the people they select and the policies they endorse. If the Aam Admi Party considers itself as a serious political party – and there is no reason to wonder why it shouldn’t – then it needs to account for some of its recent choices and decisions on an issue which has pretty much dominated the discourse on environment and sustainability in Goa – mining.
During the recent visit of AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal to the mining belt of Goa, he made plenty of supposed sops to the mining affected. These need to be put through the wringer. And if there is one man who can rightly claim to be in a position to offer solutions or judge Arvind Kejriwal’s statements on mining and debate and question them, it is Goa Foundation’s Claude Alvares. But the very fact that Alvares was forced to respond to Arvind Kejriwal’s statements on mining is because in AAP’s wisdom, it wasn’t necessary to embrace and engage Alvares in a dialogue on mining.
Alvares therefore has responded to a wide gamut of issues Kejriwal rasied and some he did not raise and one interesting observation he made was that AAP was going to discuss a master plan on mining made by Ajit Singh Rane, former Shiv Sena leader who is now with the Aam Admi Party. Now most in Goa would agree that Ajit Singh Rane, inspite of his best intentions, wasn’t quite on the long list of mining experts who could work on a “master plan” for Goa’s mining. Even if AAP has the right to chose who its guru on mining should be, we have a right to question that choice.
Let’s now look at some of the observations made by Alvares to Arvind Kejriwal’s remarks in mining. Importantly not all that Kejriwal said merits criticism, but they merit discussion, debate and in some cases course correction.
One aspect that AAP must keep in mind, is that it is not enough just to compensate the mining affected. There needs to be an environmental rejuvenation and that is not something AAP is stressing enough. Alvares writes that the priority “is to rehabilitate mining areas and the health of the public in those areas. Governments now have to set up District Mineral Foundations (DMFs). All that money has to go for the welfare of mining dependents and mining affected. The money from the DMF cannot be used in non-mining areas of Goa”.
But what got Alvares’ goat was Kejriwal’s “next populist promise” that an AAP government would try to persuade the Supreme Court to raise the cap on mining in Goa from 20 million tons per annum to 30 or 35 or 40 million tons. Acknowledging that Kejriwal did qualify this by saying that an AAP government would move the Supreme Court in the interests of raising the cap on extraction, Alvares said that “the problem here is that higher the cap, the quicker the minerals are exhausted, leaving nothing for future generations. How will we face our children when they ask us why we did not leave anything for them or future generations? Is this fair?”
This is a pretty scathing indictment, not made by a section of the media which has decided to question, debate and get answers from AAP on every issue and statement it makes, but by a man who is pretty much seen as one of the most knowledgeable voices on mining.
Again Alvares draws a parallel between the BJP government’s request for an increase in the mining cap and the Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi Chief Minister’s request for a similar increase in the mining cap. Alvares asks, “So how is AAP different from the BJP? And is its proposal to raise the cap new?”
Meanwhile the Goa government needs to come on board and place its response on record to a two mining fundamentals raised by Alvares,
A) The minerals belong to the present and future generations of Goa and the government is merely a trustee. Sustainable mining means also considering the rights and interests of future generations, who will include the children of truck drivers, truck and equipment owners and everyone else.
b) All the money earned should be saved in the Goenchi Mati Permanent Fund, and distributed as real income as a Citizen’s Dividend equally to all (like the jonn from the Communidades).
The government must join this discussion and the people of Goa will be willing to listen with an open mind what the government feels on the above and incase the government does not agree, then it needs to suggest an alternative way and justify it.
The Goa government and the AAP have some homework to do. The people of Goa are waiting, especially to hear AAP respond.
