Vedanta blacklisted
On November 6, Norway's finance ministry barred the government pension fund from investing in the shares of Vedanta Resources Plc and its associates Madras Aluminium Company Limited and Sterlite Industries Limited on grounds of "severe environmental damages and serious or systematic violations of human rights'. The Council of Ethics for the fund, which monitors companies the Norwegian government invests in, noted that Vedanta and its subsidiaries indulged in human-rights violations, including forced eviction of tribal people.
The council relied on a 2004 report by India's Supreme Court Monitoring Committee on Hazardous Waste and the Central Empowered Committee's 2005 report on mining in the Niyamgiri hills. The council concluded, "The company seems to be lacking the interest and will to do anything about the severe and lasting damage that its activities inflict on people and the environment