India: Rajasthan's suspended mining secretary Ashok Singhvi, who was arrested for allegedly running a massive bribery racket, was instrumental in throwing open Rajasthan's gypsum reserves, which are the largest in the country, to indiscriminate mining.
On 17 August 2014, the mines department headed by Singhvi de-reserved gypsum mining in Rajasthan, ending the exclusive gypsum mining rights enjoyed by state-owned Rajasthan Mines and Minerals Ltd (RSMM). According to documents recently accessed by local press, the mines department threw open some 28.3km2 of gypsum mines without inviting applications or notifying specific mining zones, in clear violation of the centre's 30 October 2014 guidelines. Several of the leases were granted on 12 January 2015, one day before the central government promulgated the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015, which ended discretionary bases of awarding leases and made auction the sole method of allotment.
The guidelines, issued to curb illegal mining, intended to provide greater transparency in the use of natural resources. However, documents show that the Rajasthan Mines Department granted 15 gypsum mining leases against applications dated before 17 August 2014, when gypsum mining was the exclusive right of RSMM and no applications for its mining could have been entertained from anyone else. Some applications dated as far back as 8 May 2012, more than three years before gypsum was de-reserved for mining by private companies. This meant that leases were granted to 'favourites' on back-dated applications so they could qualify on a 'first come, first served' basis. Leases were hurriedly awarded on this basis to avoid running into the new MMDR ordinance, which came in to effect on 13 January 2015 and mandated the auction route for granting leases.
