New Mineral Policy in two months: Mines Ministry
New Delhi, Aug 17 : The government is giving final touches to the draft National Mineral Policy and is likely to announce it within two months, a Mines Ministry official said on Friday.
"The new policy aims to give a big boost to exploration activities. In three to five years, the exploration of minerals should gather momentum and double every year," Mines Joint Secretary Bipul Pathak said.
Pathak was speaking at a National Summit on Mineral Exploration and Sustainability, organised by industry body Ficci and International Institute of Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility (IICSR).
Responding to industry's concern over high taxes, the new policy will take cognisance of the recommendations on royalties and other levies to put a liberal regime in place, he said.
Pathak urged the private sector to step up investment in mineral exploration and assured industry that the government will extend financial and other support to junior exploration companies developed by the private sector.
Explaining the reasons for the lack of private investment in the sector, Vedanta Director Kishore Kumar called for making exploration blocks sustainable through offer of larger blocks and mining rights to companies doing reconnaissance work.
Making available technology and equipment developed indigenously to explorers and benchmarking of taxation with international norms were the other requests made by Kumar.
Essel Mining and Industries MD and Ficci Mining Committee Chair Tuhin Mukherjee stressed the need to develop a sustainability framework at the planning stage itself and called for introspection on the need to open mines wherever minerals were available.
Advocating for sustainable mining, IICSR Founder Harsha Mukherjee said the day is not far when the country's progress will be measured in terms of sustainable domestic production rather than its Gross Domestic Product.
Geological Survey of India Director General Dinesh Gupta spoke of the opportunities and challenges in expediting mineral exploration in the country.
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SGPC writes to Mann, seeks ban on 'Emergency' in Punjab a day before release
Amritsar, Jan 16 (PTI): The SGPC on Thursday wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking a ban on the release of Kangana Ranaut's movie 'Emergency' saying it "tarnishes" the image of Sikhs and "misrepresents" history.
Actor and BJP MP Ranaut's 'Emergency' is slated to release in cinemas on January 17.
In the letter to Mann, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami expressed strong objection to Ranaut's film.
Dhami said that if the film is released in Punjab, it will spark "outrage and anger" in the Sikh community and therefore it is the responsibility of the government to ban its release in the state.
The SGPC, an apex gurdwara body, had earlier also protested the film.
"It has come to our attention that the movie 'Emergency' produced by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut is going to be released on 17th January 2025 in cinemas in different cities of Punjab and the tickets have also started to be booked," its letter to Mann read.
Dhami said the SGPC had also protested the release of the movie in a letter to the Punjab Chief Secretary on November 14 last year.
"But it is sad that the Punjab government has not taken any step till now. If this film is released on January 17, 2025, then it is natural to create outrage and anger in the Sikh world," the current letter read.
Dhami said the SGPC will submit a letter also to all the deputy commissioners in Punjab, seeking a ban on the film in the state.
The SGPC denounced the "character assassination" of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani militant killed in 1984 in a military operation.
"If this film is released in Punjab, we will be forced to strongly oppose it at the state level," Dhami said.
In August last year, the SGPC sent a legal notice to the producers of the 'Emergency' film, alleging that it "misrepresented" the character and history of Sikhs, and asked them to remove the objectionable scenes depicting "anti-Sikh" sentiments.
In the notice, the producers of the film, including Kangana Ranaut, were asked to remove the trailer released on August 14 from all public and social media platforms and tender a written apology to the Sikh community.
The SGPC objected to film writing separate letters to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification.
