India`s poorest people live in the richest areas Comments from the dialogue on mining organised by CSE
Forum to bridge a chasm deepened by breach of faith
A piece of cartographic evidence of inequity is often repeated by social activists all over India. In this evidence, maps of forests, minerals, tribal habitation and poorest districts are overlayed and they denote almost the same areas in India. This realisation raises one important question: why do the poorest people of the country live in its richest areas?
The mining industry has immense negative effect on environment, which is undoubtedly shared by all in the long term. But the most violent and immediate effect is borne by the tribals who inhabit the land that is mined, as they live off the land and the forests they inhabit. The Centre for Science and Environment (cse) wanted to find out answers through a dialogue between all groups involved in this business. As expected, representatives of the mining industry were absent.But activists and government officials offered similar explanations: the tangible returns of mining and intangible benefits of forests are not shared with the poor inhabitants of the land.
Though the proponents of intensive mining keep trotting out the logic of employment generation and local infrastructure development to justify mining, it is important to note that modern mining does not employ much and offers almost nothing in terms of local employment, while local populations are robbed off their habitats. It is fashionable to cite examples of thriving mining enterprises in other countries, but experts pointed out that human habitation density in mining areas in India is much higher than that of any other country, and called for better strategies to manage displacement caused by mining.
It is interesting that in spite of agreeing with social activists about the large-scale dispossesion that mining causes, officials representing mining, tribal affairs and environment plead helplessness in the face of a dominant policy of