Cement, Energy and Environment

Introduction: The motivation to review NMP 2008 came about by way of a direction from the Supreme Court vide its judgment dated 02.08.2017 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 114/2014 entitled Common Cause v/s Union of India & Others. In compliance of the directions of the Apex Court, the Ministry of Mines constituted a committee to review NMP 2008 and National Mineral Policy came into existence. The main objective of National Mineral Policy 2019 is to have a more effective, meaningful and implementable policy that brings in further transparency, better regulation and enforcement, balanced social and economic growth as well as sustainable mining practices. It also gives emphasis of increasing mineral production by 200% and reducing the trade deficit in mineral sector by 50 % in seven years. In the light of issues being faced by mining industry, will it be able to make a headway until unless there is complete synergy among Central and State governments, regulators with industry. It appears that the policy has been prepared in hurry to meet the direction given by the Apex Court. However, the implementation has to be crafted in consultation with all stakeholders and understanding the ground realities. Some of the important points which are to be addressed by suitably amending the Acts & Rules to make objectives of the policy document effective are discussed below: 1. Conducive Regulatory environment to ease of doing business. · Out of total notified blocks for auctions, only 50% blocks have been successfully auctioned and only 4–5 Blocks have reportedly come up to the stage of Production till now. There is need to bridge the gap between Grants to successful Bidder to Production stage. The delay in obtaining statutory clearances is mainly because of lack of interdepartmental coordination, synergy between Central and State Govt. and non-conducive regulatory environment. Forest & Environmental Clearance makes it more cumbersome and complicated. It is imperative to review the gap between the grant through bidding and production to accelerate the pace. · Issues pertaining to approval from Central Govt. under Section 6(1) (b) of MMDRA Act 2015. Dr R K Trivedi Asst. Executive Director, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd. NATIONAL MINERAL POLICY 2019, A FEW THOUGHTS Abstract National Mineral Policy-2019 has been promulgated with the objective to have a more effective, meaningful and implementable policy that brings in further transparency, better regulation and enforcement, sustainable mining practices and balanced social and economic growth. The concept of status of industry to mining activity, exclusive mining zones having in-principle statutory clearances, and emphasis of increasing mineral production by 200% and reducing the trade deficit in mineral sector by 50 % in seven years will make the way to accelerate the share of mining in the country's GDP. The new policy may transform the headway to the mining sector of India, but, the success will depend on implementation by all stakeholders like Industry, Central & State governments, and regulators. 1