Adanis' Myanmar port investment "not linked" with Australian coalmining project

Counterview Desk
In a rejoinder forwarded to Counterview, the Adani Group has said that its Myanmar investment in port “does not breach Australian, US, UN or other international sanctions.” Reacting to the story headlined “Adanis tieup with Myanmar army ‘involved’ in Rohingiya genocide: Aussie rights alarm”, quoting a “Guardian” report, the rejoinder said, “Adani rejects the insinuation that Myanmar investment is unethical or will compromise human rights”.
Citing Australian human rights activists, “The Guardian” had said, “The Indian conglomerate behind the controversial Carmichael coal project in north Queensland was granted permission in April to develop a container port in Yangon, on land owned by the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC).” MEC is a Myanmar-linked company allegedly linked with armed forces. It has entered into an agreement with the Adani Group to develop Ahlone International Port Terminal 2.

The rejoinder says:

As with all its international investments, the Adani Group has been guided by the Securities and Exchange Board of India and other key international guidelines and will inform the concerned authorities when we firm up the agreements.
The land where the port is proposed to be built has been leased from Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) following extensive due diligence.
This matter does not relate to Adani Mining Pty Ltd or the Carmichael Project. Adani Mining Pty Ltd operates under Australian law and regulations.
Adani’s proposed investment in the Myanmar port is held through Singapore-based entities and follow the strict regulations of the Singapore government. Singapore has a Memorandum of Understanding in place with Myanmar to boost partnerships in transport and logistics including port planning.
It is important to note that many economic sanctions against Myanmar were lifted in recent years following political reforms within the country and the election of a civilian government. While some nations, including Australia, have arms embargos and travel restrictions on key members of the military in place, this does not preclude investment in the nation or business dealings with corporations such as MEC.
Adani Group company, the Adani Yangon International Terminal Co Ltd has received approval from the Myanmar Investment Commission for an investment in a new container port in the Yangon Region.
The Myanmar Investment Commission is an entity of the Myanmar government that is governed by senior ministers and public servants including representatives of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Planning and Finance, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation.
The port terminal will be built under the auspices of the Myanmar Port Authority, the Myanmar Ministry of Transport and Communication. Details can be seen on the Commission’s website. The new container port will enable Myanmar to bring further efficiencies to the nation’s international trade by enabling cost-effective, high-volume imports and exports.
This will benefit Myanmar’s civil society by contributing to the nation’s economic development and create more than 1100 local jobs.
The Adani Group’s vision is to help build critical infrastructure for nations across key markets and help in propelling economic development and social impacts.
APSEZ (Adani Ports and SEZ) is the largest private port operator in India with established world-class ports located across the region.

Comments

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam* Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded reaction in the form of a link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Modi govt intimidating US citizens critical of abuses in India: NY Christian group to Biden

Counterview Desk the New York Council of Churches for its release of an open letter calling on the Biden administration to “speak out forcefully” against rising Hindu extremist violence targeting Christians and other minorities in India. In the letter addressed to President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other major elected officials, the NY Council of Churches expressed "grave concern regarding escalating anti-Christian violence" throughout India, particularly in Manipur, where predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo tribals have faced hundreds of violent attacks on their villages, churches, and homes at the hands of predominantly Hindu Meitei mobs.

Green revolution "not sustainable", Bt cotton a failure in India: MS Swaminathan

MS Swaminathan Counterview Desk In a recent paper in the journal “Current Science”, distinguished scientist PC Kesaven and his colleague MS Swaminathan, widely regarded as the father of the Green Revolution, have argued that Bt insecticidal cotton, widely regarded as the continuation of the Green Revolution, has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers. Sharply taking on Green Revolution, the authors say, it has not been sustainable largely because of adverse environmental and social impacts, insisting on the need to move away from the simplistic output-yield paradigm that dominates much thinking. Seeking to address the concerns about local food security and sovereignty as well as on-farm and off-farm social and ecological issues associated with the Green Revolution, they argue in favour of what they call sustainable ‘Evergreen Revolution’, based on a ‘systems approach’ and ‘ecoagriculture’. Pointing ou

Link India's 'deteriorating' religious conditions with trade relations: US policymakers told

By Our Representative Commissioners on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) raised concerns about the “sophisticated, systematic persecution” of religious minorities by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a hearing on India in Washington DC.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Why is green revolution harmful for nutrition, food safety, environment, climate change

By Bharat Dogra* A lie repeated a hundred times will not turn a lie into a truth. The big media should realize this and stop perpetuating the lie of the green revolution saving India from hunger, long after the world has awakened to the reality of how harmful the green revolution has been from the point of nutrition, food safety, environment and climate change.

Alarming Odisha arrests, 'illegal' detentions ahead of Vedanta bauxite public hearing

Counterview Desk More than 80 lawyers, legal academics and researchers have written to the Governor of Odisha raising concerns about the “alarming arrests and illegal detentions” of about two dozen persons from Rayagada district in Odisha in anticipation of the upcoming public hearing for the Sijimali bauxite mine proposed by M/s Vedanta Ltd.

Search This Blog