Mining Woes

The friction between the environment regulator and the apex court is out in open but does not appear in the news so prominently. Many are not aware of the development out there.

On April 24, 2010, MoEF accorded approval to continue limestone mining in Meghalaya on 31 conditions being fulfilled by Lafarge for its cement plant in Bangladesh. This goes without saying that the damage till date from mining activities on forests and biodiverity are not ascertained. Earlier when in late March 2010 the SC stayed mining operations, MoEF moved affidavit (in response to SC order for re-consideration of forest clearance to the project) subsequent to that eliciting its conditions on which mining shall continue in the Khasi Hills on 116 hectare area. SC has refused to lift the stay on April 27, 2010. That gives a relief to the Shella Committee whose petition against Lafarge brought the issue on surface.

But what is going into the MoEF's conditions may require more analysis - both for its social and economic impact on the communities residing the area of mining operations.

The ministry of forest and environment (MoEF) on Friday (April 23, 2010) gave the green signal to limestone mining in Meghalaya by French multinational Lafarge for its cement plant in Bangladesh but put a series of 31 conditions, to fulfil which the company would have to shell out more than Rs 100 crore. None of these conditions are very stringent. Have a look at some of them.

1. Pay money for afforestation in double the area at five times the normal afforestation cost (Rs. 70 Crores impact).)

2. Pay Rs. 90 per tonne of mined limestone for all the production till date (4 million tonnes) (Rs. 36 Crores impact).

The mining spread over 100 hectares takes limestone across the border on a conveyor belt.

So two questions arise in mind:

1. Why limestone from India for cement in Bangladesh?

2. Is the Rs. 100 Crores compensation enough?

Answers? Limestone is traded with Bangladesh. Bangladesh has no mines for limestone to sustain its cement plants.

Compensation being enough? Annual capacity of the plant is around 1.5 Million tonnes of cement which translates to 30 million cement bags of 50-kg each. Each bag sells at around Tk 300 in Bangladesh which is INR 180. This means a revenue of Rs. 540 Crores to Lafarge every year. Remember Lafarge is asked by MoEF to cough up Rs. 100 Crores (a one time payment) against a annual profit stream to the company at Rs. 65 to 81 Crores (assuming 12% t0 15 % profit margin after taxes, while profit before taxes could have been a better measure as taxes, interest payment are statutory/ mandatory for a business ).

Also keeping in mind that only NPV value of forests with a multiple charged to it is the compensation sought and the ecological value of it not being monetised, the compensation may be much lower than what asked for. Keeping that value aside, even Rs. 100 Crores as one time payment will not be sufficient when one accounts for "cuts" that would go to the administration, local authorities etc. and the cost of cleaning up the muck disposal at mining site.

Are we valuing our environment in the most optimal and scientific way so as to minimize the detrimental effect of industrial operations? This question is haunting us from long but the academia is hardly answering the question and the environmental regulators are not pumping enough money to get the research on.

The Developmental Neglect

April 14, 2010 - A cyclone hits Assam, Bihar and W. Bengal taking away 120+ lives and damaging lacs of homes.

April 15, 2010 – last day of any public reporting on the disaster counting the deads, displaced and announcement of ex-gratia by Bihar’s CM. While no point talking about adequacy of the grant offered and whether it will reach the intended persons or not, I intend to raise the basic question as to how come the event just remained as a filler in the newspapers, TV channels and elsewhere while all the mud-slinging between Tharoor and Modi hogged the public attention.

Government after government this phenomenal shamelessness perpetrates at the rate of amoebic growth going unnoticed.

This is enough to ask ourselves what do we demand, enjoy and help grow in supply in the media and governance space? May be for many of us we cannot do much about the cyclone hit masses so how does it bother or make difference if we do not get any news on it, I however want to attract attention of some of you to come and enrich the discussion which i want to carry on with my series called “developmental neglect”.

Here we will see as to how local issues of development, social security and basic rights to life are handled by the government, civil society and society itself. Also we will try to put in some analytical quips as to how the “neglect” creeps into the system that claims itself to be a democratic, socialistic establishment where voters are mere onlookers. I better sit on the tv and watch cheap soap opera then rather than watching a elitist news channel reporting sensational news items.

I invite you to come in and contribute to the not so popular but important topic that will affect us if we leave it unaddressed.

I would like to keep the focus on how certain socio-economic issues remain unaddressed under the garb of enormity and diversity that uniquely places India in a contradicting situation – wherein the Gini coefficient seems to just widen.

Gini’s coefficient simply exhibits the kind of developmental divide that a society, a country or an economy faces.

While the Indian Government is under pressure to push through the Food Security Bill it faces stiff reaction from opposition and civil society over the contents of the bill and its diluted version. The task may be uphill but the kind of efforts and discussion it is ensuing can very well be termed as “negligible”.

Tendulkar Committee ascertains poverty at ~37%. Uncomfortable number that unsettles UPA’s nerves. Planning Commission remains a numb prisoner to the situation. One one hand the government is reluctantly accepting the poverty figure proposed, it is sure that it does not want to accept this as national statistics. Remember HDI is the most important parameter that requires manipulation.

Malnourishment, under-nourishment and starvation haunts Jharkhand, Assam and MP including certain pockets in Maharashtra, Gujarat and UP. More than 60% children do not get a day’s proper meal in Jharkhand. Notable however is the enormous economic benefits governments draw from exploiting mineral resources of the state. Assam ranks fourth in terms of infant mortality. This despite the importance state has strategically and economically (hydro resources).

The other day, my some of my friends and peers said that all this is not neglect it is government’s inability to deal with the large, scattered and diverse population and the issues it faces. I want to pose a simple conjecture … how come food security bill proposes that provisions do not apply in states and regions facing terrorism, natural disasters etc.?

How many of us have seen the discussions on these issues happening in the Parliament or media space or in our lives off late? It is time to re-visit the precarious situation looking right into our faces. May be we are not hungry but lots of hungry people and their economic burden will simply pull down the economy that fills our stomach.

So what is the solution to it? The developmental neglect can be rooted out on a path of reformation in the way public and political systems are organized. Accepted that the path suggested here is very troublesome, at times terrifying and moreover a weary long path it is. So there are tactical ways too to see some light in a foreseeable future.

I will enumerate those. I do accept the difficulty and complexity these steps-to-be-taken have but enumeration is required as some of these may be very bold.

- Build mandatory disclosure system for public officials in terms of the monthly expenditures, milestones etc. with respect to all schemes. Make it mandatory that such disclosures are analysed and presented to concerned ministry by a qualified agency that has capacity in social and economic sciences

- Simplify procedures that bring products, services, loans, grants etc. to general masses. Procedure simplification means a huge step towards transparency and has to be top-down driven

- Local MLA/MLC/ward member need to be given targets for their development agenda each year, reviewed half-yearly and allow for removal of any official or representative if targets are not matched in view of the fact that these were due to lack of efforts from the concerned person. Yes, I am touching a catch-22 situation. But do not all of us face these situations and get out of it because we want to get out of it?

So the most important enumeration is build a strong civil society – and not just activists but informed people guiding the masses maturely and not the RED way! (this can only be done by eliminating poverty and hunger – SO REVIVE THE CIVIL SUPPLIES MINISTRY FIRST. LET IT BE A GOAL DRIVEN BODY ELIGIBLE FOR BEING KICKED IF NOT ACHIEVEING THE DESIRED GOAL)

Thanks

Anshuman