On April 18, 2013, in the case of Orissa Mining Corporation v. Ministry of Environment and Forest and Others1 (Vedanta mining) the Supreme Court of India decreed that the ‘Gram Sabha’2 has authority to determine whether the proposed project would affect individual or community rights including cultural and religious rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and that this is a precondition before the mining process in ‘Niyamgiri’ hills can proceed.