Children - Terre des Hommes
Children - Terre des Hommes
Children - Terre des Hommes
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131<br />
cent from the previous year. 251 The most important minerals<br />
in the state are coal, bauxite, chromite, iron ore, manganese<br />
ore, limestone and dolomite. Together they constitute 99.2<br />
per cent of the state’s total mineral production.<br />
In 2007-08, there were 227 reporting mines in the state. The<br />
total mine lease area covers 721,323 ha of land. This inclu<strong>des</strong><br />
over 16,795 ha of forestland which has been officially diverted<br />
for mining. 252<br />
NALCO conveyor belt (Photo by Samata)<br />
The major source of bauxite in Orissa is found in Koraput<br />
district, which produces 98.82 per cent of the state’s total<br />
bauxite production. The remaining 1.18 per cent of bauxite<br />
is found in Sundergarh district. 253 Fifty per cent of the<br />
state’s adivasis lives in these two districts. Damanjodi is a<br />
small town in Koraput district. The vast majority of the<br />
population of Damanjodi are employees of the National<br />
Aluminium Company (NALCO), a public sector enterprise<br />
of the Government of India, which is the world’s seventh<br />
largest producer of aluminium. NALCO operates Asia’s<br />
largest aluminium complex, which comprises bauxite mines,<br />
alumina refining operations, smelting plants and power<br />
generation. The NALCO mines have bauxite reserves<br />
expected to last for 120 years. Despite this, Koraput is<br />
still classified as a ‘backward district’ by the government<br />
and 83.8 per cent of the population here live below the<br />
poverty line. 254<br />
With the inception of the New Economic Policy, the<br />
Government of Orissa has begun inviting both national<br />
and multinational companies to extract mineral resources<br />
in the state. The number of companies who have signed<br />
Memorandum of Understandings to set up steel plants in<br />
the state has increased to 50, including the South Korean<br />
multinational Pohan Iron and Steel Company (POSCO),<br />
which has agreed to construct a Rs. 580 billion steel plant near<br />
Paradip port. This will be the largest FDI in India’s history. 255<br />
However, the local population in these areas, who are mostly<br />
SCs and STs, are resisting these projects, fearing displacement<br />
and a loss of livelihoods. 256 Orissa is an example of how every<br />
possible corporate crime and human rights violation happen<br />
when mining is involved and how a state’s doom is led by the<br />
havoc created by such large-scale mining.<br />
The region of Lanjigarh, in Kalahandi district, has come<br />
under severe pressure from mining development in recent<br />
years and is now the site of one of India’s most high profile<br />
mining struggles. In 2003, an agreement was signed between<br />
the Government of Orissa and the British Vedanta Group<br />
to establish a bauxite mine and alumina refinery in the<br />
Niyamgiri hills. However, the project has come under intense<br />
scrutiny and opposition from local communities, NGOs and<br />
environmental activists. Lanjigarh is the home of the Dongria<br />
Kondh tribe, with a population of 7,752. The community<br />
is objecting to the refinery project, which will displace them<br />
from their indigenous habitat and <strong>des</strong>troy their traditional<br />
forms of livelihood.<br />
That the government has entertained mining in Lanjigarh<br />
even while the existing adivasi struggles in neighbouring<br />
Kasipur of Koraput districts where the Utkal Alumina<br />
International Limited (UAIL) project has been facing fierce<br />
opposition on similar grounds and was also witness to police<br />
firing and death of adivasis speaks of the brutal disregard to<br />
people’s voices of dissent.<br />
Displacement for mining activities is a major problem in<br />
Orissa. There are no up-to-date figures to reveal the number<br />
of people who have been displaced in the state for mining.<br />
However, between 1951 and 1995, around 100,000 people<br />
251. Ministry of Mines, Annual Report 2008-09.<br />
252. Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 234, dated 20.10.2008, Selected State-wise Forest Land Diverted for Mining by Ministry of Environment and Forests in<br />
India (25.10.1980 to 30.09.2008).<br />
253. Department of Information and Public Relations, Government of Orissa, Orissa Review, November 2007.<br />
254. Census of India 2001<br />
255. Domain-b.com, Orissa steel project back on track, says POSCO, 27 August 2009, http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_p/posco/20090827_steel_<br />
project.html, uploaded: 10 September 2009.<br />
256. Prajna Paramita Mishra, Second Colonialisation: Mining Induced Displacement in Orissa, Research Scholar, CESS, Hyderabad.