Saying no to mining projects will further marginalise Orissa

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Joseph Sundaram

30 August, 2010

Jairam Ramesh has brought a lot of dynamism into the environment ministry. People have to take notice of him. It will be a fact, that, previous environment ministries have not been in favour of NGO environment activist lobby.

THE CLEARANCE given to Vedanta has been cancelled by the environment ministry and this is going to disrupt the process of industrialisation in possibly one of the poorest districts in the country, Kalahandi.

It must be said that Jairam Ramesh has brought a lot of dynamism into the environment ministry. People have to take notice of him. It is a well established fact that previous environment ministries have not been in favour of non-government organisation (NGO)-environment activist lobby. This, however, seems to have changed a bit recently. However, the worrying aspect of this episode is the selective targeting of development activities in one of the poorest states in the country, Orissa.

This decision needs to be taken in the perspective of Jairam Ramesh's outlook and views towards Orissa in the last few years. Some time back, there was a movement carried out by Oriya intellectuals for setting up an Indian Institute of Technology in to Orissa. This was a long-standing demand since, even, the first IIT which was later setup in Kharagpur, was initially supposed to be in Bhubaneswar. This demand was opposed by Jairam Ramesh, who said that, why does Orissa need an IIT? That was quite elitist to say, considering Ramesh himself is an IIT alumnus.

Also, in the previous United Progresssive Alliance dispensation, Jairam Ramesh was the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry. It perhaps, explains why, Kamal Nath can not get along with him. A minister of state in that ministry is never given importance.

So, now, the wheel has turned the full cycle. He is back as the minister of environment and forests. Most of the industrialists, who could not get along with him have to make a beeline to his ministry to get the projects sanctioned. It does not help that India’s rehabilitation record in the past has been quite bad.

Talking about his ministry in UPA-1, Ramesh had made a trip to Orissa. He met quite a few secretaries and he dispensed advice about how Orissa should forget mining and focus on tribal art and their culture. Also, in a post-press meet he said that, the Chief Minister did not have enough time to listen to him. He was always looking at his watch all the time. However, a fact well known in Bhubaneswar political circles is that Naveen Patnaik, the CM of Orissa never wears a watch.

This clearly shows that the environment minister has scant regard for Orissa.

Still, one does agree that, Ramesh has made the environment ministry noticed. There is no doubt that environment protection is in bad shape in India. But, what are we discussing here? This ministry does not do anything to stop the blatant mining activities which are used to export various ores in a raw form. But, it is stopping big-ticket investments which will do value addition and possibly create more value in terms of employment, infrastructure and growth.

Still, I don’t have any issues with Jairam Ramesh’s non-clearance of Vedanta mining of Niyamgiri. What worries me are his remarks in the press conference? He forgets that Naveen Patnaik is a democratically, elected member of the legislative assembly of Orissa and his party has won nearly a two-third majority in the state assembly. Whereas, Jairam Ramesh is from Karnataka and a Rajya Sabha elected member from Andhra Pradesh. He has never fought an election in his life.

It is no-one’s issue, that as a member of parliament from Andhra Pradesh and being from Karnataka, he should or should not work in these areas. But, blocking development in the poorest state in the country which is known for starvation deaths and distress sale of (yes) babies at a prices like Rs 20 to Rs 100, is a wrong decision.

Ramesh has provided a host of forest laws to make his claims on Vedanta illegalities. If they have made mistakes they need to be punished. But, where is the quid pro quo in the matter of Polavarm project. Estimates say that, about 200,000 people will be displaced. Where was the Gram Sabha, Palli Sabha approval? Where are the public hearings there? .

In Orissa, the three biggest projects have been POSCO, Vedanta alumina and the Vedanta University. Even if the first two deal with minerals and forest rights, what was the necessity to block a University? It is well known all over the world that Universities provide the best safeguards for environment. Environmental activists linked both the projects and moved forward. Today, there are talks that the university will be moved to Andhra Pradesh. If that happens, the story of Orissa's marginalisation is complete.