Mining and human development in developing countries: a comparative analysis of mining and non-mining districts in India

Abstract

The contribution of mining operation to the development of the local region remains under serious controversy. The pro-mining block is of the view that mining represents the wealth of a region and opens up wide vistas for the latter‟s prosperity. There are equal concerns that mining cause‟s involuntary displacements of local people and that very often the displaced families are not adequately compensated for their direct and indirect, economic and social losses. People in the mining areas not only become victims of environmental degradation, but also go through changes in terms of over-all well-being. Nevertheless, mining projects are promoted by integrating them with the narratives of progress and development. The present paper attempts to study the impact of mining on the well-being of people living in the mining areas in the Indian state of Odisha measured in terms of human development indicators. It highlights some interesting facts about the contribution of mining sector to Odisha‟s economy which destabilizes the conventional ideas about mining areas. This present study is both diagnostic and exploratory. An attempt has been made here to throw light on various aspects of human development. For the purpose secondary data have been collected from materials like books, journals and other official documents and interpreted in a comparative framework to study human development parameters in mining and non-mining districts. It is proposed that despite having a significantly lower health index and Human Development Index in mining districts is higher than the non-mining districts. This is due to significantly higher income index in mining districts than non-mining districts. It is also proposed that income generated from mining are not well distributed among inhabitants of mining region and are loaded in favor of the rich. Thus a compensation mechanism in mining policy, where mining has huge potential, can be designed taking environmental cost and health problem of community into account, in order to make mining industry a sustainable means of broad based and equitable growth.