Cement, Energy and Environment

News Brief Mining AFTER NINE MONTHS ACC RESTARTED LIMESTONE MINING OPERATION AT BARGARH PLANT ACC resumed limestone mining operations at Bargarh, Odisha, after about nine months, on 17 June 2015.ACC stopped mining at Bargarh in October 2014 following a government notice to suspend operations at the plant. The company stopped clinker production at its Chaibasa, Jharkhand, and Bargarh plants, but continued to operate the grinding units associated with these. "The impact of the closure was not material since cement grinding continued with the transfer of clinker from sister works and clinker purchases," said ACC. State governments were issued orders to stop mining, following a Supreme Court judgement in the matter of Goa Foundation versus Union of India and Others and in Common Cause versus Union of India on the deemed renewal of mining leases and a subsequent amendment to The Mineral Concession Rules 1960. ACC resumed limestone mining operations following terms of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Ordinance 2015. Courtesy: Industrial Angles 3rfh e-news letter METAMORPHOSIS OF MINING POLICY IN INDIA, POLICY OFTEN BECOMES DEAD ON ARRIVAL by Sunita Narain There is a science and art of policy-making. In India, this is confounding and abstract. But what stands out is that the intent and form of policy– making begins somewhere and ends somewhere else-as it moves between desks, competing interests and even governments, it evolves or gets distorted so that the final product looks very different. But that is not the end of the matter. By the time a policy is decreed into law, the original proponents become cyn ical or lose interest in its implementation. Policy then becomes dead on arrival. Let me explain why I am saying this. In the mid-2000, mining was the sunshine sector. India was digging for minerals like there was no tomorrow. The government set up a committee under the then member of the Planning Commission, Anwarul Hoda, to suggest changes - in the mining policy. This was also the time when we at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) were researching this sector. The Hoda committee focused primarily on mineral extraction. Our focus was the interconnection between mineral wealth, forests and water-also found where minerals are found-and the fact that people who lived in these rich lands were the country's poorest. In 2007, another committee was formed, this time under the then home minister Shivraj Patil to examine the Hoda report recommendations. We pushed our way into this committee, making a presentation on the need to reform the 1957 Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, or MMDR Act, to account for environmental safeguards and share revenues with local people. Then in 2009, the Union Ministry of Mines, headed by an extraordinary bureaucrat, began rewriting the 1957 law. The first draft of the revised MMDR Act decided to make people partners in mining operations by giving them equity in mining companies. But the very idea of sharing benefits with people was too much for mining companies. The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries went as far to say that if money was given then "tribal men would drink and beat their wives". But better sense prevailed. It was decided that instead of equity, companies would give 26 per cent of their profits, which would be channelised directly into the accounts of the affected people. As I said, policy-making in India is confounding, so meeting after meeting was held to evolve consensus and each time it was an effort to keep the benefit-sharing provision intact. By the time MMDR Bill , 2011, was tabled in Parliament, the original idea remained but in a different form. Instead of sharing profits, it was decided that mining companies other than coal would give equivalent royalty to the district mineral foundation; coal would give 26 per cent of the profits after tax. The law made it clear that this money was to go to the affected people. However, UPA II did not push for this bill and after two years as Parliament dissolved it lapsed. The new NDA government instead of rewriting the 1957 Act, brought in an amendment, mostly to move to auction of mines for greater revenue and transparency in allocation. In this amendment, now p~ssed by Parliament, the provision on benefit sharing remains, but it has lost its intent. Now the 13