By H H Mohrmen
Perhaps my understanding of politics is very limited, hence I fail to understand politicians. Like almost every single one of them, politicians are hard nuts to crack. I must admit that with regards to the NGT interim ban on coal mining, I can understand when V H Pala goes gung-ho to lobby with the Central Government to intervene against the NGT interim ban. I also will not be surprised if the President of the BJP Shibun Lyngdoh also supports the move, because it is an open secret that the duo are involved in coal business. But it caught me by surprise to see reports in the press that this time around it was Conrad Sangma who took the lead in the move to withdraw the interim NGT ban.
Most of us see Conrad as a rare breed of politician and we have immense hope that the young tech-savvy politician, educated at the best University in the world would have a different perspective than the politicians we have here. Born and bred in a family where politics is like the air they breathe, one hoped that he would have a different take on issues as vital as protection of the environment, but is he any different?
During his last visit to Jaintia hills when I was informed of his visit to the coal mining areas in East Jaintia Hills, I knew that he would only meet those who are involved in the coal business. I also knew before hand the kind of information they would feed him. I had a preconceived notion of what was going on and was even able to guess that the visit would change his perspective. I purposely met him at the Jowai circuit house where he camped. After he had briefed the media on what he had observed and learned from his trip to coal mine areas, as expected, he sang the same tune as the miners. I asked him if he had made any attempts or plans to visit the village in the downstream of the rivers in both East and West Jaintia hills districts which were affected by coal mining? He answered in the negative but I thought a politician of his stature would at least want to hear the other side of the story and try to understand the plight of those who lost their livelihoods for no fault of theirs. But such alas, is not the case.
I invited him to visit some villages downstream to see the polluted rivers and I even volunteered to take him to the area. I had also brought to his knowledge the videos on the issue of river pollution which were available online like ‘the broken landscape’, ‘fireflies in the abyss’ and loads of other video reports by international news agency like ‘Al Jazeera’ and others, the links to which are available at the ‘Save the caves and rivers of Jaintia Facebook page.’ I genuinely believed that a politician of Conrad Sangma’s standing would at least try to understand the situation by considering both sides of the story before taking any decision, but I was wrong. Lo and behold! Conrad seems to think that the lives of those who live downstream of the contaminated rivers are not as important as those of the mine owners.
I also wonder why Conrad did not take the trouble of meeting the academicians in the area because they would also tell him the other side of the story. I was invited to the two day (28 & 29 November) international seminar conducted by the Jaintia Eastern College, the first college in the region. And the theme ‘Impact of NGT interim ban on coal mining in the state’ and the timing of the seminar is both appropriate and relevant and deliberations on the subject is the need of the hour.
I was only able to attend the second day of the seminar which was supported by the UGC, the District Administration and the Umbrella organisations of Cement manufacturing companies of the Narpuh area of East Jaintia hills. The first day the seminar was devoted to discussions on the social, economic and other impacts of the interim ban on coal mining in the area. The second day of the seminar was devoted to looking at other viable alternatives to coal mining. I think the very reason that the organising committee decided to devote one full day to looking at other livelihood alternatives to mining shows how optimistic and forward looking the college is and that the communities are and they are beginning to accept that mining has indeed had adverse impact on the society.
It was a pleasant surprise to hear Associate and Assistant Professors of the college and even the Principal of the College leading from the front in admitting that there are many positive impacts of the interim ban of coal mining in the area. The Principal Dr Phervision Nongtdu while presenting his paper on the alternative policy to traditional rat-hole mining also informed us about the positive impacts of the ban. He said the environment around is greener, the quality of the water has improved; people started using their land for cultivation or are at least doing kitchen gardening. Nongtdu also said that air quality has improved and during winter they now don’t have to wear masks to cover their mouths and noses anymore. Crime rate has also gone down and young people have started coming back to college. Earlier, they had problems retaining students in the college as the young men and women would easily get attracted to the lure of money but now all that has changed.
He also said that people are beginning to hear the birds’ singing and they have even sighted wild animals in some places and according to Dr Nongtdu these are some of the positive impacts of the interim ban on coal mining in the area. I give much weight to these observations because they come from an academician and a renowned educationist of the area who almost single-handedly started the Jaintia Eastern College. Nongtdu is also a native of the area who was born and brought up in Khliehriat and unlike other educated youth of the region, he did not leave the area to work outside or choose to accumulate wealth but he came back to the place of his birth to promote higher education in the area. Dr Phervision is somebody who had seen from close quarters the changes that had happened in the last forty or fifty years of his life. In my opinion his views also assume significance because they come from a man who did his research on a topic related to coal mining and NEHU had awarded him a PhD for that.
The other academicians who presented their papers were young scholars who are from the coal mining areas and they all spoke on similar lines. They are trying to look at the brighter side of the problem – looking for light at the end of the tunnel. All their papers where on one general theme and that is – possible alternative livelihood opportunities to mining. For me, the statement of a student of St Anthony’s College Myndihati East Jaintia Hills District at the end of the presentation on the second day, summed it all. The young lady said ‘all the sessions we had yesterday make us feel like there is no hope and we are all doomed, but today we realised that all is not lost; there is still hope for us.’
If this is what the academicians and young people of the area feel about the interim ban on coal mining, then who are we lobbying for? At least I wish that as Conrad lobbies for withdrawing of the mining ban, he would also work as hard for reclaiming of all the water bodies affected by coal mining. But that is too much to ask from our leaders especially the same set of politicians who lobby for rescinding the interim ban, who will one day represent us at the international conference for protection of environment! Ironic isn’t it? At the end of the day, for the politicians, care for the environment and politics is like a game of hide and seek. One day they speak for its protection the next day they work for its destruction – all in the name of politics.