‘Constitutional bodies need to be educated on mining matters’
15 Dec 2013 10:36 PM GMT
S Vijay Kumar, former mining secretary and currently the Rural Development Secretary, also said the mining industry should also play a key role in complying with the legal framework.
‘I think we need to educate policy makers, Parliamentarians, and Judiciary. Today, the Judiciary is influencing the way mining is done, more than Parliament in many ways which perhaps is not correct,’ Vijay Kumar said at a panel discussion on Governance in Mining.
‘… But they need to know what is mining, why mining is necessary, why the mineral resources are important. And perhaps what needs to be done is to be able to do so with less disturbance and less pollution,’ he opined.
Observing that mining is essential for national development, Kumar said that societies which failed to develop technologies and material resources collapsed while societies which did so prospered. ‘Industry also takes a share of this responsibility,’ he pointed out.
‘More so, the regulatory agencies can regulate when they inspect. But the industry needs itself to manage mining activities within an ethical and legal framework,’ he asserted.
According to him, the mining industry, in the current scenario, is perceived as a money spinner besides causing pollution which is in reality not fully correct. ‘That is a very unfortunate development that has actually hit not only that part of mining community which I could call the black sheep but the entire mining community has been tarred with the same brush,’ he opined.
He said that mining and geology institutions and agencies of both the Central and state governments should be strengthened to increase capacity building.
‘I think we need to educate policy makers, Parliamentarians, and Judiciary. Today, the Judiciary is influencing the way mining is done, more than Parliament in many ways which perhaps is not correct,’ Vijay Kumar said at a panel discussion on Governance in Mining.
‘… But they need to know what is mining, why mining is necessary, why the mineral resources are important. And perhaps what needs to be done is to be able to do so with less disturbance and less pollution,’ he opined.
Observing that mining is essential for national development, Kumar said that societies which failed to develop technologies and material resources collapsed while societies which did so prospered. ‘Industry also takes a share of this responsibility,’ he pointed out.
‘More so, the regulatory agencies can regulate when they inspect. But the industry needs itself to manage mining activities within an ethical and legal framework,’ he asserted.
According to him, the mining industry, in the current scenario, is perceived as a money spinner besides causing pollution which is in reality not fully correct. ‘That is a very unfortunate development that has actually hit not only that part of mining community which I could call the black sheep but the entire mining community has been tarred with the same brush,’ he opined.
He said that mining and geology institutions and agencies of both the Central and state governments should be strengthened to increase capacity building.
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