R & R rights

Updates on Matwada Massacre Case

On 18 March 2008 three tribal, who were living in Salwa Judum camp Matwada
for last two years, were killed before the eyes of their wives and a fourth
tribal was beaten badly but he survived.

Police claimed that these three tribal were killed by Naxalites.

Two days later these three widows approached a NGO (Vanvasi Chetna Ashram)
and disclosed that in fact their husbands were killed by police and SPO’s in
broad day light with sticks and knives.

Vanvasi Chetna Ashram facilitated a press conference in which these three
widows and fourth survivor narrated the whole story of police brutalities.

These widows and the fourth survivor along with Vanvasi Chetna Ashram filed
a writ petition in Chattisgarh High Court Bilaspur against Police and SPOs..

On 17 Chattisgarh High Court Bilaspur pronounced an interim
order instructing state of Chattisgarh, through collector Bijapur to pay
compensation to all these four petitioners/victims immediately.

State of Chattisgarh stated before the High Court that petitioners are not
cooperating and they hide whenever state authorities try to contact them.

High court instructed Vanvasi Chetna Ashram to ensure that these four
petitioners/ victims appear before collector Bijapur on 24/06/2010.

Today VCA volunteers helped these petitioners/victims to reach up to
collector Bijapur after 24 kilometers walk and 60 km bus journey alonfwith
their small children.

Collector Bijapur did not pay any compensation to these petitioners/ victims
today but asked them to produce following documents:

1 Death certificates of their husbands.

2 Copy of the FIR

3 Certificate that these widows are the legal heirs of the persons died.

4 An application from these victims/ petitioners that their husbands were
killed by

Naxalites and not by the police and SPO’s.

The fourth survivor Shri Somdu do not deserve any compensation..

Can this state win the heart and mind of tribal in this way ?

Himanshu Kumar

24/06/2010

Harassment of Activists from CGarh network Digest 22555

2010-06-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

From: Ritwick Dutta
Date: Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 11:57 PM
Subject: [TAI India] Urgent Support and Advice: Ramesh Aggarwal under Threat
To: taiindia@googlegroups.com

Dear TAI members,

Please recall a recent posting on the TAI India list by Ramesh Aggarwal on
the Ministry of Environment and Forest revoking environmental clearance to
Jindal Industries on the ground that they had commenced work prior to
environmental clearances. This was a important and significant victory for
Ramesh and every one concerned at the blatant violation of the law. Earlier,
the NEAA had granted an interim stay on another project of Jindal in view of
violation of the public hearing process.

Today I received a call from Ramesh Aggarwal's son that Jindal company has
filed a Complaint before the Police Station on the ground that Ramesh
Aggawal was trying to extort money from Jindal and is therefore harrassing
the company. A complaint had been filed in Chattisgarh as well as in Delhi.
There is a chance that Ramesh Aggarwal may be arrested any moment.

This is a really serious development. After years of legal battle against
the company, Ramesh had finally suceeded against the company and in order to
cover its dirty activities, the only thing Jindals can think of is this
blatantly false compaint and harrassment of Ramesh.

This is predictable. Corporates in India and infact across the world have
tried to do this against those who have raised the voice against the
violators.

Ramesh Aggarwal has participated in almost all the public hearings over the
last few years in Chattisgarh. He has been the most active litigant before
the NEAA. He succeeded before the High Court and recently before the Supreme
Court also. He is truly an inspiration for all access rights proponent in
India and also the world.

It is therefore of utmost importance we as a group work out the best
possible way and means to not only 'save' Ramesh but also take action
against Jindals. (for those not in tune with Jindals, it is a power, steel,
mining company owned by congress Member of Parliament, Navin Jindal).

I look forward to you suggestions, views and support in this crucial time.

Ritwick

--
Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE)

LIFE serves as the Secretariat of The Access Initiative (TAI) - India and
EIA response Centre

N-71 LGF Greater Kailash-I
New Delhi-110048
9810044660

--
Regards
G.Srinivas/Samata
D.No.- 14-37-9, Krishna nagar
Maharanipeta, Visakhapatnam
Mobile : 9989860484
Telefax : 0891-2737662
www.samataindia.org
www.dhimsa.net

Miners to be asked to give 26% profit to local area: Minister Press Trust of India, June 4, 2010 (New Delhi)

2010-06-20T23:05:00.000-07:00

Miners to be asked to give 26% profit to local area: Minister
Press Trust of India, June 4, 2010 (New Delhi)

The government will make it mandatory for mining companies to earmark 26 per cent of their profit for local and tribal welfare, a move that has found support of the Tatas, Mines Minister B K Hindque said on June 4.
The proposal would be part of the new mines legislation, the draft for which would be sent to the Cabinet later this month, Handique told PTI, adding that the issue of profit sharing for local area development to quell social unrest has been supported by the Tatas.

"We are introducing the annuity of 26 per cent of profit (earned by mining companies) towards CSR... 26 per cent is a convenient one for us and will bring justice to these people," he said, adding that other mining companies have not yet responded to the idea.

"Yes, the Tata Group has backed it...the Tatas came to me the other day. They did appreciate the annuity," Handique said while pointing out that he knew the task was not easy as miners' bodies were opposed to it.

Handique said the draft had been sent some time back to the Law Ministry for approval after extensive consultations with the states and other stake holders.

"We are awaiting vetting of the draft by the Law Ministry... this will come to us next week and then we will go to the Cabinet," he said, hoping that it would be introduced in the Winter Session of Parliament, which normally commences in December. "After we introduce the bill, it will be immediately referred to the Standing Committee. It is up to the Standing Committee how much time it takes," he said when asked when the new law would be in place.

Elaborating on the new provision, distinct from a windfall tax on mining, which is under consideration of the Finance Ministry, he said that apart from the government, the industry also has a responsibility to give back to the land from which the resources have been extracted.

"You see, we have certain responsibilities, commitment to the host population. They must be given justice. You will shift them out of their land for your projects. You will not do anything for their welfare? We are very particular on this point," Handique said, adding that he is fully aware that there would be "stiff opposition" to the move.

It is for this reason, the Ministry had eight rounds of consultations with various stake holders besides the 11-mineral bearing states, Handique said, adding the provision in the new Act "will be not palatable to many."

Read more at: http://beta.profit.ndtv.com/news/show/miners-to-be-asked-to-give-26-profit-to-local-area-minister-70196?cp

Displacement of Tribals in Simlipal forest - Hotnhitnews

2010-05-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

http://hotnhitnews.com/Out_of_the_green_into_the_dust_Tiger_protection_Maoists_n_forest_rights_Jenabil_Story_989_10059.htm

Displacement of Tribals in Simlipal forest - Hotnhitnews.com

Vedanta's plan mired in charges of ecological sins

2010-04-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

Vedanta's plan mired in charges of ecological sins
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Indl-Goods-/-Svs/Metals--Mining/Vedantas-plan-mired-in-charges-of-ecological-sins/articleshow/5790010.cms?curpg=1

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Anglican Church in India mine row

2009-07-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Anglican Church in India mine row

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India mine row embroils Church of England

2009-07-29T00:48:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India mine row embroils Church of England

YouTube - Vedanta in Orissa

2009-02-10T02:20:00.000-08:00

YouTube - Vedanta in Orissa

Gujarat reveals how it lured Nano

2009-01-21T19:19:00.000-08:00

Gujarat reveals how it lured Nano

2009-01-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

Gujarat reveals how it lured Nano

Nevertheless.. NREGA is Rural Mass Hope - Jean Dr�ze at News Wing : India Jharkhand Hindi

2008-10-17T01:33:00.000-07:00

Nevertheless.. NREGA is Rural Mass Hope - Jean Dr�ze at News Wing : India Jharkhand Hindi

Tatas to get 1,100 acres in Sanand for Rs 400 cr

2008-10-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

Tatas to get 1,100 acres in Sanand for Rs 400 cr

Whose brakes failed - Prem Shankar Jha

2008-10-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

Prem Shankar Jha

October 05, 2008

First Published: 22:40 IST(5/10/2008)
Last Updated: 22:10 IST(6/10/2008)

Whose brakes failed?
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=25c3d8e9-74e5-43e8-94d3-dd1d2be21992
Ratan Tata claims that he has taken the decision to pull the Nano project out of West Bengal with great sadness. He has held one, single, person responsible for his decision - Mamata Banerjee - who "held a gun to his head and pulled the trigger". Industry leaders have queued up behind him to predict a dire future for Bengal. "If it is difficult for the state to ensure security for someone like the Tatas," said R. Seshasayee of Ashok Leyland, "it is easy to imagine what will happen to others."

There is, however, another side to this story. Had you been listening closely to Tata´s press conference, you would have heard him say, "We believe compensation has been paid and that it is a fair compensation.." Paid by whom? Not by the Tatas. And that is the key to understanding why the company is so casually exiting West Bengal today. The Tatas did not pay for the land. The Rs 131 crore compensation paid to farmers and sharecroppers as of December 2006 was paid by the West Bengal government. The Tatas had taken the land from the West Bengal government on lease and the lease rent is a pittance.
In reality, therefore, the Tatas have pulled out so quickly because they had very little at stake in West Bengal. It is true that their investment in the Nano project runs to around Rs 1,500 crore. But the overwhelming proportion of this money has been spent on machinery - the hugely expensive robots that man the assembly lines, the tool and die, body and paint shops in any car plant today. The Tatas have been moving these out for some time. They will also move out generators, computers, specialised cabling and all other moveable items of office and factory equipment. Their final loss will thus be the flooring of their sheds, their investment in infrastructure, and the actual cost of erection of the plant and installation of machines. This will not be a small sum, and will be a dead loss, but one suspects that it will be much less than what West Bengal´s government has sunk into the acquisition of the land.
If the Tatas are not quite the wounded victims that Ratan Tata has made them out to be, Mamata Banerjee is not quite the villain she has been portrayed as being. If the Left and future governments, both in West Bengal and in New Delhi, learn the right lessons from Singur, she may well turn out to be India´s saviour. My eyes were opened to this possibility when I was shown Bengali TV coverage of how the land was actually acquired in 2006.
For the better part of 20 minutes, I saw sticks in policemen´s hands rising and falling with metronomic regularity to the accompaniment of sickening thwacks of wood meeting flesh. As the beating continued, the policemen leant further and further forward. It was apparent that their prey were on the ground but still being beaten. I saw men in their 60s being led away with torn and bleeding head wounds, and weeping, bruised women being supported out of the villages by social workers and Trinamool cadres. There were endless reels of footage, but I could not take any more.
Very little of this footage had appeared in the national channels. And the media had made it out that it was the Trinamool that had blocked the roads, bottled up the villagers and `forced´ the police to resort to `lathi charges´. No one bothered to ask just how the villagers´ consent had been obtained. No one asked why 400 or so of them were demanding their land back. Instead, we were deluded with `information´ that most of the landowners were absentees, and already had jobs in Kolkata and elsewhere. Not one commentator mentioned that with all new non-agricultural jobs being created in the unorganised sector and absolutely no form of social insurance, the little bits of land that the owners had were their ultimate and only security in life.
Are the blood and tears of the poor a necessary price of `development´? Was there no way of making the landholders and sharecroppers in Singur beneficiaries of `development´ instead of its victims? There was, but the Tatas never even considered it and took refuge in the legal plea that they were not involved in the acquisition of the land.
To see how easy it would have been to co-opt the landowners and sharecroppers, one needs to ask just one counterfactual question: what would have happened if the Tatas had decided to set aside just one quarter of 1 per cent of their annual sales revenue and distributed it as an annual royalty to the owners and sharecroppers, for the use of their land? With an annual turnover of Rs 5,000 crore (from 500,000 cars), the royalty would have amounted to Rs 125,000 per acre per year to be split between landowners and sharecroppers. To recover this added outlay, the Tatas would have had to increase the price of their car by only Rs 250.
Would Mamata Banerjee really have spurned such an offer? Would the farmers have allowed her to? A senior Trinamool member of the Rajya Sabha told me some weeks ago that if the Tatas were prepared to make such an offer, Mamata would most probably accept it. But the Tatas never made it.
Ratan Tata cannot be blamed for not trying an approach that has never been tried before in this country. But what he has proved, beyond a shadow of doubt, is that he is no Jamshed Tata.
Today it is imperative for industrialists not to draw the wrong lessons from the Nano debacle. The Tatas may be able to leapfrog to Uttarakhand, Haryana, Karnataka or Maharashtra. All those governments are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of `bagging such a prestigious project´. But they haven´t faced their people yet, and the poor will also be drawing their lessons from Singur.
The stark truth is that the country is on the brink of class war. Bastar is today its epicentre. The security forces are fighting a losing battle against an estimated 6,000 armed Maoists who are receiving substantial aid from the local people because the state of Chhattisgarh has lined up $7.28 billion of investment in steel plants and iron ore mines in the next five years and has given out more than 150 prospecting licences covering 400-3,000 sq km to companies wanting to mine iron ore, diamonds, gold and other non-ferrous ores.
Development consumes land, and faster development consumes it faster. Singur, and Bastar are only the beginning.
Prem Shankar Jha is the author of The Twilight of the Nation-State

Violence_in_Kandhamal - Socio_economic_factors by Basudev_Mahapatra

2008-09-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

Violence_in_Kandhamal_Socio_economic_factors_by_Basudev_Mahapatra/ www.hotnhitnews.com / Issue based News Portal from Orissa, India

India Grapples With How to Convert Its Farmland Into Factories - NYTimes.com

2008-09-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

India Grapples With How to Convert Its Farmland Into Factories - NYTimes.com

Will Singur-type problems hit investment growth?

2008-09-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

Will Singur-type problems hit investment growth?

Will Singur-type problems hit investment growth?

Business Standard | September 17, 2008

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Since most projects can be shifted to other states, the problem will be minimal, especially if industry can find ways to make farmers partners in their profits.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament and President, FICCI

For every Singur, there is an example of fairly successful land acquisition somewhere else in the country

The Indian economy over the last decade is a more diversified economy that ever before. Therefore, any claims of slowdown (as true as that possible slowdown may be) being linked to land acquisition issues is laughable.

Admittedly, with economy on its growth drive, the appetite for land for use by business is clearly on the rise - as investments rise and more industries are set up. Industry and business are meeting this appetite for land by acquiring land from existing farmers and other owners of land with some form of state intervention through a land acquisition process.

Since these projects have a consequential effect in creating jobs and stimulating the local economy, there is a competition amongst states to attract these projects - which is in turn causing the states to trot out promises of cheap land amongst other sops to investors.

The population density in our country is high. Dependence on land for earning a living is also very high. Nearly 55 per cent of the population is dependent on the agriculture sector for its livelihood. In these circumstances, there is bound to be resistance and some opposition whenever steps are taken to bring in more land under industry by fiat and executive action rather than negotiation.

In recent days, there has been a debate around the Tata/Nano investment in West Bengal being impacted by delays in or problems with land acquisition for that project in Singur.

But at the same time, there are many investments around the country where land had been acquired for the project successfully, with no disputes or opposition from the local community/farmers/sellers.

Which leads one to conclude that the problem isn't with industry requiring more land but with the process adopted for land acquisition process in this case.

The common thread that runs through all the 'land acquisition disputes' is the perception of unfair deal to the farmer/seller or the coerced/forced acquisition of land from an unwilling farmer/seller by using the power of the state. This is doomed to fail, if not in the short term then definitely in the medium term.

The solution is simple, as pointed by Finance Minister Chidambaram during one interaction at FICCI - business shouldn't try and deprive an unwilling farmer of his land. It has far reaching consequences and repercussions - especially when businesses depend on the goodwill of the communities they serve.

The Singur dispute points to a need for a clear-cut national policy for acquisition strategy. The policy should clearly mention acquisition hierarchy - barren over fertile land, single-cropped land over multi-cropped land etc and a process of compensating the farmers that is based on the inviolable principle of equity and fairness - to have either a process of consent acquisition where the investor makes the deal with the farmer/seller for most of the requirements (say 70 per cent) and have the state come in and help with the balance on the same terms.

A better solution is to allow the farmers to remain stakeholders in the development in the area, by either having him lease the land or giving him ownership of tracts of land around the project.

Sajjan Jindal, vice-chairman and MD, JSW Steel [Get Quote] group

Unless ways are found to ensure farmers have a stake in the project's progress, the issue will get more complex

Acquiring land is a difficult and challenging task. Especially in large projects where you need to acquire a large chunk of contiguous land, but there are ways and means to tackle that. For industry, the best option is if the government acquires the land, but given the sensitivity of the issue this is becoming increasingly difficult.

The other option is that the industry negotiates directly with the farmers or land owners. Of course, you can't get all of the land but even if you get 60-70 per cent, the government can then step in and manage to take over the balance.

The basic point is that land owners who are giving the land for projects should be fairly compensated not only in cash but through involving them in the development of the project.

That is what we do wherever we set up new projects. Whether it is Maharashtra, Vishakhapatnam or Rajasthan, we are creating special purpose vehicles for different projects where farmers will be made stakeholders and once the project is developed, the SPVs will be merged with the main companies.

Unless we are sensitive and feel the need of the farmers, the issue will get more and more complex. The way Singur, Nandigram, Orissa and Jharkhand have happened, it would just get more complicated.

In Barmer, for our power project, we had a situation where the government would have to acquire 20,000 acres for mining lignite. The government issued the notice to the farmers to surrender the land but the farmers approached our CEO and said they were not ready to part with the land. So we had discussions with the farmers and when I went to the site, around 10,000 farmers collected there.

I convinced the chief minister not to acquire the land and said that after the lignite was taken out, the land would be returned to farmers even if it was after 50 years so that the next generation could farm on it.

The message is loud and clear. You can't take police and government help to push the farmers aside. Of course, 10 per cent can be miscreants who get politicised and have to be tackled with government help. But in any situation if 60-70 per cent people are with you, the rest can't stall the project.

We never faced any problem in West Bengal with regard to land acquisition. We were very careful not to touch fertile land. We did not touch land where three or four crops were being grown. It's a conscious decision to not touch multi-crop land.

However, if for the need of the project we have to acquire some fertile land, then we would more than compensate for it by, maybe, some government land which could be converted to fertile land.

I think state governments would also have to play a proactive role because every industry house is not the same. But at the same time, state governments should be sensitive to the needs of the farmers and should also not touch fertile land or that close to the city, which might have potentially higher value in the future. State governments should try and create a land bank in such areas where not too many crops are grown.

(The author is president, Assocham)

DNA - Opinion - Digging up the dirt - Daily News & Analysis

2008-06-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

DNA - Opinion - Digging up the dirt - Daily News & Analysis

Home | Opinion |

Digging up the dirt

NN Sachitanand

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 21:28 IST

Much is wrong with the way mining is done in India

In late April this year, Naxalites attacked an iron ore mining camp of the Essar group in Chattisgarh and destroyed over 50 trucks and other heavy equipment.

This is not an isolated incident; nor will it be the last. It can be seen as a manifestation of the frustration felt by locals in not getting a share of the wealth extracted by mining companies.

In all my travels across prime mining territory in India, the one common factor encountered — be it in Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan or Karnataka — was the acute underdevelopment and impoverishment of the hinterland. As per the Hindi proverb, ‘darkness below the lamp’, the mineral wealth of these places has least benefited the surrounding indigenous communities.

The ministry of mines is purported to have formulated a new National Mining Policy. This is expected to provide a fillip to the mining sector, which currently contributes only 2.8 per cent of the country’s GDP.

That figure is expected to go up to 5 per cent, while the total investment likely in the sector is around Rs5,00,000 crore over the next six years. The focus of the policy seems to be on addressing the obstacles faced by the mining companies, such as delays in statutory clearances. This is getting the priorities wrong.

The government should realise that in the last two decades, a groundswell of bitterness, animosity and militancy has spread among the locals — mostly tribals — of mineral-rich areas of the country.

There is a sense of outrage at being denied a just share of the wealth derived from exploitation of their regions. Fishing in these troubled waters are local politicians, NGOs and Naxalites.

As a result, several major mining projects, particularly in the bauxite-rich Eastern Ghats, have not been able to get off the ground. I will not be surprised if a similar fate befalls iron ore projects in the Chattisgarh-Jharkhand region.

Any mining policy that ignores this problem is akin to an ostrich sticking its head in the sand. Enhancing royalty rates and converting them to ad valorem duties has been mooted, with the hope that the state governments will recycle the increased income to development of the backward mining areas.

Unfortunately, history belies this. Mining companies have the reputation of declaring less than what they actually extract.

The royalty is swallowed up by the state governments and the dole out to mining regions is paltry. Perhaps legislation should make it mandatory for a state government to spend a major portion of ad valorem royalties for development within the host districts of the mines.

Aside from low level manual tasks, locals are not employed. Even indirect tertiary services such as transport, catering, repair workshops and small retail are usually bagged by the more entrepreneurial immigrants.

So locals do not perceive mining projects as a way up the economic ladder and have become indifferent or hostile to them. The common excuse made by mining companies is that the tribals are not skilled in mining tasks.

That makes it more important for mining companies to invest in training. The new mining policy should formulate norms for hiring and training locals and provide monetary and management aid to establish tertiary service outlets.

Conservation is as important as extraction in mining. Get-rich-quick attitudes combined with primitive extraction methods such as blasting and handpicking has led to enormous waste in mining marble in Rajasthan and granite in Karnataka.

Unscientific small-scale mining has led to manual cherry-picking of rich lumps that has left iron ore mines in Karnataka with large areas of relatively poor ore that should have been simultaneously mined in a scientific manner to yield a reasonable blend. The new policy can lay down standards.

Mining is essentially environmentally destructive. With much of India’s mineral wealth located in forested areas and most of the mining being open-cast, the environmental damage is extreme.

The last two decades have seen legislation that seeks to contain this damage by imposing conditions on mining companies, such as compensatory afforestation and regreening of strip-mined areas. But, by and large, these conditions have been
observed more in the breach.

The wasteland left behind by those extracting marble in Makrana (Rajasthan), granite in Karnataka, iron ore in Goa, coal in Jharkhand and chromite in Sukinda (Orissa ) is typical of the industry in India.

The new National Mining Policy needs to address this issue squarely and put the onus on redressing the destruction solely on mining companies.

Going for the gold
The new mining policy should formulate norms for hiring and training locals

The writer is a commentator on public affairs

India: Govt. to impose 15% export duty on iron ore - Metals News - Metals Place

2008-06-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

India: Govt. to impose 15% export duty on iron ore - Metals News - Metals Place

Government is believed to have decided to impose 15% export duty on iron ore, used for making steel, which has seen a 50% increase in prices since January, thereby fuelling inflation.

The decision was taken at the meeting of the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) on May 30. The CoS has also decided to roll back export duty on steel, barring primary and semi-finished products, in return for the Rs 4,000 per ton reduction in prices announced by them early last month.

At present, an export duty at a specific rate of Rs 300 per ton is imposed on iron ore with 62% of higher iron content and Rs 50 per ton on lower grade ore. Under the new dispensation, the export duty would be based on the value of the product shipped abroad.

Decisions on both roll back of export duty on steel and imposition of the same on its raw material are expected to be announced in the next few days. The Department of Revenue will notify the decision once the CoS minutes are issued.

Rise in raw material prices, strong demand in international and domestic market and increase in global steel prices are some of the reasons cited by the industry for increase in the domestic prices, which have been further impacted by the demand-supply mismatch. – MyIris

Tata Steel to raise Jamshedpur plant capacity

2008-06-01T01:32:00.000-07:00

Tata Steel to raise Jamshedpur plant capacity

Govt to look into banning iron ore exports

2008-06-01T01:27:00.000-07:00

Govt to look into banning iron ore exports

Tata rural BPO to come up near steel site in Orissa

2008-05-31T02:27:00.000-07:00

Tata rural BPO to come up near steel site in Orissa

Vedanta: Yet another twist -India-The Times of India

2008-05-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Vedanta: Yet another twist -India-The Times of India

Mittal to spend Rs 1,200 cr on Orissa rehab

2008-05-04T02:12:00.000-07:00

Mittal to spend Rs 1,200 cr on Orissa rehab

BS Reporter / Bhubaneswar May 03, 2008

Global steel major ArcelorMittal, who is proposing to set up a 12 million tonne greenfield steel plant at Patna tehsil in Keonjhar district of Orissa, plans to spend about $300 million (about Rs 1,200 crore) on rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R). Only a couple of weeks ago, the company had announced an identical R&R packages for its project in Jharkhand, where it intends to set up an equal-capacity steel plant.

ArcelorMittal's Orissa R&R package is significant because South Korean steel major Posco, which had signed an MoU with the state government to establish a 12 million tonne plant at Paradip 18 months before the Mittals came up with their Orissa proposal, is yet to finalise its R&R package.

Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal has presented its R&R plan to the Keonjhar district administration. It plans to spend the earmarked amount over a period of more than five years.

"We plan to spend about $300 million for the R&R plan over a period of more than five years. The R&R plan has already been submitted to the Orissa government," ArcelorMittal India chief executive officer (CEO) Sanak Misra said.

After meeting Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik along with Sudhir Maheshwari and Vijay Bhattanagar, the members of ArcelorMittal's group management board, in the state secretariat today, Misra told the media that their steel plant will come up in two phases of 6 million tonne each. He said the R&R plan of the company was in conformity with the R&R policy of the Orissa government.

The plan envisages dwelling units for each of the displaced family with common facilities. The rehabilitation colonies will have water supply, educational institutions and primary health centres (PHCs).

As per the R&R plan, the company will set up a state-of-the-art industrial training institute (ITI) beside the steel plant. It is in discussion with three leading institutes of the country having previous experience in handling ITIs.

The model, including student strength and the cost of setting up of the ITI, is being worked out. Misra, however, made it clear that the ITI would come up before the commissioning of the plant. The company was in discussion with the state government for the required land, he said.

Official sources said, the company planned to apply the highest standards of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for the Orissa project and intended to make the R&R policy the backbone of the CSR strategy.

Misra said a detail project report (DPR), prepared by M N Dastur & Company (P) Ltd (Dasturco), was being finalised. It would be submitted in June, 2008, he added.

The DPR includes captive mining facilities, captive power supply, water supply infrastructure and other required facilities. It also includes setting up of townships for the company's employees.

The ArcelorMittal CEO also expressed his satisfaction over the land acquisition, saying that it was making good progress.

The company had signed an MoU with the Orissa government in December 2006 for setting up a steel plant at an investment of about Rs 40,000 crore.

Article on POSCO, co-authored with Dr. Sanat Mohanty

2008-04-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

Article published in Seoul Times, Part 1, Part 2 ,Part 3 & appendix 1(response to rediff article:

Suru Anna and the people’s protest-�InfoChange India News & Features development news India - POSCO project related

2008-04-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

Suru Anna and the people’s protest�-�InfoChange India News & Features development news India

The Statesman - Rajendra Sarangi Memorial

2008-04-05T23:13:00.000-07:00

The Statesman
Rajendra Sarangi Memorial

India: Govt to tell steel makers to cut prices 10-20% - Metals News - Metals Place

2008-04-03T04:47:00.000-07:00

India: Govt to tell steel makers to cut prices 10-20% - Metals News - Metals Place

How SMS helped check bird flu in Orissa @ NewKerala.Com News, India

2008-03-04T11:41:00.000-08:00

SMS helped check bird flu in Orissa @ NewKerala.Com News, India

Army fights red terror, indirectly

2008-03-04T01:07:00.000-08:00

chhattisgarh-net : Message: Army fights red terror, indirectly

Rahul Singh, Hindustan Times
New Delhi THE ARMY is stepping up its training programme for the
Central Police Organisations (CPOs) and state police forces to help
them take on the Naxals, but it has no plans to invade the notorious
Red Corridor Unwilling to see the army reduced to the role of a
paramilitary force, Army chief general Deepak Kapoor has said that it
should be used as a last resort and not the first. The army is
currently involved in bringing out a national internal security
doctrine to deal with the Naxal problem. The army, under ideal
circumstances, would like to focus on its primary role of defending
the country from external aggres- sion, a task that has already been
diluted by prolonged deployment in Jammu and Kashmir and the
Northeast. Another reason why the army is wary of being drawn into
antiNaxal operations is that the socalled Red Corridor envelopes
states that serve as unportant catchment areas for military
recruiting. A senior official said, "Pitting soldiers against their
own people can have disastrous consequences. We have no problems
diverting resources to train CPOs and state police forces." Over 8,500
police personnel have already been trained by the army to wage war
against Naxals. By June 2008, it would have shared its expertise in
guerilla warfare with an additional 6,500 policemen. The standing
committee on defence had noted in a report tabled in Parliament last
year that the use of the army as a substitute for state police
diverted its attention from its prime objective, which is guarding the
frontiers. To address the growing demand by state governments for
military assistance in maintaining law and order, it had recommended
the creation of a separate specialised force for internal security
duties.

Vale agrees iron ore increase 65% to 71% with China Steel - Metals News - Metals Place

2008-02-25T23:25:00.000-08:00

Vale agrees iron ore increase with China Steel - Metals News - Metals Place

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF ORISSA AND THE ________________ ORISSA

2008-02-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF ORISSA AND THE ________________ ORISSA

`Hike in iron ore royalty, export duty will hit mining hard'

2008-02-21T23:20:00.000-08:00

The Hindu Business Line : `Hike in iron ore royalty, export duty will hit mining hard'
Phalguna Jandhyala
New Delhi, Feb 20
The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) has said that the proposed move by the Government to increase royalty and export duties on iron ore would adversely affect the mineral's mining industry. Sources in the Mines Ministry told Business Line that the Federation, in a recent memorandum to the Ministry, said that if the proposals were carried out, it would lead to the closure of several mines and in turn, would affect the domestic steel industry. "The members said if the proposals are implemented, then India will be the highest taxed country amongst major iron ore producing regions with the proposed royalty and duty rates and the additional tax burden on exporters will marginalise exports, resulting in the closure of many mines," a source close to the development said. As per estimates, Brazil, the largest iron ore producer with domestic steel production comparable to India, has a royalty of two per cent and no export duty. Similarly, Australia has a royalty of 3.5 to 7.5 per cent, with no export duty, while South Africa has a royalty of only three per cent and also does not impose any export duty. The source said that the Government has proposed a royalty of 10 per cent ad valorem on sales realisation and an export duty of 10 to 15 per cent. Demand projection "The FIMI members said that at the current rate, India should be able to sustain the projected domestic steel demand for close to 200 years and the current iron ore resources of about 25 billion tonnes would last for the next 85 years." He further said that FIMI in the memorandum, has said that with more exploration, development of technology to economically treat lower grade ore and increase use of scrap will further help sustain the need of the domestic steel industry. Government data show that in the last 25 years, while India has increased its iron ore resources by about 45 to 50 per cent, Australia and Brazil have grown their resources ten-fold. "If India were to increase spend on exploration, deploy best-in-class technology and explore new areas, it could add another 20 to 25 billion tonnes of resources," the official said. Currently, India spends only around $5 million on exploration predominantly on coal as compared to $500 million and $150 million in Australia and Brazil respectively. `Not for long' "The FIMI members had also stated that higher profitability of iron ore exporters in recent years is part of a normal industry cycle and in line with that experienced by other sectors. They also said that the current profitability levels will not hold for long as major players from Australia, Brazil and South Africa bring significant new capacity online in the coming years," the official pointed out. He also said that the members feel that the way forward would be to treat iron ore mining as a separate industry. "FIMI has said that by not doing so, a situation similar of what happened to thermal coal will be repeated. They said that despite having an approximate reserves of 80 billion tonnes, power companies would be forced to import around 25 per cent of their requirements by 2012 due to lack of adequate investments in exploration and infrastructure creation," the source said.

PROCEEDINGS (XIV Lok Sabha) POSCO Project in Orissa...

2008-02-21T21:39:00.000-08:00

PART II PROCEEDINGS OTHER THAN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (XIV
LOK SABHA)
Title : Shri Basudeb Acharia called the attention of the Minister of Mines to the situation
arising out of recent agreement of Orissa Government with Korean Steel Major POSCO
allowing them to export mineral wealth of the country and steps taken by the Government
in this regard.
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA Sir, I call the attention of the Minister of Mines to the
following matter of urgent public importance and request that he may make a statement
thereon :
“Situation arising out of recent agreement of Orissa Government with
Korean Steel Major POSCO allowing them to export mineral wealth of the
country and steps taken by the Government in this regard.”
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA : Madam Chairperson, the Memorandum of Understanding
between the Government of Orissa and POSCO of South Korea will facilitate ...(Expunged as
ordered by the Chair) of such scarce mineral iron ore of Orissa. You will be surprised to know
that a huge concession is being given to this particular company. They will set up a steel
plant at Paradeep.
SHRI ARJUN SETHI (BHADRAK): Madam, I would like to draw your kind attention to
his words. The hon. Member, while speaking, has said that 'it will facilitate … of mineral
wealth'. Will it go on record? No Government, whether the Central or State, will …
(Interruptions)
… (Interruptions)
SHRI B. MAHTAB (CUTTACK): If Shri Basu Deb Acharia is going to suggest what
should be the MoU to be entered by the Government of Orissa, let him come up with the
proposal. … (Interruptions)
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA : Madam, I have every right to say. If I have used any
unparliamentary words, you can expunge them. I have not used any unparliamentary
word.
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA : They will set up a steel plant with capacity of 12 million
tonnes and captive iron ore mines will be given to POSCO[reporter36].
They will extract 600 million tonnes of iron ore from the captive mines. The Steel
Plant will be set up after 33 months from the day of the company getting the licence. Why
such favour is being given to this particular company? They will start extracting iron ore
immediately after the issuance of licence, although the permission and approval of the
Central Government will be required in it.
Out of 600 million tonnes of iron ore, 30 per cent will be exported to Brazil as the
iron ore in Orissa has high percentage of Alumina. On the other hand, they are being
allowed to import similar quantity of iron ore from Brazil, which has lower percentage of
Alumina. Over and above 600 million tonnes, this company will be permitted to export 400
million tonnes of iron ore for their own steel plant in South Korea. It means that 600 million
tonnes per 1,000 million tonnes of iron ore this company from South Korea would get from
Orissa.
Madam, we have 18 billion tonnes of iron ore in our country, and Orissa has 4.5 billion
tonnes of iron ore. Nearly 36 MoUs were signed with various steel manufacturing
companies prior to this MoU. The total capacity for it would be about 40 million tonnes
of iron ore. What was the price at which they were permitted to purchase iron ore from
the Orissa Mineral Development Corporation at the time of signing these 36 MoUs?
They were permitted to purchase iron ore at the market price. What is the price of one
tonne of iron ore today? It is Rs. 2,000. But in the case of POSCO, the cost of extraction
or the total cost of production per tonne of iron ore would be only Rs. 400. Why is there
such a difference in it? Why this particular company is being permitted to take iron ore at
a much lower price? How much will be the loss to the State of Orissa as a result of the
lower price that has been fixed in the MoU? The loss for the Government of Orissa
would be about Rs. 1.20 crore.
Moreover, the steel plant would be set up in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ), and
it would mean that this company would enjoy concessions in income tax, excise duty, and
other taxes. How much would be the loss for the Government of Orissa on this account?
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Mr. Acharia, please be brief. I am saying this because there is
another Calling Attention to be taken up after this. Therefore, please put your question to
the hon. Minister[ak37].
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA : I am coming to the question, Madam.
This company first tried to have an MoU with the Government of Brazil. Brazil has
the largest deposits of iron ore. With the same conditions, which the Government of Orissa
has agreed to, the company went to Brazil. But the Government of Brazil did not agree to
those conditions. They agreed to provide iron ore at the market price. The Government of
Orissa has signed an MoU to supply iron ore at a much lower price. Madam, what will be the
benefit for the people of Orissa? A thousand acres of tribal land will be acquired. Total
employment will be only 13,000 as per the statement of the Government of Orissa.…
(Interruptions)
SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN : This is totally wrong information. … (Interruptions)
MADAM CHAIRMAN : I will give time to your leader and he will have his say.
SHRI KHARABELA SWAIN : There is no tribal there. … (Interruptions)
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA : In the MoU, rehabilitation and resettlement of tribal people
has not been provided.
SHRI BRAHMANANDA PANDA (JAGATSINGHPUR): He has absolutely no
fundamental idea about what he is talking about.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Shri Acharia, now there is no point. Please conclude.
SHRI B. MAHTAB : Shri Acharia had himself migrated from Orissa. He should not forget
that fact. I am just reminding him of his ancestors.
SHRI BRAHMANANDA PANDA : The learned Member should have a fundamental idea
of the point before speaking on it.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Shri Acharia, please conclude now. There is another Member to
speak from your own party. Within two minutes, you will have to conclude.
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA : Madam, the Koreans are being given this iron ore despite
India not having enough iron ore reserves even to last for 50 years. Our per capita
consumption is the lowest among the developing nations; it is only 32 kgs. However, the per
capita consumption in China today is 270 kgs. This will not remain at this. Our per capita
consumption will increase. Our demand also will rise. If 30 per cent of the reserves are given
to this particular company, what will happen to the other steel manufacturing companies?
SHRI B. MAHTAB : In China?
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA : Already 36 MoUs have been signed. They require huge
quantities of iron ore. I would like to know from the Minister of Mines or the Minister of
Finance, whosoever replies … (Interruptions)
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE (SHRI P. CHIDAMBARAM): The Minister of Mines will
reply.
THE MINISTER OF MINES (SHRI SISH RAM OLA): I will give the reply.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Shri Acharia, put your questions please.
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA : I would like to know from the hon. Minister as to
how the future requirement of our country will be met. Why such a concession has been
given to this particular company? Why POSCO was not offered market price, as has been
offered to the other 36 companies who will set up the steel plants in the State of Orissa? The
capacity will be about 40 million tonnes. Why in their case it is market rate of Rs.2000 or
Rs.3000, but in the case of POSCO it is only Rs.400?
SHRI B. MAHTAB : Who will give this answer? The Minister of Mines is not capable to
answer this question.

MADAM CHAIRMAN: He will say something. I am giving him chance. It is all right.
SHRI B. MAHTAB : This question can only be addressed to the Orissa Government. This
question has no scope to be answered by the Minister of Mines[KMR38].
Now, there is a need for mines policy. Should not there be a detailed discussion?
There should be a detailed discussion on mines policy before MoUs are signed. …
(Interruptions) Before it is exhausted, the Government of India should announce the mines
policy.
MADAM CHAIRMAN : Keep something
for your own party Member. Now, please conclude.
SHRI BHANWAR SINGH DANGAWAS (NAGAUR): According to the rules, he can be
given only 10 minutes.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: I am looking into it.
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA : The Minister of Mines has stated in his statement that the
Ministry of Mines will examine the proposal in detail because the Government of Orissa has
not sent the proposal for approval in accordance with law and in consultation with the
concerned Ministry. When an application is received duly forwarded by the State
Government, the views expressed by the hon. Members here in this House today will be
given due consideration. I would like to know from the Minister, in view of the widespread
criticism in the country in regard to the MoU signed by the Government of Orissa and
POSCO.. … (Interruptions)
SHRI B. MAHTAB : All newspapers supported this MoU. … (Interruptions)
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA : Apprehensions have been expressed here about the favour
shown to a particular company and the financial loss for the Government of Orissa as well
as the Government of India. Will the Government of India before approving this
proposal... … (Interruptions)
SHRI ARJUN SETHI : Madam Chairman, my point is.... … (Interruptions)
MADAM CHAIRMAN: You will get time.
SHRI ARJUN SETHI : My point is that whenever any subject concerning the State
Government comes before the House, the same is not allowed. … (Interruptions)
SHRI BASU DEB ACHARIA : But people are complaining...… (Interruptions)
There cannot be any conflict of interest between the development of a State and the
nation development. After all, it is all national resource and if Orissa prospers, the national
also will be benefited. It is a national prosperity. So, there cannot be any dispute about
Orissa's prosperity and the national prosperity. But the issue is that the basic national
resource is limited. We should use it judiciously and carefully taking into account particularly
our per capita steel consumption. What is the projection of demand in the perspective plan
for the coming 20 or 50 years or so when India is emerging as the fast growing economy?
Finance Ministry is always claiming that we are emerging as a very fast growing economy.
We are the fastest growing economy. … (Interruptions) Steel is the key sector. carefully
protect your legal interest, your constitutional interest and your economic interest. But what
I want to know from the Union Government is this. According to Section 5(1) of the Mines
and Mineral Development (Regulation) Act, 1957, the Union Government had given the
prior approval[R39].
On what criteria was the approval given? Did they know that there was going to be
a clause of a swap? If that clause of a swap was taken into consideration, whether the
technology concerned was also taken into consideration? It is because, the technology being
brought in our country is not the latest one… (Interruptions) I am one with the claims made
by our steel majors. I am not naming them.
SHRI B. MAHTAB : Why are you not naming them?… (Interruptions)
SHRI RUPCHAND PAL : Many of our public sector and the private sector steel majors
have stated that they are capable of providing this technology but they are not being given
equal status and there is no level-playing field. What is being given to the multinational
company, had it been given to our steel majors, they could have provided Orissa a new steel
plant with the latest technology. But it is not being done, and it is being denied to them.
(Interruptions)
(Interruptions) … *
SHRI RUPCHAND PAL : Madam, I am asking the Union Government whether there has
been a level-playing field or not.
There was a story about the high alumina content and the technology involved in the
process, what is called the Fenic Process. Does it suggest that we, in the process of our
development of the steel technology, are not at a stage where we could match the technology
and resources that are being provided by the current steel major, who badly needs our
precious underground process, which the world over is yet not planned in a judicious
manner, which is being given a go-bye by the Orissa Government and approved by the
Union Government?
I charge the Union Government whether they have applied their mind before giving
prior approval.
SHRI ARJUN SETHI : Madam, I am very much thankful to the hon. Minister of Mines for
narrating, in detail, in his statement about the MoU that has been signed recently by the
Government of Orissa with the Korean steel major, POSCO. The statement of the hon.
Minister reveals everything. It also clarifies whatever allegations or points have been raised
here. This particular MoU could be possible only because the Government of India -- the
hon. Finance Minister is present here -- have allowed 100 per cent FDI in the mining sector.
In consequence of this particular announcement, this MoU could be possible. Otherwise,
no such MoU could be possible. So, only after the policy decision of the Union
Government to allow 100 per cent FDI in the mining sector, the MoU was signed between
POSCO and the Orissa Government. Madam, the statement of the hon. Minister of Mines
specifically says: “However, the Ministry of Mines is yet to receive any proposal for grant of
prospective licence or the mining lease to M/s. POSCO through the State Government of
Orissa[k40].”
I am simply astonished that incidentally all the hon. Members are from West Bengal.
Fortunately or unfortunately, we do not pull your West Bengal. This is the history. … *
SHRI ARJUN SETHI : Madam, my point is that the Orissa Government is very much
competent, with the approval of the Central Government on policy matter, to enter into
MoUs provided those MoUs do not go against the policies of the Central Government. If
this is so, why are they so much worried? Nothing has yet been achieved. The Orissa
Government has not yet sent the proposal to the Central Government. As has been stated
here by the Government, they will look into the details. They will have consultation on
everything. Why are they still so much agitated about this particular MoU? When the
Government of India has declared that hundred per cent foreign direct investment is very
much there, why are they very much opposed to it? If there is anything - I won’t go into the
details - the Government of Orissa is competent enough to discuss that with the
Government at the Centre. At that point of time, the Central Government can decide
everything on merit. So, there is no point in saying that it has gone against the interests of
the country.… (Interruptions)
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Arjun Charanji, you know that, as a leader, if you want to ask
anything from the Union Government, you can do so by putting questions.
SHRI P. CHIDAMBARAM: If you have some questions, just put them… (Interruptions)
SHRI ARJUN SETHI : Madam, I would like to know whether the lease would be governed
by the Minerals and Metals (Regulation and Development) Act. If so, will the hon. Minister
assure the House that the Government would grant licence to the Government of Orissa as
well as the steel major when it conforms to the provisions of this particular Act?
Madam, it has been said that some amount of minerals will be exported to other
countries, that is, Korea and Brazil. It has been pointed out here and incorporated in the
MoU that swap will be permitted up to 30 per cent provided the POSCO equally imports 30
per cent of the minerals[pkp41].
Moreover, it has also been mentioned in that particular MoU that after having gone
into the details etc., if it is found that it has alumina content to the permissible limit, then
there will be no need of exporting or importing. It has been mentioned there.

`Gopalpur land allotted to Tatas lying vacant`

2008-02-21T01:03:00.000-08:00

`Gopalpur land allotted to Tatas lying vacant`

The Telegraph - Survey finds Orissa ‘poorest’ in India

2008-02-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Nation | Survey finds Orissa ‘poorest’ in India

Survey finds Orissa ‘poorest’ in India

- Opp. demands farmers’ loan waiver, study points to slow growth

SUBRAT DAS

BJP activists burn effigy of Manmohan Singh in front of the Assembly to protest against the fuel price hike. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 15: Tall claims of “rapid industrial growth” made by the NDA government have fallen flat with the pre-budget economic survey for 2007-08 describing Orissa to be the poorest state in India.

“Orissa’s economy is still characterised by incidences of poverty,” states the survey.

Quoting the recent estimate stated by the Planning Commission, the survey report states that the percentage of BPL population in Orissa stood at 39.9 per cent, compared to 21.8 per cent at the all-India level.

The percentage of BPL population in rural Orissa (39.80) is lower than that in the urban belt (40.30), which is reverse at an all-India level (rural 21.80 and urban-21.70).

The state could reduce poverty by 1.5 per cent during 2000-05 despite implementation of poverty alleviation schemes. However, the situation did improve in 2000-05 with a reduction percentage of 7.3.

The slow rate of improvement has been attributed to several inherent problems such as vulnerability to repeated natural calamities, a disproportionately large proportion of ST/SC population, a large number of rural communities, want of adequate irrigation facilities and lack of high quality infrastructure.

“Realising” that poverty is one of the factors for the backwardness, the Vision-2020 document, prepared by the government, has targeted an ambitious economic growth rate of 9 to 10 per cent by 2020.

Attempts have been made in the document to target poverty reduction by promoting broad-based industrial growth.

Orissa’s economy achieved an average annual rate of 7.26 per cent in the first four years of the 10th Plan primarily due to a high growth rate of 11.34 per cent in the industrial and mineral sectors.

More than 45 steel companies, including Posco and ArcelorMittal, three aluminium giants and 13 power entities have signed MoUs with the state so far to set up plants in here. Despite the industrialisation drive and implementation of a number of employment generation programmes by the Centre and the state, the number of unemployed youths has been on the rise.

During 2006, about 2.41 lakh job seekers registered themselves in employment exchanges. Only 586 placements were made against the 2,103 vacancies notified, read the survey report.

Tehelka:: Free. Fair. Fearless - Riots in Kandhamal

2008-02-19T18:01:00.000-08:00

Tehelka:: Free. Fair. Fearless

Reaping The Whirlwind

Fear still grips Orissa nearly two months after Hindu groups attacked Christians, reports BIBHUTI PATI

Jaganu and his wife at their home
Photo: Bibhuti Pati

The turmeric leaves have yellowed and in days shall turn brown. Mustard fields are ready to yield. Ginger is being reaped. In the next seven days Jaganu Digul will reap his turmeric and pay back the moneylender’s loan and celebrate Christmas with his family.

On December 24, Jaganu Digul took his ginger yield to the Daringbadi ‘haat’ (village weekly market), and from there to Bamunigaon haat to sell the remaining ginger. It was around 11am when a group of aggressive youth stormed in, brandishing weapons. They went about closing the haat. They belonged to the Kui community, and were backed by party workers of the Bajrang Dal, RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Local Christians gathered and supported the shopkeepers who were unwilling to close the haat. Heated exchanges soon took the shape of skirmishes. Soon arson and looting of shops followed. “Loot the Hindus,” someone screamed. Jagnu’s ginger got crushed in the stampede. Another group of men, shouting “Jay Bajrangbali”, set fire to a garage named “Jaga Balia”. Jaganu heard that the chapel at Bamunigan was being vandalised. He hid himself under a culvert near the police out post. Soon, the authorities clamped down, and a curfew was declared.

“I am a Christian and was looted by a Christian mob, and the Jaga Balia garage belongs to a Hindu, and was burned down by Hindus,” says Jaganu, recollecting his Christmas eve, spent in fear and hunger under the culvert. He somehow managed to get home by taking a jungle path. On seeing him, his wife broke down and said that a mob had forcibly cut the mustard crop from their field and set fire to their turmeric crop. Jaganu fainted, and on regaining consciousness, all he could do was to think of how he would repay the moneylender.

Jagnu is just one among the hundreds in places like Mansaguda, Butukia, Sindiro Gaon, Barakhama, Musukuli, Kadingia, Godapur, Khadadar and Prayati panka who suffered during the communal riots in Orissa’s Kandhamal district last December. Many are still waiting to return to their work and livelihood, and the peace that seems to them lost forever. They don’t understand the complexities of religion and caste, let alone politics.

More than a 100 churches have been destroyed in the violence and several temples vandalised. Around 600 homes and shops were set fire, including 300 houses of the Christian street of Barkhama and some Hindu areas like Aadua Sahi of Bamunigaon that were completely destroyed. More than two thousand people were affected directly, and another five thousand or more indirectly. Some relief has reached the affected, and the administration has provided tents for shelter. Yet, despite all the support given by the district administration, many are yet to recover from the trauma of the event that destroyed their life savings and took away their loved ones. More than a hundred criminal cases have been registered in Kandhamal district, and so far the police have arrested172 people. Some 600 people are still missing, and are believed to be hiding in neighboring districts.

Nearly two months after the attacks, some of those who fled return to their villages
Photo: Bibhuti Pati

Manish Burma, the District Collector says, “ It will take some time to normalise the situation”. According to a local social activist, “The terror is yet to recede. In Bamunigan, Daringibadi and Godapur areas the hardcore Hindus as well as Christians are holding secret meetings. The Christians of Barakhama and the Hindus of Aadua Sahi is their target this time. The government and the local administration have done their lot. Some people are politicising the matter. This is delaying in the restoration of peace and confidence among the people. Now Christian tribals are separated from their original Kui community. Thousands of school children are without books and lanteens. Their education is completely hampered.”

According to District Christian Welfare Society Secy. Manas, in Kutikia, Basakhama, Sudra, Budukia, Ribingia and Sinkiguda, Christians are being forced to convert to Hinduism by the RSS, VHP and the Bajrang Dal. But a local police officer dismissed this as baseless, “I have personally been to Dalki, Sudra, Katangi villages on receiving complaints. On asking them, they denied such things. We have not received any reports. These are rumours.”

In the Bamunigaon firing incident Tileswar Digul of Katamaha and Kundan Mantri of Alanjari village lost their lives. But their families are refusing to identify and receive their bodies in apprehension of police harassment. Day by day, Tileswar’s wife Sunita is crumbling into misery. When asked why they didn’t identify the bodies, a family member said, “ This is a Naxal area. If we identify them, then the police will take action against us as per Naxal laws.”

Interestingly, the victims of the riots across Bamunigan to Barakhama say, “We haven’t seen any Hindu of our village burning our churches or attacking us, nor did any of the Christians here attack any Hindus.” One of them, Tajuri, asked, “What was the religion of the rioters? Who were they and where from did they come? We have been celebrating Dussehra, Christmas and Diwali for years together. I go to temple because my forefathers have been going there, in the same way Elia here is going to church. What is wrong in it? So far, no radical Hindu or Christian has come with an answer to this innocent question of the people of Kandhamal.

Tajuri’s Story
Barakhama’s Tajuri, 72, is a Hindu. Alio, 51, is a Christian. Though not related by blood they are no less closer to each other than a mother and son. It was Tajuri who brought up Alio since he was orphaned in childhood. They live in one house, with a common gate and kitchen stove.Even after he got married, Alio looked after Tajuri since she is a widow. He also helped Tajuri’s daughter Minakhi to be married away, in complete Hindu rites. On December 25, as Alio was getting Tajuri her medicines before setting out for the church, he heard loud slogans outside. Shouting “Jai Sri Ram, Bom Bom Bhole, Jai Hanuman”, a mob entered Alio’s house and set it ablaze. They beat up Alio and his Ukia severely. Half-blind Tajuri rushed out, asking them why they were beating her son. The mob turned on her, and showering her with abuse, said, ‘You are a Hindu but you call a Christian your son?’ And then they beat her up. One of them said, “Set fire to her house!” the house was burnt down within minutes. Tajuri and Alio still break down when they recall the terror that visited them that day.

Posted on February 15, 2008

Asia's top 3 steelmakers agree 65 pct rise in iron ore prces with Vale UPDATE - Metals News - Metals Place

2008-02-19T17:15:00.000-08:00

Asia's top 3 steelmakers agree 65 pct rise in iron ore prces with Vale UPDATE - Metals News - Metals Place

18 February 2008
Asia's top 3 steelmakers agree 65 pct rise in iron ore prces with Vale UPDATE

Asia's three-biggest steelmakers have agreed to a 65 pct increase in iron ore prices following negotiations with Brazil's Vale, the world's biggest iron ore producer, in a move likely to set the global benchmark for the raw material.

JFE Holdings, Nippon Steel and Posco have agreed to pay 78.88 usd a ton for iron ore starting from April 1, also heralding an increase in steel prices.

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, the world's second- and third-largest producers, are expected to follow suit. A spokesman for BHP declined to comment on the negotiations, while Rio Tinto could not immediately be reached for comment.

Steelmakers agreed last year to a 9.5 pct increase in iron ore prices but since then spot prices have jumped about 150 pct as demand has soared, leading the market to expect an increase of about 60 pct in the contract price this year. A 65 pct jump is the second biggest rise after 2005's 71 pct spike.

Demand for iron ore, a key material in steel, has soared due to growing demand led by a construction boom in China and India.

Steelmakers also face increasing costs for coal and coke.

Ko Min-Jin, a spokeswoman for Posco, said the group will consider raising prices of its products after completing negotiations with other miners.

Katsuaki Watanabe, president of Toyota Motor Corp, said Japan's top-ranked automaker had no immediate plans to raise car prices.

At 9.25 am, shares in Rio Tinto were up 74 pence, or 1.4 pct, at 5,567 pence, while BHP was up 24p, or 1.6 pct, at 1,575p. – Thomson Financial

'Vedanta' out, SC admits Sterlite plea-India Business-Business-The Times of India

2008-02-17T23:15:00.000-08:00

'Vedanta' out, SC admits Sterlite plea-India Business-Business-The Times of India

WSJ - Feb 12: Coal prices Surge $20 in 2003 to $120 in 2008

2008-02-17T19:37:00.000-08:00

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China is doing for coal what it once did for oil: pushing prices to new highs, adding more pressure to the creaking global economy.

China has long been a huge supplier of coal to itself and the rest of the world. But in the first half of last year, it imported more than it exported for the first time, setting off a near-doubling of most coal prices around the world. The capper came in late January when a winter of punishing snowstorms and power shortages led Beijing to suspend coal exports for at least two months.

Just since then, Asian prices have shot up an additional 34%. Last week, coal benchmarks hit all-time highs in the U.S., Europe and Asia. That's adding to worries over global inflation already stoked by rising prices for everything from crude oil to cattle feed. "The velocity of the change has been remarkable," says Thomas Hoffman, senior vice president for external affairs for U.S.-based coal supplier Consol Energy Inc., which he says is considering holding off on some commitments to supply coal to see if prices rise even further.

For the world, which uses coal for about 40% of its electricity, the result is similar to what happened after China became a net importer of oil in 1993. But the Chinese factor is unfolding much faster with coal. It wasn't until China's industrial development shifted into overdrive this decade that the nation began to shake global petroleum markets. Oil's big price surge came after widespread brownouts in China in 2004 forced factories there to buy diesel fuel for backup generators, increasing the country's foreign oil demand.

China's need for coal is rising as other factors around the world are putting severe strain on supply for the fossil fuel. Flooding at major mines in Australia since mid-January has dramatically stunted that major coal producer's exports to Asian markets. For more than a year, meanwhile, Australia's overloaded ports have been choked with cargo vessels, forcing ships to wait in long lines to dock and get their coal. Power shortages and blackouts in South Africa amid rising demand there have curtailed exports to Europe. In Russia, another major coal producer, rail-car shortages have frustrated attempts to meet growing world demand.

Demand is rising quickly elsewhere. Japan, one of the world's biggest importers, is burning even more coal since an earthquake damaged a nuclear reactor last year, doubling one utility's coal intake. Longer-term pressure comes from India, which has mounted a major expansion of coal-fired electricity plants that is driving up the country's coal imports despite its large domestic reserves. Indonesia has been moving over the past year or so to divert more of its coal stores to domestic use, as the coal industry there has been depleting its higher-quality coal reserves.

Even U.S. coal producers are ramping up exports to Europe, as buyers who for years were uninterested in American coal now are scrounging for supply. "There's a butterfly effect," with issues inside China pushing up demand and prices for the fuel from other coal-producing nations, says Vic Svec, a senior executive at Peabody Energy Corp., the world's largest private-sector coal producer, based in St. Louis. "Demand from Beijing can ripple back to Queensland, Australia, or Gillette, Wyoming."

The China-driven coal boom has pushed up wages and created more jobs for U.S. miners as well as port and rail workers -- a twist on recent trends moving industrial jobs from the U.S. to China. "We've as an industry never seen such a dramatic . . . upturn in the market that seems to have such extended strength," Bennett Hatfield, chief executive of International Coal Group Inc., another U.S. coal producer, said Thursday in a call with analysts. Consol Energy said exports from its Baltimore terminal rose 20% last year and it expects a 25% jump this year.

Thermal coal prices at Australia's Newcastle port, an Asian price benchmark, finished at $125 a metric ton Monday, according to the globalCOAL international trading platform. That was up 34% since Jan. 25 and up 143% from January 2007.

On Monday, Central Appalachian coal futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange for delivery in March stood at $78.25 per U.S. ton. That's double its price at the start of 2007 despite weak domestic demand and above-average stockpiles due to a mild U.S. winter.

Some experts say coal prices could remain high or even keep climbing through 2009 or beyond, weighing on the already-slowing world economy. Even though coal is a leading source of atmosphere-warming greenhouse gases, its share of the world's energy diet is increasing -- which could help keep its price up in a recession. Although the use of cleaner-burning alternative fuels is on the rise, fast-growing energy consumption is expected to underpin coal demand. Still a relatively cheap -- and abundant -- alternative to oil, coal is sought in rapidly industrializing nations such as Brazil, India and Vietnam as well as China.

The demand for steel in developing countries has put coking coal used for steel at historic highs, as well as the thermal coal used for power. New coal-fired electric plants under construction in the U.S. also should add 50 million tons of new coal demand a year, about a 5% increase above current demand, say natural-resources portfolio managers at U.S. Global Investors.

To be sure, some of the factors boosting coal's price are temporary. China's worst snowstorms in 50 years have both increased demand and hampered delivery from coal mines in northern China to power plants across its southern and western regions. China has been methodically closing down thousands of unsafe and inefficient coal mines, restricting supply until enough new or refurbished mines can be opened. And Chinese regulations have contributed to shortages. China has freed domestic coal prices to rise with demand, but has capped electricity tariffs. That led power plants to order less coal -- leaving them short of coal when the storms hit.

But it's unclear how long Beijing could take to reopen more mines or correct its market imbalances. And other factors driving up prices aren't likely to change soon.

Chinese coal demand grew nearly 9% last year, raising its share to a quarter of the world's consumption. Its coal industry roughly doubled output from 2001 to 2006, but that growth slowed to about 6% last year, not enough to keep pace with demand. Five years ago, China exported 83 million more metric tons of coal than it took in. Last year, that surplus had fallen to two million. The rapid loss of more than 80 million tons in exports amounts to about 12% of the internationally traded market.

This year will be worse, predicts Gerard Burg, minerals and energy economist at National Australia Bank, who calculates China will become a net importer of 15 million tons. The International Energy Agency forecasts the gap will continue to widen: Unless China changes its energy mix, the agency predicts, it will be a net importer of 66 million tons of so-called coal equivalent, an energy measurement that equates to 95 million metric tons.

Coal was assumed by many in the energy industry to be immune to worries about the stability of supply that have helped push oil to record highs. Coal reserves are more evenly distributed around the world, and most of the world's coal is consumed where it's mined. Coal prices enjoyed a bull run in 2004 and 2005, but today's prices are higher and are causing more concern, as the possibility of a global recession looms and oil trades at around $90 per barrel.

Coal reserves still are relatively plentiful world-wide. But expanding the infrastructure to mine and transport them in developing countries is slow and expensive -- and those countries' consumption is rising at least as fast their output. India ramped up production by a third from the late 1990s to 2005, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, while its consumption increased by roughly 40%. Russia plans to double its coal consumption, says U.S. Global, in part to free up natural gas for lucrative export to Europe.

As recently as 2003, China was a critical coal supplier to many Asian neighbors such as Japan, which relies on China for 10% of its coal. But around that time, China's economic expansion began to accelerate sharply, especially in heavy industries that guzzle electricity, including auto making, steel and chemicals. Coal exports began to dwindle and imports rose.

Beijing began closing coal mines in 2005 to address a horrific safety record. Energy-security experts still expected its exports to increase. But China also was adding hundreds of new coal-fired power stations -- enough to power all of Australia in 2006 and again in 2007 -- even while closing older, inefficient ones. According to the China Electricity Council, China's power-generating capacity rose by 18% just from last July to December, most of it fueled by coal.

In northern China's coal belt, there were massive expansions on key rail lines to keep the supply flowing. But by mid-December last year, cracks in the coal-supply chain started to appear as the country entered the winter heating season. On Dec. 11, the huge city of Chongqing announced it would ration electricity for the first time during winter. Government officials said overworked generators were breaking down, and there was a shortage of coal.

By early January, the government said it had closed 10,412 coal mines and still planned to close 1,100 more. Meanwhile, coal miners and buyers were preparing for contract negotiations. Coal prices, freed from government control two years earlier, were steadily rising. But the government was keeping caps on electricity rates to hold down inflation, at an 11-year-high. Power producers started lobbying for higher tariffs. They began shutting down some plants because they were unprofitable to run -- and let their coal stockpiles run down to just 10 days' supply, according to the Ministry of Railways.

On Jan. 10, the worst blizzards in decades started to pummel a huge swath of central and southern China, leading to heating shortages. The vice governor of one of China's most economically important provinces, Guangdong, publicly chastised power operators for chasing excessive profits.

A day later, Xiao Peng, the vice general manager of China Southern Power Grid, said the region had shut down 6% of its power-generating capacity because of a shortage in coal -- the worst electricity shortage in five years. Other provinces reported power plants had stopped providing electricity because they couldn't afford coal supplies, until ordered back online. Later in the month came the ban on coal exports.

The coal shortage has rippled through other commodity markets, hurting China's output of steel, copper, zinc and aluminum as electricity is being diverted for domestic industry and household heat and electricity. China's largest copper producer, Jiangxi Copper Co., shut down some plants, contributing to higher U.S. copper futures. Jim Thompson, editor of Coal & Energy, a daily market newsletter on the coal industry, said if global coal prices remain high, it's possible that utilities in the U.S. and Europe could run low on fuel too.

---

Ellen Zhu in Shanghai contributed to this article.

Document View - Nine cities, Nine Ideas - Energy saving WSJ

2008-02-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

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Energy (A Special Report); Nine Cities, Nine Ideas

Jim Carlton. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Feb 11, 2008. pg. R.1

Abstract (Summary)

"If city government does not show leadership by its use of renewable energy and energy-efficiency solutions, it is hard to have credibility with its constituents in being a good steward of the environment," says John Berger, chief executive officer of Standard Renewable Energy, a Houston-based provider of solar, wind and other alternative energies. The City Hall garden, completed in 2001, covers about 20,000 square feet of the roof, using more than 100 hardy species that can withstand Chicago's fierce winds and temperature extremes.

» Jump to indexing (document details)

Full Text (4030 words)

[Local governments around the globe are coming up with some of the most innovative ways to cut energy use. There are lessons here for places of all sizes.]

Ann Arbor, Mich., and Beijing, China, have precious little in common. But the modest college town and sprawling national capital do share one trait: They're part of a world-wide movement by cities to rein in their runaway energy use.

Ann Arbor is replacing the bulbs in its street lamps with light- emitting diodes that use much less power. Beijing is closing or relocating cement kilns, coal mines and chemical plants dating back to the era of Chairman Mao.

Elsewhere around the world, cities are embarking on all sorts of innovative programs to try to corral the amount of energy they consume. Chicago is planting rooftop gardens to cool down its municipal buildings. New York is working with a private company to harness the power of tidal currents in the city's East River. Amsterdam is using cold lake water to help air-condition homes.

"We have the beginnings of a mass movement among municipal leaders," says Ralph Cavanagh, energy-program co-director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group based in New York.

For cities, the motivation is twofold. All the hand-wringing over climate change has prompted more cities to do their part to contain greenhouse-gas emissions that most scientists believe are causing global warming. In the U.S., more than 700 mayors have signed an agreement to try to follow the Kyoto Protocol's goal of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions -- even though the Senate has rejected the treaty.

The other major motivation for cities: energy costs, which have more than doubled since 2000. Strapped for cash, municipalities are scrambling to save as much money on energy use as they can.

Although city governments themselves use a fraction of energy consumed in a municipality, industry experts say they play a crucial leadership role in getting others to conserve.

Here's a look at the innovative programs nine cities around the world are using to keep their energy consumption -- and their skyrocketing bills -- under control.

CHICAGO

LET YOUR GARDEN GROW

About eight years ago, the Windy City began overhauling 15 million square feet of its municipal buildings to make them use less power. On many of the buildings, city officials decided to put in a novel feature: rooftop gardens.

The first was planted atop the 11-story Chicago City Hall, a nearly century-old landmark where the temperature on the roof -- as on many other downtown buildings -- would soar to as high as 160 degrees on hot days. Gardens can keep a roof as much as 70 degrees cooler, city officials say, because all the greenery reflects heat while providing shade. Consequently, less energy is needed to keep a building cool.

The City Hall garden, completed in 2001, covers about 20,000 square feet of the roof, using more than 100 hardy species that can withstand Chicago's fierce winds and temperature extremes. The savings were felt immediately, with the annual power bill for the building falling by 11%, or almost $10,000, city officials estimate.

Since then, the city has expanded the green-roof program dramatically. Now 4 million square feet of municipal and private rooftops either have a roof garden or are in the process of getting one, says Suzanne Malec-McKenna, Chicago's commissioner of the environment. In so doing, Ms. Malec-McKenna says, the city has made sure to use lightweight, permeable soils to keep the rooftops from becoming too overloaded. Waterproof membranes are also fitted below the garden to keep rain runoff and other water from leaking into the building.

A different kind of problem cropped up on the City Hall roof soon after it was finished. "We had a grasshopper invasion," Ms. Malec- McKenna says. "But thankfully the birds got them."

-- Jim Carlton

ANN ARBOR, MICH.

LIGHTING THE WAY

Officials in this town of 115,000 near Detroit took a close look at their $5 million-a-year municipal electrical bill two years ago and realized they were shelling out $1.5 million -- or roughly a third of the total -- just for street lights. Then they realized they could save substantially by simply swapping standard bulbs for a newer technology: light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

Unlike standard lights that use heated, incandescent bulbs, LED light is cooler and is produced by a semiconductor. The bulbs last as long as 10 years, or five times longer than traditional lights, while using about half as much energy, Ann Arbor officials say.

The LED technology has been around for decades, and the lights have become common in computer indicators and traffic lights. But until about two years ago, LEDs weren't practical for street-lighting purposes because it was difficult for them to produce white light, says Govi Rao, charman of Lighting Science Group Corp., a New York- based LED provider.

In 2005, Ann Arbor tried out one technique for making white light: blending red, green and blue beams. City officials installed some of the makeshift lights in the City Hall parking lot. "They looked like they were cobbled in somebody's garage," recalls David Konkle, energy coordinator for the city.

Then manufacturers came to the rescue, developing aesthetically pleasing white bulbs by coating blue LEDs with phosphor. City officials spent $15,000 to install the new lights on a few streets downtown and in a residential neighborhood.

One of the few complaints was from a resident who said the new lighting no longer illuminated his home on the street; LEDs shine light directionally and are typically pointed down at the ground, unlike incandescent bulbs, which cast a glow all around. "We told him we're not in the business of lighting his home," Mr. Konkle says.

Most other people liked the new LEDs, and the city recently obtained a $630,000 grant from the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to replace all 1,046 of the street lights downtown. The city estimates that replacing the downtown street lights alone will save more than $100,000 in reduced power costs annually as well as 294 tons of carbon-dioxide emissions -- equivalent to the carbon dioxide that about 35 homes generate annually from electricity use.

After that, Mr. Konkle says, the rest of the city's lights will be replaced as the technology develops and prices drop. City officials say they could cut their light bill by as much as $700,000 a year by replacing all of the 7,000 or so streetlights in town.

-- Jim Carlton

PALM DESERT, CALIF.

A COMMUNITY EFFORT

In 2005, Jim Ferguson, then the mayor of this desert city, was traveling across Northern Europe to investigate the region's energy- saving programs. A host of California leaders and utility executives were along on the fact-finding trip, but for Mr. Ferguson the energy problem hit home particularly hard: Power bills in Palm Desert had skyrocketed to as much as $1,000 for residents in hot summer months.

As the cruise ship made its way across the Baltic Sea, Mr. Ferguson recalls turning to some California utility executives and saying: "If you can save us money, then do it."

With the gauntlet laid down, two local utilities, Edison International's Southern California Edison Co. and Sempra Energy's Southern California Gas Co., formed a partnership with the city and a nonprofit for help. The Energy Coalition, of Irvine, Calif., helps cities and utilities work together to reduce energy consumption. Together, the partners devised a plan that would help slash Palm Desert's energy consumption by 30% by 2011 -- and achieve as much as $40 million in annual energy savings.

The plan is one of the most audacious arrangements devised for a U.S. city, since the cuts weren't just coming from municipal operations but from the city of 50,000 as a whole. Adding to the challenge: Palm Desert is a fast-growing resort community with 30,000 homes, 22 golf courses and more than a dozen hotels -- and it's situated in one of the hottest climates in the U.S., with summertime temperatures approaching 120 degrees. That means a lot of power for a lot of air conditioners.

Under the partnership, the utilities obtained $14 million in grants from the California Public Utilities Commission earmarked for use in Palm Desert to finance one of the nation's most aggressive incentive programs for homes and businesses to replace outmoded, energy-guzzling gizmos with energy-saving ones.

Unsurprisingly, air conditioners are one of the biggest parts of the plan. It can cost as much as $1,200 a month for the four or so hottest months of the year to keep older models humming in a three-bedroom home. Palm Desert now gives residents rebates of up to $1,400 per system when they buy new, energy-efficient air-conditioning setups, which can run between $5,000 and $9,000. Since the new air conditioners can save as much as half the power of the older ones, city officials say, they pay for themselves in four to six years. Last year, 493 new systems were installed under the program.

After one full year of the program, which began in January 2007, the city has saved 27 million kilowatt-hours of power, or 12% towards its goal, says Patrick Conlon, director of energy management for Palm Desert. The effort has removed about 3,475 tons of carbon from the air -- equivalent to the carbon dioxide that 1,531 homes generate annually from electricity use. "What we are trying to do is open up [residents'] wallets and invest in energy efficiency, and that's hard to do," Mr. Conlon says. "But everybody understands dollars, and when they get a $1,200 electric bill they understand that."

-- Jim Carlton

AMSTERDAM

LOOKING TO THE LAKE

In 2001, the Zuidas section of Amsterdam, south of the central city, was seeing lots of new development. As Zuidas grew, local leaders wanted to keep emissions down and help the city -- and the Netherlands as a whole -- meet Kyoto Protocol objectives. So the Dutch capital set an ambitious target: Zuidas would have to use 40% less energy than other parts of the city.

It would be a challenge. The high-density development would have big energy demands -- particularly since about 45% of the buildings would be used for businesses.

"There were lots of companies investing, making plans," says Ronald Roelen, business manager at Nuon Warmte, the subsidiary of Amsterdam- based utility Nuon that's responsible for Zuidas. "Amsterdam wanted to be the center of the IT world and needs a lot of electricity; the question was, how can we avoid making huge investments into electricity?"

Nuon zeroed in on air conditioning. About 37% of the total power load in Zuidas was expected to be used for cooling computer rooms and other high-tech necessities. Using a pilot project in Stockholm as a model, Nuon decided to cut down on all that power use -- by harnessing a local man-made lake, Nieuwe Meer.

The system, which came on line in August 2006, starts by removing water from about 100 feet below the surface of the lake. At that level, the temperature is usually a chilly 41 to 45 degrees. This water is pumped away and used to cool another supply of water that is then pumped into customers' buildings. There, it radiates cool air through the pipes -- much like hot-water pipes give off heat to warm a building. The lake water, meanwhile, is returned to Nieuwe Meer.

The project, which provides air conditioning for about 700,000 people in the southern part of Zuidas, saves 200,000 euros ($292,000) a year in electricity costs and uses just one-tenth the power of conventional cooling systems, Nuon says. The utility provided most of the investment for the roughly 25 million euro effort, with a subsidy of 900,000 euros from the Dutch government.

Now there are plans to expand the project to the northern part of the Zuidas area. Officials also are considering a similar project for the district Amsterdam Zuidoost Lob, in the southeastern part of the city, using water from another lake.

-- Erica Herrero-Martinez

BEIJING

OUT WITH THE OLD

As part of its action plan for hosting the Olympics, Beijing targeted deep cuts in energy consumption. And it had a string of industrial relics from the city's former planned economy squarely in its sights.

Cement kilns, coal mines and chemical plants dating back to the era of Chairman Mao were earmarked for relocation or closure so that Beijing could lower its energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by more than 6% annually by 2008. (That measure represents the ratio of China's total energy use, in tons of coal equivalent to its GDP, in yuan.) Part of the motivation was simple conservation of resources. China has been gobbling up coal at an enormous rate, as the nation's recent shortages -- and resulting power outages -- show.

Pollution worries were also driving Beijing's campaign; conditions were so bad that the International Olympic Committee talked of a need for contingency plans to protect athletes' health, possibly by postponing events on smoggy days.

To achieve Beijing's goals, some big employers are getting the boot. The Beijing Coking and Chemistry Plant, built in 1959, shuttered in July 2006. Last year, Beijing Huaer Co.'s chemical plant and the Beijing Organic Chemical Plant were targeted to be moved out of town within a year of the games' beginning. Scores of coal mines will be shut, and a ban was imposed on cement kilns inside the city's fifth ring road -- about 7 miles from the city proper.

The biggest challenge lay about 11 miles west of Tiananmen Square: Shougang Group's vast steelworks. A major employer in the city, the steelworks has been a source of civic pride for decades despite its inefficiency and the smoke emitted from its chimneys. Production at the plant is being wound down for the Olympics, with annual output due to halve to 4.2 million metric tons of steel during 2008. Operations will cease in 2010 and move to a new, more-efficient facility some 137 miles away at Caofeidian in Hebei province. Part of the new plant will be ready for production in October, to make up for the shrinking capacity in Beijing.

But relocating Shougang's steelworks involves complex technical and political challenges -- not least the impact on more than 60,000 Beijing-based workers who may need to be relocated or change their jobs. How to split taxes from steel production between Beijing and Hebei is another issue.

Beijing hopes to absorb some of the displaced workers from the environmental drive into the city's booming service sector. Municipal officials also plan to salve civic pride by making Shougang's steelworks a memorial to the capital's industrial development -- including progress in energy efficiency -- by turning it into a tourist attraction once production ends.

The city's efforts are paying off. For years, Beijing had the highest energy consumption in China. But its efficiency drive -- equivalent to taking two 500-megawatt power plants offline each year -- has dropped Beijing behind Shanghai in terms of consumption.

-- David Winning and Sue Feng

LONDON

POWER CLOSER TO HOME

By 2025, London Mayor Ken Livingstone wants to cut London's carbon emissions 60% from their 1990 levels. His plan: move a quarter of the city's power supply to small, local energy sources and away from the national electric grid.

Producing electricity nearer the point of use means you don't have to use as much energy to deliver the power to customers, and less of the electricity bleeds away in transit. It also means that heat created as a byproduct of energy production can be used to warm customers' buildings. If plants are located far from customers, that heat cools down in transit.

The city has a number of projects in the works to achieve that goal. To develop them, the city's climate-change agency has teamed up with the U.K. unit of the French utility EDF to create London Energy Services Co., or London ESCO.

EDF Energy says the driving force behind the local-power venture will be combined heat-and-power plants, along with conventional gas- fired plants. As part of the effort, London ESCO says it is also considering investing in a large-scale wind farm, as well as a plant that combines power generation with both heating and cooling. The plant creates heat as a byproduct, as heat-and-power plants do, but also cool air -- which can be used in local air-conditioning systems.

The company estimates that projects already in the pipeline will be able to meet about 2% of London's energy needs. The first plant is expected to come on line as early as 2009.

Meanwhile, London ESCO is one of the three short-listed bidders for a project in the Elephant and Castle area of London. The proposed new plant will have up to 9 megawatts of capacity and will supply heat, cooling and electricity to about 6,500 local homes.

-- Erica Herrero-Martinez

ASPEN, COLO.

Few cities have more at stake in global warming than this skiing mecca, whose main livelihood -- winter sports -- is directly threatened by forecasts of shrinking snow packs in the Rocky Mountain West.

So, in 2005, officials in the upscale town of 6,000 decided to adopt a plan called the Canary Initiative -- so named because the town sees itself as a canary in the environmental coal mine. The plan called for the city to dramatically ramp up its use of alternative energy and take other steps to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions 80% by 2050.

A major part of the plan involves the Aspen Recreation Center, a three-story structure that houses swimming pools, an ice rink and other athletic facilities. Last August, Aspen launched a $1.1 million retrofit of the center to cut its hefty power use. The two pools and a hot tub, for instance, got new covers so they don't lose heat at night and have to be reheated in the morning. The facility also was outfitted with energy-efficient climate-control units and timed electrical controls. For instance, vending machines now have sensors, so the lights turn on only if someone is in the room, says Tim Anderson, the city's recreation director.

Mr. Anderson says the city will benefit economically from the project, with the annual energy bill for the center dropping by nearly 40%, or $130,000, from its usual $350,000. The overhaul will also save 713,207 kilowatt-hours of power annually, or enough to supply 85 average Colorado homes for a year. As for carbon dioxide, the new designs will keep about 640 tons of the gas out of the air every year, about the same as 77 homes generate annually from electricity use.

-- Jim Carlton

NEW YORK

TAPPING THE WAVES

In December 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced an ambitious plan for New York: By 2030, the nation's largest city would cut its greenhouse-gas emissions by 30%. As part of the plan, Mr. Bloomberg called for 800 megawatts of new clean-energy generation, or enough to power about 640,000 homes. One company is working with the city to help reach that goal. Its unorthodox idea: harness the power of waves in New York's East River to generate electricity.

On June 11 of last year, Mr. Bloomberg helped flip the switch on an experimental tidal plant in the waterway. Since then, the five turbines submerged in 30 feet of water have been producing enough power to meet nearly a third of the electricity needs of a supermarket and parking garage on Roosevelt Island, between the New York boroughs of Manhattan and Queens. The turbines are equipped with three 16-foot diameter rotors, which spin like the blades of a windmill when the tidal currents rush through the East River at regular intervals every day.

The pilot project by Verdant Power Inc. has worked so well that officials of the New York-based start-up say they plan to seek a federal operating license later this year to install more underwater turbines. A total of 30 are on the drawing board; they would be capable of generating up to 1.5 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power about 800 homes.

City officials, who helped underwrite environmental studies for the project and have streamlined the permitting process, say as many as 300 turbines could eventually be installed in the East River, providing 10 megawatts of renewable power, or enough to power about 8,000 homes. That power, city officials say, could replace the equivalent of 68,000 barrels of oil a year.

But wave power isn't without its challenges. Regulatory barriers are so large, for example, that it can take years to get a permit to build one. Verdant Power wasn't able to get its turbines actually up and running until last year after spending five years seeking state and federal permits. The costs are also high: Verdant Power officials say the East River project has cost a total of about $9 million, with the state of New York footing the bill for about a third of that.

So far, one fear of environmentalists isn't materializing: that blades of the turbines would hurt fish. In the East River project, Mr. Taylor says, the blades spin so slowly that fish just swim out of the way.

-- Jim Carlton

THANE, INDIA

FOLLOW THE SUN

A little-known suburb of India's financial center, Mumbai, is aspiring to become the face of the nation's renewable-energy efforts. Thane, like other Indian cities, depends on the power generated from the country's vast coal resources. And, like other cities, it's struggling to meet the growing demand of its population -- which usually means one to four hours of blackouts every day.

To cope with the problem, many Indian cities offer incentives such as property-tax rebates to get residents to install solar-water heaters. But Thane, an industrial city of about 1.5 million people, has been much more aggressive than other municipalities. Not only is it encouraging residents to take up solar power -- it is using the renewable energy extensively in its own buildings.

"We saw a big potential in energy conservation and the use of solar power in tackling the power shortage in the city and decided to make the most of it," says deputy city engineer (electrical) Sunil Pote.

The local administration started its solar drive in 2003 with a project at its main hospital. Facing a huge electricity bill, the administration decided to install solar water heaters at the facility, with a capacity of about 4,760 gallons a day. The $40,500 or so investment made five years ago saves the hospital about $23,500 a year in electricity costs and meets all of its hot-water needs. The energy saved is enough to power about 45 homes.

The success of the project and the savings it generated prompted the administration to move on to its other buildings. During the refitting drive, local officials installed a total of about 8,850 gallons a day of solar water-heater units.

Then the city decided to get residents in on the effort, as well. Beginning in May 2005, the administration made it mandatory for builders to fit all new buildings with solar water heaters. "We wanted people to see the cost benefits of using solar energy, so we took a different approach," Mr. Pote says. "Before we made it mandatory, people were reluctant to use solar water heaters, as there was a misconception that they are expensive to install."

Meanwhile, to encourage existing buildings owners to install solar water heaters, the city began offering a 10% discount on property tax every year for adding the hardware.

Since the program began, 16,300 families in the city have connected to solar water heaters, Mr. Pote says. With those efforts, the city today saves enough electricity to power more than 5,000 homes. "This is still a small fraction," Mr. Pote adds. "If we can get at least 25% of the families to start using solar water heaters, we can reduce the city's total electricity consumption by almost 15%."

-- Gurdeep Singh

Document View - OPEC of Iron Ore

2008-02-12T12:13:00.000-08:00

Document View

Mining Firms Bulk Up, Echoing Big Oil Mergers; BHP Bid for Rio Heralds A New Era for Resources; The OPEC of Iron Ore?

Patrick Barta and Robert Guy Matthews. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Dec 18, 2007. pg. A.1

Abstract (Summary)

The resulting megaminers would have great influence over the cost of raw materials like iron ore, copper and uranium -- and, by extension, the price of consumer electronics, cars and new apartment blocks. Freeport- McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. of New Orleans acquired Phelps Dodge Corp. of Phoenix; Vale bought Canada's Inco Ltd.; Xstrata took over Canadian nickel giant Falconbridge Ltd.; and Rio Tinto snatched up aluminum powerhouse Alcan Inc. As recently as early this decade, the mining sector was filled with relatively small companies with minimal pull on the world economy.

» Jump to indexing (document details)

Full Text (2198 words)

MELBOURNE, Australia -- First there was Big Oil. Now comes Big Mining.

For years now, mining companies have gotten rich supplying the raw materials that have fueled consumer booms from China and India to Brazil. As commodities prices soared, these companies socked away cash and snapped up rivals. Now they are embarking on another round of deals that promises a new class of juggernauts. The resulting megaminers would have great influence over the cost of raw materials like iron ore, copper and uranium -- and, by extension, the price of consumer electronics, cars and new apartment blocks.

Last month, Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton announced a $125 billion proposal to merge with Anglo-Australian rival Rio Tinto. The deal would combine the world's No. 1 and No. 3 miners into a company worth as much as $320 billion at current market values -- bigger than every global oil company except Exxon Mobil Corp. and Russia's OAO Gazprom. It would be the world's largest producer of copper and aluminum, its No. 2 iron-ore provider and potentially the largest source of uranium.

BHP's proposal set off talk of more deals. Last week, the world's No. 5 mining company, Switzerland-based Xstrata PLC, suggested it was open to being taken over -- with likely suitors including the two other top five names, London-based Anglo American PLC and Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, or Vale. This comes on top of more than $100 billion worth of mining deals in the past two years: Freeport- McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. of New Orleans acquired Phelps Dodge Corp. of Phoenix; Vale bought Canada's Inco Ltd.; Xstrata took over Canadian nickel giant Falconbridge Ltd.; and Rio Tinto snatched up aluminum powerhouse Alcan Inc.

As recently as early this decade, the mining sector was filled with relatively small companies with minimal pull on the world economy. But the acquisitions of recent years echo the oil-industry consolidation that began in the late 1990s and produced today's "super majors" -- Exxon joining with Mobil, Chevron with Texaco, and British Petroleum with both Amoco and Atlantic Richfield.

"If you look at the industry and the history of oil, really the same game is playing out," says Alex Gorbansky, a managing director at Frontier Strategy Group, a Washington, D.C.-based emerging-markets advisory firm.

Not all of the forces that united oil companies were like those driving Big Mining today. Commodity prices were depressed in the late 1990s, and oil companies thought merging would help them cut costs to survive hard times. Today's miners face the opposite challenge: Prices are so high that natural-resources companies have more cash than they know what to do with.

But the similarities are striking, say investors, bankers and analysts who study the sector. On the back of explosive growth in China and other developing countries, some mined commodities are taking on a strategic importance that's starting to rival that of crude. As with oil, most of the world's easy, high-grade mineral deposits have been tapped, leaving resources that are lower-grade, harder to reach or in politically challenging locations. By merging, miners hope to tackle the complex projects that remain.

Many Western miners hope their size and technical prowess will make them choice partners in countries such as Mongolia that need foreign expertise to develop their assets. Big Western miners are also bulking up to compete with new miners in countries including Russia and China.

Size will also matter in an era of increasing resource nationalism. Much as Russia and Venezuela cracked down on oil companies' access to local reserves, the likes of India, Indonesia and Bolivia are increasingly protective of their mineral resources. Megaminers with broad experience and well-known names could have more leverage to persuade such countries to open for development. On the flip side, should host governments decline to cooperate, big miners would have a portfolio of reserves to fall back on.

The Big Mining era could result in higher profits for leading companies, much as consolidation boosted earnings for Big Oil. But the trend could make life more difficult for consumers. A few big companies could have the power to wait out market weaknesses and keep prices high, by putting projects on hold or moving slowly to start new ones.

"The more concentration you get, the more monopoly power you get," says Amy Jaffe, an energy-studies fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. In a November study, Ms. Jaffe found that oil-sector consolidation resulted in less oil, not more, from big companies. She suggests that's because big oil companies have spent money on dividends and share buybacks at the expense of new exploration. "People with monopoly power don't use it to decrease prices and develop more supply," she says.

Though a BHP-Rio deal is far from certain, the overture is the product of broad forces that analysts say are driving consolidation across the industry. A look at the proposed tie-up provides one scenario of how the world of Big Mining would look.

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both date to the 1800s, when their predecessors developed mines in Australia and Spain. Over the years, the companies grew through mergers and new mines to become two of the business's largest players. In the industry, BHP was known as the more aggressive, with risk-taking geologists who favored large, complex projects. Rio was seen as stuffy but financially savvy, with a tendency to talk down the value of its assets to manage investor expectations.

As recently as 2001, there were a dozen or more midsize players with market capitalizations of around $3 billion to $5 billion, and many smaller players. No single company achieved a dominant role.

Melbourne was an industry center. Two decades ago, the city of trams and Victorian-era buildings had scores of midsize mining houses, including several that became known collectively as the Collins House Group because they were located on a stretch of Collins Street downtown. Rival executives sometimes drank together at the posh Melbourne Club, housed in a 19th-century landmark building.

Business changed as the recent commodities boom gathered momentum starting in 2002. New mines were in great demand, but they were few and far between. In presentations to investors last year, former BHP Chief Executive Charles "Chip" Goodyear noted that mining companies were finding only a handful of major new deposits in the Western world each year, compared with 30 or more in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Most newer mines were based on deposits discovered years or decades before. Many had never been developed because they were in places that posed significant risk, like the Congo, or held relatively low-grade minerals.

Meanwhile, resource-rich countries have been tightening the screws on foreign investors. Earlier this year in Bolivia, authorities seized a tin smelter owned by Glencore International AG of Switzerland. Glencore protested but hasn't been compensated. Similarly, officials in mineral-rich Indonesia have stalled legislation that would clear the way for new foreign mining investments. Rio has been in talks with the Indonesian government since 2005 to develop a large nickel mine there but hasn't sealed a deal.

On another front, new competitors from developing countries were taking form. Russia's United Co. Rusal, the product of a three-way merger, elbowed Alcoa aside recently to become the world's biggest aluminum company. China Shenhua Energy Co., a coal producer, raised nearly $9 billion in the year's second-largest public stock offering. It aims to grow by acquiring assets overseas, it has said.

As BHP and Rio grappled with this new reality, cash from sales in emerging markets were piling up. Both companies' operations in iron ore -- a key component in steel -- were booming as highways, factories and apartment towers sprouted up across China. Chinese iron-ore demand has more than doubled since 2003, and the country now accounts for roughly half of the world's iron-ore imports, compared with 29% in 2003. Iron-ore prices have more than doubled in the past three years.

Mining companies boosted dividends and repurchased shares to appease investors, much as oil companies have done. But that didn't boost future growth prospects. So as Big Oil did in the 1990s, BHP and its cohorts began buying each other.

In 2005, BHP launched a $7 billion takeover of WMC Resources, an Australian copper, nickel and uranium miner and a mainstay of the Melbourne mining scene. Rio bought big stakes in other companies' undeveloped mines.

By 2007, the old midsize miners had practically disappeared from Melbourne. BHP and Rio, with high-rise offices downtown, were the undisputed heavyweights. Globally, the mining landscape was dominated by a handful of giant players, including BHP, Rio, Vale, Xstrata and Anglo American. BHP's market value is now on par with Chevron Corp. Brazil's Vale has a market capitalization bigger than ConocoPhillips.

BHP and Rio both positioned themselves for bigger deals. When Mr. Goodyear retired from BHP's top job earlier this year, the company chose South Africa-born Marius Kloppers, who held an M.B.A. and a Ph.D. in materials science. Mr. Kloppers had led the internal team that executed BHP's acquisition of WMC Resources.

Facing its own CEO vacancy, Rio tapped American Tom Albanese. At age 17, Mr. Albanese had set out from New Jersey to Alaska, persuading the University of Alaska to create a major for him called "mineral economics." He got a job staking claims in remote parts of the state, living out of a tent. Mr. Albanese joined Rio Tinto in 1993 and helped lead the company's effort to invest in a $3 billion project in Mongolia, Oyu Tolgoi, that analysts believe is one of the world's largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits.

As Rio's CEO, Mr. Albanese bought Alcan out from under rival Alcoa. When it was announced, the $40 billion deal was the mining sector's largest. Many analysts assumed it was driven in part by a desire to prevent other suitors -- including BHP -- from launching an attack on Rio.

In November, BHP said it was going after Rio anyway.

In a presentation laying out the proposal, BHP's Mr. Kloppers said he wanted to create a "super major" of mining. The company would focus on high-reward projects, including capital-intensive jobs smaller companies can't handle. "I would take my cue from some of the very effective work in the oil and gas sector when some of the super majors were put together," Mr. Kloppers said.

After a BHP-Rio merger, just two companies -- BHP-Rio and Brazil's Vale -- would control more than 70% of the world's iron-ore trade. (By contrast, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries controls only about 40% of global oil.) Likewise with uranium: About 70% of the world's supply now comes from 12 mines, including three controlled by BHP and Rio. One of BHP's Australian mines, Olympic Dam, has the largest known uranium reserves in the world. The speed with which megamining companies choose to develop such assets would have a large impact on world prices.

BHP and other large miners say they have no intention of slowing new developments to squeeze customers. BHP argues that a merger with Rio would help boost near-term supply because of the combined company's new efficiencies.

Rio's Mr. Albanese has downplayed the similarities with Big Oil, though he concurs it is getting harder to find good new projects. Rio officials have also argued that BHP's offer significantly undervalues its assets, and investors are waiting to see whether BHP comes back with a bigger one. But some kind of combination is likely, many analysts say. Many shareholders they've talked to approve of a merger in concept, they say.

The proposal has set other talks in motion. A few days after BHP's proposal was announced, Russia's Rusal said it was trying to acquire roughly 25% of OAO Norilsk Nickel, a major Russian nickel producer. People familiar with the situation say the Russian aluminum producer hopes a Norilsk stake would provide additional diversity to compete with a bulked-up BHP.

Rumors have also been swirling that Chinese steelmakers could launch a competing bid for Rio Tinto priced at about $200 billion. Most analysts believe such a deal would be hard to pull off, in part because of likely opposition from foreign governments.

"We're only talking about a couple of years before [China-based companies] are ready" for a deal the size of BHP-Rio, says Mark Pervan, an analyst at ANZ Bank in Melbourne.

"We're in a game of musical chairs," adds Wayne Atwell, a former Morgan Stanley mining analyst who's starting a resources fund, Pontis Global, in Stamford, Conn. "There are fewer and fewer chairs, and if you want to make another acquisition, you'd better make it now or it will be gone."

The outlook for mining could change dramatically in the event that China suffers a severe economic slowdown. In that case, commodity prices could fall significantly, leaving big miners with assets purchased at the top of the market.

But most industry observers expect Chinese demand to remain strong, and say the currents of consolidation are moving too quickly to keep the sector's remaining companies from joining in. When they do, they'll have to invent new ways to grow. One new idea now circulating in the industry: the possibility that Big Mining will start buying Big Oil companies.

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Remembering Kalinganagar - Will cheap and dirty industrialization work? | Editor's(Sunita Narain) Page | Down To Earth magazine

2008-02-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

Remembering Kalinganagar - Will cheap and dirty industrialization work? | Editor's Page | Down To Earth magazine

Remembering Kalinganagar - Will cheap and dirty industrialization work?

From the highway the gravestones were visible. Thirteen headstones, rough and blunt, carved with names of each dead tribal. Each stone was placed so that together they formed a semi-circle looking down at us. In front of the 13-stone platform was a fenced area with scattered burnt sticks lying as if for the picking. I realized I was looking at a cremation ground. I also realized in shock that this must have been the place where the tribals killed in police firing were consecrated to fire and that the place has been left intact as a grim reminder. Waiting as if for some relief or resolution.

We were in the village of Gobarghati, where the Kalinganagar firing happened. A village a few hours' drive from Bhubaneswar. A typical tribal village, thatched huts, surrounded by bamboo groves placed in the midst of paddy fields. But behind the hush we could feel the tension. Two years ago, protests against the takeover of village land for the Tata steel plant had led to an armed skirmish. The village is part of an industrial estate for which the state government had acquired land some years ago. In 2006, when the company started building its boundary wall the fight broke out. After the firing, villagers blockaded the national highway for well over a year. It was lifted when the chief minister finally met the village representatives and gave some ‘assurances’. But nothing has changed on the ground.

The villagers we met were angry and resolute. They said they would not give up their land. When asked if they would agree if they were paid higher compensation, they simply said no. “We are poor, but our land gives us enough for us to survive. If we do not have this, what will we do?” When we asked if they would agree if the company provided jobs, their answer was equally straightforward. “We have seen the factories that have come up around us, we have seen that they had promised our people jobs when they took away our land. But our people have no jobs and no land. The factories say they cannot employ us because we are not educated, they say they do not need so many people. Why should we believe them now?”

We were left with questions. We had no answers.

We then visited the rehabilitation colony set up to relocate villagers whose land had been acquired. Company officials said they were planning to give employment to a nominated family member. This would need skill development or education. They were beginning to train villagers in welding and other trades. In addition, the government had also agreed to raise cash compensation from Rs 14,000 per hectare (ha) to Rs 40,000 per ha; a 400 sq-m plot and Rs 1.5 lakh as aid to build a house. Within the family each adult son would be considered separate, which would mean benefits would multiply. A good deal is how company officials saw it.

We asked young men in the colony, why they had moved. “Because we had no land and we were given jobs.” But they also said, with obvious pain in their eyes, that since then they could not enter their village. They had been ostracized. Clearly, there was anger and however good the deal, there was resistance.

The question was why? Was it just the cussedness of few individuals; or the vested interests of competitors fuelling the unrest; or were the simple villagers we met Naxalites fighting an ideological war against the state and industry? The why question was even more incomprehensible if you thought that the people fighting change were poor—they lived in mud and thatched huts, which would be exchanged for brick houses; they were subject to the vagaries of rainfall, and crop failure, which they would give up for cash compensation. The agricultural fields for us, from the outside, certainly looked impoverished. In our eyes, the future looked only brighter.

But this is where we must understand differently. In Gobarghati, I could not see Naxalites or misguided people. All I could see were people fighting for all they have in full knowledge that their poverty is only going to be exchanged for greater deprivation and marginalization. They know they do not have the skills to succeed in the new world. They also know, after bitter experience, that the industrial world does not need many people to work its enterprises. It needs their land, water, minerals, but not their labour. Even if they get the promised homes, compensation for land, they won’t have work. Their land is marginal, they are poor but they survive.

Not far away, villagers who face displacement by the Korean giant Posco's steel plant have also set new terms. They want higher compensation for agricultural and homestead land; employment for every adult in this and future generations; houses and amenities; Rs 1,000 as monthly allowance for people too old to get a job and a share of profits. This, we must understand, is not greed, but the value the poor put to their land. We must also understand that modern industry cannot compete with agriculture in terms of livelihood security.

If we accept this maybe we will look for answers differently. It is clear that industry will need land, the question is at what cost and how much. Industry is greedy for land. Tata will get 1,000 ha for their steel plant. Their neighbour, Neelanchal Steel, has got a slice, too, where it has planted trees—a ‘green’ steel mill built on poor people's land.

The question is why Indian industry cannot be far more frugal in its demand for land as indeed it must be with its need for water? Why should industry not negotiate and pay the price people want for their land. In this case, it will also look for less valuable, less cultivable land. Most importantly how can market-believers justify the use of the land acquisition act, which allows government to takeover any land, without questions asked, for so-called public purpose. This is cheap and dirty industrialization. It will not work.

—Sunita Narain

India's Rinl seeks Bird Group & OMDC acquisition to secure iron ore - Metals News - Metals Place

2008-02-12T00:23:00.000-08:00

India's Rinl seeks Bird Group acquisition to secure iron ore - Metals News - Metals Place

State-run Rashtriya Ispat Nigam has sought to acquire the Bird Group of Companies, including Orissa Mining Development Corporation, to secure iron ore reserves for expansion and said it was willing to invest Rs 5 billion (US$127.09 million) to revamp OMDC's operations.

"We do not have captive mines and are forced to procure ore from the market at sky-high prices. So, we have proposed to take over the entire BCG, including OMDC, which has iron ore reserves of 130 million tons to meet our growing production needs," RINL chairman and managing director P K Bishnoi said.

He said steelmakers with iron ore security have a better turnover, while companies like his take a serious hit on their turnover.

"I have to buy iron ore from the market at around Rs 3,000 per tonne, which is a pretty high price... RINL's profits could have been higher by Rs 1 billion, if we had captive mines," Bishnoi said.

A Parliamentary Consultative Committee had expressed concern about the need to ensure availability of critical raw materials like iron ore and coking coal to cater to both present as well as post-expansion needs of the steel PSUs. The Committee supported curbing iron ore exports.

The government is yet to take a call on the Bagchi's Committee's recommendations on the BCG. "The Committee's report is still under our consideration. We will take a decision in due course of time," a senior Steel Ministry official said, adding that RINL is in dire need of mines for executing its long-term plans.

OMDC is not in good shape due to outdated machinery. Bishnoi assured that RINL was willing to invest about Rs 5 billion to overhaul OMDC's operations and pledged "RINL would not be found lacking if more money was required". – Asia Pulse

India: Ore exports spot prices reach $180/Tonne before falling- Metals News - Metals Place

2008-02-12T00:18:00.000-08:00

India: Ore exports on shaky ground - Metals News - Metals Place

At present, the bench mark price for a long-term lease is $60 a tonne (for high grade iron ore – containing 64 per cent ferrous content). Indian iron ore commands the highest price in the spot market at $120 a tonne (average).

The price in the spot iron ore had reached a record high of $180 a tonne last year when shipments from Australia and China were delayed on account of port congestion and inclement weather.

However, in the last one month alone, the price of Indian ore in the spot market has dipped to $90 a tonne as shipments from Australia returned to normalcy.

“We have been informed that Chinese mills are keen on raising the price of iron ore (long-term lease) to $75 a tonne in favour of Australia and Brazil. In that case, very little iron ore will trade in the spot market. Besides, if Australia and Brazil maintain dedicated supply of iron ore, the demand for Indian iron ore will come down automatically,” Basant Poddar, senior committee member, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), said.

According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), in 2006-07, Australia exported 269 million tonnes of which 50 per cent was consumed by Chinese mills. Similarly, Brazil exported 268 million tonnes. In 2007-08, Australia’s exports are expected to grow 13.4 per cent while Brazil’s exports are set to rise 14.5 per cent.

“On the contrary, our exports have always been around 90 mt per annum. We have been struggling to touch even the 100 mt-mark. We will lose market share very badly if the prices of iron ore in spot market and long term lease even out,” Poddar said.

FOB prices of grade 63.5% Indian Iron Ore $135 to $140 up from $57 at the beginning of 2007:- Metals News - Metals Place

2008-02-12T00:06:00.000-08:00

Indian iron ore export tax would deter China – analyst - Metals News - Metals Place: "Last March, the Indian government introduced ore-grade specific export taxes of rupee 50 ($1.27) to rupee 300 ($7.64) per ton, representing the first move by the Indian government to conserve iron ore. However, iron ore prices surged over the year, with FOB prices of grade 63.5 percent Indian iron ore reaching $135 to $140 per ton at the end of December 2007, up 146 percent from the per-ton-price of $57 at the beginning of 2007."

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF ORISSA AND THE ________________ ORISSA

2008-02-10T22:04:00.000-08:00

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF ORISSA AND THE ________________ ORISSA

The Statesman - Fraud of the Decade in Indira Awas Jojana

2008-02-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

The Statesman
Statesman News Service
KENDRAPARA, Feb. 8: Skeletons are tumbling out of the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) housing scheme closet. Official sources informed that the fraud, which is being described as the ‘scam of the decade’ amounted to over Rs 3 crore.
Findings into the matter unfold that an estimated Rs 3 crore, which should have reached the 'below poverty line' (BPL ) families for construction of house in this district were embezzled. “ 1292 cases of irregular allotment of IAY houses have so far been detected. In most of the cases, ghost beneficiaries were awarded grants and those not eligible for receiving such grants were also given IAY allotments. There is incriminating material evidence against block level officials. We have initiated penal proceedings against two officers and eight other government employees.”, Mr. Kashinath Sahu, collector, Kendrapara said.
Charges have been framed against two OAS officers~Durga Charan Mohanty and Gopendra Nath Mohanty as prima facie has been established against them.
"Eight other government employees have also been either suspended or proceeded against for acts of omission and commission.", official sources said. With this incident coming to light the charges levelled by the Opposition that IAY housing grants did not reach the targeted poor and instead filled the coffers of unscrupulous officials and politicians, have come true.
The rulebook may say that the center-funded IAY scheme is earmarked for BPL families. But in several blocks of Kendrapara district, the standing norms were twisted with families of even state government officials allegedly finding a place in the list of beneficiaries.

ArcelorMittal to start building India steel plants by year end: report - Metals News - Metals Place

2008-02-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

ArcelorMittal to start building India steel plants by year end: report - Metals News - Metals Place

Without mining lease, Posco may shut shop

2008-02-08T02:31:00.000-08:00

Without mining lease, Posco may shut shop

Iron-ore production set to rise faster than global demand - Metals News - Metals Place

2008-02-06T17:42:00.000-08:00

Iron-ore production set to rise faster than global demand - Metals News - Metals Place

Right to displace, but no duty to rehabilitate

2008-01-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

Acquiring land for a 'public purpose' is claimed as a right by the state under its powers of eminent domain, but it accepts no duty to resettle and rehabilitate all the affected citizens. Instead, rehabilitation is presented as an act of benevolence, writes Kannan Kasturi.

Shortly before the winter session of Parliament ended, the government tabled the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2007. The bill seeks to "provide for the rehabilitation and resettlement of persons affected by the acquisition of land for projects of public purpose or involuntary displacement due to any other reason". The bill comes at a time when concerted efforts are being made by both the central and state governments to increase economic activity through the deployment of domestic and foreign private capital on a gigantic scale in new infrastructure and industry.

Land as an incentive
Various models of engagement have been proposed by Governments to attract large investors including the 'Special Economic Zones', 'Private-Public partnerships' and 'Build-Operate-and-Transfer'. These models provide incentives that may include tax and duty concessions, simplified regulations and provisions for infrastructure facilities, but most importantly, land made available by the state at desirable locations and low prices. To make the proposition more attractive, land is promised not just for the requirements of the planned economic activity, but also for other uses such as developing residential townships, business districts or entertainment hubs. Examples of such projects are the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor, the proposed Reliance Haryana Special Economic Zone and the recently announced Ganga Expressway.

The process of acquisition of large tracts of land in different parts of the country has brought hundreds of village communities face to face with the threat of imminent displacement and loss of livelihood. The past history of the treatment meted out to displaced people does not inspire any confidence among the targeted communities. There is widespread and determined resistance to land acquisition and it is in this context that the Government has come out with the R&R bill along with a companion bill to amend the Land Acquisition Act.

Displacement and the land acquisition law
The history of large scale land acquisition and consequent displacement goes back to the 1950s, when the newly independent republic embarked on large state owned projects for irrigation, power, steel and heavy engineering that were meant to occupy the 'towering heights of the economy'. As an illustration of the scale of displacement, just the reservoir of the Hirakud dam, India's first major river valley project, whose foundation stone was laid by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1948 and which was completed in 1957, occupied an area of 727 sq km.

Land for even such gigantic projects was (and continues to be) acquired using the coercive powers provided by the colonial Land Acquisition Act. It narrowly defined persons affected by an acquisition to be either land owners or occupiers (tenants), and limited compensation to purely monetary terms. However, large scale acquisition covered entire villages and their common property resources - tanks, grazing lands and village forests. The typical Indian village consists of many categories of persons other than landowning peasants and tenant farmers - agricultural labourers, artisans and others servicing the farmers' needs - who, even while not owning land, depend on it directly or indirectly. The law did not recognize their rights as affected parties.

Nor did it recognize or compensate for the expropriation of common property resources that played a major role in supporting the livelihood of the villagers, specially the poorer ones. Returning to the example of Hirakud, official figures that counted only land title holders put the number of people displaced at 110,000; figures from academics, that also accounted for people providing services and those who lived off common property resources, put the number at 180,000.

The Land Acquisition Act, when applied to large scale acquisitions resulted in displacement and deprivation of means of livelihood for the affected people, but did not give them the right to resettlement or rehabilitation. Even those who were compensated monetarily were hard put to replace their lost land assets and regain their means of livelihood. In the absence of any rehabilitation plan, people displaced by Hirakud occupied whatever open lands they could locate. These lands were not legally theirs, making them vulnerable to constant harassment by officials.

Limitations of policy
While Hirakud illustrates the situation that prevailed in the 1950s, the Narmada Sardar Sarovar project is illustrative of how things have changed over the last five decades. The project, when completed, is expected to create a reservoir over 400 sq km submerging 245 villages. The government's estimate of the number of families affected by the project has continuously changed with time - from around 12,000 in 1988 when the Planning Commission looked at the investment for the project, to over 40,000 by 1994. The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) estimates that the figure is higher and points to the non inclusion of petty traders, village shop-keepers and fishing families as well as families affected by canals and other subsidiary works in the Government figures.

The Narmada Tribunal, in its award, decided the sharing of waters between states also specified a rehabilitation policy. Construction work on the Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada started in 1987. The Narmada Control Authority (NCA), with representation from central and state Governments, was charged with overseeing the rehabilitation and resettlement of project affected people. The project itself was given conditional clearance by the Government, one of the conditions being that construction of the dam would keep pace with rehabilitation and resettlement.

Despite the existence of R&R policies and packages and a machinery for ensuring its implementation, rehabilitation measures were inadequate. After protests by the affected people gained international attention, the World Bank, which had planned to finance the project, appointed an expert committee - the Morse committee - to provide an independent assessment of the project. After extensive investigations, the committee stated in its report in 1992: "We think that the Sardar Sarovar Projects as they stand are flawed, that resettlement and rehabilitation of all those displaced by the projects is not possible under the prevailing circumstances ...". The World Bank subsequently withdrew from the project. Meanwhile, the construction of the dam continued with scant regard to rehabilitation issues.

After exhausting avenues of working with the authorities, the NBA went to the Supreme Court with a Public Interest Litigation in 1994 asking for a suspension of construction pending a comprehensive review of the project on various grounds including serious failures in rehabilitation and consequent hardship and suffering of project affected people.

The Supreme Court granted an interim stay on construction in 1995, but in its eventual judgement of October 2000, coming after 6 years, rejected the NBA petition and allowed the construction to proceed. The Court expressed satisfaction with the machinery of the Government for rehabilitation and saw no reason to doubt the independence of this machinery. It also held the view that the machinery was to be presumed to be working: "there is no reason now to assume that these authorities will not function properly. In our opinion the Court should have no role to play." It reiterated that construction should keep pace with implementation of the relief and rehabilitation and take place only on the clearance from the NCA..

The above judgement and subsequent orders of the Supreme Court relating to this dispute seem to derive from the understanding that policy implementation is the prerogative of the executive, with the courts having no role to play.

The Narmada Bachao Andolan continues to hold that R&R lags behind construction and does not conform to even the declared policy, and this view is supported by many writers, academics, former civil servants and others.

The experience of the Sardar Sarovar and many other projects over the last 60 years reveals the inadequacy of policy - at the project, company, state or even national level - to address the legal neglect of displacement and the rights of the affected people, particularly those without land or tenancy. Policy is not enforceable. Will the courts provide relief when the promises contained in a policy are not adhered to? Explaining how courts look at policy as opposed to statute law, Usha Ramanathan writes: "Statute law where it defines (or denies) rights is binding. Policy on the other hand, has at best a persuasive value. Courts are bound by statements in the law, but are free to be guided by policy or to ignore it."

There has been general recognition among those concerned with displacement that the law must look at the entirety of loss of rights of the affected, not just the loss of ownership and tenancy rights and that resettlement and rehabilitation should be as much the consideration of law as the land acquisition that necessitates them.

The proposed R&R legislation
These are, then, some of the issues under debate as the Rehabilitation and Resettlement bill 2007 is being introduced.

The bill seeks to establish an R&R administration at the central and state levels. This administration will be responsible for planning for and implementing R&R. The bill describes the process to be followed while planning and implementing R&R and prescribes how 'affected areas' and 'affected families' are to be identified and the quantum of benefits for different categories of the latter.

Civil courts are barred by the bill from entertaining suits on matters that are the responsibility of the R&R administration. Identification of 'affected families', the resettlement plan including land and amenities to be provided, and the implementation of the plan are under the R&R administration. What happens if benefits described in the bill are not forthcoming? Grievances may not be taken to courts but only to an ombudsman appointed by the government. In this respect, the situation will be no different from what prevails today - beneficiaries and benefits of R&R will be determined solely by the Government.

Perhaps the only recourse to courts allowed by the bill is in case of violation of the R&R process that it specifies.

Conditional benefits
The bill prescribes conditions for project affected families to qualify as beneficiaries and makes the benefits themselves conditional on external circumstances.

An area will be notified as an 'affected area' "where the appropriate Government is of the opinion that there is likely to be involuntary displacement of four hundred or more families en masse in plain areas" (the number is less for hilly and tribal areas). R&R planning is mandated by the bill only for families living in such 'affected areas'. A family that neither owns nor occupies (tenants) land such as that of an agricultural labourer, artisan, small shop keeper, etc will be considered to be an 'affected family' and entitled to any R&R benefits only if it is displaced from a notified 'affected area'.

Thus the opinion of the Government on the scale of the displacement will decide if there will be planned R&R of the displaced. The scale of displacement will determine if families who neither own nor occupy land (who are the poorest) will be entitled to any benefits at all - unconscionable from the standpoint of justice. Other conditions also apply to these families in particular, such as the need to prove residence for 5 years in the affected area in order to claim benefits, revealing the distrust of the Government towards this section of society.

There are many other conditions attached to the benefits. Land will be allotted to 'affected families' whose agricultural land has been acquired "if Government land is available in the resettlement area". Preference will be given in jobs to 'affected families', "subject to the availability of vacancies and suitability of the affected person for the employment".

The bill also talks about a 'social impact assessment' that will be required when there is large scale displacement, an idea similar to the 'environment impact assessment' that is now mandatory for projects. The details of how this will work are not clear from the bill and it is early to comment if and how this will benefit people affected by a project.

Conclusion
While acquiring land for a 'public purpose', with its attendant displacement and denial of livelihood, is claimed as a right of the state under its powers of eminent domain, the R&R bill does not accept that it is the unconditional duty of the state to resettle and rehabilitate all the affected citizens so that they are able to maintain, if not improve, their current standard of living. Instead, rehabilitation is presented as an act of benevolence of the state, a measure to mitigate the suffering of the affected citizens to the extent permitted by the external circumstances and subject to various conditions.

By this stance, involuntary displacement caused by the planned exercise of the coercive powers of the state is equated with displacement caused by chance natural calamity, both deserving of the same response from the state. Also, the discretionary powers vested in the Government, the numerous conditions associated with rehabilitation and resettlement and the un-enforceability of various provisions all reduce the proposed legislation to little more than a statement of policy.

Kannan Kasturi is an independent researcher and writer on law, policy and governance.

Mint ePaper -Export ban of Iron Ore demand -Orissa, 36garh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and MP CMs

2007-12-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

Mint ePaper

CONTENTIOUS ISSUE - Mineral policy may skirt ore export ban·························· NEW DELHI

The much-awaited national mineral policy (NMP) is unlikely to address the contentious issue of banning iron ore exports.

"The issue of exports is not part of the NMP. It is a totally separate issue, which would be decided by the finance and commerce ministries, along with the Prime Minister's Office," said T.Subbarami Reddy,minister of state for mines.

The issue was also raised by the chief ministers of five mineral-rich states during their meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday. In their memorandum, the chief ministers said:

"We strongly advocate that the export of minerals should be phased out since minerals are non-renewable and finite resources."

While the steel industry has demanded banning exports so that the minerals could be used for its expansion, the Anwar-ulHoda Committee, in its recommendations for the mineral policy, had favoured removing quantitative restrictions on overseas sales.

It had, however, said the issue could be reviewed after a period.

Reddy also said the ministry would consider the

demand of mineral-rich states to bar foreign direct investment (FDI) in mining of iron ore,

chromite and bauxite. "We have taken note of this issue and have assured them there concerns on the issue would be addressed," he said.

The chief ministers of Orissa, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh had opposed FDI in prospecting of iron ore, bauxite and chromite as a lot of local entrepreneurs are undertaking operations of these minerals.

Reddy also said the issue of passing on the cess collected from mining activities and constitution of a task force for finalizing the amendments to the applicable law would not be a part of the policy.

"We have told them that these issues will be looked into afterward as they are not part of the NMP."

The minister, however, said the states' demand seeking compensation for the use of minerals through an automatic advalorem based royalty structure has been accepted.

"The states wanted the advalorem to be about 20%, but we have said that the percentage could be fixed after discussions between the representatives of the states and officials from the mines ministry,"

Reddy added.

Tehelka:: Why Export?

2007-12-21T14:56:00.000-08:00

Tehelka:: Free. Fair. Fearless
MPs question the Centre’s decision to export raw material rather than the finished product. SHANTANU GUHA RAY reports

WHEN OFFICIALS of the Brussels-based International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) recently visited the Indian Capital, one concern uppermost on their mind was the government’s inordinate delay in finalising the National Mineral Policy (NMP).

But a crucial point in their deliberations with various stakeholders in the sector — and also with bureaucrats of the steel ministry — was the institute’s apprehension on allocation, conditions and stipulation of iron ore blocks for captive purposes.

IISI’s tensions are understandable. Its chairman is Ku-Taek Lee, CEO of South Korean steel giant Posco, whose Rs 52,000 crore, greenfield project in Orissa’s Paradip district is stuck in a logjam. The institute’s vice-chairman is Lakshmi Mittal, CEO of ArcelorMittal, whose Rs 40,000 crore, 12 million tonne steel plant at Keonjhar — the second biggest after Posco in Orissa — faces angry protests over its proposed acquisition of approximately 3,000 acres of land.

Unlike retail, NMP has not generated a nationwide debate on its benefits and tensions but a recent note — penned by the ministry — raised interesting points on the NMP that seeks to remove bottlenecks impending investments that New Delhi expects to cross Rs 1,00,000 crore mark over the next decade. The Ministry of Mines wanted to table the NMP in the winter session of Parliament and twice placed it on the Cabinet’s agenda but failed to get a nod.

But highly placed sources claim that the NMP could be delayed because of opposition from a group of Members of Parliament (MPs) who feel the NMP needs to have substantial inputs from the state governments as well as domestic industry before being cleared by the Cabinet.

A copy of the note, sourced by TEHELKA, shows these MPs sought strict regulation of the iron ore business with permission to export only after meeting the need of domestic metal-based industries. The MPs also demanded setting up of special mining zones (SMZs) in mineral rich areas by amending the Forest Conservation Act.

The MPs claimed since India was achieving a consistent GDP growth rate of 9-10 percent for the past few years, it is imperative for steel production to increase at 11-12 percent and the mining sector to grow at 13-14 percent per annum to maintain the trend. Hence, claims the note, India must have a steel production of 110 metric tonnes (MT) by 2010 and 300 MT by 2020 and approximately 200 MT & 500 MT of iron ore respectively, to meet this production.

“But there are different perceptions about iron ore reserves in the country. The Hoda Committee says we possess 23 BT of iron ore reserves whereas the Dang Committee refuses to believe that we have more than 10 BT of recoverable iron ore reserves and also suggests that out of 10 BT, only 6-7 BT are of high and medium grades; rest being low grade ores. We have no reason to believe that the Dang Committee estimates look like the most appropriate, keeping in view that few of our large deposits are also locked up in forest and environmental hassles where mining is not possible at all or even if the mining operations has started, it has to be stopped owing to institutional/ NGO pressures,” says the note.

“Even though we are not sure of our iron ore reserves, we are continuing to export huge quantities to competing countries like China, who takes this opportunity to acquire it at lower prices, courtesy Indian exporters. We exported approximately 94 MT of iron ore in 2006-07. Though India managed to achieve the present level of 45 MT of crude steel production at the consistent growth of 6-7 percent over the past few years, we could have done a lot better had we allocated iron ore mines to major steel producers and not exported such high quantities to countries like China,” say the MPs, adding: “If the same pace continues, the entire proven reserves of high-grade iron ore would be exhausted in less than 20 years.”

THE NOTE says the current mining scenario in India was disturbing, ostensibly because top producers like ArcelorMittal and POSCO did not get clearance for captive mining despite signing MOUs. Worse, convinced of a huge demand for steel in the world in future years due to high rates of growth in India and China, these companies were setting up new steel capacities in other countries.

The MPs felt India could have earned much more foreign exchange if it had exported steel, the finished product, in the same quantity as iron ore to countries like China, Japan and Indonesia. Even the highly acclaimed Hoda Committee feels that production of each tonne of steel is 7-10 times value added product than 1.6 tonnes of iron ore, claim the MPs.

Interestingly, per capita availability of iron ore is lowest in India at 22 tonnes per person as compared to 1,417 in Ukraine and 2,000 in Australia. “The per capita consumption is going to increase in the future years and it’s important that we save our reserves to meet future demands of domestic consumption,” says the note. The ministry, as of now, has not reacted.

Expert Opinion

India is formulating a new policy aimed at attracting foreign investment of Rs1 trillion ($21.5 billion) and creating five lakh jobs by 2011. The government intends to come out with a new policy as the existing policy of 1993 contains stringent provisions that restrict investors to put their money into the country’s mining sector which is ranked among the world’s top five for its reserves of coal and iron ore.

Zee News - Villagers at Posco site refuse to meet Medha Patkar

2007-12-12T02:18:00.000-08:00

Zee News - Villagers at Posco site refuse to meet Medha Patkar

Villagers at Posco site refuse to meet Medha Patkar
Nuagaon, Dec 11: Villagers around the proposed Posco plant site in Jagathsingpur district on Tuesday refused to meet social activist Medha Patkar who immediately cancelled her programme and left for an undisclosed destination.

"I am sure the villagers are afraid to talk to me as they have been terrorised by Posco supporters," Patkar, who arrived at the site near Paradip where lands are being acquired for setting up a 12 MTA thermal steel plant.

With the villagers, who had earlier invited and even dined with the Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, remaining indoors, Patkar abandoned her plan to spend the night there and left for an undisclosed destination.

Patkar said she was trying to convince people that the Posco project would ruin them.

"Looking at their faces one can clearly see fear. People understand my words. But they are mute because of the restrictions imposed by the village committee comprising the pro-company group," she said.

Patkar who rushed to Kujang area from Nandigram this morning along with a few supporters, hoped that people would soon overcome their fear and raise their voices against the project.

While entering the village, which comprises nearly 1180 families, Patkar met a group of people who claimed to be supporters of the Posco project and urged her not to proceed as this could lead to tension.

Yesterday, a ten-member team led by a retired judge of Orissa High Court had claimed that the state government is perpetuating terror in the sea-side villages around the proposed plant site.

"We were told that the police is helping the hired goons and anti-socials to perpetuate terror," Judge Choudhury P K Mishra said.

Bureau Report

The Statesman - No Employment at Kalinga Nagar

2007-12-12T02:03:00.000-08:00

The Statesman
Stir for jobs from Visa Steel

JAJPUR, Dec. 11: Hundreds of members of Vyas Unemployed Youth Organisation (VUYO), a forum formed for the interest of the local unemployed technical youths, staged an agitation in front of Visa Steel officers’ guesthouse today. It is located in Vyas Nagar, the gateway to the steel hub of India in Orissa’s Jajpur district.
The youths demanding jobs. The agitators, led by its president, Mr Bidyadhar Mohanty, locked up the guesthouse and prevented the exit and entry of Visa officials. Tension prevailed when security personnel of the steel company forcefully tried to drive the agitators out, and the latter in turn attacked them. After being informed, police reached at the spot and chased away the agitators.
Altogether 25 agitators were arrested and later released on bail. They were protesting against the engagement of non-Oriya people in the plant, located in the Kalinga Nagar by the Visa management.
The unemployed youths claimed that the steel plant has been utilising their area’s land and water and polluting the nearby villages around it. Hence the steel company should give priority to local candidates during appointments.
“After the Kalinga Nagar police firing in which at least 14 people were killed in police firing, while they were opposing land acquisition by Tata Steel plant on 2 January 2006, we were assured of being absorbed in the plants by the then Jajpur collector, Mr Arabinda Padhee.
Accordingly a directive was issued to the all the steel plants to engage local people first. But the Visa management is engaging non-oriya people,” said Mr Pradeep Samal, secretary of the VUYO.
“As per as advertisement, 39 technical youths had gone through the interview, both written and viva, on 13 May, 2006. We are educated and possess technical, engineering, and industrial training certificates, as advertised by the company about two years ago. But the authorities are yet to declare the result,” said Kailash Das, an engineering graduate.
He alleged that while aspirants are waiting for results, the company authorities, in the meantime, have appointed some non-Oriyas and outsiders. “During a bilateral agreement, it was decided that the steel company will engage local people in its plant on priority basis. But none is caring for the agreement and appointing the people as per as their wish,” he alleged.
Meanwhile, two FIRs have been lodged with the Jajpur Road police from both the groups. While the security officer of Visa Steel Mr AK Pati alleged that the agitators held them in confinement, Kailas Das, a member of the association alleged the company authorities threatened them of dire consequences for the agitation.
When contacted, AK Agarwal, vice-president (commerce) of Visa Steel however denied to comment on this matter. SNS

The Statesman

2007-12-10T01:29:00.000-08:00

The Statesman
Vedanta launches three social development initiatives

Statesman News Service
BHAWANIPATNA, Dec. 9: Exhibiting that it remains unfazed by contentious issues raised in the wake of a recent Supreme Court verdict on its project here, the Vedanta Alumina company today launched three social development initiatives.
Head of Business development of Vedanta Mumbai Mr CV Krishnan, head of business development of the company told reporters that these initiatives related to rural electrification, child development/nutrition and education.
Project Ujaala , as the rural electrification programme is called involves expenditure of Rs 3 crore to provide infrastructure for electrification of 18 peripheral villages in Lanjigarh.
Project Udaya* for Kalahandi district involves selection of 15 meritorious students every year and they will be provided with all support to pursue higher education. And the Child welfare scheme will adopt all the 122 anganwadi centres of Lanjigarh Block. Under this scheme the centres will be upgraded with infrastructure, fun-based education materials, freshly cooked nutritious meals and preventive health care will be looked after.
The Vedanta group also programming for centralised kitchen to prepare and distribute hygienic mid-day meals to school children in Kalahandi in collaboration with the state government said Mr Krishnan. He claimed that the alumina produced during the trial production here was comparable to the best in the world. He further claimed that the rehabilitation done by the project at Lanjigarh is a model for the entire state. The project is providing employment opportunity to over 2,000 persons and this will go up 2,500 once the mining activity starts.
For the sustainable livelihood also through SHGs creating economic generation activities in the periphery villages and rehab colony in agriculture development, pisiculture and phyneol making. Similarly mobile health units operating in 53 villages and adopted also 53 villages under Sustha Parivar Scheme partnering health department for malaria, AIDS, sunstroke and small family. For child care activities 29 child care centres and one EGS school is functioning.
Opposition political parties had over the last fortnight demanded that the state government should ban Vedanta company following a Supreme Court verdict which has preferred its Indian wing - Sterlite Industries to undertake the project.

All that glitters is profit- Hindustan Times

2007-11-30T03:11:00.000-08:00

All that glitters is profit- Hindustan Times

DAWN - Opinion; November 16, 2007 - Kuldip Nayar on Nandigram

2007-11-20T11:45:00.000-08:00

DAWN - Opinion; November 16, 2007

Pragativadi - B. J. Panda's views

2007-11-19T18:22:00.000-08:00

Pragativadi

YouTube - the blood rain

2007-11-15T02:58:00.000-08:00

YouTube - the blood rain

The Telegraph - Calcutta : Opinion - While West Bengal Burns - by Dipankar Dasgupta

2007-11-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

The Telegraph - Calcutta : Opinion

YouTube - Vedanta in Orissa

2007-11-07T19:11:00.000-08:00

YouTube - Vedanta in Orissa

2007-11-07T19:07:00.000-08:00

YouTube - Vedanta in Orissa

YouTube - dongria kond

2007-11-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

YouTube - dongria kond

PIB Press Release - PIB release on new R & R policy of GOI

2007-10-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

PIB Press Release
New R & R policy of GOI.

New R & R Policy -National Policy on Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2007, and Land Acquisition (amendment) Bill, 2007

2007-10-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

T he Union government on Thursday approved a new rehabilitation poli cy that promises alternative land and future employment to those displaced in various land-related projects, in a move that will alter regulations that have been in place for 103 years.

In an unrelated move, the Union cabinet, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also decided not to pass on the burden of rising international oil prices to consumers, at least through March.

Both moves have significant political implications. One attempts to settle a fierce debate that has raged much of this year over displacement of people, especially farmers, from large industrial and export-oriented projects, including socalled special economic zones, or SEZs. The other simply avoids taking a fiscally prudent yet politically unpopular decision at a time when there is a possibility that India could be in for early elections.

The new rehabilitation policy also allows displaced people to hold a fifth of their compensation as equity in the new industrial unit that would come up on the acquired land, and maintains that acquisition of agricultural land for such projects should be kept to the minimum.

Among other decisions, the Union cabinet also announced a productivity-linked bonus to railway employees and cleared the outstanding dues of employees of 12 loss-making public sector undertakings.

The new rehabilitation policy will entail the introduction of a National Policy on Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2007, and Land Acquisition (amendment) Bill, 2007, which will replace the existing 103-year-old Land Acquisition Act. Cabinet spokesperson and minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said the new policy will apply to those uprooted by development project as well as natural calamities. "The details of benefit will be worked (out) when the law is framed."

The benefits under the new policy include land-for-land, which implies that a landowner whose land is acquired by the government will be given another piece of land. Other benefits include suitable employment opportunities, financial support, training facilities for those seeking self employment, pension for those who cannot work, and help in building temporary workplaces and houses in the resettlement areas for all those who will be uprooted. The policy also lays down that in case a company is able to acquire 70% of the land it requires, the government will step up to help the company acquire another 30%. However, all these provisions are subject to conditions. For instance, land-forland is subject to the extent of availability of land in resettlement areas and employment opportunities are subject to vacancies.

Analysts were quick to dub this as an election gimmick.

"More than anything, the announcement of this policy is a clarion call for early elections," said Bidyut Chakrabarty, head of the University of Delhi's de partment of political science.

"Land acquisition has been the Left's Achilles heel more than any other party and the Congress has only highlighted this once again through this announcement."

Some of the biggest protests against SEZs have been in West Bengal, the bastion of India's Left parties, which also help the current Congress party-led government claim a majority in the Lok Sabha.

D. Raja, national secretary of the Communist Party of India, one of the four Left parties that lend critical outside support to the ruling United Progressive Alliance, said the government has taken too long in announcing this policy. "It's good they have finally announced it," he said. "We'll of course study it in detail but what's important now is how the government plans to implement it."

Jivabhai Ambalal Patel, a Lok Sabha member of the Congress and a member of the parliamentary standing committee on commerce, which submitted a critique of the SEZ policy, maintained "this (policy) will not have an impact on elections because the voters have other considerations.

Awareness levels are appallingly low in a majority of the country." Patel, a Gujarat based industrialist, however, added only barren lands should be acquired for industrial projects.

The policy elaborates that at least one person in every uprooted nuclear family will be given an employment opportunity subject to the vacancies available with the government.

Besides, there is a special provision for a monthly pension to the vulnerable section such as those above 50, disabled, destitutes and widows.

The government is also expected to provide training facilities for those seeking self employment and provide scholarships for students. Financial support will be provided to affected families to rebuild temporary housing, cattle sheds, working sheds, etc.

The government will also set up an ombudsman for redressal of grievances, a national rehabilitation commission and a national monitoring committees, supported by a national monitoring cell. All Union ministries with major projects will have to set up new internal oversight panels. It has also introduced a mandatory social impact assessment for projects which displace more than 400 families in plain areas and 200 in tribal and hilly areas.

In yet another people-friendly measure, the government put on hold a long-pending hike in the heavily subsidized petroleum prices that would have brought them more closer to international rates, where a barrel of oil is hovering around $77. The crude oil price in the Indian basket is $75.53 per barrel as against the all time high price of $78.46 per barrel on 28 September.

It also announced a threeyear extension of the subsidy schemes for kerosene distributed through public distribution scheme and domestic liq uefied petroleum gas through March 2010. Both are used by most Indian households.

The government did pitch in to reduce the financial burden on state-owned oil-marketing companies by announcing oil bonds of Rs23,457 crore. Similarly, it had issued oil bonds worth Rs24,121 crore in 2006-07 and Rs11,500 crore in 2005-06. "The finance ministry will work out the duration of the oil bonds along with their date of issue. Though the Reserve Bank of India issues these bonds on the government guarantee, they will only show up on the government books at the time when they become redeemable," said one government official who did not wish to be identified.

Companies such as Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd have been absorbing the subsidy arising out of the difference between the higher international price and domestic prices charged to the consumer. Taking into account the new set of oil bonds that are being issued, this burden would reduce to Rs18,312 crore.

"This (the bonds were) the next best option after a price hike," said Sarthak Behuria, chairman and managing director, IOC, India's largest oil marketing company. "We are happy, as the bonds will help us improve our bottom line."

The oil marketers lose around Rs4.35 and Rs6.90 on the sale of a litre of petrol and diesel respectively. The losses are Rs16 per litre of kerosene and Rs174 on every consumer gas cylinder sold.

sangeeta.s@livemint.com Ashish Sharma contributed to this story.

POPULIST REWARDS New rehab policy: affected families to get land-for-land and employment guarantees No hike in oil prices till March 2008; Government to issue oil bonds to underwrite subsidies Clears payment of outstanding dues to employees of 12 loss-making PSUs Payment of productivity-linked bonus to railway employees

The Pioneer > Home -Medha Patkar's foreign links

2007-10-10T00:56:00.000-07:00

The Pioneer > Home

Probe Medha's foreign links, MPs urge PM

Navin Upadhyay \| New Delhi
Documents reveal attempt to woo judiciary Two Members of Parliament from Gujarat have urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to order an inquiry into the shocking evidence suggesting Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar tried to influence the Government and the judiciary to obtain a favourable verdict in a case against her NGO in the Supreme Court.

Senior Congress leader Urmilaben Patel and Ratilal K Verma of the BJP, both MPs, have submitted identical evidence to the Prime Minister to establish that Patkar was in touch with a foreign agency, who wanted to oblige even a judge of the Supreme Court after he, along with another judge, dismissed a PIL against NBA. The PIL was filed by the National Council for Civil Liberties, a Gujarat-based NGO alleging that NBA was engaged in anti-national activities.

The MPs have enclosed email correspondence between Patkar and Patrick McCully, former director of the International Rivers Network at Barkley in the US. The correspondence shows Patkar claiming she had put pressure on the UPA Government, which was also served a notice by the court to respond to the charges of NBA's involvement in anti-national activities to stop construction of work at Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat.

The sequence of email correspondence between McCully and Patkar is revealing. Minutes after the SC dismissed the NCCL's PIL on July 10, 2007, McCully was informed of it by one Phillip through Patkar's email address.

Next day, McCully wrote back to Patkar, "You have mentioned in your message (email) that Judge Thakkar (CK) is ex-chief justice of Gujarat and anything can happen. How you manage this. What was the second judge?"

In reply, Patkar wrote back on July 13, "Phillip made a mistake in quoting Thakkar as the ex-chief justice of Gujarat. He was initially judge there. Justice Altamas Kabir wrote the judgement."

Patkar also wrote that many eminent persons wrote to the UPA Government and her advocates supported them. "We dealt with the press very selectively and ensured that pressure was kept all through."

"Along with this, the petitioner's case was so weak. Its triviality was obvious. Legally it was non-maintainable," she added.

To this, McCully responded on July 17, "I was keeping a constant watch on this case. I was actually disturbed after reading written submission of Saxena (VK Saxena, chairman NCCL, the petitioner), which he had posted on his website. Not a shred of reference in the judgement. You have managed it very effectively."

McCully's email underlines the fact that Saxena's petition had disturbed him and he was happy to see that the charges levelled against him were not even touched upon in the judgement. The reference to "managing" the whole thing is significant.

McCully added they would like to honour those people who supported Patkar in the case. "You can send a list of 5-6 people with their very brief background in 2-3 lines. The function can be organised in London instead of the US through other groups. With his strategy these people could be more committed to your cause."

And then he added this bit of shocking offer: "We must honour Judge Kabir for supporting you. Please explore the possibility. He will retire in 2013 -- a very useful man for your further battles."

It is well known that Justice Kabir is a respected judge with impeccable career record. While there is nothing to show he obliged Patkar, McCully's mail clearly showed a sinister design to woo him to help NBA in future.

In her reply sent to McCully on July 22, Patkar felt that openly obliging her benefactors would be counter-productive. "Thanks a lot. Other than advocates, no one would like to be acknowledged for writing to pressurise the Government. That might boomerang."

Referring to the email, both the MPs asked the Prime Minister to order an inquiry into the whole episode.

Verma has pointed out to the Prime Minister that the exchanges between Patkar and McCully are "explosive and dangerous to the extent that they show foreign interest and support to a group that is indulging in obstruction to the country's development. It carries blatant suggestion that July 10 Supreme Court judgement was managed."

Urging the Prime Minister to order an inquiry to identify those who tried to put pressure on the UPA Government and the judiciary to favour NBA, Verma asked, "When even the thought of influencing the judiciary at any level is contemptuous, is it not a case of sedition against the NBA -- a group working with foreign aid?"

Echoing similar views, Urmilaben Patel has asked the Prime Minister that "the Government should immediately inquire as to how Medha Patkar managed a favourable verdict And take appropriate action against Patkar for bringing disrepute to the Government and to the Hon'able Supreme Court and halting the process of national development with foreign support."

Will Mittal Steel be a raw deal for Orissa?

2007-08-17T02:31:00.000-07:00

With Mittal Steel moving into India, it becomes even more important to look at the firm's poor environmental and social track record around the world in its rise to become the world's largest steel maker. There are crucial lessons for the governments of Orissa and Jharkhand, but are they listening, asks Sunita Dubey.

8 August 2007 - Laxmi N Mittal, the Chairman of Arcelor Mittal, the largest steel company in the world has come to his country of birth to set up two steel plants in Jharkhand and Orissa of 12 million tonnes capacity each—and an investment of approximately 18 billion dollars. Although the deal with Jharkhand has run into a hurdle over mining lease, the politicians and bureaucrats—from Delhi to Bhubaneswar—have given him a red carpet welcome in anticipation of huge investments.

Mittal Steel Plant, Vaal Triangle, South Africa. Even as Mittal was negotiating a deal with the Orissa government in India with a promise of environmental and social compliance, the South African government began a criminal investigation into Arcelor Mittal's malpractice at another Mittal plant there. Pic: Groundwork.

With Mittal Steel moving into India, it becomes even more important to look at the kinds of practices adopted for the firm's rise from a small family business to the world's largest steel company, operating 61 plants in 27 countries. Not surprisingly, the company has come under scrutiny worldwide already. The company's success has been primarily based on buying up old state owned steel factories in places like Trinidad, Mexico, Poland, Romania and Algeria throughout the 1980s and '90s at very cheap prices in nations with weak or nonexistent unions and environmental and human rights norms, reported the MSNBC in February 2007. Mittal Steel is also known for buying political influence in acquiring steel assets in other countries. For example, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, intervened to help Mittal steel buy a giant Romanian steel company a month after the tycoon donated 10 crores (£125,000) to the Labour Party. In an extraordinary letter, Blair told
Romania's prime minister that selling his biggest state-owned enterprise to Laxmi Mittal, would enhance the country's chances of joining the European Union, according to an October 2002 report in the The Telegraph. Even Indian politicians were not far behind in supporting Mittal in its acquisition of Arcelor, the second largest steel company in the world in 2006. Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, wrote to the European Union arguing for the acquisition. The prime minister Manmohan Singh ended up taking this issue with visiting French President, who was initially critical of this deal because of the anticipated job cuts in France and other parts of Europe. Orissa's push towards steel Arcelor Mittal is all set to invest approximately Rs.40,000 crores (approximately US$9 billion) to build an integrated steel plant with a total annual capacity of 12 million tonnes in the iron-rich Keonjhar district, the company says on its website. According to the memorandum of
understanding (MoU) signed on 21 December 2006 the plan consists of building coke oven, steel making, rolling mills, and a 750 MW captive power plant. Mittal has asked for 8,000 acres of land at the proposed location: 6,000 acres for the plant, 1,000 acres for a power plant, and 1,000 acres for a township, according to press reports. The land requirement is almost double the size of the land sought by Posco a South Korean Steel Company, which just received an environmental clearance for setting up a steel plant of similar capacity at Paradip, Orissa. Mittal Steel claims that the excess land is needed for its future expansion plans. Orissa's tryst with steel does not just end at these two mega steel plants. In the last two years, Orissa government has signed about 40 steel plant proposals in the state. A projected 44 million tonne capacity is expected to be built in Orissa, with a massive investment of about Rs.108,000 crores. Out of these, five major national
and international players alone are pumping in Rs.95,400 crore to build a capacity of 32.5 million tonnes, says the state government. Mittal pulling strings Mittal Steel has sought a special economic zone (SEZ) status for its plan. If granted, it will not only result in substantial tax savings, but also would give Mittal the leeway to bypass many environmental regulations. Under the garb of corporate social responsibility, the steel company has pledged its support to the community and appointed a consultant, the New Delhi-based IL&FS EcoSmart Ltd. to do a socio-economic survey and prepare the Relief and Rehabilitation (R&R) package for the project affected people. EcoSmart provides resettlement support services for the World Bank-funded Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). However, based on the Bank's own Inspection Panel report documenting the abysmal rehabilitation and resettlement of the project, the World Bank had withheld upcoming installments to the
project. This is the track record of the company hired by Mittal for their own project's R&R.

Meanwhile, Sanak Mishra, CEO of Mittal India operations, says that "the company would take the Orissa government's R&R policy as a guideline for the package". The problem lies in the very fact that R&R policy of Orissa government is already marred with problems like failure to ensure employment guarantees for the displaced. The onus is on company to employ the displaced. The policy also remains silent about the government's role in cases where people do not want to be displaced by the industrial projects, according a Down to Earth report.

Rusty track record The danger for India is that Mittal Steel has a global reputation of having no regard for environment, communities and fair labour practices in countries where it operates steel mills, such as Ireland, Mexico, Romania, Poland, South Africa, United States, etc. In South Africa, the communities are fighting against Mittal Steel's pollution as well as intimidation against families who have refused to sell their land for their expansion plan. Even as Mittal was negotiating a deal with the Orissa government in India with a promise of environmental and social compliance, the South African government began a criminal investigation into Arcelor Mittal's malpractice at their Vereeniging plant for continued dumping of hazardous waste at an unauthorised site, despite repeated instructions to stop. A July 2007 investigation detailed environmental and legal contraventions, and significant pollution of surface and groundwater with phenols, iron, oil,
fluoride and other hazardous substances. In September 2006, 41 miners died in Arcelor Mittal-owned Lenin coalmines in Kazakhstan and meanwhile the workers went on strike demanding pay raises and improved safety. Workers have also alleged that Arcelor Mittal has done little to improve labour and safety conditions since taking over Kazakhstan's largest metal factory and its associated mines, according to a report in the International Herald Tribune. What's more, Mittal's flouting of environmental and labour norms is not limited to just developing countries. Even in the US, the company has provoked regulatory action and citizen protests. In August 2006, the US EPA cited Mittal Steel USA Inc. for alleged clean-air violations at the company's steel mill in Indiana, stating that Mittal modified a coke oven battery that resulted in a significant increase in sulfur dioxide emissions, without getting a state permit. The state requires the best available technology to
control the emissions. Local protest against Mittal Steel, in Ohio, United States. Pic: Ohio Citizens Group.

At an Ohio steel plant, which Mittal Steel took over in 2005, local communities are up in arms over the high levels of pollution and related health problems. Since the takeover, the pollution record of the Ohio plant has deteriorated — they quietly admitted to the Ohio EPA that the plant spewed 3.2 million pounds of pollution more than its 2005 emission of 41.0 million pounds, into the air over the city of Cleveland in 2006. The emissions include carbon dioxide, soot, volatile organic compounds, and lead. Mittal's record of addressing public grievances has also been awful. Laxmi Mittal and his CEOs in the US have continuously denied the communities' demand to engage with the public in Ohio despite citizens sending 24,500 personal, handwritten letters and petitions. Deja vu in Orissa? Just weeks after the MoU between Orissa government and Arcelor Mittal was signed, the people of Keonjhar started protesting against the deal. Taking note of the plight of other
communities evicted due to a myriad of development projects in Orissa, people are not ready to give away their lands, which is often their only source of livelihood. Angry villagers from 17 villages have also demonstrated in front of Keonjhar District Collector's office demanding that their land should not be acquired for the Mittal steel plant. The land sought for the project is a multi-crop, fertile, and irrigated agricultural land. The voice of these people is strong, and it is likely that they will not give up their land easily, which will be a problem for both the Orissa government and Mittal. For its part, the Orissa government has so far paid more attention to the Mittal's possible investment than its well-established record of flouting environmental and social norms. If the government tries to force Arcelor Mittal Steel on its people, it may once again face a situation like Kalinganagar. The tribal people of Orissa, who are poor and are always asked to move
and give up their livelihood, will not hesitate to resist -- because they are being left with no choice. It is yet to be seen whether the Orissa government has learned anything at all about its people and their will. ⊕ Sunita Dubey
8 Aug 2007
Sunita Dubey is based in Boston and is a coordinator of Groundwork, which works on environmental justice issues in South Africa.

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