 bill no  103 of  2014 the mines and minerals (development and regulation) amendment bill, 2014 byshri vincent h pala, mp abillfurther to amend the mines and minerals (development and regulation)act, 1957be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-fifth  year of the republic of india as follows:—67 of 19572 after section 3 of the mines and minerals (development and regulation) act, 1957, the following heading and section thereunder shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new section 3a ''provisions of the act not to apply to coal mining in scheduled areas53a (1) nothing in this act shall apply to operations already being undertaken or to be undertaken for the purpose of mining of coal in a traditional or customary manner in the tribal areas specified in the sixth schedule to the constitution(2) for the purpose of sub-section (1), the state government concerned shall, by notification in official gazette, specify the tribal areas where mining of coal is undertaken in a traditional or customary manner10act not to apply in relation to coal mining in tribal areas specified in the sixth schedule to the constitution(3) notwithstanding anything contained in this act, the district council for each autonomous area may regulate the operation of mining of coal in that autonomous area in public interest'' statement  of  objects  and  reasonsrecent trends in the administration of justice particularly by the national green tribunal have intrusive and obliterating effects on the traditional and customary coal mining activities in meghalaya and other north-eastern statesthe customary and traditional economic practices of the communities in the north-east india need statutory safeguards especially when the constitution guarantees for the preservation of the history, heritage, culture, economy and polity of the north-eastern statesthe recent interim order of the national green tribunal banning the rat-hole coal mining in meghalaya has resulted in deleterious economic consequences the protection of environment should not be at the cost of humanity if there is a conflict between livelihood and protection of environment, the former has to be favoured such contentious protection of environment at the cost of the interests of labourers and traditional workers is not indicative of a progressive societythe bill seeks to protect the economic life of the citizens living in the north-eastern states by exempting the areas where coal mining is undertaken in traditional or customary ways from the application of the mines and minerals (development and regulation) act, 1957 the bill also empowers the concerned state governments to notify such areas and further empowers the district councils of autonomous areas specified in the sixth schedule to the constitution to regulate such traditional and customary coal mining in public interesthence this billnew delhi;vincent  h palajuly 22, 2014———— a billfurther to amend the mines and minerals (development and regulation) act, 1957————(shri vincent h pala, mp)gmgipmrnd—2517ls(s3)—31102014