BY PRAFUL BIDWAI
THEN the British coined the term "juggernaut" (a distortion of Jagannath, Lord of the famous temple in Puri in Orissa), they captured the metaphor of the havoc the yatra chariot can sometimes cause. But they couldn’t have known that the word would literally apply to Orissa, which is threatened as never before by reckless extraction of natural resources.
Mining of iron ore, coal, bauxite, and manganese ore has become a menace in India, particularly in tribal Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa. These states now face the "resource curse"–an affliction in many African countries, where mineral wealth generates over-exploitation and intensifies poverty.
Orissa is being ravaged by huge projects promoted by global corporates like South Korea’s Posco–once the world’s biggest steelmaker–, the Tatas, and Vedanta, run by Mr Anil Agarwal, Britain’s 10th richest person.
The promoters, backed by the servile state government, are pitted squarely against the people, whose livelihoods will be destroyed as their land is acquired, forests are cut, and mountains flattened.
Exploiting Tribal People
Under the pressure of popular struggles against these projects, the central government is putting some of them under scrutiny. Vedanta’s bauxite-mining proposal in the Niyamgiri Hills was examined by a Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF)-appointed expert committee under former civil servant, Mr N C Saxena.
The committee found Vedanta, boycotted by ethical investment funds the world over, to have violated the Forest Conservation Act, Environment Protection Act, Forest Rights Act (FRA) and Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA). It wants Vedanta’s proposal rejected.
One hopes this is the last nail in the proposal’s coffin. The proposal is environmentally and socially unsound. And the Saxena committee’s report (available at www.moef.nic.in) is worthy and remarkably sensitive to vulnerable Adivasis.
Vedanta’s proposal would cause the destruction of the Niyamgiri hills’ precious ecosystem. This is home to the Dongaria Kondh and Kutia Kondh, "Primitive Tribal Groups" eligible for special protection, who regard the hills "as sacred and believe that their survival is dependent" on them.
One-fifth of all Dongaria Kondhs, who number under 8,000, live here. Mining would undermine their way of life and threaten their "very survival".
Mining will destroy a great deal of forests, on which the Kondh heavily depend. Activities such as tree-felling, blasting, road-building, and heavy machinery movement will deny them access to land. The high ecological costs include destruction of wildlife, felling of 1.21 lakh trees, and choking of perennial springs. The area is part of a long forest corridor vital for elephant and tiger conservation.
As if this weren’t bad enough, Vedanta has violated numerous laws and failed to obtain clearances mandatory under the FRA from Gram Sabhas. Under the FRA, the MoEF cannot allow forest land to be diverted for non-forest purposes.
Vedanta has blatantly violated the Forest Conservation Act by illegally occupying 26 acres of forest land–exhibiting "total contempt for the law".
Similarly, Vedanta has illegally expanded its refinery capacity 6-fold from the licensed 1 mtpa—without environmental clearance.
Nor has the Orissa government implemented PESA, which is vitally important to tribal self-rule. PESA mandates consultation with Gram Sabhas and empowers them "to … preserve the traditions and customs of the people, their cultural identity, community resources …" and "prevent alienation of land…".
Hence, the committee says that "allowing mining in the proposed … area by depriving two ‘Primitive Tribal Groups’ of their rights … in order to benefit a private company would shake the faith of tribal people in the laws of the land, which may have serious consequences for the security and well-being of the entire country."
A Precious Posco
It would be a travesty of justice if the report’s recommendations were diluted. These are in consonance with some excellent analysis in Felix Padel and Samaraendra Das’s book, Out of This Earth: East India Adivasis and the Aluminium Cartel (Orient Blackswan), which traces the history of aluminium production and its enormous ecological costs.
Vedanta mining isn’t the only project put on hold by the MoEF. It recently stopped Posco’s steel project, following the recommendations of another committee, also headed by Mr Saxena. But Posco is trying hard to get clearance for its 12 million tonnes-per-annum plant which will cause extensive destruction. It will annually need 20 million tonnes of iron ore, besides 4,000 acres of land, including 3,000 acres forest land, whose transfer was wrongly cleared by the MoEF in December.
Posco recently announced a measly ` 400-crore rehabilitation package for people who will be displaced–a minuscule fraction of its project cost of ` 56,000 crore. But the people have refused to sell their land.
Environment Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh says his Ministry’s clearance to Posco isn’t valid because it violates the Forest Rights Act.
Now, however, Posco may be rescued by the central government, which is under South Korean and multinational industry pressure to clear the project. Prime Minster, Dr Manmohan Singh is loath to lose Posco, India’s highest Foreign Direct Investment proposal hitherto.
So the government has set up yet another committee composed of pro-industry former bureaucrats, which might clear the project. That would be disastrous.
Such disasters must be prevented at any cost. So must illegal mining. The Reddy Brothers’ mining racket in Karnataka shows the toxic influence of such lobbies on society, politics and governance.
Illegal Mining
Illegal mining thrives in India, especially in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, from where millions of tonnes of iron ore are smuggled to China. Recently, a fly-by-night company, Pushp Limited, with a capital of ` 1 lakh, was given a mining lease worth ` 380 crore in Chhattisgarh. It has failed to start operations even after five years.
The government has done well to set up a committee on illegal mining. But what India badly needs is a coherent, comprehensive policy for sustainable mining and against displacement. Unsound mining projects will poison society, make nonsense of the rule of law, create a "might is right" regime, and undermine what little is left of the state’s legitimacy.
