Rule change gives miners route to bypass auction

Changes in tribal rights and green rules 'save' 130 mines from being auctioned

The government changed rules protecting tribal rights, forests and environment to ensure that more than 130 mines do not face fresh auctions and are retained by the miners concerned.

The changes were made to several regulations in a coordinated manner by the environment ministry, the tribal affairs ministry and the mines ministry over a year, documents show. The government had passed an amendment to the Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Act, 2015, to facilitate auctioning of mines, generating revenue for the states concerned. Earlier, mines were only allocated, denying higher revenue to the state coffers. But the government created an