Professor Sumit Ganguly on the Vedanta decision by Ramesh
Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, Bauxite, ENVIRONMENT, EXPOSING ANTI-ODISHA-GROWTH SCHEMES, Kalahandi, Vedanta August 29th. 2010, 10:51amFollowing is from http://the-diplomat.com/indian-decade/2010/08/29/orissa’s-pyrrhic-victory/.
… Some commentators in the Indian press with a strong anti-corporate orientation, meanwhile, are also gleeful that the project has come to a halt.
Ostensibly, this delight stems from having stopped a greedy multinational corporation from ruthlessly exploiting the natural resources of a remote part of the country and the traditional homelands of some of India’s adivasi (original), tribal population.
Yet despite the delight of these disparate groups with the decision, a more sober and dispassionate analysis suggests that the ultimate losers may well be the hapless tribal population who are the inhabitants of this region.
Generations of governments, despite loud promises, have done woefully little to improve their lot. The region lacks adequate roads, has few public clinics, limited educational facilities and an appalling lack of employment opportunities. Consequently, the locals remain mired in harsh and abject poverty.
The mining investment might not have been a panacea for their many woes. However, it did offer the promise of new schools, better roads, the opening of hospitals and above all the prospects of better-paid work. With the seemingly sagacious decision, none of those possibilities will materialize despite the rather facile promise from a popular Congress member of parliament, Rahul Gandhi, that he would act as the ‘sipahi’ (guard) of their interests in New Delhi.
What is being portrayed as a great victory of environmentalism is sadly little more than a crass effort to win the votes of the tribal population in a desperately underdeveloped state. The Indian state that has long failed to protect and improve the plight of the country’s tribal population needs to do far better than what transpired this week. More to the point, romantic environmentalists and their cheerleaders in the press should think about how they are becoming unwittingly complicit in the Congress’ Party’s feckless quest for votes.
His short bio from the same page:
Ganguly is the Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations and a Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. Ganguly is the author, co-author, editor or co-editor of twenty books on South Asia and serves on the editorial boards of Asian Affairs, Asian Survey and Current History among others.
August 30th, 2010 at 8:31 am
Maybe its all politics….maybe the way it was handled was high handed….maybe Vedanta would have ushered health and wealth for the locals…maybe…..maybe someday Vedanta may cut open Niyamgiri but many many people like me including the tribes are happy that the green virgin Niyamgiri hills,the Kondhs and the flora and fauna of the region will live peacefully for some more years. Well done…whoever has done this.
August 30th, 2010 at 10:25 am
But We all should admit that protection of environment and economic development has to go hand in hand in today’s time. Moreever Vedanta case is much more to do with politics rather than environment. I’m not saying whatever has happened is good or bad. But, things should have been handled in a much better way. Things always get bitter when politics is involved and here it’s votebank politics which is too harmful for the development.
August 31st, 2010 at 3:28 am
Dear Ranjit babu,
Will you be unhappy if your Vedanta starts mining from another mountion nearby which does not have flora and fauna? Quite honestly,I’m already seeing e-mails where people are questioning an alternate mining lease. This is the kind of activism which is considered anti-development.
Regards
Umashankar
August 31st, 2010 at 6:34 am
Sadly in India Protection of Environment and Economic development cannot go hand in hand until the entire system and process is changed. Things cannot be handled better because –
the moment a private entrepreneur shows some interest he has to give away lacs / crs to corrupt politicians and govt. officials before and after a MoU is signed. Once that money is digested by the corrupt people they have no choice but but to please the entrepreneurs by “hook or crook” even if it means forging and cooking up favorable circumstances. Thus starts the bitter experience for all of us. The entrepereneur also looses any regard for locals because he has got approvals through unfair means. Only environmentally literate and people senstive politicians and officials can bring development in the true sense.
August 31st, 2010 at 10:47 am
For Umashankar Babu – First of all Vedanta is not mine 🙂 You should not be questioning me but Vedanta…they should have thought of a place which will have the least impact. Why did they not think about an alternative mine when there was already so much of opposition ? Obviously they preferred to cut their cost….and at any cost. Now that Vedanta(and some corrrupt officials & politicians) have been caught doing illegal activities, it will become very diffcult for them to convince people that they are an ethical organization.
From my next mail on corrupt people leading to such fiascos you would have known that everyone including me wants development… but development which believes in the theory of ‘Live And Let Live’.
August 31st, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Dear ranjit babu,
Thanks for correcting me..I was writing swiftly. That word was unwarranted on my part. Still, I guess the question holds valid that, Undiluted and Uninformed opposition from certain groups is a fairly sad state of affairs. Enlightened people should be able to make a decision and change it on the basis of facts. Ideology should be a means to an end of wholesome development. The promotion of Ideology should not be the end in itself. I read in a newsgroup that a certain person was already opposing allocation of a new mine for Vedanta. This seems presumptuous and ideology driven to me.