DESERT NATIONAL PARK IN UNESCO HERITAGE LIST

The Desert National Park is situated in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan close to the India- Pakistan border. Spread over an area in excess of 3150 sq km, this is probably the largest park of India. The Desert National Park accounts for 73 villages/hamlets within its territory though, mercifully, the density of humans within the park is only seven persons per sq. km.
The Desert National Park is home to endangered species like the Great Indian Bustard
it is home to Rajasthan’s State bird, the Great Indian Bustard, State tree, Khejri, State animal, chinkara, and State flower, rohida. Some 17 km from its boundary in Jaisalmer is the Wood Fossil Park at Akal, dating back to the Jurassic period.
The Desert National Park, notified back in 1980, is among four sites from India approved in the tentative list of natural heritage properties, which include the Great Himalayan National Park in Himachal Pradesh, the Bitarkanika Conservation Area in Orissa and the Neora Valley National Park in West Benga.
The existing UNESCO heritage site in Rajasthan in the category is the famous bird sanctuary, the Keoladeo National Park near Bharatpur.

VEDANTA RESOURCES
 Vedanta Resources is an international mining and metals company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest mining and non-ferrous metals company in India and also has mining operations in Australia and Zambia. Its main products are copper, zinc, aluminium, lead and iron ore. It is also developing commercial power stations in India in Orissa (2,400 MW) and Punjab (1,980 MW).
 Vedanta has been criticised by human rights and activist groups, including Survival International and Amnesty International, due to their operations in Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa, India that are said to threaten the lives of the Dongria Kondh that populate this region. The Niyamgiri hills are also claimed to be an important wildlife habitat in Eastern Ghats of India as per a report by the Wildlife Institute of India as well as independent reports/studies carried out by civil society groups. In January 2009, thousands of locals formed a human chain around the hill in protest at the plans to start bauxite mining in the area.Vedanta's Alumina Refinery in Lanjigarh was critiqued by the Orissa State Pollution Control Board (the statutory environmental regulation body) for air pollution and water pollution in the area. According to Amnesty International, local people reported dust from the plant settling on clothes, crops and food. An environmental impact assessment by the government found dust pollution was within acceptable limits. Vedanta officials claimed there was no dust pollution from the plant at all. An environmental inspection of the plant reported water pollution by the plant including increasing the pH value of the river Vamshadhara below the refinery and a high level of SPM in the stack emissions.
  In October 2009 it was reported that the British Government has criticised Vedanta for its treatment of the Dongria Kondh tribe in Orissa, India. The company refused to co-operate with the British Government and with an OECD investigation. They have rejected charges of environmental damage, saying it may be related to the increased use of fertiliser by farmers.