Eating is an agricultural act - Wendell Berry

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

major issues around mining

the path to prosperity via the industrialisation route hinges on the manufacturing sector, namely automobiles, electrical and electronics, machinery, construction which depend on the metals manufacturers.
metals comes from ores which are mineral deposits lying under the earth. the processing of these deposits require coal which also lies underground.

so following the link, the industrialisation route will heavily mine these minerals.
mining is not clean work.
anyone who dusts their house will know how much irritation their noses bear with during this process. imagine that scenario escalated many many times and on a 24x7 basis.
that is the likely scenario around mining areas.
and of course, water is required in copious quantities and there is heavy use (aka exploitation) and pollution of all local water sources.
all this is simple elementary knowledge.

to what extent this industrialisation route will lead people/companies to do can be sampled at:
1. tehelka's cover story on the reddy brothers of karnataka.
2. kafila's report on major action against locals/tribals by police under the behest of Tata Limited.

while you are at it, you should also read arundhati roy's massive essay on her trip into the hinterlands of maoist-dominated india.

2 comments:

Purvs said...

It must be depressing working for Tehelka!

csm said...

readers could be depressed. dont think that the reporters will be.
what is the role of the 4th estate?
who else is even trying to do an ethical job of editing a newspaper/magazine!?