Corporate Projects
Conflicts over displacement and land grabbing by the government and corporates are all over the news today. But few realise that these conflicts are not just about "better rehabilitation" or "people's discontent" - most of these large projects are in fact illegal and in direct violation of the law. This is particularly true of those that involve forest land. After 2006, when the Forest Rights Act recognised the rights of adivasis and other forest dwellers to both land and other forest resources they use for a livelihood, forest land can no longer simply be given to anybody who asks for it (as was and is being done by the Central government). Instead, before any forest land can be "diverted" - i.e. before the Environment Ministry can give permission for non-forest activities on that land - two conditions have to be satisfied:
1. The rights of forest dwellers have to be recognised (i.e. Forest Rights Act implementation must be complete)
2. The consent of the people, who are now statutory managers and protectors of the forest under the Act, must be taken.
To know more on this and to see Environment Ministry orders on the issue, see our earlier statement here.
The POSCO project, often touted as India's "largest foreign investment", involves a captive iron ore mine, a steel plant and a private port. The current conflict is mainly in the proposed steel plant area, for which POSCO has sought 4,004 acres of land (of which about 3,100 are forest land). The people of the area are opposing the project and have been continuously protesting since 2005, when the MoU was signed. Yet the Environment Ministry has gone ahead and granted illegal clearance for the project.