The public trust doctrine makes natural resources a part of the commons, owned equally by all, and legally owned by the state. The resources and opportunities that the present generation have inherited must be available to future generations in perpetuity. In the Goa mining case, the Supreme Court wanted to implement intergenerational equity on the grounds of the exhaustion of the iron-ore reserves as well as the widespread damage to the Goan environment and social fabric.

The report on mining in Goa by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER 2010b) was criticised by Pranab Mukhopadhyay and Gopal K Kadekodi (hereafter MG) in EPW (12 November 2011). This author also commented on the conclusions of the report and raised several ethical issues (EPW, 21 January 2012) (hereafter Basu). R Venkatesan, the lead author of NCAER (2010b), responded to the criticism (EPW, 27 March 2012).

This comment on “Missing the Woods for the Ore: Goa’s Development Myopia” by Pranab Mukhopadhyay and Gopal K Kadekodi further criticises “A Study on Goan Iron Ore Mining Industry”, the 2010 report of the National Council of Applied Economic Research.