Mining – India
1. Ministry of Environment and Forests
2. Mines gobbled up 10000 hectares of forests
3. Govt to sell stakes in 60 state-run firms: Official
4. Bangalore : Hutti Gold Mines Targets 2,578 kg Gold Production Target
5. Mittal, Uttam Galva to build steel plant
6. Top firms eye Karnataka's Gold
7. Mines task force withdrawal in Orissa raises eyebrows
Mining – International
8. Canada may push for soft policy for India-bound cos
9. Experts Urge Officials To End Mountaintop Mining
10. Saracen starts gold mining at WA dam
Other News
11. Govt projects may put endangered wildlife at stake
12. Reflections by comrade Fidel
13. THE WORLD HALF A CENTURY LATER
Mining – India
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Ministry of Environment and Forests
Diversion of Forestland
________________________________________
11:48 IST
Factsheet
Under the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, on the request of the concerned State/UT Governments, the Union Government has diverted forestland for lease allowing mining activities. Since the enactment of the Act, a total of 1309 cases have been approved under various categories of mining. This involves diversion of about 1,00,871 hectare of forestland
Annexure
Category of Project: Mining As On: 27.11.2009
S. No. State / UT Approved
During the Period: 25.10.1980 to 31.12.2004 Approved
During the Period: 01.01.2005 to 27.11.2009
No. of cases Area (in ha) No. of cases Area (in ha)
1 Andaman & NicobarIsland 8 19.59 0 0
2 Andhra Pradesh 127 12869.27 36 2889.43
3 Arunachal Pradesh 5 53.25 7 7.00
4 Assam 43 103.06 33 50.72
5 Bihar 9 417.57 0 0
6 Chandigarh 0 0 0 0
7 Chhattishgarh 59 12843.65 34 2079.09
8 Dadar & Nagar Haveli 0 0 0 0
9 Daman & Diu 0 0 0 0
10 Delhi 0 0 0 0
11 Goa 39 1530.39 7 184.18
12 Gujarat 52 9761.08 1 31.20
13 Haryana 0 0 0 0
14 Himachal Pradesh 36 945.25 9 248.73
15 Jammu & Kashmir 0 0 0 0
16 Jharkhand 92 8867.74 3 97.66
17 Karnataka 109 8401.06 25 2196.94
18 Kerala 1 29.20 0 0
19 Lakshdeep 0 0 0 0
20 Madhya Pradesh 119 9314.86 15 1061.36
21 Maharashtra 88 2372.75 9 848.13
22 Manipur 0 0 0 0
23 Meghalaya 0 0 0 0
24 Mizoram 0 0 0 0
25 Nagaland 0 0 0 0
26 Orissa 119 13996.37 20 1278.46
27 Pondichery 0 0 0 0
28 Punjab 0 0 1 1.66
29 Rajasthan 141 4310.08 2 1150.00
30 Sikkim 0 0 1 4.64
31 Tamil Nadu 24 351.85 4 11.45
32 Tripura 3 4.52 4 8.05
33 Uttar Pradesh 5 2006.44 0 0
34 Uttaranchal 14 247.72 0 0
35 West Bengal 5 276.91 0 0
Total 1098 88722.61 211 12148.71
Grand total = No. of cases - 1309; Area – 1,00,871 hectare
KP
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=56668
Mines gobbled up 10000 hectares of forests
Express News Service
First Published : 08 Jan 2010 07:37:06 AM IST
Last Updated : 07 Jan 2010 09:07:57 PM IST
BANGALORE: Around 10,500 hectares of Karnataka’s forest land have been diverted to mining, since the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act 29 years ago, says a statement released by the union ministry of forests, ecology and environment.
The statement, which was released on Thursday, also informs that since the Act came into effect, as many as 134 mining leases in the state have been approved the Centre.
The ministry says that there hasn’t been any large scale illegal felling of trees reported in the past decade from any states.
But for development activities, forest areas have been diverted involving felling of trees, the statement says.
Since 2000, around 12,729 hectares of forest areas have been diverted for development activities, involving felling of trees.
Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde says it is a welcome initiative on the part of the union ministry to have revealed the extent of forests diverted for mining in the state.
However, he said, it must have been a ‘small official figure’ that the ministry received from the state forest department.
Hegde said, “There are a large number of areas which are being illegally used and mined, with the knowledge of the local forest department.” Hegde said that the irony was that though the forest department knew about it, it was doing nothing.
m feedback@expressbuzz.com
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Mines+gobbled+up+10000+hectares+of+forests&artid=NIGOrmfsA10=&SectionID=7GUA38txp3s=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=zkvyRoWGpmWSxZV2TGM5XQ==&SEO=
Govt to sell stakes in 60 state-run firms: Official
7 Jan 2010, 1518 hrs IST, REUTERS
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NEW DELHI: The finance ministry is in talks with other ministries to sell stakes in about 60 state-run firms in coming years, including miner
Hindustan Copper Ltd, a senior official told Reuters on Thursday.
"(Hindustan Copper) is one of the companies in which government is considering to sell its stake," Sunil Mitra, who is in charge of disinvestment at the finance ministry, said in a telephone interview.
Media reports have said the company's board has already approved up to 20 per cent of its stake sale in the fiscal year that starts in April 2010.
A 20 per cent stake in the firm will be worth about $1.15 billion based on the stock's current price.
In November, the Indian cabinet approved a proposal to sell at least 10 per cent government holding in state-run firms and use the proceeds for social schemes until March 2012, to cut its fiscal deficit.
The mines ministry must send a proposal to the finance ministry after the company gets approval from its board. Then, India's cabinet must give its approval for the company to tap the market.
"No proposal has been received as yet for 20 per cent stake sale in Hindustan Copper (from Mines Ministry)," Mitra said.
The Indian government holds about 99.6 per cent in the copper producer.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/Govt-to-sell-stakes-in-60-state-run-firms-Official/articleshow/5420200.cms
Friday, January 08, 2010 7:31:52 AM (IST)
Bangalore : Hutti Gold Mines Targets 2,578 kg Gold Production Target
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Bangalore, Jan 8: With the prices of yellow metal climbing to dizzying heights and skyrocketing more often, the Karnataka government owned Hutti Gold Mines Co Ltd (HGMCL) has set for itself an ambitious target of producing 2,578 kg of Gold during 2009-10.
The HGMCL, the only government-owned gold extraction company in the country, aims to produce an average of 4.11 gram of the yellow metal per tonne of ore.
The state government undertaking had produced 2420.33 kg gold in 2008-09.
The company would be investing Rs 352.11 crore in the next five yeas on various expansion plans.
According to state excise minister M P Renukacharya, said the company was planning to enter joint ventures with National Mineral Development Corporation, Indo-Australian Company, Australian firm Cluff, and Deccan Mines to commence mining in Davangere, Tumkur, Gulbarga, Chitrdurga Shimoga and Dharwad districts where gold minerals are found.
Renukacharya, who is also the chairman of HGMCL, said the company, which is producing 7 to 8 kg of gold daily, has set a target to earn net profit of Rs. 98.21 crore in the current fiscal year against Rs 93.05 crore in 2008-09.
The company’s total turnover in 2009-10 is expected to reach Rs 319.78 crore against Rs 316.02 crore in the previous year.
The minister said the company has been extracting 4.11 gram of gold per tonne of ore against with an average recovery of 4.24 grams a tonne of ore in 2008-09.
The company, which has 3933 employees, would be investing Rs 352.11 crore in the next five years at its plant at Hutti in Raichur district. It has decided to invest Rs. 68.22 crore on new snag ball mill which is scheduled to complete January-end.
The existing capacity of the ore milling unit is expected to be expanded to 2,000 tonnes per day when the ongoing work in the new milling plant (Snag Ball Mill) would be completed.
As of now, about 90 per cent of the building work on the plant and the assembling of the milling plant have been completed.
Apart from the reopening of the defunct Gray Shaft at the south-end of the mining area at a cost of Rs 16.32 crore, Renukacharya said the company proposed to computerise the existing mechanical system for controlling the whole operation of mining and milling units at an estimated cost of Rs 2.77 crore.
The HGMCL has set a target of extracting gold ore from a depth of 28,000 feet by the end of 2012.
It also proposed to take up underground mining activity at the Ooti and Hira-Buddinni areas once the open cast mining comes to an end.
Officials said Rs 204 crore would be invested on setting up of a new shaft at Hutti and the tender process has been commenced. A sum of Rs 14.85 crore would be spent on Ooti Gold Unit (open pit mine) development and Rs. 25 crore on ore milling unit.
The company has set apart Rs 12.09 crore to take up gold mining in Chitradurga, Davangere and Shimoga districts, where the preliminary survey work has been completed.
It has also launched a programme to expand the wind power plant at Chitradurga at an estimated cost of Rs 8.86 crore. Of the 18 MW planned, a plant with a capacity of 9.3 MW has been functioning, he added.
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=70602&n_tit=Bangalore+:+Hutti+Gold+Mines+Targets+2,578+kg+Gold+Production+Target
Mittal, Uttam Galva to build steel plant
Demand for galvanized and cold rolled steel will come from these sectors for the next 15-20 years, he said in a phone interview from London
Baiju Kalesh and Joel Rebello
Mumbai: ArcelorMittal Netherlands BV, through which Lakshmi Mittal controls the world’s largest steel maker ArcelorMittal, and which is buying a 29.4% stake in Uttam Galva Steels Ltd (UGSL), will also build a 1-million-tonne (mt) steel plant at Satarda in Maharashtra through a joint venture (JV) with the Indian company, according to two bankers familiar with the development.
India plans: ArcelorMittal chairman Lakshmi Mittal. PTI
ArcelorMittal Netherlands, which in October bought a 5.6% stake from the Miglani family that has promoted UGSL, has made an open offer to raise its stake to 35% at Rs120 a share. The open offer closed on Thursday.
A spokesperson for ArcelorMittal and UGSL’s managing director Ankit Miglani described news of the JV steel plant as “market speculation”.
UGSL has approached banks with a proposal to set up the 1mt plant at a cost of Rs3,600 crore, and sought a loan of Rs2,100 crore, according to the bankers familiar with the development. State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank by assets, is the lead syndicator of loans to the project along with Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and IDBI Bank Ltd.
“We have sanctioned nearly Rs2,100 crore as loans to the first phase of the project and remaining...will be contribution from both promoters as equity,” said one of the two bankers, who did not want to be identified. In the second phase of the project, the JV firm will seek to add 1mt of additional capacity.
UGSL owns nearly 2,100 acres in Satarda and has invested money in building roads and railway lines to ferry coal and iron ore to the proposed plant, said a third person who is aware of the proposal, but who didn’t want to be identified.
Interestingly, the Miglanis have wanted to build a plant in Satarda for some time. UGSL planned to build a steel plant in Satarda and had mandated MN Dastur and Co. Pvt. Ltd, a business and technology consultant, in 2007 to conduct a feasibility study for a 1.2 mt integrated steel plant in the area. Shree Uttam Galva Steel and Power Ltd was to build the project.
UGSL will contribute land and take care of its development as its share of equity for the project, and Mittal will put in the hard cash, the second person added.
Satarda is well located; a plant based there can access iron ore from mines of Sesa Goa Ltd, now owned by Vedanta Resources Plc. The site is also close to the Goa port to which coal can be shipped, said the second banker, who has reviewed UGSL’s proposal.
The first banker said that once all funds for the project are tied up, it will be hived off into a separate company with both partners having an equal stake. The day-to-day operations of UGSL will be managed by the Miglanis, with strategic inputs from ArcelorMittal; the new plant will be managed by ArcelorMittal.
A JV such as the one with UGSL, which makes galvanized and cold rolled steel, is a sensible strategy for ArcelorMittal because it caters to demand from makers of automobiles and home appliances, said Peter Sish, managing director of London-based MEPS (International) Ltd, a global steel consulting and research firm.
Demand for galvanized and cold rolled steel will come from these sectors for the next 15-20 years, he said in a phone interview from London.
Navin Vohra, partner at audit and consulting firm Ernst and Young, said the deal would give Mittal an easy entry into the Indian market.
“Mittal has been trying to start projects in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa for the last two to three years, but the projects still remain on paper due to delays in land acquisition and the allocation of mines,” said Paresh Jain, an analyst at Mumbai-based Angel Broking Ltd. Jain added that similar issues plague other steel projects as well.
ArcelorMittal has been in talks with several state governments in India to build steel plants, but these discussions have primarily resulted in agreements that remain on paper.
On Thursday, PTI reported that Mittal had proposed building an integrated steel plant at a cost of Rs30,000 crore in Karnataka during a meeting with chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa. Mittal also told reporters in Delhi that his company could build a plant in Chhattisgarh and that he is “not satisfied” with the progress in Jharkhand and Orissa where ArcelorMittal plans to invest $20-25 billion (Rs91,800 crore-Rs1.15 trillion) in two plants that will together produce 24 mt of steel a year.
Analysts say Mittal has no option, but to pursue projects in India.
The growth in the country’s demand for steel cannot be satisfied by imports and the supply of steel has to be produced in the domestic market, said Sish.
“In 2010, the Indian market will grow a minimum of 6-7% compared to negligible or even negative growth in markets like the US and Europe. Only China with 10% (growth) is better, so naturally India is important,” said an analyst at a Mumbai brokerage, who did not want to be identified.
On Thursday, Korea’s Posco, the world’s fourth largest steel maker, said it will set up a 6 mt a year steel plant in south India, in addition to its planned project in Orissa.
baiju.k@livemint.com
Bloomberg, Reuters and PTI also contributed to this story.
http://www.livemint.com/2010/01/07235437/Mittal-Uttam-Galva-to-build-s.html
Top firms eye Karnataka's Gold
Express News Service
First Published : 08 Jan 2010 07:24:01 AM IST
Last Updated : 07 Jan 2010 09:08:17 PM IST
BANGALORE: With gold prices reaching new highs, several companies of international repute are aggressively coming forward to explore and extract gold in the state in a joint venture with the state-run Hatti Gold Mines (HGM).
HGM chairman and Excise Minister MP Renukacharya told reporters on Thursday that a few companies, including those from Australia, had evinced keen interest in exploring and extracting gold in the state. Karnataka has identified gold deposits in Chitradurga, Davanagere and Gulbarga districts.
The companies include Cluff Resources, Deccan Gold Mines, Geo Mysore and Indo Fill, besides India’s mining giant National Mineral Development Corporation, the Minister said.
“We are estimating to get 0.2 to 3.2 gm of gold in a tonne of ore in the newly-identified gold deposits,” he said. However, a final decision in this regard would be taken only after the approval from the state government, he said.
On the expansion of mining operations in HGM, Renukacharya said that a new shaft was being constructed there at a cost of Rs 204 crore which will increase extraction by 20 per cent.
To a question, he said that HGM had been running on profit after he took over the reins an year ago
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Top+firms+eye+Karnatakas+Gold&artid=Z|zGs/BSIkA=&SectionID=7GUA38txp3s=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=zkvyRoWGpmWSxZV2TGM5XQ==&SEO=
Mines task force withdrawal in Orissa raises eyebrows
Goa's mining industry worried about 15% export dut...
Bhubaneswar: Orissa's multi-crore mining scam controversy has cast its shadow on the Central Task Force constituted by the Union ministry of mines to probe the illegularities in the state mining sector.
The withdrawal of the Task Force from the state has raised many eyebrows. The Orissa Jana Sammilani, the organisation which filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking a probe into the mining scam in the state, has demanded an explanation for the withdrawal of the probe team.
"We want to know the reasons for withdrawal of the task force and also the findings of the probe team," Jana Sammilani demanded.
It also submitted a memorandum to the ministry of mines. The ministry Task Force had picked 28 mines for inspection and had ordered suspension of work in eight mines after investigation.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Mines-task-force-withdrawal-in-Orissa-raises-eyebrows/564753/
Mining – International
Canada may push for soft policy for India-bound cos
Gunjan Sharma
Posted: Friday, Jan 08, 2010 at 2336 hrs IST
Updated: Friday, Jan 08, 2010 at 2336 hrs IST
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New Delhi: Canada is likely to push for a relaxed policy regime for its companies that want to come to India under the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that both the countries are likely to negotiate in the near future. A joint panel of senior officials and trade experts, known as the Joint Study Group, are exploring the potential of a duty-free agreement for goods and services and an investment treaty.
“In CEPA, there could be policy changes that would impact small and medium enterprises. In Canada, one can open a company online in 24 hours. In India, the regulatory procedures to start business are long and tardy. That is the key difference which would require negotiations,” said Mario Ste-Marie, senior trade commissioner, Canadian High Commission, at the sidelines of a CII conference.
The Joint Study Group was established in November 2009. “The report of the group is likely in May this year,” Marie added. The JSG’s report will be the first step towards the CEPA. Once the report is submitted, trade negotiators from both the countries will engage in the negotiations to seal a deal. India signed two duty-free trade deals in 2009 with South Korea and the Asean, while a dozen others are being negotiated.
Canada is also looking at incorporating special provisions in the CEPA to encourage SMEs from the country to explore the Indian market. According to Marie, Canada would be looking at a relaxed duty regime in India so that SMEs get an incentive to send their products.
Trade between India and Canada has been gaining traction over the past few years and both the countries have been exploring avenues to deepen economic and trade ties. Canadian companies, especially SMEs, have expressed keen interest in participating in the Indian mining sector. “India has lot of opportunities in mining sector for small and medium enterprises (SME). Many SMEs in Canada are working in this (mining) sector,” added Marie.
Other sectors that have interested Canadian companies are life sciences and the financial services sector. “India has great research centres with lower costs and of course great ICT (information and communication technology). Investments in the area of life sciences have lot of potential,” Marie said.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Canada-may-push-for-soft-policy-for-India-bound-cos/564706/
Experts Urge Officials To End Mountaintop Mining
by CHRISTOPHER JOYCE
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January 7, 2010
A team of scientists says the environmental damage from mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia is so widespread, the mining technique should be stopped.
The scientific review of research on the effects of the practice, which dumps coarse rock down the mountainsides into nearby valleys, states that harmful chemicals such as sulfate and selenium are pervasive in streams below.
Photo Gallery: Removing Mountains
In the summer of 2007, photographer Daniel Shea set out to cover the coal industry of Appalachia. These are his photos, from NPR's Picture Show blog.
Credit: Daniel Shea
Mountaintop removal is a pretty efficient and cheap way to mine coal. But when the rock or "overburden" above coal seams is blasted away and pushed over the side of the mountain, says Margaret Palmer of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, "you expose material that, when it rains and water percolates through that, it dissolves a lot of chemicals, and those are very persistent in the streams below valley fill sites."
Cleanup Laws May Not Be Working
Federal and state laws require mining companies to clean up and restore mined areas. But Palmer and 11 other scientists who published their review in the journal Science say that's not working. "Even after a site has been reclaimed and attempts have been made to re-vegetate it," says Palmer, a biologist, "the streams that remain below that, that weren't filled, have high levels of all sorts of nasty things."
EnlargeCourtesy A.D. Lemley
Deformed fish larvae from mountaintop mining-impacted streams in Lincoln County, W.Va. The fish on top has two eyes on one side of its head. The lower fish has a deformed spine.
Things, she says, like selenium, which in high amounts can harm fish and other aquatic life; and sulfates, which alter the water chemistry. Palmer and her colleagues say many animals in these valley streams — from algae to fish and birds — could be seriously harmed.
So, they say, mountaintop mining should be stopped.
EPA Already Delaying Permits
In fact, the EPA has been holding up almost 80 permits for new mines to give them extra environmental scrutiny. And at a Senate hearing last year, EPA water expert John Randy Pomponio said the agency doesn't really know how bad the stream damage is.
"These little streams are like capillaries in your blood system," Pomponio said. "They're what travel through the landscape and capture the pollutants, clean those pollutants. And we frankly don't know where the tipping point is in losing one stream, five streams, or 18 streams in a particular watershed."
Pomponio told the Senate that mines in some valleys are so large now, their footprint covers as much as one-third of the watershed (a watershed is the whole area from which water flows into a valley). He also said the EPA has not done a good job of assessing the cumulative effect of all this mining.
While the EPA reviews the science, the mining industry in West Virginia is growing unhappy with the go-slow approach. Randy Huffman is secretary of the state's Department of Environmental Protection. Of the EPA, he says, "They just shut everything down, basically, and it kind of turned industry on its head."
Courtesy of Vivian Stockman
Mountaintop removal coal mining approaches a home on the Mud River in Lincoln County, W.Va. The mine site is part of the Hobet 21 mine.
Watch Video Of Mountaintop Mining On The Sierra Club's Web Site
An Unfair Look At Pollutants?
Huffman says new requests for mining permits in West Virginia are getting closer inspection from his department, and some should go ahead while regulators are looking for solutions.
As for the pollutants the scientists listed, he says they've created a worst-case scenario.
"If you wanted to look at 30 years of coal mining in Appalachia and pick out the worst of everything that's ever happened and put it on two pages you can do that," says Huffman, "and it looks like that's what's been done."
Environmental and citizens groups in Appalachia have been suing for years to stop mountaintop mining, with mixed success. But Huffman says even if mountaintop mining were outlawed, that wouldn't keep other sources of mine waste out of valleys and streams. "We have valley fills associated with every type of mining, including underground mining," he says.
But according to the scientists who have studied the region's streams, mountaintop mining is responsible for the most of the damage.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122297492&ps=cprs
Saracen starts gold mining at WA dam
January 8, 2010 - 1:29PM
AAP
Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd has begun mining at its Carosue Dam gold project in the South Laverton region of Western Australia, with a view to becoming a mid-tier producer of the precious metal.
The first stage of the project is expected to involve five open cut mines, starting with the Porphyry deposit, an old mine that previously produced 144,000 ounces of gold.
"Mining at the Porphyry open pit mine and ore haulage have commenced," Saracen said in a statement on Friday.
"Wet commissioning of the Carosue Dam plant is now in progress.
"During the commissioning phase, milling and gold production will be based on a combination of existing surface stockpiles and Porphyry mine ore."
Porphyry and the other planned mines - Whirling Dervish, Enterprise, Deep South and Wallbrook - will be mined over approximately three to five years.
"Production from Carosue Dam will see Saracen emerge as a mid-tier gold producer with a quality processing asset in a world class gold province laden with tremendous exploration and mining opportunities," managing director Guido Staltari said.
The operation employs about 200 staff and contractors.
Shares in Saracen were up two cents, or 4.44 per cent, at 47 cents at 1237 AEDT.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/saracen-starts-gold-mining-at-wa-dam-20100108-ly0w.html
Other News
Govt projects may put endangered wildlife at stake
Bahar Dutt / CNN-IBN
Published on Thu, Jan 07, 2010 at 21:52, Updated on Thu, Jan 07, 2010 at 22:10 in India section
Tags: Endangered Wildlife, Environment , New Delhi
Read Comment | Post Comment
WAY OF THE WORLD: A Chinkara was crushed to death in MP on a Highway in Reserved Forest.
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New Delhi: The year 2010 maybe the international year of biodiversity but India's biodiversity hotspots are facing an unprecedented onslaught. The Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife, under the Chairmanship of Minister Jairam Ramesh has recently cleared roads, dams and mining projects through national parks and sanctuaries – the last vestiges for endangered wildlife.
Minister of Environment, Jairam Ramesh who has cleared no less than 15 road, dam and mining projects inside India's National Parks and sanctuaries, may have sounded the death knell for India's most endangered wildlife. These include:
• A Limestone Mining Plant on the boundary ofRajiv Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh, one of the finest habitats for the Tiger.
• 65 Hectares of forest land to be chopped for 3 roads passing through Gangotri National Park, home to snow leopard, blue sheep and black bear
• Submergence of 1000 hectares of forest for a dam at Narasimha Wild Life Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh, home to the critically endangered Jerdon Courser bird.
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• Diversion of 240 hectares of forest land for a 400 KV Transmission line and 21 hectares for an underground oil pipeline both at the Gujarat Wild Ass Sanctuary, only home to the Indian Wild Ass.
• Diversion of forest land for a high-power transmission line by Power Grid Corporation in Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary, home to elephants, barking deer, sloth bears and leopards
• Diversion of forest land for road-widening by the Border Roads Organization in Askot Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttaranchal, home to the highly endangered musk deer.
•
Such Projects lead not only to more fatalities, they also damage long term survival and breeding patterns of wild animals.
Wild expert Belinda Wright said, “We have such few areas of prime forest land that are within our protect area network. And we just cannot afford to lose even an inch of them.”
However, Minister Jairam Ramesh disagrees.
Jairam said, “You are being unfair, you are being very selective. There are number of projects that have been put on hold or rejected. The job of my Ministry is not to say no all the time. My job is to find a balance between environment and development.”
National parks and wildlife sanctuaries form less than 4 per cent of India's land surface. In the International Year of biodiversity a complete halt on deforestation in these areas maybe the last hope of survival for India's endangered animals.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/govt-projects-may-put-endangered-wildlife-at-stake/108372-3.html?from=tn
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Ministry of Environment and Forests
Forestland diverted for developmental activities
________________________________________
11:50 IST
Factsheet
Large-scale illegal tree cutting has not been reported in the past decade from any State/UT Governments. But for the developmental activities etc. forest areas have been diverted involving felling of trees in the diverted area. The details of the forest area diverted in the last decade from 1st January, 2000 are given in Annexure.
Summery of forest land diverted State-wise under the forest conservation Act, 1980
(During the peroid from : 01.01.2000 to 03.12.2009)
All Categories As On: 03.12.2009
S. No. State / UT Approved
Area diverted (in ha)
1 Andaman & Nicobar Island 184.84
2 Andhra Pradesh 13435.28
3 Arunachal Pradesh 7831.16
4 Assam 374.25
5 Bihar 974.86
6 Chandigarh 45.11
7 Chhattishgarh 12871.39
8 Dadar & Nagar Haveli 8.70
9 Daman & Diu 0
10 Delhi 22.82
11 Goa 1229.88
12 Gujarat 9702.16
13 Haryana 6917.75
14 Himachal Pradesh 4578.48
15 Jammu & Kashmir 0
16 Jharkhand 7524.32
17 Karnataka 12729.34
18 Kerala 10290.07
19 Lakshdeep 0
20 Madhya Pradesh 15239.88
21 Maharashtra 14863.46
22 Manipur 90.22
23 Meghalaya 125.07
24 Mizoram 5601.64
25 Nagaland 0
26 Orissa 13557.02
27 Pondichery 0
28 Punjab 61197.05
29 Rajasthan 9505.07
30 Sikkim 1123.17
31 Tamil Nadu 685.77
32 Tripura 6424.43
33 Uttar Pradesh 30858.58
34 Uttaranchal 30642.50
35 West Bengal 1078.65
Total 279712.92
KP
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=56669
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2010/ing/f030110i.html
Reflections by comrade Fidel
THE WORLD HALF A CENTURY LATER
On the 51st anniversary of the victory of the Revolution two days ago, the memories of that January 1st, 1959 came flooding back to me. None of us ever thought that half a century later, a time that has flown past very fast, we would be remembering it as if it were only yesterday.
On December 28, 1958, during the meeting at the Oriente sugar mill with the Commander in Chief of the enemy forces, whose elite units were besieged with no possibility of escaping, he admitted his defeat and appealed to our generosity to try finding an honorable way out for the rest of his forces. He was aware of our humane treatment of prisoners and injured enemies without exception. He accepted the agreement I proposed, even though I warned him that the ongoing operations would proceed uninterrupted. However, he traveled to the capital and, incited by US embassy, he promoted a coup d’état.
We were preparing for the combats of that day January 1st when in the early morning hours we learned that the tyrant had escaped. Right away orders were issued to the Rebel Army not to accept a ceasefire and carry on the fight at all fronts. At the same time, through RadioRebelde the workers were called on to declare a Revolutionary general strike, which was immediately backed by the entire nation. The attempted coup was defeated and that same day, in the afternoon, our victorious troops entered Santiago de Cuba.
Meanwhile, Che and Camilo were instructed to quickly advance by road with their brave and experienced forces on vehicles toward LaCabaña and the Military Camp at Columbia. The adversary army, beat in every front, would not have the capacity to resist. By then, the people had revolted and seized the repression centers and police stations. In the evening of January 2, accompanied by a reduced escort, I met in aBayamo stadium with over two thousand soldiers from the tank, artillery and mechanized infantry forces that we had been fighting against until the previous day. They still carried their weapons with them. We had won the respect of the adversary with our audacious but humanitarian methods of fighting the irregular war. This is how, after 25 months fighting a war we had resumed with a few rifles, in only four days approximately one hundred thousand air, sea and ground weapons and the entire power of the government fell in the hands of the Revolution. I’m relating in a few lines what happened in those days 51 years ago.
It was then that the main battle started to preserve the independence of Cuba opposite the most powerful empire that ever was; a battle our people have waged with great dignity. Today, I am pleased to see those who defended our homeland --despite incredible obstacles, sacrifices and risks—that in these days are happily enjoying the glories of every New Year in the company of their children, their parents and their beloved.
However, these days are in no way similar to those of the past. We are living a new era that resembles no other in history. In the past, the peoples fought and still fight with honor for a better world with more justice but today they must also fight –with no other choice—for the survival of the human species. We don’t know anything if we ignore that. Cuba is undoubtedly one of the countries in the world with a highest political education. It started from the most shameful illiteracy, and what is even worse: our Yankee masters and the bourgeoisie associated to the foreign owners were in possession of the land, the sugar mills, the factories that produced consumer goods, the storage facilities, the shops, the utility companies, the telephones, the banks, the mines, the insurance services, the docks, the bars, the hotels, the offices, the housing, the movie theaters, the printing shops, the magazines, the newspapers, the radio, the emerging television and everything of value.
Once the burning flames of our battles for liberation had faded, the Yankees took upon themselves the task of thinking for the people that had fought so hard to be the owner of their independence, their wealth and their destiny; nothing belonged to us then, not even the task of thinking politically. How many of us could read or write? How many could complete the sixth grade of grammar school? I remember this especially in a day like this because that was the country that supposedly belonged to the Cubans. I don’t mention other things because I’d have to include many more such as the best schools, the best hospitals, the best houses, the best doctors, the best lawyers. How many of us had access to them? Who, if not a few exceptions, had the natural and divine right to be managers or leaders?
No millionaire or rich man, without exception, failed to be the leader of a Party, a Senator, a Representative or a senior official. That was the representative and pure democracy that prevailed in our homeland, except that the Yankees whimsically imposed ruthless and heartless petty tyrants when it was most convenient to their interests for better defending their properties from landless farmers and employed or unemployed workers. As practically no one even speaks of that, I venture to remember it. Our country is one of the 150 Third World countries, which will be the first albeit not the only ones destined to endure the incredible consequences if humanity does not develop quite rapidly a clear and certain conscience of the reality and the result of climate change provoked by man, that is, if such change is not timely prevented.
Our media have described the effects of climate change while the increasingly intensive hurricanes, the droughts and other natural calamities have equally contributed to the education of our people on the issue. Likewise, a peculiar event, the battle on climate change that took place in the Copenhagen Summit, has helped to build awareness about the imminent danger. This is not one distant risk awaiting the 22ndcentury, but one for the 21st; neither is it only for the second half of the latter but for the next decades when we would start suffering its terrible consequences.
This is not a simple action against the empire and its henchmen that in this area, as in everything else, try to impose their stupid and selfish interests but rather a world public opinion battle that can’t be left to spontaneity or to the whim of most media. It’s a situation that is fortunately known to millions of honest and brave people in the world, a battle to be waged with the masses and within social organizations and scientific, cultural and humanitarian institutions and other international outfits, but very especially in the United Nations where the US administration, its NATO allies and the richest countries tried to deal a fraudulent and antidemocratic blow in Denmark against the rest of the emerging and poor nations of the Third World.
In Copenhagen, the Cuban delegation, which attended alongside others from ALBA and the Third World, was forced to fight strongly in the face of the amazing events originated by the speeches made by Yankee President Barack Obama and the group of richest states in the planet determined to do away with the binding agreements of Kyoto --where the thorny issue was discussed more than 12 years ago-- and to place the burden of the sacrifices on the emerging and the underdeveloped countries which happen to be the poorest and, at the same time, the main providers of raw materials and non-renewable resources of the planet to the most developed and affluent.
Obama showed up in Copenhagen the last day of the Conference which had begun on December 7. The worst of his behavior was that when he had already made the decision to send 30 thousand soldiers to the carnage in Afghanistan --a country with a strong tradition of independence that not even the British in their best and cruelest times could submit—he traveled to Oslo to receive no less than the Nobel Peace Prize. On December 10, he arrived in the Norwegian capital where he made an empty and demagogic speech full of justifications. On the 18th, the last day of the Summit, he appeared in Copenhagen where he had initially planned to spend only 8 hours. The Secretary of State and a selective group of her best strategists had come in the previous day.
The first thing that Obama did was to choose a group of guests who had the honor of accompanying him to address the Summit. With a permissive and flattering attitude, the Danish Prime Minister, who was chairing the Summit, granted the floor to the group of hardly more than 15 persons. The imperial leader deserved special honors. His speech was a combination of sweet words seasoned with theatrical gestures which have become boring for those who, like me, have decided to listen to him to try being objective in the assessment of his characteristics and political intentions. Obama imposed on his docile Danish host that only his guests could take the floor, although as soon as he made his speech he “disappeared” through a back door, as a leprechaun running away from an audience that had made him the honor of listening attentively.
After the authorized list of speakers had finished, a man who is every inch an Aymara native, Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, who had just been reelected with 65% of the votes, claimed his right to take the floor which was granted to him in light of the overwhelming applause of those present. In only nine minutes he exposed deep and honorable concepts in response to the words of the already absent president of theUnited States. Immediately afterwards Hugo Chavez stood up to ask for the floor on behalf of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The chairman of the session had no choice but to give the floor to him too; he then improvised one of the most brilliant speeches I’ve heard him make. After that, the sound of the gavel put an end to the unusual session.
However, the extremely busy Obama and his entourage did not have a minute to lose. His group had worked out a Draft Declaration full of vague remarks that was a denial of the Kyoto Protocol. After he had precipitously left the plenary hall, he met with other groups of guests, not even 30 people, to negotiate privately and in small groups. He insisted and brought up millionaire figures of green bills without a gold backing and constantly devaluated, and he even threatened to leave the meeting if his demands were not accepted. The worst of all is that it was a meeting of the superrich countries to which some of the most important emerging nations were invited alongside two or three poor countries. The document was submitted to these as a ‘take it or leave it’ proposal.
Later, the Danish Prime Minister tried to present such a confusing, ambiguous and contradictory declaration --in whose discussion the United Nations took no part whatsoever—as the Summit Accord. The sessions had concluded and almost every head of State or Government and Foreign Minister had left for their respective countries when, at three in the morning, the distinguished Danish Prime Minister introduced it to the plenary where hundreds of long-suffering officials, who had not slept for three days, received the complicated document and only an hour to examine it and decide on its approval.
That’s when the meeting grew highly volatile. The delegates had not had time to read it. Several of them asked for the floor. The first one was the delegate of Tuvalu whose islands will be under water if the proposal contained in the document is approved; the delegates of Bolivia,Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua followed suit. The dialectic confrontation that took place at 3:00 AM of December 19 is worth of being recorded by history, if history is to last long after the climate change.
As a good part of what happened is known in Cuba or can be found in the Internet, I will only offer part of the two responses given by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez since they are worthy of reading to known the final episodes of the Copenhagen soap opera, as well as the elements of the last chapter which have yet to be publish in our country.
“Mr. Chairman, [Prime Minister of Denmark]…the document that you repeatedly claimed that did not exist is showing up now. We have all seen drafts surreptitiously circulated and discussed in secret meetings, outside the rooms where the international community has been transparently negotiating through its representatives.”
“I add my voice to that of the representatives of Tuvalu, Venezuela and Bolivia. Cuba considers the text of this apocryphal draft extremely insufficient and inadmissible.”
“The document that you are unfortunately introducing contains no commitment whatsoever on the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions.”
“I am aware of the previous drafts, which again through questionable and clandestine procedures, were negotiated in small groups and which at least made reference to a 50% reduction by 2050.”
“The document that you are introducing now leaves out precisely those already meager and insufficient key phrases contained in those drafts. This document does not guarantee, in any way, the adoption of minimal measures conducive to the prevention of an extremely grave catastrophe for the planet and for human beings.”
“This shameful document that you bring to us is also insufficient and ambiguous with regards to the specific commitment of the developed countries to reduce emissions even when they are responsible for the global warming resulting from the historic and current level of their emissions, and it is only fit that they undertake meaningful reductions right away. This document fails to mention any commitment by the developed nations.”
“Your document, Mr. Chairman, is the death certificate of the Kyoto Protocol that my delegation refuses to accept.
“The Cuban delegation wishes to emphasize the preeminence of the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities,” as the main concept in the future process of negotiations. Your document does not have a word on that.”
“The Cuban delegation reiterates its protest against the grave breach of procedure that has surfaced in the antidemocratic way this conference has been conducted, particularly by resorting to arbitrary, exclusive and discriminatory formats of debate and negotiation.”
“Mr. Chairman, I formally request that this statement be included in the final report on the works of this shameful and regrettable 15thConference of the Parties.”
What was unthinkable is that after another long recess and when everybody thought that only the official procedures remained to conclude the Summit, the Primer Minister of the host country, incited by the Yankees, would make another attempt at having the document passed by consensus of the Summit when there were not even foreign ministers present in the plenary hall. The delegates of Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaraguaand Cuba who had remained alert and insomniac until the last minute thwarted the last maneuver in Copenhagen.
Still, the problem was far from over. The powerful are not used to meet with resistance and do not admit it. On December 30, the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the United Nations, in New York, politely informed our Mission in that city that it had taken note of the Copenhagen Accord of December 18, 2009, and was forwarding an advanced copy of that decision. It literally read: “…the Government of Denmark in its capacity as COP15 Presidency invites Parties to the Convention to inform the UNFCCC Secretariat in a written form at their earliest convenience of their willingness to be associated with the Copenhagen Accord.”
This unexpected communication motivated the response of the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations, that “…categorically rejects the attempt to indirectly approve a text that was repudiated by several delegations not only for its insufficiency in light of the serious effects of climate change but also because it just responded to the interests of a limited group of nations.”
Likewise, the First Vice minister of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment of the Republic of Cuba, Dr. Fernando Gonzalez Bermudez, forwarded a letter to Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, some of whose paragraphs I reproduce here:
“We have received with surprise and concern the Note circulated by the Danish Government to the Permanent Missions of the UN member states in New York --of which you are certainly aware-- inviting the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to inform the Executive Secretariat in a written form and at their earliest convenience of their willingness to be associated with the so-called Copenhagen Accord.”
“We have seen with additional concern that the Danish Government is informing that the Executive Secretariat of the Convention will include in the report of the COP 15 held in Copenhagen a list of the Parties to the Convention that have expressed their willingness to be associated with this Accord.”
“The Republic of Cuba considers this behavior a crude and reprehensible violation of the decision made in Copenhagen where, in view of the obvious lack of consensus, the Parties to the Convention simply took note of the existence of such document.”
“Nothing agreed at the COP15 entitles the Government of Denmark to adopt this course of action, and the Executive Secretariat does not have a mandate to include in the final report a list of Parties to the Convention.”
“I must say that the Government of the Republic of Cuba strongly rejects this new attempt at indirectly legitimizing a spurious document and reaffirms that this behavior sets a dangerous precedent for the Convention’s works and impairs the good-faith spirit with which the delegations should carry on the negotiating process next year,” concluded the Cuban First Vice minister of Science, Technology and the Environment.
Many in the world, especially the social movements and the best informed people of the humanitarian, cultural and scientific institutions are aware that the document promoted by the United States is a step backward from the positions reached by those who are making efforts to prevent a colossal catastrophe to our species. There is no point in repeating here facts and figures that prove it mathematically. The data can be found in the Internet; they are within reach of a growing number of people interested in the subject.
The theory used to defend adherence to the document is weak and implies a step backward. The deceitful idea is invoked that the wealthy nations would contribute the measly figure of 30 billion dollars in three years to poor countries to pay for the costs of facing climate change. This figure could then be raised to 100 billion annually by the year 2020, something that in this extremely serious issue is tantamount to waiting until Hell freezes over. The experts know that these figures are ridiculous and unacceptable given the magnitude of the investments required. The source of such figures is vague and confusing; therefore, no one is committed to this.
What’s the value of one dollar? What’s the meaning of 30 billion dollars? We all know that since Bretton Woods, in 1944, until Nixon’s executive order in 1971, --aimed at throwing on the world economy the cost of the genocidal Vietnam war-- the value of one dollar, measured in gold, has decreased and is today about 32 times lower than it was then. That is, 30 billions mean less than 1 billion, and 100 billion divided by 32 equals 3.1 billions, which at the moment would not be enough to build a middle size oil refinery.
If the industrialized nations ever honored their promise to give the developing countries 0.7% of their GDP –something they never did but for few exceptions—the figure would exceed 250 billion dollars each year.
The US administration has spent 800 billions to bail out the banks, how much would it be willing to spend to save the 9 billion people who will live on the planet by 2050, if there are no severe droughts or floods associated to a rising sea resulting from the meltdown of glaciers and of large masses of frozen water in Greenland and the Antarctic?
Let’s not be deceived. What the United States intended with its maneuvers in Copenhagen was to divide the Third World, that is, to separate over 150 countries from China, India, Brazil, South Africa and others with whom we should close ranks to defend in Bonn’s, in Mexico’s or at any other international conference, alongside the social, scientific and humanitarian organizations, real Accords that can benefit every country and protect humanity from a catastrophe conducive to the extinction of our species.
The world is in possession of an ever greater amount of information but the politicians’ time to think is ever smaller.
The wealthy nations and their leaders, including the US Congress, seem to be debating who will be the last to disappear.
When the 28 parties proposed by Obama to celebrate this Christmas are over, if that of the Epiphany was included perhaps The Three Wise Men --Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar-- could advise him what to do.
I apologize for the lengthy article but I did not want to split this Reflection in two. I beg my patient readers their indulgence.
Fidel Castro Ruz
January 3, 2010
3:16 PM
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