Powerful Friends of Posco & Sterlite | N.R.Mohanty

Published on 13-08-2008 In General

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Powerful Friends of Posco & Sterlite

Wealth maketh many friends, says the Bible. This saying has a universal ring to it. Across continents and centuries, the wealthy have succeeded in winning over many who are crucial to their larger designs. In today's world, where the real wealthy are the corporate tycoons, it is hardly surprising that they are using their wealth not just to win friends but also to buy loyalty.

The brazen manner in which the Posco and the Vedanta (Sterlite) have bought the friendship of Naveen Patnaik administration in Orissa and the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre is a testimony to the bourgeoning influence of the money power. Both the corporate entities have spoken, for public consumption, about the huge financial benefits that would accrue to the state and the country if the projects were operationalised. But what is obviously not for public consumption is the unholy deal among the authorities of the state, the centre and the corporate giants to parcel out the mineral wealth of the state. For a consideration, of course.

Mind you, Posco has a Rs. 51,000 crore project and if the gratis is a meager two per cent (which is conservative by any standard), then it works out to a whopping Rs 1,000 crore for the deal-making minions of Naveen Patnaik and Manmohan Singh, two supposedly honest men of Indian politics.

But these gentlemen claim that their governments have given full support to these projects because they agree with their broad vision: that these industries will bring about all-round development of the people of the region.

How hoax is this claim can be judged from the following facts:

Take the case of the Posco project first. Posco claims that it would create 18,000 new jobs in its steel plant. While the top officials will be deputed from its headquarters, the middle rung will be recruited from among the Indians and the local displaced people will find jobs in the lowest rung. So far so good.

But how authentic is the figure? There was a time when setting up a steel plant led to the growth of a city because of the huge employment it involved. In 1961, a one million tonne steel plant at Rourkela employed 40,000 people and the Rourkela steel city became a big landmark of the Orissa state.

But with the increasing automation of the technology, modern industries are becoming less and less labour intensive. No wonder that when Tatas held a press conference in Gopalpur in 1997 to announce their 10 million tonne steel project, they admitted that they would be able to provide direct employment to only 750 people while 5000 people could find sustenance in an indirect manner.

How could Posco, a technologically leading steel-maker of the world, provide 18,000 direct employment in its 12 million tonne factory in Orissa is a question that begs for an answer.

But what is a matter of bigger concern is the eagerness of the state and the union government to allow Posco not only exclusive mining rights but also rights to swap iron ore from the mines in its custody in Orissa. The game plan is clear: take out the best quality ore from the mines here, sell it at 100 times higher the cost of mining in the international market.

Since in large parts of the world, iron mines have become captive, there is a desperate rush among steel makers to get their footprint in the very few untapped mining regions. That explains why the bidders are ready to bankroll the decision-makers to any extent to push their project through.

Posco has bought Naveen Patnaik's loyalty to such an extent that his government has agreed to allow Posco to build a captive port near Paradip, completely under the corporate body's jurisdiction, so that it could freely export or import goods without the usual encumbrances.

Naveen Patnaik's answer to this charge is: there will be officers of government of India posted there to oversee things. But then if Posco has been able to buy the loyalty of the leaders of the state and the centre, will it have any problem in commanding obedience from petty officials?

Will Naveen Patnaik explain: if Tatas, Mittals, Jindals, Bhusans and Essars can build comparable steel plants without asking for captive ports, why this special consideration for the Poscos?

The answer is obvious. Money buys loyalty. The bigger the money, the greater is the loyalty.

Bauxite mining lease given to Vedanta alias Sterling in Niyamgiri hills in Orissa is another stark example of what big money could do to the conscience of the decision-makers of the country. Niyamgiri is recognized as an area of extraordinary natural beauty and is protected under the Indian Wildlife Act. Even the Ministry of Environment and Forests had proposed to protect it as a wildlife sanctuary as recent as in 1998. But enter the Vedanta and the entire concerns of our government for flora and fauna just disappear. There begins the discourse of development: the poor tribes of the area must not be deprived of the benefits of the modern age.

Pray, what needs to be done to bring them under the ambit of modern civilization? The answer of Naveen-Manmohan duo is: hand over their land to Vedanta so that it could set up an alumina refinery plant.

And what has the plant done to the people? Although the refinery is not yet in full operation, it is already damaging local life.

Filmmaker S.Josson spoke to the people of the area in March 2008. Sample one quote: Mukta a woman living in the vicinity of the refinery says: "The water has become bad. When we bathe the skin itches. When we drink we get sores in our mouth. Our hair is falling rapidly. The air quality has also become terrible. It is difficult to breathe. We get sores in our throat. The body itches at night. Our cattle are dying"

Her husband adds: We had lived here for generations and we had no such problems before. We are facing these problems after the plant has come up.

The bad air is because of the uninterrupted trail of black smoke billowing out of the chimney of the bauxite plant, day in and day out. The bad water is because the plant is releasing most of its toxic waste into the Vansadhara River, which is a lifeline for the people of the region.

And this is how Naveen Patnaik and Manmohan Singh are bringing the experience of modern living for the tribal people of Orissa.

What is even more pernicious is that the government representatives pleaded before the Supreme Court to allow Vedanta\Sterlite to mine bauxite atop the Niyamgiri hills. Sterlite wanted permission to dig open cast mines on a 660-acre site to feed the refinery it has built at the foothill. The decision-makers of the country refused to pay heed to the expert advice that strip mining of bauxite at the top of Niyamgiri would have a devastating impact on the flora, fauna, river systems and food production capacity of the mountain region. The warning by the government-run Wildlife Institute of India (WII) that mining could trigger 'irreversible changes in the ecological characteristics of the area' also did not cut ice with the corrupt government leaders.

But it is amazing that the Supreme Court, which has often taken cudgels with the state to uphold the rights of the common people, also bought the logic advanced by the Sterlite group.

But, then, as the Bible said, wealth maketh friends, indeed powerful friends.

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