Title: Corporate reputation under crisis and the framing of the environment at Lanjigarh, Odisha

Authors: Amarendra Kumar Dash

Addresses: Department of English, Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Nuzvid, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh – 521202, India

Abstract: Lanjigarh, a constellation of rural and tribal villages in Western Odisha has been a contested terrain of multiple interest groups because of the clash of ideologies regarding growth versus environment. The arch-rivals, Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) and the international NGOs, remain split between the paradoxical ambitions of social development and institutionalised agendas. Framing of the environment has become an elite practice for the promotion of ideology, power, and influence. While VAL's framing of the environment has remained a defensive strategy to protect its investments, the NGOs remain complicit in blame-corporate environmental framing through their relentless shaming of VAL in terms of lawsuits, media campaigns, and concerted public demonstrations. Integrating Hallahan's (1999) seven types of framing with van Dijk's (1993) critical discourse analysis, this study deconstructs the ideological underpinnings of environmental framing at Lanjigarh and the material conditions and anxieties that shaped them.

Keywords: ideology; environmental framing; CSR; PR campaigns; Vedanta Aluminum Limited; aluminium refinery; Niyamgiri Hills; Lanjigarh; Odisha; critical discourse analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2022.125215

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2022 Vol.26 No.4, pp.485 - 504

Received: 11 Feb 2021
Accepted: 15 May 2021
Published online: 02 Sep 2022 *

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