Opinion

Will Plachimada show the way? 

The expert panel formed by the Kerala government to investigate the damages caused by the Coca-Cola plant in Plachimada has finalised its report and this would have been submitted to the government for further action by the time these columns appear in print. According to media reports, the nine-member panel will be recommending that the government of Kerala should get Coca-Cola to pay Rs 200 crore as compensation for groundwater depletion and pollution caused by the working of its plant. The panel has also asked the government to set up a tribunal which would decide on who gets how much compensation. In a way, this brings to a close a decade-long agitation against the soft-drink factory in Plachimada. Coca-Cola started operations here in 1999, using groundwater to produce its aerated drinks and juices. What is worse, there was a visible and steep increase in groundwater pollution after this plant started working. Not only was well water made totally unfit for drinking, it was found to be so highly acidic and full of toxins that it was unusable for agriculture or even for washing clothes. In short, a few years of the operation of the Coca-Cola plant had turned the local groundwater into poison.

  It has been a long and arduous struggle for the people of Plachimada to get redressal for the wrongs done to them. Initially, neither was the company nor those in government authority willing to hear the complaints of the people.

  Even the present expert panel has not been recognised by the soft-drink multinational, which refused to appear before it and has questioned its authority to go into the issue of compensation. Hopefully, with the present government having taken a tough stance against Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other such companies, and given the fact that elections are slated for next year, some action in defence of the people of Plachimada may be expected.

       What is especially tragic about Plachimada is that all the depletion and pollution of water has been done to produce an artificial drink which has no real use for human beings and whose consumption is entirely driven by an equally artificial craving created through multi-billion dollar advertisements. Plachimada has been an important battleground for asserting the principle of people before profits and that battle continues. EWe hope that the Kerala government will continue to show the good sense it has till now on this matter and take early action on the recommendations of its expert panel. The failure of the democratic system to protect people and deliver justice can only lead to exasperation, cynicism and the desperate resort to undemocratic measures to gain justice. Will Plachimada show the way?

Indian Union Budget 2010-2011 a glance

Union Budget 2010 focus on sustain growth of Indian Economy with a gradual and partial rollback of fiscal stimulus package. The Budget confidence a higher GDP growth path of 7.2 per cent this year and 8.2 percent of next year. The Finance Minister keep deficit control by a fiscal deficit down to 5.5 percent of GDP next year as compared to 6.8 percent current year.Short term pain for long term growth, that more or less summarized slogan of the budget. Some main features of Union Budget are follow

• The major impact of this budget among the all section of the people is coming through the revival of the central custom duty of 5 percent on crude oil and 10 percent on petroleum product. This leads to an increase in price of petroleum product. This would further fuel in inflation.

• The budget proposed a disinvestment of public sector share

• The neglected area are Public Distribution System, Food Security and Inflation control

• Income Tax payers have gained a relief from the changes in slab and deduction in additional amount of Rs. 20,000 on tax saving for investment in long term infrastructural bonds.

• Introduction of Saral II for tax payer

• Much focus on infrastructure development

• Rural India got a huge amount for development especially for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Bharath Nirman

• Allocation for Urban development increases

• At last Union Budget are going to understand the importance of Education for the development of an economy, plan allocation for school education increased by 16 percent.

• The new Banking Licenses are to be issued RBI and it is eligible to convert them selves into banks by non-banking finance companies

• Being a consumer state Kerala will be worst affect by some proposal such as hike in duty of petroleum product which will leads to a price rise in all commodity and services.

The reall solution of Naxalisam in India. Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, equipped with cameras, data and video links are the latest weapons to be deployed against Naxals in India. Developed by Hindustan Aeronautics, each machine will cost at least Rs 18 lakh. Will they work to contain or subdue what the prime minister has called the “greatest threat to India’s internal security?” it is doubt.

Naxal is not as Khalistan-inspired movement.

The Naxal or Maoist agitations in the country today are different from, say, the AASU-sponsored violence in Assam or the Khalistan-inspired violence in Punjab in the 1980s, or even the militancy in Jammu & Kashmir. The violence in Assam, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir were orchestrated, at least initially, by close-knit organizations with a clear-cut agenda of breaking away from mainstream India on ethnic or religious grounds.

Why Naxal Movement?  Today’s Naxal movements have no such goals. Reckoned conservatively, Naxal activity in India today spreads across 90 districts in 10 states: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. There are some startling similarities about the condition of people living there.

Firstly they are poor. Studies show that 85 of the country’s 100 poorest districts are in seven of those 10 states. In the Naxal-affected districts, 32% of the population is below the officially-measured poverty line, compared to 24% elsewhere.

 Second, in these districts, state governments have a terrible record of delivering public goods and services. Only 68% of homes in Naxal-affected districts get safe drinking water, in other places it is  74%.

Many of these problems have to do with one simple fact: the people living in these areas are tribal who, on paper, receive special rights and privileges but are actually subject to brutal discrimination in India’s caste-conscious society. Even in West Bengal’s so-called socialist utopia, in dry areas where a single source of water, like a well or a pond, has to be shared by many households, the tribal is the last person in queue to get her bucketful. The tribal areas remain backward.

Politics for  Mineral Resources If you place a map of India listing its mineral resources over another map marking areas of Naxal influence, the two would overlap almost perfectly. The poorest areas of the country are rich in coal, iron ore and bauxite seams but the ‘curse of minerals’ has gripped the area. Coal mining was nationalized in the 1970s and, almost immediately, most activities surrounding the actual mining were hived off to efficient private operators: the mining mafia. Around Dhanbad and Asansol in the east, the coal mafia controlled everything: trucking, transportation, the movement of railway wagons and labour contracts. With money came political power. We’ve seen something similar in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, where the Bellarybrothers, who control large mining leases, have acquired enough clout to bring the BJP government of Karnataka to its knees. None of that is good news for the people who live there.

Violent against people.

It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that the Naxal areas are hotbeds of crime and violence. Research by economist Vani K Borooah, of the University of Ulster, throws cold water on that assumption. After comparing rates of violent crimes, crimes against women and against public order across all Indian districts with Naxal-affected ones, he finds that Naxal affected areas are in many ways less crime-prone than other parts.

He also finds, unsurprisingly, that urban areas are more crime-prone than rural ones  where Naxals largely operate that poverty has little role in influencing the number of violent crimes, but riots and arson were more likely in poorer areas. Conflicts over drinking water led to higher crime rates, as did discrimination against scheduled tribes. Is Militant way is real solution?

The Naxal issue is complex, widespread and rooted in local factors. The government can’t end Naxalism by sending the military into villages and jungles. And it won’t help to club Naxals as terrorists and book suspects under harsh laws. Last year, a report on Naxalism, published by the Planning Commission, made this accurate observation: “Mobilising the support of the people is also absolutely essential to weaken the support base of the Naxals. The political parties are not playing their role in this regard. The representatives of major political parties have virtually abdicated their responsibility.”

To get Naxals into the political mainstream, the political mainstream has to make the first move. And to do that, the government has to take the first step to reconciliation. Otherwise, which politician would like to be seen hobnobbing with people branded as Naxals and terrorists?

 Keep out the Armed Forces

An intelligent response by the Indian state to Naxalite violence must necessarily be multi-dimensional, dealing with the problem in all its aspects. Long-term strategies to address the socioeconomic roots of the problem must be combined with short-term tactics of firmly combating kidnapping, murder, and targeted violence. However, the suggestion to use the Air Force to counter the threat holds disturbing implications. For a start, it sends out a signal of desperation. The Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik, did well to clarify that the IAF did not intend to carry out any Rambo-style operations against the Maoists. The IAF had only asked the Defence Ministry for permission to open fire in self-defence following the downing of a helicopter during the Chhattisgarh Assembly election last year. True, the state is constitutionally and legally empowered to use instruments of violence. But the rules and norms governing such use have to be placed on a higher plane than the standards adopted by extremist forces, which do not hesitate to target innocents. There are times when the state needs to use its inherent powers to intervene quickly and effectively to protect citizens. But every instance of unjust use of violence, including sponsored vigilantism of the Salwa Judum kind, erodes the state’s credibility, legitimacy, and authority. It is a betrayal of the trust reposed in it by the people. Naxalites, and indeed armed extremists of all hues, thrive by provoking state violence and inviting repression not just on themselves but on the civilian population as a whole. The Indian state must not lose sight of the long-term goals of addressing social and economic inequities, and achieving development targets. Providing social opportunity, tackling unemployment, and ensuring sustainable livelihoods are the ways to deal with extremist organisations that seek to alienate the people from the state by taking up these very same issues. The last thing democratic India needs is a spiral of violence, counter-violence, repression, and further extremist provocations.