Stop mining to save Goa
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Stop-mining-to-save-Goa/articleshow/11369769.cms#.TwUfrBRp4LM.emailTNN | Jan 5, 2012,
PANAJI: Mining may have generated a few jobs in Goa, however, for
every job in the mining sector, over 150 jobs are lost due to fields
rendered infertile as a result of mining rejects, mineral toxicity to
plants and a shortage of water since mining depletes ground, surface
and underground water reservoirs.
The over-dependence on mining is due to the fact that mine owners have
destroyed water bodies, reservoirs, agricultural fields, forest cover,
cashew and fruit plantations.
Food and fruit-processing industrial growth can generate enough jobs
to sustain drivers of trucks as well as owners of barges and allied
persons involved in the "rape of Goa".
Mining survives in Goa only for the next 30 years. Iron ore is non-
replenishable. The extraction of iron ore bleeds mother earth and
results in the scourge of respiratory as well all forms of
physiological ailments- TB, skin infections, pneumonia and induces
depression and fatigue.
Goa would soon be prone to earthquakes and volcanic activities which
had stopped over 5,000 million years after the earth cooled down to
allow Mother Nature to evolve life. The iron ore in the hinterlands
has acted as a water reservoir and helped Goa conserve and disseminate
spring waters across the length and breadth of the state. The iron ore
also helps increase ground water productivity, retention and
distribution. Without iron, the hinterland talukas would see an acute
water shortage and severe flooding during the monsoon as the mining of
iron ore would deprive mother earth of absorption and permeability.
By stopping mining we can replenish the earth and sustain our farmers
and strengthen livelihood and employment by increasing jobs in water
harvesting and bottling industries, generating jobs in agricultural,
horticultural, floricultural and forest-based industrial development.
It is time for Goans to reflect and analyze the factors needed to
envision the holistic and sustainable development of Goa. By
supporting mining exports we are encouraging China's imperialism.
The Chinese are buying our mother earth at $160 per tonne and flooding
Indian markets with steel, toys and equipment. We are thus creating
jobs and prosperity in China, leaving Goans to remain as truck drivers
and barge operators and killing rice productivity, fisheries output
and all traditional occupations, running our health and economy.
For over 300 years, the British had the imperial power to take away
our tea leaves, raw wool, silk, cotton, coffee beans and timber at
dirt cheap rates using technology and a skilled English workforce, and
gave India highly-priced branded tea, coffee, garments and built
famous palaces like the Buckingham Palace out of Indian timber wholly
and entirely.
Today, China's economic imperialism has taken over Goa and the members
of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry along with mine owners are
betraying Goans. Wake up Goans! Do not let our brethren from the
mining talukas to become victims of Goa's rape, which is destroying
our future generation by the senseless mining operations.
We must avoid starvation, floods in the monsoon, droughts in summer,
future desertification, death of agriculture and the absence of green
hills with livestock, animal husbandry and milk scarcity. Goans must
stop activities which will make them dependent on other states for
food, fodder, fuel and fibre. Goans must stop the neo-colonization of
Goa and the marginalization of Goans.
The mockery of panchayat members sponsored by mining giants, appearing
in the media must not deter us from the mission of stopping mining and
making Goa resurgent by ushering in a green and clean revolution. We
must sustain our water bodies and work towards grains, vegetables,
fruits, flowers, milk and fish production to sustain Goa as a paradise
on earth forever.
(The writer is the former professor of microbiology)
--
Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth. - Mohandas Gandhi
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