District Mineral Foundations: Fetching a Good Deal for Mining-Affected Communities?

• Published in: TerraGreen Vol. 10; no. 8; pp. 8 - 9
• Main Author: Arora, Nitish
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi The Energy and Resources Institute 01.11.2017
• Subjects: Accountability; Community involvement; Community participation; Drinking water; Economic development; Foundations; Leases; Minerals; Mining; Natural resources; Nutrition; Population; Sustainable development; Transparency; India
• ISSN: 0974-5688; 0975-7570

To address the 'historical hurt' that has been inflicted upon these communities, Sustainable Development Framework (SDF) for mining emphasized the need for 'community engagement, benefit sharing, and contribution to socio-economic development' Hence, District Mineral Foundations (DMFs) were created under Minerals and Mining Development Regulatory (MMDR) Act, 2015, wherein holders of mining leases are required to contribute to the DMF an amount 'not exceeding one-third of the royalty rates' of the respective minerals, in addition to the royalty paid to the state. Ministry of Mines 2017 report highlighted that, out of the 12 mineral-rich states, all except Tamil Nadu had framed rules and established DMFs. [...]date more than '5,800 crore has been collected under DMFs with Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh having a combined share of 69.5 per cent of the total DMF collection. [...]there are reports of districts allocating a lion's share of DMF towards building physical infrastructure, giving a miss to the basics, such as clean drinking water, nutrition and child development issues, healthcare, livelihood, etc.