GetUp! Advocacy group steps up anti-Adani campaign in Australia

Latest GetUp video on Mundra

By Our Representative
The Australian advocacy group GetUp has begun a new, sharply focused campaign against the Adani Group, which has planned a $10 billion investment into a coal mining project off ecologically fragile Great Barrier Reef, by widely distributing a video documentary showing how its power plant in Mundra, Gujarat, has “degraded” farmlands.
GetUp senior campaigner Sam Regester has said that the video interviews "expose the ugly truth of how Adani does business". He has added, "GetUp will be submitting over eight hours of video evidence gathered in India to the examination being carried out by the Queensland government, and to Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt who has previously chosen not to examine Adani's track record in India."
"The federal and state governments must immediately cancel Adani's licence to operate in Australia. We cannot let this company near our communities, land or our Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area", he has demanded.
GetUp’s video documentary gives a sharply negative picture of the Adani's environmental track record in India, which it says the local provincial government in Queensland and the Australian government “should have considered before granting approvals to the Indian mining giant.”
GetUp commissioned an Indian film crew to document the impact of the company's power plants on the environment and livelihoods of Mundra villagers.
"The Adani power plant came in 2007," the five-minute video quotes Praveen Singh, a Mundra farmer, as saying. "When the company came in, we thought our businesses will prosper but slowly the company revealed its true face. Initially they gave jobs to the villagers but they soon dismissed those they had employed after they had acquired all the land from the government."

GetUp video on Adani "threat" to Great Barrier Reef

Another villager, Bhikha Lal Natubhai, says emissions from coal stacks have affected the community's salt trade since the power plants were set up in 2007. "The emissions leave black residue on the salt, we are no longer able to get good rates for it in the market," he says.
Zubeida, a fisherwoman, speaks from a hut on the coast, surrounded by her relatives. "The sea water gets polluted, reducing the fish," she says. "We don't get any other work. The company will not employ our men or us. Catching fish in the sea is our work and now the fish has also reduced."
Meanwhile, an Adani Group spokesperson in Australia has said the video is a clear campaign to "frustrate Adani's strictly regulated mine, rail and port projects in Queensland", ignoring “the good work” done by it to support healthcare and education opportunities in India.
Reporting on the spurt in the controversy around the Adani project, the Sidney Morning Herald, of of the country’s largest selling dailies, has said, “Environmental activists are increasingly targeting the government's decision not to consider Adani's environmental track record in India in their assessment of the company's plans to develop in Australia”.
It has added, “Environmental Justice Australia is challenging Queensland's environmental regulator over why it gave no regard to official reports in India that claimed companies in the Adani group were destroying mangroves, blocking waterways and bribing officials.”

Comments

'300 Nazis fell by your gun': Most successful female sniper in history

By Harsh Thakor* "Miss Pavlichenko’s well known to fame, Russia’s your country, fighting is your game. The whole world will always love you for all time to come, Three hundred Nazis fell by your gun." — from Woody Guthrie's “Miss Pavlichenko"

TU activist Anirudh Rajan, lawyer Ajay Kumar in custody: Wounded reputation of world's largest democracy?

By Vedika S* Over the last few days, India's National Investigation Agency (NIA), known to be tasked with suppressing revolutionary, democratic, and progressive forces, conducted a series of raids across Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi. Targets included human rights attorney Pankaj Tripathi, student leader Devendra Azad, and peasant union leader Sukhwinder Kaur. Lawyer and anti-displacement activist Ajay Kumar was arrested and taken to his home in Mohali, which was subsequently raided. He is now imprisoned in Lucknow as a suspect in the NIA's "Northern Regional Bureau (NRB) Revival case."

RG Kar saga: Towards liberation from the constraints of rigid political parties?

By Atanu Roy* There's a saying: "There is no such thing as a half-pregnancy." This adage seems particularly relevant when discussing the current regime of the Trinamool Congress (TMC). The party appears to be entrenched in widespread corruption that affects nearly every aspect of our lives. One must wonder, why would they exclude the health sector—a lucrative area where illicit money can flow freely, thanks to a network of corrupt leaders colluding with ambitious bureaucrats?

'No to risky 11,000 MW hydroelectric project': Call to protect Siang river

Beverly Longid, Jiten Yumnam* The civil rights network, International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL), has voicesd its support for the residents of Siang District, Northeast India, as they resist the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation's (NHPC) efforts to monopolize the Siang River for its Upper Siang Hydroelectric Project, a massive undertaking proposed at 11,000 MW.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Unwavering source of ideological inspiration in politics, life: Personal tribute to Yechury

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak Sitaram Yechury was everyone's comrade. He lived his life in public like an open book of praxis. Everyone was familiar with his family background, student life, many talents, achievements, and political journey that defines his everyday life as a committed communist.

Trailblazer in literary innovation, critic of Indian mythology, including Ramayana

By Harsh Thakor* Ranganayakamma, commonly known as RN, stands out as a transformative figure in promoting Marxist thought, democratic ideals, and anti-caste principles through her remarkably clear and engaging writing style. A trailblazer in literary innovation, her works span a broad array of topics, from critiques of Indian mythology and revivalism to discussions on civil liberties, the Indian Communist Movement, and Maoism in China.

'Abduction' of labour activist Anirudh Rajan part of a 'troubling trend': CASR

By Our Representative The civil rights network Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) has issued a strong denunciation of the "abduction" of labour rights activist Anirudh Rajan, who was taken by state authorities on September 5, 2024, while traveling to meet his family. This incident is part of a troubling trend, as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and various state forces have increasingly targeted trade union and democratic rights activists over the past year.

Impact of global warming? Asia's 61% population 'deprived of clean water'

By Vikas Meshram* A recent study from Utrecht University in the Netherlands warns that climate change and socio-economic transformations will exacerbate water scarcity, disproportionately affecting populations in South Asian countries. Human beings require clean water for drinking, sanitation, food production, energy, and manufacturing. Across the globe, people and policymakers are grappling with the challenges of water scarcity.

Search This Blog