December 04, 2008

PM assures amendments to the National Mineral Policy

Dr Mr Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India, at a meeting with the chief ministers of 5 mineral rich states, said that a committee of officials belonging to the centre and the concerned states will examine and finalize amendments to the Act and Rules of the National Mineral Policy 2007 and nothing will be done to restrict rights of states.

It is noted that chief ministers of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh submitted a joint memorandum to the prime minister voicing their concerns over the draft National Mineral Policy which they said had been shared with them only recently. They objected to the security tenure, seamless transition from prospecting to mining license and large areas prospecting license as enshrined in the draft National Mineral Policy. They wanted the centre to emphasis on value addition within the state so that mineral bearing states benefit from industrialization both in terms of revenue and employment generation.

The chief ministers wanted the center to phase out export of minerals and in the meantime transfer the export levy entirely to the state government. They demanded that at least 5% of the annual profit from mining should be set apart for socio economic development of the tribal population in the scheduled areas. They suggested that modalities should also be evolved for the participation by the displaced persons in the equity of the mining company limited to the value of land compensation.

Meanwhile, provisions in the draft National Mineral Policy may lead to a few multinational mining companies acquiring the control over vast mineral resources of India that are required for domestic manufacturing industry.