In an article, OCCRP said that Vedanta ran a ‘covert’ lobbying campaign to weaken key environmental regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
After fresh allegations against Adani Group, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) released findings from another investigation – this time the target is Mumbai-based multinational mining company Vedanta Ltd. In an article published on Thursday, OCCRP said that Vedanta ran a ‘covert’ lobbying campaign to weaken key environmental regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic. It added that the India’s government approved the changes without public consultation and implemented them using what experts say are illegal methods.
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Not only this, the report added that Vedanta’s oil business, Cairn India, also lobbied to have public hearings scrapped for exploratory drilling on oil blocks that it had won in government auctions. Since then, six of Cairn’s oil projects in Rajasthan have been approved despite local opposition.
In one case, it said, Vedanta led a push to ensure mining companies could produce up to 50 per cent more without new environmental approvals. So what really happened? In January 2021, OCCRP said, Anil Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta Resources Ltd wrote a letter to the then environment minister Prakash Javadekar saying the government could add ‘impetus’ to India’s economic recovery by allowing mining companies to boost production by up to 50 per cent without having to secure new environmental clearances. “Apart from immediately boosting production and economic growth, this will generate huge revenue for the Government and create massive jobs,” Agarwal wrote, recommending that the change could be made with “a simple notification”, stated the OCCRP article. Later in 2022, the environment ministry loosened regulations to allow mining companies to increase production by up to 50 per cent without needing to hold public hearings.
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OCCRP said, “Though the head of a major industry lobby group and India’s mining secretary also pressed for the rules to be loosened, internal documents and government sources suggest Vedanta’s lobbying was key.” OCCRP stated that it has combed through thousands of government documents obtained using freedom of information requests and these records ranged from internal memos and minutes of closed-door meetings and even letters like the one from Anil Agarwal.
Responding to this, Vedanta told OCCRP that as “one of the leading natural resources organizations in India” the company operated “with an objective of import substitution by enhancing domestic production in a sustainable manner”.
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“In view of the same, continuous representations are submitted for consideration to the Government in the best interest of national development and India’s march towards self-reliance in natural resources,” a Vedanta spokesperson wrote to OCCRP.
It is, however, unclear if any specific Vedanta project has benefited from the new mining guidelines, the report stated. It further pointed out that OCCRP has found evidence that Vedanta has been an important donor to BJP. “Two entities linked to a Vedanta subsidiary gave a combined Rs 43.5 crore rupees (around $6.16 million) to the party between 2016 and 2020, according to contribution reports filed with India’s election commission by the BJP and one of the entities,” it said.
