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A Tribal Cause and Books from Corporate Leaders

A collection of notable events, latest consumables and interesting websites

Published: Mar 1, 2010 08:46:07 AM IST
Updated: Mar 9, 2010 01:54:11 PM IST
We will never leave our land , even if you behead us
We will never leave our land , even if you behead us

Causes

S.O.S
After the Supreme Court gave permission to Vedanta mining company to begin extracting bauxite from the Niyamgiri mountain in Orissa State, the 8,000-plus Dongria Kondh tribe has been desperately fighting against it. The mountain isn’t just sacred for the tribe; they also live off the jungle cover, and activists say the mining will destroy the area’s ecosystem along with the tribe. But the situation looks bleak, as Vedanta has already dug a number of test pits, started to cut down trees for roads, and built a large conveyer belt to begin mining. Ash from a Vedanta refinery has caused more than a dozen tribe members to get tuberculosis. Now, after months of protests and meetings with government officials and no progress, the tribe is trying a new tack.

They appealed to director James Cameron, saying the plot of his recent Avatar reflects their plight. Just as the Na’vi tribe needed to stop humans from mining under their sacred ‘home tree’ in Pandora, the Dongria Kondh need to stop Vedanta from mining on their sacred mountain. The appeal, coming via NGO Survival International, says, “Avatar is fantasy...and real. The Dongria Kondh tribe in India are struggling to defend their land against a mining company hell-bent on destroying their sacred mountain. Please help the Dongria.

We’ve watched your film — now watch ours :

Books

mg_21942_m-r_mayya_280x210.jpgFrom the Desk of the Chairman
In the USA, it looks like books sprout out of every C-Suite. Not so in desh. But things seem to be changing. There was a long gap between Nandan Nilekani’s Imagining India and N. R. Narayana Murthy’s A Better India, A Better World. But now, soon after Captain Gopinath’s Simply Fly (we reviewed it in our last issue), the bookstands will be graced by Glimpses of Indian Stock Markets, by M. R. Mayya, former BSE chief, and Grids of Change, by Power Grid Corp’s former CMD, R. P. Singh. While we look forward to these tomes, we can’t but think wistfully of some books we’d love to see. How I Really Did It, by Ramalinga Raju, anyone?

Image: Ganesh Lad / Photocorp

Personal Tech

Apple’s feeling lucky?
If you use an iPhone, you know that Google’s search is default on the device. It’s a partnership that reportedly gets Apple over $100 million a year in revenue share from Google. But now, with Google’s Nexus One phone, the two compete directly in several markets. And it seems that Apple is playing footsy with their common enemy, the behemoth everyone loves to hate, Microsoft. The word is that negotiations are on to place Microsoft’s Bing as the iPhone’s search engine, and that Redmond is willing to pay a sizeable packet for the privilege. Is Apple serious? Or is this just a bargaining tactic to get more of Google?

(This story appears in the 05 March, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)

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