Press Release
12th March 2013
Saranda: Maoists Out, Corporate In
The
Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) at its meeting held during February
20-21 gave permission to the public sector SAIL to divert 210.526 ha of
forest land in Jhillingburu of Saranda (Jharkhand) for iron ore mining.
This was the second such project cleared by the FAC which allowed Jindal
Steel and Power to divert 500 ha of forest land in Saranda earlier in
February 2013.
The
area also happens to be part of Singhbhum Elephant Reserve. These two
clearances belie the claim of the Union Rural Development Ministry that
‘Operation Anaconda’ launched in Jharkhand's Saranda forest area (West
Singhbhum district) was not linked with enabling corporate plunder of
mineral resources. Even the Union Rural Development Minister, Jairam
Ramesh, recently complained that the “FAC decision is a huge setback and very retrograde…” because over the “past
one year I have been at great pains to counter Maoist propaganda that
the Saranda Development Plan is a ploy to benefit private mining
interests.”
These
two instances confirm what Coordination of Democratic Rights
Organisation (CDRO) has been insisting are the real reasons behind the
war in Saranda, which was to enable corporate mining and mineral based
industries to start operating freely. CDRO had pointed to the setting up
of 17 camps of central para military forces in Saranda to keep the
people subdued and provide protection for corporate investors. These two
clearances are not the last; rather they are part of a list of nineteen
applications pending clearance, which our report 'Under the Shadow of
Terror' focuses on.
Such
clearances should be read together with the Union Cabinet's decision to
dilute the Forest Rights Act in 82 districts designated "Left Wing
Extremist". The Forest Rights Act gave authority to the Gram Sabha to
approve or reject diversion of forest land for non-forest use. Now using
the excuse of "linear" projects (such as roads) under the Integrated
Action Plan the FRA has been rendered virtually infructuous by divesting
the Gram Sabha of its authority.
The
implication is that there is a link between the war against Adivasis
under the name of fighting Maoists and opening the forest area for
plunder by domestic and foreign capital. It also means that so long as
Maoists retained control of the area, the mining juggernaut could be
kept at bay. But no sooner than the Indian government militarily forced
them out, the long pending corporate proposals started getting cleared.
We
appeal to all those who have been fighting displacement of people from
their forest resource base and abode as well as those who are part of
the struggle against land grab and plunder of natural resources to voice
their opposition lest we are served a fact accompli. We demand that the
FAC clearances be withdrawn and that the FAC be divested of its
authority to clear projects, thereby restoring the primacy of Gram
Sabha.
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