 "Parliament panel recommends two amendments to MMDR Bill")
The committee approved all the contentious clauses of the Bill, including those on allocation of minerals through auctioning, provisions to curb illegal mining and benefit sharing by miners. The Bill will now be placed in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
The panel, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Bhupender Yadav, recommended redrafting clause 9 of the Bill related to establishment of District Mineral Foundation (DMF) and National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) to incorporate an official amendment moved by the mines ministry.
The ministry had sought distinguishing between benefit sharing by miners granted leases before the commencement of the MMDR Amendment Act 2015 and those granted leases after the Act comes into force. The ministry desired higher contribution to DMF by miners granted concession before the Act comes into effect.
After the amendment, such miners will pay an amount not exceeding the royalty to the DMF for local welfare. For miners granted leases after the commencement of the Act, the Bill provides for payment of an amount to DMF not exceeding one-third of the royalty.
The second amendment provides for insertion of a para in the same clause highlighting the state governments will be guided by constitutional provisions related to administration of Scheduled Areas and Tribal Areas and the provisions of the Panchayats Extension to the Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act. The amendment followed concerns raised in the committee on the impact of mining on tribal populations.
The panel also asked the government to consider issues like impact of mining on environment, illegal mining and land acquisition and resettlement for incorporation in MMDR Act at an appropriate stage later.
The note of dissent was served on the committee’s report by T K Rangarajan, Shantaram Naik, D Raja and Pavan Verma, alleging the committee ignored the views of officials from mineral bearing states and tribal organisations. “This has made the entire exercise of the Select Committee infructuous," the dissent note, appended with the report, said.
The dissenters asked for withdrawing a provision that allows enhancing the tenure of leases from the existing 30 years to 50 years; concrete provisions to curb illegal mining in addition to penalties; approval of the mining plans by the Centre in view of the limited infrastructure and expertise at the state level; and incorporating provisions of the MMDR Bill 2011 on monetary benefits to affected local population.
The dissenters also objected to the provisions of the Bill on benefit sharing. They asked for incorporating the provisions of the MMDR Bill 2011, which mandated 100 per cent royalty sharing for non-coal minerals and 25 per cent profit sharing for coal, in the current Bill that provides for payment of an amount not exceeding one-third of royalty by miners for coal welfare in DMF.
The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on February 24 to amend the MMDR Act of 1957, which was passed by it on March 3.
The Bill, however, was referred to the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha on a motion adopted by the House on March 11 for examination.