How Government Facilitates Private Mining Capital: The Story of POSCO and JSW in Odisha

This chapter examines the government’s facilitation of private-sector mining in India. The chapter discusses how neo-liberal states facilitate private capital in the strategic sectors. The state institutions often ignore the democratic responsibilities of delivering development. The chapter discusses how the government facilitates an international mining project, POSCO, and an Indian company, JSW, in Odisha’s mining sector. The Odisha government advanced the project by selectively using the Odisha Land Acquisition Act of 1948, prioritizing industrial development over public interests. The Act’s stipulations, with unclear compensation criteria and broad interpretations of ‘public purpose,’ facilitated the rapid appropriation of land for mining, frequently undermining the rights of residents. The Forest Rights Act (FRA) was ineffectively implemented, disregarding communal claims to forest lands. The chapter addresses the infringements of forest and land rights, namely the disregard for the legal claims of local tribal tribes, especially their entitlements under the Orissa Tenancy Act. POSCO could not start the project, and later, the land was transferred to an Indian company called Jindal South West (JSW). Again, the local community mobilises against the project.