Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Ex-IAS officer for change in perception on mining

K.B. Saxena, former IAS officer, at the general assembly of mines, minerals and People in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Retired IAS officer and social activist K.B. Saxena said on Sunday that mining would lead to destruction of development unless there was perceptual change in the approach of the implementing agencies.

Speaking at the valedictory of two-day general assembly of mines, minerals and People (mm&P) – an alliance of several NGOs, he said development should be redefined in view of mining posing threat to the livelihood of the stakeholders and the survival of the eco-system.

Around 200 participants from different parts of the country took part in the event. Mr. Saxena explained how displacement induced by present development had crossed all the limits. Earlier, mining was undertaken by the internal resources and now the focus had changed towards external sources.

This provoked exorbitant resources during mining leading to large-scale displacement.

“The root cause of the problem lies in the development,” he said and suggested that the perspective on development had to be redefined and to be tuned in the favour of people.

Speaking about various existing laws and those in the pipeline, he reminded that most of the legislations were not enforced to benefit the voiceless people. “The whole gamut of development is revolving round the land. And land has become precious. Often mega mining is quoted as an instrument for development but unless we change our perspective on mining, its benefits will be confined to only a few,” he opined.

Mr. Saxena pointed out that since Independence around six crore people were displaced. Out of which 50 per cent were tribals, 25 per cent each were dalits and other backwards classes.

Among the displaced persons, only 14 per cent were rehabilitated. The rehabilitation and resettlement policy and the proposed land acquisition Acts had become eyewash in view of the bitter experience in the past, he observed.

The general assembly re-elected Ravi Rabbapragada of Samata as chairperson, R. Sridhar convener and R. Satya Srinivas the central coordinator. Besides chairperson, convener and central convener, the new national executive will have following as members: K.V.Pratap, Badal Kumar, Nicholas Barla, Bastu Rege, Ashok Chaudari, Philips nary De Souza, Swaraj Das, Amit Kar, Munnni Hansda, Yousuf Baig, Ravindranath, S. A. Azad, Umesh Joshi, Rana Sen Gupta, B.T. Venkatesh, Lincon and Harish Patel.

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