Is judicial action divorced from public interest? – Daily Pioneer

In Goa, livelihoods of 300,000 people associated with the mining industry disappeared overnight after judicial intervention. This is painful, particularly when the country is going through the worst employment crisis and has no alternative

The recent Supreme Court (SC) verdict on Ayodhya has again established that law cannot be detached from the interests of the people it serves. There is a raging debate whether the judgment was based on credible evidence or influenced by the faith of the majority. Irrespective, the ruling has been accepted by all factions, not necessarily for its veracity but for bringing to an end a painful impasse. What is undebatable is that it has brought peace to the nation.

This ethos of acting in public interest must now be extended to end pain in other areas as well. Take the case of Goa, the only State where mining rights were granted to citizens by the Portuguese Government in perpetuity. These rights were later revoked by the Centre and now, lakhs of Goans are staring at a major employment crisis. Over 300,000 people are dependent on mining in the State and they have become the face of massive livelihood loss triggered by judicial intervention. Ever since the SC cancelled 88 mining leases in Goa on February 7, 2018, life has come to a grinding, tragic halt for these workers and their families.

This is no longer just an economic crisis which is severely debilitating in its own right but a grave humanitarian crisis as well.

Livelihoods disappearing overnight as a result of judicial intervention, because the Executive and the corporate masters did not do their jobs properly, is painful particularly at a time when the country is going through the worst employment crisis in its history. According to the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), unemployment in 2017-2018 was at a four-decade high of 6.1 per cent. New job seekers are not able to find sustainable employment and August 2019 saw the highest rate of unemployment in India at 8.4 per cent.

The most recent example of mass job losses as a result of the collapse of a big organisation is Jet Airways. Due to poor management of funds, the founder himself led one of Indias best airlines into bankruptcy and closure. However, employees of the airline were aware of the unfolding situation and had braced themselves for the layoffs. But in the case of Goa, the miners and other workers were unprepared.

This, when there was no financial crisis in the mining sector. Rather it was booming, with iron ore being an exportable produce of the State.

Goa could have generated three times more revenue from iron ore mining but has not only lost this opportunity but is dealing with the extensive collateral damage that has followed the cancellation of the leases. The ban has taken a toll on the States revenue stream and its social fabric has been ripped apart. Not just the mining sector but all other stakeholders and the supportive infrastructure, comprising equipment suppliers, the logistics and ancillary industry and the transport sector, have floundered.

Goa is the only State with a unique logistical arrangement for movement of iron ore from the mines to the ports, unlike other States which rely on Indian Railways for the same. Iron ore is carried by trucks and barges from the mines to the ports.

The ban on mining has resulted in unemployment for workers hired by 12,000 truck owners, 150 barge owners and 150 ancillary units and has spelled doom for them. Not only have they suffered from livelihood loss, there is a larger crisis looming as the families have near about exhausted their meagre savings and have been subsisting on loans and handouts from well-wishers.

Even banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) in the State have been drawn into the slide. When the going was good, these institutions eagerly extended credit lines to the truckers and storage providers. Now, in the absence of a running business concern, the ability of people to repay has vanished and a huge Non-Performing Asset (NPA) crisis is looming in the State.

Added to this is the loan and money-recovery trauma being faced by those dependent on the mining sector and the burgeoning tragedy begins to hit uncomfortably home.

In any economic ecosystem, one segment aids and benefits from the other. The interdependency, which the Goan mining industry had so healthily created with respect to the States other revenue driver, internal tourism and food industry, is also hit as people dont have the money to spend anymore. As individual economies of families waste away and die, the State is suffering from a socio-economic disaster. It is imperative that mining restarts to provide livelihoods in the mining sector and ancillary industries to lakhs of people of the State.

There is enough research available to indicate a direct link between crime and lack of livelihood. Studies have established that Indias Maoist movement is deeply rooted in the poor socio-economic conditions prevalent in parts of the country with large tribal populations. It has mostly affected areas where there is a conflict between the State and the populace on the economic derivation of forest produce and mining such as in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, and agriculture in parts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Such aggressive posturing by citizens has huge direct and indirect costs. In Goa there were only two major sources of livelihood mining and tourism. Without these, Goa has nothing. Any social unrest and spikes in crime rate can spell doom for Goas tourism economy too, which so far has been characterised by friendly service by the Goans, discipline, cleanliness and law and order.

Laws are meant to create a conducive environment for the citizens of the State. Goa, however, has become a case where the law and its interpretation has spelled doom for its residents. This cannot become a precedent and must be addressed immediately. Situations like these need more complex solutions. It is simplistic to penalise lakhs of people for the actions of a few with the stroke of a pen. Stakeholders must come together to rescue these lives and livelihoods before it is too late.

(The writer is president of a Delhi-based not-for-profit organisation dedicated towards finding solutions to the problems of the helpless.)

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Is judicial action divorced from public interest? - Daily Pioneer