Clarity in regulatory policies in terms of uniformity of interpretation is required.  

The mineral and metals industry is not complementary to each other and a greater synergy needs to be brought about through changes in the policy environment.

Too many fronts are being opened up for mines and minerals which is leading to low productivity and high costs. Mining needs to be developed as an industry. The guidelines must allow mining operations to acquire critical operative size.

Currently no distinction is being made between companies which have good environmental practices and those who do not. It is necessary to draw up guidelines, which reward / punish companies. This will enable the companies, which have good practices to work more effectively.

The geological survey of India should undertake a survey of the unencumbered reserves. Some of the good mines are being held back for environmental reasons.

Five separate Ministries / Departments are involved in administering the energy sector. Very often different Ministries work at cross-purposes. The MMRD Act needs to be recast to enable single point accountability. There is a need to identify a regulatory mechanism, which will provide an interface between the Central Government, the State Governments and utilities like Coal India Ltd. A Council of State, representatives of the Planning Commission, the concerned Ministries, utilities and Associations needs to be constituted to act as a clearing house for allocation of mineral resources for new Governments are taking a view that they would like  encourage value addition in their respective States and such a Council could allow better utilization of national mineral resources. Here it would be necessary for the Planning commission to intervene wherever required in national interest.

Some State Governments have been insisting that mining companies own the land for which the lease is granted. This is not prohibited by the MMRD Act and therefore needs to be clearly spelt out.

Parochialism should be strongly discouraed and units should be set up wherever economically feasible. The Indian mining industry needs to benefit from scale and therefore fragmentation of leases should not be allowed. As a matter of fact, larger areas on lease need to be given to the mining companies for environmental reasons as smaller operators are usually unable to adhere to acceptable environmental standards.

Mineral resources, especially those of iron ore, manganese ore and chorome ore are limited and need to be carefully utilized for domestic production.  If exports are to be permited, then export of high-grade ore should be curtailed and only low-grade ore and fines, which are generated in the mining process and are excess to the current requirements of the country should be allowed for exported. At the same time mining companies should be encouraged to convert the ore to higher degrees of purity level through beneficiation. It is necessary to have categorization of iron ore for exports and this also calls for a regular. A regulator is required to oversee the formulation of guidelines for export and their implementation.

The Planning Commission will be required to provided investments on the railway linkages required to support the mining operations in the country, particularly in the Eastern States. There is also a need for better availability of wagons arising out of not purchase of wagons by companies but also higher allocations on wagons by the Railways.  

Born as the son of teacher at Thottakom Vaikom, Kottayam District. Kerala State India. Ethics and Values I learned from my father and teacher.