First, let me thank you for 'saving my face'; I am happy that with your reply, you have shown that you have a point to make and are making it logically and reasonably. We may disagree, but it is not an abusive and personal disagreement, which is after all the most that one can hope for.
What is irrational democracy?
Here are two stories excerpted from WSJ to serve as an example. The complete story is
Indian Road Hits Unexpected Bump - WSJ.com
Good point.
I happen to disagree.
Vedanta was completely in the wrong. It had no permission to build there, it violated numerous regulations and laws, and it depended on the importance of the project to defend its indefensible position as breaker of laws.
It is clear that the needs of development and the needs of preserving the environment and preservation of ethnic minorities are contradictory. No resolution is possible. The only possibility which is sane and constructive is to proceed step at a time, and come to an administrative decision which will optimise (not maximise) the utility of the decision for the country and its citizens.
Here the Ministry - and the Minister - for the Environment had the role of a brake on runaway development. Ignoring its lawful position and ignoring the laws of the land will lead to chaos, because a liberal democracy runs on the application of the rule of law. Once this is removed, there is no further justification for the state. This is completely alien to the system and the philosophy of an erstwhile Communist regime governed by Marxian philosophy (ignoring the radical changes of the last thirty years).
There is naturally a difference in perspective in your view and in the Indian government's, as well as in the perspective of the affected tribe.
The views of the Wall Street Journal are so far slanted in favour of the earth-wrecking activities of unfettered big business that it is difficult to take it seriously any longer. We already know its anti-environmental anti-green position, and we know that this is a position which is totally oriented to the supremacy of the existing economic hierarchy, and totally opposed to rising economies.
The story tells vividly how an irrational or rambunctious democracy looks like and what result it will yield: a project tremendously important to the country of India was blocked by a 8000-person tribe.
And a damn good thing too. Allow me at a later date or on some other occasion to address the distortion of the left movement in India due to the corrupting influence of big business.
And the article continues...
Please be sure that in writing what I do, there is no support for the people who rioted and burned down government buildings, or private property, or caused physical harm to people.
However, here too, we are talking about a predatory government that had appropriated huge tracts of land with little or no compensation earlier for projects of no economic value. These appropriations were at artificially low prices, and were used for developments at great value-added prices, which yielded a rich dividend for those able to reach them. That hint should be enough.
In this connection, you need to also understand the role of the protected electorate in the development of scheduled castes and tribes, and the implications of the growth of the power of those sections. The discussion could be massive. I am prepared however to share all the relevant facts with you whenever - and wherever - you find it convenient (subject, at all times to my increasingly brief access to the Internet).
In both cases, the elected leaders failed to educate the constituents with broader interest of their nation in their mind, to mediate among interest groups to reach a compromise. Instead, in the first case the ministry immediately stopped Vedanta, and Vedanta punished the local people in return. In the second case, dozens of politicians from other political parties have shown up in Jikarpur to personally pledge support to the farmers' cause, perhaps not really for the farmers interest but for their own political interest. Both ended up in lose-lose results.
As you can see for yourself, Vedanta's 'punishment' was merely an ill-disguised attempt to put pressure on the concerned ministry to let it have its way. That is no reason to give in. For that matter, that is no reason to give in to the demands of those rioting. Law and order has to be maintained. The loss lies in there, not in the loss of a project that never was.
IMHO, if it is indeed in the interest of the nation, government activities similar to Condemnation via eminent domain
Eminent domain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia should be adopted legally and forcefully.
Perhaps, this being an obscure matter in an obscure province of an obscure land, you may not have had an opportunity to scrutinise the details.
The land was acquired under eminent domain. You will have noted from the same article that you cited that there is scope for dispute regarding just compensation. You will note from the article in WSJ that the compensation was double closer to the city, half of that in the other direction, but close to another city. This is what set off the protests, which again, as a breach of law, I deplore.
However, there are earlier precedents, from the state of West Bengal, where the Communist government sought to take over fertile agricultural land for the flagship Tata Nano project, and failed utterly. At that time, the proposition was made, and is becoming increasingly influential, though not yet reflected in statute, that eminent domain should be exercised for public purposes for administration by public bodies alone, and that permissions given to the private sector should be actualised by the private sector by dealing direct with the owners of property, rather than use government fiat to do so. It has been found that the owners of property gain many times through this procedure, in those cases that the new philosophy has been applied.
India functions under the rule of law, in this case, Common Law, as in the case of all those countries which the Wiki article cites, all followers of Common Law. Again, your point is correct in that the elected government did not seek accommodation or understanding. This is due to specific social and ethnic reasons. I could dwell on that at length if you have the patience for it, but will ensure that you are interested before proceeding further.
In short, these are mistaken examples, in that they represent a legitimate difference of views between what constitutes the public good and what does not. You are aware of course that in the two cases you have mentioned, under our federal system, the government at the centre, Government of India, was politically different from the government in Orissa, the Vedanta case, or the government in Uttar Pradesh, the Jaypee case. It is not without significance that both these companies are also known as among the greatest environmental wreckers in the country.
Thank you for your excellent arguments. I await your response to continue.