Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal, in an interview with Economic Times, has claimed that the Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin has met every environmental regulation and that no expert has been able to detect any environmental wrongdoing on Sterlite’s part. He has also gone on to claim that the air around the region has become purer due to some of the measures that his plant took. Whether every environmental regulation was met or not, and however exaggerated the claim of purer air seems to be, one cannot in this entire debate forego the importance of the plant itself.
A plant that produces a whopping forty percent of India’s copper is hardly just another plant as much as it is a national asset. In fact, according to some estimates, it produces almost half the country’s copper. India imports a lot of its copper, and although I could not find the exact share of imported copper in the total copper India uses, suffice to say it is a lot of it considering India was projected to become a net importer by March 2020. This means that by March 2020, we would import more copper than we export, tipping over in terms of dependency. However, with the shutdown of the Sterlite plant, the dreaded date has been further advanced.
According to the latest estimates, we are likely to become net importers by next year. Moreover, the ripple effects of the shutdown are estimated to have a downstream impact on 800 small and medium units. It is also estimated that the indirect job losses could amount to around 50,000.
The debate about whether the environment or the livelihoods of the poor deserve more priority is an endless one, as is whether sentiments should take precedence over strategic assets. What is amazing though is that thousands of people, mostly economically backward, gathered and ran amok in a bid to save the environment. This is unheard of. And what makes it even more amazing is that at the time of the violence, the Sterlite plant was supposedly non-operational. So who were these people, what were they fighting for and what was with the timing, pray tell?
Swarajya Magazine had earlier reported that the churches in the region had appealed to its members to support the protest. The magazine had also reported that one of the mobs, comprising of around 5,000 people, had gathered in front of one of the churches in the region before it proceeded to wreak havoc. The article goes on toclaim that according to the Intelligence Bureau, there were Naxal elements among the protestors too, and that the police had been tipped off about this.
Let me be candid and admit that we are in no position to check the veracity of these claims. However, if it was all orchestrated, if there was a sinister plan to take down the Sterlite plant, what would the potential perpetrators have effectively achieved? For one, they would have destroyed a substantial chunk of India’s copper industry. Not only would India’s dependency increase, but it would have several unpleasant economic effects. There would be a shortage of copper supply to begin with, sending the prices through the roofs. Those exporting to India would benefit. The considerable investment on Vedanta’s part through the decades going down the drain overnight, would send shockwaves, making investors more skeptical. The ripple effect of hundreds of smaller units shutting down, and thousands of unemployed people not quite knowing what to do with their lives, would not only further affect the economy adversely but bring about large scale unrest and strife.
Now think for a moment about who could possibly want all of this to happen. Perhaps it is somebody who feels insecure about India’s growing economic clout since it cannot sell the dream of a communist-style revolution anymore? Perhaps it is someone who wishes to increase the country’s dependency in every walk of life, rendering it weaker and rendering the state weaker in the process? Or perhaps, it is somebody who is happy to see desperate, economically-deprived people, and happy to throw a rice-bag or two in their direction?
I cannot say for certain that this is the case, but to be very honest, it may well be!