The Future We Need campaign was launched by the Goa Foundation (GF), mines, minerals & People (mm&P), Common Cause and the Goenchi Mati Movement (GMM). Dr. K.R. Rao Committee has been entrusted by the Ministry of Mines in order to draft the National Mineral Policy, due October 31st, 2017.

A letter has been made by the campaign as a draft statement on values, which can be found here.

BIEN has reported on Goa several times (Madhavan, 2017; Shanahan, 2017; McFarland, 2017; McFarland, 2016). The article invokes the Intergenerational Equity principles, or IE, which is the protection of the inheritance resources for future generations.

“In Goa, over an eight year period (2004-2012), 95% of the value of the minerals was lost. The per-head loss from recent “legal” lease renewals was Rs.10 lakhs,” the Director of the Goa Foundation, Claude Alvares, said, “Data from across the country for iron ore, coal, oil and gas shows a similar trend. Everyone is losing equally, while a few are becoming super-rich. This is looting economics, not trickle-down economics.”

The Future We Need proposes some principles for a National Mineral Policy which regards natural resources as the Commons, in such a way that people in general are entrusted as the natural custodians of these resources In this new agreement, the Commons shall be preserved, and if sold the income must be equally shared by all.

More information at:

Alvares, C, “Goa Foundation, mines, minerals & People, Common Cause and the Goenchi Mati Movement jointly launch The Future We Need Campaign”, Futurism, October 3rd 2017

Madhavan, M, “India: Goa Foundation provides recommendations to Expert Committee to push a Citizen’s Dividend out of mining fund”, BIEN, September 29th 2017

McFarland, K, “GOA, INDIA: Citizen’s Dividend promoters find support in Archbishop’s address”, BIEN, January 10th 2017

McFarland, K, “GOA, INDIA: Mining reform group releases Manifesto, calls for citizen’s dividend”, BIEN, November 26th 2016

Shanahan, G, “GOA, INDIA: Goenchi Mati Movement gains political support”, BIEN, February 8th 2017


Photo: Goa mines, CC BY 2.0 Abhisek Sarda