-OrissaPost.com Raisuan (Odisha): Despite funds being spent from the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) on development of mineral-bearing areas, people in several villages of tribal-dominated Keonjhar district are still deprived of safe drinking water.  Tribals allege lakhs of rupees are being misappropriated by officials in the name of development. The sorry state of the inhabitants of Sankari village under Bansapal block is a case in point. People belonging to the Bhuyan tribe live...

-The Hindu District Mineral Foundations were set up to protect the interests of Adivasi communities who have borne the costs of mining. But they are flawed in their current form Through 2011-13, dogged investigators from the Justice M. B. Shah Commission on illegal mining toured the rust-red villages, forests and rivers of northern Odisha, and trawled through reams of official records including from the environment, minerals, railways, and revenue departments. They met...

-The Hindu The Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill 2015 contains no provisions for consent from tribals for mining operations, but strengthens the rights of private sector mining companies Even as countrywide protests against the land ordinance gain momentum, Adivasi communities living in mineral-rich areas are apprehensive of what awaits them as the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2015 (MMDRA) has received presidential assent and the government has drafted Rules...

-Economic and Political Weekly Much has been claimed on behalf of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act that has been enacted by Parliament, but the legislation has introduced a watered-down version of auctions, has many exceptions to legalise the old first-cum-firstserve approach, and ignores previous Supreme Court rulings on measures to ensure sustainable development. E A S Sarma (eassarma@gmail.com) is a former Union Power Secretary. With a brute majority in...

-The Business Standard The future of the Bill will be decided by the next government The United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) attempt to overhaul the 50-year legislation governing the corruption-ridden mining sector has fallen through with the new mining Bill lapsing. The Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Bill had proposed sharing of miners' profits with the project-affected, among others, but with the Lok Sabha being dissolved, the Bill has lapsed. Many from the sector...