Inviting investment, neglecting people

In its mid-term appraisal of the 10th Five-Year Plan, the Planning Commission realised that the National Mineral Policy (nmp) adopted in 1993 "for encouraging the flow of private investment in exploration and mining', in the words of a panel it later set up, had not lived up to its billing. It's a different matter that the policy contained no such objective.

The reason for believing nmp had failed was laid out in a cryptic statement: "So far, the Central government has approved as many as 188 reconnaissance permits, involving an area of 2,54,307.303 sq km