Dear friends, Please see pasted below the link and the editorial of today's Financial Express. It is a malicious attack on the members who wrote the "majority report of the POSCO enquiry committee". Very clearly, the corporate media cannot take this. A report with such conclusions they see as an attack on themselves. Instead critiquing the logic or the facts of the report, they are attacking the individuals. The report has uncovered lots of new stuff.
We must counter this kind of smear campaign that a section of the media has got down too. Basically an exercise to discredit the report. It is shocking to learn that the members have been asked not to speak to the media, there has been something like a gag order, which i read in one of the papers, including its rejection by the members. WE must issue a condemnation of this at the earliest atleast- Kavita http://www.financialexpress.com/news/FE-Editorial-Kangaroo-courts/699666/ Close Window <http://www.financialexpress.com/printer/news/699666/#> [image: print page] <http://www.financialexpress.com/printer/news/699666/> Print Story <http://www.financialexpress.com/printer/news/699666/> *FE Editorial : Kangaroo courts* The Financial Express Posted online: 2010-10-20 22:19:06+05:30 **The majority verdict of the expert panel set up by the environment ministry to look into the alleged violations of environmental laws by the Posco steel project in Orissa is no major surprise, given the composition of the committee and their earlier rulings on similar other occasions. While the credentials of the former environment secretary, who had the lone dissenting view arguing for a fresh environmental impact assessment, need no certification, the background of the other three members raises doubts about either their expertise on environmental issues or their ability to adopt an objective approach towards such issues. But two other members of the expert panel have no technical expertise on environmental issues, one being an anthropologist whose work is focused mainly on tribal issues and the other a civil liberty activist, with neither of them having any background in evaluating costs and benefits of giant projects. And the subjective bias of the fourth member, though a former director of the Forest Survey of India, is evident from some of his earlier reports, including that of the environment ministry’s expert committee that outlined the gross violations and serious non-compliance on environmental issues in the Sardar Sarovar, Indira Sagar and Omkareshwar projects; it tried to vindicate the arguments of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, and thereby limit the reservoir storage and stop canal construction and extension of the irrigation network. Adopting the recommendations of such arbitrary panels packed with activists would bring no gains either to the communities, whose welfare they claim to represent, or to the economy, and are just kangaroo courts whose verdict can be predicted in advance. The Posco steel plant, which is the single largest foreign direct investment in the country, has been in limbo since 2005 and brooks no more delays. The steel plant has the potential to contribute a tenth of Orissa’s GDP and Posco’s Finex technology will turn the state’s high grade iron ore to steel at the most competitive of prices. There are also a lot of externalities associated with the project, including building infrastructure like rail links, roads, townships and ports. With the employment multiplier of steel being high, the state will generate 8.7 lakh person years of employment annually for the next 30 years. Exploitation of iron ore and other rich mineral resources is at the core of the development strategy of Orissa and it would be unfair to the people, including the tribal groups, to deny them this opportunity. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
