With the few posts doing the rounds of Wendell and a few others giving the finger to Sujay Gupta, I trust some will have read Emily Bild’s excellent article that Cecil kindly posted on Goanet. ( http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15351).
The article above will put matters in context and show why Wendell probably reacted the way he did. It is proof that Goa is being screwed by mining companies and their friends. While Sujay Gupta, vice president of communications, Sociedade de Fomento, admits in the article that the environment is damaged and that pressure on the water table has increased, he says this is confined to companies recently established to cash in on the iron ore boom. The fly-by-night operators are simply stealing, he tells the author even while the butter refuses to melt in his mouth. No mention that mining in Goa is now a conglomerate with the big fish contracted the dirty work in areas like Quepem, to smaller fish who have the muscle power and police on their side. Not for nothing is Sujay Gupta the spin-doctor for the Timblos. Water sources have dried up almost completely in villages affected by mining and still he has the audacity to quote from an earlier article he wrote for his boss and tell the author, Emily Bild, that a great deal of work is needed to improve the sustainability of mining in Goa. Surely even at the height of one’s deliriums, one would have to be really far gone to link mining as the Timblos and others do it, with the notion of sustainability. While the champions of this dubious industry parrot the untruth that mining is the backbone of the Goan economy, The Goa Foundation, in the same article is quoted as saying that mining has caused far more destruction to the Goan ecosystem than all other economic activities in the state, including tourism and chemical factories. The article duly notes that the mining industry creates up to 3 tons of waste for each ton of ore produced, that this waste pollutes rivers and water bodies many of which run red with ore that in turn pollute the land, disrupt animal life and flow onto farms damaging them irrevocably. The article also notes that every day, up to 12,000 overloaded trucks race to and from the mining areas to Marmugao, spreading dust and exhaust fumes and damaging the roads. The real horror of mining as the article points out very clearly is the fact that the iron ore lies within the Western Ghats, a fragile eco-system ranked as one of the world's 12 ecological hotspots, and lest we forget, the source of Goa’s abundant water. To this serious issue, Sujay Gupta can only ask whether it is really feasible to stop mining. It takes place in all countries he tells the author, there is a huge demand for steel and this is met by mining iron ore. The arguments against mining are flawed he has the audacity to say instead, repeating the famous words that there should be a strong demand for *sustainable mining*. It has been quite obvious for some time now that men like Sujay Gupta are not inclined to see beyond their noses. Not for them the serious threat of global warming, alarming changes of temperature worldwide, the rising levels of the sea, or the fact that the world’s freshwater resources are seriously under threat. To the charge that the industry is doing too little to protect the environment, a spokesman of the mining department is quoted as asking how much was enough…that with open-cast mining there was always some damage caused. Dr. Claude Alvares has rubbished Sujay Gupta so many times he makes Wendell giving Sujay the finger at the party, seem like a childish prank. When Claude talks about mining we should listen to him. He tells the author of the same article where Sujay tries his spin-doctoring that once the groundwater systems have been destroyed by mining, water tankers will have to be brought in. What will happen to these communities when the mining companies stop bringing in the tankers, Claude asks. And that’s not Claude trying to do a Sujay on us. As the article notes mine owners themselves predict that ore reserves will be exhausted in 10 to 20 years, and that companies will then decamp, leaving communities high and dry. As always though, the mining fraternity sticks together. There is some hoo-hah made about companies giving back to the communities in terms of social and environmental projects, that in 2000, 14 Goan mining companies established the Mineral Foundation of Goa to implement corporate social responsibility (magical word) schemes in mining-affected communities. It is strange that they have never circulated a public document showing exactly what they have done. One wonders why? Could it be that for such a document one needs more than just the plain old spin-doctoring that young Sujay is so good at? What gives a clear indication of just how serious the Mineral Foundation is with its corporate social responsibility programmes is that their total expenditure for 2007-08 was US $607,357. Even though it’s unthinkable, double that figure like Sujay may. In comparison, two bigger fish than Sujay’s bosses, Sesa Goa and Dempo Mining alone report combined post-tax profits of over $530 million! While the article quotes an activist in Shirgao village, where livelihoods have been badly affected by the mining, that the companies have done nothing of importance, Sujay Gupta in response, can only say that the mining industry is reaching out the anti-mining activists but that they were not willing to engage with the mining industry. What kind of engagement is he asking for? Can one be more engaged than in asking for a complete and total ban on mining in Goa until the same mining companies that have bled this state with impunity, repair the earlier damage? This is not about spin-doctoring and making what is false appear to be true. This is about saving the Western Ghats and goes well beyond the length of Sujay Gupta’s nose. Even as this is being written there are solid moves afoot to declare the Western Ghats a ‘heritage site’ and declare its 1,600 kilometres of forests, water and life protected from environmentally-unfriendly industries. Keep these precious Ghats as they are for the benefit of the *entire world* and not just 14 mining companies. Even as this is being written the mining companies are busy stockpiling ore hoping to sit out the monsoons and come back with additional bestiality come September when the sun comes out. The same article, in which Sujay Gupta’s spin-doctoring skills are on display, has sobering if not frightening news. According to the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi 8 per cent of Goa is already under mining. And if all applications for leases currently pending are cleared, more than 25 percent of this paradise state will become vulnerable to the environmental devastation already wrought. Quite a few people have been arguing that the current global recession is a wake-up call from Mother Earth, that she is asking us to re-think our postulates on business and industry. In fairness, debate on this has been so exhilarating one is left with a feeling that change is in the cards. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen. What does seem to be true however, is that although placards at the G20 said boldly that capitalism does not work, and that the major capitalist power in the world is looking to strengthen the public sector, in India, in Goa to be precise, one is left with industrialists (read mining) and their lap dogs, who seem to embody the worst of the robber barons of old. Which is why, like Wendell, the next time you see Sujay Gupta, tell him what you think about the mining industry, tell him that you want to protect the Western Ghats for your children’s, children’s children, not just rip them apart for the ore so that you can get yourself a posh villa in a gated colony somewhere in Goa.
