Anti-Sterlite stir: Why Tuticorin flare-up is different from other protests

At least 12 people have lost their lives in the anti-Sterlite agitation that led to police firing in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) on Tuesday.

At the heart of the problem is the copper smelter plant of Sterlite, owned by Vedanta. Residents have been agitating for months that the plant has been polluting the groundwater, the level of which has been depleting, affecting farming and the environment. 

Mass agitations are not particularly uncommon in India. But a mass agitation led by an environment-related issue that has gone out of hand is not something that can be easily recalled. Former professor of economics at the Indian