INTRODUCTION
(Buxwaha forest diamond mining)
The permission for this diamond mine has been approved by the government. More than 200K trees are at threats in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, India is at risk. Not only the trees, but they will also impact the animals and tribes nearby. There are more than 8K tribes who are at the ledge of becoming homeless. The animals and tribes both have been depending upon this forest for their livelihoods.
(Buxwaha forest, Chattarpur District Map, Madhya Pradesh)
Not all trees, but it is estimated that 1/10th part of the forest will be cut down. This means this 1/10th part has more than 200K trees. The area is already a drought-prone region, and diamond mining will be a water-intensive project approved. The government claims that more trees will be planted than the number of trees cut down. That makes no sense! It is like we are ready to build a new home and destroy the older ones.
DIAMOND MINE DISCOVERY
Buxwaha Forest (Image credits: www. stick umbrella. in)
In 2014, an Anglo-Australian company named Rio Tinto discovered a large amount of diamonds deposit beneath the surface of this forest. The diamond deposit was named "Bunder" (meaning monkey in Hindi) as monkeys are found in large numbers in this forest.
In October 2010, Rio Tinto Company signed a state support agreement with the government of Madhya Pradesh. According to the agreement, the government was to get 10% royalty of mining from the sale of the diamond by the company obtained from this site. And the rest 90% of the profits will go to Rio Tinto.
According to the studies done on this diamond reserve, 30 Million+ carats of diamonds could be present on the site. If the reports of the studies are correct, then this will be one of the diamond deposits in India.
The total area of the forest was 971 hectares, and Rio-Tinto was given clearance for 954 hectares. It was then estimated that more than 500k+ trees needed to be cut down. The Pane Tiger Reserve was beside it, which is a National Park known for tigers. The ken river there is the closest source of water for tiger reserve. There was even a ken Gharial (alligator) sanctuary here. All these precious reserves and more than half of the forest would have been lost, but that didn't happen. Most credit goes to environmental activists, especially 'Shela Masood.
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SHEHLA MASOOD’ S PROTEST
Shehla Masood(Image credit :www.indiatoday.in)
In 2011, During the congress government at the central. Shela wrote a letter to the then Home Minister of India and filed a parliament's written commitment. On the other hand, the high court of MP asked the Central and State governments why the gross violation of rules and regulations. Taking place, the shell Masood, besides being an environmental activist, was also an RTI activist.
On 16th August 2011, she was on her way to collect the response to her RTI appeal. She was driving to her destination, but an unknown person came up to her and Murdered her in daylight. It was suspected that the murderers were from Rio-Tinto and some local BJP Politicians. But the then Home Minister of MP, Uma Shankar Gupta, dismissed these accusations.
RIO TINTO STEPPED OUT
Even after the death of Shehla Masood, the protest against the mine project was continued by several activists like Valhi Thapar, NGO Pahel, and locals.
In March 2016, the Forest Advisory committee declared that the area is in the inviolate category due to its rich forest area and a tiger corridor between Pane Tiger Reserve and another wildlife sanctuary. The National Tiger Authority came up with a similar report. After this Committee's response, the government finally rejected the approval of the project. Rio Tinto, in response, carried out some desperate attempts to retain the mining approval for at least a part of the forest by submitting a proposal that asked for 76 hectares of area to mine. In reply, the forest Advisory Committee said that mining would have a dangerous impact on such a high-quality forest area, which we can't afford to lose. Finally, in August 2016, Rio Tinto gave up and decided to hand over the infrastructure to the state government.
PROJECT REVIVAL
In 2018, when the Congress government came into power at the state, Kamal Nath became the Chief Minister and decided to restart this project. For this, he carried out an auction. Several companies placed their bids, including Aditya Birla Group, Adani Group, Vedanta Group, Essel Mining And Industries Limited, and National Mineral Development Corporation. Aditya Birla Group won the bid and was given 364 hectares of forest land on lease for 50 years to mine. According to the new contract,58% of the diamond mining will go to Aditya Birla Group and the rest 42% to the state government.
IMPACT ON WATER
It has been estimated that the processing plant mine requires 5.9 million cubic meters of water per year. This area, already being a drought-prone region, may suffer water war in the future, similar to the Bolivia case when the government privatized the water supply.
SOLUTION
Nowadays, a diamond can be created in laboratories. These diamonds are of the same quality as the mined ones. This is like an ace in a hole. Because it doesn’t require mining which saves much effort hence drops the cost of diamonds, making it cheaper.
Very nice article
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