Jarpum Gamlin
(Published in The Sentinel ARUNACHL on September 10, 2010)
There can be no negotiating position if the demand is no dam. That’s what Ramesh said during his meeting with a delegate from Arunachal-Assam on the dam issue on August 9 last. In this context, his upcoming consultation meeting at Pasighat on September 11 next is keenly awaited.
It is apparent from his statement that dam would be constructed at any cost but question is ‘at what cost’ and ‘whose cost’; hence the anxiety. The meet is also keenly awaited because concerned groups are anticipating that he might introduce an element of negotiation tool in term of ‘height of dams’ to reduce the socio-environmental impact. Also, his presence could be a tactics of Congress led government in the centre to officially handle ‘public grievances’ since dams over Siang, Subansiri and Dibang are viewed as National Projects. Or, maybe this could be a sly tactics of the big corporate to push their burden of dealing with public onto government through none other than the MoEF. Anti-dam groups like the Adi Students’ Union (AdiSU), which had earlier refused to discuss the ‘dam issue’ with Khandu led government, are participating in this meeting. Amazingly, these groups are euphoric over the visit. They, of course, have a reason to be since this would be a rare occasion to put forth their grievances to the Union government’s representative. No wonder, as a run-up to the consultation meeting, AdiSU and All East Siang District Students Union (AESDSU) had called 24 hrs bandh last month which passed off peacefully. In last couple of weeks, we have been witness to ‘responses and reactions’ of the state government, elected representatives, students’ bodies and civil society too vis-à-vis Ramesh’s visit.
However, skeptics are amused by such euphoria surrounding the Union Minister’s consultative meeting and they fear that such euphoria could be short-lived for the activists if one gets into the concept of ‘consultation’ itself. Consultation requires only an exchange of information among project sponsors, regulators and affected communities and therefore provides only a limited mechanism for the public to provide information to project decision makers, or to be apprised of decisions that have already been made elsewhere, as reported by World Resources Institute (WRI), Washington.
So question is: why is Jairam Ramesh holding such consultation at this point in time? Timing of the visit was questioned by Lok Sabha MP Takam Sanjoy too. After all, such meeting would not necessarily facilitate more inclusive and collaborative decision making, and are rarely an empowering form of public engagement? In nutshell, this meeting would not involve sharing or transferring decision-making authority to those who will be directly affected. Therefore, if at all, he wishes to legitimize his involvement and involvement of community at large in decision making authority, he should have been engaged himself in public hearing and pushed for free, prior, informed, consent (FPIC), as has been demanded by various concerned groups in the state.
Nevertheless, it is a welcome initiative but his consultative meeting at Gauhati a day prior on September 10 should not colour his judgment given the fact that Arunachalees and Assamese have many vexed issues between themselves. Issues on dam in Assam must be delinked from issues in Arunachal Pradesh. We are two different states with different aspirations and at different developmental stages. Discerning Arunachalees hope that Ramesh is coming to give a fair chance to all but he should also keep in mind that ‘developmental’ subject is new and it is going to be tricky a situation to handle. Environmentalists and Ecologists must remember that share of India’s hydro-power generation has fallen from huge 51% in 1962-63 to just around 25% as on today. Concerned activists should also keep in mind that Arunachal Pradesh is a resource starved state and economic growth, through water resource utilization, is very high on agenda amongst the large section of society.
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