18/03/09

Mining – India 1
1. Delhi High Court quashes FIR in illegal mining case 1
2. Joint effort to develop coal mine to tackle power shortage 2
3. Orissa High Court asks state Govt. clarification on Khandadhar mining lease 4
4. Mozambique: Coal India awarded coal mining concession 4
Mining – International 5
5. Withdrawing lands from mining 5
6. Pheonix gets mining licence 9
7. Dragon Energy eyes new mining projects 10
8. Austral defers study to restart Chile gold mine 11
9. Opposition pressures Garrett on uranium mine approval process 12
10. Uranium fight gets dirty 12
Other News – India 14
11. Every child will have a tag 14
12. Suit against dam 15
13. Kill bills 16

Mining – India

Delhi High Court quashes FIR in illegal mining case
Staff Reporter
Directs police to register a fresh case under Mines and Minerals Act, 1957
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Registration of the FIR under Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code illegal: Petitioner
Police filed the case on information that some persons were selling sand from the Yamuna basin
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NEW DELHI: Quashing an FIR registered under Section 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code in a case of illegal mining of sand in the Yamuna here, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Delhi police to register a fresh case under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, 1957.
Justice M. C. Garg quashed the FIR on a petition by one of the accused in the case.
The petitioner, Sanjay, submitted that registration of the FIR under Section 379 of the Code was illegal as no offence was made out under this provision in the facts of the case.
He submitted that offences, if made out at all, could have been registered under the said Act.
He further submitted that under the said Act, cognisance of an offence could be taken only on the basis of a complaint filed by an authorised officer. The Alipur police had registered the case in 2004 on their own on coming to know that some persons were removing and selling sand from the Yamuna basin. They had conducted a raid at the place and arrested the petitioner and other persons involved in the crime.
The Court in its judgment said: “The offence under the said Act being cognisable, the police could have registered an offence in the case. However, so far as taking cognisance of offence under it is concerned, it can be taken by a Magistrate only on the basis of a complaint filed by an authorised officer.”
“Since the offence of mining of sand without permission is punishable under Section 21 of the Act, the question of the said offence being an offence under Section 379 of the Code does not arise because it makes mining an offence only where there is no permit/licence for such extraction and a complaint in this regard is filed by an authorised officer,” the Court observed. Lalit Yadav, one of the accused in the case, had the permission to mine sand in his land. However, they had exceeded the terms of the permit.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/18/stories/2009031854350400.htm


Joint effort to develop coal mine to tackle power shortage
T. Ramakrishnan
TNEB joins hands with corporations in Assam, Meghalaya
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Facility to come up in Orissa
Special purpose vehicle floated
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CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), which has been in search of additional power to tide over shortage, has joined hands with the Assam and Meghalaya Mineral Development Corporations and Orissa Mining Corporation in developing a coal mine in Orissa as part of its long-term measures to solve the problem.
All the four organisations have floated a special purpose vehicle – Mandakini B Coal Corporation Limited. The new company was registered on February 9, according to a senior TNEB official.
The inaugural meeting of the Board of Directors of the company will take place in Kolkata on Wednesday. Chairman C.P. Singh, Accounts Member S. Kathiresan and Member (Generation) K. Balasubramanian will take part in the meeting.
Named after the coal block allotted to the four States in July 2007, the firm has three representatives from each State on its Board.
The company chairman will be from the four States on rotation basis.
Located in the Talcher coalfields, the block’s coal reserve is estimated at 1,200 million tonnes.
It will be equally divided among the four States. This cannot be supplied to consumers of Coal India against their existing linkages.
The area of the coal block is 15.6 sq. km.
At the peak rate, 3.5 million tonnes can be produced annually.
The official explains that different options such as establishment of a pit-head power station or transporting coal to the State and using it here for any project to be proposed in future will be discussed later.
The importance of a coal mine owned by the TNEB can be gauged from the fact that the Board has been dependent on Coal India and its subsidiaries, Mahanadhi Coalfields and Eastern Coalfiels, for meeting the requirements of four thermal power stations. With the installed capacity of 2,970 MW, the stations’ annual requirement is 15 million tonnes. Being located far away from the coal mines, Tamil Nadu is using multiple modes of transport (rail-cum-sea-cum-rail) to bring coal.
For over 15 years, the State government urged the Centre for allotting a captive mine.
As on date, the coal stock available at the stations is around 4.8 lakh tonnes, equivalent to 10 days’ requirements.
Another official explains that in the event of Coal India’s failure to meet its commitment, coal produced from the block can be used to meet the shortfall.
In the last four years, as the Central utility could not fulfil its obligations fully, the Board imported coal, ranging from one lakh tonnes in 2004-2005 to 20 lakh tonnes this year.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/18/stories/2009031854340400.htm


Orissa High Court asks state Govt. clarification on Khandadhar mining lease
Tuesday, March 17, 2009


Report by Orissadiary correspondent; Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Monday asked the Orissa state Government to come up with a clarification as what step it has taken on the Khandadhar mining lease issue.
A division bench of the court comprising Justice Bimal Prasad Das and Justice Bhabani Prasad Ray issued the directive while hearing a writ petition filed by Kudremuksh Iron Ore Company Ltd challenging the decision of the state government by granting the 25 km-long mining lease to the South Korean steel major Posco without considering the other lease applications submitted by other companies for the said mines.
It is to be mentioned here that a total of 226 companies have applied for the grant of lease of Khandadhar mines. While the Central Revision Tribunal has asked the state government to take a quick decision on these applications taking their feasibility aspect into consideration, the latter, without going through these applications, has recommended the Centre to grant the mining lease to Posco.
Besides, of the total mining lease area granted to the Kudremukh company earlier, the state government has recommended 10 sq km as lease to Posco, official of the Kudremukh company said. The state government had earlier asked the Kudremukh company to deposit Rs 1 crore towards mining the 15 sq km of Khandadhar mines to which the latter obliged.
However, the company later moved the High Court as the state government reversed its decision in favour of Posco by recommending the lease grant. The bench will sit for the next hearing on the issue on March 20.

http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowBussinessNews.asp?id=11448


Mozambique: Coal India awarded coal mining concession
[ 2009-03-17 ]

Maputo, Mozambique, 17 Mar – Indian company Coal India, Ltd, has won the concession for geological prospection work and mineral coal exploration in two blocks of the Moatize coal basin in Tete province, said the Maputo newspaper, Notícias.

The concession for these blocks is the result of a tender launched by the Government at the end of last year concerning three blocks. The third area was won by a Mozambican company.

According to the timeframe for the process, in the next phase the companies selected should present their investment plans, the terms of which will be discussed in the context of the regularization of geological coal prospection and research activity in Mozambique.

The two blocks granted to Coal India occupy an estimated area of 200 square kilometres, where reserves of between 500,000 and one billion tonnes of mineral coal are believed to exist.

According to Coal India's projections, 85 percent of its production could be exported to India, which will reduce the country’s dependence on coal imports.

Also in Tete province, construction of a new coal-powered thermal power station will begin, with a production capacity of 500 megawatts, part of a project led by Australian company, Riversdale Mining, estimated at US$2 billion. Construction should be finished within the maximum period of three years.

The Government granted Riversdale Mining a licence for mineral coal mining in 290,080 hectares in Tete province. Another company involved in mineral coal mining in this province is the Brazilian company, Rio Doce Moçambique (CVRD), with whom the government signed an agreement for a concession valid for 25 years. (macauhub)

http://www.macauhub.com.mo/en/news.php?ID=7066


Mining – International

Withdrawing lands from mining
By Tanya Lee, Today correspondent
Story Published: Mar 18, 2009
Story Updated: Mar 16, 2009
Part 2 of 2
Editor’s Note: This is part 2 of a two-part series on hardrock mining in the West. Part 1 took a look at the history of mining and this one takes a look at mining now and moving forward.

A year ago, the Pueblos of Acoma, Laguna and Zuni, the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation applied for and won the emergency nomination of 500,000 acres on and around Mt. Taylor as a traditional cultural property on the New Mexico State Register of Historic Places, forcing the State of New Mexico to require mining companies and federal agencies such as the Forest Service to consult with tribes before they begin additional exploratory drilling for uranium.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., continues, with the support of local tribes, to fight to protect land near the Grand Canyon from uranium mining and exploration.

A federal judge recently ruled that Barrick Gold Corporation may go forward with a huge gold mine near Mt. Tenabo, a site sacred to the Western Shoshone, saying, “The effect of the proposed mining project is on the plaintiffs’ subjective, emotional experience. It is offensive to their sensibilities and in the mind of some will desecrate a sacred mountain. Nevertheless, the diminishment of that spirituality – as serious as it may be – under the Supreme Court’s holdings it is not a substantial burden on religious freedom.”

The list is endless, but legislation proposed by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., would profoundly change things.

Under the bill, tribes may ask the secretary of the interior to withdraw lands from mining. “Any state or political subdivision of a state or an Indian tribe may submit a petition to the secretary for the withdrawal of a specific tract of federal land from the operation of the general mining laws, in order to protect specific values. … Such values may include the value of a watershed to supply drinking water, wildlife habitat value, cultural or historic resources, or value for scenic vistas important to the local economy, and other similar values. In the case of an Indian tribe, the petition may also identify religious or cultural values that are important to the Indian tribe.”

Tribes have always been allowed to ask, explained Roger Flynn of the Western Mining Action Project. “The new legislation creates the presumption of withdrawal. It shifts the burden. Instead of the petitioner proving to the federal government that there is reason to withdraw the land from mining, the federal government must show why it will not act in favor of the petitioners.”

Yavapai-Apache Nation Chairman Thomas Beauty said his tribe has been “fighting a battle at Apache Leap against [Rio Tinto’s proposed] subterranean copper operation centered right in the middle of a very important holy place to all Western Apaches. This mining law would affect that. We’re not only affected physically by adverse effects to the environment, but also culturally, which affects the spiritual health of the tribe.”

The National Mining Association, a trade organization for the mining industry, maintains this part of the legislation is unnecessary. Katie Sweeney, general counsel for the association said, “The issue that we have is that the petition must be granted unless it’s not in the national interest. There could be some delays in trying to figure out what that means, probably litigation, when we already have an existing withdrawal process that’s effective. We see that as an unnecessary provision in the bill.”
Preserving the land
The new legislation takes a serious view of mining companies’ responsibilities in regard to the land and demands financial assurances “in the form of a surety bond, a trust fund, letters of credits, government securities, certificates of deposit, cash, or an equivalent form approved by such secretary” to make sure that happens, even if the mining company goes bankrupt. “The amount of the financial assurance required under this section shall be sufficient to assure the completion of reclamation and restoration. … to meet federal and state environmental requirements,” reads the bill. The legislation would also require that the mining plan be designed to prevent material damage to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area.

“Under this legislation, the federal government cannot approve a mining permit that does not have an adequate reclamation plan and the money to execute it,” Flynn said. “It’s called the ‘walk away clean’ provision. No perpetual pollution is allowed.”

“We have a really small land base, so we’re greatly affected by surrounding regions,” said Chris Coder, Yavapai-Apache Nation archaeologist. “The largest copper strike in the world we can see from our office. It’s in Jerome. We still have the residual effects from that, including the leakage of sulfuric acid into the rivers.”

“Ten million acres of our original homeland is pockmarked with small and large mining operations – gold, vanadium, uranium,” Beauty said. And most have never been reclaimed.

Sharing the wealth
One of the most radical – and most controversial – changes proposed in Rahall’s bill is the imposition of an eight percent royalty on the gross income on hardrock mining on public lands.

Luke Popovich, National Mining Association vice president for external communications, said the association supports a royalty, but eight percent is too high. He said many mining companies have said they could live with a four to five percent royalty. “We do support the use of royalties for abandoned mine lands cleanup. It makes a lot of sense, and would be the preferred way to use monies derived from royalties. Our main issues are the amount of the royalty and the general question of regulation. We’re looking for a regulatory scheme that doesn’t destroy the incentives for hardrock mining in the U.S.”

Sweeney said the eight percent royalty would discourage mining in the U.S, “and you’re not going to get the money you think you would for abandoned mine lands cleanup.”

The royalties, as well as other fees and penalties, would be put into a new Locatable Minerals Fund, which in turn would be comprised of two subaccounts, the Hardrock Reclamation Account and the Hardrock Community Impact Assistance Account.

Money in the Hardrock Reclamation Account would be earmarked “for the reclamation and restoration of land and water resources adversely affected by past mineral activities.”

The money in the fund (after administrative costs are taken out) would be used for a wide range of activities aimed at remediating the environmental damage caused by mining, including rectifying water pollution caused by abandoned mine drainage, reclaiming and restoring abandoned and processing areas, vegetating land and controlling surface subsidence due to abandoned underground mines.

A 1996 Government Accountability Office report, “Federal Land Management: Information on Efforts to Inventory Abandoned Hard Rock Mines,” stated that no complete inventory of abandoned mine sites exists, but “The Bureau of Mines believes that worst-case scenario costs [for cleaning up those sites] could range between $4 billion and $35.3 billion and nonfederal organizations estimate that costs could exceed $70 billion.” (In 1996 dollars.)

Here’s the critical point. Under the terms of this legislation, money from the account may be used for reclamation activities on Indian lands, “where such lands or water resources have been affected by past mineral activities,” including lands and waters that have not yet been adequately reclaimed. The money can be made available to Indian tribes.

And money in the Hardrock Community Impact Assistance Account may also go to Indian tribes “that are socially or economically impacted by mineral activities conducted under the general mining laws.”

Lynelle Hartway said the Washoe Tribe could use those funds. The Leviathan Mine, which operated on and off between the mid-1800s and mid-1900s, continues to affect traditional tribal resources. Acid water from the underground and open-pit copper sulfate, copper and sulfur mine has seeped into Leviathan Creek, Aspen Creek, Bryant Creek, and the East Fork of the Carson River, contaminating traditional fishing resources and gathering grounds. An abatement project began in 1987/88, but, Hartway, general counsel for the tribe, said more resources are needed to clean up the site and the surrounding area.

With interest mounting in new uranium exploration and mining as the U.S. and other countries plan the construction of new nuclear power plants, what happens with this legislation is critically important to Indian country. The Grants Mineral Belt, a 120-mile-long, 50-mile-wide swath of land stretching from just west of Albuquerque, N.M., to the Arizona-New Mexico border, holds one of the world’s most significant deposits of uranium. Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota and Wyoming are among other states in which uranium mining companies have shown interest in the past few years.

On Feb. 4, the Rahall-sponsored legislation was referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. Flynn said a similar bill was passed by the House, but gridlocked in the Senate last year. This year, he said, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was expected to introduce the Senate version of the legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., representing the state that leads the nation in gold mining and has strong interests in silver and copper mining, said he is looking for a compromise bill. On his Web site he states, “It is essential that we develop a mining policy for today and for our future that updates the 1872 mining law. To succeed, any revision of our nation’s mining law must ensure a stable supply of strategic minerals, reasonable compensation for the use of federal lands, business certainty for mining companies, and legitimate and enforceable reclamation assurances.”

Side note
Virtually all hardrock mining in the United States takes place in the 12 Western states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming) and most mining on federal lands is managed by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management and the Agriculture Department’s Forest Service.
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/living/41305887.html


Pheonix gets mining licence

Wednesday, 18 March 2009
THE Government has awarded a mining licence to Pheonix International (SI) Ltd to operate at Sutakama, along the Balansuna River in Central Guadalcanal.

Chairman of Mines and Mineral Board Peter Auga confirmed this to the Solomon Star after their meeting last Friday.

“Yes, the board after going through the company’s application awarded them a mining licence,” Mr Auga said.

Pheonix is a subsidiary of New Zealand’s CARATAPA Group of Companies.

The company’s application to the board also contained a report of its exploration.

The report suggests the deposit could hold as much as 42 million ounces of alluvial gold or approximately 1.33 million kilograms of the metal.

The Sutakama find on Guadalcanal is potentially 28 times more than the proven reserves at the nearby Gold Ridge mine.

Landowners in the area are excited about this new development and have thrown their support behind the company.

To mark the start of the operation, a second ground-breaking ceremony will be held at Vavalu Primary school today between the Hokolo Land Owners Association and the company.

A number of guests, including the Premier of Guadalcanal, director of mines and government officials are expected to attend.

The first ground breaking ceremony was held in December last year when the prospecting licence was granted.

By MOFAT MAMU

http://solomonstarnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7457&change=71&changeown=78&Itemid=26

Dragon Energy eyes new mining projects
Tuesday, Mar 17, 2009
Reuters reported that China-linked Dragon Energy Ltd is eyeing investments in new mining projects and would be comfortable with deals of up to AUD 100 million.
Perth-based Dragon, backed by China's Shandong Group, said it sees itself as a link between Chinese capital and cash-strapped project owners, and is hunting for investment opportunities in a range of commodities including coal, iron ore, copper and uranium within and outside Australia.
Mr Xu Gang, managing director of Dragon Energy, who was speaking at the Reuters Global Mining and Steel Summit said "Shandong Group, our cornerstone investor, sees Australia as an important resource base and we are looking for investment opportunities in new projects. He said that "We may be a small company, but through our cornerstone investor, we'll be comfortable with deals of up to AUD 100 million."
Mr Anthony Ho executive director and company secretary of Dragon said "This is the perfect buyers' market. The stars are now aligned for buyers. He said that we will choose the club when we get to the ball. Until we find a life project, we can't decide on the parameters of our investments."
Mr Xu said Dragon has looked at about 10 projects in the past two months and is in early discussions on a coal miner owner in the United States adding that it is mainly only interested in projects that are either in the advanced exploration phase or are already in development. He said that old drilling data from the 1960s showed that the two primary phosphate projects, Babbling Brooke Hill and Riversleigh, have a combined tonnage of about 50 million tonnes.
Dragon said its nearby Big Toby project was chasing larger volumes of phosphate.
http://www.yourminingnews.com/news_item.php?newsID=26842


Austral defers study to restart Chile gold mine

By: Esmarie Swanepoel
17th March 2009
TEXT SIZE
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Australia-based exploration company Austral Gold has deferred the prefeasibility study into restarting mining and processing operations at its Guanaco project, in Northern Chile.

The company cited current market conditions as the reason for the postponement of the study. In May, Austral lodged an application to restart the mine.

The company reported that exploration drilling at Guanaco, undertaken between June and August had successfully identified a significant silica/quartz vein structure, which contained the same mineral assemblages found in the gold-bearing veins in the district. Further drilling was performed during November and December.

The project had a measured, indicated and inferred resource of contained gold totalling just over 500 000 oz , excluding any gold remaining in the leach pads from earlier operations.

Meanwhile, Austral has rationalised its Australian portfolio, selling its iron-ore tenement, and focusing on its Bullabulling gold project, in Western Australia.

The company reported in its interim results for the six months ended December 2008, that it had recently started a programme of research and field activity at Bullabulling. The objective of the programme was to identify targets for further prospecting or drilling.

Austral reported a consolidated loss of A$12,3-million for the interim period, compared with the A$337 019 loss reported during the corresponding period of 2007. Included in the loss were unrealised foreign exchange losses of A$615 180, and impairment losses of A$11,1-million.

The basic loss a share widened to 7,339c a share, compared with a loss of 0,504c a share recorded in 2007.
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/austral-defers-study-to-restart-chile-gold-mine-2009-03-17

Opposition pressures Garrett on uranium mine approval process
Posted 7 hours 5 minutes ago
Updated 7 hours 4 minutes ago
The Federal Opposition's environment spokesman says the public will be watching closely to see if Environment Minister Peter Garrett approves an expansion of a Northern Territory uranium mine, given his longstanding opposition to uranium mining.
Environmentalists are calling for the Federal Government to reject a proposal to expand the Ranger Uranium Mine, which lies within the boundaries of Kakadu National Park.
Greg Hunt says Mr Garrett has spent much of his life opposing uranium mining but approved the expansion of the Beverley Uranium mine in South Australia last year.
Mr Garrett says the proposal to expand the Ranger Uranium Mine will be subject to a rigorous approval process.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/18/2519303.htm?section=australia

Uranium fight gets dirty
Tony Moore | March 18, 2009
ALP councillors last night accused Lord Mayor Campbell Newman of "dishing dirt" for claiming they owned shares in uranium mining companies while arguing for Brisbane to remain nuclear-free.
Last night the Lord Mayor accused councillors Helen Abraham (Woolloongabba) and Peter Cumming (Wynnum) of owning shares in some of the world's largest uranium mining companies.
He said it was hypocritical for Labor's Environment, Parks and Sustainability spokeswoman, Cr Abrahams, to own shares in Rio Tinto and BHP and for Cr Cumming to own stakes in Newcrest Mining and BHP.
But Cr Cumming defended his investments, saying Newcrest Mining was an Australian gold mining company and the Lord Mayor was simply ''dishing dirt''.
Cr Abrahams said she had inherited her shares from her aunt when she died "10 or 12 years ago" and had paid no attention to them.
"I had no knowledge that BHP were involved in uranium mining at all," Cr Abrahams said.
"My aunt had a really strong attachment to BHP that's why she bought them. I just thought they were involved in copper, silver, lead and zinc down there at Whyalla.
"I don't play the market, I don't follow the market. But if that is the case and they are involved in those activities, then I will be selling the shares."
Labor last night had tried to have LNP Lord Mayor Campbell Newman reconfirm Brisbane City Council's support for Brisbane remaining a nuclear-free zone after LNP state leader Lawrence Springborg backed uranium mining if the party wins Saturday's election.
But the Lord Mayor responded by accusing the councillors of hypocrisy for campaigning for a nuclear-free Brisbane while holding uranium mining investments.
Cr Abrahams said there was no conflict of interest and questioned whether the Lord Mayor himself supported Mr Springborg's push for uranium mining in Queensland.
"The Lord Mayor wants the wholesale exploitation of renewable energy such as wind, solar and thermal before any more to nuclear power is contemplated," a spokesman said last night.
"However he recognises that Council will have no say in it should the federal and state government decide to approve a nuclear power plant outside major cities."
Cr Cumming said Newcrest Mining was Australia's largest gold producer.
The company's website describes the firm in exactly those terms.
"Newcrest is a leading international gold company and one of the world's lowest cost gold producers," the website says.
"The company is Australia's largest gold producer and a global top 10 gold mining company."
Cr Cumming said regardless of Cr Newman's comments, he had sold his shares four or five months ago.
"Mate, it's got to the point that they just dish dirt whenever they can," he said.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/uranium-fight-gets-dirty/2009/03/18/1237054853393.html

Other News – India

Every child will have a tag
17 Mar 2009, 2353 hrs IST, TNN
BANGALORE: A new technology will now make it possible to `bar code' each child, who can be tracked from birth to adulthood, through a

comprehensive Child Tracking System (CTS). It entails giving each child a unique identification number, to facilitate tracing his/her progress from birth, immunization, school enrolment, drop-out, disability, marriage, child labour, abuse, missing, migration, trafficking etc, in real time.

This comprehensive data will reduce the burden of conducting studies and surveys on the education and health status of children. CTS operates with the support of a technology called `Talkative NEIL', developed by Shyam Kedare of Softnet Interactive Private Limited in Bangalore. This innovative technology -- NEILT (Navigation and Expert Interaction Logic) was awarded the NCPEDP-SHELL Helen Keller award in 2005, and has been an aid for the visually impaired in mainstream jobs.

To track children from the grassroot level, CTS is implemented at the panchayat and ward level. Comprehensive CTS is the brainchild of three organisations - NGO Every Child, Child Right Trust (CRT), an advocacy group, and Softnet Interactive Private Limited. Soon, the pilot project will be initiated in four districts in Karnataka -- Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bellary and Raichur.

Country director of EveryChild G Sriramappa said: "The status of children decides the status of the country. Lack of current data on status of children, whether it is migration, malnutrition or trafficking, has been a hurdle in the planning and protection process. With CTS, we can have a centralized database to assess the status of every child in the country in real time."

EveryChild and CRT are planning to involve children in the process of collecting and feeding data. However, each village will have representatives to feed the data, with the panchayat monitoring the regular updation of data.

"Talkative Neil bridges both the digital gap and language barrier, as it is custom-made to operate in any local language, including the accent. Anybody can operate it, including the visually impaired. Since data is accessible in real time, whether it's education or health, the status of children of a particular village can be accessed immediately, saving time and resources with easy planning," said Shyam Kedare.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangalore/Every-child-will-have-a-tag-/articleshow/4278780.cms


Suit against dam
Ashutosh Mishra




View image

Polavaram hydropower project will flood Orissa’s tribal villages

THE Orissa government has appealed to the Supreme Court to suspend work on the Indira Sagar (Polavaram) multi-purpose project on river Godavari. The irrigation-cum-hydroelectric project, with a dam at Polavaram village in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, threatens to flood several tribal villages in Malkangiri district in neighbouring Orissa.

Two tributaries of the Godavari, Sabari and Sileru, flow through this district. The dam, once built, would flood the villages when water is let out from the reservoir.

The injunction suit was filed in the apex court following the technical clearance given to the Andhra Pradesh government by the central water commission (cwc) on January 20.

The Orissa government has been protesting against the project since 2005 when the Union ministry of environment and forests (moef) cleared the Rs 10,150 crore project. “We want the project to be stopped immediately as it is hurting our interests. It has to be redesigned,” said C V Prasad, chief engineer, project planning, with the state water resources department.

He said Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik had written several letters to prime minister Manmohan Singh, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and the ministry of water resources highlighting the problems the dam would create. “Still we were not invited to the cwc meeting on January 20 when the project was cleared. Orissa happens to be a co-basin state and should have been given a hearing,” said Prasad.

About 1,000 families in Mottu block of Malkangiri would be displaced once the project is completed. People of the Koya tribe, known for their unique culture, live in most of these villages.

The Andhra Pradesh government had offered to build embankments on the Sabari and the Sileru to prevent flooding. “The cwc has accepted this proposal but we are against it. Bund s are not a permanent solution,” said Prasad. He added that the Andhra government is going ahead with the original design and not the modified design for water spillway approved by the cwc in 2006.

Former Malkangiri mla, Arabinda Dhali, said the villages that would be affected by the dam are in a scheduled area. “People living there have started organizing demonstrations,” he said.
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20090331&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=24


Kill bills

Ragini Letitia Singh
Left and right unite to stall twin bills in Parliament

THE land acquisition bill and the resettlement and rehabilitation bill, criticized for harming land rights of people living in rural areas, were turned down in the Rajya Sabha on February 26. This was a day after the twin bills were rushed through the Lok Sabha.

The bills, that complement each other were the government’s response to civil unrest against hostile land takeovers for industrial zones and infrastructure projects. The land acquisition or LA (amendment) bill reduced the government’s role in acquiring land. It put the onus of assembling 70 per cent land, required for industrial activity, on private companies and industry. The government was to step in to acquire the remaining 30 per cent land. The resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) bill was meant to prevent large-scale displacement of people when land is acquired for infrastructure projects and economic activity.

The Left parties aligned with their rivals, rightwing bjp, to defeat the two bills in the Rajya Sabha. To become law these bills will have to be introduced afresh in the Lok Sabha after the general elections.

The rural development minister, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, went to great lengths to push the bills through before elections are announced. On February 24, he convinced the group of ministers, headed by union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, to approve the bills. The next day, Singh saw to it the bills were passed unopposed in the Lok Sabha.

There were just 65 members in the lower house. The opposition bjp was missing and the bills were passed in one and a half hours. The cpi(m) MP Hannah Moolah proposed some changes in the bills. His suggestions were not heeded. Moolah is a member of the parliamentary standing committee on rural development that suggested changes in the bills. The committee’s recommendations were neither debated nor considered.

The parliamentary standing committee report pointed out under the existing LA act, land acquired for public purpose denotes genuine public purpose such as schools and hospitals. The bill, amending the LA act, expanded the meaning of public purpose to include mining, road, highways and airport expansion. The committee felt this clause could be misused. D Raja, cpi member, said the government made a mockery out of parliamentary proceedings. “Their (the government’s) business has become real estate,” he said.

Other opposition members in the upper house criticized the government for showing undue haste in pushing the bills through Parliament. Lok Sabha member Anil Basu of cpi(m) said the bills were not in the list of businesses. Rajeev Pratap Rudy, bjp member in the upper house, said the bills were passed in the Lok Sabha without the requisite quorum. The Congress party dismissed the accusations. “The bills were in the business protocol and discussed in the lower house before they were passed,” said Tom Vadakkan, party spokesperson.

Researchers working on land rights said farmers’ interests were not served by the proposed legislations. Smita Gupta, member of the cpi(m) research cell, said the proposed amendments in the LA act allowed open-market purchase of land by private sector under the garb of public purpose.

Shekhar Singh of civil rights group, National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, said land acquisition should remain with the government. “We recommended 75 per cent people must agree to vacate their land, only then acquisition should be done,” he said. Singh said the LA bill created a divide between landowners, whose land is bought by private companies, and those whose land is acquired by government.

“Under the R&R bill provisions only 30 per cent land owners, whose land is acquired by the government, would have got rehabilitation benefits,” said Raja. It was one of the reasons why the left parties obstructed the bill in the Rajya Sabha, he added.

There were discrepancies in the provisions in the two bills relating to giving shares and debentures to displaced persons.

The R&R bill proposed that affected people could be given 20 to 50 per cent shares in the project. The LA bill made this mandatory. Gupta said the R&R bill was inadequate and the LA bill was downright harmful as there would have been no government control over land acquisition. This would have given a free hand to land sharks, she said.
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