Other States - Orissa   

CSE paints gloomy picture on growth of mineral sector

BHUBANESWAR: The State of India’s Environment Report released by New Delhi based Centre for Science and Environment painted a gloomy picture about likely impact of growth of mineral sector in Orissa saying the current model of development would no way benefit the State.

Since Orissa accounts for 7 per cent of India’s forests and 11 per cent of its surface water resources - it also holds 24 per cent of India’s coal, 98 per cent of its chromite and 51 per cent of its bauxite mineral industries are, naturally, flocking to the State, the report said.

“But for all its mineral wealth, the State performs very poorly in terms of human development indicators. The State has a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.404 -- worse than that of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh or West Bengal,” it said. The CSE report pointed out that “Orissa’s per capita income has actually declined during the second half of the 1990s - precisely the period when the State went on an industrial overdrive”.

“All the mineral-rich districts of the State feature in the list of 150 most backward districts of the country”, the report said. “In Keonjhar, the most mined district in the State, 62 per cent of the population lives below poverty line. In Koraput, the bauxite capital of India, 79 per cent live below poverty line,” it observed.

“Statistics indicate that the income from mineral extraction rarely benefits the regions from where these minerals come - in fact, poverty is increasing in many of these districts,” CSE’s report said. “The growth mineral sector in the State has led to many violent protests in the State. I don’t think that there has been adequate discussions on taking recourse of mineral exploitation for development,” CSE Director Sunita Narain said here on Friday. Pointing out that State’s six million strong tribal population had borne the brunt of these environmental impacts CSE said mining had displaced about 500,000 people (mostly tribals) in the State. Government’s argument that the sector would provide employment was just a chimera, said Chandra Bhushan, CSE’s associate director and the coordinator and co-author of the report.

Between 1999 and 2005, the value of mineral production in the State increased three-fold - at the same time, employment reduced by 20 per cent, he said. CSE suggested the State Government to tighten its environmental clearance mechanism, manage forest, put tough regulation in place and reframe rules for mine closure.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

‘Barabati Nrutyotsaba’ begins
Mother gets lifer for killing newborn
RVNL, SAIL sign pact
Landiguda team lifts Dangar cup
‘Plea bargaining’ to help undertrails
Sale of mahua liquor to be banned
CSE paints gloomy picture on growth of mineral sector
NGO accused of embezzlement
Calendar released
BMC gets tough on holding tax
Students protest against attacks on campus
Community spirit
ENGAGEMENTS

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu