(a) whether the Government have organised World Mining Congress in New Delhi recently;
(b) if so, the salient features of the Congress indicating the number of delegates attended the Congress; and
(c) the details of the decision taken and the action taken thereon?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINES (SHRI RAMESH BAIS)
(a) The 19th World Mining Congress was organised from 1st to 5th November, 2003 at New Delhi by the Indian National Committee of the World Mining Congress, the Institution of Engineers (India) with the support of the Ministries of Coal, Mines, Steel, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Commerce & Industry, Science & Technology, Environment & Forests, Power, and Small Scale Industries.
(b) The theme of the Conference was `Mining in the 21st Century - Quo Vadis?`. The Conference was attended by 1405 delegates from 49 countries (1029 Indian delegates and 376 delegates from abroad).
(c) The Congress Declaration covers 10 major areas viz. (1) striving for significant increase in key result areas
of production, productivity, safety, health and environment and reclamation and rehabilitation; (2) increasing investment in exploration, strengthening earth science and research organisations; (3) ensuring compatibility between environment and mining with new technology tools; (4) developing appropriate sustainability criteria; (5) intensifying development of innovative solutions to problems in exploration, extraction, safety and environmental management; (6) intensifying research efforts in biotechnology; (7) improving health, safety and environmental performances; (8) concerted worldwide effort to develop appropriate general and specific curriculum for the emerging role of mining engineering professionals; (9) restructuring strategies to meet the challenges of privatization, liberalization and globalization; and (10) declaring selected mining sites around the world as World Heritage Sites.