Cement, Energy and Environment

NAXAL-AFFECTED DISTRICTS TO BENEFIT FROM MIII.IJ: Qll.l RIC:HFS NEW DELHI: Most of India's Naxal-affected districts could receive a bounty of untied development funds this month with the Modi government looking to bolster internal security by notifying the rate at which miners need to plough back funds for local area development. exchequers as of now, the new Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) law seeks to make a chunk of this available for districtlevel spending. "These are untied funds and a lot of districts could earn as much as Rs 500 crore a year. Imagine the impact of such spending in each district - they can have modern hospitals, big schools," explained. Kumar States are in the process of setting up district-level trusts for administering the DMF funds , with a mandate to help those affected by mining and those who live in the area of the mines. A high– level panel led by the mines secretary is expected to meet on Tuesday to assess the progress on mining auctions and setting up district The Prime Minister's Office and the home mineral foundations with state government ministry are keen on a swift notification of the rate for the contributions to district mineral foundations (DMF) under the new mining law cleared in March this year. This will translate into an immediate accrual of hundreds of crores to districts where mines are already operational as the new law is effective from January 1, 2015. 'We will notify the DMF rates soon. The day we do that, many districts will have crores of rupees that very day and since a lot of India's mining riches are in Naxal-affected areas, money going into these districts would also make a huge difference from the security point of view," Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar told ET. The notification can be expected this month, he added. This chunk of mining royalties would help supplement the government's efforts - such as the Integrated Action Plan being implemented by the home ministry - to develop the backward districts where Left-wing extremism has taken a hold. While mining royalties accrue to state representatives . Courtesy: ET Bureau August, 2015, From Internet M1NERS I 0 -;'A ( 1v r'c:R vt:l I RO AL. I Y TO TRIBAL WELFARE NEW DELHI: The Centre will on Wednesday notify the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana, which would make it mandatory for all 32