Friday 10 August 2018

NITI AAYOG CEO AMITABH KANT QUESTIONS LOGIC OF MINING BANS AMIDST IMPORTS OF THE SAME MINERALS

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant questions logic of mining bans amidst imports of the same minerals


Kant said importing minerals when there were ample reserves within the country made no sense.


Niti Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant, on Friday, questioned the logic of imposing bans on mining amidst imports of the same minerals.
Kant said mining technologies had tremendously advanced to take care of environmental and social concerns and hence there should be no fear over mining. He said importing minerals when there were ample reserves within the country made no sense.

“There is a ban on iron ore mining in Karnataka and so you are importing when you have your own iron ore. That makes no sense. There are various advance technologies now that allow absolutely safe ways to mine,” he said during an interaction with media on the sidelines of a conference on mining in Indore -- the fourth National Conclave on Mines and Minerals organised by the Ministry of Mines.
Mining in Karnataka and Goa, two states rich in iron-ore, a key ingredient for steel-making, has suffered severe damage in the last five years as Supreme Court came down on illegal mining and improper allocation of mines. On several occasions, the Court allowed mining with a cap on quantum of mining, resulting in production loss and denting of investor sentiment.
Kant called for major policy changes to allocation and operation of mines in order to attract private investment, pointing out that share of mining in India’s GDP was a mere 1.4percent. The share of mining in South Africa’s GDP is 7 percent, China’s is 6.5 percent and Chile’s is in excess of 10 percent, he said.
He said ‘Make in India’ was not possible till the country had ‘Mine in India’, referring to one of the flagship schemes of the Narendra Modi government.
Kant said environmental clearances, a major roadblock in mining activities, should be given at the time of award of the tender and not later.
“Environmental clearance is five-six years. It should be given with the tender or within three months of the award of the tender,” he said while addressing the audience in the presence of Minister of Mines Narendra Singh Tomar, inviting wide applause of those present at the event.
He said prospecting licence and mining lease should be given together to ensure return on investment for the company doing the prospect and also to cut time to begin mining. Currently, the two licences are awarded separately, with no guarantee that the company doing the prospecting will also get the licence to do the mining.
Prospecting alone takes several years and hence a surety of securing mining rights post prospecting will instil greater confidence in the private companies to bid for such projects.
Kant said the existing procedures for allocation of mines were outdated and needed an overhaul. He said landowners should be given the right to mine to encourage expansion in capacities.

Thursday 2 August 2018

7-8 per cent contribution of mining sector in GDP can create 25 million jobs in India

மனித குல வாழ்க்கைக்கு சுரங்க பணி இன்றியமையாதது. 3000 வருடங்களுக்கு முன்பாகவே இந்தியாவில் முதன் முதலில் சுரங்க பணி ஆரம்பிக்கப் பட்டது.  

 1999-2000-த்தில் 5 சதவீதமாக இருந்த சுரங்க பணியின் அளவு ஆண்டுக்கு ஆண்டு குறைந்து தற்போது 1.3 சதவீதமாகி விட்டது. இந்த சுரங்க பணி ஆண்டுக்கு ஆண்டு 7 சதவீதம் கூடி வந்தால் இரண்டரை கோடி புதிய வேலை வாய்ப்புகள் பெருகும் என்று ஆய்வறிக்கை கூறுகிறது. உலக கனிம இருப்பில் 40 சதவீதத்தை தன்னகத்தே கொண்ட இந்தியாவில் தவறான நடைமுறைகளால் சுரங்க பணி ஊக்குவிக்கப்படவில்லை. இதனால் தொழில் வளர்ச்சியும் பாதிக்கப்படுகிறது. இதனால் மட்டும் ஆண்டுக்கு சுமார் ஒரு கோடி நபர்களுக்கு வேலை வாய்ப்பு பாதிப்பு ஏற்படுகிறது. 


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7-8 per cent contribution of mining sector in GDP can create 25 million jobs in India


Mining was important in the ancient times and mining is important today and for the future survival of mankind.


If India’s global ranking in production of minerals is an indication, it would not be wrong to say that economies of other countries are growing due to sustainable mining and have been successful in addressing unemployment and poverty issues.
The development of natural resources dates back to about 50,000 years - in the Middle Paleolithic Chert mines of Nazlet Sabaha (or Safaha), a site on the western banks of the Nile River in Egypt. In India, Zinc mining dates back to over 3000 years in Rajasthan at Zawar.
India produces 87 minerals which include 4 fuel minerals, 10 metallic minerals, 47 non-metallic minerals, 3 atomic minerals and 23 minor minerals.
Mining was important in the ancient times and mining is important today and for the future survival of mankind. Development of natural resources is essential for sustaining economies as it gives birth to industrial development, ancillary industries, employment generation and prosperity. Employment generation is a key result but the end result is eradication of poverty.
But, in the last over a decade, the contribution of mining sector in GDP has been stagnant to nearly 1.2%, which is highly alarming. The Indian mining sector grew at a CAGR of 7.3% in the last decade compared to 22% in China in the same period. The mining sector in India employs a smaller percentage of India’s population, just about 0.3% as compared to 3.8% in South Africa, 1.4% in Chile and 0.7% in China.  It is also true that employment in the Indian mining sector has grown at a rate of 3% per annum over the last 10 years.
The McKinsey Global Institute report suggests that development of mining sector will be important if India has to achieve 7% plus GDP growth. The report further says that mining sector alone has the potential to create 6 million additional jobs by 2025. The sector can contribute an additional USD 125 billion to India’s output and USD 47 billion to India’s GDP by 2025. About five years back, in the year 2012, mining sector accounted for about 3 million direct jobs and additional 8 million indirectly.
The mining sector contributed 3.4% of India’s GDP in 1992-93, which declined to 3% in 1999-2000 and further to 2.3% in 2009-10. To mention, every 1% increase in the growth rate of mining sector results in 1.2% to 1.4% increment in the growth rate of industrial production and correspondingly increase of 0.3% in the growth rate of India’s GDP.
According to a report by FICCI, if India is looking to increase the share of mining sector to 5% of the GDP in the next 20 years, this sector would be required to grow at the rate of 10-12% annually.
The economies are simple. If India is unable to keep pace with the growing demand of infrastructure development, it would only be increasing the import bill. The import not only increases the cost but it also decreases the employment opportunities for the primary country.  This becomes important since India currently is dealing with about 30% of unemployed youth.
Example of Angul is unique. Due to Mahanadi Coal Field, large down-stream industries have been set-up and that has resulted in increase in Angul’s GDP per capita from INR 39,000/- to INR 101,000/-. Even the lowest income group in Angul has decreased from 67% in 2002 to mere 25% in 2012 and is expected to be less than 5% by 2025.
India is also far behind in expenditure towards exploration.  It accounts for only 0.3% compared to over 19% by Canada, 12% by Australia, 7% by United States, and 4.5% by China. The Geological Survey of India needs to expand its focus on baseline data generation to encourage exploration activities for the development of mining sector. Exploration in India is mostly limited to a depth of 50 to 100 metre as compared to 300 metres in countries such as Australia.
If India’s global ranking in production of minerals is an indication, it would not be wrong to say that economies of other countries are growing due to sustainable mining and have been successful in addressing unemployment and poverty issues. We being a country of huge mineral reserves and resources are lagging behind because we are still struggling to implement even the existing policies.

Self-declaration, simple policies and quick decisions are required to promote the mining sector. Policies of self-accountability with provision of stringent punishment will deter mining companies from doing anything wrong.
In India, even for obtaining mining lease, it takes minimum 1 years’ time, which can be extended even to more than 5 years, as compared to just 30 days in Canada and 60 days in Australia.
If the government wants to be a regulator and not the owner, then it should give a substantial space for the industries to develop the mining sector.
The fact is that we are already years behind, since mine development itself takes about 3-5 years and further setting up smelters for processing these minerals takes another 2-3 years, even if we start today, we would be able to achieve some results only by 2022.
To `Make in India’ we have to `Mine in India’ and if we can do this, we would be able to address large unemployment issues.
The strategic plan document by Ministry of Mines has very impressively highlighted improvement in the functioning of GSI, IBM, R&D projects and Human Resource Development as few of the key areas.
The demand of minerals will grow 4-5 times over the next 12-15 years against a backdrop of globally decreasing resources. There would be a huge demand for the metals in view of the rapid urbanization and growth in the manufacturing sector.
The mining sector aspires to contribute 7-8% to India’s GDP and if this happens, India would realize a GDP of 9% in the coming years. This is expected to create at least 25 million jobs, directly and indirectly.
But, above all, India will have an edge over other countries in terms of exports of these minerals, employment generation, eradication of poverty and taking a leadership position in the mining sector.