Bills on Jan Vishwas, mines and minerals, forest conservation passed in Rajya Sabha

livemint.com:

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, and the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, days after they were passed in the Lok Sabha, thus completing the legislative process and paving the way for the bills to become laws. The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023, proposes to decriminalise 183 provisions in 42 Central Acts administered by 19 ministries and departments, giving further boost to ease of living and ease of doing business.

For effective implementation, the bill proposes measures such as a pragmatic revision of fines and penalties commensurate to the offence committed, establishment of adjudicating officers, establishment of appellate authorities, and periodic increase in quantum of fines and penalties. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2023, encourages the private sector in the exploration of minerals, including lithium, which is a key component of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

One of the major reforms proposed in the Bill is to introduce exploration licences for deep-seated and critical minerals. Deep-seated minerals such as gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, cobalt, platinum group of minerals, and diamonds are difficult and expensive to explore.

The proposed exploration licence would facilitate, encourage and incentivize private sector participation in all spheres of mineral exploration for critical and deep-seated minerals. The Bill also empowers the Central government to exclusively auction mining leases and composite licences for certain critical minerals.