Here it may be useful to recount the story of the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL). In 1992, after the Atomic Minerals Directorate projected that there are 10,000 tonnes of uranium oxide reserves in the region, the UCIL set up a project which entailed the open cast mining of uranium ore in the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. Within a few years UCIL had to wind up its mining activities following violent protests from the local people. This June, when the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board attempted to have a public hearing on uranium mining in the state, it proved to be a resounding failure. The state was in fact shut down in protest over the mere staging of such a hearing. If the UCIL model did not succeed in the nineties, it is unlikely to do so today when there is greater public awareness, articulation and connectivity. The international norm of free, prior and informed choice exercised by the people most affected has to be the guiding principle for any project in the region.

Some lessons seem to have been learnt. The words used in the ‘Northeast Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, 2007’, for instance, are chosen with care. A granite mining project near Goalpara town in Assam — the state is believed to have more than a billion cubic metres of granite deposits of various kinds — makes it clear that since these deposits are located in a reserve forest area, anyone mining here would be required to follow environmental norms, fill up the affected top soil and ensure afforestation as part of the project. A proposal for a cement plant near the limestone quarries of Arunachal Pradesh’s Lohit district, specifies that environmental clearances would have to be sought. Other projects suggested as part of the Northeast Investment Policy are more benign, like mushroom production, floriculture, fruit, vegetable processing, and the like, all of which are claimed to be environmentally acceptable. There is also evidence of some innovative thinking. A proposal to encourage “tea garden tourism” could well provide a source of livelihood to tea garden workers who today find themselves without livelihood options in a sector that has been in the doldrums for a while now.

... contd.