The year 1991 marked a paradigm shift for India as it abandoned its experiment with a ‘mixed economy’ and started a process of integration into the international economic order characterized by the rise of neoliberalism. The launch of a comprehensive programme of market-oriented economic reforms in the country implied, inter alia, a progressive shift away from the national mineral policy outlined in the aftermath of Independence – ascribing a pivotal role to the state – and the start of a process of privatization of mineral resources. This process has been accompanied by the rise of a new governance framework for the mining sector. If, on the one hand, the legislative framework for mining has been progressively revised in order to align mineral policy with the global market-oriented reform process, on the other hand the principles of social and environmental sustainability have been progressively internalised. The aim of the present contribution is twofold. Firstly it seeks to provide a critical analysis of the analytical terrain underlying the recent drive towards sustainability, where mining-related ecological and social issues appear to be fundamentally dealt with as ultimately technical issues, devoid of political significance. Secondly it aims at expanding the understanding of mineral resource governance in India by providing an analysis of the unfolding of the process of mineral resources privatization in one of the most important Indian mineral states, i.e. the state of Odisha. In this respect the chapter highlights the way in which such a process appears to respond to different demands expressed within the realm of capital at a local, national and international level, as well as to reproduce the unfolding of uneven development dynamics in India. In so doing the contribution will ultimately bring into question the supposed social neutrality of the neoliberal agenda for the mining sector, while recognising at the same time the crucial importance of a nuanced understanding of the social power relations underlying the processes of resource exploitation within the neoliberal turn of capitalism.
Mining Governance in India: Questioning the Neoliberal Agenda
ADDUCI, Matilde
2013-01-01
Abstract
The year 1991 marked a paradigm shift for India as it abandoned its experiment with a ‘mixed economy’ and started a process of integration into the international economic order characterized by the rise of neoliberalism. The launch of a comprehensive programme of market-oriented economic reforms in the country implied, inter alia, a progressive shift away from the national mineral policy outlined in the aftermath of Independence – ascribing a pivotal role to the state – and the start of a process of privatization of mineral resources. This process has been accompanied by the rise of a new governance framework for the mining sector. If, on the one hand, the legislative framework for mining has been progressively revised in order to align mineral policy with the global market-oriented reform process, on the other hand the principles of social and environmental sustainability have been progressively internalised. The aim of the present contribution is twofold. Firstly it seeks to provide a critical analysis of the analytical terrain underlying the recent drive towards sustainability, where mining-related ecological and social issues appear to be fundamentally dealt with as ultimately technical issues, devoid of political significance. Secondly it aims at expanding the understanding of mineral resource governance in India by providing an analysis of the unfolding of the process of mineral resources privatization in one of the most important Indian mineral states, i.e. the state of Odisha. In this respect the chapter highlights the way in which such a process appears to respond to different demands expressed within the realm of capital at a local, national and international level, as well as to reproduce the unfolding of uneven development dynamics in India. In so doing the contribution will ultimately bring into question the supposed social neutrality of the neoliberal agenda for the mining sector, while recognising at the same time the crucial importance of a nuanced understanding of the social power relations underlying the processes of resource exploitation within the neoliberal turn of capitalism.
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