The mines ministry is all set to be re-christened as the Ministry of Mineral Development. After having deliberated at length, the ministry has decided to re-name itself and will soon seek the approval of cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar.
Intensifying its pitch for imposing a Windfall Tax to curb profiteering among the mining community, the union Mines Ministry has suggested to the Finance Ministry a slab system of taxation similar to the Income Tax to net the surplus profits earned by merchant miners.
In the first such rejection by any ministry, Union Mines Minister B K Handique has shot down a proposal by the Finance Ministry that sought 10 per cent or more disinvestment in state-owned aluminium giant Nalco. The government holds 87.15 per cent in the navratna company that earned profits of Rs 1,272 crore on a turnover of Rs 5,531 crore in 2008-09.
RAMANNA, THE CPI(Maoist) leader, has cited 96 of the 102 MOUs signed between the Chhattisgarh government and the mining companies as one of the leading provocations for the Dantewada massacre.
Five months after the Centre sought an Action Taken Report (ATR) from the Karnataka government over the illegal mining scam unearthed by the Lokayukta, the B S Yeddyurappa government has said it has filed 56 cases against encroachers of the forest land.
In a move aimed at dissuading the mining community from profiteering and virtually regulating the royalty system on iron ore, the Centre is likely to seek the Parliament
