New legislation to replace existing Mines and Minerals Act

The Mines Ministry is in the process of finalising the draft of a new legislation to replace the existing Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act, 1957, responsible for regulating mines and development of minerals.

The Mines Ministry is in the process of finalising the draft of a new legislation to replace the existing Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act, 1957, responsible for regulating mines and development of minerals.

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"The Ministry is in the process of finalising the draft of a new legislation after holding several rounds of talks with the concerned state governments. The new legislation will be in consonance with the National Mineral Policy, 2008 in order to ensure that the objectives of the new policy are met," a senior Ministry official told PTI.

"In all likelihood the Ministry will place the draft legislation before the Parliament in its winter session. The proposed legislation will ensure scientific and sustainable mining besides taking adequate care of social development issues while attracting huge investments," the official said.

The country is hopeful of attracting a whopping $5 billion investment in the mining space with the entry of the global companies as and when the new mineral policy is implemented.

"Many countries are actually interested in investing in India and bringing new technology and it is mainly getting the policy and the legislation right that will determine that how much investment flows into India. One ballpark figure could be up to five billion dollars," Ministry of Mines Additional Secretary S Vijay Kumar had recently said.