The people in mineral bearing areas have faced the backlash of unbridled mining in many ways. They need to be compensated and their overall development should be inclusive of national growth.
It is fact that most of the mineral bearing areas are home to the marginalized sections of our society specially Adivasies who lag behind in human and social development indicators in comparison to other social groups. The Ministry of Mines has declared Prime Minister Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY) with its detailed guideline in the national interest for the welfare and development of people affected by mining and mines areas of the district on September 16 last.
With increasing trend of liberalization and mechanization of mining sector the concern for plight of mining affected people and ecosystem of the affected area has been raised in people’s movements from mining areas of the country and in this perspective the royalty sharing with affected locals has carried much importance.
The Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act 1957(MMDR Act) governs the mineral sector. The MMDR Amendment Act by insertion of section 9B has made provision of direct royalty sharing with affected people of mining areas with provision of District Mineral Foundation to be composed by State. The Ministry of Mines has notified that in case of all mining lease executed before January 12, 2015, miner will have to pay an amount equal to 30 per cent of the royalty payable by them to the DMF. Where mining lease is granted after January 12, 2015 the rate of payment would be 10 per cent of the royalty to the DMF. The Central Government in exercise of the power conferred under section 20A of the MMDR Act 1957 directs the concern the State Government to incorporate PMKKKY into the rules framed by States for DMF and its implementation. The State Government will incorporate PMKKKY in DMF and the DMF will implement PMKKKY in mining areas of the district. For the purpose of PMKKKY, the description of affected people, family and displaced family is as defined in section 3C and K of The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 which says affected families include family whose land or other immoveable property has been acquired, land less families, agricultural workers, share croppers, tenants, artisans, fisher folk, STs, NTFP collectors, other traditional forest dwellers, beneficiaries of Government land distribution programme whose primary sources of livelihood have been affected. The displaced family connotes any family who on account of acquisition of land has to be relocated and resettle from the affected area to the resettlement area. There are also others who are being indirectly affected due to mining operation. The mining operation is long term process which begins with pre mining stage to post mining through mining activities and at different stages it impacted over the people and the local ecology, environment, socio-economic condition directly.
During the course of mining, the socio-economic condition of the mining areas has been changed with new economic activities and inflow of outsiders to the area for employment which further pushes the local inhabitants to the periphery. The impact on ecology has changed the forest and agriculture based economy and with environmental impact on water, air and soil, the agriculture has become costly affair accompanied with shortage of agricultural workers who mostly sift to construction work. The sub human condition of casual mining workers in mining area needs a special attention to address their vulnerability because a majority of them are Adivasies who have been uprooted due to mining and relocated in emerging mining slums.
The PMKKKY has develop a model guideline for States where 60 per cent of the funds has to be allocated for drinking water, environment preservation, pollution control measures and primary healthcare, education, welfare of women and children, welfare of aged and disabled people directly and indirectly affected people in the area. It will give emphasis on skill development for livelihood and local sanitation through waste management and provision of toilets and related facilities. The rest 40 per cent will be spent on physical infrastructure development, irrigation, energy, watershed development and improving environmental quality in mining areas of the district. The administrative cost of will not exceed 5 per cent of the annual receipt of DMF. The activities of PMKKKY will compliment to the ongoing State and Central Government schemes and programmes in the area and it will converge with State and district plans as extra budgetary resources. The utilization of PMKKKY will follow the provisions of Panchyatraj extension to scheduled area Act and Forest rights Act in 5th scheduled areas and Gram Sabha’s approval will be needed in identification of beneficiaries, planning and execution of the projects. The DMF will have to maintain complete transparency by sharing all kinds of information with public through website and voluntary disclosure under RTI Act .The annual reports of DMF shall be discussed in the Assembly.
The DMF and PMKKKY bear much importance for mineral bearing State like Odisha which has largest share of value of mineral production among major States of India in 2013-2014 and also having deposits of major minerals. The value of mineral production in Odisha was `54,531 crore in 2013-2014 as reported in Odisha Economic Survey 2014-2015. The major mineral bearing districts such as Keonjhar, Sundergada, Angul, Jajpur, Bolangiri, Kalahandi, Koraput, Jharasuguda, Maurbhanj, and other districts having both major and minor minerals should use this as an opportunity for local area development along with other schemes such as CSR and periphery development fund and compensatory forestation etc in mining and industrial areas. The major mining areas of Odisha, also 5th scheduled area of the State, having large number of tribal population can avail special grants like Article 275(1) ,Tribal sub plan, special projects for PVTGs and for tribal development .Many such financial provisions can ensure holistic development of mining area .
The minor mineral sector is governed by State under Minor Mineral Concession Rules 1990 with amendment in 2014. The MMDR Act made provision of royalty to be collected from minor minerals by the State for DMF by adding section 15A. The portion of royalty collected from minor minerals will also be deposited in DMF to be decided by the State. Odisha has major and minor minerals in every district; so there will be DMF in every district.
The Central Government has revised the royalty with effect from September 2014 considering the demand of the State and by the recommendation of study group on mineral royalty. The Government of Odisha has been demanding to raise the royalty of iron ore on ad valorem basis. The Ad valorem royalty refers to royalty based on a percentage of the value of the mineral extracted. The royalty of iron ore and chromite is 15 per cent of average sales price on ad valorem basis. In case of graphite, it is Rs 25 per ton. For manganese, it is five per cent of average sale price on ad valorem basis. The exploitation of iron ore in Odisha for the year 2013-2014 was 78 million tons.
The Government of Odisha has made draft rules for DMF. The Union Mines Ministry has circulated a model draft district mineral foundation trust to the States. It has been suggested that the DMF should lead by people’s representatives of the district with inclusive composition of people from diverse walks of life including experts as well as experienced people from different social groups with gender balance to represent different concerns. The involvement of mining affected people’s organizations, social movements, civil society bodies, environmental groups, trade unions, PRIs, media and local institutions must have to be ensured in such forums to contribute to planning and monitoring and ensuring transparency and public accountability. The Government of Odisha should discuss about PMKKKY and DMF at district level especially in major mineral bearing districts of the State involving all concerned to build understanding on the process for its effective implementation in the interest of the people in mining areas in particular and State in general.
(The writer is a researcher and rights activist, who can be mailed at manasbbsr15@gmail.com Mob -9437060797)