Pioneer News Service
Ranchi
Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi today said that the State Government’s opposition to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 is merely an attempt to divert the public’s mind from the student movement.
Marandi said that students in the state are continuously protesting against jobs being sold in JPSC, JSSC, and CGL, and students have been on a hunger strike for 20 days. JMM, Congress, and RJD are planning to oppose the MMDR Amendment Bill passed by the central government to mislead and confuse the state’s public.
He said that all apprehensions and allegations of the opposition regarding the bill are baseless and unfounded; therefore, the government should stop misleading the public of the state and fulfill the demands of the students, in which the welfare of the state government lies.
Supporting the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 passed by Parliament, Marandi launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the ‘INDIA’ bloc allies for creating an uproar over the legislation. Addressing a press conference at the party’s state headquarters, Marandi stated that the Hemant government is engaging in petty politics and attempting to mislead the public under the guise of this bill.
Highlighting facts, Marandi said the concerns raised by the Jharkhand government regarding the MMDR Amendment Bill are entirely baseless. The objective of the legislation is not to snatch away the mineral revenues of states. States’ shares in royalties, DMF, NMET, auction premiums, and GST will remain unaffected, with roughly 90% of mining sector payments continuing to flow to the states.
He noted that between 2014-15 and 2024-25, mineral revenues of states surged by about 354%, rising from Rs 25,206 crore to Rs 1,14,549 crore. State shares in total mineral revenue grew from 60% in 2014-15 to over 88% in 2024-25. Therefore, claiming that the Centre is snatching away mineral revenues is a blatant attempt to mislead the public.
Marandi asserted that Jharkhand’s real crisis is not the Centre, but the state government’s own flawed mineral policy. The state imposed a flat cess of Rs 600 per ton on iron ore—roughly 27 times higher than Chhattisgarh’s Rs 22.50 per ton—adversely affecting production and the market, particularly for low-grade iron ore. Similarly, within just 16 months, the state hiked the coal cess from Rs 100 to Rs 450 per ton, leading to a 12.3% drop in BCCL’s production from 40.50 to 35.52 million tons.
