By Patricia Mukhim
“Interestingly in the case of the Sutnga episode, where dozens of polluting coke factories have come up just by a mere ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) from the traditional chieftain – the Dolloi, no pressure group has squeaked.”
It was in 1954 that Dwight Eisenhower the 34th President of the USA said, “Politics is a profession; a serious, complicated and, in its true sense, a noble one.” That must have been the age of innocence. Eisenhower must be turning in his grave several times over to see politics degenerate into a power play where the only objective is to come out richer after the five-year tenure. This is true especially in the context of Meghalaya where even the lives of people are now endangered by poisonous fumes and polluted water sources. The problem with democracy in India is that voters are heavily reliant on politicians for all their needs. In Meghalaya the rigmarole is that when politicians don’t respond people go to the dozen or more pressure groups to help them out of their predicament.
Interestingly in the case of the Sutnga episode, where dozens of polluting coke factories have come up just by a mere ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) from the traditional chieftain – the Dolloi, no pressure group has squeaked. How can a traditional chieftain who is supposed to be the custodian of culture, land and resources of the people sell away their rights to a few unscrupulous businessmen? The irony is scathing in that while pressure groups in Shillong are crying hoarse about “outsiders” taking away opportunities from the tribals, in Sutnga, barring two coke plants the rest all belong to non-tribals, allegedly from Assam. The question that merits a loud answer is, “Why are these otherwise raucous pressure groups whining about the Inner Line Permit in Shillong but silent about the benami coke business in Sutnga elaka, East Jaintia Hills and in West Khasi Hills? Why are pressure groups silent when trucks carrying illegally mined coal pass through the Shillong-Guwahati road and the Ratacherra-Malidor-Cachar road en-route to Assam and beyond?
It was shocking to read the comments by Kyrmen Shylla on the coke units in Sutnga. He was speaking as Minister for Disaster Management and all he could say was that if the Dolloi of the area gives a NOC there is little that Government can do. Is that even an answer? Is Shylla suggesting that the Dollois or Rangbah Shnong or the Syiems are a law unto themselves? Did the Meghalaya High Court not rein in the arbitrary powers of these traditional chieftains who sometimes think they can operate outside the ambit of the Indian Constitution?
In 2018, a case was brought before the National Green Tribunal in Meghalaya regarding the lethal accident in the Ksan mines, East Jaintia Hills in November 2018. The counsel for the mine owner argued that the mining activity was carried out under the orders of the Headman of the village under whose jurisdiction the mine falls and that there was no formal protection and regulatory mechanism adopted by the State for carrying on mining activity. The counsel for the Ministry of Environment and Forestry held that “the entire mining activity was being carried on without obtaining consent to establish and/or consent to operate from the State Pollution Court Board. The Court observed that it appeared the mining activity was going on in a most unregulated, illegal and in a manner opposed to the statutory provisions. At a later session, the Court found it astounding that no charge sheet had been filed, even after a lapse of two years since the accident when the case concerned matters under the Indian Penal Code.
Alongside this case, the Principal Bench of the NGT in New Delhi investigated the mining activity in Meghalaya, drawing on the evidence presented in the same case. The Tribunal directed the Chief Secretary, and Director General of Police, Meghalaya to ensure that rat-hole mining/illegal mining is stopped forthwith throughout the state and any illegal transport of coal should not take place until orders were passed by the Tribunal. The ban on rat-hole mining continues and is considered illegal. The coal used in the coke factories comes from the adjoining mines which are all operating. Hence for the Union Minister for Coal and Mines to state in the Rajya Sabha that are no mining operations in Meghalaya is a blatant lie fed to him by the State Government.
In a paper titled, “Legal limits to tribal governance: coal mining in Meghalaya, India,” written by Hugo Stokke of the Chr. Michelsen Institute, Geneva (CMI Brief vol. 16 no. 2) the researcher makes out a case that Meghalaya is hiding behind the Sixth Schedule to continue with its illegal mining activities. The following are excerpts from the paper, “At present, there seems to be a struggle between the Green Tribunal and the State Government whereby the Tribunal awaits a mining plan from the Government before lifting the prohibition and the Government extends the time for transportation of extracted coal in order to buy further time for submitting a mining plan to the Tribunal. Another tactic of the State Government is to refer to the special status of Meghalaya. Defenders of coal mining claim that the ban had jeopardized the livelihood of the tribal people, suggesting that the ban had infringed their right to life. Others have pointed to the potential for mining to lift people out of poverty. However, the big legal question is whether this Sixth Schedule can overrule Art. 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to life. The courts have been crystal-clear on that question: this Sixth Schedule cannot overrule the constitutional right to life.”
The paper further states, “It should be kept in mind that the ban is not against mining as such, but against how it has been practiced in Meghalaya. A related question is whether mining is in conformity with the tribal way of life. In a study of the artisanal coal mining industry in Meghalaya, Vakkyil and Canato examined key factors such as ownership, operations, control and impact justification. In terms of ownership, the study found that benami mining rights and absentee landlordism have led to a situation of rights alienation. A benami transaction is one where a property is held by one person and the amount for it is paid by another. The transaction is done to benefit the person who pays for the property either directly or indirectly. This is a way for non-tribals to hold property in a tribal state such as Meghalaya. In operations, low-volume, low technology extraction is giving way to higher volume, mechanized production involving the use of explosives. With regard to control, mining has led to ineffective tribal institutions and community norms being ignored.”
The long and short of it is that politics in Meghalaya is centered round money power and all the rules are bent to achieve that limited goal. As Paul Krugman says, “Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth.” Political lying in recent times has reached its pinnacle. Now it concerns people’s lives; their right to breathe clean air and drink clean water. If the coke unit owners are responsible for polluting the environment should they be allowed to continue just because they managed to get the NOC from an authority wielding extra-constitutional powers? Also just because they managed to get the Consent to Operate (CTO) licence after the state bent all the rules, is that still legit?
The MDA Government is a coalition of political parties that is so wrong about so much and refuses to acknowledge its faults. Hopefully the voting public will realise their folly of voting business sharks to power.