1. Technology opens promise, perils of ocean mining 1
2. Rio Tinto cuts 700 workers as 5000 mining jobs lost 3
3. Buddhist monk to join in mine opposition in Vietnam 5
4. DMC Mining hails landmark access deal for Mayoko Project 6
5. Families leaving town as Weipa cuts mining jobs 6
6. Botswana Gem Mines Idle as Africa’s Star Economy Loses Luster 7
7. Obama Proposal to Alter Abandoned Mine Land Payments Not in Budget 9
8. South Africa: Coal to Get Miranda Minerals Through Hard Times 11
9. Relevant Links 12
10. EPA places mountaintop removal mining under tighter scrutiny 12
Mining – India 15
11. Sand mining turns village into desert 15
12. All PSUs may not be able to hike salaries 16
13. India to export iron ore 9500-9600 tons in 2008-2009 17
14. India copper futures a tad lower on overseas markets 18
Other News 18
15. Vedanta Aluminium observes World Health Day 19
16. G20-capital's new world symphony 20
17. Sensex under pressure; banks, realty weigh 22
18. Rio Tinto cuts iron ore price for Asian mills 24
19. Sterlite buys ASARCO in big deal worth $1.7B 25
20. RTI activist found bleeding near Jnana Bharati dies of his wounds 25
21. Fighting for a free Guyana 27
Mining – International
Technology opens promise, perils of ocean mining
By JAY LINDSAY - Associated Press | Monday, April 6, 2009 12:11 AM PDT ∞
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BOSTON ---- There's gold in that thar sea floor. Silver, copper, zinc and lead, too. The problem is, it's a mile or two underwater and encased in massive mineral deposits that layer a dark, mysterious world.
But new technology and worldwide demand have combined to make mining for these metals economically feasible for the first time. A breakthrough project is moving forward in New Guinea, and new rules to govern deep ocean mining will be set by an international authority this spring.
On Thursday, scientists, businessmen and policymakers from 20 countries meet on Cape Cod for a public forum on how to best extract these riches while protecting hidden worlds in the earth's oceans. Strange animals, from 6-foot tubeworms to "blind" shrimp, thrive in water as acidic as battery acid, near "hydrothermal vents" that spew out mineral-laden liquid as hot as 750 degrees.
"It's a unique set of life down there. Frankly, we haven't found everything. We need make sure we go in with our eyes open," said Maurice Tivey, a geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which is hosting the public ocean mining colloquium.
Scientists have long known about remarkably pure concentrations of metals found near some of the hydrothermal vents, nicknamed "black smokers" because they resemble underwater chimneys.
The vents sprout in areas with heavy seismic activity, including the mid-Atlantic ocean ridge and the Pacific's volcanic "Ring of Fire," which stretches along the west coast of the Americas, to Asia and down near New Zealand. There, the earth's spreading plates allow sea water to seep into the earth's crust, where it becomes heated, leaching precious minerals from the surrounding rock.
Eventually, the water is hot enough to become buoyant and bursts toward the surface, similar to when cold milk is poured into a cup of coffee, gets heated and rises to the top. The minerals cool in the frigid sea water and solidify into the deposits.
About 200 active vents have been found, though only 10 nearby deposits are considered prolific enough to mine, according to a report by the International Seabed Authority. Dormant vents are much tougher to locate, but the deposits around them may also be fruitful.
The ISA report indicates a single deposit could weigh 100 million tons.
"We want to be cautious about concluding, in effect, that all our problems are solved. But clearly there's a possibility of significant quantities of resource there," said Rod Eggert of the Colorado School of Mines.
High demand for metals has fueled interest in deep ocean mining, as land-based resources get stretched and need increases in nations such as China and India, which have growing economies but relatively few natural resources. The projects cost hundreds of millions of dollars just to get started, and widespread ocean mining is years away. But new technology has investors seeing possibilities.
The first full-scale deep ocean mining project is being run by Canada-based Nautilus Minerals Inc., which is negotiating to mine an area about 5,249 feet deep off Papua, New Guinea, and hopes to be operating by 2011 or 2012. The project is piggybacking on technology developed by oil companies for deep water drilling, said Scott Trebilcock, Nautilus's vice president of business development.
Deposits would be extracted by 180-ton, remotely operated machines that oil companies developed to dig trenches for pipelines. The material is pumped in a mix of sea water to a ship on the surface, then pumped down so that the highly acidic water doesn't kill surface level sea life.
The Nautilus project is planned within New Guinea's territorial water, a 200-mile zone from every country's coastline where it has exclusive ocean floor mining rights. But Trebilcock said the rules set by the ISA at its annual session, beginning in late May, will likely set precedents for all projects.
Most of the earth's known hydrothermal vents are outside the 200-mile zones, in open ocean that is under the jurisdiction of the ISA, which was established in 1982 by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The United States still has not signed onto the Law of the Sea treaty, which has been stalled for decades by Senate opponents who say it requires the country to surrender important sovereignty rights.
The United States has been consulted as the rules have been drafted, but proponents say the country could be shut out from future claims to deep ocean mines, since the seabed authority would award the rights.
The Obama administration has indicated it wants to sign the treaty, and this week's meeting at Woods Hole is proceeding as if the U.S. ultimately will have a say as a treaty participant.
The unique species that thrive near the vents are a chief concern of scientists, including marine geologist Peter Rona of Rutgers University, who discovered the Atlantic's first hydrothermal vents in the 1980s. He describes the area near the vents as "like another planet." Creatures there include footlong clams, man-length tubeworms and a shrimp species that has no eyes, but may have sensors that detect the vents' infrared radiation.
The species there may tell us more about the origins of life of earth, and even what life elsewhere might look like, Rona said. Already, he said, the species there have been a benefit. For instance, an enzyme from microbes found there is being used to enhance the flow of oil extracted from deep reservoirs.
"The mining needs to go forward, the environments need to be sustained and conserved," Rona said. "That's a challenge, but it's doable."
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/04/08/science/z12da153b5bb1900e8825758b007016f3.txt
Rio Tinto cuts 700 workers as 5000 mining jobs lost
John McCarthy
April 08, 2009 12:00am
MINING job losses from the global financial crisis topped 5000 in Queensland after Rio Tinto announced yesterday that a further 700 workers would be retrenched.
At least 605 jobs will be lost in the industrial city of Gladstoneand another 100 from Weipa in the biggest cuts to rock the state's mining industry since the meltdown began six months ago.
The axe is poised over another 3000 Queensland jobs if Rio's $27 billion bail-out by the Chinese government-owned Chinalco fails.
Rio is part way through cutting 14,000 jobs worldwide, with yesterday's move prompted by slumping demand for commodities.
Mounting job losses and a slowing economy yesterday also moved the Reserve Bank to trim interest rates to 49-year lows.
Rio will cut 100 permanent jobs from Weipa's bauxite mine and 570 contractors at its now stalled $2.5 billion Gladstone alumina refinery expansion. Another 35 jobs will go from the Boyne Island smelter and existing refinery.
Gladstone mayor George Creed said yesterday that it was the worst day for the city since 1963 when it lost its meatworks, which was then the biggest employer.
"I don't like to be a prophet of doom but the economic downturn is starting to really bite," Cr Creed said.
Premier Anna Bligh said Queenslanders could not pretend global economic problems would not affect local jobs.
"I don't want to see one Queenslander lose their job but I'm not going to put my head in the sand and pretend it's not happening," she said.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queenslandestimated 22,000 jobs had been lost in Queensland since last year.
AWU central Queensland organiser Tony Beers said Gladstone was reeling from the announcement.
"That's what happens when a town becomes too reliant on one company," Mr Beers said.
He said the workers would be told over the next seven weeks whether they had a job or not.
The huge tally of jobs already gone adds to industry calls for the federal and state governments to speed up infrastructure spending in the regions.
Rio had apparently been waiting until the end of the March quarter in the hope other producers would cut production or close.
Cr Creed said the impact of the job losses would roll through central Queensland because many contractors came from surrounding towns, including Rockhampton.
Rio said the job losses were necessary because of a sharp decline in prices and demand for aluminium but it also had been savaged by the global financial crisis because of $US38 billion ($53.6 billion) of debt.
Bauxite production from the Weipa mine, in Cape York, will also be cut. Additionally, about 35 permanent jobs will be lost from the Yarwun refinery and at Boyne Smelters.
Rio Tinto Alcan bauxite and alumina president Steve Hodgson said about 70 per cent of the industry was operating at a loss.
However, The Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes said Rio Tinto had adopted a myopic, short-term solution when the price of aluminium was recovering. "They have adopted a stance which can only result in lost opportunities - as they lose the skills and commitment of their workforce," he said.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,27574,25305016-3102,00.html
Buddhist monk to join in mine opposition in Vietnam
Wednesday, 08 Apr 2009
RFA reported that Mr Thich Quang Do a leading dissident Buddhist monk in Vietnam has joined scientists and a leading war hero in opposing plans to mine bauxite in Vietnam.
Mr Do the head of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and under de facto house arrest in Ho Chi Minh City, urged workers to stay away from factories to protest the plan to allow Chinese companies to mine bauxite in Vietnam's Central Highlands.
He said that the planned project will destroy the forests of the Central Highlands, pollute the basalt rich red soils, increase the risk of prolonged periods of drought or flooding and seriously contaminate water supplies, thus directly threatening the economic development of the southern regions of Central Vietnam.
He added that "This project is not the fruit of studies by economists or environmental experts but an illustration of Vietnam's dependence on China."
As per report, a number of Vietnamese scientists and intellectuals have denounced the government for allowing Chinese involvement in the project, which they said that undermines national sovereignty and the environment.
Nguyen Tan Dung PM of Vietnam has called bauxite exploitation a major policy of the party and the state and approved several large scale mining projects for the country’s Central Highlands. The government’s master plan calls for investments of around USD 15 billion by 2025 to tap Vietnam’s rich bauxite reserves, estimated to be the third largest in the world.
State run Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group has begun building an aluminum factory and is preparing for major mining operations in Lam Dong and Dac Nong provinces. State media have reported that Vinacomin is aiming for annual aluminum production of 4.8 million to 6.6 million tonnes by 2015.
(Sourced from AFP)
http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/04/08/ODkzMjk%3D/Buddhist_monk_to_join_in_mine_opposition_in_Vietnam.html
DMC Mining hails landmark access deal for Mayoko Project
Wednesday, 08 Apr 2009
Proactive Investors reported that DMC Mining has struck an deal for the future haulage of iron ore from the company's Mayoko Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the port of Pointe Noire.
As per report, DMC has formalized an agreement with the state owned and operated railway company, Chemin de Fer Congo-Ocean, via its which grants immediate access to DMC for the usage of the Mayoko to Pointe Noire bulk haulage rail line. The rail line is approximately 2.2 kilometers from DMC’s Mayoko Iron Ore deposit and runs to the wharf of the established deep water port of Pointe Noire.
The CFCO, which is administered by The Ministry of Transport for the Republic of Congo is the owner and operator of the Mayoko to Pointe Noire rail line.
The Pointe Noire to Mayoko rail is currently under utilized. CFCO presently operate weekly passenger and general freight trains on the Pointe Noire to Mayoko rail line, which is narrow gauge with a distance of 439 kilometers to the port of Pointe Noire.
Mr David Sumich MD of DMC said that “This is a very significant milestone for DMC and we are delighted that the CFCO are partnering with us as we advance the Mayoko Iron Ore Project.”
Mr Sumich said that DMC has engaged a Perth based project management and engineering company, which is the owner of the Calibre-Engenium JV rail EPCM specialist group to compile the available information on the Mayoko to Pointe Noire rail line. These inputs will form part of the Company’s ongoing pre-feasibility studies.
(Sourced from Proactive Investors)
http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/04/08/ODkzMzA%3D/DMC_Mining_hails_landmark_access_deal_for_Mayoko_Project.html
Families leaving town as Weipa cuts mining jobs
Wednesday, 08/04/2009
The small town of Weipa on Far North Queensland's Cape York Peninsula is reeling following news of 100 permanent job cuts from the local bauxite mine.
Rio Tinto Alcan is cutting 700 jobs across Queensland, making it now 5000 Queensland miners who've lost their jobs in the last six months.
The Weipa economy is heavily reliant on mining, and bakery owner Garry Hilton says many families have already left town.
"Probably 40 people that used to come in at morning tea time to eat, well, they're just not here any more," he says.
"A lot of them are going to Western Australia. I reckon I'll have half a dozen people come in next week and ask for a job."
Meanwhile, the world's largest aluminium producer, Alcoa, has posted a first quarter loss of almost $700 million.
The price of aluminium has dropped as stockpiles grow and fewer cars and appliances are sold.
The company has cut production by 20 per cent at its American operations.
However, it's expected that international economic stimulus packages will again drive up demand for aluminium.
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200904/s2538059.htm
Botswana Gem Mines Idle as Africa’s Star Economy Loses Luster
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By Nasreen Seria
April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Since the Jwaneng diamond mine in Botswana closed in February, Emmanuel Garetshele has done little except cash his mine-operator paycheck and watch his country go from being the success story of Africa to an economic laggard.
Botswana, where diamonds made up 65 percent of exports in 2008, has sold few gems since November, according to the government. From boasting one of Africa’s largest fiscal surpluses, the government now is racking up record debtas revenue plummets.
Debswana Diamond Co., a joint venture between Botswana’s government and South Africa’s De Beers, has closed four mines whose production equaled almost a third of the country’s gross domestic product. While three are set to reopen next week, they won’t earn much: the government expects diamond sales to fall by half and prices to drop by 20 percent this year. Garetshele, 42, who was paid in the interim, worries his job won’t last.
“This crisis is for everyone here,” said Garetshele, drinking a sorghum beer in the shade of a tree in the town of Jwaneng. “I’m not educated, all I know is how to be an operator. What will I do if I lose my job?”
Botswana isn’t without resources to fight the global financial crisis. The country has record foreign currency reserves of about $10 billion, while years of fiscal surplus mean local banks and foreign lenders will be able to finance deficit spending this year and next.
Richest in the World
The open-pit Jwaneng mine in south-central Botswana is the richest in the world, producing 15.6 million carats in 2005. Debswana says it will reopen it and two others on April 15. A fourth mine, Damtshaa, and the Orapa No.2 processing plant will remain closed.
The reopening won’t prevent Botswana’s economy from contracting 5.2 percent in the year through June and 6.2 percent in the 12 months after that, according to Moody’s Investors Service. That follows five years with average growth of 4.4 percent.
Hundreds of contractors at the mines are worse off than Garetshele and about 5,000 other miners who continue to be paid: they haven’t received any money since February. Many have gone back to their rural homes, while others are living with less.
Koko Kabelo, 35, a contract worker who helped machine operators at the mine, has built a makeshift room out of black refuse bags adjoining his cousin’s home across the road from a local drinking spot.
“I have to live in a shack now,” Kabelo said, as he shared beer with Garetshele and other men under the tree. “I couldn’t afford to pay the 600 pula rent ($79.62) any more.”
Empty Stores
The crisis is evident at the Score supermarket in the main shopping precinct ofJwaneng, where three cashiers sat idle while a packer swept the aisles. Store manager Paki Serunya says sales have plunged as much as 90 percent since December and that he will have to dismiss staff.
“We always thought that diamonds are forever,” said Sebataladi Ramoitoi, head of the Jwaneng branch of the Botswana Mining Workers Union. “But now, there’s so much uncertainty. Debswana is bread and butter for most of us here.”
Finance Minister Baledzi Gaolathe says the economy is facing its biggest test since the country gained independence from the U.K. in 1966. Diamonds helped transform Botswana from one of the poorest countries in the world, with per-capita income of $70 at independence, to middle-income status. Per- capita income was $5,680 in 2007, the highest among non-oil exporting countries in Africa.
“This is a major setback for our economy,” Gaolathe said in an interview in his office in downtown Gaborone, the capital. “We are a major exporting country, and those international markets are not buying our products.”
Rising Debt
Botswana had a fiscal surplus of 5.4 percent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year through March 2007. Now the government estimates a shortfall of 10 percent, the biggest on record, in the year that began April 1, Gaolathe said.
The country’s Aa3 credit rating, the highest in Africa, is under threat if the government fails to rein in expenditures, Moody’s said on March 19.
Yet the government has no plans to cut social spending in a country where 30 percent of people survive on less than a $1 a day, even though Central Bank Governor Linah Mohohlo said in a March 11 interview that some reductions may be needed.
With the global recession slashing demand for most commodities, Botswana’s tentative steps to diversify away from diamonds by encouraging production of coal, copper and nickel have also come to a halt. OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the Russian mining giant that owns Tati Nickel in Botswana, said on Feb. 19 that it may review its African units because of “virtually zero profitability.”
New Funds
The government will turn to multilateral lenders such as the African Development Bank for low-interest loans, accelerate its 5 billion-pula bond program and seek funds from China to help finance the 13.5-billion pula deficit this year, Gaolathe said.
Diamond prices dropped 16 percent in the five months through March, according to an index published by Polished Prices.com. Debswana doesn’t report diamond sales, only production.
“All our eggs are in the basket of hope,” Ramoitoi said. “We are hoping that the banks in America will start giving money again, that American wives and ladies will buy jewelry.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Nasreen Seria in Johannesburg atnseria@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=asYdJJ75t31U&refer=africa
COAL FUNDS
Obama Proposal to Alter Abandoned Mine Land Payments Not in Budget
By Matt Joyce, Associated Press , 04-07-09
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Obama administration's proposal to end hundreds of millions of dollars in coal-tax payments to states like Wyoming and Montana failed to make either the House or Senate versions of the federal budget, officials said Tuesday.
The Abandoned Mine Land program taxes coal production to raise money for cleaning abandoned coal mines and other projects. Obama's budget called for providing "a better return to taxpayers from mineral development" by ending payments to coal-producing states that no longer need funds to clean up old coal mines.
With the House and Senate passing budgets last week that didn't tinker with the AML program, Wyoming and Montana appear to be in position to continue spending the coal-tax money on projects of their choice.
Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said she was "pleased that President Obama's ill-conceived proposal to strip away Wyoming's share of AML money was not included in the budget resolution passed by the House last week."
"With that being said, I will continue to be vigilant in working with my House colleagues as well as (Wyoming) Sens. (Mike) Enzi and (John) Barrasso to make sure the president's misguided AML proposal never sees the light of day and Wyoming receives the money we are owed," Lummis said.
Wyoming has used AML funds for coal reclamation projects, but has also funneled millions of AML funds into other projects such as research on coal gasification and to fund the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources.
In Montana, the state has been using AML funds for reclaiming both coal and hard-rock mining sites, said Sandi Olsen, administrator of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality Remediation Division.
"Our high-priority coal sites are done, which is why we're working in part on our high-priority abandoned hard rock sites," Olsen said. "The consequences of not doing this clean up are that we continue to have human health and environmental impacts from these abandoned properties, whether they're coal or hard-rock."
Wyoming has received about $600 million in AML funds and Montana about $117 million since Congress initiated the program in 1977 with passage of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. The federal government still collects a 35-cent tax on each ton of coal production for the AML fund.
In 2006, Congress renewed the act with a promise that the federal government would pay back AML funds it collected but never appropriated to the states, according to Wyoming's congressional delegation.
Rick Chancellor, administrator of the Abandoned Mine Land Division at the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, has said Wyoming expects to receive at least $82.7 million in AML payments for each of the next five years, or more than $400 million, in addition to payments on future coal taxes through 2021.
Wyoming still has about $100 million worth of coal reclamation work to complete, Chancellor said.
That should be done by 2012, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars left over for other projects. This year, the Wyoming Legislature passed a 2010 supplemental budget including $100.6 million in AML-funded projects, $70 million of which was not for coal reclamation.
Olsen, of the Montana remediation division, said her state could lose $121 million over the next 12 years if Obama's budget proposal were enacted.
Elly Pickett, spokeswoman for Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, said that while the Obama proposal was not included in either chamber's budgets last week, budget negotiations were still not final.
"There were a few differences in the (House and Senate) versions, so it will go to a conference committee now," Pickett said. "And anything can happen during a conference committee, so the process definitely isn't over yet."
http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/obama_proposal_to_alter_abandoned_mine_land_payments_not_in_budget/9446/
South Africa: Coal to Get Miranda Minerals Through Hard Times
Charlotte Mathews
8 April 2009
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Johannesburg — MIRANDA Mineral Holdings, which is a few months away from starting work on its first coal mine, would weather the economic storm by focusing on developing its coal assets, it said yesterday.
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The company, which has a portfolio of coal, base and precious metals properties, made a headline loss of 4,4c a share for the six months to February, compared with a loss of 1,8c a share in the same period last year, after spending about R11m on exploration. Net asset value dropped to 139,20c a share from 160,34c previously as the accumulated loss increased. Miranda is not yet generating any revenue.
At the end of February, Miranda held R23,3m in cash, which was a comfortable situation, financial director Wayne Ison said. The only two large items of capital expenditure on the budget in the next six months were environmental impact assessments on the two properties for which it had applied for mining licences, Uithoek and Amajuba. Those reports would cost R600000-R800000 each, and Miranda's corporate expenses were about R600000 a month.
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Miranda's first coal mine, Ses-ikhona Kliprand Colliery, would not need any capital spending as the equipment would be brought on site by the contractor, Ison said. The company intended that once the colliery was in production it would generate cash flow to develop other properties.
In November, Miranda received an injection of R17,2m when black empowerment group Yakani bought a stake, which it has increased to 34% by buying shares on the open market.
Miranda said its board viewed conditions as an opportunity and it would be looking for acquisitions or joint ventures requiring minimum cash.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200904080317.html
EPA places mountaintop removal mining under tighter scrutiny
Tuesday, 07 April 2009
by KERRY ZIMMERMAN
Intern News Reporter
Voicing serious concerns about the environmental impacts of mountaintop removal mining, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has placed pending mining permits under tighter scrutiny, according to a March 24 news release.
The EPA submitted comments on two permits currently in review to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, addressing the “need to reduce the potential harmful impacts on water quality,” according to the release.
Mining by mountaintop removal is a method that levels the tops of mountains with explosives to expose and extract coal. Special to The Appalachian
“It’s a clear signal across the board that we now have an administration in place that is actually going to endorse environmental regulation,” Austin T. Hall, North Carolina field organizer for Appalachian Voices said.
Mountaintop removal is a coal mining method that levels the tops of mountains with explosives to extract the coal within.
The mountaintop rubble is then placed into nearby valleys, often burying and contaminating the headwaters of streams that provide the surrounding communities with their drinking water, Hall said.
He said chemical residue from the toxic explosive ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO) used to remove the mountaintops, along with silica, or rock, dust and coal dust, “cascade down” on local communities.
They live with “blasting in [their] backyard,” poor water quality and “no real economic stimulus,” Hall said.
These conditions have devalued their houses, preventing them from moving to a better neighborhood.
“Essentially you’re stuck with a worthless house in a region that’s being completely degenerated right in front of your eyes,” Hall said. “People are forced to live a diminished quality of life.”
Mountaintop removal mining is still practiced because it is one of the cheapest ways to extract coal.
North Carolina is the second largest consumer of mountaintop removal coal in the country, causing irreparable repercussions “just next door,” Hall said.
Coal generates about 50 percent of North Carolina’s energy.
The New River Light and Power Company, owned by Appalachian State University, distributes energy to Appalachian and almost all of Boone, according to nrlp.appstate.edu.
It purchases its energy from Duke Power Company, which is a large facilitator and supplier powered by mountaintop removal mining.
Though North Carolina does not practice mountaintop removal mining, the state is not exempt from the practice’s negative environmental effects.
State boundaries cannot prevent impacts on North Carolina’s wildlife populations from mountaintop removal mining in bordering states.
Appalachian Voices is one of the major organizations fighting to discontinue the devastating effects of mountaintop removal mining on people, forestry, wildlife and the mountains themselves.
Their main initiatives against this process include legislation, which is now operating on the federal level.
The Clean Water Protection Act, a current bill in the U.S. House, would amend the original Clean Water Act to reinstate toxic mining waste as one of the law’s prohibited water pollutants. Recently, a companion bill, the Appalachia Restoration Act, was introduced in the U.S. Senate.
The Appalachian Mountains Protection Act, a bill in the N.C. House, would prohibit North Carolina energy companies to purchase and use coal from mountaintop removal mining. The bill recently received support from the Boone Town Council.
Hall advises students to express their opinions about the legislation by writing to their state and federal representatives.
The banning of mountaintop removal coal would affect North Carolina’s economy.
Many energy companies express their concerns that alternative mining methods are more expensive, require more workers and the added cost of re-outfitting their factories to process coal with compositional properties different from mountaintop removal coal will cause consumer prices to rise.
Hall said in the long run, North Carolina would be protecting itself from a coal supply shortage, which would “inevitably” cause a price spike.
Both Morgan A. Bosse, director of Environmental Affairs for Appalachian’s Student Government Association, and Rio W. Tazewell, Renewable Energy Initiative (REI) public relations officer and ASU Sustainable Energy Society (ASUSES) public relations coordinator, agree the price increase would be worth the abolition of mountaintop removal mining.
“[Energy corporations] shouldn’t be allowed to put the price tag on the consumers,” Tazewell said. “They were the ones who decided to invest in this infrastructure in the first place.”
Bosse stressed the environmental side.
“If we value our mountains, we should value all of [them],” she said. “You can’t rebuild a mountain.”
http://theapp.appstate.edu/content/view/5069/42/
Mining – India
Sand mining turns village into desert
8 Apr 2009, 0546 hrs IST, Vivek Narayanan, TNN
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CHENNAI: Ratinam, a farmer in Kanapalayam panchayat near Avadi sees a bleak future for farming. He says that illegal sand mining near three
rivers in the area has depleted ground water levels and rendered the soil infertile.
About 25% of the men in the four surrounding villages, who have been farmers for generations, have migrated to other jobs as agriculture output has dropped due to depletion of ground water, says S Muthukrishnan, the panchayat president.
He gestures towards the huge pits dug on the river bed and the banks using earth movers and attributes the reduced water level to the indiscriminate removal of sand. There has been no proper irrigation of farmlands despite heavy rains lashing Chennai and surrounding areas last year, he points out.
"Over 500 loads of sand is being illegally taken daily from the four main lakes Thummal, Melpakkam, Mamal and Banaveru. The digging has caused a depletion of ground water. This also takes away the richness of the soil, making it unfit for agriculture," said Muthukrishnan.
The villagers had tried to protest several times, but to no avail. The sand mafia, they say, is "too big and too dangerous" to be confronted. The miners supply sand toconstruction companies and brick kilns, depending on the nature of sand they mine. "Around 30 %of the agricultural land here has become unfit for farming, thanks to the illegal exploitation. Illegal minig started near the Banaveru river several years ago and spread to the other river banks," notes Muthukrishnan.
Another villager, who did not want to be named, said the quality and taste of water has deteriorated over the years. "Earlier we could get water at a depth of 40 feet, but after the sand mining started, water is available only below 160 feet. If the mining continues, the place will soon be a desert," he said.
Parameshwari of the Centre for Ground Water Research at Anna University said, "Sand is a good absorbant of water. Once the clay or hard rock layer is reached, water will not be able to seep in and this would affect irrigation and agriculture," she said.
A senior government official said that three tractors were seized recently for carrying sand from the riverbed. "The illegal activity happens in the night. But as people who steal sand have political backing, it is difficult to nab them," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/Sand-mining-turns-village-into-desert/articleshow/4371929.cms
All PSUs may not be able to hike salaries
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SMITA AGGARWAL & GUNJAN PRADHAN SINHA
NEW DELHI: More than a third of central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) will not be able to pass on the benefits of the revised pay guidelines to their employees. The employees of loss-making PSUs will have to bear the brunt of non-performance. PSUs in the red will not be allowed to raise salaries at all.
The basic tenet behind the fresh guidelines is that only profit-making enterprises will be rewarded with more salary and wages. As a result, some of the biggest companies in sectors such as coal, aviation, capital goods and textiles will not be able to dip into their income for additional funds to hike salaries.
Some companies that will not be able to pass on benefits include national carrier Air India, National Textile Corporation, Eastern Coalfields, Hindustan Cables, ITI and HMT Watches.These companies, which figure in the top 10 loss-making enterprises, posted a combined operating loss of Rs 7,419 crore, almost 65 per cent of the total losses incurred by CPSUs.
In addition, even those PSUs which have a large number of employees may not be able to dole out the complete benefits. If the employee number is too large then the additional salary outgo may result in an over 20 per cent dip in profits, making it impossible for the management to give them the pay hike recommended in the guidelines. For instance, profit making Coal India, with over 4.13 lakh employees, may have to work out its accounts before deciding on the hikes and the extent of the hike.
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“Increasing the pay would mean a decrease in profitability of a company as the wage bill will rise. PSUs will be able to implement basic structure but they may land into the problem of determining performance related pays. Every PSU will have to work on their individual model of performance evaluation for determining performance related pay. PSUs will have to work out their accounts and profitability,” said Arup Roy Chowdhury, chairman, SCOPE.
Consider the case of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, where a provisioning of roughly Rs 1,700 crore towards pay hike amounted to only 2 per cent growth in PBT year-on-year for 2008-09. So, the impact will have to be assessed as BHEL, being a navratna company, has managed its profitability well, whereas others might not be able to absorb the impact of pay hike. There are a number of marginally profit-making companies that may get affected.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/all-psus-may-not-be-able-to-hike-salaries/444351/
India to export iron ore 9500-9600 tons in 2008-2009
April 8 MetalBiz--In 2008-2009, India is likely to export iron ore 9500-9600tons. The major port under the jurisdiction of the central government shipments inclined 2.49% y-o-y. Other small ports exports reached 10mln tons, such as Panjim, Karwar, BellikeriandKakinada.
It is expected India's iron ore exports and export volume will decline in 2009-2010 financial year and 63.5% mineral powder has reduced $55per ton (FOB), or even lower $52 per ton, which brings a significant impact on the state of Orissa, Jharkhand and Karnataka. These ports cost( FOB) surpassed $40Yuan per ton while the production cost was about 15-20Yuan per ton.
http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/metalworking/100082577-1-india-export-iron-ore-9500-9600.html
India copper futures a tad lower on overseas markets
Wed Apr 8, 2009 10:51am IST
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MUMBAI, April 8 (Reuters) - India's copper futures eased on Wednesday on overseas leads, where falling equity markets spurred selling, but a weak rupee may limit losses later in the session, analysts said.
The benchmark April copper contract MCCJ9 was 0.59 percent lower at 219.10 rupees per kg at 10:42 a.m., after hitting a low of 217.7 rupees in early deals.
The contract had gained 1.4 percent in the previous session.
At 10:26 a.m., three-month London copper
A weak rupee makes the dollar-quoted asset expensive.
The Indian rupee dropped early on Wednesday after a three-day rise as weakness in regional stocks raised concerns of outflows from domestic shares, while the dollar's strength versus majors overseas also hurt. See [ID:nBOM471549]
Analysts said the red metal may move sideways and would await a fresh impetus for direction.
"Copper would largely consolidate between 215-225 (rupees) on lack of fresh triggers to break on either side," said Harish Galipelli, head of research with Karvy Comtrade.
Copper would trade sideways in the range of 218-225, said Abhishek Chauhan, a technical analyst with Angel Commodities.
At 10:42 a.m. April zinc MZIJ9 was 0.52 percent lower at 66.65 rupees per kg, while lead for April delivery MLDJ9 was 0.38 percent lower at 66.20 rupees per kg.
(Reporting by Siddesh Mayenkar; Editing by Prem Udayabhanu)
http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINBOM49357920090408?sp=true
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Vedanta Aluminium observes World Health Day
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
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Lanjigarh: Vedanta Aluminium observed World health Day on April 7, 2009 in its refinery at Lanjigarh, Kalahandi, Orissa (India). To mark the occasion, a mega health camp along with several other programs was oranised by the Company. The program was inaugurated by Dr. Mukesh Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Vedanta Aluminium Limited, Lanjigarh. Mr. Umesh Mehta, Vice President and Mr. Bimalananda Senapati, AVP were also present on the occasion.
Addressing the gathering, Dr. Mukesh Kumar said, “Vedanta Aluminium is concerned about health of not only its employees but also the people of the surrounding villages including the tribal people. Observation of World Health Day reaffirms our commitment towards better health in and around Lanjigarh”. He also appealed the public to join hand with Vedanta Aluminium to make Kalahandi a Malaria free district. A mega health camp, along with HIV/AIDS Counselling and Testing Service, Dental Health Check Up and Eye Check up Service had been held by the Company.
While the mega health camp and HIV/AIDS Counseling and Testing Service were open to the public other services were availed by employees of Vedanta and its associate partners. Patients were provided medical consultation along with medicines, free of cost. Doctors from different medical specialty such as Gynecology, orthopedic, medicine, pediatrics, dental and ophthalmology provided medical consultation to about 512 people at the Mega Health Camp. “In addition to providing health care services, the program was also successful in building awareness about health issues among the public,” adds Dr. Mukesh Kumar.
The Health Safety and Environment Department of the Company also organized an Emergency Preparedness Demonstration for the employees. The observation ended with a Seminar on Heat Stroke, Women at Work and Computer Vision Syndrome in the afternoon. The program was coordinated by Dr. RC Rout, Head (HSE); Mr. Samiron Sarkar, Head (CSR) and Dr. Sabita Swain, Chief Medical Officer, along with their Team.
Vedanta gives priority to provide Health Care Facility for its employees as well as for the community members in its periphery. The Alumina producing unit has a dedicated mobile medical unit that goes to several villages, mostly tribals of Kondh community. Ambulance service is also provided, in case of emergency. The company has also made several efforts to make Lanjigarh a Malaria Free area.
Similarly, the company has established an Integrated Counseling and Training Center (ICTC) in partnership with Orissa State AIDS Control Society (OSACS).
G20-capital's new world symphony
* JOHN WIGHT
The G20 summit in London has seen the first redrawing of the global economic map since Bretton Woods in 1944, which officially announced the United States as the major global capitalist power, the axis around which every other nation was to revolve economically in the postwar world.
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The fact that a G20 summit was convened for the first time, with 20 of the world's largest economies meeting to decide a new economic template in response to the global recession instead of the usual eight (though Russia's inclusion in the G8 was merely in deference to her strategic weight rather than her economic size or strength), is significant in itself, an acknowledgement by the postwar capitalist order that the emerging economies of China, India, and Brazil, etc. will be key players in the coming period, not only as sources of cheap labor and resources, but as markets for exports.
In effect, emerging from the G20 summit has been the admission that the formerly major markets of Europe and the US can no longer supply the demand for commodities which underpins the global capitalist system, and at bottom the financial system responsible for the economic collapse that has swept the globe.
As the largest economy in the world, the US, under the Obama administration, has embarked on a new strategy as it adapts to the economic reality of the disappearance of the free market from the stage of capitalist history. Managed demand, the adoption of Keynesian doctrine on a global scale, is to be the way ahead, with global institutions such as the IMF and World Bank, formerly twin pillars and enforcers of the Washington free market consensus, now to play the role of ballast of the global economy through the disbursement of aid in order to maintain demand among nations of the G20.
Conditions, of course, are to be attached to such aid in order to ensure that none of the G20 economies adopt protectionist measures to block imports and thereby interfere with that holiest of holies - free trade.
Be that as it may; this new strategy of the US has been adopted with the same priority of global hegemony which has dominated the actions of US administrations since the end of the Second World War. With a 2008 GDP of just under 14 trillion dollars, the US economy continues to stand head and shoulders above its nearest economic rival, Japan, with a GDP of just under 4.5 trillion dollars. In order to maintain this gap, and with it the lifestyles of US consumers, the US realises that it has to ensure that markets for US exports don't dry up, else demand at home will fall, leading to an increase in unemployment, poverty, and economic slump domestically.
The continuing role of the US dollar as the major international reserve currency, used for the purchase of primary goods such as oil, gas, minerals, and so on by global economies, will continue to allow the US to ramp up huge deficits in order to service a national debt of 11 trillion dollars and continue to fund its monstrous expenditure on defense and war, as well as continuing to meet its diminishing social spending requirements without taxing the rich proportionate to their income.
In other words, attacks on the poor and the working class which have defined US society under both Democrat and Republican administrations since the end of the Vietnam War will continue, though less aggressively than under previous administrations going back to the Reagan years, when the free market structural adjustment of the US economy was unleashed.
By far the most significant aspect of the G20 summit has been the formal inauguration of China as a First World economic power. China's growth over the past few years has been staggering. The huge growth in Chinese exports over the past few years ($900 billion in 2006) has seen China overtake major export economies such as Germany and Japan, with some economists predicting that China will eclipse the US by 2010 as the world's major exporter, despite the slowdown caused by the global recession.
However, it is China's foreign exchange reserves that have increasingly been a major cause for concern to US economists, politicians, and military planners. By the end of 2008 they amounted to $1.9 trillion, a trillion of which is in US treasury bills and notes, making China a major financier of the US deficit. The danger this poses to the US is that if China were to stop purchasing US treasury bills, or worse start dumping them on international markets, the value of the dollar would plummet, the value of US stocks would hit the floor, and an economy already in major recession would fall flat on its back.
But with the current recession being global in scope, and with China's main export market the US, it is neither in Chinese nor US interests to act in a way that would impact negatively on the other in the current period.
The Obama administration understands this, which is why it has sought to replace the aggressive macroeconomic strategy vis-ˆ-vis China, pursued by the Bush administration, with a more conciliatory one.
The invasion and occupation of both Iraq and Afghanistan was part of this aggressive grand strategy, when using 9/11 as a pretext, the US set out to seize control of Iraq's vast oil reserves in order to break OPEC's monopoly and control of oil prices, whilst at the same time being able to control the ever-increasing energy requirements of emerging economies such as China and India. Afghanistan's role in this process was as a vital transhipment route of energy reserves located in the Caspian Basin.
The economic drain of these military adventures in the short term has had a deleterious impact on the US economy, however, which is why that section of the US ruling class represented by the Obama administration is desperate to pull out as soon as is it is feasibly possible to do so. As for the majority of the world's population living throughout the so-called developing world, despite the usual rhetoric about alleviating global poverty, etc., immiseration and despair looks set to continue. Free trade between the G20 economies will not extend to the exports of the world's poorest economies - economies which for so long have been plundered and ravaged mercilessly by the developed world, making them reliant on loans and aid with a welter of free market conditions attached.This in effect has turned governments of the developing world into enforcers acting on behalf of global corporations against their own populations, forced to implement the wholesale privatization of social services along with the destruction of domestic agro-economies unable to compete with the subsidised agro-economies of the West.
The end result of this process has been a race to the bottom as workers throughout the developing world have been forced to compete for poverty wages, a direct consequence of those same global corporations scouring the globe looking to drive down production costs in order to maintain profits.
So whilst the global recession is far from over, the complete collapse of capitalism - ruefully predicted by free market ideologues and gleefully predicted by anti-capitalists and socialists - looks to have been averted.
* JOHN WRIGHT is a writer and political campaigner based in Scotland.
http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=2&aid=12&dir=2009/April/Tuesday7
Sensex under pressure; banks, realty weigh
8 Apr 2009, 1105 hrs IST, ET Bureau
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MUMBAI: Indian benchmarks came under pressure on Wednesday as traders offloaded positions following correction in the global markets. Frontliners in realty, banks and metals came under fire while there was some resilience in broader markets.
“Dow closed in the red and other Asian markets are down. Confidence among US chief executive officers retreated in the first quarter to the lowest level in at least seven years; showing government efforts to stem therecession may take longer to renew their optimism. Our markets have rallied over the last five trading sessions and we expect some profit booking today. However, we believe that this is a trend reversal and emerging markets will outperform going forward. We believe that some correction from current levels is healthy and hence any dips should be used as an opportunity to aggressively enter into the market,” said Religare Report.
At 10:40 am, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 10222.32, down 312.55 points or 2.97 per cent. The 30-share index touched an intra-day low of 10171.91 and a high of 10283.58 in day so far.
National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 3159.55, down 97.05 points or 2.98 per cent. The broader index hit an low of 3149.25 and high of 3255.40 in early trade.
“Trend deciding level for the day is 3,257/10,533. If Nifty trades above this level during the first half-an-hour of trade then we may witness a further rally up to 3,303/10656. However, if Nifty trades below 3,257/10,533 for the first half-an-hour of trade then it may correct up to 3,211 – 3,165/10,412-10,289,” said Angel Broking note.
BSE Midcap Index was down 0.67 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index slipped 0.09 per cent.
Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Bankex was down 4.44 per cent, BSE Realty Index fell 4.02 per cent and BSE Metal Index declined 3.46 per cent. BSE FMCG Index was up 0.09 per cent.
Hindalco Industries (-7.51%), Reliance Communications (-6.03%), HDFC Bank (-5.73%), ONGC (-5.26%) and Jaiprakash Associates (-5.18%) were the top Index losers.
Sun Pharmaceuticals (1.13%), Hindustan Unilever (0.59%), NTPC (0.46%) and ITC (0.30%) were the only gainers.
Shares of Gammon India rose nearly 6 per cent to Rs 75 after it received a project worth Rs 400 crore from Punatsangchhu Hydro Electricity Project in Bhutan.
Valecha Engineering soared as much as 19 per cent in early trade to Rs 38 as the company won projects worth Rs 136 crore for infrastructure projects at Delhi and Srinagar.
US stocks slid on Tuesday, hammered by fears that companies will show they struggled in the first quarter as the recession dragged on as the earnings season prepared to kickoff with Alcoa.
After the worst fourth-quarter earnings season on record, investors were expecting another round of poor profits, starting with aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 186.29 points, or 2.34 per cent, to 7,789.56. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 19.93 points, or 2.39 per cent, to 815.55 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 45.10 points, or 2.81 per cent, at 1,561.61.
Asian stocks fell for a second day, led by mining and finance companies, on renewed concern the global recession will weigh on earnings. The Nikkei slid 1.7 per cent, Topix fell 1.53 per cent, Hang Seng slumped 3.49 per cent and Straits Times declined 1.79 per cent.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Sensex-under-pressure-banks-realty-weigh/articleshow/4373338.cms
Rio Tinto cuts iron ore price for Asian mills
Daily Mail
8 April 2009, 8:09am
Mining giant Rio Tinto has been forced to offer a temporary price cut to Asian steel mills as industrial demand crashes.
The London-based miner has offered to slash iron ore costs by a fifth, industry executives told financial information firm Bloomberg.
And the pain is not confined to iron, which Rio mines in the wastelands of Western Australia. Rio said yesterday it will cut over 700 jobs at its Australian mines amid a fall in aluminium demand.
The expansion of one refinery will be slowed, and production of bauxite - the chief mineral used in aluminium - will be hacked back by a fifth at its Weipa mine.
The latest cuts are on top of plans to shed 14,000 jobs worldwide, about 12.5% of its workforce. Rio declined to comment on iron pricing.
It is in the midst of its annual round of negotiations with steelmakers, but the talks appear to have stalled as Chinese factories seek cuts of 40% or 50%.
Rio's woes come as it battles shareholders over its controversial tie-up with Chinalco.
The firm is thought to be close to re-opening negotiations with the Chinese state-controlled aluminium firm's board as it seeks to win investor approval for the deal. Rio shares slid 48p to 2160p.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=482075&in_page_id=3
Sterlite buys ASARCO in big deal worth $1.7B
TUCSON, Ariz. – Sterlite Inc., a subsidiary of Sterlite Industries Ltd. and Vedanta Resources plc, has acquired the Tucson-based ASARCO LLC for $1.1 billion in cash, as well as $600 million payable over nine years.
The operating assets to be sold include three copper mines, associated mills and SX-EW plants in Arizona; a copper smelter in Arizona; and a copper refinery, rod and cake plants and precious metals plant in Texas. The sale is part of ASARCO’s plan to reorganize under chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code.
“We are happy that we have reached agreement with ASARCO on these new terms,” saidAnil Agarwal, chairman of Sterlite Industries. “This acquisition is in line with our strategy of leveraging our existing skills to become a diversified global copper producer and creating long term value for shareholders.”
Sterlite Industries is an Indian non-ferrous metals and mining company with interests and operations in aluminum, copper, zinc and lead. It is a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources plc, a London-based metals and mining company.
http://www.indusbusinessjournal.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications::Article&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=39B36515C36144C6A9B885134FAB48C4
RTI activist found bleeding near Jnana Bharati dies of his wounds
DEBI PRASAD SARANGI
In a shocking incident, an RTI activist who had succeeded in saving government property worth crores of rupees from being encroached by land sharks died under mysterious circumstances near Bangalore University’s Jnana Bharathi campus on Monday night. The man has been identified as 48-year-old Venkatesh, a resident of Hosahalli in Vijayanagar.
He was found lying near Papireddypalya Circle around 9 pm with injuries on the head. Passersby, who saw him bleeding, shifted him to a private hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. As Venkatesh and his two-wheeler were found on the road in Kamakshipalya traffic limits, the traffic cops suspected him to be a victim of a road accident. But the bike did not have any damage. His body was sent to Victoria Hospital for autopsy and that is where the case took an intriguing turn.
The doctors who conducted the post mortem refused to buy the police theory of road accident and said the death had been caused because of an assault. “There were two L-shaped injury marks on the back of his head and it suggested that sharp-edged weapons had been used to attack him. These were deep-cut injuries,” said sources in Victoria Hospital. Though the hospital is yet to give its report, the preliminary observations and inferences have not only shocked the family but have also left the police head honchos baffled. “It looks like a killing for vengeance, we will investigate further,” a police officer said. The officer who is reconstructing the sequence of events that resulted in murder said: “Venkatesh was returning on his two-wheeler after collecting rent from his tenant when he was intercepted by the gang. They assaulted him and escaped. While he was lying on the road, two persons shifted him to Hosmat.”
The police have now begun to dig deep into Venkatesh’s activities and the threats he had received. According to close friends of Venkatesh, one of the motives behind his murder could be crusade against land sharks. “He was using RTI to ferret information pertaining to encroachments and was filing cases against land sharks in the courts and Lok Ayukta’s office. This had angered a lot of people,” one of his friends said. In fact, sometime ago he had made a representation to the Jnana Bharathi police stating that there was a threat to his life.
Six months ago, Venkatesh had been instrumental in saving BDA property worth Rs 35 crore. He had obtained documents from BDA by applying the RTI Act to prove the actual ownership. Subsequently, the property was recovered. Similarly, he was trying to save a huge tract of land near Srigandhakaval from being occupied by private parties.
(Inputs from Manjunath Sharma)
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/MIRRORNEW/navigator.asp?Daily=MMIR&showST=true
Sci. & Tech.
India says no to 'green protectionism' of carbon tariff
Bonn (IANS): India Tuesday strongly rejected any attempt by the US or Europe to impose tariffs on exports of Indian goods produced in energy-intensive sectors.
"Any effort to try and set down sectoral norms and then build a compensatory regime is simply not acceptable. That becomes protectionism under a green label," Shyam Saran, the prime minister's special envoy on climate change, said.
Saran's comments come amid reported attempts by both the European Union and the US to impose additional 'carbon tariffs' on exports of goods that are produced in the energy-intensive industries of steel, aluminium, cement and fertiliser.
The EU and US argue that exports in these sectors should be subject to additional tariffs because developing countries like India use more harmful greenhouse gases than their counterparts in rich countries in the production process.
In the US, the tax is proposed in a domestic climate change Bill.
But, talking to journalists at a United Nations conference on climate change in Bonn, Saran rejected the move saying it falls outside the area of climate change.
"We are rather surprised that these concepts of level playing field, and the need to maintain industrial competitiveness are being brought into the climate change discourse. These were never part of the climate change discourse," he said.
"Global action on climate change was never dependent on so-called industrial competitiveness or maintenance of trade competitiveness. As far as the energy-intensive sectors are concerned, we welcome any kind of arrangement where there can be a schedule of best practices for any of the energy-intensive industries.
"But if from that [you come] to the next step and say that there should be international laws which could be legally enforceable and that if you do not meet that international law there could be some kind of compensating mechanism through a carbon tariff or through some kind of a penalty which is imposed - then this is something which is not acceptable."
Saran also criticised reported EU moves to reform or phase out the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), an international instrument by which rich countries can meet their carbon cutting requirements by helping set up green projects in developing countries.
Saran, a former foreign secretary who is leading the Indian delegation to the talks being held under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said India wanted to see an improvement in the way CDMs are administered to make them much more transparent and predictable.
"It suffers from those kinds of difficulties. Whether or not it may be possible to apply this on a sectoral basis, we will need to see.
"If this is to be linked to legally binding sectoral targets under the UNFCCC, then no - that is something which we will find completely unacceptable.
"But if there is some kind of a programmatic CDM which perhaps is applied on a wider basis, then that is something we would certainly be ready to look at."
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200904072221.htm
Fighting for a free Guyana
Helen Scott recounts the life of Janet Jagan, who became the first woman elected president of Guyana after a life spent with her husband, Cheddi Jagan, fighting for the country's independence, and against colonialism and imperialism.
April 8, 2009
Janet Jagan in February 1966, just weeks before Guyana won independence
THE REMARKABLE life of Janet Jagan, a white American Marxist who was at the center of anti-colonial politics in 20th century Guyana, illuminates both the hopes and defeats of the post-war Caribbean, and the crimes of Cold War imperialism.
She was born Janet Rosenberg in Chicago in 1920 into a middle-class Jewish family (long rumored to be related to Ethel and Julius, though this has been refuted), and was already a Marxist when, as a nursing student, she met Cheddi Jagan. Jagan was the eldest son of Indo-Caribbean sugar cane workers from what was then British Guiana (it was under British colonial rule), who was in the U.S. to study dentistry.
Bucking family opposition, the couple married and returned to Guiana where they set up a dental practice and dedicated themselves to socialist politics. They joined the first Guianese Trade Union, and with other radicals, influenced by a mixture of Soviet communism and social democracy, founded the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) in 1946.
The PAC was a multi-ethnic working-class organization dedicated to building solidarity between urban blacks (or "African Guianese"--the descendants of African slaves) and rural Indo-Caribbeans (descendants of "East Indian" indentured laborers), in the fight against colonialism.
During the days of plantation slavery, Guiana produced immense wealth from sugar cane. After abolition, the plantation owners brought indentured servants from India (where British colonialism guaranteed a steady flow of desperate migrants) to ensure cheap, compliant labor and to undercut the bargaining power of the former slaves.
Racial and ethnic division was thus endemic to the colony, and the PAC, which in 1946 became the People's Progressive Party (PPP), was the first mass movement dedicated to challenging communalism and sectionalism within the working class. Janet Jagan threw herself into the movement for economic and social justice, adult suffrage and independence.
Combating the power of the foreign-owned sugar and bauxite industries, the PPP won mass support. Under a new constitution and internal self-government in 1953, the party won elections: Cheddi Jagan became chief minister, and Janet Jagan, as labor secretary, was the first elected woman in British Guiana. She was party secretary from 1950-1970, and editor of the party paper, The Mirror, and journal, Thunder.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
IN A brutal display of imperialist collaboration, the British colonial office (through direct military invasion and political power) and the U.S. government (largely via the CIA) waged a campaign against the PPP. Britain's Winston Churchill sent in troops and arrested the entire administration.
The two powers used every weapon in their arsenal over the next decade to neutralize the PPP, which nonetheless won elections in 1957 (after four years of interim British colonial rule) and again in 1961.
The struggle against colonialism had forged unity among East Indians and Africans, and now the imperialist powers used "divide and rule" policies to separate them. In an attempt to weaken the PPP, the CIA built a new opposition party in 1957, the People's National Congress (PNC). With Forbes Burnham (who split from the PPP) as its leader, the PNC was projected as the "African" counterpart to Jagan's PPP, now cast as the "East Indian" party.
British and U.S. hostility to the Jagans stemmed from their reformist platform--which included levies on foreign corporations, investment in domestic social spending, land redistribution and pro-labor legislation--and, in the Cold War context, their links with the Communist Party and the Cuban and Soviet regimes. While the PPP formally affiliated with the USSR in 1969, Burnham's PNC, dominated by professionals and small businessmen, pledged allegiance to the U.S.
The CIA ran a generalized destabilization campaign, provoking internal unrest through riots, violent attacks and political murders; pouring money in to right-wing unions; financing Burnham's campaign; and spreading propaganda against the Jagans. The mobilization of communalism led to violent attacks on ethnic communities in the early 1960s, most infamously the massacre at Wismar, and was to leave a devastating legacy up to today.
Eventually, in 1964, following British-orchestrated changes in the constitution to obstruct majority rule, Burnham took power as head of the PNC in a coalition government with the right-wing party of business, the United Force. Two years later, Guyana became an independent nation.
The Burnham regime first pursued the Puerto Rican model of development based on private foreign investment, and then carried out a disastrous series of nationalizations on terms favorable to foreign corporations, leaving Guyana with crippling debt. While adopting the rhetoric of socialism and populism, Burnham's was an authoritarian and anti-democratic regime, enacting devastating structural adjustment through the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in the 1970s, turning Guyana from a prosperous nation into one of the most impoverished in the region.
Throughout this period, the Jagans remained in the political opposition, criticizing the regime and continuing to be active in the labor movement.
In 1992, in the first free elections since independence, Cheddi Jagan again came to power, and, after his death in 1997, Janet became president at the age of 77. The PPP in power, however, was far from its origins, representing instead a slightly more humane version of neoliberalism.
Janet stepped down from political life in 1999, and for her remaining years was active in the arts, helping to found the National Art Gallery in Georgetown, and writing children's stories.
While certainly limited by the contradictions of reformism and the distortions of Stalinism, Janet Jagan nonetheless was a lifelong socialist activist, and her tenacious refusal to be silenced by imperialism deserves recognition and respect.
http://socialistworker.org/2009/04/08/fighting-for-a-free-guyana
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