Minister of State for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal, who assumed the additional charge of mines ministry in Tuesday’s Cabinet reshuffle, said on Wednesday that he will work towards raising the mines and minerals sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP by an additional 1 per cent in the next 2-3 years. Goyal took the additional charge of the mines ministry from Narendra Singh Tomar, who has been shifted to the rural development ministry. “We will work on a growth of 30-35 per cent annually in terms of the volume of minerals mined, which would help us in increasing mining’s share in GDP by 1 per cent in 2-3 years,” Goyal said. At present, mining’s share in the country’s GDP is 2.4 per cent. [related-post] Watch Video: What's making news When asked about merger of the coal and mines ministries, he said: “We will see that at an appropriate time. The Prime Minister and senior ministers will take a call on this. But, I must say this government works on synergy and is performance oriented.” To a query on a possible merger of the coal and mines ministries, he said, “We will see that at an appropriate time. The Prime Minister and senior ministers will take a call on this. But, I must say this government works on synergy and is performance oriented.” The government has merged the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) with the external affairs ministry in sync with its broad principle of ‘minimum government, maximum governance’, he added. Goyal also said he will talk with the officials in the mines ministry on creating an app which will inform people about the status of the mines, the minerals extracted as well as on export and import of minerals. Goyal said Tomar has done an outstanding job by improving the basic infrastructure of mining sector.
