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LandLawsRP.docx Prithav Bang

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Summary
5
Kirit P. Mehta School of Law

PROJECT SUBMITTED ON:

The Odisha-POSCO Impasse

13
IN COMPLIANCE TO PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE MARKING SCHEME, FOR
SEMESTER VII OF 2022-2023, IN THE SUBJECT OF Land Law SUBMITTED TO

FACULTY

Asst. Prof. Adv. Himanshu Samant

SUBMITTED BY:

Prithav Bang

(A012)

1|Page 9
Land Law
Kirit P. Mehta School of Law

Table of Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 3

Analysis ................................................................................................................. 3

Judicial Analysis ................................................................................................ 4

1
Issues Associated with the resistance of local people to the POSCO Project ... 5

Economic Factor ............................................................................................. 6

Land Alienation .............................................................................................. 6

Proposed Displacement .................................................................................. 7

1
Perception of the Pro-project local people on potential developmental
prospects of the project ...................................................................................... 7

Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 8

References ............................................................................................................. 9

Articles and Journals .......................................................................................... 9

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Land Law
Kirit P. Mehta School of Law

Introduction

The Indian state of Odisha and the Korean steel firm POSCO (4th largest steel manufacturing
12
company in the world) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2005 to construct a
US$12 billion integrated steel project that includes a factory, mine, and related infrastructure.
Since then, the villages impacted by the planned steel mill have vehemently opposed the
proposal because they do not want to give up their agricultural lands and risk being displaced.
Since then, there have been numerous instances of police and other actors using violence and
2
intimidation against anti-POSCO protestors, as well as the filing of hundreds of criminal
cases against protestors, the legality of which has been questioned. The conflict between the
company and the communities has also intensified. This is a case involving risks and
damages to human rights as well as, much more generally, disputes about development
objectives and who gets to determine them. Regarding approval to convert forest property (on
2
which people dwell) for non-forest activities, environmental clearances, land acquisition, and
prospecting licenses for iron ore, the POSCO project has encountered several domestic legal
and regulatory obstacles. Finally, POSCO terminated the MoU in 2017 and pulled out of the
country.1

It was touted that this plant will absorb 86% of unemployment in Odisha and also contribute
a whopping amount of Rs. 12,100 crores to the state GDP. Even though it had the support of
the government it could not set up its plant due to a coordinated uniform resistance by the
locals.

Analysis

The Indian parliament introduced new legislation that directly impacted Posco-India a year
10
after the 2005 MoU was signed. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006—also known as the Forests Rights Act—is a piece
of legislation. Communities in India who live near forests were given rights under the
legislation, including access to forest land and other resources. The Posco-India project was

11
Orissa – Moving towards more sustained growth in India’s Macro-economic outlook 2020 – India 2020
economy available in www.dnd.co.in/India2020economy outlook/Macro_Economic_Outlook2020

3|Page
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Kirit P. Mehta School of Law

1
retrospectively subject to this legislation. As per MOU, the company would also develop and
operate:

1. mining facilities in the areas allocated by the government of Odisha / Government of

India;
2. road, rail, and port infrastructure including a dedicated railway line from the mines
belt to Paradeep;
3. an integrated township;
4. water supply infrastructure2

Additionally, N.C. Saxena Committee was established in July 2010 and consists of 19
members. This committee visited Odisha and publicly criticized the Government of Odisha
3
for failing to recognize forest rights and violating the Forest Rights Act in the forest areas that
were intended to be diverted for the POSCO India project. The committee requested that the
3
State Government's permission to divert forest land be withdrawn from the Ministry of
Environment and Forests of the Government of India. In response to the allegations made by
3
the NC Saxena committee, the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Government of
India issued a stop work order in August 2010.3

Judicial Analysis

2
Limited avenues of redressal were in the hands of the locals. These were Domestic legal
avenues, including National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Odisha High Court.

Initially, a case was filed In the Odisha High Court regarding the felling of trees on private
land to which the high court had passed a stay order.

In May 2010, police used rubber bullets, tear gas, and batons to disperse a dharna of
2
nonviolent demonstrators in Balitutha. An independent government fact-finding mission
found that over 100 were injured, some critically. The head of this expedition, retired Justice
H. Suresh of the Bombay High Court, urged the immediate cancellation of the POSCO

2 8
‘Majority Report of the Committee Constituted to Investigate into the proposal submitted by POSCO India
Pvt. Limited for establishment of an Integrated Steel Plant and Captive Port in Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa’.
October 18, 2010.
31
Bijulal M V, Manshi Asher, Sridevi Panikkar & Sumit Chakravarty, Report Of An Independent Fact Finding
Team On Orissa’s POSCO Project, Mainstream, Vol. XLV, No. 21, 14th May (2007)

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Kirit P. Mehta School of Law

project and said that "Everywhere in this nation if people demand justice, they receive police
lathis (batons) and tyranny."

The affected villages brought two lawsuits to the Odisha High Court in 2009. The first
2
lawsuit contested POSCO's purchase of 438 acres of private property for public use. The
petitioners' proof that POSCO, a private firm, had paid for the property rendered the public
2
purpose argument moot and the land purchase in violation of the Land Acquisition Act
2
(1894) (case no. 14884) was recognized by the Odisha High Court. The Odisha government
thereafter abandoned its intentions to purchase private property, which in any event made
2
only a minor portion of the overall amount of land, and the Court thus dismissed the matter.
This case is significant because it indirectly, rather than via a categorical judicial ruling,
2
resulted in POSCO's intentions for land acquisition being scaled down. However, the
reduction is relatively small and unlikely to ultimately stop the project.

For this purpose, a second petition was filed at the same time as this one.
2
The project's conformity with the FRA's provisions defending the rights of Other Traditional
Forest Dwellers was contested in the second petition (case no. 14885). In this instance, the
High Court denied the petitioners' request for a temporary halt to tree cutting, but it did not
completely dismiss their case, which is still pending but has not been scheduled for a hearing
in quite some time. Due to the project's anticipated economic advantages, which include
"provid[ing] employment to 30,000 people and enormous creation of money via excise,
customs duty, VAT and income tax," the ruling regarding the interim stay takes note of this
fact. Thus, the Odisha High Court's conclusions in the POSCO case showed some hesitation.
2
In the private land case, the interim ruling grants certain land rights to the villagers; but, in
the forest land case, the Court decided not to defend the possible OTFD rights, in favor of
supporting the goals of the Odisha state government to promote industrialization and
economic development.4
1
Issues Associated with the resistance of local people to the POSCO Project

1
This paper attempts to explore and explain the economic & socio-cultural factors/issues
related to the outraged resistance of a significant number of project-affected people to the

47
Asher, M. (2009)Striking while the iron is hot A case study of the Pohang Steel Company’s (POSCO) proposed
project in Orissa. Pune: NCAS, http://sanhati.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/11/striking-while-the-iron-is-
hot_posco-case-study.pdf

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Kirit P. Mehta School of Law

1
POSCO project based on the nature & characteristics of the protest movement launched by
the local people of the POSCO project location at Jagatsinghpur district in Odisha & the
relevant data collected through primary & secondary sources.5

Economic Factor

In practical terms, economic deprivation is caused by two problems: land alienation, which
alters the structure of land use and zoning, and the loss of an agricultural economy as a
reliable source of income.

Land Alienation

Only 438 acres of the 4004 acres of embarked land were on private property; the remainder
was on government land. The property that was being designated as forest land out of those
3566 acres of public land was mostly made up of sand waste. These sandy wastelands were
created in the aftermath of the typhoon in 1971. In these regions, the state government
4
planted shrubs and casuarina trees. Over 900 acres of these sandy wastelands were under the
hands of the residents which are being used by them for the production and growth of Paan,
betel vines, and cashew nuts since these places are believed to be best suited.6

Paan was mostly grown on public land rather than on private property. It was believed that
paan had been grown in these regions for a very long time. The tribal tribes and indigenous
groups were claiming more than 200 acres of land, according to a POSCO committee study.
The villagers who now own those areas would have been driven off their property, which
might have had an impact on their existence. These peasants' ability to grow paan and betel
berries and other crops would have been hampered by their lack of access to land if it had
been acquired.
4
According to official statistics provided by the state of Odisha, these relocation plans are
affecting over 400 households and 22,000 persons as a result of the purchase of land for the
planned project. There was a larger likelihood that this government action would have

51
Report of the Meena Gupta committee constituted to investigate into the proposal of the POSCO India Pvt
Ltd for establishment of Integrated Steel Plant & Captive Port in Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha submitted on
October 18, (2010) to the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt of India, New Delhi
66
T.K Oommen, “Protest against Displacement by Development Projects: The Indian Case”, Indian Social
Development Report, 2008, CSD, Oxford University Press, New Delhi p. 76, 2008

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negatively impacted their means of subsistence as the majority of households in this area rely
on the production of betel vines.7

Proposed Displacement

In Indian culture, emotional ties to one's mother and motherland are quite strong. As a result,
1
according to the respondents, they protested the project with a strong determination not to
leave their motherland even at the cost of their lives because of the threat that their
1
displacement from their home/homestead land due to the proposed project posed for
shattering their socio-cultural fabric.

471 households from the following six villages will be relocated, according to official
information obtained from the Kujang Tahsil office and Jagatsinghpur collectorate, since
their homes and homesteads are located inside the project's designated area.
1
When asked about the allegedly lucrative Resettlement & Rehabilitation Package announced
by the government of Odisha and POSCO India Pvt. Ltd., the majority of respondents [74%]
described the package as an act of hypocrisy by the government and cited the example of the
1
sad state of affairs of the displaced families of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. [IOCL] plant
near Paradeep in their district, i.e. Jagatsinghpur government would have undoubtedly
1
harmed their income and livelihood.8

Perception of the Pro-project local people on potential developmental prospects

of the project

They claim that the impoverished region's socio-economic change has gone through many
stages of growth. To assure quick growth in today's competitive era, a new model of
development based on technical innovation has replaced the so-called self-sustaining local
economy based on traditionalism. They have high hopes for the POSCO project's future
growth, which would significantly improve the socioeconomic standing of residents of the
area in question as well as the state's economy as a whole. They expressed their confidence in
the state government and the project proponent to maintain their word and implement skill

71
Upendra Buxi, Development, Displacement, And Resettlement: A Human Right Perspective, Indian Social
Development Report 2008, CSD, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, PP. 17-24 (2008)
811
Mishra, Deepak K (2011). Behind Dispossession: State, Land Grabbing and Agrarian Change in Rural Orissa

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Kirit P. Mehta School of Law

development initiatives for the project's residents to improve their employability at the steel
mill and captive port. The locals believe that because of this mega project, other trade and
commerce would also thrive in that area, offering them possible sources of income in
addition to a large number of work prospects in the integrated steel mill.9

The perception of the local project supporters that the POSCO project would significantly
3
benefit the Indian economy by mining iron ore and producing steel locally in the state of
1
Odisha is supported by the report of India's National Council of Applied Economic Research
on the social cost-benefit analysis of the project. According to the aforementioned analysis,
1
POSCO India's FINEX Steel production process would be better at reducing air pollution in
India since its sulfur oxide [SOx] emissions are 10 times lower than those of the country's
present BF method. The paper asserts that when compared to the method now utilized by
1
Indian steel factories, the POSCO process would be 25 times less polluting in terms of
nitrogen oxides [NOx] and 5 times less polluting in terms of particle dust.10

Conclusion

A well-designed resource use pattern that aims to satisfy human needs while protecting the
environment is referred to as sustainable development. Like any other industrial or
development project, POSCO's goal is to promote inclusive and sustainable growth via the
extraction of iron ore, the community/state of Odisha in particular, and India generally
Odisha is where steel is made. However, the project's land acquisition and other processes
Implementation have seen an exceptional delay as a result of a lot of project opposition. In
humans, resistance to change is a common occurrence. Around 1990, a comprehensive effort
was launched to computerize all government departments in India. An overpopulated nation
like India has a larger level of unemployment issue, which results in but presently, the
influence & advantage of such program are seen by a larger trend of social crime every
person in this nation, including 3-year-old children. In our society, there have been many
stages of socioeconomic change. Every participant in the POSCO project including the

96
Amita Baviskar, “Social Movements”, in N.G. Jayaland P.B. Mehta(Ed), The Oxford Companion to Politics in
India, Oxford University Press, pp.381-384, 2010
10 1
Neera Chandhoke, People’s Movement And The Articulation Of Rights, Indian Journal Of Human Rights, Vol.
10 & 11, No. 1 & 2, PP 55-73, Jan-2006, Dec (2007)

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Kirit P. Mehta School of Law

government, the project's proponent, the impacted parties, and the civil society should
approach the planned developmental project with a constructive mindset.

Even though, some would say that the benefits outweigh the losses but in the end, it depends
on your perception. In this incident, we can see how people’s will prevailed over the
construction of a steel plant.

Those who are most adaptable to change will prevail rather than the most intellectual.
Consequently, taking into account the delicate and essential positions of two completely
different sets of locals, the state government's coordinated efforts, all political parties, civil
societies, and It is crucial for the project's proposer to develop a workable and complete plan.
People were positively impacted by measures to handle the project's emergent problems to
prevent future delays in the project's execution.

References

Articles and Journals

1. Orissa – Moving towards more sustained growth in India’s Macro-economic outlook

2020 – India 2020 economy available in www.dnd.co.in/India2020economy
outlook/Macro_Economic_Outlook2020

2. ‘Majority Report of the Committee Constituted to Investigate into the proposal

submitted by POSCO India Pvt. Limited for establishment of an Integrated Steel Plant
and Captive Port in Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa’. October 18, 2010.
3. Bijulal M V, Manshi Asher, Sridevi Panikkar & Sumit Chakravarty, Report Of An
Independent Fact Finding Team On Orissa’s POSCO Project, Mainstream, Vol. XLV,
No. 21, 14th May (2007)
4. Asher, M. (2009)Striking while the iron is hot A case study of the Pohang Steel
Company’s (POSCO) proposed project in Orissa. Pune: NCAS,
http://sanhati.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/11/striking-while-the-iron-is-hot_posco-
case-study.pdf

5. Report of the Meena Gupta committee constituted to investigate into the proposal of
the POSCO India Pvt Ltd for establishment of Integrated Steel Plant & Captive Port

9|Page
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Kirit P. Mehta School of Law

in Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha submitted on October 18, (2010) to the Ministry of

Environment & Forests, Govt of India, New Delhi
6. T.K Oommen, “Protest against Displacement by Development Projects: The Indian
Case”, Indian Social Development Report, 2008, CSD, Oxford University Press, New
Delhi p. 76, 2008

7. Upendra Buxi, Development, Displacement, And Resettlement: A Human Right

Perspective, Indian Social Development Report 2008, CSD, Oxford University Press,
New Delhi, PP. 17-24 (2008)
8. Mishra, Deepak K (2011). Behind Dispossession: State, Land Grabbing and Agrarian
Change in Rural Orissa

9. Amita Baviskar, “Social Movements”, in N.G. Jayaland P.B. Mehta(Ed), The Oxford
Companion to Politics in India, Oxford University Press, pp.381-384, 2010
10. Neera Chandhoke, People’s Movement And The Articulation Of Rights, Indian
Journal Of Human Rights, Vol. 10 & 11, No. 1 & 2, PP 55-73, Jan-2006, Dec (2007)
11. NCAER (2007) Social Cost-Benefit Analysis of the POSCO Steel Project in Orissa,
New Delhi: NCAER
12. R.N.Shrama and Shashi.R.Singh, “Displacement in Singrauli Region: Entitlements
and rehabilitation”, Economic and political weekly, Vol-XLV, No-51, pp.62-67,
December, 2009.

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