The government’s tough stand against Greenpeace is based on
a report submitted by the Intelligence Bureau to the prime minister’s office
last June when the new federal government was taking charge. The report leaked
to media terms Greenpeace as a “threat to India’s economic and national
security.” The report says that a number of large development projects have
been cancelled, disrupted or delayed because of Greenpeace campaign against
coal mining, coal fired power plants, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO),
hydro power projects, tea farming practices and several large industrial
projects. The intelligence report has mentioned London-based Vedanta’s bauxite
project and South Korean company POSCO’s steel plant in Odisha state and hydro
power projects in Arunachal Pradesh state bordering China as examples of
affected projects.
The intelligence agency estimates that disruptions to large
projects have cut India’s gross domestic product growth by 2-3 per cent a year.
The intelligence agency has noted that Greenpeace and other
NGOs are using funds from donors in USA, UK, Germany and the Netherlands to
mobilize protests against development projects in India. The agency also
alleged that Greenpeace has flouted laws relating to receiving and accounting
foreign funding. The agency has raised questions about the intentions of a
number of expat Greenpeace officials, consultants and journalists who were brought
to India for various campaigns and projects. The agency has also raised the
issue of steep salaries being paid to Greenpeace officials and consultants.
Growth pledge
The Indian government, led by prime minister Narendra Modi,
came to power by promising rapid development and fight against corruption.
Since taking office, PM Modi has made development his key priority. He has
launched an unprecedented reform agenda to create a welcoming environment for
foreign investors. He has toured almost all industrialised nations inviting
their governments and businesses to “make in India.” His energised pitch and
the reform agenda have earned friendly postures from the world leaders and
global CEOs with US president Barak Obama even calling him India’s Reformer-in-Chief. He wants to modernise India’s creaking
infrastructure and needs nearly one trillion dollars in the next five years,
mostly from the foreign investors. The last thing he wants is activists coming
in the way. Aggressive campaigns by activists can potentially turn off foreign
investors.
Even though PM Modi has repeatedly said he is for
sustainable development and will not allow development at the cost of
environmental destruction, Greenpeace has a different vision for India’s
development. PM Modi looks at coal fired power plants, hydro power and nuclear power
as crucial to quickly solve India’s acute shortage of power. Greenpeace
advocates India should embrace renewable energy instead and has actively tried
to physically halt power projects.
The government thinks that the GMO is important for India’s
food security; Greenpeace is against it citing ecological dangers. For the
government, large industrial and infrastructure projects across the country are
badly needed for the economic development, creating employment and alleviating
poverty. Greenpeace says these projects are risking bio-diversity, destroying forests
and displacing communities.
The government, based on the Intelligence reports, seems to
have concluded that Greenpeace is obstructing India’s development at the behest
of foreign interests. The action has been swift.
Lock down
In March, Greenpeace campaigner Priya Pillai, who was headed
to the UK to brief British MPs on the ongoing campaign against a coal mine in
Madhya Pradesh state jointly owned by London-registered Essar Energy, was
deplaned and put on a no-fly list on the orders of the home ministry. Later, a
Delhi High Court judge ordered the government to lift the ban on her travel, a
victory for Greenpeace. In another judgement in January, Delhi High Court had
ruled that the home ministry had not followed due process or shown
justification in blocking money from Greenpeace International to Greenpeace
India. This however followed by freeze on domestic bank accounts and new
investigations against the campaigner.
Greenpeace has taken a confrontational position. The
campaigner has categorically denied all charges and has labelled the government
action as “attempts to silence
criticism and dissent”, “an attack on civil society” and “a cynical move to suppress democracy.” Greenpeace India Executive
Director, Samit Aich has said that “a campaign is being waged against dissent,
but we will not be cowed.”
The government looks determined to act tough against those
who oppose its development plans. At the time of writing this piece, the news
came in that the Indian government has asked the Ford Foundation; the New York
based private foundation which funds several local NGOs in India, to get
government clearance before spending money, to make sure its funds were used
for "bona fide welfare activities within the country."
The battle lines are drawn. The war is over which
development model is good for India and who decides what is good for India.
Contributed by Rajesh Chhabara, founder of CSRWorks International and a member of Ethical Corporation's editorial advisory board.
This article originally appeared in Ethical Corporation magazine, May 2015 issue.
