PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2012 ID-52999
.
.
~.· ~' .
' .
23-31 March: Shahadat Saptaah .
BhagatSingh toCom. Chandrashekhar: the Legacy LivesOn.... .
.
~eakers .
Public Meeting .
Paraniov Guha Thakurta KG Basin To Coal-Gate: Neoliberalism .
noted journalist and petioner in 2G case and Corporate Loot of Natural Resources .
.
Prlva Plllai-.
researcher and activist.
27 March Tonight Kaveri .Mess 9}0pm-----.
-2G to the recent coal scam. th~. GAG has pointe_d· but the same ·underlying-problef"!)--_loss te the _public exchequer.
From_ dl:fe to a poli~y ?f. banding-oyer _precio"us-natu!al re-~ource.s on·9 "fir.st-come-first-serve:· basi_s rather than-.being auctioned. scam. the GAG-haB pojnted out abset]ce of.
Whether it is <the 1.7$1akh crore (2G)_or Rs ~0.7 Jakh crore in the caal · · .
·· ·· · ·· · · · · · · · · -transparent auctions as· the reason for·massive losses. .
The issue however is much deeper. The larger question is. can we arrest all "losses to the state exchequer" merely by auctioning off resources to the highest pidder? Can it be in the national interest to let_private players ·use up and per their whims and fancies merely for private profits,.
indiscriminately exhaust these precious resources as robbing future generations of Indian people of these resources? Even if a resource _like coal were to be auctioned off a company, the state receives .a one-time ppyment or .some miniscule royalty,. whk-h -is a .pitt8nce .of the total profit Ylat.
t<? .
it finally makes from mining. .
.
Natural Resources in the Nee-Liberal Era: .Toqls for Corporate Profiteering. . . .
.
In the past fe·w years, we have seen the oil and natural gas-rich Krishna Godavari (KG) bastn 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 aod private petroleum-operatq_rs. data 8n Reliance's capital expenditure was deliberate~y fudged and inflated. pnvate operators were allowed to sell oil at much higher rates than ONGC. Niira Radia tapes have also told us .
how the UPA and the "opposttion" NDA happily colluded on the floor of the Parliament to award millions of rupees to reverting to· the "correct" .
.. Reliance as "retrospective" tax exemptions' herefore, the issue is NOT m erely one of policy of auctioning natural resources. · which the state should manage, k~eping in mind the.
Post-independence, coal was recognised _as a '4national as~t" .
interests of the "community''. Coal was thus nationalised -a process that began in 1971 and was completed in 1973. Soon .
.
afterwards however. the real-project of "nationalisation" began to unravel. As early as 1976. aclause was introduced in the .
Coal Nationalisation Act to allow coal blocks to be allotted to private iron and steel (and in some limited cases, to private .
power companies too) for their captive consumption. .
.
The ongoing process of privatising coal mining proceeded with great speed in the 1990s-the Coal Nationalisation .
Act was amended in 1993 to allow allotment of capti\7e coal mining blocks t~ private power companies. Coal prices were .
deregulated by the Ministry of Coal. and in 1996, the MoC issued yet another notification allowing cement companies to .
.
acquire captive coal mining blocks. .
.
And as the CAG report now exposes, between 2004-2009, coal mining blocks were handed out on a platter at a can make the most profits. When the issue of.
pittance to private companies who mine coal as and when they allotting coal blocks at ridiculously low rates became too difficult for the UPA to handle. they fi~ly Introduced the new MMDR Act 2011 . which recommends auctiontng of coal blocks. .
Besides this hyper-active neo-ltberal policy sh1ft favouring corporate proftts, we are also wttnessing how the state machinery sits back and watches rampant violations and open loot of mineral resources by the politician-mafia nexus -from Bellary .
in Karnataka, to the coal belt tn Chhattisgarh and MP, to mineral-rich areas in Odisha and Jharkhand. .
scam) not to be involved. After.
Also, this time around the PMO cannot even pretend (as it tried to do in the 2G ong stretches during 2004-2009 when.
all, coal ministry was directly under Prim e Minister Manmohan Singh for ~ .
these dubious allocation of coal blocks took place and therefore complicit in this Joss of resources. Several of the .
.
companies named 1n the draft CAG report that is causing such a furore are based 1n BJP-ruled ChhatttSgarh. It is clear that .
.
after all the public sound and fury, the so-called "opposition" BJP will also willingly participate in a carefully orchestrated .
cover-up in order to hide the huge share they enjoy in this regime of corporate loot So whether the so-called "oppositionu .
NDA-BJP chooses to raise the issue or not, whether the CAG chooses to backtrack on its own draft estimates or .
.
not, the dubious nature of allocation of coal blocks and the obvious possibility of mega corruption involved in .
the process CANNOT be brushed under the carpet ~N'fMORE. .
.
In designing a m1neral policy for the entire country. it is important to ask: will state policy be decided by corporate profits. .
.
.
or by the larger interests ~f the people? In the case~ an important resource ltke coal, why should publiC sector companies have to engage in cut-th~oat compe~tion with the likes of the Jindals and the Tatas? Why should private companies be allotted captive coal mini~ blocks? Why can't they simply purchase all the coal they require from Coal india. instead of .
acqUinng coal blocks and then using them as speculative capital to .profit from? .
AISA is organ1s1ng a pu lie meeting tonight (March 271h) from 9.30 pm onwards at Kaveri mess, wh1ch will be addressed by Paranjoy G ha Thakurta (noted journalist who has extensively reported on the regime of corporate loot of researcher and activist). We appeal to the student community to participate in.
natural resources) and Priya Pillai (a .
this 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.S~c).. AISA,JNLI .
... .
.
.
,j .
.
. 1!"" ' .
. ,); .
.,.
,. .' -~. '.;:; ':' .
.
.
.
PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2012 ID-52999
.
.
~.· ~' .
' .
23-31 March: Shahadat Saptaah .
BhagatSingh toCom. Chandrashekhar: the Legacy LivesOn.... .
.
~eakers .
Public Meeting .
Paraniov Guha Thakurta KG Basin To Coal-Gate: Neoliberalism .
noted journalist and petioner in 2G case and Corporate Loot of Natural Resources .
.
Prlva Plllai-.
researcher and activist.
27 March Tonight Kaveri .Mess 9}0pm-----.
-2G to the recent coal scam. th~. GAG has pointe_d· but the same ·underlying-problef"!)--_loss te the _public exchequer.
From_ dl:fe to a poli~y ?f. banding-oyer _precio"us-natu!al re-~ource.s on·9 "fir.st-come-first-serve:· basi_s rather than-.being auctioned. scam. the GAG-haB pojnted out abset]ce of.
Whether it is <the 1.7$1akh crore (2G)_or Rs ~0.7 Jakh crore in the caal · · .
·· ·· · ·· · · · · · · · · -transparent auctions as· the reason for·massive losses. .
The issue however is much deeper. The larger question is. can we arrest all "losses to the state exchequer" merely by auctioning off resources to the highest pidder? Can it be in the national interest to let_private players ·use up and per their whims and fancies merely for private profits,.
indiscriminately exhaust these precious resources as robbing future generations of Indian people of these resources? Even if a resource _like coal were to be auctioned off a company, the state receives .a one-time ppyment or .some miniscule royalty,. whk-h -is a .pitt8nce .of the total profit Ylat.
t<? .
it finally makes from mining. .
.
Natural Resources in the Nee-Liberal Era: .Toqls for Corporate Profiteering. . . .
.
In the past fe·w years, we have seen the oil and natural gas-rich Krishna Godavari (KG) bastn 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 aod private petroleum-operatq_rs. data 8n Reliance's capital expenditure was deliberate~y fudged and inflated. pnvate operators were allowed to sell oil at much higher rates than ONGC. Niira Radia tapes have also told us .
how the UPA and the "opposttion" NDA happily colluded on the floor of the Parliament to award millions of rupees to reverting to· the "correct" .
.. Reliance as "retrospective" tax exemptions' herefore, the issue is NOT m erely one of policy of auctioning natural resources. · which the state should manage, k~eping in mind the.
Post-independence, coal was recognised _as a '4national as~t" .
interests of the "community''. Coal was thus nationalised -a process that began in 1971 and was completed in 1973. Soon .
.
afterwards however. the real-project of "nationalisation" began to unravel. As early as 1976. aclause was introduced in the .
Coal Nationalisation Act to allow coal blocks to be allotted to private iron and steel (and in some limited cases, to private .
power companies too) for their captive consumption. .
.
The ongoing process of privatising coal mining proceeded with great speed in the 1990s-the Coal Nationalisation .
Act was amended in 1993 to allow allotment of capti\7e coal mining blocks t~ private power companies. Coal prices were .
deregulated by the Ministry of Coal. and in 1996, the MoC issued yet another notification allowing cement companies to .
.
acquire captive coal mining blocks. .
.
And as the CAG report now exposes, between 2004-2009, coal mining blocks were handed out on a platter at a can make the most profits. When the issue of.
pittance to private companies who mine coal as and when they allotting coal blocks at ridiculously low rates became too difficult for the UPA to handle. they fi~ly Introduced the new MMDR Act 2011 . which recommends auctiontng of coal blocks. .
Besides this hyper-active neo-ltberal policy sh1ft favouring corporate proftts, we are also wttnessing how the state machinery sits back and watches rampant violations and open loot of mineral resources by the politician-mafia nexus -from Bellary .
in Karnataka, to the coal belt tn Chhattisgarh and MP, to mineral-rich areas in Odisha and Jharkhand. .
scam) not to be involved. After.
Also, this time around the PMO cannot even pretend (as it tried to do in the 2G ong stretches during 2004-2009 when.
all, coal ministry was directly under Prim e Minister Manmohan Singh for ~ .
these dubious allocation of coal blocks took place and therefore complicit in this Joss of resources. Several of the .
.
companies named 1n the draft CAG report that is causing such a furore are based 1n BJP-ruled ChhatttSgarh. It is clear that .
.
after all the public sound and fury, the so-called "opposition" BJP will also willingly participate in a carefully orchestrated .
cover-up in order to hide the huge share they enjoy in this regime of corporate loot So whether the so-called "oppositionu .
NDA-BJP chooses to raise the issue or not, whether the CAG chooses to backtrack on its own draft estimates or .
.
not, the dubious nature of allocation of coal blocks and the obvious possibility of mega corruption involved in .
the process CANNOT be brushed under the carpet ~N'fMORE. .
.
In designing a m1neral policy for the entire country. it is important to ask: will state policy be decided by corporate profits. .
.
.
or by the larger interests ~f the people? In the case~ an important resource ltke coal, why should publiC sector companies have to engage in cut-th~oat compe~tion with the likes of the Jindals and the Tatas? Why should private companies be allotted captive coal mini~ blocks? Why can't they simply purchase all the coal they require from Coal india. instead of .
acqUinng coal blocks and then using them as speculative capital to .profit from? .
AISA is organ1s1ng a pu lie meeting tonight (March 271h) from 9.30 pm onwards at Kaveri mess, wh1ch will be addressed by Paranjoy G ha Thakurta (noted journalist who has extensively reported on the regime of corporate loot of researcher and activist). We appeal to the student community to participate in.
natural resources) and Priya Pillai (a .
this 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.S~c).. AISA,JNLI .
... .
.
.
,j .
.
. 1!"" ' .
. ,); .
.,.
,. .' -~. '.;:; ':' .
.
.
.