No sooner had Rahul Gandhi used it in the Lok Sabha
on July 20 last year, ‘Jumla’ became the most searched word on Google. Today the Hindi/Urdu word which mean ‘total’,
‘all’, ‘complete’ or ‘aggregate’ has come to mean a ‘
false,
unrealistic and fulfilled promise’. It means a promise that is made merely to
deceive voters and win elections. One
of the commonest terms in India today, ‘Jumla’ is bound to be one of the
latest non-English words to be incorporated in English dictionary.
You may wonder how is ‘jumla’
connected with the Meghalaya mining tragedy that was and is being reported by
the national and international media
.
Well, before
the link a recap of the fatal incident is of interest. On
13 December 2018, 15 or 16 miners
were trapped in an illegal mine in the remote village of Ksan in the East Jaintia Hills, the
state of Meghalaya, North East India. The incident is now known as Ksan
tragedy. A combined rescue operation involving the
National
Disaster Response Force (NDRF),
the State Disaster Response Force, the
Indian Air Force
, the
Indian Navy
and others has been going on till
date and have managed to retrieve one decomposed body and detected another from
the 370 feet deep, flooded coal mine.
‘Rat-hole’ mining
In Meghalaya mining of coal is carried out through an outdated,
traditional
technique called ‘rat-hole’ mining. The name is
derived from the way rats make holes for their dwelling. The method involves
digging a pit to 350 deep
and then narrow
horizontal tunnels of 3-4 feet high are dug for workers to enter and extract
the ‘black diamond’. These tunnels are just enough to fit one person to almost
crawl inside.
Unregulated and unsafe mining
Mining in
the state is totally unregulated. There is no safety norm whatsoever. With bare
hands miners enter the mines with pickaxes and wheelbarrows to extract coal.
Some say it is the cruellest practice of mining. Many incidents have taken
place in the past when miners were buried alive inside after the mines gave
way. Some died of suffocation when carbon dioxide or monoxide emit from the
mines. Few of such cases were reported. Rat-hole mines are literally death
traps.
Mining is unregulated because mines belong to private owners. Meghalaya
falls under the Sixth Schedule which gives rights and autonomy to tribals
(owners) over land and forests (falsely) implying that national mining laws do
not apply here. Experts and activists however, point out that the state is not
exempt from the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act of 1973, which bestows the
Indian state ownership and control of underground minerals. The state
government has never applied for any exemption. Aggravating the situation the
state government mining policy of 2012 assures that the “small and traditional
system of mining followed by local people in their own land shall not be
disturbed”.
Adverse impact on the environment
Commercially taken off after 1980s, the unscientific mining has
devastatingly impacted the environment. Fertile land has been rendered
uncultivable. Rivers and streams in the affected areas have turned acidic.
Water in rivers turned brownish. Water bodies have become highly polluted.
Samples taken from rivers have shown pH levels of around 3, way below the range
of 6.5 to 8.2 that is considered optimal for aquatic organisms. Villagers who
depend on fishing for livelihood reveal that species of fish were found dead in
rivers. In all, rampant mining resulted in large-scale deforestation, scarcity
of water, air, water and soil pollution together with degradation of
cultivatable land.
Rat-hole
mining proscribed
Concerns
for miners' safety and the hazards caused to the environment meant that the
notorious and now ‘internationally well-known rat-hole mining’ (courtesy the
tragedy) was banned. Following a petition filed by the Assam based All Dimasa
Students' Union that the toxic discharge from coal mines in Meghalaya was
polluting streams and rivers in Assam, the NGT banned rat-hole mining on April
17, 2014. Approximately the state government lost Rs.
700 crore annually or 7-8 per cent of
the state's GDP that accounted for 27 per cent of the total revenue
generated from the
estimated
6 million tonnes coal production.
Rampant
mining despite the ban
Despite
the ban illegal mining continued unabated with full knowledge of the state
government, the district administrations and the police. In fact, the
government repeatedly denied any illegal mining. Hence no effort was made to
implement the NGT’s order. Under the pretext of transporting coal (allowed by
the Supreme Court on petitions by coal mine owners) extracted prior to ban,
illegal mining of fresh coal was going on with full knowledge of the
authorities up to the highest. Several
times NGT and anti-mining activists pointed out that mining still continued
rampantly in violation of the ban. Two activists were brutally and almost
fatally attacked by the mining mafia in November last year in Jaintia Hills
while they were on a visit to gather evidence of mining in the district.
Now the jumla
The
ban happened during the Congress regime. But in February 2018 there was
election to the State Legislative Assembly. The coal mining ban became a huge
issue. Merely to woo coal miners BJP and NPP promised lifting the ban on coal mining,
if voted to power. The BJP included the promise in manifesto called ‘Vision Document’. ‘The party will promote mining of
mineral resources with a sense of responsibility towards the protection of the
environment and regeneration of forests’, states the manifesto as part of other
gargantuan promises. Similarly
the NPP through its Chief,
Conrad
K Sangma
pledge
d to
restart
coal
mining
if his party was
given the mandate to rule the
state. During campaigns he repeatedly accused the previous government of taking
away the livelihood of the people and promised that he would ensure resumption
of mining if his party were to secure a majority.
The NPP eventually formed the government in the
state with the support of the BJP and regional parties christened as Meghalaya
Democratic Alliance (MDA). Mr. Conrad himself became the Chief Minister. The
two parties above knew very well that it would be extremely difficult to
convince the NGT to lift the ban in the absence of a mining policy that ensures
high safety standards and minimum environmental effect. The BJP and the NPP
knew at the back of their mind that it would be next to impossible to make the
NGT reverse its previous judgment. The unrealistic promise was meant to be
broken and hence a sort of a jumla.
Experts
say scientific in Meghalaya is even more damaging. A report, quoting an expert,
explains that in places like Assam and Jharkhand, the coal seam is broader and
is located vertically. But in Meghalaya the width of the coal seam is 2-3 feet
and it runs horizontally. To extract the same amount of coal that one can get
within a kilometre in other parts, here one has to mine for several kilometres.
Hence scientific mining means will cause environmental destruction on a much
large scale. Did not the afore-mentioned parties know this?
The dark
realities
Politicians control the mining business in the state. A citizens' report
that was filed in the Supreme Court say that top politicians have stakes in the
industry. Names include the then ministers like Kyrmen Shylla, minister for
revenue, disaster management and social welfare, Lahkmen Rymbui, minister for
environment and forests, Comingone Ymbon, minister for public works,
Sniawbhalang Dhar, minister for commerce and industries and transport besides
Vincent Pala, Congress Lok Sabha MP, and Dikkanchi D. Shira, MLA and wife of
former chief minister, Mukul Sangma.
Another shady reality is that coal barons, businessmen and owners fund
elections in Meghalaya. The coal money can decide the outcome of an election
like it probably did in the last election. Therefore, no government can afford
to displease the powerful coal lobby, often called mafia. This mafia has nexus
with politicians, police and even with bureaucrats.
The Ksan
tragedy has exposed the illegal, hazardous mining that has flourished under
political patronage and under a mafia in collusion with vital arms of the
government. 15 labourers have to perish for us to notice. Unless hard
corrective actions are taken we will continue to stare at these dark realities
in the ‘Abode of Clouds’.
