The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill of 2010 is likely to be introduced in the current session of parliament. A Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee met here on Friday to finalise it.

The GoM could not arrive at a consensus on the percentage of equity participation to be given to the tribals in the mining area.  Last week, the steel ministry had rejected the proposal for equity participation for the tribals. The ministry believes that the private corporations will fudge their accounts to hide profits.

Instead of equity participation, the steel ministry proposed that the tribal to be compensated according to the rehabilitation and resettlement policies of the centre and the states.

Virbhadra Singh, minister of steel, was not present in Friday’s meeting due to illness.

Meanwhile, the GoM decided that tribals in the respective area would be allowed to participate in the annual general meeting of the mining companies.