Why in news?
- The ordinance for amendment in the MMDR Act 1957 and the CMSP Act 2015 has been promulgated.
- The Union Cabinet had earlier approved the amendments intending to open up new areas of growth in the coal & mining sector.
Details
- The amendments in the Acts would enable the following:
- Enhancing the ease of doing business
- Democratization of coal mining sector by opening it up to anyone willing to invest.
- Offering of unexplored and partially explored coal blocks for mining through prospecting license-cum-mining Lease (PL- cum-ML).
- Promoting Foreign Direct Investment in the coal mining sector by removing the restriction and eligibility criteria for participation.
- Allowing of successful bidder/allottee to utilise mined coal in any of the plant of its subsidiary or holding company
- Attracting large investment in coal mining sector as restrictions of end use has been dropped.
- The amendments will help to increase domestic production of India.
- It will also help India achieve its targets set.
- The GoI plans to increase coal production to 1 billion tonnes by 2024.
- For the financial year 2019-20, the target set is 660 million tonnes.
