Recently, Indian conglomerate Adani has been making international headlines – but for some rather unsavory reasons. The Ahmedabad based MNC which is involved in energy sectors, agriculture, logistics, ports, infrastructure and more, is looking to spread its operations base beyond India. Adani’s proposed coalmine in Australia has met with stiff resistance for a number of reasons.
There have been protests against the proposed Carmichael coal mine – which would be the largest in the country – because of environmental and financing issues. At a time when the world is turning away from fossil fuels and trying to find clean, sustainable alternatives to these, there has been a huge outcry against the opening of this coal mine; protests persisting over several years. This is particularly so in light of the fact that coal is among the worst polluters on the one hand and because Australia has signed the Paris Agreement on climate, which requires nations to limit their emissions on the other.
There is apprehension that there would be significant damage to the Great Barrier Reef just off the coast of Australia. There is also the fact that Adani is banking on a A$900 million ($704 million) loan from the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF); which would essentially be a tax payer funded loan. Taking together, this is not a project that the common Australian wants. In fact polls show that over half of all Australians are against the proposed mine.
Numerous protests have been organized and have taken place across the country. A social media based protest has attracted a lot of attention and support from the people and international media. The #StopAdani Facebook page has over 34K followers. Most recently, over a thousand people turned up on Bondi Beach in Sydney and formed a #Stop Adani human sign to indicate their protest.
According to one report based on court documents by Environmental Justice Australia and Earthjustice and other papers in the public domain, there are several reasons why Adani is seen to be less than trustworthy:
It is alleged that no action was taken for five years following the 2011 incident when an Adani coal ship caused major damage to Mumbai beaches, marine life and tourism
It is alleged that Adani’s activities in Zambia resulted in a river being poisoned – a water body that local people relied on for survival – and that this information was withheld from the Australian government
There is also the allegation that Adani uses tax havens in the Cayman Islands to dodge taxes and hide revenue
Adani is accused of using child labor, underpaying workers and negligence that has resulted in injuries and deaths of workers.
The report also accuses Adani of using underhand means such as bribery of customs officials, law enforcement authorities, pollution control agencies and so on.
The Adani group has long been under the scanner for its relationship with the ruling BJP as well as with the former Gujarat Chief Minister and now Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi. Charges of crony capitalism and of receiving political favours have repeatedly been leveled against the group and its chairman Gautam Adani.
In April 2016, there were reports of the State Bank of India approving a $1 Billion loan to Adani for the Australian coal mine project. While the opposition saw this as an example of crony capitalism, where those seen to be close to the government were granted special deals; Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was quick to clarify that the government had nothing to do with the deal; that this was a decision based purely on the creditworthiness of the debtor.
In another incident, earlier this year, well known journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta resigned after two articles he wrote resulted in Adani lawyers sending notices to the publication Economic and Political Weekly. The articles were entitled "Modi government's 500-crore rupee [$98 million] bonanza to the Adani Group" and "Did the Adani Group evade 1000 crore rupees in taxes?" After a notice for defamation was received by the publication, the trustees ordered Thakurta to take down his articles, leading to his resignation. According to Thakurta, Adani has not factually rebutted the contents of the article; merely used the legal process to threaten and harass him. He stands by what he wrote and says he has the documents to back it all up.
The Australians clearly don’t want anything to do with a corporate entity that they perceive as dodgy and untrustworthy; particularly as it tries to set up a coal mine on their soil – an energy source that is decried by most of the world today. As Indians we too need to question whether some people get preferential treatment over others. Yes, personal connections have always determined how politics and corporates work in India. Does this have to continue to be the case?
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