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Journalism of Courage
A mining Bill,mandating miners to compulsorily share their profits and creating a regulator to monitor the sectors overall growth would be put up before the Cabinet for its approval on Friday.
The Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) ((MMDR) Bill 2011,which has been recently cleared by a Group of Ministers (GoM),is likely to be tabled in the winter session of Parliament,after Cabinet approval. The Bill also seeks to put in place a mechanism for time-bound allocation of mineral concessions and setting up of the National Mineral Regulatory Authority (NMRA),mining tribunals,which would be empowered to issue guidelines for improvement of the mining sector.
In the wake of concerns over illegal mining in iron ore-rich Karnataka and calls to streamline the existing law to regulate the growth of the mineral sector,the mines ministry desires early passage of the MMDR Bill to help the Central and state governments monitor utilisation of the concessions given to various lease-holders and prevent over-exploitation of mineral resources.
The GoM headed by Pranab Mukherjee has endorsed the stand of the mines ministry that in the absence of a mechanism to determine mining profit,there is no merit in asking miners to share 26 per cent of their net profit.
The ministry has suggested that it was better to ask them to share 26 per cent of the royalty paid to the states. Mines minister Dinsha Patel had said that 56 mineral-rich districts of the country would together get Rs 7,000-8,000 crore through this exercise.
He said the money accruing from this profit-sharing mechanism would go towards uplift people living in the mining areas from poverty. I also feel that once people start living a better life,they would themselves oppose the illegal mining menace. This,they would do for their own good as no one would like to be identified with this issue, Patel said.
It also suggests setting up of special courts to dispose off cases pertaining to illegal mining speedily. The Bill does not favour reserving mineral areas for the PSUs unless it was imperative to do so.
