Coal Sector: Floodgates Opened for Foreign Capital
The government of Narendra
Modi allowed 100% Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) under automatic
route for the sale of coal and for
mining activities, including
associated infrastructure. This is
the latest step of the so-called
reforms in coal sector by amending
from time to time the Coal Mines
Act and Mines and Minerals Act.
Firstly, the central government
allowed 100% FDI in coal and
lignite mining for captive
consumption for steel, power and
cement units. Then it allowed to set
up washeries, which can wash coal
for mining companies with 100%
FDI. As foreign investors had not
responded
positively,
the
government decided to open up the
entire coal sector. Now the
imperialist monsters can take up
extraction of coal and selling of coal
along with associated infra-
structure that includes washing,
crushing, handling and separation.
Coal is the primary source of
energy and India has one of the
largest resources of coal around
286 billion tones. Coal mining in
India is third largest in the world. It
is a vital raw material for power plants, metallurgical and cement
units. Until now, Coal India Ltd.
(CIL) had been mining and selling
coal in India. With little over 70%
government stake CIL is producing
83% coal of which 81% is supplied
to the power sector alone. This
huge natural energy source is
being handed over in golden
platter to the imperialist capital.
Those in favour of the entry
of FDI argue that will allow compe-
tition, bring new technologies in
exploration , methods of mining
etc., reduces imports of coal and
thus lower the prices of coal. The
perils of such a policy are well
known. As this huge energy source
goes into foreign hands, the motive
of which is solely earning super
profits, the cost of development on
Indian economy grows many folds.
The fruits of this development will
be cornered by the foreign capital
and not by Indian people. The
experience of similar policy on
another energy resource, oil and
gas exploration, showed that the
people of India have to pay through
their noses to MNCs for the
resources belonged to our county.
contd from page 22 NPAs. They have also diverted the
depositors’ money into the pockets
of bank directors under the very
nose of the government. Many of
the bosses, made glamorous by the
media, of private banks were sent
home
on
charges
of
misappropriation of funds.
The growing NPAs is clear
proof of the nature of Indian big
bourgeoisie. Along with its
comprador character, it is also
bureaucratic
as
it
feeds
continuously on the public funds
both legally and illegally. The
Indian big bourgeoisie cannot
survive without the sucking the
public funds.
NPAs was accrued in the last five
years when Narendra Modi came
to power. This magnanimity
towards big bourgeoisie is being
paid by the people as the PSBs are
being
compensated
with
recapitalization from public funds.
Many ‘experts’ advocate
privatization of PSBs as a panacea
for all evils. The role of private
banks has remained only to urban
areas as they are profit driven.
Once privatized these PSBs would
withdraw from agricultural and small
lending sectors. The private banks
like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Yes
Bank have also their share of
October - 2019
If this policy has to be realized,
the government has to expedite the
process of land acquisition, and
permit forest and environment
clearance. As the foreign capital
siphon offs the funds in various
forms like profits, royalties, interest,
technical fees etc., the Indian
people has to bear the brunt of
environmental degradation and
loss of livelihood, particularly
adivasis who are going to be
forcefully displaced from their
lands. Precisely for this purpose,
the government is amending the
forest law and influencing the
judiciary to give legal stamp for its
acts.
In the pursuit of profit, it is well
known that foreign capital will pay
little respect to the health and
safety norms for workers and the
people at large. They will throw to
the winds all the regulation of labour
laws putting the workers in
hazardous conditions of work. The
government machinery made
ineffective by the successive
governments as some fangs of the
labour laws were removed by it.
Whatever tall promises the
powers that be at the centre and
states may give about protecting
the rights of people and
environment, It is the bitter
experience of the people for the
last seven decades that everything
will be thrown into dust bins to rise
profit margins continuously as the
government and other regulatory
bodies remain mute spectators.
The entry of foreign capital
into coal sector causes harm to the
ecology, destroys the livelihoods
and lives of millions of people,
extracts super profits from the
energy source and loss of peoples
hegemony over the natural
resources. This surrender before
the foreign capital should be fought
tooth and nail.
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