting her entries only to the Asian Championship and the Asian Games in Doha. With the rigorous selection trials cutting her options down, she capitalised on her chance, in an unfamiliar event, to stamp her class.

For someone, who had shot into prominence, bagging gold medals during the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, Tejaswini had to grapple with her form over the years.

This effort would propel her to go for the Olympic quota place in the 3-position and air rifle events for the London Games.

The 20-year-old Heena Sidhu shot 382 in women’s air pistol and missed the final by one point. She had a below par last card, in an otherwise good series of 95, 98, 97 and 92.

With Annuraj Singh (381) and Shweta Chaudhry (378) pulling their weight, the Indian team was placed fifth, a solitary point behind the bronze medallist China, and four points behind the gold medallist Australia in a strong field of 37 teams.

In the junior section of the women’s prone event, C. Rekha did well to shoot the third best score of 594, but had to take the sixth spot on the basis of lesser number of inner 10s. It was a 10-point jump to her effort for the team on Saturday. She had a series of 98, 100, 99, 100, 98, 99.

In women’s skeet, Arti Singh retired from the competition after a round of 18, on Saturday.

The results: Women: 50m rifle prone: 1. Tejaswini Sawant 597 (EWR) 41x; 2. Joanna Ewa Nowakowska (Pol) 597 (EWR) 39x; 3. Olga Dovgun (Kaz) 596; 45. Meena Kumari 590. Team: 1. Switzerland 1780 (111x); 2. Germany 1780 (110x); 3. Korea 1779; 10. India 1768.

Junior women: 1. Sharon Barazani (US) 596; 2. Sarah Beard (US) 595; 3. Jennifer McIntosh (GBR) 594 (44x); 6. C. Rekha 594 (28x); 59. Aparajita Tiwary 580. Team: 1. Czech Republic 1780 (WRJ); 2. Austria 1772 (99x); 3. Ukraine 1772 (92x); 19. India 1747.

Skeet: 1. Kimberly Rhode (US) 97 (72); 2. Wei Ning (Chn) 96 (71); 3. Danka Bartekova (Svk) 95 (72). Team: 1. US 205; 2. China 204; 3. Slovakia 201.

Junior women: 1. Virginia Orlando (Ita) 70; 2. Jaiden Grinnell (US) 68 (2); 3. Zhang Yue (Chn) 68 (1). Team: 1. US 197; 2. China 194; GBR 186 .

Reference Link
http://hindu.com/2010/08/09/stories/2010080953691700.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

First Factory Built Solar Charging Station

International Green Energy Expo Korea 2010 was chosen as the venue where SunPods SP-300 was first displayed. This is the first factory built-to-order solar-powered integrated electric-vehicle charging station – ready for powering up immediately. This ready-to-use solar power platform from SunPods is called EV Plug-N-Go.

Perfect launch pad:
Deagu, South Korea, played host to the Green Energy Expo Korea 2010. This provided the backdrop for showing off to advantage the EV Plug-N-Go. The Pacific Rim (South Korea, China and Japan) is the chosen arena for marketing this power platform. Realizing the huge potential for growth, the plan is to utilize the growing interest here in transportation systems fed by green-power.

SunPods & Semi-Materials Inc alliance:
The SunPods electric vehicle charging system is the combined brain child of SunPods, San Jose, CA and of the Semi Materials, Inc. of Seongnam City, Korea. Co-founder of SunPods & Executive Vice President, Business Development, Michael Gumm is positive about the product and the success of the launch.

Power on the go from EV Plug-N-Go:
This solar-power platform has been made especially for the public agencies, institutes and companies with infrastructural utilities powered by solar power. For use of plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles, electrical industrial utility vehicles and other electric vehicles, this solar powered platform is the ideal companion to provide powering on the go.

Versatility of EV Plug-N-Go:
These SunPods SP-300 modular solar power platforms are ideal for both on-grid and off-grid installations. They are capable of compensating carbon-based grid power as well as optimal power storage in utility grid and distribute the power as needed to the EVs. Called as ’smart-grid capable’ and ’smart-grid enabled’, the SP-300 allows power input and output from both grid-connected power sources and solar power sources as efficiently at peak demand.

A boon to green-powered vehicles:
Across the world, SunPods EV Plug-N-Go export kits can be shipped ready for installation. Already assembled and ready to use, these are ideal companions for a wide range of environmentally friendly renewable energy-fed solar applications.

Reference Link
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/factory-built-solar-charging-station/

Courtesy
AE News Network