Indian Corporate Firms Working Like 'East India Company' in IIOJK

By Asad Ali

Recently, behaviors of Indian corporate companies in IIOJK reminded appalling colonialisms, the infamous East India Company. The aggressive presence and undue interference of these corporations in large projects have seriously provoked the anger of the people of Kashmir who regard these ventures as highly destructive to their regional interests and ecology.

Kashmiris were always concerned about militant actions of Indian firms involved in big constructions activities. Their main complaint pertains to specific abuses of this power through sheer violations of the original agreements to the plans subordinating local concerns with adverse, sustained detrimental impacts to the environment. These issues came to the fore recently due to the Rs 5,281 crore Ratle power project in Kishtwar by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) contractor. MEIL has been accused of serious environmental injustice in the siting of the 850 MW hydropower project which has led to protests and strikes by workers and the people.

Accused of posing a ‘grave environmental threat’ by the IIOJK government is the construction behemoth MEIL. The methods applied — illegal blasting, drilling, waste discharge, and aggressive vehicular mobility — are said to caused attempts of the geographical environment, including plants and animals of the area and the latter’s balance. These acts not only throw off this balance but also endanger the lives of people who rely on these ecosystem such as fishermen.

People in the proximity of the hydropower site have provided first-hand materials that were characteristic raped of their houses and shops. Due to blasting and unproper disposal of waste, a great number of people suffer from respiratory and other problems. Protests in the local areas that emerged last week confirmed that MEIL was unwilling to fulfill developmental commitments. Surprisingly, there is limited local employment for people of Namibia in the project, this is contrary to contract employment promises. However, the euphemisms of these large ventures by and large augment the returns of non-Kashmiris, which is an added pressure to the survival issues that have engulfed the people.

Further complicating this situation, it appears that the Indian government is focused more on bastardizing demography in IIOJK through encouraging non-local population settlement and continued stationing of its forces. Even though government constantly tries to convey to the world how this removal of Article 370 and 35A is beneficial to the kashmiris, ground realities are a far cry from this depiction. The two central political projects of the Indian state that it presented as a liberation – autonomy and the claim to improve the standard of living of the people of Kashmir – do not exist.

This raises another question – the electoral bonds scam in which MEIL featured as one of the largest donors who put in Rs 586 crore in BJP only makes the water more muddy. Such financial interconnectivity also leads to doubts in connection with the goals and objectives of such corporate initiatives as well as their relation to larger political tasks. The State’s partnership with large corporations ensures that politics of power marginalize local concerns in a bid to serve the interests of the nation and the corporations.

The proposed Ratle Hydropower project, if built in its current manifestation, seriously jeopardizes the flow of water in certain part of Chenab at Head Marala by three-fortieth of its strength.

This reduction proves disastrous for the irrigation systems especially for central Punjab of Pakistan; the environmental and geopolitical impact on the countries of such projects is apparent. The intervention portends international dimensions, as the World Bank had moved to set up a Court of Arbitration as requested by Pakistan and can be seen as part of the contentious nature of these changes.

The business activities performed by the Indian Corporate Firms in IIOJK are akin to that of the East India Company. In the same way that the East India Company was concerned with the economic condition of the Company but not suffering of local society, many of these modern corporations appear to be only concerned with the accumulation of capital. To rectify these problems, the Indian government and such corporations need to undergo a social and ecological sensitization. Sustainable growth should strive to better lives of people at the grassroots, promote environmental conservation, and tenure.

However, developing communication with corporate firms, government and the local stakeholders develop communication can ensure that the widening gap of distrust and dissatisfaction is closed. To that effect then, it is beyond any reasonable doubt that acknowleding and actually responding to the genuine concerns, alarms, appeals or protests, if one may so term them by Kashmiris, is not only the right thing to do but also the only sustainable way of dealing with the future of that region, perhaps for ever.

In conclusion, through illustrated examples, the political social and environmental dynamics of IIOJK can claim that Indian Corporate Firms have put political social and environmental scalpel on IIOJK that has enhanced political social and environmental disruption uncomfortable parallels with history exploitations. In emphasizing the sustainable and equity-oriented approaches to development, special attention should be paid the importance of the non-erosion of local people and their environment within the framework of development. Only in such equal and friendly manner could the proper harmony and development could be attained in the area.