How to be a Good Goan Ancestor

Reclaim the Commons picnic 2020 organised by the Goenchi Mati Movement

We Do Not Inherit the Earth from Our Ancestors; We Borrow It from Our Children The intergenerational equity principle offers a criteria to judge whether we have been good ancestors to our children and the countless future generations to follow. The principle of Intergenerational Equity (IE) is, at its heart, quite simple. It is our duty to ensure future generations …

The Great Goan Mining Heist: Implications of the 2014 Supreme Court Judgement Ruling

Over the last ten years mining losses have been variously reported and unsubstantiated estimates touted. In among all of this, one thing is certain: the trend is consistently upwards. Amounts have been quoted from Rs. 3,500 crores due to non-payment of royalty (PAC Report) to Rs. 35,000 crores due to mining outside lease areas (Shah Commission). However the latest official …

AAP : what about the lease renewals scam?

Arvind Kejriwal, AAP conveynor, recently mentioned in Goa that AAP will initiate action against those implicated by the Shah Commission in the mining scam. This is welcome. While many investigations have commenced, not one person has been convicted so far. We hope that Arvind Kejriwal will also raise the issue of the much larger Goa’s mining lease renewal scam, which …

Minerals – who are the beneficial owners

In an earlier post, we had discussed who owns minerals in India under the Constitution. In broad terms, state governments usually own onshore minerals, all offshore minerals are owned by the union government. There are two additional aspects of minerals to consider, the public trust doctrine and the intergenerational equity principle. The Public Trust Doctrine, an integral part of common law …