Odisha government has set up an inter-departmental committee to consider a large number of applications for renewal of mining leases pending for over 10 years.

A notification by steel and mines department said, the 12-member committee headed by the Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary will examine applications for renewal of mining lease for statutory clearance.

Other members of the committee are secretaries of steel and mines, forest and environment, revenue and disaster management departments, principal chief conservator of forest, PCCF (wildlife), director of environment, director of mines, director of geology, chief executive officer, Odisha Remote Sensing Application Centre and member secretary of the state pollution control board.

The modalities for the working of the committee and the frequency of sitting may be decided by the committee.

upreme Court has ordered to halt the Mining operations in all the 90 mines in Goa. The order was pronounced by the Apex Court on the basis of the Justice M B Shah Commission report which estimated a whopping Rs.35,000 crore to the exchequer due to illegal mining in the last 12 years. Mining companies have also been restrained from exporting and selling ores which has already been extracted. A three judge bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam took note of the Commission's report and issued notice to the Centre and State government. The bench also asked the apex court-appointed Central Empowered Committee to submit its report on the illegal mining in the state within four weeks. The bench passed the order on a PIL filed by an NGO, Goa Foundation, seeking probe in the illegal mining activities in the state.

Announcement

he Planning Commission today pitched for privatisation of coal mining saying government should have a consistent policy for energy sector as third party sale is allowed for petroleum and natural gas in the country. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting in New Delhi, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said, the policy for energy sector should be consistent. He said private sector investment for third party sale is freely allowed in oil and natural gas. Mr Ahluwali advocated that it should be allowed for coal also.

 The Centre has asked the Goa government to immediately restrict all activities regarding removal of minerals from dumpsकचरे का मैदान located outside the mining lease areas. Mines Ministry in letter to Goa government, said Goa government should immediately restrict all activities for removal of mineral from the dumps located outside the lease areas, till an appropriate mechanism is evolved .

The directive comes close on heels of Justice M B Shah Commission, which probed into the issue of illegal mining of iron ore and manganese in Goa, recommending that dumping of minerals or any subsequent work should be done only with proper permission and approval of the Indian Bureau of Mines and clearance from the concerned state government department. As per the Goa government,there are 37 mining reject dumps on revenue land, majority of which belong to big mining firms including Dempo, Sesa Goa and Fomento. 

Earlier, the one-man enquiry commission went into the issue of illegal mining in the state and also recommended that state government should upload information about mining leases on their websites to introduce transparency in the sector.

The Commission in its report also suggested that mining leases be granted through public auction to reduce corruption.

 he Supreme Court today ordered a CBI probe into illegal extraction of 50.7 lakh metric tonnes of iron ore in 17 months from Karnataka forests. The Apex Court also asked the state government how its agencies were unaware of the illicit mining on a massive scale going on in the state. The court directed the agency to register an FIR and investigate as to how huge amount of iron ore seized by the forest department were allowed to be exported to various foreign companies.

 Centre today asked geoscientists to fulfill their responsibility
to the society by evolving new ways to enhance economic growth and development.

Speaking at the 51st meeting of Central Geological Programming Board CGPBin New Delhi, the Mines Secretary Mr Vishwapati Trivedi also urged the public and private sector to play a crucial role in research and development which is extremely important for promotion of science. He observed, that while public investment over the Research and Development had been growing every year during the 11th Plan, for the private sector it had remained low. 

The Secretary said that the mining and mineral sectors need innovation in the search, beneficiation crushing and separating ore into valuable substances or waste by any of a variety of techniquesand exploitation of mineral resources,particularly those are deep-seated. Mr Trivedi also said that efforts should be made to increase Research and Development investments from the present 0.9 per cent to two per cent of the Gross Domestic
Products.

The Centre has amended the Mineral Concession Rules (MCR) and have vested powers with the State governments to cancel licences if a person holding the lease is convicted of carrying out unauthorised mining. Amending the MCR, the Mines Ministry in a notification said that the state governments, prior to cancelling the licence, should give opportunity to the applicant to explain his stance. Amending another provision in the MCR, the Ministry in its notification said the state government may also refuse to renew mining lease in the event of an applicant for renewal of mining lease is convicted of illegal mining.  The Centre has resorted to a multi-pronged strategy including setting up of an Inquiry Commission and asking states to make action plans to curb illegal mining.

Cabinet nod to stringent punishment for sexual assault

The Union Cabinet has approved the introduction of the Criminal Law (Amendment ) Bill, 2012, in Parliament to broaden the scope of the legal offence of sexual assault to ensure more stringent punishments for sexual offences including rape. The Bill envisages to make rape a gender-neutral offence by replacing the word 'rape' with the phrase 'sexual assault'. The amendment would expand the definition so that cases of sexual assault where the victims are male, would also fall under the same law along with cases where the victims were women. The punishment for sexual assault will be a minimum of seven years which may be extended to imprisonment for life. For aggravated sexual assault, the punishment will be rigorous imprisonment not less than ten years which may extend to life imprisonment and also fine.
The Cabinet also approved the proposal to relax the condition of enhancement of age of superannuation of teachers to 65 in state institutions for the implementation of the revised pay scales on the basis of Sixth Pay Commission recommendations and become eligible for receiving Central share of 80% of the arrear payment. It also decided that reimbursement of 80% of the Central share of the arrears be paid in 2-3 instalments to those States who have already made the payment and submitted their proposals for reimbursements to the Central Government. The decision of Cabinet is expected to provide relief to teachers in State institutions with the payment of arrears. It will also benefit State Governments, who will be able to make the arrear payment in instalments and also claim reimbursements simultaneously.

AIR Correspondent reports that, following the revision of pay scales of Central Government employees on the recommendation of the 6th Pay Commission, the pay scales of teachers and other equivalent cadres was revised and age of superannuation was enhanced to 65 in December 2008. The scheme of revised pay scales was essentially for teachers in Central Educational Institutions.

However, provisions of the Scheme could be made applicable by State Governments, to Universities and Colleges coming under the purview of the State Governments, provided the State Governments adopt and implement the scheme as a composite scheme, including the enhanced age of superannuation.

The Cabinet has also approved the extension of tenure of Justice M.B. Shah Commission of inquiry till 16th July, 2013. The Commission was set up to identify cases of illegal mining, and also to identify regulatory and monitoring system failures in curbing illegal mining.

Karnataka High Court has granted anticipatory bail to former Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa in the land denotification and illegal mining case filed by CBI. The anticipatory bail was also granted to his sons and son-in law and other accused in the case. Justice Subhash B Adi granted them bail today with the conditions that the accused have to furnish a bond of two lakh rupees each and two sureties for the same amount. The Court also ordered that all the accused should not leave Bangalore without prior permission from CBI and also not to tamper with evidence. CBI had registered an FIR on 15th May that Yeddyurappa misused his offcial position as public servant and helped his family members to acquire notified land in Bangalore. He is also accused of helping Trusts run by his sons and Son in law to get donations from mining companies in return for favours in mining lease. The CBI is probing the charges on the apex court directive, based on recommendations of the CEC set up by it to look into illegal mining.