If industrialisation leads to Eradication of poverty then probably the vast mineral rich regions of the country wouldn't be the home to the Millions of poor. The mineral rich states like Odisha, Jhadkhand & Chhatishgarh are struggling at the bottom by the affliction of abject poverty. The mining activity in these states benefits only to the large corporations with the detriment to the local people who are deprived of their right to livelihood due to displacement by the Minning projects. The recent issue of Bauxite Minning by Vedant Alumina in the Niyamgiri Hills in one of India's most backward region is a classic case in this context. The project will diplace one of India's primitive tribe, the Dongria Kondh and will severely disturb the ecological balance in the Eastern Ghats. The centre and the state govt are at loggerheads for the Environmental clearance of the project. But caught in the midst are the Dongria Kondh tribes who will face displacement by the Mining projcet. That is how the tribal poor are caught between the Industrialisation and mining drive of the state . Odisha is endowed with a rich mineral resource starting from Iron, Manganese to Bauxite to Coal but struggling for decades for using it to its advantage. The mining industry in the state is a corrupt ones run by mafias with the connivance of govt officials. The Govt is entangled in a serious mining scam recently which exposed how illegal mining was carried out in the state with the involvement of top officials of the Govt.
The local people who should actually be benefited by the mining project are pushed to the brink of poverty. They are displaced from their land , lost their livelihood and are now pushed to the cycle of poverty. The govt remained a mutant spectator in the whole drama. The large corporations are taking the advantage of the absence of a stringent Mining and R&R policies. The govt of Odisha is taking credit of having one of the best R&R policy but forgot that the major Projects like Posco and Mittal steel projects got stuck due to R&R issues. In the mining activities the govt gets a pity amount as royalty and taxes but the larger share of the profits are accumulated by the corporations. Yes a reasonable Rate of return is required for any investment so be the Mining investments. But any supernormal profits beyond the normal rate should be shared between the state solely for the purpose of developement of the affected area and for the affected people. India should learn from Australia's Super Resource Profit Tax imposed on the exploration of Natural resources. When the natural resources are finite which belong to the state then why it is being enjoyed by only a few instead of sharing between all the stakeholders. It is time for the mineral rich states to pull their shocks and realize it is time to act against the delinquent greedy corporations to make them fall in line to comply the R&R policy ,the necessary environmental stipulations and share some percentage of profits for the betterment of local people.
The local people who should actually be benefited by the mining project are pushed to the brink of poverty. They are displaced from their land , lost their livelihood and are now pushed to the cycle of poverty. The govt remained a mutant spectator in the whole drama. The large corporations are taking the advantage of the absence of a stringent Mining and R&R policies. The govt of Odisha is taking credit of having one of the best R&R policy but forgot that the major Projects like Posco and Mittal steel projects got stuck due to R&R issues. In the mining activities the govt gets a pity amount as royalty and taxes but the larger share of the profits are accumulated by the corporations. Yes a reasonable Rate of return is required for any investment so be the Mining investments. But any supernormal profits beyond the normal rate should be shared between the state solely for the purpose of developement of the affected area and for the affected people. India should learn from Australia's Super Resource Profit Tax imposed on the exploration of Natural resources. When the natural resources are finite which belong to the state then why it is being enjoyed by only a few instead of sharing between all the stakeholders. It is time for the mineral rich states to pull their shocks and realize it is time to act against the delinquent greedy corporations to make them fall in line to comply the R&R policy ,the necessary environmental stipulations and share some percentage of profits for the betterment of local people.
The recent saxena committee report on bauxite minning from the Niyamgiri hills raps the Govt of Orissa and Vedanta Alumina for alleged violation of the Forest rights Acts and Forest conservation acts. The report exposed the company's mendacious claims of environmental compliance with the malicious collusion with the officials of Govt Of orissa. The company illegally took possession of Govt land and expanded the capacity of the greenfield projcet by six fold without environmental clearance. The Niyamgiri hills is home to one of India's primitive tribes, the Dongria kondh will face extinction as their only source of livelihood, the forest produce commodities will dry out due to open cast mining in the hill which will deny them the access to their livelihood. Also the source of the river Vanshdhara river which is considerd as the life line for the local tribes will be seriously disturbed by the mining project.