Following are some of the major disputes that companies in India have been involved in over the last decade:
* Construction of the port at Adani Vizhinjam in the southern Indian state of Kerala has been halted since August this year after protesters, mostly from the Christian fishing community, blocked its entry, blaming the construction on beach erosion and depriving them of their livelihoods.
* Apple supplier Foxconn’s factory in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu was closed for several days after a mass food poisoning incident in 2021 that sparked employee protests.
* The Karnataka factory of another Apple supplier, Wistron, also shut down in 2020 after angry contract workers over unpaid wages destroyed goods, equipment and iPhones.
* The Vedanta Ltd copper smelter in Tamil Nadu was closed after 13 people were killed in 2018 when police opened fire on environmental protesters demanding the factory be closed. Vedanta has now offered to sell the mill, having repeatedly denied allegations of pollution from the smelter.
* Activists and local residents have for years blocked Vedanta’s plans to mine bauxite in the green, forest-covered hills of Niyamgiri, Odisha state, which is considered sacred by the tribes.
* The Maruti Suzuki factory in northern India’s Haryana state was closed for almost a month in 2011 after riots at the factory after workers left after the company demanded they sign a “good behavior bond”, claiming that some had engaged in acts of sabotage. One person died and 90 others were injured.
