M J Antony: Mantra for sustainable development

OUT OF COURT

As scores of mining companies seek clearance, they might have to comply with new SC norms.

Though the problem of relief and rehabilitation of people displaced by big dams, mines and special economic zones has emerged as a serious issue with varying dimensions, there is hardly any law that deals with the crisis. Therefore, the burden of bringing order and transparency in this field has been passed on to the judiciary. It took several years for the Supreme Court to draw up a not-so-satisfactory package for persons displaced by the Narmada project. Its implementation has been even faultier.

The second major attempt of the judiciary was in the field of mining in forests. It took more than three years of brainstorming to set the rules for mining in forests in the case of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. The court laid down 20 tough conditions for clearing the project though the company had earlier obtained all requisite permissions from the authorities for excavating bauxite in the hills venerated by tribal people in the poverty-stricken Kalahandi district of Orissa. The court reviewed the scheme at the instance of social activists acting on behalf of the tribals and displaced persons.

The court's order was prefaced with this remark: "The Indian economy has been growing at 8 to 9 per cent for the last couple of years...However, the accelerated growth rate of the GDP does not provide inclusive growth. Keeping in mind the two extremes, this court thought of balancing development vis-à-vis the protection of wild life ecology and environment in view of the principle of sustainable development."

The task has not been easy. It took a long time for the court to get the Orissa government to come out with an equitable scheme, as the state is rich in minerals and several international corporations are eager to enter into this field. Ultimately, the government brought forward a 16-point plan which could be a model for such mining projects all over the country. The court added some of its own, like the setting up of a special purpose vehicle comprising the government, the Orissa Mining Corporation and Sterlite Industries, which was involved in this particular project. The private company has to pay Rs 10 crore every year for the scheduled area development, Rs 55 crore for wild life management and conservation and Rs 12 crore for tribal development. It also has to declare the number of persons who are made landless and those who are permanently employed by the company.

The state government's proposals are also stiff. These are notable because unless the rehabilitation package is totally complied with, the court would not even consider granting clearance to the project. According to these norms, those entities which make use of the land for mining should demarcate the leased area using four-feet high cement and concrete pillars with serial numbers. This would prevent encroachment. They also have to transfer equivalent non-forest land for compensatory afforestation to the state forest department. The latter should declare such area as protected forest and the safety zone shall be fenced. Controlled blasting should be used only in exigencies to minimise the impact of noise on wild life.

Besides, the mining company should undertake phased reclamation of the area, soil conservation measures and study the hydrology of the area and the impact of mining on the water quality/stream flow in the neighbourhood. It should prepare a comprehensive tribal development plan. The forest land diverted should be non-transferable. Whenever forest land is not required, it should be surrendered to the government.

These norms are going to be the benchmark for scores of projects now awaiting clearance. The government's expert panel, the Forest Advisory Committee, has cleared several of them but the court-appointed Central Empowered Committee has found a number of irregularities in the grant of permissions. It is reported that the latter committee has rejected at least 42 of the 55 private projects which the government committee had cleared earlier this year. According to SC directions, all clearances have to be vetted by its committee.

Among the mining projects under the scanner are those of Hindalco in Maharashtra, Ispat Godavari and Pushp Steel in Chhattisgarh, Jindal Steel and Power in Orissa and Tungabhadra Minerals in Karnataka. Several of them were given the green signal by the government committee, but have been reined in by the SC committee. This has led to a bitter rivalry between the two panels, which is another story. The Vedanta order is not only a warning signal for errant mining companies but also shows a legitimate way to avoid social tensions and blood-letting that one sees too often these days.