h2. Power and influence With increasing wealth has come increasing power. Mr Agarwal donated considerable sums to the two biggest political parties in India. The advisory committee of "India’s Supreme Court":http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=1554 has stated that the way in which Vedanta’s Lanjigarh refinery secured environmental clearance ‘smacks of undue favour/leniency’. "Norway’s Council on Ethics":http://www.regjeringen.no/upload/FIN/Statens%20pensjonsfond/Recommendation_Vedanta.pdf details how Vedanta and Mr Agarwal have been accused of ‘corruption, fraud, forgery, manipulation of share prices, and insider trading.’ h2. Agarwal’s empire Mr Agarwal’s empire – Vedanta Resources – now spans four continents, with offices in London and operations in Zambia, Australia and India. He owns more than 50% of the shares in the company, earning him a place among the richest thirty people in Britain. Vedanta Resources was "criticised by the UK government":/news/4980 for not having a human rights policy. The government said 'a change in the company's behaviour' is 'essential'. The following video shows the reaction of local people to Anil Agarwal's company's activities. {% film 11 %} <br /> h2. A promise to the Dongria Kondh On the issue of the "Dongria Kondh":/tribes/dongria, Mr Agarwal said at "Vedanta’s 2008 AGM":http://www.survival-international.org/news/3552: ‘I can only promise that we will only start work if we have the complete permission of the Court and the people.’ In August 2008 he obtained "clearance from the Supreme Court":http://www.survival-international.org/news/3581, but – as shown by the many protests in Orissa and beyond – Mr Agarwal has yet to get the permission of the people. In January 2009, however, Mr Agarwal publicly stated that mining Niyamgiri would begin ‘in a month or two’. 18 <img src="/lib/img/tagpages/lanjigarh_refinery.jpg" style="border: 1px #333 solid;" /> notextile. <span style="font-size: 1.15em;"> *Anil Agarwal, Chairman and founder of "Vedanta Resources":/vedanta, has worked his way up from scrap-metal dealer to billionaire.* The tricks to his trade have been to buy cheap second-hand industrial plants, and newly-privatised companies at low prices. notextile. </span> 3 h2. From the web <img src="/lib/img/structure/icon_web_16x16.png" class="icon" width="16" height="16" alt="*" /> "*Vedanta's website*":http://www.vedantaresources.com/ <img src="/lib/img/structure/icon_web_16x16.png" class="icon" width="16" height="16" alt="*" /> "*Sterlite Industries' website*":http://www.sterlite-industries.com/index1.asp <img src="/lib/img/structure/icon_web_16x16.png" class="icon" width="16" height="16" alt="*" /> "*The Times, UK - 'Vedanta refused licence'*":http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article2933475.ece h2. From Survival's website <img src="/lib/img/structure/icon_survival_16x16.png" class="icon" width="16" height="16" alt="*" />"*News: UK government blasts Vedanta*":/news/4980 <img src="/lib/img/structure/icon_survival_16x16.png" class="icon" width="16" height="16" alt="*" />"*'Behind the lies': Vedanta's PR offensive*":/behindthelies <img src="/lib/img/structure/icon_survival_16x16.png" class="icon" width="16" height="16" alt="*" />"*7,000 march against British mining company Vedanta*":/news/4105 <img src="/lib/img/structure/icon_survival_16x16.png" class="icon" width="16" height="16" alt="*" />"*'Progress can kill' campaign*":/campaigns/progresscankill h2. Keep up to date notextile. <form name="enewsform" id="enewsform" action="http://list-manage.com/subscribe/post" method="post"><input type="hidden" name="u" value="b14580b05b832fb959c4ee444"> <input type="hidden" name="id" value="241e47c256"> <img src="/lib/img/structure/icons/feed.png" width="16" height="16" class="icon" /> <a href="http://feeds.survival-international.org/SurvivalInternational"><strong>Survival news feed</strong></a> (<a href="/news/about-feeds">what's this?</a>)<br /> <img src="/lib/img/structure/icons/email_add.png" width="16" height="16" class="icon" /> <strong>By e-mail</strong> <div style="margin-left: 21px;"><form><input type="text" class="textbox" value="your@email.com" onfocus="if(this.value=='your@email.com') {this.value = '';}"style="font-size: 12px;" name="EMAIL" /><br /> <input type="checkbox" id="enews_signup" checked="checked" /> <label for="enews_signup">Sign me up for monthly e-news</label><br /> <input type="submit" value="Go &raquo;" /> </form> </div> anilagarwal 3 168