Church's stand galvanizes more disinvestment in Orissa mining

With the Church of England taking a judicious decision withdrawing its investment in the controversial Vedanta mining company, three others have followed suit by selling their shares in the company.

The UK-based Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust this week sold its £1.9 million stake citing serious concerns about Vedanta's "approach to human rights and the environment."

"After nine or ten months the response of the company to the Trust has been little more than empty rhetoric. There is a high degree of frustration with their answers to our concerns, and there comes a point where we need to pull out for ethical reasons," said a spokesman for Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

In a statement, the Trust said other investors which follow its ethical policy, including Marlborough Ethical Fund and Millfield House Foundation, also sold their shares, taking the total amount to £2.2 million.

Vedanta's proposed aluminum project in Orissa's Niyamgiri Hills had drawn flak from human rights organisations like Amnesty and Survival International which slammed the company for "destroying the area's ecosystem, and threatening the future of tribal people whose concerns were cast out."

"We are very happy with all the support that we have got for our struggle from different parts of the world. We thank the Church of England for their decision and also the Joseph Rowntree Trust," said Kumti Majhi, who is in Delhi to deliver a petition to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"They [the Church's representatives] came and stayed in our hut and listened to us also…Why doesn't the government listen," he asked. "The government people only come and they go around in Vedanta's helicopter, in Vedanta's cars, and then they go back and say Vedanta is doing good things."

Last week, the Church of England dropped its £3.8 million stake in Vedanta on grounds that that mining company "showed no level of respect for human rights and local communities".

Reacting to the decision, Amnesty International UK said the Church's decision sent a strong message on human rights which is encouraging.

"It is encouraging that the Church of England has sent a strong message to Vedanta that failing to respect human rights is unacceptable," Amnesty said in a statement.

In a report released last Wednesday, Amnesty castigated the London-based mining company and the Indian government for failing to check human rights violation.

Thousands living near the refinery are facing serious health problems because "they are breathing polluted air and drinking water from a contaminated river, the Vamsadhara, that is one of their primary sources of water," says Ramesh Gopalakrishnan, Amnesty's chief researcher on South Asia.

The report documents the pollution and the testimonies of villagers who say the pollution is responsible for the severe skin and respiratory ailments they are suffering from.