Jharkhand CM Soren urges PM Modi to reconsider mining bill, flags impact on state's finances

Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, saying restrictions on state levies could significantly reduce the state's fiscal space and affect its ability to address the social and environmental costs of mining.

In a letter to Modi, Soren said mining revenue accounted for 84.9 per cent of the state's own non-tax revenue in 2024-25, according to the State Economic Survey for 2025-26.

He said the Mineral Bearing Land Cess was expected to generate around Rs 7,110 crore annually and described mineral-related revenue as crucial to the state's finances.


"Any substantial restriction on this revenue would directly affect Jharkhand's ability to sustain development, welfare and social-security interventions," Soren said.

The chief minister argued that the state's mineral wealth must be assessed alongside the heavy costs borne by the state and its people.

Decades of large-scale mining have resulted in displacement, land alienation, environmental degradation, pollution, pressure on local infrastructure and disruption of traditional social and cultural systems, he said.

He said the state had contributed significantly to India's industrialisation, energy security and economic growth through its mineral resources, but its mineral wealth cannot be treated simply as an economic advantage when the state and its people bear substantial and continuing consequences of extraction.

He said revenues from minerals, including royalty, District Mineral Foundation contributions and other statutory receipts, enable the state to invest in roads, drinking water, healthcare, education, livelihood support, rural infrastructure, rehabilitation and social security in mining-affected areas.

The Mineral Bearing Land Cess, he said, was conceived as an additional fiscal instrument to strengthen these interventions.

Soren also linked mineral-related fiscal capacity to welfare initiatives, including the Mukhyamantri Maiyaa Samman Yojana, which he described as a flagship programme for the economic empowerment and social security of women, particularly those from rural and economically weaker sections.

An abrupt loss of fiscal resources, without an alternative and sustainable source of revenue, could seriously impair the state's ability to continue welfare and development programmes, he warned.

The consequences, Soren said, could extend beyond government finances, potentially causing public dissatisfaction and social tension in areas that have already borne the adverse consequences of mining.