Two protestors wearing Stop Adani T-shirts and carrying a placard that said to SBI 'No $1BN ADANI LOAN' ran across the ground during the first match of the India VS Australia ODI 2020. Yeah, that sure caught our attention. Good strategy guys.
But question: What exactly is the Adani group doing in Australia? What stance can we take regarding the issue, especially considering that both the key elements Adani and SBI are from India?
For those who are unfamiliar with Adani, the Adani Group is an Indian multinational company headquartered in Ahmedabad and founded by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a commodity trading business. It has an annual revenue of 13 billion US dollars and has operations in 50 different countries. According to Forbes, Gautam Adani is the second richest guy in the country as of 2020.
As for what's happening in Australia, well it’s about Adani wanting to mine one of the largest coal reserves which lies in the Galilee Basin in Central Queensland. The project has sort of been around since 2014 but it was approved by Queensland and other federal governments only later, that is in June 2019. Once operational, Adani has said that the mining will produce 10 million tons of coal per annum. The project has also been surrounded by multiple controversies ever since its inception due to environmental and regulatory issues. But Adani has invested quite a lot in the project and are keen for it to not stop.
Adani Mining Australia said in September, 2020 that its billion-dollar Carmichael project in Central Queensland has created jobs for more than 1500 people and awarded over 1.5 billion Australian dollars in contracts.
CEO David Boshoff also mentioned that the COVID-19 recession meant Adani's investment was needed more than ever: "Mining has cushioned the Queensland and Western Australian economies from the worst of the devastating economic impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns and we are proud to be a part of that."
In response to the job opportunities, the protesting communities and the #STOP ADANI have highlighted the fact that the current numbers are a far cry from what Adani had initially quoted (10,000 jobs and 22 billion dollars) for the purpose of gaining public and official approval. Also while Adani promises a mere 1500 jobs and financially unstable contracts (considering that investors are backing out), it might endanger around 60,000 tourism jobs in Queensland because building the mine involves dredging the coastline in the Great Barrier Reef area which would not only damage big parts of the already struggling reef but also the people who make a livelihood based on it.
As for India, according to the Down to Earth magazine, the mine is not likely to have economic benefits for the Indian poor either. So question, who IS it benefitting then?
(Fun fact: I discovered this magazine after we had to read it for a college project. Oh sorry did I say Fun fact, I think I meant Boring Irrelevant Titbit. But here is the link for abovementioned article https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/energy/do-india-s-poor-need-coal-from-adani-s-carmichael-mine-68789)
The company disputes the activists' estimates of the mine's impact on the environment. According to them, there is no basis for concern especially considering the fact that they have indeed got official approval from the Queensland government.
“We have been working closely with regulators over a very long period and provided scientific information about groundwater in and around the mine to inform how it is managed and monitored. This includes using data collected from our network of more than 100 groundwater monitoring bores.”
In response, Australian Conservation Foundation senior campaigner Christian Slattery said: “Over its life, Adani’s mine will drain up to 270 billion litres from Central Queensland’s precious groundwater aquifers. Independent scientists and federal government agencies such as the CSIRO have identified fundamental flaws in Adani’s groundwater modelling, including the use of highly selective data that differs from on-site testing."
On the other hand, an estimated 120 million tons of CO2 are going to be released every year for sixty years by the coal industry, which incidentally is greater than the amount produced by the entire countries of Austria and Chile. Australia was only just ravaged by a forest fire, a clear and obvious indicator of global warming. Climate change is no longer an abstract concept. It is very likely that this is an important factor in the protest against the coal mine, in particular a coal mine that will involve clearing an area equivalent to 28,000 football pitches, a coal mine that will set a trend for more coal mines and benefit few people (when we take a closer look). A coal mine which could set back any progress that the country or the world has made towards better, efficient renewable energy sources.
As a result of this widespread agitation, all global financiers except SBI have backed out including Barclays, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland etc. All the prominent insurance companies have also withdrawn from the project. Thus, SBI's withdrawal is key and hence the protest against SBI
That should explain the cricket match incident and the entire situation in general. Hopefully it helped you get some clarity on where you stand.
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