Ban export of raw minerals,ores: Tribal Minister

Deo says unregulated mining in tribal areas alienating local population,helping Naxals.

Arguing that indiscriminate exploitation of mineral resources was leading to alienation amongst local tribal populations and furthering the cause of Naxalite groups,Minister for Tribal Affairs V Kishore Chandra Deo on Wednesday advocated a ban on export of raw materials like iron ore or bauxite.

Mineral resources like iron ore should be declared national wealth and their use must be regulated in the larger interest of the country,Deo said in an interview with The Indian Express.

If we do not regulate the use today,where will we go running when we need them in future? It is only prudent that we use them judiciously and preserve them for future. Unregulated mining in forest and tribal areas is one of the reasons for alienation being felt in local populations there. It is only helping the Naxalites, Deo said.

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I am of the view that there should be a ban on export of raw minerals and ores. Only what is required for our own economic growth should be mined, he said.

Deo stressed the need to ensure provisions of Forest Rights Act (FRA) had been properly complied with before forest land was diverted for non-forest purposes like setting up an industrial or mining project. He said he would write to the Environment Ministry to seek a written certificate from the state to this effect before granting forest clearance for any project.

The FRA,which came into being in January 2008,asks state governments to recognise the right of tribals and forest dwellers on forest land and grant land ownership certificates to them. Unless their rights are established and ownership pattas given,how can compensation be decided for forest dwellers or tribals whose land is being taken for a project? I will urge the MoEF to insist on written certificates from the state governments explicitly stating that rights of all affected people had been fully settled in accordance with provisions of the FRA before a particular tract of forest land was diverted for any other use, Deo said.

Implementation of FRA was one of the issues that troubled big ticket projects like POSCO and Vedanta bauxite mining proposal in Orissa.

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Deo said his ministry was working on amendments in FRA rules if need be in the Act itself to remove certain impediments in effective implementation of the Act that is considered to be landmark legislation for tribal rights.

The minister said he would soon put forward a proposal to amend the provisions of Backward Region Grants Fund (BRGF) to ensure that a block and not a district was taken as the unit for earmarking funds under this scheme.