PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2012 ID-53445
.
27{3{20\2-.
23-31 March: Shahadat Saptaah.
BhagatSingh toCom.Chandrashekhar: the Legacy LivesQn_.
.
Public MeetiDC] o speakers .
"' .
Paraniov Guha Thakuna.
KG Basin To Coal-Gate: Neoliberalism.
and Corporate Loot of Natural Resources noted journalistand petionerin 2G case .
--27 March Tonight Kaveri Mess 9.30pm -----Priva ,Pillai.
researcher and activist.
From 2G to the recent coal scam, the CAG has pointed out the same underlying problem -loss to the public exchequerdue to a policy of handing over precious natural resources on a "first-come-first-serve.
'.
1, basis rather than being auctioned.
Whether it is the 1.76 lakh crore (2G) or Rs 10.7 lakh crore in the coal scam, the CAG has pointed out absence of.
transparent auctions as the reason for massive losses. .
auctioning off resources to the highest bidder? Can it be in the national interest to let private players use up and The issue however is much deeper. The larger question is. can we arrest all "losses to the state exchequer" merely byindiscriminately exhaust these precious resources as per their whims and fancies merely for private profits~.
robbing future generations of Indian people of these resources? Even if a resource like coal were to be auctioned off.
to a company, the state receives a one-time payment or some miniscule royalty, which is a pittance of the total proflt that.
it finally makes from mining. .
Natural Resources in the Nee-Liberal Era: Tools for Corporate Profiteering .
In the past few years, we have seen the oil and natur~l gas-rich Krishna Godavari (KG) basin been handed over to Reliance.
for private profiteering. A previous CAG report has exposed how a dubious "production sharing contract" was signed.
between the government and private petroleum operators. data on Reftance's capital expenditure was deliberately fudged.
and inflated. private operators were allow~d to sell, oil pt much higher rates than ONGC. Niira Radia tapes have also told us.
how the UPA ~nd the "opposition"· NDA happily· colluded on the floor of the Parliament to award millions of rupees to.
Reliance as "retrospective" tax exemptions! herefore, the issue is NOT merely one of reverting to the ucorrect"policy of auctioning natural resourc es. ··.
Post-independence, coal was recognised as a "national asset which the state should manage, keeping in mind the.
interests of the "community". ..Qoal was thus nationalised.-a process t~t began in 1971 and was completed in 1973. Soonafterwards however, the real project of "nationalisation" began to unravel. As early as 1976, a clause was introduced in theCoal Nationalisation Act to allow coal blocks to be allotted to private iron and steel (and in some limited cases, to privatepower companies too) for their captive consumption..
The ongoing process of privatising coal mining proceeded with great speed in the 1990s-the Coal Nationalisatl>nAct was amended in 1993 to allow allotment of captive coal mining blocks to private power companies. Coal prices were.
deregulated by the Ministry of Coal, and in 1996, the MoC issued yet another notification allowing cement companies toacquire captive coal mining blocks. .
And as the CAG report now exposes, between 2004-2009, coa! mining blocks were handed out on a platter at apittance to private companies who mine coal as and when they can make the most profits. W hen the issue ofallotting coal blocks at ridiculously low rates became too difficuft for the UPA to handle, they finally introduced the newMMDR Act 2011 , which recommends auctioning of coal blocks.Besides this hyper-active nee-liberal policy shift favouring corporate profits, we are also wrtnessing how the state mactWey.
sits back and watches rarrwant violations and open loot of mineral resources by the politician-mafia nexus-from Belaly.
in Karnataka, to the coal belt in Chhattisgarh and MP, to mineral-rich areas in Odisha and Jharkhand..
AJso, this time around the PMO cannot even pretend (as it tried to do in the 2G scam) not to be involved. Afterall, coal ministry was directly under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for long stretches during 2004-2009 whsn.
these dubious alloca~ion of coal blocks took place and therefore complicit in this loss of resources. Several of the.
companies named in the draft CAG report that is causing such a furore are based in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh. It is dear~.
after all the public sound and fury, the so-called "opposition" BJP·wl also willingly participate in a carefully orchestratedcover-up in order to hide the huge share they enjoy in this regime of corporate loot. So whether the so-called "oppositiod'NDA-BJP chooses to raise the issue or not, whether the CAG chooses to backtrack on its own draft estimates ornot, the ~ubious nature of allocation of coal blocks and the obvious possibility of mega corruption involved inthe process CANNOT be brushed under the carpet ANYMORE..
In designing a mineral policy for the entire country, it is important to ask: will state policy be decided by corporate profdS,.
or by the larger interests of the people? In the case of an important resource like coal, why should public sector companies.
have to engage in cut-throat competition with the likes of the Jindals and the Tatas? Why should private companies be.
allotted captive coal mining blocks? Why can't they simply purchase all the coal they require from Coal !ndia, instead ofacquiring coal blocks and then using tt1em as speculative capital to profit from?.
AISA is organising a public meeting tonight (March 27th) from 9.30 pm onwards at Kaveri mess, which wiD be.
addressed by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (noted journalist who has extensively reported on the regime of corporate~ ofnatural resources) and Priya Pillai (a researcher and activist). We appeal to the student community to participate mthis public meeting in large numbers to discuss these important issues related to the use and misuse of natural resources..
Piyush, Vice-President, AISA. JNU Omprsad, Jt.Sec).. A l SA.JNU .
ll"f m; b.'s co py . .
.
PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2012 ID-53445
.
27{3{20\2-.
23-31 March: Shahadat Saptaah.
BhagatSingh toCom.Chandrashekhar: the Legacy LivesQn_.
.
Public MeetiDC] o speakers .
"' .
Paraniov Guha Thakuna.
KG Basin To Coal-Gate: Neoliberalism.
and Corporate Loot of Natural Resources noted journalistand petionerin 2G case .
--27 March Tonight Kaveri Mess 9.30pm -----Priva ,Pillai.
researcher and activist.
From 2G to the recent coal scam, the CAG has pointed out the same underlying problem -loss to the public exchequerdue to a policy of handing over precious natural resources on a "first-come-first-serve.
'.
1, basis rather than being auctioned.
Whether it is the 1.76 lakh crore (2G) or Rs 10.7 lakh crore in the coal scam, the CAG has pointed out absence of.
transparent auctions as the reason for massive losses. .
auctioning off resources to the highest bidder? Can it be in the national interest to let private players use up and The issue however is much deeper. The larger question is. can we arrest all "losses to the state exchequer" merely byindiscriminately exhaust these precious resources as per their whims and fancies merely for private profits~.
robbing future generations of Indian people of these resources? Even if a resource like coal were to be auctioned off.
to a company, the state receives a one-time payment or some miniscule royalty, which is a pittance of the total proflt that.
it finally makes from mining. .
Natural Resources in the Nee-Liberal Era: Tools for Corporate Profiteering .
In the past few years, we have seen the oil and natur~l gas-rich Krishna Godavari (KG) basin been handed over to Reliance.
for private profiteering. A previous CAG report has exposed how a dubious "production sharing contract" was signed.
between the government and private petroleum operators. data on Reftance's capital expenditure was deliberately fudged.
and inflated. private operators were allow~d to sell, oil pt much higher rates than ONGC. Niira Radia tapes have also told us.
how the UPA ~nd the "opposition"· NDA happily· colluded on the floor of the Parliament to award millions of rupees to.
Reliance as "retrospective" tax exemptions! herefore, the issue is NOT merely one of reverting to the ucorrect"policy of auctioning natural resourc es. ··.
Post-independence, coal was recognised as a "national asset which the state should manage, keeping in mind the.
interests of the "community". ..Qoal was thus nationalised.-a process t~t began in 1971 and was completed in 1973. Soonafterwards however, the real project of "nationalisation" began to unravel. As early as 1976, a clause was introduced in theCoal Nationalisation Act to allow coal blocks to be allotted to private iron and steel (and in some limited cases, to privatepower companies too) for their captive consumption..
The ongoing process of privatising coal mining proceeded with great speed in the 1990s-the Coal Nationalisatl>nAct was amended in 1993 to allow allotment of captive coal mining blocks to private power companies. Coal prices were.
deregulated by the Ministry of Coal, and in 1996, the MoC issued yet another notification allowing cement companies toacquire captive coal mining blocks. .
And as the CAG report now exposes, between 2004-2009, coa! mining blocks were handed out on a platter at apittance to private companies who mine coal as and when they can make the most profits. W hen the issue ofallotting coal blocks at ridiculously low rates became too difficuft for the UPA to handle, they finally introduced the newMMDR Act 2011 , which recommends auctioning of coal blocks.Besides this hyper-active nee-liberal policy shift favouring corporate profits, we are also wrtnessing how the state mactWey.
sits back and watches rarrwant violations and open loot of mineral resources by the politician-mafia nexus-from Belaly.
in Karnataka, to the coal belt in Chhattisgarh and MP, to mineral-rich areas in Odisha and Jharkhand..
AJso, this time around the PMO cannot even pretend (as it tried to do in the 2G scam) not to be involved. Afterall, coal ministry was directly under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for long stretches during 2004-2009 whsn.
these dubious alloca~ion of coal blocks took place and therefore complicit in this loss of resources. Several of the.
companies named in the draft CAG report that is causing such a furore are based in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh. It is dear~.
after all the public sound and fury, the so-called "opposition" BJP·wl also willingly participate in a carefully orchestratedcover-up in order to hide the huge share they enjoy in this regime of corporate loot. So whether the so-called "oppositiod'NDA-BJP chooses to raise the issue or not, whether the CAG chooses to backtrack on its own draft estimates ornot, the ~ubious nature of allocation of coal blocks and the obvious possibility of mega corruption involved inthe process CANNOT be brushed under the carpet ANYMORE..
In designing a mineral policy for the entire country, it is important to ask: will state policy be decided by corporate profdS,.
or by the larger interests of the people? In the case of an important resource like coal, why should public sector companies.
have to engage in cut-throat competition with the likes of the Jindals and the Tatas? Why should private companies be.
allotted captive coal mining blocks? Why can't they simply purchase all the coal they require from Coal !ndia, instead ofacquiring coal blocks and then using tt1em as speculative capital to profit from?.
AISA is organising a public meeting tonight (March 27th) from 9.30 pm onwards at Kaveri mess, which wiD be.
addressed by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (noted journalist who has extensively reported on the regime of corporate~ ofnatural resources) and Priya Pillai (a researcher and activist). We appeal to the student community to participate mthis public meeting in large numbers to discuss these important issues related to the use and misuse of natural resources..
Piyush, Vice-President, AISA. JNU Omprsad, Jt.Sec).. A l SA.JNU .
ll"f m; b.'s co py . .
.