Date | Jul 04, 2016:
SALIENT POINTS OF THE INAUGURAL SESSION ON 4-7-2016
After the floral welcome of the dignitaries, Union Secretary Mines delivered a welcome address which was accompanied with a presentation on the salient points on the screen.
Welcome address by Union Mines Secretary Shri. BalvinderKumar,IAS
01. SALIENT POINTS COVERED UNDER WELCOME ADDRESS BY UNION SECRETARY (MINES):
Congratulated the mining industry on achieving the overall growth of metallic and non-metallic minerals was 9% during 2015-16. Index of Mineral Production (IMP) for April to May, 2016 has reached 19%, which is 10% higher than the previous year.
Introduction of new MMDR Amendment Act, 2015 has provisions of auctioning of the mining leases for greater transparency and removal of discretion in allocation, increase the lease period to 50 years, introduction of District Mineral Foundation (DMF) and the National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) for the development of the mining affected Districts and to accelerate the exploration respectively.
After introduction of MMDR Amendment Act, 07 mineral blocks have been auctioned successfully and 37 blocks are under process of auction. In addition 50 blocks will be ready for auction before the end of the year. The success of auctions along with overwhelming response has put a stamp of approval of the transparent regime introduced.
Releasing of Atomic Mineral Concession Rules, 2016, wherein a provision has been made to allot mineralized area less than threshold value to private sector. Atomic Mineral Division (AMD) has already identified about 1000 sq. km. area below the threshold value.
Unveiling of National Mineral Exploration Policy (NMEP), which was cleared by the Cabinet on 29 June, 2016, under this 100 blocks of 100 sq.km. each is identified for allotment for exploration purpose.
More than 6000 geological reports of GSI is being digitized and will be put up in the public domain.
The Aerial Geophysical Survey will be targeted at a faster rate for identifying deposits in unexplored area.
Aligning the skill requirement of mining sector with the National objective of skill development has been formulated as a skill plan and is being released.
Introduced Star Rating System under Sustainable Development Framework and awarding of few mines with star rating of five & four stars to encourage sustainable mining.
Identification of illegal mining beyond the lease area with the help of Space technology through a joint project namely Mining Surveillance System (MSS)between Indian Bureau of Mines &Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Application and Geoinformatics (BISAG). A control room will be set up by IBM for this purpose at Hyderabad. The State Governments can take advantage of this project for minor minerals also.
Two informative video clippings on Star Rating and MSS were also screened.
02. ADDRESS BY SHRI NOON MOHD. PRESIDENT, FIMI:
Address by shriNoorMohamed, President, FIMI
Appreciated the efforts taken by Ministry of Mines, Government of India, for introducing the transparence in process of auction of mineral concessions.
Expressed that the mining sector can contribute for development in rural and tribal areas.
Expressed that there was a need for an attractive exploration policy for the growth of mineral industry.
03. ADDRESS BY SHRI VISHNU DEO SAI, UNION MINISTER OF STATE FOR STEEL & MINES
Enumerated the objectives of two days National Conclave andstated that after introduction of MMDR Amendment Act 2015, the mining sector is on the growth path.
The fund to be accrued in DMF will be used in various tribal villages for their whole-some development, particularly in health and education sector.
04. ADDRESS BY SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR, HON’BLE UNION MINISTER FOR STEEL & MINES:
Address by Hon’ble Union Minister of Mines ShriNarendra Singh Tomar
Distribution of unveiled policy & rule booklets during the National Conclave
Mineral sector contributed a major role in GDP which presently is 2.4% and has the potential to reach 6% through the positive contribution of entire mineral sector.
Chhattisgarh is a leading State in implementation of various provisions of MMDR Amendment Act 2015. After amendment in MMDR, there is no discretion in allocation of mineral concessions; delays in the grant of concessions at various stages have been removed.
The number of auctions already held in the country is 07. In 17 cases, no bids were received due to various reasons and 37 cases are awaiting for auction. The 07 blocks auctioned so far is having a mineral resource of worth Rs.29,000crores, out of which a substantial amount of Rs.13,000 crores will flow to the State Exchequer.
Rs.6000 crores is expected throughout the country annually to be accumulated in the DMF which can be used for the development of mining affected areas.
Out of the Obvious Geological Potential (OGP) Area of the country, only 10% of the area have been explored and mining is being carried out in less than 1% of the explored area. Thus, necessitating the need for thrust in exploration of minerals. This can be addressed through our exploration policy as approved by the Government of India wherein private sector will also be involved for exploration through revenue sharing models.
Out of the 6000 old geological reports of GSI, about 75% have been digitized and uploaded so far.
05. ADDRESS BY DR. RAMAN SINGH, HON’BLE CHIEF MINISTER OF CHHATTISGARH:
Address by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Dr. Raman Singh
Quick disposal of concession proposals through the process of auctioning.
The total royalty of Chhattisgarh State is about 4000 crore rupees. The royalty generated from minor mineral is about Rs.240 crores which directly goes to the Panchayat of the concerned villages for their development.
About Rs.1100 crores is expected to be generated through DMF for the State which is going to be a big boost for the development of State.
National Mineral Exploration Policy was need of the hour and Ministry of Mines has taken a big step in this direction.
Chhattisgarh State is committed to plan the exploration of the entire State within a period of three years including deep seated minerals. It is the first State to auction the mineral blocks under the new legislation.
Adopting the 5 villages on pilot basis of Dantewada district under Pradhan Mantra KhanijKshetraKalyanYojana (PMKKKY) and provided protected drinking water, solar light, drip irrigation, education for special children and conducting a smart classes and aids for agriculture activities.
Although the Hon’ble Union Finance Minister could not attend the first part of the inaugural session as his flight had to be diverted to Nagpur due to inclement rain weather of Raipur in the morning,he still made sure that he flew back to Raipur after the weather pacified.
06. ADDRESS BY SHRI ARUN JETLY, HON’BLE UNION FINANCE MINISTER:
Address by Hon’ble Union Finance Minister ShriArunJaitley
Before the address by Hon’ble Union Finance Minister, he had interaction through video conferencing with 5 Sarpanchand sitting MPof Dantewada districtand Hon’ble Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh also participated in the interaction for the launching of 5 holistic schemes under PMKKKYin these villages. The key points in his address were -
Chhattisgarh State has immense mineral potential and its capital Raipur is the best choice to have first National Conclave on Mines & Minerals.
The areas have high mineral potential but often the people of such areas do not reap the benefits of the mineral wealth in their area. To develop such areas it is necessary to provide employment opportunity and value addition of mineral produced in such areas.
Erstwhile MMDR Act was framed based on the world experience wherein provisions were made to allot mining leases on first-cum-first serve basis.
In the recent past, Hon’ble Supreme Court observed non-transparency in the allotment process of spectrum and coal blocks. To overcome existing such lacuna in the mineral sector, MMDR Act was amended, wherein the provision have been made to allot mining leasesthrough the most transparent methods of auction.
The mineral potential areas are generally thickly populated by tribals where generally people are living in poverty. Such people are not getting benefit of the mineral produced from the area. To bridge the gap, DMF have been introduced to address the concerns of local population.
It is necessary to accelerate mineral exploration, keeping this in view NationalMineral Exploration Trust (NMET) has been envisaged in the new legislation, and a National Mineral Exploration Policy has been released.
During the slowdown of the world economy, Indian economy is steady and even during the time of BREXIT.
In the economic cycle mineral commodity prices are depressed at present. As these economic downturns are generally cyclic and as the economy recovers the consumption of mineral will increase, which will accelerate the growth of not only of the mineral sector but will also facilitate the growth of the economy as a whole.
He congratulated the Union Minister of Steel & Mines and his team for the commendable work undertaken during the last two years for amending various Act and Rules for greater transparency of such a drastic process to match up the needs of the industry.
National Conclave on Mines & Minerals, Raipur