Thank you for this communication .There must be a continued
debate on the export of non -renewable resources harming
the ecology and environment , appeasing MNCs like POSCO
in which financiers such as Warren Buffet and other American
financiers have major stakes ,in a day and age where all over the world
the " Neolberal" paradigm of economic development , including
of export oriented growth has broken down, even in its heartlands of
North America, Europe and Japan .
It was my experience based on a case study of
the attempted Privatization of the Shipping Corporation
of India by the NDA alliance with Arun Shourie then
leading the pack ,an attempt which failed when submissions
were made by me in the Writ Petition filed in the High
Court , that whenever there was a need to justify concessions
or tributes to MNCs Indian or Foreign the word " Strategic"
was resorted to by succeeding governments of alliance partners.
The so called hunger strikes undertaken against corruption
are an exercise in futility unless the strangle hold of corporate
policy on government decision making is defeated which
calls for systemic changes, in addition to mobilization of
people demanding rational policy in our country as a whole
and from region to region ,in keeping with Constitutional
policy including Article 39 (b) and ( c) of the Directive Principles
of State policy .
'............
39(a) that the ownership and control of the material resources
of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the
common good ;
(c) That the operation of the economic system does not result
in the concentration of wealth and the means of production to
the common detriment .
..............'
We need a political coalition in India with Article 39 ( a)
and ( b) as an integral part of a manifesto for economic ,
political and social emancipation to complete the task
which commenced with the framing of India 's Constitution
which has been left incomplete and inconclusive .
This does not imply elimination of the private sector.This
Constitutional policy demands that all sectors operate
within the paradigm of Article 39 (b) and ( c) , implementation
of these provisions of the Constitution must be made
mandatory in the implementation of economic policy not
only to determine/decide the constitutional validity
of statutes , but in the implementation of economic and
financial measures .
This was the objective of the freedom movement of
India, rebelling against the East India among other
Companies who ruled and controlled and repatriated
all surplus from India leaving the country in a bedraggled
States even as we were the " Brightest Jewel in the Crown"
the pivot of the Empire with Indians serving in colonial
armies .The emancipation of the people of India has
still to be accomplished in totality .
Whenever the word" Strategic" is used by policy
makers it must be questioned and the " Corporate Veil "
surrounding the expression lifted with the real reason exposed .
The 'Neoliberal' paradigm of development resulted in major
subsidies to MNCs Indian and foreign Companies , employing fewer
and fewer workers and a depletion of the budget required
for the large mass of working people in the rural and urban
sector for improvement of the infrastructure of their daily
lives including nutrition , healthcare ,basic housing ,transport,
education and culture .To disguise these huge financial subsidies
the word " Strategic " was used to camouflage the real nature
of the policy as it was in pursuance of the export led growth
model at the cost of the national economy.In many
cases based on exploitation of non-renewable resources
such as mineral reserves or as in the case of the Spectrum scam
on parceling to individual interests , the benefits of public/ State
monopolies at throw away rates which was the basis of telecom
policy , when earning of revenues for the national exchequer was
of paramount concern, along with efficient services .
We need more case studies of projects and decisions
to dialogue on the nature of policy and expert opinions
on a policy for mining operations which are increasingly
causing distress from one region to another and have
led to civil war conditions in Central and Eastern India
with the para military and military unleashed along
with hired militias .
Niloufer Bhagwat
----- Original Message -----
From: Leo Saldanha
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2011 10:18 AM
Subject: [ESG-LIST] Release of "Tearing through the Water Landscape",A study
of environmental and social impacts of POSCO project in India
Environment Support Group
27 May 2011
Release of Study on impacts of POSCO's India project
“Tearing through the Water Landscape: Evaluating the environmental and social
consequences of POSCO project in Odisha, India”
On 2nd May 2011, Indian Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh finally
approved the diversion of over 3,000 acres of forest land, of the 4,000 acres
demanded, for a steel-power-port complex of the POSCO India project.
Earlier, on 31 January 2011, Ramesh had approved the environmental and
coastal regulation zone clearances that the project had secured in 2007, even
though all these clearances were obtained by fraud, and thus illegal, as proved
by two independent investigative committees that he appointed last year.
Forest Rights denied is violation of Fundamental Rights
The diversion of forests for non-industrial use by POSCO was based on
“categorical assurances” that Jairam Ramesh sought from the Odisha Government,
that the Forest Rights Act did not apply to communities affected directly and
indirectly by POSCO. The Odisha Government gave him this assurance on the basis
of fraudulent claims that there were no non-traditional forest dwellers and
tribes in the POSCO project affected villages of Jagatsinghpur, thus making
this massive land transfer merely an administrative arrangement. Rather
cheaply, the Odisha Government accused Shishir Mahpatra, the Sarpanch of
Dhinkia Panchayat, of fraud in providing resolutions of Palli Sabhas that
demonstrated that not only were there OTFDs and tribals in the project affected
area, but that they had been dependent on the region's natural resources,
particularly forests, for centuries. Ramesh did not hesitate for a moment and
question this claim by the Odisha Government. On the basis of this uncertainty
in fact, he proceeded to support the POSCO clearance claiming it was of
“strategic importance” to India.
Authorising the loot of India's natural resources:
As the single largest industrial foreign direct investment ever in India
(with a capital cost of Rs. 51,000 crores at 2005 prices), POSCO's ambitions in
India aren't merely of location a steel-power-port complex in the ecologically
senstive Jagatsinghpur district. In fact, company officials have submitted
before the investigative committees that they will not invest in the steel-port
complex if permission to mine for iron ore in over 6,100 acres of dense jungle
in the Kandadhar Hills in Sundergarh district is not granted. Most of this iron
ore mined is for export without any local value addition, and thus will serve
the economic interest of South Korea and POSCO stockholders – mainly American
banks and Warren Buffet – one of the world's richest's individuals. POSCO has
also demanded a dedicated railway line to the port – that means additional land
demands. Further the project requires at least 2,000 acres for a township for
its employees, and diversion of drinking water from the Jobra barrage for
industrial use. All this has been agreed to by the Odisha Government when the
project MOU was signed in 2005, but the people have been kept in the dark of
the real consequences of such loot of India's non-renewable natural resources.
The Making of a 'Right-less People' by Jairam Ramesh
Over 13,000 acres is merely the demand of land for realising POSCO's dream
venture in India. Thousands of families will be dislocated, and suffer
irreparable damage to their lives and livelihoods. It is time we appreciated
that this steel-power-port-township-mining project is the single largest
industrial venture conceived in recent memory, and that such scale of
investment will be done only because we are gifting highly expensive and
excellent iron ore for POSCO to make stupendous profits. There is absolutely no
benefit for India in this deal, and what POSCO will leave behind, if they
succeed at all, is a lot of fly ash, destroyed ecologically sensitive coastal
and forest environments and thousands of people in misery.
To help appreciate the full consequences of the POSCO investment in India,
Environment Support Group, a not-for-profit public interest research, training,
campaign and advocacy initiative, has produced a study entitled “Tearing
through the Water Landscape: Evaluating the environmental and social
consequences of POSCO project in Odisha, India”, which is co-authored by Leo
Saldanha and Bhargavi Rao. This study was undertaken at the request of POSCO
Pratirodh Sangram Samithi (POSCO Project Resistance Movement), leading the
opposition against the POSCO project. The study reveals on the basis of
extensive review of historical, ecological, social and economic evidence that
Jairam Ramesh's support for POSCO is nothing but a highly condemnable act that
legitimises fraud and corruption in environmental decision making. As a result,
the study reveals that Ramesh has today become the architect of one of India's
greatest planned disasters that begins its ominous initiative by turning the
affected communities into a 'rightless people', as their fundamental rights
have been snatched on the basis of “faith and trust” in Odisha Government's
lies.
A copy of this study is accessible at www.esgindia.org
Environment Support Group, 1572, 36th Cross, Banashankari II Stage, Bangalore
560070. INDIA
Tel: 91-80-26713559~61 Email: [email protected] Web: www.esgindia.org
Email of authors of this study:
Leo Saldanha: [email protected]
Bhargavi S. Rao: [email protected]
--
{It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
- Jiddu Krishnamurti}
Leo Saldanha
[Environmental, Social Justice and Governance Initiatives]
Environment Support Group - Trust
1572, 36th Cross, Ring Road
Banashankari II Stage
Bangalore 560070. INDIA
Tel: 91-80-26713559-61
Fax/Voice: 91-80-26713316
Email: [email protected]
Blog: http://leoonpublicmatters.blogspot.com/
Web: www.esgindia.org
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