*Economic and Political Weekly
July 12, 2008
Book Review
Mine Now, Mine Forever?
by Manshi Asher
Caterpillar and the Mahua Flower: Tremors in India's Mining Fields edited by
Rakesh Kalshian;
Panos, New Delhi, 2007; pp 207, Rs 150.
*
According to Rich Lands, Poor People: Is 'Sustainable' Mining Possible?
(State of India's Environment: 6th Citizens' Report) published recently by
the Centre for Science and Environment, of the 50 mineral producing
districts in India almost half are dominated by tribal or adivasi
populations with about 28 per cent of their area under forests. Between
1951 and 1991 more than 26 lakh people were displaced by mining in India, of
whom more than half were adivasis. Forty per cent of the mineral-rich
regions are also affected by the Naxalite movement. These regions are in
Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. A
comparison of mineral production and per capita domestic product figures
demonstrates that there exists an inverse relation between mining and
economic growth. This trend is amply evident in the three mineral-rich
states of Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. These critical facts and
figures are like dots on the board. Joining them gives us a picture about
the mining scenario in India. Caterpillar and the Mahua Flower: Tremors in
India's Mining Fields edited by Rakesh Kalshian brings us tales of death,
deceit and destruction, of pride and prejudice, behind these facts and
figures, making the picture clearer and horrific. Narratives from the tribal
hinterlands of mineral-rich Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh by experts,
activists and journalists engaged with the issue of mining and its
socio-political, economic, cultural and environmental consequences make this
book a significant piece of work. The stories of mining and mine-based
industries in Jharia, Jadugoda, Lanjigarh, Dantewada, Bailadila, Jharsuguda,
Kalinganagar, Mainpat, Keonjhar, Kashipur are unique in their perspective,
yet they reiterate, repeat and virtually drill a single point home - that
the state, its arms, on the one hand and the corporation, on the other,
effortlessly reverse roles as abettors and perpetrators of what could be
termed as "ethnic genocide combined with ecological devastation" in the
mineral-rich states of this democratic country.
The mining industry in India has grown at more than 10 per cent in the
post-reforms period (between 1993 and 2003) as the mining sector was opened
up for private and foreign investments. In this period 73 FDI mining project
proposals have been cleared. Some of the major companies include POSCO, De
Beers, BHP Billiton, Mittal and Rio Tinto. It is evident that the current
growth rates are driven by the global demand for products like aluminium and
steel and the investment rush by the greed for access to cheap mineral and
other resources. The book aptly takes off with Roger Moody's 'Iron in the
Soul' which analyses the adverse role played by global mining giants like
Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton with their unethical mining practices in
countries like Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Mongolia, Burma and now India.
Moody challenges the possibility of "sustainable mining" that the industry
harps about, terming it a "transparent oxymoron". "At the end of the day,
and after weighing the human and environmental consequences of that
reality, we may be driven to one overwhelming conclusion: that decisions
over the what, when, where, how and by whom of extracting irreplaceable
mineral resources must no longer be entrusted to 'the industry'", he
concludes.
But India has begun opening the sector to private players only in the last
decade or more. The public sector in India still owns about 25 per cent of
the industry. Can we assume that the public sector under takings have been
more responsible and accountable in their mining activities? 'Nero's
Children', Amit Raja's brilliant account of Jharia in Jharkhand where Bharat
Coking Coal (BCCL) has been operating its collieries adequately answers this
question. The reader can virtually visualise the "creation of a ghost town"
with under ground fires and land subsidence as a result of the negligent
attitude of the BCCL which is looking forward to evacuate the people who
continue to inhabit the place so that it can continue mining for coal. 'Road
to Perdition' by Aman Sethi which focuses on illegal mining in Keonjhar,
Orissa, corro borates Raja's story. It highlights that 40 per cent of all
mines in Keonjhar are illegal and that the Orissa Mining Corporation, a
public sector undertaking, is the biggest violator with over 10 illegal
mines spread over 7,051 hectares.
And while the only consolation for the locals in case of public sector
investment had been the provision of employment, Alok Putul in 'No Man's
Land', a tale from Bailadila in Chhattisgarh, where the National Mineral
Development Corpora- tion (NMDC) has been mining ore for half a decade,
states "The corporation provided employment to only 15 per cent of the local
populace....NMDC's continuous extraction of iron ore had adversely affected
the environment in an area up to 35,000 hectares surrounding the mines."
'Under the Black Sky' by Ranjan Panda through heart wrenching life stories
of landlosers and workers in the Mahanadi Coal Fields, Orissa exposes the
realities of choked people, streams, forests, fertile lands and failed
rehabilitation.
Uranium Mining
Another example is the Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL) mining in
Jadugoda and its subsequent irreversible impacts of radiation on the health
of the local adivasis, which has been well documented in the past. In
'Never Say DAE', Xavier Dias puts under the scanner the callous attitude of
the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in particular, and the bureaucracy and
scientific community/institutions in general, towards the documentary
evidence indicating toxic contamination of the local environment of
Jadugoda. "They have gone to the extent of denying the documented cases of
birth deformities in Buddha Weeps in Jadugoda, by calling them 'polio'
cases. Even a medical student would know that polio is not a birth
deformity. But the DAE is able to deny everything with such impunity as it
has the backing of a powerful state, and now the omnipotent US. But then
where is science? Where are ethics and morals?" poses Dias.
In fact, the company in question, UCIL, in February 2004 at an environment
clearance public hearing held at Banduhurang, forcefully threw out local
adivasis who were registering their protest against one of its projects.
Umesh Nazir in 'Full Monty' exposes the manner in which the "public
hearing", the only legal and functional platform to seek public opinion on
industrial and mining projects, has been reduced to a stage managed charade
by the main protagonists - company henchmen and corrupt officials of the
local administration and the Pollution Control Board. He narrates
experiences of public hearings of mining projects in Jharkhand and how each
time the "public" was kept out of the hearing violating critical provisions
of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification.
Despite the efforts of the government officials and project proponents to
scuttle the hearing process, communities across the country have used the
forum to express their sentiments related to the project. But even in the
few cases where public opinion has been reflected in the reports of the
hearing, when the project comes up at the state and central level, clearance
is granted despite the clear environmental and social implications of the
project.
Similar is the case for forest clearance, which needs to be sought by any
company seeking forest land for its project. Considering that most mineral
wealth is found in forest rich areas this is a "hurdle" that projects have
had to face under the aegis of the Forest Conservation Act 1980.
Not-withstanding this "obstacle", between 1980 and 2005, almost 40,000
hectares of forest land has been diverted to mines in Orissa, Jharkhand and
Chhattisgarh put together. The credit for this can be unanimously given to
the environment governance system of the country that can be manipulated to
any extent to serve corporate interests as is well demonstrated in the case
of the Vedanta's Lanjigarh projects in Orissa. Vedanta (also Sterlite), is a
UK based company owned by Anil Agarwal, who Roger Moody refers to in and as
The Base Alchemist. Agarwal's almost rags to more than riches story of
corporate crime and unethical environmental practices has been well told by
Moody.
In response to a petition filed by environmental and social activists, in
Vedanta's case a Supreme Court committee "concluded that Vedanta, with the
complicity of the Orissa state government, had illegally destroyed protected
forests and embarked upon the refinery construction without proper permits;
and inhabitants had been removed from their homes and land without due
process of a public hearing. In January 2005, the CEC asserted that Vedanta,
with the Orissa government's help, had undoubtedly broken the law" state
Felix Padel and Samendra Das in an interesting chapter that looks at the
politics of the aluminium industry in the background of the Kashipur
Struggle ('Agya, What Do You Mean by Development'). It took the apex court
two years and a Norwegian government report (which bashed the company for
its activities in India) to give a verdict, which raises serious questions
on the role of the judiciary in such cases. In November 2007 while the court
said that Vedanta could not be granted the permission to mine bauxite in the
biodiverse Niyamgiri Hills considering that its track record was
questionable. The court, however, went on to recommend that the company
reapply for permission to mine under a different subsidiary company, namely,
Sterlite.
Neither the judiciary nor any organs of the state have been able to ensure
the implementation of the most critical legislations like the Panchayat
Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act and the Samata judgment, both of
which protect the interests of adivasi communities. While PESA makes
essential the consent of the gram sabha of the village to be affected by a
project in Schedule V (adivasi dominated) areas; the Samata ruling held that
any transfer of land (immovable property) from an adivasi to a non-adivasi
person was null and void. Though one misses more mention of the Samata
ruling in the book, the violations of PESA have been well illustrated in
the case of the Essar steel plant coming up in Bastar by Ashly Hinmon in
'Forgeries in Steel - We also Make Poverty'. The chapter contains candid
interviews with an employee of Essar and the district collector at
Dantewada, who is quoted saying that as per PESA "gram sabha and the
panchayat must be consulted, but no consent is required" and that a
Chhattisgarh High Court ruling of September 2006 in a case pertaining to
Essar, Tata, NMDC had supported this view.
Civil War
But then that is Chhattisgarh, the newly formed state, whose ruling right
wing government could give the Bush led US government a run for its money as
far as strategies on "waging war on terror" are concerned. Padel and Das in
their write- up ('Agya, What Do You Mean by Development') rightly use this
quote by a British commentator "War is not only terrible, but is a terribly
profitable thing". A civil war of sorts is raging in Bastar region of
Chhattisgarh. With assistance from the ruling BJP as well as the Congress
Party in opposition, the local administration has pitted the adivasi
population of the area against the naxals in what they have termed as a
peace campaign called Salwa Judum. "Either you are with us or you are with
them" is the familiar slogan which both the government and naxalites have
thrown at the local people. The resulting conflict situation has led to
displacement of more than 80,000 people from their homes into refugee camps
or migration to neighbouring states. "The aim of this war is not just to
exterminate Maoists, but also to implement industrialisation plans that have
faced sustained opposition from tribal society" claims Putul ('No Man's
Land'), drawing linkages be- tween the pushing through of the Essar and Tata
steel projects in the face of local opposition and the unleashing of
conflict and chaos within adivasi communities via Salwa Judum.
What is unfortunate is that despite various fact-finding reports reiterating
the dreadful conditions of the adivasis in Bastar as a consequence of Salwa
Judum, the regional and national media have either blacked out the issue or
supported the stand of the state. Kedar Mishra's 'Fifth Columnists' calls
the bluff of the corporate fed and bred media analysing the role that the
media plays in reporting issues that affect the poor and tribal commu
nities, tracing the history of Orissa's print media owners, patrons and
their vested interests in mining projects. The case of Kalinganagar and
consequences of media's false reporting of Naxal involvement in the people's
movement against Tata's project has been well illustrated both by Mishra and
Bigneshwar Sahu in their 'Defying the Juggernaut'.
The book has restricted itself to mining of major metallic minerals from
Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Case studies from Madhya Pradesh
(Diamonds) Rajasthan (stone-quarrying), Karnataka, Goa (iron ore) and Andhra
Pradesh (bauxite), the other mineral producing states would have made the
canvas larger and varied. But then the title Caterpillar and the Mahua
flower naturally transports us to the central-eastern adivasi belt of the
country, now a cauldron of repression and resistance in the face of cultural
and ecological crises.
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