Orissa's unrestricted mining by vedanta groups has been halted by Ministry of Environment and Forest. A reason to celebrate. The order has been issued yesterday. Have a look by clicking here
Cheers
Showing posts with label illegal mining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label illegal mining. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Neoliberal loot in mining: the self and governance
We do have an utility maximising self. Governing mechanism or state in other words is the only outlet (apart from self morality) to protect resources from this inherent greed. The morality mechanism is already paralyzed, since we have stepped into Durkheimian Organic Solidarity, that has installed impersonal, contractual relationships.
The case:
We live in a world filled with resources, and our country is exceptionally rich in some regions. An estimate by Ramakrishnan (2010) suggests that 1.64 lakh hectares of forest land has been diverted for mining in India. Only Iron-ore mining used up 77 million tonnes of water in 2005-06. States like Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Nocobar Islands, etc. are the major share holders of this diversion.
The liberalised loot:
India is investing $300 billion in 2009 (statistics by Indian Institute of Metals), six times of the total investment made since independence. Orissa sites one of the worst examples. Here, an in other states illegal mining occurs at places inhabited by tribal people. They are working as labourers and no benefit is redistributed to the locality. With the change in mining policy which encourages private sector intervention in the sector initiates displacements, and environmental degradation manifold. As a result a few people and corporations get benefitted at the cost of enormous environmental, social and human cost. Ramakrishnan (2010) focuses on expert's argument that regulatory mechanisms are paralysed or near absent.
Disasters and displacements:
A study by Amnesty International on Vedanta's operations in Orissa focuses on violation of environmental laws that prevents contamination of air, water and human condition. The history of mining reflects displacement of 2.5 crore people and not even 25% of them gets replacement.
State: politico-corporate nexus
Now coming back to the larger issue, its about the self's interest maxmisation and the control over that pursuit. It is only state and civil society that can and should work as a filter to control the unlimited maximising pursuit of a few individuals and corporations. However, these mechanisms are not working in the way it should work as the state is promoting corporations. The civil is voiceless. Even, states are using Maoist tag for legitimising their intervention in these tribal inhabited regions.
Taking the picture as a whole, it is found that miners operate with support from politicians. There are instances where they enter into active politics and run businesses while being part of the government (Das 2010, Menon 2010).
Interestingly, the rationality of state, as reflected historically: "doing for others", "controling subjects for better ends", "optimal use of resources", etc. are all engulfed or eclipsed in the deep blue sea of capitalism.
May be the civil, may be the subaltern keep looking for an alternative, however, we don't know who is wearing what mask? what lies behind the mask? and whether, the mask has anything real, i.e., really different from the mask?
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Sacred mountain, corporates and mao: the case from Niyamgiri hills
Parallel to kaleidoscope's skepticism regarding corporate promotion as we see in the annual budget, Orissa is siting example of the darker side of neoliberal dreams and an "effective" strategy of corporate promotion.
The background:
This is the case of a state where two-thirds of rural families live below poverty line with other dismal social indicators. While straightway industrialisation is seen as a ray of hope for the people of Orissa, however, the reverse is the true, at least, in local people's versions. Recent cases with Posco, Tata Steel and Vedanta Aluminium Limited show strong opposition from people, as they are threatened to snatch off their fertile lands. Lands which fall within scheduled areas!
Government and people:
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's voice is for peaceful industrialisation process. However, the protests from people stays unheard and state armed forces are in operation which results in killing of 14 tribal people at Kalinganagar near proposed Tata steel plant on January 2, 2006. More than 700 armed policeman are deployed to facilitate industrialisation. The construction of road for Tata steel is harshly protested as a result hundreds of policemen fired rubber bullet injuring people and on May 12 a policeman open fire to kill a tribesman.
The government is alleged of taking unfair benefits from the corporations.
Sacred mountain and their inhabitants:
Vedanta finds Bauxite in and arround Niyamgiri mountains inhabited by Dongria Kondhs, a denotified Premitive Tribal Group (PTG) who believe Niyamgiri mountain to be their king and God. Once the company gets clearance to mine the hills, they will be thoroughly displaced. This will not only ruin the entire mountain, but also thousands of inhabitants will be homeless, thereby seriously affecting their culture, peaceful living and basic amenities.
Rules and the ministry:
Traditional Forest Dwellers Act, scheduled tribal area act (5th and 6th schedule), protects tribal rights on forest and land. Union minister Jairam Ramesh declared that ministry is not in a hurry to give clearance which shows a ray of hope for the people after sacrificing a lot.
Escape from the rules: Mao smell
Dongria Kondh movements backed by Communist Party of India (CPI) maintains absolute secrecy. They do it because of the fear of being tagged as having Communist Party of India Maoist connection. The chief leaders of the movement are ready to confront the being tagged as maoist and killed by Central Reserved Police Forces (CRPF).
The scenario:
If Mao connection is established and CRPFs are deployed to help corporations getting clearance - it is highly likely that this would be standard strategy with three steps:
1. identify an area suitable for corporates and initiate acquisition.
2. use state machinery to help the corporation.
3. when all else fails declare it as Maoist inhabited area and deploy CRPF troops to initiate "Clear, Hold and Build" strategy!!!!!
The VAL chief operations officer Mukesh Kumar argues that mining area does not have a settlement therefore, it does not involve displacement. It indicates serious lack of understanding of tribal life, as they depend of natural resources for three Fs - Food, fodder and fuel along with other requirements like medicine and also emotional attachments.
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