TOPIC – Mining in India equals selling the family gold
The principle that the economy must be “sustainable” — we cannot compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs — is beyond question. Climate change and high levels of consumption already threaten to rob future generations of a planet that is liveable. The principle of Intergenerational Equity would make it imperative for us to ensure future generations inherit at least as much as we did. If we are successful in abiding by intergenerational equity, our children will be at least as well off as we are. If we leave a bequest as well, they will be better off than us. To consume what we have inherited without a thought for generations to come will leave the whole world poorer; like an addict selling the family gold. India’s National Mineral Policy 2019 states: “natural resources, including minerals, are a shared inheritance where the state is the trustee on behalf of the people to ensure that future generations receive the benefit of inheritance.” .The primary objective of a trustee/ manager is to maintain the corpus of the trust, the shared inheritance of natural resources. The extraction of oil, gas and minerals is effectively the sale of this inheritance, with royalties and other proceeds being the consideration paid in exchange for the mineral wealth extracted. Unfortunately, governments everywhere treat the mineral sale proceeds as revenue or income, a crucial error which hides the real transaction — a sale of inherited wealth. This results in governments selling minerals at prices significantly lower than what they are worth, driven by lobbying, political donations and corruption. For example, it is estimated from the annual reports of Vedanta that over eight years, the State of Goa lost more than 95% of the value of its minerals — after extraction costs and a reasonable profit for the extractor. Any loss is effectively a hidden perhead tax which makes a few extractors and their cronies super-rich. Inequality grows sharply. This is the economics of loot. Worse still, the trifles received by the government are treated as “revenue” and happily spent, leaving neither the minerals nor their value for future generations to inherit. This is just not sustainable. There is growing empirical evidence of large losses in mining from around the world. There is also growing evidence from the International Monetary Fund that many governments of resource rich nations, including the United Kingdom and Norway, face declining public sector net worth, i.e., their governments are becoming poorer. Both indicate unsustainable mining. Losses in mineral value drive many of the other problems with mining.
The Hindu Editorial Words with meanings, synonyms and antonyms
Rob (verb) – take property unlawfully by force
Synonyms – jump, eprive, denude, strip, pillage
Antonyms – compensate, endow, enrich, invest, indemnify
Imperative (adjective) – requiring attention or action
Synonyms – essential, obligatory, imperious, exigent, crucial
Antonyms – minor, unnecessary, ancillary, conjure, trifling
Abiding (adjective) – unceasing or long time
Synonyms – enduring, perpetual, eternal, perennial
Antonyms – temporary, capricious, ever-changing, abysmal, appalling
Bequest (noun) – a gift of personal property by will
Synonyms – legacy, inheritance, endowment, patrimony, devise
Antonyms – dispossess, divest, constraint, disfavor, egoism
Extraction (noun) – the action of taking out something
Synonyms – descent, ancestry, parentage, linage
Antonyms – addition, insertion, salubrious, adjunct
Crony (noun) – a close friend who accompanies his buddies in their activities
Synonyms – chum, companion, comrade, amigo
Antonyms – enemy, foe, opponent, assailant, crip
Trifles (adverb) – to a small degree
Synonyms – trivia, bauble, gimcrack, gewgaw, baloney
Antonyms – rushes, critical factor
Empirical (adjective) – derived from experiment
Synonyms – practical, empiric, heuristic, tentative, factual
Antonyms – conjectural, speculative, unproven, disprovable
