Prime Minister’s Speech People of India wish they could hear at 8 pm on 19th March 2020

(For representation purpose only)

My dear brothers and sisters,

The global pandemic of COVID-19, a viral flu, has cost thousands of lives and made thousands more sick. It has brought the world to a grinding halt. 

As humanity faces its gravest challenge in recent decades, it is a time for the world to reflect on what we must do right, from now on. While India joins the community of nations to tackle the pandemic, this requires us to take effective steps within our country to contain the disease, so we can save lives and ensure a secure future for all. 

I am aware of the massive impact this viral outbreak has on the lives and livelihoods of crores of people.  On behalf of the nation, I extend our gratitude to every street vendor and vegetable seller, and small traders, who provide us fresh food every day.  I profusely thank every doctor and nurse involved in securing our health. Every Safai Karmachari deserves our deepest gratitude for keeping our villages, towns and cities clean and healthy. 

I thank on behalf of all of us every bus, train and taxi driver, and those who keep our public transport systems functional, so we can travel in safety. I am deeply grateful to every soldier who, unmindful of the risks, are defending our security in these testing times. And in the same way think of every police person working long hours to maintain law and order, respectful of our human rights. Every person working in public and private sectors, every student and elder, is in my thoughts, as we brace up to overcome this pandemic.

I have spoken with each and every Chief Minister and Lt. Governor, and assured them that Government of India will back fully, and tirelessly, their efforts to tackle this epidemic.  As a nation that thrives on federated governance, we must value our deeply democratic traditions and work together to overcome this challenge.  States must lead the way and the Centre will back them to the hilt.  At the same time, Local Governments are the frontline warriors in this campaign against this epidemic, and we must take the opportunity to strengthen them and ensure they are functioning optimally to keep our villages and cities healthy and productive.

Tonight, I come before you to announce certain steps we need to take as a nation, so we can tackle this epidemic on a war footing and ensure we come out of this crisis stronger. I am directing these actions with due consultation with the Union Council of Ministers and the consent of all Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors.

1.     The Union Health Ministry will constantly develop guidelines to tackle the epidemic in collaboration with World Health Organisation and Indian Council for Medical Research.  These guidelines will be reached to each and every Panchayat and Ward across the country, so that ground level workers are empowered with the most up-to-date knowledge of how to tackle the epidemic and guide the public at large effectively.  

2.     All State Governments and Union Territories will ensure all public hospitals (primary, secondary and tertiary) are fully functional and treat everyone who comes seeking treatment and care.  Specialised public hospitals will also prepare plans to assist general care hospitals in meeting this challenge. No person will be turned back for want of access to a health facility.

3.     All Private hospitals with a bed strength of over 20 will be required to set aside 30% of their beds to attend to COVID infected persons with immediate effect, at prices regulated by the Union Health Ministry. If essential, State Health Departments through their district level functionaries can increase demand of the proportion of beds from private health providers on a need basis. On the basis of a fortnightly review, this demand may be revoked.

4.     There will be dynamic communication between the Union Health Ministry, State Departments of Health and the ground level health units (private and public) to report on new cases, how it is being dealt with, and to ensure there are no information gaps.  This quality of communication is critical to ensure infections are contained and those in need of help will be attended to with urgency.  To ensure there are no communication failures, internet access to all health units across the country are declared free henceforth.  Public and private internet operators who provide internet services will be compensated by the Dept. of Telecom.

5.     Every District/Metropolitan Planning Committee (constituted per Articles 243ZD/E of the Indian Constitution) shall within a period of a week develop a district level action plan to tackle COVID outbreak, keeping in mind the steps proposed would help develop strategies to secure public health in future.  These plans will be forwarded to the nodal Departments and the State Finance Commissions, so the cost of supporting a country-wide action to secure health of all can be assessed. If necessary, I am willing to request an Emergency meeting of the Parliament to approve a Special Health Budget Package to tackle the epidemic, and to ensure the investment will ensure Health for All becomes a reality.

6.     It has been widely acknowledged that movement of people is a major cause of the transmission of the disease. In order that we can minimize travel within districts and across states, for the next three weeks, all forms of public transport (road, rail and air) will be limited to essential travel as per guidelines issues by Union Ministry of Transport. Domestic and international air travel will be restricted for the next three weeks only to highly essential travel, with airline and shipping operators given the responsibility of establishing due necessity as per guidelines issued by Union Ministry of Civil Aviation.  

7.     As and when essential, District Commissioners may decide if a district, or a part of the district, should be placed under lockdown to block spread of infections, and with appropriate reasoning.

8.     All public institutions and public sector enterprises, voluntary sector and corporate organization with a staff strength of over 50, will be on notice to assist public health and welfare measures in tackling this epidemic effectively. 

9.     The Union Finance Ministry will work with Reserve Bank of India and all banks and financial institutions to recover Non Performing Assets within a period of three months, so the money recovered is available to States and Local Governments to build our public health systems.  I have requested the Union Finance Minister to list out the top 50 offenders and ensure they are immediately tackled to recover bad debts, so the maximum benefit of this financial recovery is made available for public welfare.

10.  I have requested Union Human Resources Development Ministry to work with State Education Department to develop appropriate communications to each and every student of this country, explaining to them the need to postpone exams, and how the country will safeguard their futures.  As a part of this measure, all student loan payments are suspended for the next three months, and without any additional interest. 

11.  All leave of the Central and State Government employees will be cancelled for the next two weeks, and this date may be extended if the situation so demands.  They will be required to assist governmental efforts on demand.  Each department will also develop a policy for their work so that they can work safely, if possible from home, on staggered hours, and as the situation warrants.

12.  All families below poverty line, and those who work with the small and medium enterprises, small businesses, small and marginal farmers, fisher communities and adivasis, will be assisted with a special economic package so that they do not suffer during this period of slowdown of our economy.  This will include extending special pay without work for a period of 30 days.

13.  I have also requested the Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, and their central and state environmental regulatory instrumentalities, to suspend all environmental clearance according activities for a period of a month from today. During this period, all clearances accorded over the past five years for developmental projects will reviewed to ensure they are not adversely affecting our forests and ecologically sensitive areas, keeping in mind the fact that such epidemics could be a direct result of subordinating environment and health to economic imperatives. I have advised them, as I have advised all Union Ministers, to ensure that, henceforth, their activities will meet the standards set in Article 39 of the Constitution of India.

14.  I also would like to share with you that I will be meeting with the Daadis and others who are at Shaheen Bagh, to request them to defer their protests, and to also assure them that the Government of India is most willing to listen to their concerns. In this regard, I have requested the Union Home Minister to join me in this visit, so we can work out an harmonious solution. I would like to assure the people of India, that the Government of India is theirs, and if they decide our actions are not within the bounds of Constitutionality, we must listen and correct ourselves. 

15.  Accordingly, I have requested the Union Home Minister to keep on hold activities relating to NRC and NPR until we can come to terms with its implications, and have requested the matter be comprehensively enquired into by a Joint Parliamentary Committee and a report tabled in Parliament during the Monsoon session. I have also requested Chief Ministers to meet with any group or community who feel they are marginalized or believe they are losing their fundamental rights, so they can be assured the Government of India has only one intention – to take us all forward together.  When we join the community of nations to tackle a global pandemic, we must first all be together and look out for each other, celebrating our diversities. 

Brothers and sisters, I acknowledge that these measures should have been in place much earlier. We did not need this epidemic to remind ourselves of our responsibility to each other, and to future generations.  However, we have now woken up as a nation and we shall work together and step forward in unity, with amity and to safeguard our individual health and collective progress. 

Jai Hind.

Prime Minister of India

The text and video of the actual speech given by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 Here's the full text of PM Modi's address on fighting coronavirus:

My dear fellow citizens, the whole world is currently passing through a period of very serious crisis. Normally, when a natural crisis strikes, it is limited to a few countries or states. However, this time the calamity is such that it has it has put all of mankind in crisis. World Wars 1 and 2 did not impact as many countries, as have been affected by corona today.

Over the last two months, we are continuously observing and hearing of grave corona virus related news. In these two months, the 130 crore citizens of India have ably dealt with the global corona pandemic and have exercised due caution.

However, in the past few days, it is appearing as if we have averted the crisis, and everything is okay. Complacency in respect of a global pandemic like corona is not appropriate. Therefore, it is essential that each and every Indian remains alert and cautious.

Friends, whenever I asked you for something, you have never let me down. Our efforts succeed, only on the strength of your blessings.

Today, I am here to ask you, all my fellow citizens, for something. I want your coming few weeks from you, your time in the near future.

Friends, till now, science has not been able to find a definite solution to save us from the corona pandemic, neither has a vaccine been developed. In such a situation, it is very natural to get worried.

Study of the countries most affected by corona virus has revealed another aspect. In these countries, the spread of the disease has witnessed almost an explosion after the initial few days. The number of people infected by corona has grown at a rapid pace. Government of India is constantly keeping a close watch on this situation, and this track record of the spread of corona.

Although there are a few countries which have controlled the situation by taking swift decisions and isolating its people as much as possible.

This burgeoning crisis of corona, is not an ordinary occurrence for a nation like India with a population of 130 crore, striving for development.

Therefore, as we witness the wide-spread impact of the corona pandemic even in major, developed countries today, it is wrong to assume that India will not be impacted by it.

Hence, it is imperative to keep two key factors in mind in order to combat this global pandemic - Determination and Patience. Today, all 130 crore fellow citizens of Indians will have to further strengthen our resolve to overcome this global crisis, fulfilling all our duties as citizens, and abiding by the directions given by the Central and State governments. Today, we must all resolve to not get infected ourselves, and prevent others as well from getting infected.

Friends, during such a pandemic, only one mantra can take us through - 'Hum Swasth, toh Jag Swasth', that is the world will be healthy, if we stay healthy. In a situation like this, where there is no known cure for the disease, it is imperative that we stay healthy. Patience is an essential virtue to avoid this disease, and keep oneself healthy. And how does one practice patience? By staying away from crowds and gatherings, avoiding leaving your homes. This is called 'Social Distancing' nowadays, and is critical in these times of the global corona pandemic.

Our determination and patience will play a crucial role in containing the impact of this global pandemic. It is wrong if you believe that you are okay and nothing can happen to you, and you can continue roaming around in markets and streets as usual and remain unaffected. By doing this, you will not only be unjust to yourself but also to your family.

Keeping this is mind, I appeal to you all that for the next few weeks, step-out of your homes only when absolutely necessary. As far as possible, try and do your work, whether related to business or job, from home.

While it is essential that those who are in government services, healthcare services, people's representatives, media personnel remain active. Everybody else must however, isolate themselves from the rest of society.

I also appeal that the elderly, senior citizens and those above 65 years of age in our families, not leave homes for the next few weeks. Today's generation may not be very familiar with this, but in the olden times, blackout was observed at night during wartime. This would at times go on for prolonged periods. Several times, there would also be blackout drills.

Friends, today, I request my fellow citizens for support on one more issue, that of people's curfew. People's curfew means a curfew imposed for the people, by the people, on the people themselves.

This Sunday, that is on 22nd March, all citizen must abide by this people's curfew from 7 AM until 9 PM. During this curfew, we shall neither leave our homes, nor get onto the streets or roam about our localities. Only those associated with emergency and essential services will leave their homes.

Friends, 22nd March will be a symbol of our effort, of our self-restraint, and our resolve to fulfil our duty in service of the nation. The success of a people's curfew on 22nd March, and the experience gained from it, will also prepare us for our upcoming challenges.

I urge all state governments to take leadership in ensuring compliance of this people's curfew.

I also request the youth of our nation, organizations like NCC, NSS, civil society, as well as other organizations of all types to spread awareness about this people's curfew over the next 2 days.

I would appeal to every individual to if possible, call at least 10 people on the phone every day, explaining to them how to protect themselves from the virus as well as the idea of people's curfew.

This people's curfew will in a way be a litmus test for us, for our nation. This is also the time to see and test how prepared India is for fighting off a corona like global pandemic.

Friends, in the midst of all these efforts of the people's curfew on 22nd March, I would also like to seek your support on one more matter on that day. For the past 2 months, lakhs of our people have been working day and night in our Hospitals and Airports.

From doctors to nurses, hospital staff, sanitation workers, airlines employees, government staff, police personnel, media people, people associated with train-bus-auto rickshaw services, and home delivery agents; all have been selflessly serving others, without caring about themselves.

In the current circumstances, these services cannot be considered to be ordinary. Today, these people run the risk of getting infected themselves. Yet, they continue to fulfil their duties, serving others. As defenders of the nation, they stand firmly between us and the corona pandemic. The nation is grateful to them all.

I wish that on Sunday, 22nd March, we express our gratitude to all such people. On Sunday at exactly 5 pm, we all stand at the doors, balconies, windows of our homes, and give them all a 5-minute standing ovation. We clap our hands, beat our plates, ring our bells to boost their morale, salute their service.

To inform people about this, I request local authorities across the country to ring a siren at 5 pm on 22nd March.

We must with full sincerity, express our feelings towards all such fellow citizens who have lived by our value-system of 'Seva Parmo Dharma', that is Service being the highest Duty.

Friends, in such times of crisis, we also need to be aware that the burden on our essential services, our hospitals, is continuously increasing.

I thus, urge you to as much as possible, avoid going to the hospital for routine check-ups. When necessary, you could get the required guidance over phone from your known local doctor, family doctor, or some relative who is a doctor. In case you have a non-essential, elective surgery scheduled, I would urge you to postpone it by a month.

Friends, this global pandemic is also going to have a wide-ranging impact on the economy. Keeping in mind the economic challenges arising from the corona virus, the government has decided to set up a Covid-19 Economic Response Task Force under the leadership of the Finance Minister.

This Task Force will take decisions in the near future, based on regular interactions and feedback from all stakeholders, and analysis of all situations and dimensions. This Task Force will also ensure that all steps taken to reduce the economic difficulties are effectively implemented.

It is clear that this pandemic is deeply hurting the economic interests and well-being of our nation's middle class, lower-middle class, and poor segments.

In such a time of crisis, I request the business world and high income segments of society to as much as possible, look after the economic interests of all the people who provide them services. In the coming few days it is possible these people may not be able to come to office or your homes. In such a case, do treat them with empathy and humanity and not deduct their salaries. Always keep in mind that they too need to run their homes, protect their families from illness.

I would like to reassure all Indians that all steps necessary are being taken to ensure there is no shortage of essential items like milk, groceries and medicines. I thus urge all my fellow citizens to make purchases as normal, and not hoard essential items in Panic Buying.

Friends, over the past 2 months, 130 crore Indians, each and every citizen, has taken on this national crisis as one's own and done whatever possible for society and the nation. I have full faith that you will in a similar manner, continue to carry out your responsibilities and duties in the time to come.

Yes, I acknowledge that many difficulties arise in such times, and there is an environment of apprehensions and rumours. Many a times, our expectations as citizens is also not fulfilled. However, this crisis is so grave, that all fellow citizens must face these challenges with firm resolve and determination, amidst all these difficulties.

Friends, we need to put in all our capacity and capability in protecting ourselves from the corona virus. Whether it be the Central government, State governments, local authorities, panchayats, people's representatives or civil societies; everyone is contributing in their own way in the fight against this global pandemic. You too, must give your full contribution!

It is critical that in this environment of a global pandemic, humanity emerges victorious, India emerges victorious!

The festival of Navratri is coming up in a few days. This is a festival of worshipping 'Shakti'. That India moves ahead with full Shakti, full Strength and Energy, is my heartfelt wish to one and all.

Many, many thanks!

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POSCO loot of our mineral wealth and environment is far worse than the 2G scam

Jairam Ramesh's disastrous decision favouring POSCO comes a day after CBI exposes A. Raja's shocking loot when heading Environment Ministry

Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State with independent charge for Environment and Forests in the Government of India, cleared the diversion of 3,000 acres of forest land comprising a major part of the 4,000 acres required for the POSCO Steel-power-port project in the ecologically sensitive Jagatsinghpur district in Orissa. Jairam Ramesh's pro POSCO decision was released on the evening of 2^nd May on the Ministry's website. He thus paved the way for acquisition of land for a most controversial project. However, the current decision does not take into account massive additional demands of land required for the project's industrial township and associated water, road and rail infrastructure, and also the most controversial iron ore mining component proposed in the thickly forested and mountainous Kandadhar region which is now a subject of litigation.

This project has been peacefully resisted by local communities for six years now; their staunch resistance to the project demonstrated in their refusal to allow entry of any State or company official into the affected villages. The reaction of the State has been brutal and has involved harsh police action against women, children and men, and the filing of false criminal charges against most adults in the project affected villages – some leaders have been wrongfully arrested and others falsely accused of over 40 crimes, most with serious implications to their normal day to day functioning. All this in a vain attempt to break a fantastic peoples movement, which has resolutely remained peaceful in its methods, in a landscape that is otherwise known for violent resistance to the State's hegemonic efforts to dispossess communities from forests and farms to favour highly questionable projects benefiting the rich and large corporate houses.

“Faith and Trust” over-rides the need for rationale in decision making:

Ramesh's decision is based on an unprecedented claim of the need for “Faith and trust in what the state government says (a)s an essential pillar of cooperative federalism” (emphasis in original). The rationale he offers in taking such a position is that “(b)eyond a point, the bona fides of a democratically elected state government cannot always be questioned by the Centre” (emphasis added). This even when Ramesh expresses what can be termed as very serious doubts about the capacity of Orissa Government to protect the interest of the State of Orissa and the people of India when he says that the POSCO “MOU had provisions for the export of iron ore which made me deeply uncomfortable with this project” (emphasis added). He also admits that he “could well have waited for the MOU to be renewed and for a final decision of the Supreme Court” which is hearing an appeal on the decision of the Orissa High Court cancelling the Orissa Government's allotment of out of turn (ignoring over 200 applicants waiting for long) and large iron ore mining permits benefiting POSCO.

The simple and plain question that cries out for an answer then, is why did he not wait? Especially considering that the mining component of the project is an integral part of the overall scheme of POSCO? This also raises serious questions if he respects the Orissa Government more, and the Supreme Court less? What was the compelling need for him to rush to clear a project that has failed to comply with any of the conditions imposed in the clearances accorded by the Ministry in 2007? And this when the project is without sufficient legal support as the MOU of 2005, based on which most clearances are being secured, has lapsed and has not been renewed yet.

True Federalism is to respect Local Governments as equals:

Speaking in favour of POSCO and comprehensively rejecting serious well documented contestations over the legality of environmental, coastal and forest clearances accorded, Mr. Ramesh has spoken in many ways for the Government of India. After all the forest clearance was perceived as the last major hurdle for this mega project as all other Ministries (such as Coal, Mining, Finance, etc.) were merely waiting for him to make up his mind. In deciding for POSCO, Jairam Ramesh has gone with the Orissa Govenment's claims that the Palli Sabha¹ resolutions of Dinkia and Govindpur Gram Panchayats are “fraudulent” and even invested a lot of paragraphs to ensure that the Sarpanch Shishir Mohapatra who is accused by the Orissa Government of perpetuating this fraud is punished, else “the state government's argument will be called into serious question”. Thus, admitting he is really not sure about the facts of this critical matter involving forest rights.

His unseemly haste to clear POSCO based on his innovative argument of “faith and trust” as an “essential pillar of cooperative federalism” also flies in the face of his recent (14^th April) rejection of the Orissa Government's repeated claim that it had fully complied with and implemented faithfully the provisions of the Forest Rights Act. His argument then was “(i)gnoring.. two Palli Sabha Resolutions and not allowing them to be subjected to a due process of law as enshrined in the Forest Rights Act, 2006 would be tantamount, in my considered opinion, to violating the very essence of this legislation passed unanimously and with acclaim by Parliament”. By so endorsing the legality of Resolutions, this position was consistent with the findings of the two independent investigative committees that he had appointed. These committees had established beyond any doubt, and on the basis of extensive legal evidence, that Orissa State had fundamentally flouted the Forest Rights Act, and other statutory procedures, in its enthusiasm to secure POSCO's interests. His latest and now unconditional “faith and trust” decision now rests on a spectacular speculative argument that simply has no place in environmental decision making, or for that matter any legal decision at all.

In the federal structure of governance in India, local elected governments are in no way inferior to the elected bodies at the State level. Ensuring such separation of powers and autonomy in functioning is the whole purpose of the Panchayati Raj Act, the Forest Rights Act and such other such provisions in the Constitution. When such is the law of the land, a Minister does not enjoy privileges of over-rating the State's position over that of a Panchayat.

Legal evidence loses out to “faith and trust”:

By such arguments, the Minister has not only exposed his prejudice against claims of forest dwelling and dependent communities, operating as they are in a climate of fear, but also his utter incapacity to rigorously enforce the due process of law on the basis of uncontestable facts. He abandons this critical exercise by saying “I have already examined the legal issues... and therefore there is nothing to be gained by seeking further legal opinion. Similarly the facts of the case... are too obvious to require any further enquiry or verification” (emphasis added). Surely, Mr. Ramesh is aware that the environmental laws are based on criminal procedure code, and that he is duty bound to spare no effort in ensuring that material submitted in seeking clearances are valid in law. The decision has to also satisfy the test of being beyond any reasonable doubt as it directly and irreversibly affects the livelihoods of hundreds of farming and fishing families who have a very weak possibility of restarting their lives, will devastate beyond repair sensitive ecosystems and could annihilate critically endangered species. A dispute in fact must be fully and legally resolved, and should not become subject to mere opinion of the Minister. Ramesh's decisions fails on all these grounds.

Investigative Committees appointed, and their uncomfortable reports sidestepped:

When Jairam Ramesh appointed very senior and widely respected former bureaucrats and experts in two fact finding committees to investigate into all aspects of the coastal regulation, forest diversion and environmental clearances accorded to the POSCO project, there was widespread hope that he would not keel over to any pressure in this critical decision. But this hope lasted only for a short duration. As the Committees returned with reports exposing extensive illegalities and fraud in the environmental decision making processes, Ramesh chose to sidestep these reports in his 'speaking order' of 31 January 2011. He thus supported the earlier clearances accorded by his scam tainted predecessor in the Ministry, Mr. A. Raja, who is now in Tihar Jail on corruption charges instituted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Of course Ramesh had laboured to justify his claim to being a socially and environmentally conscious Minister by adding dozens of additional conditions. But on close scrutiny these conditions appear to be mere window dressing and rely largely on rhetorical commitment from the investor towards safeguarding peoples' rights and the environment. Experience in India has repeatedly shown that such conditions are rarely complied with and violators even more rarely punished. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, many of these additional conditions articulate the need for thorough assessments and comprehensive studies into environmental and social impacts of the project. Thus exposing the widely known and undeniable fact that the earlier clearance decisions were accorded almost entirely on the lack of any relevant material.

For instance, one of the conditions speaks of the need for evaluating the high risks involved from cyclones and tsunamis in the coastal site selected for steel plant, a point not to be taken lightly following the recent Japanese experience. This is critical considering the fact that 1,000 acres of the 4,000 acres for the steel plant will be only for dumping fly ash and sludge. Nothing is known about how POSCO proposes to contain the regional impacts of such massive storage of ash and that too in an area with super high wind energies. And there is the fundamental concern that the massive port is proposed in the Jotadhar creek, a highly sensitive area known for nesting habitats of critically endangered Olive Ridley Turtles and Horse Shoe Crabs, and as spawning grounds for fishes. A little known fact about the port is that it will have 6 kms. long and 25 metres deep channel into the sea, whose width ranges between 250 to 500 metres. This means a lot of dredging, and almost all the time through the life of the port, as the region is known for a very high accretion of sand. What would happen to all this dredged material? What, if any, are the chances for turtles to navigate a busy shipping lane, involving the movement of the largest commercial ships ever built – as POSCO proposes to build a port allowing the berthing of 170,000 DTW carriers, known as Capesize ships because of their inability to make it through the Suez Canal and thus have to go around the Cape in South Africa. Each of these ships is a quarter of a kilometre long!

Not to be overlooked also is the fact that POSCO proposes to raise the base height of the steel plant from 0 MSL to 6 MSL. This is because it wants to protect its plant from any serious impact from anything like the 5.6 metres tidal wave that slammed this very region with wind speeds exceeding 250 kmph in the super cyclone of 1999 that left a trail of destruction and misery tens of kilometres inland. Historical evidence points to the fact that the Jagatsinghpur region has been the epicentre of many intense cyclones, and thus this is exactly the kind of area that constitutes very high risk for shipping and industrial activity and is a site that must be avoided. There remains then the other serious issue of where all the mud and silt to raise such a large area over so many metres will come from? If it is the dredged material from the sea, clearly it will devastate the wetlands in land supporting very high productivity in paddies, prawn cultures and paan kethis (betel vine). Not to be forgotten, of course, are consequences to the local communities when they have to stare up at a steel plant towering tens of feet over them, with its smoke, ash and dust billowing all around. Their tranquil life in harmony with nature, as they now know it, will end.

In a travesty of the well-honed science of environmental decision making, the single largest steel-power-port-township and potentially mega mining project ever conceived in the history of India, and also the largest industrial project conceived in recent decades world wide, has now got the push forward on the basis of faith. By this decision Jairam Ramesh has chosen to ignore, perhaps even ridicule, the findings of the POSCO Investigative Committee appointed by him with former Environment Secretary Ms. Meena Gupta as chair. The recommendations unanimously made by 3 of the 4 member committee, educate us on how little is actually known about the impacts of this massive project:

1. “....(T)hat in view of the glaring illegalities which render the clearances granted illegal, the EIA and CRZ clearances dated 15.5.2007 for the port and the EIA clearance dated 19.7.2007 for the steel plant should be revoked after following the due process of law.
2. The project proponent if it so desires may prepare a comprehensive EIA for both the port and the steel plant in accordance with the notifications now in force including all the various components of the project such as rail and road transportation, pipe line, township, mining, etc. for the full capacity of the plant and its components.
3. If the project proponent applies, a fresh public hearing may be conducted on the basis of the new comprehensive EIA to be prepared by the company.
4. In the meantime no body should be dispossessed of their land and since all clearances are ..prior to the commencement of construction no alterations of any nature should be permitted on ground.”

Is 'strategic significance' any ground for clearing POSCO?

Enormous volumes of public monies and resources were invested in these investigative efforts, and they were meant to assist the Ministry, and the Minister, in ensuring a fair, just and correct decision was made in this mega project. But Jairam Ramesh decided to dump all this into the trash cans of the Ministry raising serious questions about his credibility in his pro-POSCO decision of 31 January 2011 in which he claims that “(u)ndoubtedly, projects such as that of POSCO have considerable economic, technological and strategic significance for the country” (emphasis added). Despite all of Mr. Ramesh's best efforts to avoid the risk of being accused of “filibustering”, which he claims to avoid in his 2^nd May pro-POSCO decision, he seems to have done exactly that. By overlooking relevant facts, and choosing to rely on the uncertain claims of the Orissa Government that it has complied with key statutory provisions, he now hopes to distract attention from the shocking finding of the Investigative Committees that serious illegalities and fraud backed key environmental clearance favouring POSCO. These are not ordinary or simple accusations for they are often the type of material for investigation into possibilities of corruption.

Such argumentation also raises serious questions about his jurisdiction in so deciding for India, when his job essentially is to ensure that Ministry of Environment and Forests is environmentally sensitive, non-corrupt, efficient and just in its decisions, and protected from extraneous influences of such factors as 'strategic significance', scale or nature of the project, who the investors are, etc. A terrible consequence of such subjective reasoning is that it can now be applied to almost all projects: Jaitapur Nuclear power plant, Lavasa, Gundia power project, some windmills in a forest and so on. By this POSCO decision, Mr. Ramesh has irreversibly lost the opportunity of demonstrating his much proclaimed unyielding commitment to ensure the implementation of rule of law, and lack of corruption and transparency in environmental decision making. Mere sharing of documents backing his decisions does not make for a good and transparent decision. He has to demonstrate the legal and scientific rationale by which he arrived at such a decision, and this has to be on the basis of supportive evidence from subject review committees as per the law. Ramesh has chosen to overlook all these statutory requirements. This is clear demonstration that he has indeed yielded to pressures, whatsoever they might be and wherever they emerged from. The rule of law has been sacrificed on the altars of “faith and trust” and based largely on one man's belief that the project is of “strategic significance” to India, disregarding the widely held perception that the POSCO project constitutes a loot of India's natural resources to benefit a foreign corporate.

Cleared by Raja, is POSCO not scam tainted?

A major development is that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun to investigate the decisions of Mr. A. Raja in according environmental clearances during his term (2004-07) as Union Minister for Environment and Forests. The allegation is that Raja liberally gave environmental clearances to 2,016 projects in a little over two years! His front man in this operation was Mr. R. K. Chandolia, then director of planning and coordination in the environment ministry. Today both are implicated in the 2G scam and are in Tihar jail.

POSCO was one of the mega projects that Raja cleared, specifically its captive port component. This decision was taken on 15^th of May 2007, exactly a month after the controversial statutory Environmental Public Hearing on the project was held, which the MOEF Investigation Committees have revealed involved major human rights violations. Reports of this tainted Hearing were rushed to Delhi to fulfil a legal requirement and the port was cleared by Raja in the final hours before he transited from the Environment Ministry to his new role as Union Minister for Telecom and Communications. Normally, when such big decisions have to be taken on mega projects, no Minister risks approving them on the eve of his transition, largely to avoid accusations of corruption. But Raja was made of a different mettle, clearly.

The unseemly haste by which Raja cleared the port component of the massive POSCO project was a strong indicator of favourable decisions that were meant to follow. Ms. Meena Gupta, who took charge as Secretary of Environment Ministry on 1^st June 2007, ensured that the environmental clearance to the steel plant was accorded on 19^th July 2007 without much ado. At that time the Environment Ministry was without a Minister and was directly under the supervision of the Prime Minister of India – thus with little possibility of a close watch over executive decisions and accountability to the public. Despite all this evidence, or probably because of which, Ramesh appointed Meena Gupta to officiate over the Investigation Committee into POSCO that he instituted, resulting, not surprisingly, in her single dissenting note which favoured her earlier pro-POSCO decisions that she made on the basis of weak and fraudulent evidence.

It would be specious to believe now that Raja and Chandolia began their corruption racket only in the Telecom Ministry. The CBI's investigative guns are now trained on their long and corrupt politician-bureaucrat alliance, as the agency has discovered that these gentlemen favoured many projects of DB Realty with environmental clearances, a cash rich corporate house accused of benefiting enormously from the telecom scam. Raja's reliance on Chandolia was so acute that he took him as his personal secretary to the Telecom Ministry. When it was pointed out that such an appointment of an Indian Economic Services bureaucrat was violative of law, Raja elevated him as Economic Advisor to the Minister, next only to the position of Secretary of the Ministry.

Could it be at all possible that their corrupt practices were strictly limited to benefit only DB Realty? Not POSCO or any other project?

POSCO sets a new 'race to the bottom' standard in environmental and economic regulation:

The Korean/US TNC POSCO project proposal (Warren Buffet who recently toured India has a major stake in the project) has a capital outlay of Rs. 51,000 crores (by 2005 prices) and involves production of 12 mtpa of steel. It also includes iron ore mining rights of a stupendous 600 million tonnes over 30 years, 60% of which is allowed for export to POSCO's Korean steel mills. As studies reveal, POCSO is likely to recover all of its capital investment in less than a decade, and that too only from profits from iron ore.² With a captive port accommodating the movement of the largest commercial ships ever built, and also of a captive power plant in the steel plant, this is undoubtedly a peach of a deal for any industrial house. The unprecedented nature of profits that accrue from such a mega project demands without any doubt a rigorous and serious scrutiny, at many levels of the Union and State governments and by independent regulators as well; far more seriously than efforts are now under way to uncover the scam in the Commonwealth Games, 2G telecom deal, Bellary mining, etc. Most regulatory agencies, though, have inexplicably chosen to not subject this project for their examination.

A review of the Environment Ministry's clearance records reveal that no other project has been accorded such hasty and favourable treatment as the POSCO project in recent times. There are tens of small, medium and large projects that have fully complied with procedural requirements, and yet do not secure environmental clearance within weeks of a Public Hearing. POSCO must have been of 'strategic significance' to Raja, else why would he rush its clearances through with such haste when so little was known of the project, its outcomes and its impacts? Now that Jairam Ramesh has endorsed Raja's decision, it won't be long before Karnataka's Chief Minister Yeddyurappa accuses Ramesh of bias for rejecting the Gundia power plant which the former would claim is of 'strategic significance' to the state. Similarly, Goa will make a case that mining in the Western Ghats is of critical economic importance and Ramesh must have “faith and trust” in the State's assessment of its needs. Mr. Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister, has for some time now been berating Ramesh's moratorium on Monsanto's Bt Brinjal, claiming this first food GMO in India is critical to secure the future of Indian agriculture! Narendra Modi of Gujarat will spare no words in attacking the Union Government were any of his pet projects rejected.

India could have done well to avoid such propensity of pandering to investor induced pressures and the unsustainable competition between States to secure investments; at the very least in projects that have massive, serious and irreversible environmental, economic and social consequences.

CBI enquiry into POSCO is a must now:

There is simply no option now but for the CBI to completely examine all decisions taken by Raja during his time in the Environment Ministry, thus not limiting the exercise to those relating to DB Realty decisions alone. This is of strategic importance to our country in light of the fact that none less than Mr. Jairam Ramesh has expressed discomfort over the unprecedented “export of iron ore” involving Capesize super tankers that POSCO proposes to employ in shipping out the ore it mines in India. Unprecedented profits are to be made from this virtually business-risk free POSCO project, and it is not an accident that there is so much cooperation between so many different political parties and levels of governments to usher it through.

As revealed in the unbelievable iron ore mining scam in Bellary, there is far too much money to be made from mining iron ore alone in the POSCO deal. The POSCO kind of loot of non-replenishable natural resources, associated with the destruction of thousands of natural resource dependent livelihoods and the environment, is a far worse scandal than the 2G scam. Airwaves are ambient, can be reallotted and the perceived loss is essentially in money terms. Iron ore, forests, coastal areas, livelihoods, critically endangered species simply aren't renewable resources.

Jairam Ramesh was aware that the CBI had begun investigating Raja's possible corruption while in the Environment Ministry and could well have waited for the CBI to review Raja's role in the POSCO decision. But he chose not to, and announced his pro-POSCO decision the very next day after CBI began the investigation. All these circumstances demand that the POSCO project decisions must be thoroughly investigated by the CBI. It is high time that our Parliamentarians also spare some of their time in scrutinising the POSCO decisions, while also attending to the politically juicy spectrum allotment (2G) and other scandals.

Leo F. Saldanha

Coordinator

Environment Support Group

leo@esgindia.org

www.esgindia.org

02 May 2011

1 As Gram Sabhas are known in Orissa)

2Iron and Steal, by the Mining Zone Peoples' Solidarity Group, published in October 2010, provides a rigorous analysis of the super-normal profits that POSCO will make from the mining/steel project. This report is accessible at: http://miningzone.org/