Thank you. I rise to support this Bill and the amendment that is sought to be brought by the honourable minister.
But I must say I am rather disappointed at the scope of the Bill, which is very limited. What is being amended is a section in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act of 1957, which actually deals with all minerals, including coal.
What is the amendment before us? It deals with coal – basically in relation with the production of iron and steel and generation of power. While introducing the Bill, the honourable minister stated that preference would be given to public sector undertakings (PSUs) that require coal.
Besides that, the Bill actually seeks a bidding system for coal blocks. Private companies will be allowed to conduct reconnaissance as far as availability of coal is concerned. They will also be allowed to bid and have a stake in that.
I would like to bring it to the notice of the minister, through you Mr Chairman, that even today, there are some public sector undertakings, which are starving due to poor supply of coal. In my state, in my district – I am not trying to be regional, but I am aware of this fact – there is Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited in Vishakapatnam, which is a PSU, but it still does not have a coal block. The required coking coal is given not according to its choice; it is given by the state governments where the coal lies. They are not given open cast mines, but mines which have severe conditions, the gaseous mines. Some of these are still burning within; it is very difficult to mine over there. Due to this, many PSUs are suffering. But he said they would be given a preference. This is something that has to be given top priority and needs implementation, too.
I would like to remind this August House about one thing. When did the public sector come in? It is after independence, when the colonial rulers left us. We had no infrastructure in the country at that time. Ours is an agrarian economy; the basic activity is agriculture. We needed to build projects, but at that time, there was not a single bag of cement that we produced.
We did not have steel in the country. So, to develop the agrarian sector, to have irrigation project, we first had to have cement. We first had to have steel. With this in mind, these public sector industries were built. I would like to remind the entire House that this was done at a time when no private player was willing to set up industries. Maybe, there was Tata Iron and Steel Company, some players here and there. But, had the government not done this, today we would not have had this infrastructure.
We must remind ourselves that these PSUs are built on public money, the money of the people of this country. Therefore, whether it is for coal or for iron ore, I think the priority should be given to public sector undertakings. PSUs were started not to be sent to BFIR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction), but to make our country strong; to see that our economy progresses and that we are self-sufficient as far as these industrial products are concerned.
I would have expected a comprehensive Bill regarding this. You have said Section 11 (a) is being amended for production of iron and steel. Let us go into the production of iron and steel. Production is done in the plants, but your ministry controls the mines and minerals. There was a long discussion in this House about illegal mining. I am not going to repeat all that has already been said. I was going through this Act of 1957 and the schedule. I was amazed to note here that the royalty for the best quality iron ore is just Rs 24, or something like that. It varies from quality to quality, but for the highest quality of iron ore, I think the royalty is Rs 24.50 a tonne.
The first question we should ask ourselves is whether it is iron ore, coal or bauxite, since minerals come under you, Are they national wealth or not? Recently, even the Supreme Court had said in some judgement related to gas that mineral resources were national wealth. It may be related to gas, but these are mineral resources of the country. Are these national wealth or not? Can we fritter away such national wealth and minerals to a few private people or sell them for almost nothing to countries abroad? These are very serious questions that we need to ask ourselves and answer.
Excerpt from the speech by Congress (I) MP in Lok Sabha, Kishore Chandra Deo, on the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, 21 August, 2010
