om e 's Ali a - Land ss De elo en - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, India Office

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Women’s Alienation
their original habitat. Dam/Irrigation
projects alone have displaced nearly
3.5 lakh, or roughly 70 per cent of
all those displaced. Industrial projects
have displaced about 60,000 people
which is 12 per cent of the total
displaced, mining has displaced 3.37
per cent, urban development projects
12.86 per cent, thermal projects 2.60
per cent and wildlife sanctuaries 0.5
per cent. A host of other projects,
which are still in the process of being
finalised, and further displacement
will push up these figures. The
number of people who have been
indirectly affected is far greater than
those mentioned above who have
been directly affected.
National Development and
the State’s Resources
Orissa contains 24.5 per cent of
India’s manganese reserves. It is
a veritable dream destination for
steel-makers, containing 25.3 per
cent of India’s iron ore reserves,
24.5 per cent of its coal reserves,
17.5 per cent of its dolomite
reserves and 1.4 per cent of its
limestone reserves. Bahplimali is just
one hill where the state boasts 57.5
per cent of India’s bauxite reserves.
There’s more, the state also has
87.5 per cent of the nation’s nickel
and 89.9 per cent of its chromite
reserves.
In 1994 the Union government
amended the Mines and Minerals
(Regulation and Development) Act,
1957, allowing the inflow of private
capital, both domestic and foreign,
to explore and exploit 13 minerals
including iron ore, manganese,
nickel, and bauxite. The coal sector
was subsequently, and completely
deregulated in 1997. Orissa opened
the floodgates to foreign and
domestic investment.
Projects worth Rs. 2,50,000 crore
are likely to be implemented in the
state in the next five to ten years,
a majority of them mining projects.
In the last two years, government
has also signed MoUs with 25 steel
industries; if all of them go through,
the state will produce a whopping
24.91 million tonnes of steel each
year. A little over a decade ago
(during 1995-1996), Orissa had
already received the largest amount
of private investment in India, both
foreign and domestic. It now ranks
among the top ten states in terms of
investment. Till 1995 there were only
two steel plants. Following marginal
growth between 1995 and 2000,