New Delhi, May 8 (IANS): Officials from as many as 26 states participated in a meeting here on Wednesday to formulate a State Mining Index which will serve as a tool for stakeholders of the mining sector to understand various aspects related to the Ease of Doing Mining Business within a state.

In the keynote address, Union Mines Secretary, V. L. Kantha Rao emphasised the importance of having a State Mining Index, which will promote cooperative federalism as well as competition among states.

Noting that the active participation of states was important in making the exercise successful, he requested the states to help in data collection efforts by properly submitting the statistical returns in time.

The workshop brought together policymakers, administrators and practitioners from the Central and state governments. Principal Secretaries, Directors and other officials from 26 states actively participated in the workshop to discuss and finalise the indicators and sub-indicators of performance which form part of the Index framework and methodology.

After consultations and feedback from the states, the Framework of the State Mining Index will be finalised and released in July 2024 for actual ranking to take place in April 2025.

The one-day workshop was organised by the Ministry of Mines in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology-Indian School of Mines (IIT-ISM), Dhanbad.