PC Gupta
A lot is being written about the controversy surrounding a joint venture bauxite mining project of Sterlite (a Vedanta group company) and the Orissa government. Replace Vedanta with any other mining company, take away bauxite and swap it with coal or iron ore or limestone, the story is the same.
It is not about Vedanta versus tribals, it is basically against mining projects in tribal areas. People have poor perception of the mining industry and rightly so when you look at the damage done to the environment by small scale miners in areas like Bellary-Hospet in Karnataka or Barbil-Barajamda belt in Orissa/Jharkhand. These small scale unorganised miners have brought a bad name for the mining industry. However, there is a bright side to the mining industry too. Unfortunately, immense benefits that have accrued to local people from mining projects like Bailadila of NMDC in Bastar or Damanjodi bauxite project of Nalco in Koraput district of Orissa have been overlooked.
The fact is that the mining industry of the past as perceived and the mining industry of today are poles apart. The new age large mining companies both PSUs and MNCs involve the local population and look after their social welfare. These mining companies utilise the latest technology that is environment friendly and does the least damage to environment. In most cases, these companies leave a better and more productive land after mining is done. These companies spend a sizeable part of investment and later the profit on corporate social responsibility. This is true of NMDC mines in Chhattisgarh, Nalco mines in Damanjodi, Orissa and Tata Steel mines in Jharkhand and Orissa. In Damanjodi, after bauxite was mined, the whole mine was replaced by beautiful forest. NMDC’s Bailadila projects pay special attention to health, education, water supply and employment of local adivasis. The young generation of Adivasis were trained by the company in skills required for operating mines and the machines. Many of them have moved to other projects at higher positions. Large corporates, be it PSU or MNC or listed Indian group, are in compliance of all regulation and are also in constant public scrutiny and are fully conscious of their responsibilities.
An issue that gets generally raked up is mining and the tribal’s rights. The tribal areas, which stretch across eastern India from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh to Orissa, involve rampant cases of land grabbing, illegal mining by mining mafias and involvement of local corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, who marginalise and alienate tribals in their homelands, thus bringing bad name to the mining industry as a whole. However it is always the high profile companies, Indian as well as MNCs, that get caught in the cross fire and bear the brunt of resentment. Companies such as NMDC, Tata Steel, Nalco, Balco and Hindalco, have conducted themselves in most transparent and people friendly manner and have responsible policies towards social responsibilities and adherence to strict mining procedures balancing the ecosystem they operate in.
The government should refrain from giving mining licenses to small fly-by-night operators and instead encourage large mining companies to participate in the development of the resources and the area. The government should create CSR models similar to that of NMDC, Tata Steel or Nalco for local development and set up a mechanism to monitor the same.
It is easy to criticise any mining project based on inputs from few individuals’ even locals instigated by vested interests. Are they aware that every year hundreds of tribals of Kalahandi die of malnutrition? What have they done all these years to improve the living condition of these people? How do they plan to stop these deaths?
The only solution is to develop industries in these areas but with human face. The mining companies have to win over the people themselves by their positive actions.
Mining and the tribals have to co-exist for economic development of the country and its people. Let us not keep the people of Kalahandi or Bastar in rags all their life. Let them improve their lot by the industrial development of the area.
Economic Times
Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/policy/All-miners-do-not-harm-tribal-people/articleshow/5842150.cms
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Gleaming Prospects - Hindustan Zinc
Hindustan Zinc
Rising metal prices and a strong management with deep pockets catapulted Hindustan Zinc (HZL) into a standout performer in the year gone by. And 2010 may well extend the company’s winning streak. So how did the Vedanta group company manage to get an edge over the others? Well, some prudent financial management, steady demand for zinc and low employee turnover chipped in to help the company sail through a difficult year. This year, metal companies can expect to breathe a little easier as the global economy slowly but surely gets back on its feet, which should bolster
Let’s start with a lowdown on the commodity itself. Currently almost half of the zinc used in the world is for galvanising steel or iron, coating the metal to protect it from corrosion. Zinc is also used to make brass, an alloy with copper. Other industrial uses like rubber making and healthcare use a substantial portion of zinc output. Zinc producers typically also produce lead and silver as by-products.
China is the world’s largest consumer of zinc, devouring more than a third of global output. India accounts for 4 per cent of annual global supply. Domestically, experts say the prospects for zinc consumption are humongous. Global consumption of zinc stands at an average 1.8 kg per annum; India, meanwhile, consumes just 0.4 kg. Hindustan Zinc is the monopoly producer of zinc in the country. Part of the UK-listed Vedanta group, it is also the second largest zinc manufacturer in the world. About 70 per cent of revenues come from zinc, while another 10 per cent comes from lead and about 3 per cent from selling silver.
Right now, zinc makers are having a good time. Steel companies, the biggest consumers of zinc, are reporting a revival in fortunes, which should be music to the ears of Hindustan Zinc shareholders. In addition to gleaming prospects at home, the company is also looking at overseas markets to bulk up revenues.
The past two years have been particularly bad for metal companies as prices tumbled across the board, heaping misery on some of the more leveraged players.
It was so bad that the initial part of 2009 saw investors shun stocks like Tata Steel and Hindalco, both of which had mountains of debt on their balance sheets due to the funding of overseas acquisitions. In sharp contrast, Hindustan Zinc turned into a safe bet as it navigated its way out of an uncertain environment quite effectively and with minimal financial damage.
On a roll
Zinc prices have almost doubled from the lows of December 2008
How did the company manage such a tumultuous year? “Despite a slow economy, our volumes continued to grow,” responds Akhilesh Joshi, chief operating officer of Hindustan Zinc. Steady demand helped. “Zinc demand in India has remained fairly robust. We are selling about 10 per cent more in 2009 than what we sold in calendar year 2008.” Because the company also places a high emphasis on developing and nurturing talent internally, it also experienced a very low attrition rate. Confidence-building measures, like additional recruitment during downturns and no job cuts, have also helped, adds Joshi.
Indeed, even as companies were laying off employees across sectors, Hindustan Zinc was rated the second best employer in India by Hewitt Associates in 2009. It also ranked among the top 25 best employers in Asia. While the defining moment for the company’s fortunes dates back to 2002, when it was acquired by the Sterlite group in a government disinvestment drive, Hindustan Zinc has maintained an impressive tempo of activity in the years since.
From having no captive power plants, it today boasts 314 mw of thermal power and 123 mw of wind power capacity. It’s a significant development, since power accounts for a big chunk of production costs for metal
companies.
An improved internal focus also helped. The company, through its continuous exploration focus with technological help, has improved the available resources by 110 billion tonne of ore between 2003 and 2008.
Enviable vital stats
The operating metrics of the company are enviable. From a turnover of Rs 1,470 crore in FY02, the company was clocking in revenues of Rs 8,560 crore by FY07. While the company will rake in lower revenues this fiscal year (top line growth is firmly meshed with LME zinc prices), the profitability and cash generation ability of Hindustan Zinc continue to be impressive.
Giriraj Daga of Khandwala Securities estimates the cash levels of the company were close to Rs 10,000 crore or Rs 241 per share by September 2009. Another analyst, Ashutosh Tiwari of K R Choksey (KRC), describes Hindustan Zinc as a “cash machine”.
What is the company doing with this treasure chest of cash? Well, some part is going into funding expansions. KRC’s Tiwari estimates that up to Rs 3,600 crore could be used. Current expansion plans include adding to the zinc and lead smelters, mine expansion and captive power addition.
“With the completion of a 210 kilo tonne per annum (ktpa) zinc smelter and a 100 ktpa lead smelter, HZL will become the world’s largest integrated zinc-lead producer with a production capacity of 1064 ktpa,” says Joshi. Looking ahead, the focus for Hindustan Zinc could be outside the country as much as within. “Globally, the demand recovery signs are becoming evident,” says Joshi, a veteran who has worked for more than three decades at Hindustan Zinc. “Demand growth is mainly expected to come from the developing nations including Asia, which is our main export focus.” In the domestic market, Joshi expects demand from infrastructure and telecom.
Bright start to the year
How does the outlook for 2010 look? Joshi’s confidence comes to the fore when he says that “prices are expected to remain fairly strong as the world economy sees further recovery. Our production costs are very competitive globally, and we remain focused on continuously lowering costs and expanding volumes to improve our margins and the bottom line.”
From here on, he says, “cost and volume will be the key differentiators. We are one of the world’s lowest cost producers and are continuously trying to reduce costs further. We will become the world’s largest integrated zinc-lead producer by 2010, augmenting the economies of scale.”
Analysts reckon that’s a fair assessment of the company. KRC’s Tiwari, for instance, says he has no doubts about the company’s cost effectiveness, but says he is wary about zinc prices this year, given that the dollar is expected to recover somewhat and global liquidity may be pulled back. He forecasts that zinc prices could fall to $2,100 per tonne in 2010 from the current $2,600 per tonne.
Domestically, he estimates demand for zinc could be nearly 1.5 times GDP growth. Other local bodies have also upped their forecasts for zinc demand, which is good news for Hindustan Zinc.
The stock was a 2009 investor favourite, as it thundered past life-time highs, even though the BSE metal index came nowhere close to its life-time peak. With strong economic growth expectations, good times for the stock look likely to continue, though perhaps not at the dizzying pace one saw last year.
While K R Choksey has a ‘reduce’ rating on the stock with a target of Rs 1,055, India Infoline has a price target of Rs 1,319, an upside of 6 per cent from current levels of Rs 1241.
Source : http://www.outlookprofit.com/article.aspx?263830
From the House of Women Entrepreneurs
Hindustan Zinc, bringing difference in the lives of thousands of rural women in Rajasthan...
Women in rural Rajasthan are for a change. Their social and economic conditions are changing and they are emerging as self reliant, self independent, micro entrepreneur, and decision makers in their house. The women of rural Rajasthan are experiencing women empowerment. Their house hold income is increasing multi-fold and there is a significant change in their quality of life.The credit goes to forming of Self Help Groups that has participation of about 10-12 rural women, primarily of the same village and surrounding.
Rajasthan is emerging as one of the leading State in India in development of Self Help Groups (SHGs). Hindustan Zinc alone facilitates 215 Self Help Groups in the district of Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara and Rajsamand. More than 3,500 women are associated with these 215 Self Help Groups in the State. The important part is that all the Self Help Groups are linked with the banks and operate their bank accounts. The cumulative savings of these groups is about Rs. 45 Lacs and about 80% of these Self Help Groups have received a loan of about Rs. 50 lacs from the banks.
Radha Somani of Agucha village, took a loan of Rs. 10,000 and starated a Manihari Shop. Today she earns about Rs. 4,000/- per month. She says, "I am paying pack my installment and also my sons college fees. In soon my son would complete MBA and our days of hardship would change". Another women Shanti Mali is about 56 years of age, widow with one son. She was working as daily wager and fell ill. She took a loan of Rs. 15,000/- and started cultivating vegetables in 2 bighas of land. Today her daily earnings are over Rs. 500/-. She has become a small entrepreneur now.
With emphasis on self independence and improving their quality of life, about 60% members have opted and established their own micro-enterprise , viz. vegetable cultivation, mini dairy, tailoring shop, grocery shops, spice grinding units, imitation jewellery shop to name a few. This has brought a significant change in their economic conditions. On an average there has been an increase in their monthly income to the tune of Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 5,000.
Hindustan Zinc has not only been facilitating these Self Help Groups but also linking them with banks, and guiding them for opening micro enterprises. The role of Hindustan Zinc is important in terms of making these women participate in the Panchayat affairs, decision making in issues within their houses, at village level, and also uplifting their quality of life. The Company has been educating them on savings, inter-loaning and capacity building, including, providing need based training to the members.
The exercise begins in convincing individual women for forming a group i.e SHG, their training, imparting knowledge in book keeping and continuously motivating them till they start achieving results. “There is also resistance from men in the family said ,” Bhanwar Singh Chundawal, sarpanch, Nagari village in Chittorgarh. “They fear their wives and daughters-in-law are going to become too independent for their liking.” In spite of all that, self-help groups are spurring hope and aspirations for women like Chunki Devi, 47. A widow and mother of four, she has struggled for 11 years to earn a living. Recently she joined a self , help group in Agucha and is taking a Rs 25,000-loan to buy seeds and fertilizers for her fields. “I hope my days of poverty would soon come to an end,” said Devi, a lohar (blacksmith) by caste.
Some self-help groups, such as the one in Ganeshpura village of Chittorgarh, work towards generating collective income for their members.
“Our group works together to make bags, bed sheets and rakhis,” said Chanchal Parikh, 37, its president. “We have tied up with a person for bulk orders.” The groups also give loans to its members. Their functioning is largely democratic - with regular elections to the posts of president, secretary and treasurer.
The biggest concern is that most of these women are not literate; so, they have to depend on others to operate their bank accounts and handle finances. Although the groups meet every month to discuss socially relevant issues such as childcare, family planning and sanitation, many members fail to benefit because they are not educated.
In a country where women empowerment in rural area plays an important role in the economic development of the nation, the participation of Corporates in forming of SHGs is important.
Women in rural Rajasthan are for a change. Their social and economic conditions are changing and they are emerging as self reliant, self independent, micro entrepreneur, and decision makers in their house. The women of rural Rajasthan are experiencing women empowerment. Their house hold income is increasing multi-fold and there is a significant change in their quality of life.The credit goes to forming of Self Help Groups that has participation of about 10-12 rural women, primarily of the same village and surrounding.
Rajasthan is emerging as one of the leading State in India in development of Self Help Groups (SHGs). Hindustan Zinc alone facilitates 215 Self Help Groups in the district of Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara and Rajsamand. More than 3,500 women are associated with these 215 Self Help Groups in the State. The important part is that all the Self Help Groups are linked with the banks and operate their bank accounts. The cumulative savings of these groups is about Rs. 45 Lacs and about 80% of these Self Help Groups have received a loan of about Rs. 50 lacs from the banks.
Radha Somani of Agucha village, took a loan of Rs. 10,000 and starated a Manihari Shop. Today she earns about Rs. 4,000/- per month. She says, "I am paying pack my installment and also my sons college fees. In soon my son would complete MBA and our days of hardship would change". Another women Shanti Mali is about 56 years of age, widow with one son. She was working as daily wager and fell ill. She took a loan of Rs. 15,000/- and started cultivating vegetables in 2 bighas of land. Today her daily earnings are over Rs. 500/-. She has become a small entrepreneur now.
With emphasis on self independence and improving their quality of life, about 60% members have opted and established their own micro-enterprise , viz. vegetable cultivation, mini dairy, tailoring shop, grocery shops, spice grinding units, imitation jewellery shop to name a few. This has brought a significant change in their economic conditions. On an average there has been an increase in their monthly income to the tune of Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 5,000.
Hindustan Zinc has not only been facilitating these Self Help Groups but also linking them with banks, and guiding them for opening micro enterprises. The role of Hindustan Zinc is important in terms of making these women participate in the Panchayat affairs, decision making in issues within their houses, at village level, and also uplifting their quality of life. The Company has been educating them on savings, inter-loaning and capacity building, including, providing need based training to the members.
The exercise begins in convincing individual women for forming a group i.e SHG, their training, imparting knowledge in book keeping and continuously motivating them till they start achieving results. “There is also resistance from men in the family said ,” Bhanwar Singh Chundawal, sarpanch, Nagari village in Chittorgarh. “They fear their wives and daughters-in-law are going to become too independent for their liking.” In spite of all that, self-help groups are spurring hope and aspirations for women like Chunki Devi, 47. A widow and mother of four, she has struggled for 11 years to earn a living. Recently she joined a self , help group in Agucha and is taking a Rs 25,000-loan to buy seeds and fertilizers for her fields. “I hope my days of poverty would soon come to an end,” said Devi, a lohar (blacksmith) by caste.
Some self-help groups, such as the one in Ganeshpura village of Chittorgarh, work towards generating collective income for their members.
“Our group works together to make bags, bed sheets and rakhis,” said Chanchal Parikh, 37, its president. “We have tied up with a person for bulk orders.” The groups also give loans to its members. Their functioning is largely democratic - with regular elections to the posts of president, secretary and treasurer.
The biggest concern is that most of these women are not literate; so, they have to depend on others to operate their bank accounts and handle finances. Although the groups meet every month to discuss socially relevant issues such as childcare, family planning and sanitation, many members fail to benefit because they are not educated.
In a country where women empowerment in rural area plays an important role in the economic development of the nation, the participation of Corporates in forming of SHGs is important.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
'Sterlite model' may be applied in Lafarge's Meghalaya project
Formula devised by SC mooted for limestone mining by the French firm.
A formula devised by the Supreme Court in the Vedanta-Sterlite judgment to ensure the welfare of tribals in Orissa may be applied in the controversial Lafarge mining project in Meghalaya too.
The idea was mooted today by the senior counsel appointed by the court in the forest cases, Harish Salve. Attorney General G E Vahanvati found the suggestion “reasonable” when the court heard the arguments for and against the mining operations of the French company.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan had restrained Lafarge from extracting limestone in Meghalaya to manufacture cement at the Lafarge Surma Cement project at Chhatak in Sunamganj, Bangladesh. A tribal organisation has challenged the sanction granted to the company for transfer of tribal land to the Lafarge group for exploitation of forest land. The organisation had approached the Gauhati High Court under the Meghalaya Transfer of Land (Regulation) Act 1971.
While the company wanted relaxation of the February order, the tribal organisation opposed any such move and wanted the case to be transferred to the Supreme Court.
The Attorney General submitted that, if the restriction stayed, “the whole image of the country would suffer” as the mining was allowed long ago in an agreement between former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her then Bangladeshi counterpart, President Mujibur Rehman. The company was the largest listed corporation in Bangladesh, he added. A huge amount of foreign direct investment was involved, apart from the role of the Word Bank and other international financial institutions.
Several irregularities
The judges remarked that there were several irregularities in the deals and the payment did not seem to be in accordance with the market value of the raw materials. The photographs of the excavation conducted also showed an unhappy situation.
When arguments from both sides grew intense, Salve, who is appointed by the court to assist it in a large number of forest matters (‘amicus curea’), suggested the 'Sterlite model'. He said the company must “disgorge its profits” for the welfare of the tribal community. They should not be allowed to make money, irrespective of the environmental impact, he added. He asked for time to provide a scheme for the same.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear it on Monday.
The Attorney General was also agreeable to the “reasonable suggestion” and promised to look into it if it was produced at the next hearing. He said the Ministry for Commerce and Industry and other arms of the government would consider such a suggestion. The counsel for the tribals submitted that the whole forest area was declared “rocky land” so that it could be exploited for the company’s cement plant in Bangladesh. Full arguments will take place on Monday
The ‘Sterlite model’
The ‘Sterlite model' is based on a Supreme Court judgment of August 8, 2008. The court cleared mining of bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills located in the Kalahandi district following an undertaking by Sterlite, Orissa Mining Corporation and the state government accepting the rehabilitation package suggested by the court. In order to manage the welfare activities, an SPV– ‘Lanjigarh Scheduled Area Foundation’ – had been formed. Sterlite has been depositing amounts from its profits for the all-round development of the mining belt. However, even the Sterlite model has not escaped criticism.
Business Standard, 27th March 2010
Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sterlite-model-may-be-applied-in-lafarges-meghalaya-project/21/05/389887/
A formula devised by the Supreme Court in the Vedanta-Sterlite judgment to ensure the welfare of tribals in Orissa may be applied in the controversial Lafarge mining project in Meghalaya too.
The idea was mooted today by the senior counsel appointed by the court in the forest cases, Harish Salve. Attorney General G E Vahanvati found the suggestion “reasonable” when the court heard the arguments for and against the mining operations of the French company.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan had restrained Lafarge from extracting limestone in Meghalaya to manufacture cement at the Lafarge Surma Cement project at Chhatak in Sunamganj, Bangladesh. A tribal organisation has challenged the sanction granted to the company for transfer of tribal land to the Lafarge group for exploitation of forest land. The organisation had approached the Gauhati High Court under the Meghalaya Transfer of Land (Regulation) Act 1971.
While the company wanted relaxation of the February order, the tribal organisation opposed any such move and wanted the case to be transferred to the Supreme Court.
The Attorney General submitted that, if the restriction stayed, “the whole image of the country would suffer” as the mining was allowed long ago in an agreement between former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her then Bangladeshi counterpart, President Mujibur Rehman. The company was the largest listed corporation in Bangladesh, he added. A huge amount of foreign direct investment was involved, apart from the role of the Word Bank and other international financial institutions.
Several irregularities
The judges remarked that there were several irregularities in the deals and the payment did not seem to be in accordance with the market value of the raw materials. The photographs of the excavation conducted also showed an unhappy situation.
When arguments from both sides grew intense, Salve, who is appointed by the court to assist it in a large number of forest matters (‘amicus curea’), suggested the 'Sterlite model'. He said the company must “disgorge its profits” for the welfare of the tribal community. They should not be allowed to make money, irrespective of the environmental impact, he added. He asked for time to provide a scheme for the same.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear it on Monday.
The Attorney General was also agreeable to the “reasonable suggestion” and promised to look into it if it was produced at the next hearing. He said the Ministry for Commerce and Industry and other arms of the government would consider such a suggestion. The counsel for the tribals submitted that the whole forest area was declared “rocky land” so that it could be exploited for the company’s cement plant in Bangladesh. Full arguments will take place on Monday
The ‘Sterlite model’
The ‘Sterlite model' is based on a Supreme Court judgment of August 8, 2008. The court cleared mining of bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills located in the Kalahandi district following an undertaking by Sterlite, Orissa Mining Corporation and the state government accepting the rehabilitation package suggested by the court. In order to manage the welfare activities, an SPV– ‘Lanjigarh Scheduled Area Foundation’ – had been formed. Sterlite has been depositing amounts from its profits for the all-round development of the mining belt. However, even the Sterlite model has not escaped criticism.
Business Standard, 27th March 2010
Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sterlite-model-may-be-applied-in-lafarges-meghalaya-project/21/05/389887/
Friday, March 26, 2010
Blackmail in the name of Human Rights for all
Right & Wrong
A controversy centred on the human rights body Amnesty International is raging in Britain and it could be instructive for India. Earlier this month, Gita Sahgal, the head of the organization’s ‘gender unit’, publicly protested against its close association with Moazzam Beg, a British Islamist and former inmate of Guantanamo Bay.
Beg, who had earlier migrated from Birmingham to Kabul because he was inspired by the Taliban, returned to Britain after his release from US custody in 2005. Exploiting the fierce anti-Bush mood in Europe after the invasion of Iraq, an unrepentant Beg founded Cageprisoners to campaign for the release of the remaining Guantanamo prisoners and other detained jihadis. Among those whose cause Beg has taken up are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, said to be the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Abu Hamza, the hook-handed mullah facing extradition from Britain to the US, and Abu Qatada, once described as Osama bin Laden’s “European ambassador”.
Gita is a professional activist, having been involved with numerous ‘causes’ over the years. She felt that for Amnesty “to be appearing on platforms with Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban, whom we treat as a human rights defender, is a gross error of judgment.” Her employer didn’t agree, and promptly suspended her. Gita has received considerable media and public support but Amnesty hasn’t dissociated itself from Beg.
To me, this incident involves more than the misjudgment of one reputable human rights body. It is a classic case study of the derailment of the human rights industry — yes, it is an industry — and its takeover by politically-driven activists.
I recall the days when Amnesty was a noble organization campaigning for those who had been jailed for merely holding and expressing contrarian views. It campaigned untiringly for the release of Nelson Mandela, spoke out for the harassed ‘dissidents’ in the Soviet bloc, publicized the ‘prisoners of conscience’ in lesser-known places and even brought hope to those languishing in Indian jails during the Emergency. Its programme of sending Christmas cards to prisoners in South Africa was particularly touching.
Perhaps these campaigns were implicitly political. But an unequivocal stand in favour of democracy and free speech was worth taking, even if it meant being at loggerheads with those who deluded themselves that there could be no injustice in socialist countries.
Those were innocent days but it was clearly understood that ‘bourgeois’ human rights were relevant for those who didn’t have blood on their hands. The generosity of human rights didn’t extend to guerrillas in the umpteen liberation movements and to those in, say Germany’s Baader Meinhof gang, who were smitten by violent delinquency. There were many in the 1960s and 1970s who marched the streets chanting “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh” but it was unusual for these Che Guevara-worshipping romantics to think that the war against loathsome Yankee imperialism was a human rights campaign.
A journey that began with expressing solidarity with Mandela and has stretched to embracing a partnership role with the Taliban has seen many strange diversions. For a start, the highly political ‘peace movements’ which mushroomed globally as extensions of Soviet foreign policy have become the template for a new approach to human rights. Its most significant feature is selective indignation. Just as its early practitioners denied the Gulag, today’s human rights-wallahs gloss over the brutalities of Maoists in India, Hamas in Palestine and LTTE in Sri Lanka or, for the matter, the Taliban. The focus is instead on state repression in counter-insurgency and war. The idea is not to press for common humanity to prevail but to use human rights as a political support system.
Second, the human rights business has evolved from being voluntary concerns to becoming well-funded agencies of governance. This shift has meant their generous expansion to cover nearly all aspects of public life. Groups such as Amnesty no longer focus exclusively on prisoners of conscience and victims of unjust laws. Their activities now involve campaigns against mining in Orissa, land acquisition in Bengal and dams in Gujarat. Human rights are fast turning into levers of blackmail against governments and companies. What are essentially political battles have been given a benign masquerade — one guaranteed to melt the impressionable hearts of those Lenin sneeringly called “useful idiots.”
For fanatics like Beg who don’t give a toss for liberal values, supping with the compassionate is a cynical ploy. Ironically, his motives may be the same as those who helped confer respectability on him. Gita was rightly offended. But she must have known all along that a disaster was waiting to happen.
By, Swapan Dasgupta
28 February 2010, 03:26 AM IST
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/right-and-wrong/entry/blackmail-in-the-name-of
A controversy centred on the human rights body Amnesty International is raging in Britain and it could be instructive for India. Earlier this month, Gita Sahgal, the head of the organization’s ‘gender unit’, publicly protested against its close association with Moazzam Beg, a British Islamist and former inmate of Guantanamo Bay.
Beg, who had earlier migrated from Birmingham to Kabul because he was inspired by the Taliban, returned to Britain after his release from US custody in 2005. Exploiting the fierce anti-Bush mood in Europe after the invasion of Iraq, an unrepentant Beg founded Cageprisoners to campaign for the release of the remaining Guantanamo prisoners and other detained jihadis. Among those whose cause Beg has taken up are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, said to be the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Abu Hamza, the hook-handed mullah facing extradition from Britain to the US, and Abu Qatada, once described as Osama bin Laden’s “European ambassador”.
Gita is a professional activist, having been involved with numerous ‘causes’ over the years. She felt that for Amnesty “to be appearing on platforms with Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban, whom we treat as a human rights defender, is a gross error of judgment.” Her employer didn’t agree, and promptly suspended her. Gita has received considerable media and public support but Amnesty hasn’t dissociated itself from Beg.
To me, this incident involves more than the misjudgment of one reputable human rights body. It is a classic case study of the derailment of the human rights industry — yes, it is an industry — and its takeover by politically-driven activists.
I recall the days when Amnesty was a noble organization campaigning for those who had been jailed for merely holding and expressing contrarian views. It campaigned untiringly for the release of Nelson Mandela, spoke out for the harassed ‘dissidents’ in the Soviet bloc, publicized the ‘prisoners of conscience’ in lesser-known places and even brought hope to those languishing in Indian jails during the Emergency. Its programme of sending Christmas cards to prisoners in South Africa was particularly touching.
Perhaps these campaigns were implicitly political. But an unequivocal stand in favour of democracy and free speech was worth taking, even if it meant being at loggerheads with those who deluded themselves that there could be no injustice in socialist countries.
Those were innocent days but it was clearly understood that ‘bourgeois’ human rights were relevant for those who didn’t have blood on their hands. The generosity of human rights didn’t extend to guerrillas in the umpteen liberation movements and to those in, say Germany’s Baader Meinhof gang, who were smitten by violent delinquency. There were many in the 1960s and 1970s who marched the streets chanting “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh” but it was unusual for these Che Guevara-worshipping romantics to think that the war against loathsome Yankee imperialism was a human rights campaign.
A journey that began with expressing solidarity with Mandela and has stretched to embracing a partnership role with the Taliban has seen many strange diversions. For a start, the highly political ‘peace movements’ which mushroomed globally as extensions of Soviet foreign policy have become the template for a new approach to human rights. Its most significant feature is selective indignation. Just as its early practitioners denied the Gulag, today’s human rights-wallahs gloss over the brutalities of Maoists in India, Hamas in Palestine and LTTE in Sri Lanka or, for the matter, the Taliban. The focus is instead on state repression in counter-insurgency and war. The idea is not to press for common humanity to prevail but to use human rights as a political support system.
Second, the human rights business has evolved from being voluntary concerns to becoming well-funded agencies of governance. This shift has meant their generous expansion to cover nearly all aspects of public life. Groups such as Amnesty no longer focus exclusively on prisoners of conscience and victims of unjust laws. Their activities now involve campaigns against mining in Orissa, land acquisition in Bengal and dams in Gujarat. Human rights are fast turning into levers of blackmail against governments and companies. What are essentially political battles have been given a benign masquerade — one guaranteed to melt the impressionable hearts of those Lenin sneeringly called “useful idiots.”
For fanatics like Beg who don’t give a toss for liberal values, supping with the compassionate is a cynical ploy. Ironically, his motives may be the same as those who helped confer respectability on him. Gita was rightly offended. But she must have known all along that a disaster was waiting to happen.
By, Swapan Dasgupta
28 February 2010, 03:26 AM IST
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/right-and-wrong/entry/blackmail-in-the-name-of
Saturday, March 20, 2010
MARCH OF DEVELOPMENT
Populism and Progress
By B G Verghese
Biotechnology offers a promising pathway to higher productivity. Further, we must annually create 12 million jobs.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh’s moratorium on the introduction of Bt brinjal cleared last October by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of his own ministry is disappointing. In responding to ‘popular sentiment’ in a matter of “no overriding urgency or food security” and waiting for “independent scientific studies” to restore “public confidence and trust,” he was more populist than persuasive.
Three of his cabinet colleagues — Sharad Pawar, Kapil Sibal and Prithviraj Chauhan — have disagreed maintaining that sentiment cannot rule science. To hand a veto to sundry dissenters is to disregard reason.
And to hint that private research is somehow less reliable than public or public-private research (presumably on account of the profit motive) is contrary to fact. Public institutions were substantively involved in the Bt brinjal trials and the DG CSIR, heads of agricultural universities and scientific departments within state universities, and the PM’s economic advisory council have expressed their disquiet.
Senior scientists have charged that the public hearings were rigged and that they were shouted down or kept out by protesters. Surely the issue must be debated and settled scientifically. Further, stagnant agricultural production and rising food prices render it urgent to make farming more profitable and productive through better seeds and higher returns per unit of land and water. Bt cotton has greatly enhanced yields with lower doses of fertiliser and pesticides. These are tangible gains that should not be denied or delayed.
Maybe the answer now lies in quick passage of the pending Bill to establish a National Biodiversity Regulatory Authority, with a wider remit than the present GEAC. Once in place, this body should review the Bt brinjal impasse and take a decision on Bt research based on the best science available.
The country has a fixed stock of land on which increasing demands are being made on account of mounting population and development pressures. Present day agriculture can no longer sustain the farm population with shrinking land-man ratios and current first green revolution technologies.
We must move to higher productivity levels for which biotechnology offers a promising pathway. Further, the country must annually create 12 million jobs to absorb the growing labour force, quite apart from coping with those currently under-employed and unemployed, including those increasingly moving off the land.
Whole hierarchies of new employment are required and there is no way large and mega infrastructure and industrial projects can be avoided to exploit economies of scale in a highly competitive, globalised world. It is also necessary to sustain 8-10 per cent growth that could eliminate poverty within the next decade, but with a smaller carbon footprint. Poverty is the worst polluter and human rights offender.
Future benefits
Urban and industrial expansion necessarily entails land acquisition with its concomitant environmental impacts and displacement. One cannot argue that past shortcomings presage future default. That would be a counsel of despair. It ignores the new awareness, stronger legal frameworks, stricter conditionalities, greater public auditing and increasingly better R&D, compensation and alternative livelihood packages, including participation in the future benefits for those affected.
Vedanta’s Niyamgiri-Orissa Mining Corporation joint venture bauxite mine in Kalahandi-Rayagada in Orissa, awaits final clearance while the adjacent Lanjigarh aluminium refinery 3 km away, that it is intended to feed, has commenced partial production based on ore brought from other mines.
The case against the mine is that the Niyamgiri range is said to be sacred to the Dogaria Kandha, a primitive tribe, who will be displaced and suffer environmental hardship and a depleting water table. However, the Niyam Raja inhabits the entire 250 sq km range and is not confined to the 3.5 sq km mining location at an elevation of 1,300 m which is capped by an impermeable laterite crust and is hence bare and uninhabited.
Given removal of the laterite overburden to win the underlying bauxite, the refilled hilltop will become permeable and forested. This will augment the aquifer below and enhance the environment. The facts challenge the prevailing fiction.
There will be no displacement at Niyamgiri while the 120 families displaced at Lanjigarh have already been resettled and are being trained for industrial jobs and other avocations. Additionally, under a supreme court directive, Vedanta is to provide five per cent of its net profit or Rs 10 crore per annum, whichever is more, in perpetuity for wider community development over a 15 sq km area.
This does not seem like vandalising tribal life. Yet, the benefits and multiplier from the larger 5 mtpa aluminium project and related investments are being needlessly delayed by misplaced opposition.
Tata’s six mtpa steel plant at Kalinganagar, long delayed, may move forward this year while its related deep sea Dhamra port will soon be operational in collaboration with Larsen & Tubro. Posco’s 12 mtpa steel plant and related captive port in Jagatsinghpur district is also held up by betel vine, cashew and prawn farm encroachers on the government-owned land allotted to the company. What is being defended by the Posco Pratirodh Sangharsh Samiti is the existing livelihood pattern and way of life.
Can Orissa afford further delay and risk losing the bigger prize and huge opportunity for safeguarded development within its grasp?
Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/54272/march-development.html
Deccan Herald, Page 4, 23rd Feburary 2010.
By B G Verghese
Biotechnology offers a promising pathway to higher productivity. Further, we must annually create 12 million jobs.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh’s moratorium on the introduction of Bt brinjal cleared last October by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of his own ministry is disappointing. In responding to ‘popular sentiment’ in a matter of “no overriding urgency or food security” and waiting for “independent scientific studies” to restore “public confidence and trust,” he was more populist than persuasive.
Three of his cabinet colleagues — Sharad Pawar, Kapil Sibal and Prithviraj Chauhan — have disagreed maintaining that sentiment cannot rule science. To hand a veto to sundry dissenters is to disregard reason.
And to hint that private research is somehow less reliable than public or public-private research (presumably on account of the profit motive) is contrary to fact. Public institutions were substantively involved in the Bt brinjal trials and the DG CSIR, heads of agricultural universities and scientific departments within state universities, and the PM’s economic advisory council have expressed their disquiet.
Senior scientists have charged that the public hearings were rigged and that they were shouted down or kept out by protesters. Surely the issue must be debated and settled scientifically. Further, stagnant agricultural production and rising food prices render it urgent to make farming more profitable and productive through better seeds and higher returns per unit of land and water. Bt cotton has greatly enhanced yields with lower doses of fertiliser and pesticides. These are tangible gains that should not be denied or delayed.
Maybe the answer now lies in quick passage of the pending Bill to establish a National Biodiversity Regulatory Authority, with a wider remit than the present GEAC. Once in place, this body should review the Bt brinjal impasse and take a decision on Bt research based on the best science available.
The country has a fixed stock of land on which increasing demands are being made on account of mounting population and development pressures. Present day agriculture can no longer sustain the farm population with shrinking land-man ratios and current first green revolution technologies.
We must move to higher productivity levels for which biotechnology offers a promising pathway. Further, the country must annually create 12 million jobs to absorb the growing labour force, quite apart from coping with those currently under-employed and unemployed, including those increasingly moving off the land.
Whole hierarchies of new employment are required and there is no way large and mega infrastructure and industrial projects can be avoided to exploit economies of scale in a highly competitive, globalised world. It is also necessary to sustain 8-10 per cent growth that could eliminate poverty within the next decade, but with a smaller carbon footprint. Poverty is the worst polluter and human rights offender.
Future benefits
Urban and industrial expansion necessarily entails land acquisition with its concomitant environmental impacts and displacement. One cannot argue that past shortcomings presage future default. That would be a counsel of despair. It ignores the new awareness, stronger legal frameworks, stricter conditionalities, greater public auditing and increasingly better R&D, compensation and alternative livelihood packages, including participation in the future benefits for those affected.
Vedanta’s Niyamgiri-Orissa Mining Corporation joint venture bauxite mine in Kalahandi-Rayagada in Orissa, awaits final clearance while the adjacent Lanjigarh aluminium refinery 3 km away, that it is intended to feed, has commenced partial production based on ore brought from other mines.
The case against the mine is that the Niyamgiri range is said to be sacred to the Dogaria Kandha, a primitive tribe, who will be displaced and suffer environmental hardship and a depleting water table. However, the Niyam Raja inhabits the entire 250 sq km range and is not confined to the 3.5 sq km mining location at an elevation of 1,300 m which is capped by an impermeable laterite crust and is hence bare and uninhabited.
Given removal of the laterite overburden to win the underlying bauxite, the refilled hilltop will become permeable and forested. This will augment the aquifer below and enhance the environment. The facts challenge the prevailing fiction.
There will be no displacement at Niyamgiri while the 120 families displaced at Lanjigarh have already been resettled and are being trained for industrial jobs and other avocations. Additionally, under a supreme court directive, Vedanta is to provide five per cent of its net profit or Rs 10 crore per annum, whichever is more, in perpetuity for wider community development over a 15 sq km area.
This does not seem like vandalising tribal life. Yet, the benefits and multiplier from the larger 5 mtpa aluminium project and related investments are being needlessly delayed by misplaced opposition.
Tata’s six mtpa steel plant at Kalinganagar, long delayed, may move forward this year while its related deep sea Dhamra port will soon be operational in collaboration with Larsen & Tubro. Posco’s 12 mtpa steel plant and related captive port in Jagatsinghpur district is also held up by betel vine, cashew and prawn farm encroachers on the government-owned land allotted to the company. What is being defended by the Posco Pratirodh Sangharsh Samiti is the existing livelihood pattern and way of life.
Can Orissa afford further delay and risk losing the bigger prize and huge opportunity for safeguarded development within its grasp?
Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/54272/march-development.html
Deccan Herald, Page 4, 23rd Feburary 2010.
Friday, March 19, 2010
NIYAMGIRI MINE BELONGS TO ORISSA MINING CORPORATION
Not many people understand that actually Orissa Mining Corporation, Government of Orissa, owns the Niyamgiri mine in Kalahandi, Orissa. The bauxite mine at Niyamgiri was allotted to Orissa Mining Corporation by the Ministry of Mines, Government of India. Government of Orissa, agreed to provide bauxite to Vedanta's Aluminium Ltd's Alumina Refinery at Lanjigarh, Kalahandi, Orissa.
It was Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India and Government of Orissa only who presented extensive affidavits to Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, when certain vested interests filed PILs against the bauxite mining project. The project was cleared by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India after deliberations of over 2 year period, during which the Hon'ble Court obtained reports from Wildlife Institute of India and Central Mine Planning & Design Institute, covering all aspects, including water, environment, wildlife, tribal issues, ecology etc.
While granting judgement, Hon'ble Court's also came out with a unique model for development of local people, to ensure inclusive growth - 5% of the profit or Rs. 10 crore, whichever is higher, to be utilized for the development of the region. The company has also complied with the same. Based on the direction of the Hon'ble Court, Rs.20 Crores has already been deposited by Sterlite Industries (I) Ltd. and the development work has commenced in the area.
When there will be no displacement due to mining in Niyamgiri and as this has also been conformed by Government of Orissa, the question of rehabilitation issue does not arise. There is also no adverse impact on the Dongria Kondh tribes who live several miles away from the proposed mining site. The allegations about Dongria Kondh tribes being affected, made repeatedly by those with vested interests, is primarily an effort to stop bauxite mining in Orissa. Their agenda is not to allow development of India's natural resources. These forces have been successful so far and thats the reason, no new alumina refinery has been set-up in India after NALCO, which was about 25 years ago. Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. refinery is the only alumina refinery set-up since 1980s.
The Ministry of Environment & Forests had asked Government of Orissa for conformation of compliances with Forest Conservation Act 1980 and Scheduled Tribe and Other Forests Dwellers (Recognition of Right) Act 2006 and the Government of Orissa has conformed compliance in this regard as well. Between August 2008 to August 2009, Stage - I clearance from Ministry of Environment & Forests, GOI, Environment Clearance from MOEF and Stage - II Clearance from State Government of Orissa have also been obtained. Forest Advisory Committee has already approved this proposal. As all statutory compliances have been carried out, what is awaited is the final clearance from Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India.
It was Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India and Government of Orissa only who presented extensive affidavits to Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, when certain vested interests filed PILs against the bauxite mining project. The project was cleared by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India after deliberations of over 2 year period, during which the Hon'ble Court obtained reports from Wildlife Institute of India and Central Mine Planning & Design Institute, covering all aspects, including water, environment, wildlife, tribal issues, ecology etc.
While granting judgement, Hon'ble Court's also came out with a unique model for development of local people, to ensure inclusive growth - 5% of the profit or Rs. 10 crore, whichever is higher, to be utilized for the development of the region. The company has also complied with the same. Based on the direction of the Hon'ble Court, Rs.20 Crores has already been deposited by Sterlite Industries (I) Ltd. and the development work has commenced in the area.
When there will be no displacement due to mining in Niyamgiri and as this has also been conformed by Government of Orissa, the question of rehabilitation issue does not arise. There is also no adverse impact on the Dongria Kondh tribes who live several miles away from the proposed mining site. The allegations about Dongria Kondh tribes being affected, made repeatedly by those with vested interests, is primarily an effort to stop bauxite mining in Orissa. Their agenda is not to allow development of India's natural resources. These forces have been successful so far and thats the reason, no new alumina refinery has been set-up in India after NALCO, which was about 25 years ago. Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. refinery is the only alumina refinery set-up since 1980s.
The Ministry of Environment & Forests had asked Government of Orissa for conformation of compliances with Forest Conservation Act 1980 and Scheduled Tribe and Other Forests Dwellers (Recognition of Right) Act 2006 and the Government of Orissa has conformed compliance in this regard as well. Between August 2008 to August 2009, Stage - I clearance from Ministry of Environment & Forests, GOI, Environment Clearance from MOEF and Stage - II Clearance from State Government of Orissa have also been obtained. Forest Advisory Committee has already approved this proposal. As all statutory compliances have been carried out, what is awaited is the final clearance from Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India.
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