impact of mining on wildlife
TRANSCRIPT
The boom and bust saga of iron ore mining in India is slowly coming to an end with
mining restrictions already extensively lifted in Karnataka and now partially in Goa.
The global boom in the early 2000s and the near-insatiable Chinese demand for steel
and its raw materials in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics of 2008 brought about an
iron ore mining boom in India, much of which was illegal. The environment, public
health and infrastructure such has roads suffered seriously, not to speak of
governments losing thousansds of crores of potential revenue.
Such quick generation of big money had to affect politics - the rise and fall of
ministries in Karnataka after 2004 can be traced to their making and unmaking by
the newly emerged mining czars. Inevitably, public interest litigation was launched,
the Justice M B Shah commission of inquiry was appointed, and state governments
and the Supreme Court put a stop to iron ore shipment and mining in Karnataka and
Goa (Odisha took partial action) a couple of years ago. An empowered committee
from the Centre was asked to go into the irregularities and outline a path for
journeying back to normal life.
During this period of disruption, the economy suffered. India, known for its rich
deposits of high-grade iron ore (which gives its steel industry a global competitive
advantage), became a net importer of iron ore. Its exports over a four-year period
fell from 117 million tonnes in 2009-10 to around 15 million tonnes in 2013-14.
(There is a subplot to this, regarding the imposition of a 30 per cent export duty on
iron ore pellets through lobbying by the steel industry, but that is another story.) The
railways, which first made hay (higher freight revenue) when the sun shone, took a
hit later by losing a lot of freight tonnage.
This whole cycle has also had bigger political fallout. Through the boom years - the
boom was partially fuelled by illegal and harmful iron ore extraction - the first United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was the toast of liberal economists and the
business media for uncaging the Indian tiger. Then, when the ban on iron ore mining
was imposed, the second UPA government was in the doghouse for policy paralysis,
which led to severe economic slowdown - fuelled in part by the non-existent iron ore.
(The index of industrial production, which includes mining and quarrying,
floundered.)
Some of the conditions laid down by the Supreme Court while allowing resumption of
mining in Goa are instructive. It placed a cap of 20 million tonnes per annum on
output, less than half of the pre-ban output, on the basis of the finding by an expert
committee that evaluated the impact of mining. No mining leases will be granted
within a kilometre of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.