The demand for land in Jharkhand is increasingly, but this would mean more and more tribals in the near future as the drive to take over land intensifies following the notification of the state rehabilitation and resettlement policy (R&RP) and its rapid roll-out under the excuse of it being reportedly the “best” in the country.
Jharkhand had the fifth highest concentration of forest-dwellers and tribals in the country and these communities were expected to be the worst hit. It was estimated that 55 per cent of the people displaced due to mining in Jharkhand are tribals, according to the recent report released by the New Delhi-based organization Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
The report said, ”The very people for whom Jharkhand was ostensibly created are now being sacrificed in the name of their own state’s development.”
The CSE report alleged that in Jharkhand rampant mining had turned large tracts of forests into wasteland. The report said that according to the Union ministry of environment and forests, between 1985-2004, more than 9,000 hectare of forest land had been used up for mining in Jharkhand. This was approximately 10 per cent of the total forest land diverted for mining in India and this did not include the thousands of hectares diverted by the coal mining sector.
According to Sunita Narain, director of CSE, “Mining is being promoted in the country for the wrong reason- employment. All state governments justify mining arguing that the sector will provide employment, but this is a chimera. The formal mining industry in India employees just 5.6 people and this number is coming down.”
Jharkhand had the fifth highest concentration of forest-dwellers and tribals in the country and these communities were expected to be the worst hit. It was estimated that 55 per cent of the people displaced due to mining in Jharkhand are tribals, according to the recent report released by the New Delhi-based organization Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
The report said, ”The very people for whom Jharkhand was ostensibly created are now being sacrificed in the name of their own state’s development.”
The CSE report alleged that in Jharkhand rampant mining had turned large tracts of forests into wasteland. The report said that according to the Union ministry of environment and forests, between 1985-2004, more than 9,000 hectare of forest land had been used up for mining in Jharkhand. This was approximately 10 per cent of the total forest land diverted for mining in India and this did not include the thousands of hectares diverted by the coal mining sector.
According to Sunita Narain, director of CSE, “Mining is being promoted in the country for the wrong reason- employment. All state governments justify mining arguing that the sector will provide employment, but this is a chimera. The formal mining industry in India employees just 5.6 people and this number is coming down.”
Investors however had launched a fresh drive to get land in Jharkhand after notification of the R&RP recently. In response, leading investors signed memorandum of understanding with the Jharkhand government were moving briskly to have their lands for setting up industries. Steel giant Arcelor-Mittal recently submitted its application for over 11,000 acres in Khunti and Gumla districts to set up its proposed steel plant, power plant and resettlement colony.
Source: Business Standard
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