The government on Thursday constituted a group of ministers (GoM) headed by home minister Shivraj Patil to study the National Mineral Policy 2007 and the proposal to coal mining block auction for captive purposes by amending the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957. However, no time frame has been set for the GoM to submit its recommendations. Other members of the GoM are Sushilkumar Shinde, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sis Ram Ola, P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath , Santosh Mohan Dev, A Raja, Kapil Sibal, Premchand Gupta, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Dr Dasari Narayan Rao. The Union Cabinet had, in a meeting on February 22, discussed both the issues but due to sharp differences, decided to set up a GoM. The draft of the National Mineral Policy 2007 is based on the recommendations of the Anwar-ul Hoda committee and is being opposed by the ministry of steel.
