Oil exploration and public protest
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: March 19, 2012 -

Community Rally against oil exploration and Tipaimukh dam at Nungba on 14 March 2012

Public objection to any 'purported' developmental initiatives taken up in Manipur is not a new thing.

Among other such major initiatives in recent years, first it is the proposed construction of the mega Tipaimukh dam which has been vehemently opposed by the people and now the exercise of oil exploration which is underway in some parts of Tamenglong and Churachandpur districts as well as in Jiribam sub-division of Imphal East district has caught in the eye of storm.

Faced with the problem of acute shortage of power with no hope of any betterment in the power scenario, the announcement for construction of Tipaimukh dam project, which envisages to generate 1500 megawatt of power, should be an occasion of joy and great relief for the people.

But it is not so. Similarly, people in the perpetually cash and resource starved miniscule northeastern state have been living under the impression that there is no mineral deposit worth its name in Manipur and the discovery of oil deposit and its extraction should have encouraged the people to hold up their chin high with pride. But it is far from that.

Why is that so? Time and again, it has been witnessed that the state and the project authorities are always short-sighted from recognizing the inherent rights of the indigenous people over their land and resources at the time of formulating any developmental initiatives. This is the crux of the conflict.

The latest public outcry over the oil exploration exercise has also stemmed from this same myopic syndrome that plagued the project proponents.

They failed to see that the livelihood and survival of the indigenous people revolves around sustainable use and dependence on their natural resources.

Now it has come to light that after the Geological Survey of India detected presence of rich deposit of petroleum in two oil blocks falling within Jiribam, Tamenglong and Churachandpur distrtcs of Manipur, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India granted license to the Netherlands-based company, Jubilant Oil and Gas Private Limited, in 2009 for oil exploration and drilling works and the company in turned engaged the Hyderabad-based Alpha Geo Private Limited for carrying out necessary ground work for oil exploration and drilling.

The total area granted for oil exploration is said to be 3850 sq km, which is almost one sixth of total geographical area of Manipur.

But the government of India has not considered it fit to take into confidence of the people at the time of signing the agreement for granting oil exploration license to the company on the premise that all hydrocardon deposits in India belongs to the Union.

But this is in complete contradiction to the provisions of UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People which states that all resources in the land of indigenous people belongs to them and they have exclusive rights to own, control and manage the resources in accordance to their wishes and aspirations.

What is even more galling in the present case is the fact that the oil explorers sneaked into the work sites deceiving the people with false promise.

How can any developmental initiative based on mutual distrust be expected to succeed? At least, we do not know.