Question : NATIONAL MINERAL POLICY

(a) whether the National Mineral Policy, 2008 has been able to address certain serious areas of concern relating to the mining sector;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the mining operations in some of the mining units in the country were stopped at the directions of courts taking into account the environmental hazards around such mining units;

(d) if so, the details thereof alongwith the number of workers affected due to the closure of these mining units;

(e) whether any measures have been taken by the Union Government in this regard; and

(f) if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR MINES (SHRI DINSHA PATEL)

(a) to (f): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN THE REPLY TO THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 422 FOR ANSWER ON 2ND SEPTEMBER, 2011.

(a) & (b): Yes, Madam. The National Mineral Policy, 2008, seeks to address areas of serious concern in mining sector relating inter-alia to:

(i) making the regulatory mechanisms more conducive to technology and investment flows by ensuring greater transparency in allocation of mineral concessions, seamlessness and security of tenure in the concession processes,

(ii) strengthening the role of Geological Survey of India, Indian Bureau of Mines, and State Directorates of Mining and Geology,

(iii) developing and enforcing a Sustainable Development Framework ensuring stakeholder rights to the indigenous population and that the mining activity takes place along with suitable measures for restoration of the ecological balance,

(iv) discourage and prevent sub-optimal and unscientific mining by promoting zero-waste mining,

(v) developing new concession instruments to attract high technology for incentivizing exploration of large areas, and

(vi) developing a cluster approach to mining of small deposits in a scientific and efficient manner.

(c) & (d): As per available information for current leases for major minerals, details on the total number of mines where mining was stopped by Court direction on account of environmental hazard, and the number of workers affected due to such stoppage is given below:

Sl.no.	Name of State	Number of mines	Number of affected workers
1	Madhya Pradesh	64	698
2	Goa	10	161
3	Karnataka	133	10304 (P)
4	Rajasthan	157	600
5	Haryana	87	3595 (P)
6	Tamilnadu	2	16