New Mines bill to be placed in this budget session again

New Delhi: The proposed new mines legislation that envisages 26 per cent profit sharing by miners with project-affected people, among other things, is likely to be placed again before a Group of Ministers (GoM).

The ministerial panel, headed by Mukherjee, has already met four times on the proposed Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Act , 2010 .

The Law Ministry is vetting the draft bill while meetings with various stakeholders, including industry, will be done.

The ministry would make efforts to introduce the legislation in the Budget session of Parliament.

The new legislation proposes to make it mandatory for miners to share 26 per cent of their profits with project-affected people, among other things.

The industry and apex mining body FIMI had demanded that the provision related to profit-sharing should be watered down and corporate giants like Tatas and Jindals had suggested that instead of profit, the sharing should be based on the cost of operation.
Criticising the proposed levy, the two firms had asked the government not to charge it as a separate tax, saying that social obligation is a part of the operating cost of a company.

For such profit-sharing, the GoM has proposed creation of a District Mineral Foundation for disbursement of the benefits to locals.