Mining in Karnataka near [bellary ],in Andhra
Pradesh [obulapuram] ,Goa are recently banned by supreme court [S.C]of India
citing reasons ranging from environmental degradation to illegal exploitation. However
it has had severely impacted the economy of states like Goa which is seeking to
revoke the ban on its iron ore deposits. This might give us the impression that
the Supreme Court has foresightedly recognised the ill effects of economic
globalisation. Yes, economic globalisation is the strong reason behind the
unscientific exploitation of precious mineral resources that can be lasted for
longer period. Is it justifiable to blame economic globalisation [E.G] as a
sole factor behind the scenes of human greed?
pic: this is not mars,our mother earth near obulapuram mines
Resource mobility is a must for any nation in order
to grow and sustain itself in the highly globalised world. This became more
intense in the last two decades of the 2oth century and the past decade of new
mellinium.as no nation is self-sufficient in the current complex world where
needs are more than the means .so, dependency in the name of globalisation lead
to movement of economic resources creating economic globalisation. Ultimate aim
of E.G is balance in global trade and commerce. But this balance is being upsetting
in countries like nations of ASEAN, nations of S.E ASIA, and the African continent.
But the ill effects often override the benefits of E.G leading to chaos and
crisis creating resource nationalism with a wide gulf between haves and have
not’s.
The S.C of India constituted Justice M.B. Shah Committee to look in to the
illegal mining of Indian iron ore mines .this come up with a surprising report
saying that China gobbled up Indian ore, while “strategically stopped short of tapping its deposits of 200 billion
tonnes”. The Committee, which went into the issues relating to illegal mining
in India, recommended banning of export of Indian ore. Which can be the reason
behind recent S.C’s verdict?
pics: mininig and exporting indian iron ore to china
Natural resources are very limited in their extent,
squandering of resources makes us only victims of E.G, these resources are life
blood of any nation’s economy. Estimated reserves of India are around 9 billion
tonnes compared to china’s 200.so, what is the rationale behind china importing
ore from relatively resource scarce india.is
it a future geo-economic strategy of china? Is there a threat from china in
terms of resource monopoly making us to pay heed to it in near future? Is the India
calculating the loss in terms of ecology and indignity of its diversity in continuing
mining activities for the sake of a relatively mineral rich neighbour? How far
it’s advisable to burn your house to light up the neighbours? Is India safe?
pic: here china is represented as the tiger
Recently also china threated the world’s major
economies like United States and Japan including India with the banning of rare
earths export .Today literally all
electronic industries needed rare earths but only ironically china is the only
potent supplier. This not because of that
rare earths are available in china only, it’s because no other nation tried to
develop rare earths processing in the hope that china will continue supply forever.
At least by this experience India should be aware of what it is doing.
India can’t recognise its “AVATAR” people found in India.
The Indian government is blind to the aspirations and interests of indigenous
people of DONGRIA KHONDS who are against the upcoming 50,000 crore rupees
South Korea’s POSCO steel plant. From where does the raw ore come? To where the
finished product goes? Who reaps profits? Who bear the brunt of social and
ecological rehabilitation? Who breaths the poisonous gases from the plant? Who…..?
The list will be infinite if we go on questioning. Then what’s the need of hour
should India stop all mining exports, lag behind the race in the highly
competitive growth oriented global world.
The solution lies in SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. If the
means is sustainable the end is also sustainable. India at the same time can
also learn from china it self.
The Chinese case
Against
this backdrop, China has demonstrated some original ideas on using its
sovereign power to prevent large-scale squandering of vital raw materials such
as bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, yellow
phosphorous and zinc and rare earth (materials), where it is a monopoly
supplier, by subjecting them to export restraints in 2009.
The export restrictions mainly consist of quotas,
export duties, a minimum export price as well as additional requirements and
procedures for exporters. Though United States and European Union approached
W.T.O for unfair trade by china. The W.T.O gave verdict in favour of china
saying that in the absence of effective domestic measures to manage the supply
of the natural resources in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way, a
country cannot rely on the exceptions allowed under the WTO law.
The clear implication of this ruling, according to trade experts,
is that there are much more efficacious environmental protection measures that
do not discriminate against foreign industry. These include investment in more
eco-friendly technologies, raising environmental standards, pollution control
and effective production and consumption restrictions, as well as promoting
recycling.
The obverse side of the dispute is that India can either process
the ores to add value thereby ramping up its domestic manufacturing capacity of
its much-needed steel industry or indiscriminately squander its extant mineral
resources for pittance either by its state-owned trading companies which are in
the iron ore export business or let private miners scratch the reserves to the
bottom to batten themselves on for super profit both to themselves or to their
political patrons as has been the case in Karnataka.
But it would be a pity if Indian authorities do not see the
underlying implications of the Chinese export restraints on raw materials in
the right spirit. Experts caution that what is at stake is not only the loss of
precious mineral wealth of the country but also the grim possibility that when
India really needs these minerals for its own development, they would either be
prohibitively costly or simply be not there in the years ahead.
Hence it’s time for Indian government to open eyes see what’s
lying ahead. It’s now India’s turn whether to fly with Economic globalisation or to
perish with economic globalisation.
