December 03, 2008

National Mineral Policy likely to be delayed

It is reported that the implementation of the new National Mineral Policy is likely to be delayed again as the working group set up by the mining ministry comprising officials of mineral rich states is yet to reach a consensus over the proposed amendments to the Mines and Mineral Development & Regulation Act 1957.

Amendment to the Act is an integral part of the recently cleared National Mineral Policy, without which the policy merely remains an initiative on paper and amendments would have to be separately cleared by the cabinet before its introduction in Parliament.

An official source said that "The working group on the new mineral policy is holding extensive meetings with all the stakeholders to evolve a consensus over various provisions. The states still have a few doubts over some of the provisions of the policy and want to incorporate changes in the Act that suit their interest. This could delay introduction of amendments in Parliament, thereby delaying operationalising the policy."

It added that "In any case, the report of the working group would form part of a separate cabinet note that would be issued by the mines ministry to carry out amendments in the MMDR Act. The policy would finally get operational only after cabinet okays these amendments that are to be later passed by the Parliament."

The cabinet has cleared the policy despite objections from states such as Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa. States have sharp differences with the centre over the proposal to continue exports of iron ore, curb powers of states by allowing seamless transfer of mineral license, restriction on denying automatic approval for extending mineral license, conditional permission allowing states to seek value addition from mineral concession applicants and limited permission to states for reserving mineral areas for public sector units.