Mining can never be pretty. It tears apart the environment, leaving ugly gashes that forever remain testimony to the horrifying nature of this extractive industry. It also uproots communities who have inhabited these regions for centuries, leaving them destitute and unfit to cope with the new world to which they are transplanted. But does it have to be so exploitative?
In India, three-quarters of those displaced and dispossessed by mining projects are the Adivasis. From Chhattisgarh to Jharkhand and Orissa, the richest swathe of mineral-rich country, Adivasis have been outlawed from their traditional habitats without so much as a by-your-leave by state governments anxious to sell the leases to mining companies. Other states such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh are part of this sordid tale of exploitation but the first three states are in a special category.
In this collection of 13 essays, Caterpillar and the Mahua Flower lays bare the full tragedy of what has happened to the people and ecology of the regions taken over by mining companies which include the cream of Indian industry (the Tatas, the Birlas, Anil Agarwal of Vedanta fame and the Jindals) along with public sector companies such as NMDC and Mahanadi Coal.
The opening chapter, ‘Iron in the Soul’ by Roger Moody, the highly regarded researcher and campaigner on mining depredations by multinationals, sets the tone for this bleak book. In this, Moody details the neo-colonial stripping of the copper-gold deposits in Bougainville, the Papua New Guinean island that was under Australian control when it was leased to the world’s biggest mining company, Rio Tinto. By slashing costs through a blatant disregard for the environment the Panguna mines became the most commercially successful of Rio Tinto’s operations in just six years. However, the revolt by Panguna’s indigenous landowners and mineworkers led to a bloody conflict in which up to a fifth of the population (between 15,000 and 20,000 people) were killed. This occurred between 1989 and 1998 when Australia brought in troops and helicopter gunships to crush the rebellion.
The worry for many in India is that the Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand-Orissa belt could well go the way of Bougainville. The conditions are alarmingly similar. There is practically a civil war in Chhattisgarh where the BJP government has unleashed the Salwa Judum, an armed force of the local Adivasi population to fight the extreme Left Maoists who are resisting the transfer of farmlands to industry. In the other two states, too, the state reaction to protests by the local tribespeople has been horrific. In Kalinga Nagar, Orissa, where the Tatas are setting up a steel project, 12 Adivasis were gunned down three years ago.
The problem is that few of us are willing to confront the reality of what investment in the mining sector entails. In ‘The Base Alchemist’, Moody brings together a chilling report on the activities of Vedanta Resources which he describes as the worst mining company for its “utterly cynical and systemic fashion in which it continues to flout the law and violate environmental regulations in several countries”. Vedanta, says Moody, is also special for the speed at which has grown and amassed wealth: in just three years it has become the fourth most powerful mining company on the LSE.
More From This Section
Although it dwells heavily on the horrors, Caterpillar and the Mahua Flower is primarily a plea to stop the capitulation of the authorities to the predatory demands of industry so that the local communities and the ecology are assured of some protection. In the preface, editor Rakesh Kalshian details a whole slew of laws that have given companies a free run in mining areas. There is also a damning indictment of media which has for the most part failed to highlight the exploitation of the Adivasis while running laudatory reports on the mining companies.
The most thoughtful of the pieces is by Felix Padel and Samarendra Das who take readers through the processes that result in displacement and cultural genocide of tribal societies. Ultimately though books like these, however well-written or deeply researched, have limited appeal; neither the policy makers nor the people at large will take the trouble to respond to the questions it raises. What we need is a big impact film (or several) like Blood Diamond. There is more drama, corruption and horror to be found in India’s mineral belt than in Sierra Leone. Can a film be made to prick our collective conscience?
CATERPILLAR AND THE MAHUA FLOWER
TREMORS IN INDIA'S MINING FIELDS
Edited by Rakesh Kalshian
Panos South Asia
Pages: 207; Price: Rs 150
