BRP Bhaskar
Gulf Today
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who had earned the praise of activists by seeking strict enforcement of forest and environment laws, last week gave the go-ahead for two controversial projects, reversing his earlier decisions, apparently under pressure.
On May 2 he allowed Odisha (formerly Orissa) to make available 1,253 hectares of forest land to South Korea’s Pohang Iron and Steel Company (Posco), which is to set up a giant steel plant in the state. Land acquisition for the project had been stopped in August 2009 after he directed that there should be no diversion of forest land in violation of the Forest Rights Act.
On Friday he lifted the stop-work order issued to the Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation Ltd last year as its promoters had not complied with the conditions of environmental clearance, especially those relating to relief and rehabilitation of persons affected by the project.
The Maheshwar dam is part of the massive Narmada Valley development project which provides for the construction of 30 large and 135 medium-sized dams. The project has been at the centre of a decades-long agitation by the displaced tribal population under the banner of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement).
Jairam Ramesh’s new order refers to many letters Madhya Pradesh’s Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and former Congress Chief Minister Digvijay Singh had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging continuance of the project. It also mentions a series of review meetings convened by the Prime Minister’s Office. This indicates that he has issued the order under relentless pressure.
Environmentalists have charged that the centre with clearing the two projects on the strength of false declarations made by the states about relief and rehabilitation.
The Posco plant will deprive about 50,000 farmers of Jagatsinghpur, Keonjhar and Sundargarh areas of their means of livelihood. One of the large dams under the Narmada project, the Maheshwar dam is expected to displace about 35,000 people.
The agitations against the two schemes have attracted international attention. Civil society groups in South Korea are among those who have extended support to the movement against the Posco project. The US power utility Ogden Energy Group, which was to have funded 49 per cent of the equity for the Maheshwar dam, had pulled out in 2000 in view of the widespread local opposition. It was the fourth investor group to withdraw from the project.
Campaign for Survival and Dignity, a civil society group backing Adivasi movements in the country, has pointed out that the new order relating to the Posco project is against the Supreme Court-appointed committee’s recommendation that, instead of making piecemeal allocation, the land required for the steel plant and for mining must be assessed and a decision taken on land diversion after considering the impact on ecology and the rehabilitation and resettlement plan.
India enacted a series of laws to protect its forests and the environment at the instance of prime minister Indira Gandhi immediately after the Stockholm summit of 1972, which she had attended. However, corporate promoters of projects found it easy to bribe their way out of their legal obligations. The state governments often ignored the agonised cries of forest-dwellers and environmental activists. Appeals to the judiciary, too, yielded only partial relief.
Jairam Ramesh, on becoming minister in charge of Environment and Forests in May 2009, initiated a series of steps which gave rise to hopes of strict implementation of laws. While environmentalists began to look upon him as one fighting on their side, the development-at-any-cost school dubbed him a “green fundamentalist.”
Ironically, the Green Warrior has beaten a retreat even as the government claims to be pushing for tight controls. Last week the central government said in future it would not give environmental clearance for mining and industrial projects needing more than 40 hectares of forest land unless the promoters first obtained a certificate from the forest department stating how much forest would be diverted.
India, striving to catch up with the advanced nations, needs to remember that it is working under different conditions. The United States has about 30 per cent area under forest, as against 21 per cent in India. Its population density is only 34 per square kilometre as against India’s 324 per sq km. China, with a population density of 140 per sq km, is trying to raise its forest cover of 18 per cent to 26 per cent by 2050. --Gulf Today, Sharjah, May 9, 2011.
Showing posts with label Forest Act. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forest Act. Show all posts
09 May, 2011
02 April, 2010
Brutal attacks on people asserting their rights
The following is a statement issued by Campaign for Survival and Dignity
Clashes have erupted across the country as the forest authorities and other agencies move to crush those who are trying to uphold democracy, people's control over resources, and the law. In incidents that occurred in Gujarat (on March 21), Assam (March 30), UP (March 16) and Orissa (March 30), people are being falsely arrested, police opening fire and houses being burned. They have asked for nothing except their legal rights over their resources, and they have been shot at, beaten up, jailed and killed. Is the government's favorite phrase - the "rule of law" - to mean that the police should act as hired gunmen for the Forest Department and companies?
• In Gujarat, Avinash Kulkarni and Bharat Powar, activists of the Dangi Mazdoor Union (DMU), a democratic organisation that for 15 years has engaged in mass struggles for people's rights, are in jail, accused of sedition, conspiring to wage war against the State and membership in, support for and funding of a terrorist organization. They are members of the Gujarat-wide federation Adivasi Mahasabha (affiliated to the Campaign for Survival and Dignity), which has been engaged in the struggle for the Forest Rights Act and for democratic control over the forests. But for the Forest Department and those who benefit from their control, the law itself is the problem, so anyone who speaks of the law must be a terrorist. Indeed, the FIR against them does not describe a single incident or criminal offence; it is a rhetorical description of “increasing Naxal activity” in south Gujarat. In normal times it would be thrown out, but today, this is enough to land someone in jail indefinitely. The situation is so outrageous that even the Congress party walked out of the Assembly in protest on March 25.
• In Dhemaji, Assam, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, a people's organization, held a protest of 12,000 people on March 30. Their demands: implement the Forest Rights Act, clean up the PDS and halt the construction of big dams. The government's response? The CRPF fired in the air, used tear gas and lathi charged the protesters. More than 100 were injured and 23 admitted to hospital, of whom two are in critical condition. The district KMSS president was arrested and slapped with various false non-bailable cases. The KMSS general secretary, Akhil Gogoi, is facing a series of false cases and has been described by the government as – what else? - a “Maoist.”
• In Sonebhadra, Uttar Pradesh, on March 16, the Forest Department and local goondas attacked Adivasi protesters (organized by the National Forum of Forest Peoples and Forest Workers) who were reclaiming lands from which they had been illegally evicted in August 2009. The forest guards were armed and beat the protesters. Many were wounded, including a pregnant woman, who miscarried as a result of the beating. All the wounded were denied medical treatment. Four people, who were wounded themselves, were arrested and are still in jail. In fact it was the August 2009 eviction, not the protest, that is the criminal offence.
• In Kalinganagar, Orissa, site of massacre of 14 Adivasi protesters in 2006, the police went on a rampage again. On March 29, the day after the District Collector agreed to hold discussions with the Bistapan Birodhi Jan Manch on the construction of a road on their lands, the road construction was begun anyway. When the people protested the next day 29 companies of police were deployed and they went on a rampage. They were joined by goondas associated with the BJD and the Tata Group. One protester was shot in the legs, more than 50 sustained injuries; houses were burned, property looted, and cattle killed. The attackers even desecrated the memorial to those killed in 2006. The police later cordoned off the area and blocked entry.
Meanwhile, Operation Green Hunt leaves a trail of death and destruction across central India. For anyone who values democracy, law and basic humanity, these should be days of outrage.
Campaign for Survival and Dignity
http://www.forestrightsact.com
forestrights@yahoogroups.com
Clashes have erupted across the country as the forest authorities and other agencies move to crush those who are trying to uphold democracy, people's control over resources, and the law. In incidents that occurred in Gujarat (on March 21), Assam (March 30), UP (March 16) and Orissa (March 30), people are being falsely arrested, police opening fire and houses being burned. They have asked for nothing except their legal rights over their resources, and they have been shot at, beaten up, jailed and killed. Is the government's favorite phrase - the "rule of law" - to mean that the police should act as hired gunmen for the Forest Department and companies?
• In Gujarat, Avinash Kulkarni and Bharat Powar, activists of the Dangi Mazdoor Union (DMU), a democratic organisation that for 15 years has engaged in mass struggles for people's rights, are in jail, accused of sedition, conspiring to wage war against the State and membership in, support for and funding of a terrorist organization. They are members of the Gujarat-wide federation Adivasi Mahasabha (affiliated to the Campaign for Survival and Dignity), which has been engaged in the struggle for the Forest Rights Act and for democratic control over the forests. But for the Forest Department and those who benefit from their control, the law itself is the problem, so anyone who speaks of the law must be a terrorist. Indeed, the FIR against them does not describe a single incident or criminal offence; it is a rhetorical description of “increasing Naxal activity” in south Gujarat. In normal times it would be thrown out, but today, this is enough to land someone in jail indefinitely. The situation is so outrageous that even the Congress party walked out of the Assembly in protest on March 25.
• In Dhemaji, Assam, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, a people's organization, held a protest of 12,000 people on March 30. Their demands: implement the Forest Rights Act, clean up the PDS and halt the construction of big dams. The government's response? The CRPF fired in the air, used tear gas and lathi charged the protesters. More than 100 were injured and 23 admitted to hospital, of whom two are in critical condition. The district KMSS president was arrested and slapped with various false non-bailable cases. The KMSS general secretary, Akhil Gogoi, is facing a series of false cases and has been described by the government as – what else? - a “Maoist.”
• In Sonebhadra, Uttar Pradesh, on March 16, the Forest Department and local goondas attacked Adivasi protesters (organized by the National Forum of Forest Peoples and Forest Workers) who were reclaiming lands from which they had been illegally evicted in August 2009. The forest guards were armed and beat the protesters. Many were wounded, including a pregnant woman, who miscarried as a result of the beating. All the wounded were denied medical treatment. Four people, who were wounded themselves, were arrested and are still in jail. In fact it was the August 2009 eviction, not the protest, that is the criminal offence.
• In Kalinganagar, Orissa, site of massacre of 14 Adivasi protesters in 2006, the police went on a rampage again. On March 29, the day after the District Collector agreed to hold discussions with the Bistapan Birodhi Jan Manch on the construction of a road on their lands, the road construction was begun anyway. When the people protested the next day 29 companies of police were deployed and they went on a rampage. They were joined by goondas associated with the BJD and the Tata Group. One protester was shot in the legs, more than 50 sustained injuries; houses were burned, property looted, and cattle killed. The attackers even desecrated the memorial to those killed in 2006. The police later cordoned off the area and blocked entry.
Meanwhile, Operation Green Hunt leaves a trail of death and destruction across central India. For anyone who values democracy, law and basic humanity, these should be days of outrage.
Campaign for Survival and Dignity
http://www.forestrightsact.com
forestrights@yahoogroups.com
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