News Wrap
AGD
In Himachal Pradesh, over
9000 hectares of forest land have
been diverted for non-forest uses. Of this, 700 hectares have been used for hydel projects. The proposed hydro-powered Luhri Project has a head race tunnel length of 38.14 km, the longest in the world. The tunnel will bypass over 50 km length of the river Satluj, in addition to the 6.8 km long reservoir. The project is estimated to destroy about 60 km length of the mighty, over-dammed Satluj river. The impact would affect 2337 land owners, and 9674 people belonging to over a hundred villages, including the 78 villages, located along the head race tunnel. Recently the union environment and forest ministry has sanctioned clearance to the World Bank funded mega hydro project in Himachal Pradesh. Recommending environmental clearance for the 775 mega watts Luhri project on the Satluj river in upper Shimla, without first undertaking carrying capacity and cumulative impact assessment is in violation of Supreme Court Orders (May, 2006). The Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd authorities maintain that project affected families will be adequately compensated.
Steel Plants in Odisha
Odisha extends over India’s mining belt, and holds a third of India’s iron ore reserves, a quarter of its coal, half its bauxite and more than 90% of its nickel and chromite. A fifth of all industrial investment proposals in India, in the last four years, were directed to Odisha. Since January 2008, there were investment proposals in Odisha, worth two hundred million dollars from Tata, Jindal and South Korea’s Posco, alongwith global heavy weights such as Arcelor Mittal and Vedanta Resources. All investment projects are facing protests and delays. Betel cultivation, along with coconuts, rice and cashews, provides a small but steady income for thousands of families, living near the proposed mill sites. The betel cultivators are afraid of being landless. Posco’s twelve million dollar steel mill project, took a step forward in Feb 2013, as some land was taken over from farmers, for the first time since 2011. A state court has ruled against Posco on guaranteed supplies from the Kandahar iron ore reserve.
Vanishing Isles
Ever rising tides in the Bay of Bengal are swallowing up small islands and family homes, belonging to Bangladesh and India. Kutubdia has halved in size in 20 years, to around 100 sq km. Since 1991, six villages on the island have been swamped. About 40,000 fishermen and salt workers have fled to Cox Bazar (Bangladesh). The land used to be 1 km out to sea. Now tides and tidal surges top new three metre high concrete embankment barriers constructed in 2008. Sandwip near Chitta-gong, covered 600 sq km fifty years ago; its area has halved over the past twenty years. Kutubdia and 12 islands, north along the Bay of Bengal, are immediately threatened by the rising seas, risking 70,000 people. 90 islands in Indian waters, including Sagar islands, housing more than 4 million people, are at real risk. Lohachara in December 2006, was an inhabited island, lost to rising sea levels. There is no reliable sea level data in Bangladesh. The sea has been rising nearly 8 millimetres a year at Cox Bazar. The expansion of sea water is linked to significant rise in sea surface temperatures ; intense cyclones and higher tides, and increased flow of some of the giant rivers that flow into the Bay of Bengal.
Seeking Work Overseas
In Muslim majority Bangladesh, the idea of women migrating for economic reasons, without male guardians, is still cause for unease and shame. Rampant poverty and unemployment in Bangladesh, is driving women to seek work overseas, even at the cost of social stigma. For the last two decades, the women of Basatpur (Jessore district) have trekked across the Indian border, and made their way to Mumbai, where they have made a living as dancing girls at the city’s notorious ‘‘ladies bars’’. In many villages along the Indian border, especially in Jessore and Satkhira districts, women have traditionally walked across without papers, even though the governments choose to ignore. In some villages, two thirds of households have sent someone to Mumbai, at some point. Bangladeshi women find jobs where less educational qualifications are required, as for maids, waitresses, dancing girls, sweepers and tailors. There have been attempts to stop migration of women to Indian cities, through village arbitrations, but women remain defiant. Remittances from migrant workers stand at about $ 13 billion annually, which is about 11% of Bangladesh’s GDP.
US Labour and Marijuana
Several medical Marijuana shops in USA, are selling cannabis for medical purposes. Medical Marijuana is now legal in California, 17 other states, and Washington DC. Possession of one ounce (28.3 grams) or less of the drug is legal for anyone 21 and older. Labour union members in USA account for 11.3% of all American workers, the lowest percentage in nearly a century. Staff in a large number of medical Marijuana dispensaries are paying union members, belonging to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). US states now require regulation of Marijuana growers, processors and retailers. Union officials acknowledge that their support for the nascent medical Marijuana industry stems partly from the idea that the Marijuana industry could create hundreds of thousands of members, at a time when overall union membership is shrinking. Retail unions such as the UFCW are fighting the rise of part time workers, and a steady drop in real wages, over the last fifty years. Besides, republican governors, as in Wisconsin, are attempting to curb collective bargaining rights, for public workers.
Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 39, Apr 7-13, 2013
Your Comment if any
|
