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Book Review
Mining, at what cost?
U. SANKAR
RICH LANDS POOR PEOPLE — Is ‘Sustainable’ Mining Possible?: State of India’s Environment, A Citizens’ Report, Centre for Science and Environment, 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi-110062.
This report deals with the Indian mining sector, its importance to the economy and its impact on the environment and the people affected by mining. The first chapter gives information about mineral resources in India and their spread. These minerals lie under the same lands which hold most of India’s biologically-diverse forests and water systems. Further, the nation’s poorest inhabit these rich lands. Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa, the three top mineral b
earing states, have high incidence of poverty and backwardness. The report articulates that mining is not a simple “dig and sell” proposition but is a “highly complex socio-economic and environmental challenge: at stake are natural resources as well as people — forests, wildlife, water, environmental quality and livelihood.”
Impact of mining
The second chapter deals with the economics of the Indian mining industry. It gives a good account of India’s minerals — reserves, production and shares in the world, industry structure, mineral policy, mineral trade, pricing of minerals, and the industry’s contribution to the exchequer.
The next one deals with the impact of mining on the people and the environment. The fourth chapter is devoted to mining in the states. It provides information on the reserves, area under mining, production and royalties for each state.
The following two chapters cover governance and regulatory issues, and the last one on the way ahead. The report says that “sustainable mining” is at best an oxymoron simply because all ore bodies are finite and non-renewable. However, minerals are essential for economic growth and must be extracted and the challenge is how to conduct mining in an environmentally and socially acceptable manner.
Growth models
Economic growth models incorporating natural resource constraints in economic activity model sustainable development as non-decreasing consumption over time and derive the result: invest all rents from non-renewable resources extraction in man-made capital so as to keep the total stock of capital constant. As some natural capital like wildlife and sanctuaries, and certain ecosystems offer incomparable values they must be protected. Sustainable development requires that prices of exhaustible resources should reflect their social costs and that development must be inclusive in the sense that people displaced because of mining should not be made worse off. Negative externalities from mining (depletion and pollution), public bad nature of the environmental damages and equity considerations necessitate a catalytic role for state both in mitigation and adaptation efforts.
The National Mineral Policy 1993 recognises the needs of development as well as the needs of protecting the forests, environment and ecology This report cites many lapses in enforcement — rampant illegal mining, violations of mine closure requirements and under-financing of rehabilitation and resettlement.
Mining laws and rules need review particularly with respect to land acquisition, determination of royalties and their use, shift to load-based pollution standards from concentration-based standards, linking penalties for violations to the damages, and introduction of strict liability for mine closures. It is desirable to earmark part of the royalties/cess for building physical and human capital to ensure sustainable livelihood for the displaced people.
The suggestion that the land after mining be transferred to the commons may not be desirable in all cases. For foreign firms and large Indian firms, it is feasible to enforce induction of cleaner technologies and international best practices, stricter but time-bound environmental clearances and strict liability for mine closures. For small mines, we need a public-private partnership model involving state government, local bodies, mining firms, affected people and experts for rehabilitation and sustainable use of mined areas.
Fixing responsibility
It is now recognised that neither market nor state alone can solve all environmental problems. Every citizen has the responsibility in contributing to a healthy environment by participation in environmental activities, influencing firms’ behaviour and shaping government’s environmental policies and monitoring their enforcement.
This report makes an important contribution in raising people’s awareness of depletion, pollution and rehabilitation problems in the Indian mining industry. The presentation is lucid with supporting materials — data, maps, charts and photographs. It raises many policy issues which must generate informed public debate.
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