Economic Sensitive Zone and ‘Development’

Modern, ultra-modern projects of development have been projected as the new form of temples in India. Corporates, Indian state machinery and foreign capitalists are the new priests of these temples which are setting the norms for the vast masses that who will take what and when. Report of Hindustan times shows that more than nine times of Delhi NCR area is under the control of Indian state. Maximum contributor in this field of encroachment is Railways, following that path coal and electricity ministry are others.

In this half sovereign and ‘self-proclaimed Democratic development’ scenario, people pushed aside, in the corner, to watch the Dandiya playing circus of development with the help of their bones and skins. Community land, forest reserves, bio-sphere reserves, ultra- development projects are the way to get out the native people from their resources and give their jal,jungal and jameen to the corporates.

Development of Modern land banks, new opening of CRPF camps, extra judicial killing, anti- labour laws proliferate parallelly to fulfil the unending appetite of corporates. Khori Gaon Movement took a new turn in the afternoon of 30th June when protestors were lathicharged by the Haryana Police to follow the words of Supreme courts decision to vacate the place. Women protestors were beaten up by the male police in the presence of supreme authorities under the guidance of our ‘honourable court’.

An activist, who belongs to Sikh community, was targeted and brutalized by the brahmanical police because of his religious Identity. They targeted his pagadi and Daarhi. Another man, who was standing on the corner of the road, was dragged by the police and thrashed him. He also belongs to Sikh community. Khori Gaon is currenty facing the adverse of Brahmnical Hindutva Fascist State. Majority of the people belongs to dalit, Aadiwasi, Muslim community who bought their lands and build homes. 

Broken wall, torned clothes, sweeled eyes, distorted windows and heavy heart are the results to maintain democracy with the help of most altruistic manner by the state. Best humanistic approach of state towards migrant workers is the rearrest demonic act of rulers. The basti has been demolished more than twice before this and this time they have the order of apex court “defender of human rights”. When a plea was filled in front of Haryana Punjab High Court by the residents of Khori Gaon, court replied that the right to life has to be secured.

Against this decision of high court Haryana government moved to supreme court where court has ordered to vacate the colony within 6 weeks and removed the stay on demolition. Here it is prominent to note down that supreme court gives the excessive importance to the Eco sensitive Zone at Arawali heels, instead of people who are living inside it. According to supreme court the Zone is heavily impacted by the human migration and destruction of natural vegetation is the direct outcome of this kind of human settlement. 

More than 10 lakh people’s life are at stake but the never-ending project of sustainable development can not be revisited. When I am criticizing the sustainable development circus, on that very time my soul purpose is to expose the fairy play of people centric development (claimed by the state every time). When people say “has state does nothing for us?” My answer is very simple and straight, did colonial british rule did nothing to us? Of course, they did, but that development was for whom and how much sustainable it was?

Is it not the pressing concern for us? After 1947, we constructed more than 3300 big dams, but the actual area under drought and flood increased, instead of decrease. A way of letting governments lay their hands on huge sums of money; a way of centralizing resources; they are snatching the resources from poor and giving it to rich corporates. In her 2003 interview with The Damned, Arundhati Roy described about the sardar Sarovar Project of Gujarat, which was a big dam project inside the second largest area covering state of big dams that why Gujarat is still drought prone and state defending the project of Narmada Valley project.

Massive ecological loss of mangrove forests after the increase of salinity of sea coast water. It was the same time when Gujarat was branding as the development capital of India. More than 50 million people forced to vacate their native place because of big dam projects and many of them evacuated form the ecologically vulnerable zone. And the worst part that no government data can prove that India’s vast food supply is fulfilled by the big dams. And the biggest flag bearer of eco sensitivity was silent on the 50 million evacuations. Has justice been delivered? 

Delhi Ridge and Development

The court ordered that all encroachments in the notified ridge area be removed, including the three settlements housing around 30,000 people; the deadline for the removal was October 31, 1996 which was extended till March 31, 1997 and again. On June 17,1995, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had issued a notification increasing the allocation for commercial development in a certain south Delhi area from eight ha to 65 ha. The main ingredient of this development plan was a proposed complex of 11 hotels and a wide road to be built over a green tract near Vasant Kunj - a geographic extension of the south-central ridge.

The EIA(Environment Impact Assessment) yet not finalised by the authorities. Anita Soni, a social worker functioning in the region: "The axe fell on the innocent poor settlers, leaving out massive ecologically harmful encroachments by the rich." She points out that in the southern ridge, sprawling farmhouses and luxury week-end resorts of the rich and the famous have proliferated over the last 20 years. Recent amendment to the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), a 100-year-old law, by the Manohar Lal Khattar government threatens to open up 33 per cent forest for commercial activity.

In Ankhir village, land mafias have encroached upon an entire hill to build an illegal road. On both sides of the road, farm houses have sprung up. This commercial activity is going on unchecked despite the area falling under Sections 4 and 5 of Punjab Land Preservation Act. Quarrying and real estate development is banned in 17 villages of Faridabad under this act but the administration has turned a blind eye. Environmentalist Chetan Agarwal alleges that the Haryana government in an affidavit has said that there are no Aravallis in Faridabad at all. They brought the amendment to the PLPA to allow illegal construction in the Aravallis with retrospective effect." 

Economic Sensitive Zone and ‘Development’

On the border area of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh Dibru Sikhova National Park is located in Assam. The Park is bounded by Brahmaputra and Lohit rivers which is extended up to 12 KM area. It mainly consists of moist mixed semi-evergreen forests, moist mixed deciduous forests and grasslands. Assam State government recently proposed an amendment in eco-sensitive Zone of Dibru Sikhova, which actually shrinks the area of the National Park. According to the rule of Eco-sensitive zone there could be no development work can be done around the 10 KM of Buffer Zone of National Park.

In recent amendment of Assam state, which is responsible to delineate the boundary of Park, shrinks the buffer zone to Zero kilometre for the Oil India Limited Project. The project is near to the North East Biodiversity Hotspot, which has many endemic species and endangered species of flora and fauna. In defence of the project Assam government said that the project is in working mode before 2010 in Tinsukiya, before the declaration of Eco-sensitive zone.

Four months after the whittled down the Eco-Sensitive Zone, Ministry of Environment and climate Change gave clarence to this project expansion, which projected a deep mark on the sensitivity of state towards environment. Gravest form of destruction is habitat loss for the flora and fauna of different climatic zone and it is inevitable in the neo liberal kind of development. Displacement is not a new phenomenon in the history of humankind and it has been changing its course from time to time.

Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot is suffering from the massive exploitation of local vegetation, especially medicinal plants. Many pharmaceutical companies are investing crores of rupees to harass these medicinal plants through local Bahubalis. Apart from this, black marketing of resources is very common in these area with the help of local administration. The actual inhabitants are at the margins and the contractors are consuming these resource rich spaces.  One thing which is common for the whole era, more powerful displaces lesser from it. 

Historically, with time, state has also changed its shape and idea with common intention to exploit the vast masses. We witnessed the history of Brahmanical State expansion in ancient time on the throts of aadiwasi people and Jungle. They not even occupied their jungal and converted into plain land rather they turned aadiwasi people into slaves, forced to do Begari. Increasing demand of cheap labour and free land are the basic demands from the modern resource seeking corporate sectors.