| Published on 20-08-2008 In General |
| Viewed 1418 times |
| Will Yeddyurappa be able to reign in the mining lobby? |
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Written by
A. Jayaram |
The general reaction of those in the State Government to any adverse or inconvenient judgment of the High Court is to announce that they would appeal to the Supreme Court and not to accept that they had erred. If it were a judgment of a single judge Bench of the High Court, it would be the decision to appeal to a Division Bench.
But a recent judgment of the High Court of Karnataka, which the Government has no option but to accept, is the August 7 verdict of Mr.Justice D.V.Shylendra Kumar banning mining activities in forest areas. It is one of those judgments to be accepted wholeheartedly by the thinking people of the State and also at the national level. For obvious reasons, mining and mine owners especially of Bellary District have come to be viewed with disdain by the public at large. They have come to be associated with unscientific, illegal and indiscriminate mining, amassing and flaunting of easy money, large scale profiteering from export of raw iron ore to countries like China as though ours is still an underdeveloped country and destruction of the environment and forests and damage to the highways by way of sending the ore in overloaded trucks. Bellary District might have this time exported mine owners to the State Assembly and two of them with direct connection with the industry, might have become ministers, but they are viewed with suspicion by the public. The opinion seems to be that the Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa should have avoided induction into his ministry all the three from Bellary District- Karunakara Reddy and his brother Janardhana Reddy as also Sriramulu for different reason- criminal antecedents. It is not as though mine owners from that District had not been appointed ministers all these years. There never was even a whimper of protest or criticism when M.Y.Ghorpade and the less gifted Allum Veerabhadrappa (both mine owners) were appointed Cabinet ministers at different times.
This time the BJP was even accused of bowing to the Bellary mining lobby, financing its election with funds from mine owners and giving undue importance to the lobby. The hand of the Party's central leadership especially that of Sushma Swaraj was seen in the appointment of the three ministers.
However the landmark High Court judgment is not confined to mining in forest areas in Bellary District alone and does not relate to the young BJP Government. In fact it is an indictment of a decision taken by the S.M.Krishna government to grant mining licences in 36 blocks of Bellary, Bangalore Rural, Kolar, Mysore and Mandya districts, though they were reserved forest lands. Mr. Justice Shylendra Kumar has suggested to the State and the Centre to consider nationalization of the mining sector "so that the private profit does not come in the way of protecting the environment".
It is good on the part of the Chief Minister Yeddyurappa to have said that the Government would act on the judgment. It might even come in handy for him to put down the undue influence of the mining lobby on his Government, from which the people of the State have high expectations. The judgment was in the mind of the Chief Minister when he delivered his first Independence Day address on the Manekshaw Parade Ground in Bangalore. He announced that the Government would come out with a new mining policy and come down on illegal mining. It would not encourage export of iron ore and instead set up steel mills in the State.
The BJP Government should utilize the favourable public opinion to take firm steps on the mining front-whether it is mining of iron or other minerals or even a minor mineral like granites. The people of parts of Chikkanayakanahalli in Tumkur District have taken the law into their own hands against illegal mining activity in the region.
It should be a signal to the Government to act. In their defence of exports of iron ore from the State, an association of mine owners in the State has been saying that the steel mills in the State lacked the technology to utilize the poor quality iron ore available in the State. Whatever might have been the factors that led to the closure of the public sector Kudremukh Iron Ore mines in the State, it should be understood that it was exporting iron ore pellets and not raw iron ore as the Bellary rich are doing. In fact the latter have shamed the nation at the international level. Few seem to have learned from history. The Government of India cannot escape the blame as it has allowed the export of iron ore without any value addition though a new mining policy came to be adopted early this year. Ninety years ago Sir M.Visvesvaraya launched the Mysore Iron and Steel Company at Bhadravathi utilizing the ore mined at Kemmangundi. Might be he was not right in using charcoal as it destroyed the Shimoga forests in course of time. In his favour was the fact that coal had to be imported from British India and the British were hostile to the Bhadravathi project. No wonder Sir M.V. is remembered today although it is difficult to remember the name of the State's minister for forests in 2003! Obviously the minister had little concern for forests and ecology and indiscriminate mining and does not deserve to be remembered.
The question might be asked as to whether the Karnataka Government cannot act on its own with regard to the mining sector without passing on the buck to the Government of India. One recalls a very bold decision taken by the K.Hanumanthaiya ministry of Mysore in 1956, prior to the reorganization of the State. That government nationalized the John Taylor and Company, which was mining Gold at Kolar Gold Fields from the 19th Century wielding its authority under Entry 23 of the State List in the Constitution of India. The company came to be called the Kolar Gold Mines Undertaking. While deciding on nationalizing the British owned mines, Hanumanthaiya had even ignored a report of a committee on nationalization of gold mining headed by the noted economist and business leader Dr.John Matthai, who was India's second Finance minister. The Matthai Committee was against nationalization. It is another thing that the Government of India had to take over the Kolar gold mines in 1962 and they have now been closed down.
One wonders whether the UPA Government would opt for nationalization in the mining sector as it is now about to welcome 100 per cent foreign direct investment. The MNCs have been allowed to undertake both exploration and mining of the various ores.
One wonders as to what has become of the Department of Mines and Geology in the State at a time when the mining lobby has entered big time politics. The lobby is even alleged to have funded to a great extent the recent Assembly elections. An IAS officer and not a professional geologist now heads the Department. One of the oldest government departments in princely Mysore, the Department had set an enviable record in exploration of minerals. How can one forget the legendary explorer Bruce Foote, who had headed the department as also some other British officers, Karnataka's first international cricketer Bettadahalsur Jayaram, Prof.P.Sampath Iyengar who discovered the Kudremukh reserves in 1930, Dr.C.S.Pichamuthu and in recent years Dr.B.P.Radhakrishna and Dr.B.N.Raghunath Rao. The last named whose birth centenary was observed last month could rise only to the level of a deputy director despite his doctorate from the Calcutta University.
Will Yeddyurappa act in the manner of Hanumanthaiya is the question? |
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