Natural resources and the myriad ways in which humans exploit these seem to fascinate veteran journalist and documentary filmmaker Paranjoy Guha Thakurta no end. Such exploitation and its repercussions have been a motif of a majority of his films, as evidenced by works like Hot as hell about the working conditions of coal miners in Dhanbad or Coal curse on the consequences of mining in Singrauli.
Blood and Iron , one among this series, which chronicles the transformation of Bellary from a verdant green village to a dusty red unliveable region aided by a nexus of mining barons, politicians and bureaucrats, was screened at the Nila theatre on Friday, as part of the ‘Behind The Lines, Between The Lines’ film festival.
The documentary, which was shot when the Reddy brothers who controlled a major part of the Bellary mines were very much in power, was completed with the help of funds pooled from hundreds of individuals. Clandestine shots of the illegal mines mixed with news clips and set to the folk songs of the region make for some compelling viewing. He admits to taking the help of some of Reddy brothers’ rivals to track down the illegal mines.
Following the release of the latest of his books, ‘Gas Wars: Crony capitalism and the Ambanis’, which deals with natural gas exploitation, Mr. Thakurta was served with a legal notice by Reliance Industries Limited. It warned of legal action if the sale of the book was not stopped immediately and copies destroyed. The notice also demands an unconditional apology.
“Such scare tactics are regularly employed by corporates to shut the critics up. This legal notice is a classic case of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), which is meant to scare the person involved as well as the others who might in the future do such work,” Mr. Thakurta told The Hindu .
On the Central ordinance to allow e-auction of coal blocks to private parties, effectively nullifying the Coal Nationalisation Act of 1973, he said that it is too early to predict the repercussions of such a move.
“It is a controversial decision and there will surely be a hue and cry in Parliament when it is tabled. It aims to end the State monopoly over coal, but one can never be sure how it will turn out,” he says.
