Five times Vedanta's business raised red flags across the world

In 2009, writer and activist Arundhati Roy wrote an essay and made Niyamgiri known all over the world. The hills in Odisha hit the headlines due to the Dongria Kondh tribals protesting against Vedanta for its bauxite-mining projects. The government scrapped the environmental clearance given to Vedanta. Later the Supreme Court asked the tribals to choose and they chose against mining.

Brought to global headlines by Arundhati Roy and fuelled by innovative protests by NGOs, Niyamgiri snowballed into a major issue. In 2010, the Church of England sold its £3.8m stake in Vedanta over concerns about its human rights record. "We are not satisfied that Vedanta has shown, or is likely in future to show, the level of respect for human rights and local communities that we expect," said the church which had facing pressures to exit from Vedanta over the Niyamgiri issue. In 2007, a $350 billion sovereign wealth fund run by Norway had sold its entire stake in Vedanta due to what it called environmental and human rights violations.

In 2017, nearly 2,000 Zambian villagers won the right to sue Vedanta in the English courts. London’s Court of Appeal threw out miner Vedanta’s attempt to block the Zambians’ legal action over alleged pollution of their villages. The court dismissed an appeal by Vedanta and its Zambian subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) against a ruling in May 2016 when a High Court judge decided the claim could proceed in the English courts on behalf of 1,826 Zambian villagers. The villagers alleged that their land and livelihood had been destroyed by water pollution caused by the company's copper Mine. In 2014, Vedanta head Anil Agarwal's comment that the company had made up to $1 billion every year for nearly a decade from KCM triggered protests by people.

For years, NGOs and activists have protested outside the venues of annual general meetings of Vedanta, in an effort to influence shareholders into taking positions against the management over issues related to environment and rights of local people. Heated exchanges marked such meetings which several protesting investors sparred with the management and vote down proposals. In 2011, nearly one-third of the investors voted against increasing directors' remuneration.

The plant has been shut since March 27, when it was closed as part of a 15-day scheduled maintenance. The local violent protests in which 13 people died may ignite worldwide protests against it. However, unlike in Niyamgiri, Vedanta's Sterlite Copper plant at Tuticorin has been operational for a long time but it's record has been far from clean. In 2013, the Supreme Court had imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore for flouting environmental norms.