Possible Green Fraud

April 03/2012: Posco again. Most readers in Orissa are kind of tired of hearing this name. The giant South Korean steel maker, supposedly expected to invest 12 billion dollars in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI) in its plant in Orissa, has stumbled upon another roadblock. The National Green Tribunal has temporarily set the environmental clearance accorded to it by the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoEF) aside. The MoEF go ahead was accorded on 31 January 2011.

The Posco plant is to be set up at Jagatsingpur district of this state. It has plans to not only produce steel but also own mines, create its private port adjacent to the existing Paradip port and to top it all, the refreshed MoU also retains intact the highly objectionable swapping clause. No one, even today, is clear as to what this swap part implies as far as the export of the strategic raw material—iron ore—is considered. This is one side of the story. The other side is even more bizarre. Most media, especially in this state, have deliberately ignored the consistent opposition to the project by local residents. Government agencies have tried to suppress legitimate people’s demands and the banner of ‘development’ has successfully drowned the voices of reason.

Every Oriya knows that the district of Jagatsingpur has excellent irrigation system in place and that it is known as an agricultural hub of the coastal zone of the state. People there have, for generations, benefitted financially and socially by their agricultural activities. Since the area did not have any industrial unit worth its salt, there are very little other kinds of expertise available with the locals. This means that disturbing the present socio-economic scenario will create a chaos that will render many thousands out of employment and thus create another large group of poor and indigent. The answer may lie in skill enhancement or skill diversion. Those up gradation maneuvers sometimes take generations for people to really come up to the level of excellence.

If development means increasing the ‘happiness index’ of the people who are going to be affected by a certain project, then Posco is definitely not endearing itself to the local populace in any manner whatsoever. In this background comes the Green Tribunal’s decision to temporarily halt the clearances accorded by the MoEF. There would certainly be jubiliation and many amongst us who understand the terrible damage that Posco would be doing to the lives of hundreds of families could feel vindicated. It may very easily be argued that land does not belong to anyone in particular. Men come and go. So do governments. Imagine this scenario. India has a democratic government since 1947. This system claims there are huge patches of government owned land. Prior to 1947, all the land obviously belonged to the British rulers.

Before the Brits came, the Moguls and other Moslems rulers held sway over the sub continent. Prior to that were the small landlords, kings and chieftains who owned much of the land. This may sound logical to some that ‘government land’, especially in a democracy, is people’s land. While saying this, it is clear that land grabbers are not ‘the people’. No mercy need be shown to them. Yet, if large tracts of so called government land have been used for agricultural purposes by legitimate farmers for generations, the rights of the government may also be challengeable. Food is primary for existence. Not corporate with intentions of creating ‘land banks’. Eerily this ruling by the Tribunal does not seem correct and is fraught with inherent dangers.

There has been many an instance prior to this wherein Indian authorities at various levels have declared such pro people pronouncements. The Union and State governments, different High Courts and the Supreme Court, Tribunals and even individuals holding great positions of power have all come out, at one point of time or the other, and taken actions that seemed very lenient towards the dispossessed and the helpless. However, on a closer look and after a fairly long and acceptable gap of time, these promising pronouncements have invariably been turned down. When such a U-turn does take place, all the agitators, the leaders, the led and the administrative machinery go haywire. Confusion reigns supreme. That presents the opportune moment that the motivated beneficiary awaits.

In today’s Corporate crazy India where the system has already been set loose on unsuspecting citizens, this Tribunal’s ruling smacks of a greater hidden agenda. Disarming the people by its initial positive stand, this could possibly disrobe them later. By simply accepting that all the parameters taken into consideration by the MoEF to come to its primary conclusion were correct, the Tribunal would be over turning its own decision. Thus a great damage could be inflicted on the people’s dreams and rights. No one should be surprised if such an about turn did occur. It could possibly be one of the biggest frauds pulled on a large and innocent group of people that this country would have ever seen.