Govt tightens the screws on child labour

9 Jun, 2008

Ruhi Kandhari

NEW DELHI: The Union labour ministry has notified expansion of the list of professions that are deemed “hazardous” under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. This is expected to come into force by September this year. The government has intended to add occupations due to the associated health risks to the list of 15 occupations and 9 other hazardous processes to the existing 57 which are prohibited under the Act for employment of children.

The amended list is to cover processes involving exposure to excessive heat or cold or free silica as in the case of slate, pencil industry, stone grinding, slate stone mining, stone quarries and agate industry. The Act will now also prohibit employment of children below 14 years of age for mechanised fishing, timber handling and loading, food processing, beverage industry, mechanical lumbering and warehousing.

Under the current Child Labour Act, 1986, occupations and processes deemed hazardous include the making of glass, bangles and fireworks, beedi-making, carpet-weaving and cement manufacturing. The Act also regulates conditions in industries where children are still permitted to be employed. Regulation covers all the occupations and processes that are not specifically prohibited for employment of children. The Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee had recommended that nine more processes be added to the list of hazardous occupations. The list was expanded after consultations with the states on the issue.

Also expected is a detailed protocol that lays down procedures for repatriating migrant child workers to their homes and rehabilitating them so that rescued children do not drift back into the workforce.

States and ministries have been making several suggestions to the Centre for the protocol.

Along with these incremental steps, the government is also working on a complete overhaul of the 1986 Act to bring it in line with evolving ground realities. States and ministries have been making several suggestions to the Centre for amending the law. The Central Monitoring Committee for the law’s implementation has also backed the need for changing the law during its last annual meeting in June 2007. States’ views on the various proposals have already been received.

Nama text author may change climax

23 May, 2008

Amiti Sen & Ruhi Kandhari

NEW DELHI: Two days after introducing the much-criticised draft text on liberalising trade in industrial goods at the World Trade Organization (WTO)

, non-agriculture market access (Nama) committee chairman Don Stephenson seems ready to make amends.

In a letter sent to all members on Tuesday evening, the chairman invited senior officials to meet next week and work through the weekend in an attempt to reduce the number of square brackets in the text.

To avoid an encore, the chairman has stated that no amendments will be introduced in the text unless there is a consensus. A host of issues have been left unresolved in the draft text.

In his letter, Mr Stephenson said the purpose of the programme of work was to narrow and achieve either resolution or greater clarity on as many issues as possible. In order to avoid adding more square brackets — indicating areas needing more negotiations — to his text, the chair said the changes to the draft text will be introduced only if there is a consensus or emergence of views nearing convergence.

If the meeting is successful, there will be a fresh draft on Nama in the first week of June, an official said.

There are 97 square brackets in the draft Nama text, which is around three times more than the square brackets in the previous draft circulated in February. “The February draft was tailormade to please the US.

Since it infuriated a number of countries, it seems the chairman tried to please several countries this time around by including all their proposals and putting them in square brackets. The result is a total mess and we have a text with numerous brackets that can never form the basis for holding a ministerial,” the official added.

With India coming up with a statement on Tuesday criticising the confusing Nama text, Argentina too spoke against the text. In his letter, the Nama chair acknowledged that some members had criticised the presence of a large number of square brackets in the text and, hence, there was a need to arrive at a greater convergence soon. He said it was critical that delegations be represented at the senior level in the meeting.

Speaking at a roundtable organised by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Thursday, commerce secretary G K Pillai said the text on Nama totally misses the development perspective and will need a complete overhaul.

Officials reiterated that while the proposed reduction coefficients in the new text don’t reflect the less-than-full reciprocity clause for developing countries, relating of flexibilities and coefficients is not acceptable. As per the Doha mandate, the onus of tariff reduction on developing countries has to be lower than that undertaken by the developed countries.

The senior officials meeting will start next Wednesday and continue over the weekend till Monday. Officials said the meeting will begin with an open-ended meeting where all members will participate with their group of officials. This will be followed by a meeting of 35-40 countries on various issues related to the Nama negotiations.

The first day will be dedicated to discussions on tariff-reduction formula and flexibilities for developing countries. The second day will discuss how to tackle tariffs of members with low binding coverage. Issues related to least developed countries will be dealt with on the third day while the recently-acceded members will discuss their problems on the following day. Sunday has been marked for holding discussions on non-tariff barriers, an area of great interest to developing countries.

The discussions will be rounded off by another open-ended meeting on Monday, June 2.

Policing body finds 173 out of 199 mines violating rules

Date: 16/09/2008

Ruhi Kandhari

IN A shocking report that exposes flouting of environmental and social regulations by mining companies, Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) has found that 173 out of 199 mines inspected in August were violating rules.

Most of the violations of the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules (MCDR) under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act were due to noncompliance of mining plan.

In other words, inadequate or complete absence of environmental and social considerations that may adversely impact the residents of the communities residing near mines led to maximum number of violations. Mining plan is prepared by a mining company and approved by the bureau before a mining company can apply for other environmental clearances. It is last step before grant of a mining lease.

A senior official in IBM said that the violations included inadequate acid mine waters neutralising systems, ground water monitoring systems, waste rock disposal systems, blast vibration analysis, preservation of flora and fauna in the region and non-execution of the mine closure plan. He added that most violations were reported from the iron ore, limestone, dolomite and bauxite mines.

IBM launched five prosecution cases in various courts against the violators that did not comply with the norms even after repeated warnings from IBM in August, in addition to the 568 outstanding cases launched by IBM. In addition, IBM issued 27 show cause notices to the violators.

“Bureau of Mines gives 45 days to a mining company to comply with the norms after violation is pointed out. If the company doesn’t rectify the defiance of norms in stipulated time, then show cause notices are issued. IBM launches legal prosecution in case of regular offenders that do not comply even after repeated warnings,” said a senior official of IBM without naming companies that violated the norms. He said that IBM could withdraw the case if the violator complies with the norms along with paying a fine that can range between 5,000 and 50,000.

Indian Bureau of mines is the policing body, under the ministry of mines that performs regulatory functions including enforcement of the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules (MCDR). MCDR governs regulations on reconnaissance, prospecting and mining operations; environment; examination of minerals and issue of directives and penalty.

Power min raps NTPC for shoddy work at Koldam

4 Sep, 2008

Ruhi Kandhari & Rajeev Jayaswal

NEW DELHI: The power ministry has found serious irregularities in the construction of NTPC’s 800 mw Koldam hydroelectric power plant in Himachal Prad

esh and has directed the company to take urgent corrective steps. The concrete structure of the project had large gaps that had been left largely neglected. Power secretary Anil Razdan has shot off a letter to NTPC chairman & managing director RS Sharma, listing the irregularities.

Mr Razdan, who visited the site recently, pointed out that NTPC was yet to resolve pending issues with contractors and the quality of concrete work at the water intake point was “not up to the mark”. “There were large gaps in the concrete faces and I am surprised that the supervisory staff allowed such works to pass. The area below the de-silting chambers was full of muck, which should have been cleared on a regular basis, if not for the visit of the secretary. I did not find work schedules at any of the civil work faces, at the dam or water intake point,” he said in the letter.

Responding to queries sent to NTPC, an official spokesperson said: “Work is being executed as per technical specification and quality plan. There are some contractual issues in the dam package, which are being resolved with the construction agency.”

The company has also claimed it is mobilising additional resources as per requirements of the revised work schedule, which is under finalisation. The Koldam plant is NTPC’s maiden venture in the hydro power sector, and is progressing slowly since its foundation stone was laid in 2000. NTPC has announced ambitious plans of adding more hydel capacity. But the progress on its first project has been behind schedule.

With an aim to step up the pace of construction, the power secretary has asked NTPC to conduct strict monitoring and resolve contractual issues on a regular basis. The NTPC spokesperson refuted that there were any loopholes in the ongoing work at the site. Besides Koldam, the company is setting up about half-a-dozen hydro power projects. The company is betting big on hydro-power generation in an attempt to become an integrated energy utility with a diversified fuel mix.

Eco warriors pick holes in proposed iron ore guidelines

Ruhi Kandhari Date: 30/06/2008

EXPERTS have denounced the draft notification on environment standards for iron ore mining that allows more than two times the suspended particulate matter emission in mining area as compared to what is allowed in an industrial area. The text, which will be finalised after receiving public comments, is silent on the issue of waste management in mines.

The draft notification on environment standards for iron ore mining is to amend the Environment (Protection) Rules of 1986. Till now, general standards meant for industries are applied in the case of iron ore mines, too, since specific norms were not formulated. Coal is the only segment in the mining industry which works under specific norms notified in 2000. According to Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) associate director Chandra Bhushan, the draft has improved standards in terms of effluent discharge, noise and airblast but its implementation is questionable as the government doesn’t have the capacity to regulate these rules.

The proposed text allows 500 micrograms/cubic metre of respirable particulate matter at a distance of 25 meters from the source of (ore) generation as compared to 150 micrograms/cubic metre which is allowed under current ambient air quality standards in an industrial area. However Ravi Rebba Pragada of Samata, a non-governmental organisation, wonders how the regulation will make the dust to stay within 25 meters. “People live very close to many mines in India and incidents of respiratory diseases are very high. The draft has clearly made it easy for the mining companies and difficult for the communities living around mines,’ he adds. The NGO was behind the Samata judgment which declared transfer of land in the scheduled areas for private mining null and void. The proposed text is just a marginal tinkering from the earlier standards, says Environics Trust’s Sreedhar Ramamurthy. “The draft is sketchy and doesn’t give details about periods of monitoring particulate matter emissions and effluent discharge. Dust load goes up tremendously at the time of blasting and effluents discharge increases during monsoons,’ he says.

The text allows 200 mgs/litre effluent discharge during monsoons as compared to 50 mgs/litre otherwise. Mining companies may stock up effluents till monsoons and create more water pollution, apprehends Sreedhar. He said that there should be different standards for different geological conditions. “In water scarce desert, effluent discharge should be less than what is allowed for water rich areas,’ he points. The environmentalists also have reservations about monitoring the implementation of these standards. “Though the new draft is stricter on water pollution standards, monitoring sedimentation ponds during monsoons is almost impossible. Monsoons is the time when maximum pollution happens due to mines,’ says Mr Bhushan, co-author of “Rich Lands, Poor People. Is Sustainable Mining Possible?’ “Waste from mines should be used to fill the mines and close them instead of being abandoned,’ says Ravi.

Central Pollution Control Board is in the process of framing more such industry-specific environment standards.