India approves bill to share mining profit
India's cabinet agreed on a draft law yesterday that would force mining firms to share profits with impoverished communities in resource-rich areas, many of which are beset by Maoist violence.
Under the proposed law, coal miners will have to share 26 percent of their profits with the local communities. India is the world's third-biggest producer of electricity from fossil fuel.
Miners of other minerals will have to pay communities an amount equivalent to royalties given to the state government.
"The Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Bill has been approved by the cabinet and it will bring direct benefit to all project-affected people," Mines Minister Dinsha Patel told reporters in New Delhi.
"Once the bill becomes a law, the miners will have to adhere to the new profit-sharing formula."
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