Page 27 - Insurance Times September 2021

Y Entry no. 54 in the List I (Central List), the Constitution globe. India is famous for her agreement with China known
of India gives the Central government the authority to as "Panchsheel". Similar, trends were started after the world
regulate the minerals within the exclusive economic wars that made many countries suffer a lot and its
zone of India (EEZ). In the backdrop of it, the Mines and repercussions still haunt us. However, these agreements
Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act cannot always guarantee us peace and stability in the
of 1957 was framed. region. We are familiar with the Sino-Indian War of 1962,
Y International Seabed Authority (ISA) regulates minerals the Panchsheel agreement did not bear fruit even after
exploration and extraction. UN guides the treaty and years of signing the agreement. The negotiations from the
India being a party to it has received an exclusive right third party made the situation stable.
to explore poly-metallic nodules over 75000 sq. km in
Central Indian Ocean Basin. So, if any bilateral ties cannot stand its terms then we are
Y The MMDR Act of 2015 has made auctions transparent having a serious issue with the geopolitics. Also, the
and removed discretions. interconnected trends are kind of transforming the overall
geopolitical nature around the world; there are also vacuum
Y The District Mineral Foundation (DMF) - to address long- created the fragile and failing states. The nature of
time grievances of affected people by mining and help
geopolitical instability has itself change. No one could have
them.
thought of refugee crisis or ISIS coming up just six years ago.
Y National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) - Stringent It becomes natural that we expect such trends are going to
measures to check illegal mining and fill the gaps in the affect the economic sector of few countries and can shake
exploration process in the country. others around the world.

Y National Mineral Policy 2019 - encouraging private
sector to take up exploration with revenue sharing India is growing very fast and its economy cannot just stay
model. in isolation. It has to develop new ties with the countries
that are on equal footing. India should not be seen as just
Government of India's Initiative: an economic partner but as a geopolitical partner as well.
Y National mineral Exploration Policy has been prepared India, today, cannot be ignored on this front as it has left
to attract private sector into mining. behind the non-aligned movement and it heading towards
policies that are of national interests with allies like USA and
Y Star Ration of mining leases for sustainable development
Japan.
framework.
Y A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between However, relations are not always positive in nature. Some
Indian Bureau of Mines and National Remote Sensing are just very hard to negotiate. Our deep strategic and
Centre, ISRO to monitor mining activities and deter competitive relations with our neighbour, China, are not just
illegal mining. limited to trade and commerce but extends to bitter border
Y The Mineral Surveillance System has also been laughed relations along the North-East states. It is a relation of both
to check illegal mining through automated remote economic cooperation and strategic competition.
sensing technology.
Y The District Mineral Foundation Fund was created to After we had a Doklam stand-off in 2017, the relation
help the people affected from mining in areas under between India and China got strained a bit and since then
Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana the competition got wilder. China is trying to make its
(PMKKKY). presence all around the Indian Ocean. In 2018, China started
mining operations on its side of the border with Arunachal
Y 100% FDI allowed through automatic route for
Pradesh, where huge deposits of Gold, Silver and other
exploration and mining of Metals and Non-metals ores.
minerals are found. Because China also claims Arunachal
Pradesh as a part of Tibet, the security around the border is
Geopolitical Pillar: under fragile conditions. China's presence in the disputed

It is a strategic analysis, especially of international relations region of Jammu and Kashmir is also bothering us a lot. These
that are influenced by dialogues, agreements, treaties or tensions can really affect the economic strata of the nation.
geological factors in favour of maintaining peace around the Mining being a capital intensive sector is always under threat.

The Insurance Times, September 2021 27