India’s 150 poorest but mineral-rich districts could get a major facelift in the next one year, coinciding with the 2019 general elections, provided the state governments are able to spend over ~18,800 crore they have from mining companies under the district mining fund.
The fund was created through an amendment in the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 by the National Development Alliance government, taking forward the idea first mooted by the United Progressive Alliance government when a new version of the mineral law was proposed.
The Centre, through a notification in January 2015, had asked the states to set up a district mineral foundation trust to share mining revenue.
For major minerals such as coal, bauxite, chromite, iron ore and manganese, the companies were required to share 10% to 30% of the royalty with the foundation. In case of minor minerals such as building stones, gravel and limestone, the state governments were given the power to decide the amount of royalty to be shared.
Read more of this in a report by Chetan Chauhan published in Hindustan Times....
