if what the honorable supreme court suggested in the niyamgiri vedanta mining issue case is what the supreme court will be following up in its final ruling, it will be indeed tragic.

as per livemint website, "The court suggested that VAL’s holding company, Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd, file an affidavit with three undertakings: commit to pay Rs50 crore as a security deposit to the court; agree to pay 5% of the net profit accruing from all its mining activities or Rs10 crore, whichever was greater, towards tribal development and environmental safeguards; and present a report on employment opportunities that the project would generate."

as this blog has repeatedly pointed out, industries in most cases abuse marginalized and environment by doling out fake promise before a project is started and screwing up after the project goes on stream.

on top of that you add fake environmental impact assessment (eia's) and poor regulation from government, it is a total recipe to disaster.

it is unfortunate to see the honorable supreme court suggesting 'sustainable development' by allowing disastrous mining project in niyamgiri hills which is home to around 8000 primitive Dongaria Kondh tribes living there for many decades.

in a funny part, vedanta has indeed built the refinery to process the raw materials without even getting clearance and approval for the raw materials (niyamgiri hills) site.

this project has also been opposed by the very own supreme court empowered committee (cec) as it will be a disaster to many thousands people living there apart from the forests, wildlife and water stream sources and the honorable supreme court should have seen the underbelly of this vital case in terms of environment, ecosystems and tribal welfare instead of just throwing money at a disastrous mining project.

well, when it comes to 'development', i guess even our honorable supreme court is not in tune with the ground level reality.
(the vital niyamgiri hills, the home of many thousands tribals who will face eviction, pollution and eventually extinction, courtsey 'development' of india)
(the primitive kondh tribals of orissa who live in niyamgiri hills. marginalised people like these thousands of tribals are yet another trash in the 'development' of india. picture courtsey grassroots media @ flickr)