Sunita Narain: What China is doing to Goa

DOWN TO EARTH

I wrote last fortnight about how mining in Goa for iron ore was ripping its forests and devastating its people. I had asked then: what are we doing? I ask this again.

The fact is that Chinese demand for iron ore has increased its price from $14 per tonne to $60 per tonne. This has spurred a black gold rush""mining companies are bidding for areas that were either closed or not opened because they were unprofitable or unviable. In many cases, these mines had not been worked because they were close to villages and companies knew that people would probably protest. Now none of this matters. The industry says this is boom time""the Chinese are willing to buy low-grade ore, which Goa has aplenty.

But what is clear is that this Chinese connection is costing Goa big time. If all the 430 odd leases are worked, then over 8.5 per cent of Goa's land area would be under mines. Industry argues this is a small price to pay. The fact is that mining is concentrated in some villages""their entire land will be swallowed up by mines. An application filed under the Right to Information Act reveals that in these villages large areas have been listed as leases""in Colomba village, for instance, almost 1,500 hectares of land may be mined, out of the villages 1900-odd hectares. This is the case in village after village, where, as I wrote last fortnight, I saw land and livelihoods being destroyed. And I saw angry people and tense miners.

The boom has other costs as well. These minerals are moved across the state in barges and in trucks, over village roads and rivers. In Rivona village which I visited, people had blocked miners' trucks. They were furious because this movement was through their village road, leading to pollution and congestion. The children could not cross the local road anymore, villagers said. The red dust the vehicles threw up covered their fields, they added. Roughly 33 million tonnes of minerals transited through the state last year""as Karnataka also sends its minerals through this state. That would mean that 3.3 million trips were made""over 7,000 trucks each day travelled on the roads meant for people.

The question is why the regulatory process""environment impact assessments (EIAs) did not take care of these concerns. The problem is that while public hearings""to listen to the local people""are mandatory under the EIA rules, actually heeding what people say is not. Therefore, even when people have rejected mines in public hearings, the Union ministry of environment and forests in Delhi has cleared them.

Industry has its own ways of 'persuading' local people. Everywhere I went, I heard tales of corruption and nepotism. The best tool seemed to be for local leaders""often panchayat heads""to first take people's concerns to the miners and then use this opposition to get lucrative contracts. The best going deal is in transportation. In all this, the local politician has been reduced to nothing more than a middleman""a pimp for the miners to milk.

It is clear that the stakes are high. Today, even if we assume prices of iron ore at $50 per tonne, mining companies in Goa would have made a neat $1.15 billion last year. All the miners pay to the state is royalty, calculated on each tonne mined. Even if we assume the highest rate of royalty, the state government would have earned $5 million or just peanuts if we compare it to what private companies are raking in. Clearly, there is no public benefit in this business. Only costs.

But this cannot go on. This development is happening on the backs of the poor and their environment. People will not take it. I believe Goa will have to decide. It can sell itself cheap on the Chinese market. Or it can restrain its mining to certain areas, make profits and share the benefits with its people. This is a make or break situation. Let us be clear about it.