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Lok Sabha passes Bill to amend MMDR Act

Construction Work Online | March 22, 2021

The Bill also seeks to remove the distinction between captive and merchant mines

The Lok Sabha has passed the Mines and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which, among others, proposes to free up for auction 572 idle non-coal mining blocks allocated before the auction regime set in with the 2015 amendment of the MMDR Act.

“We are withdrawing that provision of 10A(2)(b) and all these 572 mines will be brought under auction. Some of them are so old,” mines minister Pralhad Joshi said introducing the Bill in Lok Sabha.

The minister said reconnaissance permit (RP) and prospecting licence (PL) given to these blocks should have been converted into mining leases in these many years but “a majority of them have neither applied for it nor the state governments have recommended them.”

These 572 leases are spread over 4.6 lakh hectare area and their minimum worth is Rs 27 lakh crore.

The Bill also seeks to remove the distinction between captive and merchant mines by providing for auction of mines in future without restriction of captive use of minerals.

It also allows existing captive mines including captive coal mines to sell up to 50% of the minerals produced after meeting the requirement of linked end use plants to ensure optimal mining of mineral resources by paying an additional amount to the states. The sale of minerals by captive plants would facilitate increase in production and supply of minerals, ensure economies of scale in mineral production, stabilise prices of ore in the market and bring additional revenue to the states.

“Around 55 lakh, direct and indirect, employment opportunities are expected to be generated through this reform,” Joshi said.

The Bill also empowers the central government to issue directions regarding composition and utilisation of fund by the District Mineral Foundation (DMF).

“Ultimately the state will decide, but there should be uniformity across the states in implementing the DMF,” Joshi said.

Are Polavaram Affected Tribal Communities Short-changed by Govt for Their Land?

News Click | Ayaskant Das | March 21, 2021

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has asked the state government to clarify by March 24 if project-affected families are being provided with decent rehabilitation and resettlement facilities.

New Delhi: Is the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh evicting tribal communities for the Polavaram project without providing adequate amenities for rehabilitation? Residents of several villages near the under-construction multi-purpose irrigation project have allegedly been forced to move to resettlement colonies that are yet to get drinking water supply, street lights and roads.

Resettlement of habitations, which will ultimately be submerged under the 194 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) reservoir of the Polavaram project, is being undertaken by the Andhra Pradesh government. A dam is being constructed across the flood-prone Godavari River for the project in order to divert water for irrigation, drinking purposes and industrial use for around half-a-dozen districts of Andhra Pradesh, apart from generating electricity.

But, the project also involves displacement of reportedly 98,818 families spread over 371 habitations in East Godavari and West Godavari districts with the total number of project-affected persons coming to 1,88,012. More than half of this population belong to the Scheduled Tribe category while Scheduled Castes also comprise a significant proportion.

In the second week of March 2021, matters came to a head when administrative officials of East Godavari district asked local residents of Seetharam village in Devipatnam Mandal to vacate their houses and move to a government-built resettlement colony. Reportedly, project-affected families of Seetharam, one of the several habitations that will be submerged by the Polavaram reservoir, were reluctant to move to the new colony as it lacked proper amenities. However, 56 project-affected families finally moved to the new colony after being assured by officials that all amenities will be soon provided.

BASIC FACILITIES ABSENT IN RESETTLEMENT COLONIES

“There is no piped drinking water supply in the resettlement colony. Just a tanker of water is provided per day which is not enough to meet our requirements. We have no source of water after sundown. There is no drainage system in place and there are no street lights yet. And they have just about begun laying cement-concrete roads,” K Venkata Ramana (47), a resident of Seetharam who has moved to the resettlement colony, told NewsClick.

When residents of Seetharam were being relocated, members of 18 project-affected families were reportedly denied new shelters even as government officials went about demolishing the rest of the village. These families lacked proper documents to back up claims of their identities and residential addresses. Their old houses were left untouched, following a spat, when officials agreed to let them live there till alternate arrangements for them are worked out. Villagers claim, however, that 20 other families whose houses were pulled down, are yet to get new shelters. Their papers are pending with the government.

“These 20 families are living in anganwadi centres, school buildings or temples at the new colony. Many have taken shelter with their neighbours for the time being,” added Venkata Ramana.

In another instance, project-affected families of Yenugulagudem village have been shifted to a resettlement colony that has been allegedly built after filling a pond with earth. There have been complaints of sewer backflow in the lavatories of the shelters where families from Yenugulagudem have been resettled.

At least five villages, apart from Seetharam, in Devipatnam Mandal of East Godavari district have been relocated to newly-built resettlement colonies in February and March. More resettlements are to follow in the next few months. In February, residents of at least 25 villages, which will be submerged by the reservoir in West Godavari district, have also been reportedly issued a notice to evacuate their settlements latest by April 2021.

But many of the resettled people are not happy with their new colonies and shelters.

“We were told we have to move out since our village will be submerged by the reservoir. But we have been shifted to a colony built in a place that had been submerged by floods in the past right in front of our eyes. We had objected against this particular location. But to no avail,” K Abbaya Reddy (45), a resident of Agraharam village in East Godavari, told NewsClick.

LAND-TO-LAND COMPENSATION AGAINST PATTAS NOT GIVEN

It has been alleged that in several instances, displaced tribal families are not being provided with land-to-land compensation against pattas that they have been issued in the past in forest areas under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, known otherwise as the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act. The 74 project-affected families of Agraharam belong to the Konda Reddi tribe, identified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) by the Union government.

“We are not being provided with cash compensation either against forest lands for which we have pattas. The government is providing us only with new shelters without any new sources of livelihood. Landlords who have pattas of community land, however, have managed to get cash compensation though we got nothing in lieu of what we lost,” alleged Abbaya Reddy.

Under the Rehabilitation and Resettlement plan that was devised by the government for the project-affected population of Polavaram project, individuals who had attained 18 years of age by the year 2010 were eligible for shelters and a cash compensation of Rs 6.86 lakh each. Eleven years hence, even as the project awaits completion and several habitations are yet to be relocated, many more individuals have crossed the benchmark of 18 years of age.

But, local people allege, the eligibility criteria as of the year 2010, has remained unchanged. It has been further alleged that YS Jagan Mohan Reddy reneged on his promise to hike the cash compensation amount after he was elected to power.

PIL LISTS VIOLATIONS IN POLAVARAM PROJECT

On March 16, the Andhra Pradesh High Court issued a notice upon the state government to clarify within eight days if project-affected families are actually being provided with decent rehabilitation and resettlement facilities before being evicted from their habitations. The direction was issued upon a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a voluntary organisation named Search for Action and Knowledge of Tribal Initiative (SAKTI) which works for tribal rights amongst other things.

“Even though rights of tribal communities are being violated when it comes to acquiring their land, the government has failed to rein in unscrupulous non-tribal people who are acquiring compensations through illegal means. In one instance, a particular group of non-tribal people claimed ownership of land earmarked for the Polavaram project with the use of fake documents. A criminal case was filed against them. The matter was investigated through the Andhra Pradesh CB-CID, who also filed a charge-sheet. Despite this fact, the local administration provided them with compensation even though it was tribal families that were actually living over the land that was acquired. A separate case is pending in this matter in the high court for the past three years,” said founder-secretary of SAKTI Dr P Sivaramakrishna.

The PIL lists a plethora of violations in the execution of the Polavaram project. It has been alleged that several families are being denied rehabilitation and resettlement despite their dwellings falling within a surface distance of 100 metres from the full reservoir level of the Polavaram project in contravention to an Andhra Pradesh government order issued in April 2005. Even though eviction has started in habitations, the government is yet to finalise several claims made by tribal communities over forest rights in areas that will ultimately be submerged underneath the reservoir.

Both East Godavari and West Godavari districts are designated as Schedule 5 areas – their populations thereby being entitled to special provisions – by the Union government in accordance with the Constitution of India. However, the PIL alleges violations not only of the provisions for Schedule 5 areas but also of a plethora of laws including the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013; the Panchayat Extension to Schedule Areas (PESA) Act of 1996 and the Schedule Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act of 2006.

“Without giving these rehabilitation resettlement benefits and adequate compensation, the tribals are being asked to leave. In fact, some of the villages where the alleged rehabilitation is nearing completion, do not have a graveyard, community hall and they have not been given the alternative lands, forest lands near the proposed resettlement village,” alleges the PIL.

It has been further alleged through the PIL that a lot of unmeasured deemed forest land, which is getting submerged under the project, have been acquired without updating land records, in order to avoid paying compensation.

Despite repeated attempts, the District Magistrate of East Godavari, B Muralidhar Reddy, was not available for comments. Speaking to NewsClick, O Anand, the Project Administrator & Ex-Officio Joint Collector of Polavaram Irrigation Project, however, said that a clarification has been sought from the state government on what compensation, if any, should be granted to those families against rights over forest land—acquired through pattas—which they lose at the time of relocation.

“Forest right pattas are not transferable. Forest land is vested with the government and patta owners enjoy summary rights over the land. Extant laws do not mention as to what compensation should be provided when forest rights are lost owing to whatsoever reasons including relocation or resettlement. So, we have sought a clarity from the state government on what compensation, if any, should be paid in this case,” said O Anand.

The officer further said that no force or coercion has ever been used to relocate villagers affected by the project.

“Before relocating families, we are ensuring that new shelters are provided with basic facilities like electricity, toilets and water connections. Also, we are transferring the compensation amount directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries before they are relocated. Wherever applicable, land-to-land compensation is also being provided. A lot of infrastructure work is underway in the new resettlement colonies including construction of roads and drainage systems. Before relocation, we had held several Gram Sabhas in which consent was obtained that any project-affected family willing to gain wage employment, through labour, from these infrastructure works can shift to the new resettlement colonies. It will ensure that they get a steady source of income at least for the next few months instead of using up the compensation money directly,” added Anand.

Nonetheless, in July 2018, a special field report by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, which was submitted to the President of India, had noted – amongst other things – that not only was uncultivable land provided as compensation in many cases to project-affected families but many tribal families depending on minor forest produce for a living were also relocated without providing any alternative means of livelihood.

“It is a travesty of justice to see that more than 371 villages in three states and 90% scheduled areas will be submerged in this large dam once the gates are closed. To see that the very Constitution that gave protection to these communities is being misused to displace them without proper rehabilitation and resettlement is really sad even after 70 years of independence. We demand that all activities pertaining to the dam should stop forthwith until total rehabilitation and resettlement is completed to the satisfaction of tribal communities,” Rebbapragada Ravi, founder of Andhra Pradesh-based NGO Samata which works for tribal rights, told NewsClick.

Goa is diverting funds meant for mining-affected communities to Covid-19 relief

Scroll.in | Supriya Vohra | Mar 19, 2021

Meanwhile, pleas for assistance from the District Mineral Foundation have been stuck for years.

On April 28, 2018, Devidas Nayak of Molem, a mining-affected village in south Goa, wrote to the authorities managing the District Mineral Foundation funds, explaining that his agricultural land has lost its water holding capacity because the drainage adjacent to the land is full of mining silt resulting in flash floods during the monsoon, making it easy for wild boar and bison to destroy the land.

He sought financial assistance to desilt the nullah, and help in infrastructure for irrigation of his fields. Nayak, who was formerly working with barge transportation (of minerals), had lost his job since the mining industry shut down and needed financial help in protecting his fields. Nearly three years later, on January 6, his letter was forwarded to goa’s water resources department for scrutiny.

Nayak’s plea is among nearly 200 such letters since 2018 that are with bodies controlling Goa’s District Mineral Foundation funds. These letters are from individuals, panchayat members, doctors, legislators, and non-profits representing mining-affected villages, requesting financial assistance for basic needs such as drinking water, water for irrigation, restoration of agricultural land, desilting of agricultural land, education, providing transportation for children and creating health infrastructure – fundamentals of a functioning village. Three years later, while some of these requests have been approved, most are pending or have been deferred indefinitely.

In June 2015 through an amendment in India’s central mining law – the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR Amendment Act 2015), District Mineral Foundations were introduced in all districts in the country that are affected by mining-related operations, including Goa’s two districts – north and south. These district mineral foundations were tasked with managing and utilising the funds for the interest and benefit of people and areas affected by mining.

Funds diverted
According to documents accessed by Mongabay India, about Rs. 202.5 crores were collected under District Mineral Foundation and of that approximately Rs 42 crore have been spent so far.

However, of the Rs 42 crore spent thus far merely Rs 4 crore have been utilised directly for the mining-affected villages while the rest of the Rs. 38 crore have been diverted towards Covid-19 relief.

In March 2020, when the pandemic struck, the central government came out with an order that said that upto 30% of the District Mineral Foundation funds can be diverted towards coronavirus relief work.

But the central government’s move had come under severe criticism from several quarters including from the organisations working with mining-affected communities.

An analysis of the documents reviewed by Mongabay-India reveals that the District Mineral Foundation funds utilised for Covid-19 have gone into purchasing thermal imaging cameras, quattro machines, test kits, personal protective equipment, micro PCR systems – most of the equipment meant to be utilised in Covid hospitals of major cities of Goa – Panjim, Vasco, Ponda and Margao.

Goa has two districts – north which covers the mining belt, the coastal belt as well as the major cities of Panjim, Mapusa and south which also covers the mining belt, the coastal belt and the major cities of Margao, Vasco and Ponda.

The remaining Rs 4 crore went into providing water to the mining-affected villages, providing transportation facility for school children, pumping water out of the mining pits of a few villages, and desilting agricultural land for the village of Sirigao in north Goa. This utilisation, lawyers and activists say, has come only after being slapped by court orders.

“The District Mineral Foundation authorities have done no work for the benefit of the mining-affected villages of their own accord,” Anamika Gode, an environmental lawyer working for Goa Foundation, a non-profit based in Goa, told Mongabay-India. “If you notice, you will see that only water and transportation facilities have been provided thus far, and only one village has had its agricultural land desilted. Work under the District Mineral Foundation has started only after the repeated intervention of the High Court of Bombay at Goa.”

“It took them two years to even consider these applications,” she added. “And if you notice in the minutes of the meetings, all Covid-related purchase approvals are post-facto.”

In August 2020, two residents of mining-affected villages filed a petition against the Goa government, stating that the District Mineral Foundation funds have been misused by the state government, questioning the legal basis of the diversion of funds, and stated that the mining-affected areas have been completely neglected.

Hanumant Parab, a mining activist from Pissurlem, a mining-affected village in north Goa, said that the District Mineral Foundation had provided their village with 117 water tanks of 500 litres capacity each.

“We are yet to get the water though,” Parab told Mongabay-India. “They gave us the tankers two years ago but not a drop of water had come from them yet. They need to provide more tankers also.” The village currently depends on an erratic piped water supply from the government, and mining companies are mandated to provide water to some of the wards every day.

Gode added that since mining had halted in Goa, the District Mineral Foundation funds would remain limited, and thus diverting them for coronavirus relief work was not a good idea, when the funds are specifically needed for the rehabilitation of mining-affected villages.

Mining in Goa has had a deep impact on Goa’s agriculture activities and on the communities involved in mining – directly or indirectly. The mining industry has been halted due to court orders but the state government is trying to restart mining activities to revive the state’s economy.

Courts driving funds
In October 2018, the High Court of Bombay at Goa, based on a 2017 writ petition filed by Goa Foundation, ordered the Goa government to provide piped water supply to Sonshi village, take steps to control dust pollution and provide transportation facilities to the school-going children.

Sonshi, a village in north Goa, is surrounded by five mining leases and has been badly affected by mining. What was once famous for its horticulture, the village has been reduced to dust and misery because of mining activity over the years. Problems of noise, dust pollution, the safety of children as they go to school, destruction of land and lack of water are just some of the issues the village with 350 households has been facing for years.

In the same order, the Bombay High Court criticised the District Mineral Foundation Rules 2016 for not following the objectives set out by the central government, for having no representation from the mining-affected communities, and for being aimed more at investing the funds for the future as opposed to using them currently for the benefit of the mining-affected regions, as originally envisaged by the central government. In January 2019, the state government notified the new District Mineral Foundation Rules 2018.

According to official data, North Goa District Mineral Foundation has a total of Rs 105.34 crore and has used about Rs. 27.9 crore of this fund. Of this, nearly Rs 24 crore have gone into Covid-19 care.

From the remaining Rs 3.9 crore, approximately Rs 50 lakh were spent on providing water through tankers and pipelines to villages in the mining-affected areas, Rs 31 lakh to provide transportation to school-going children, and Rs 45 lakh to pump water out from mining pits in Pali, Surla, Veguem, Sonshi and Pissurlem villages of north Goa.

In a win for the mining-affected villages, but a reminder that the authorities controlling District Mineral Foundation funds only acts on court orders, the mining-affected village of Sirigao in north Goa won a ten-year-old battle in the high court case.

North Goa District Mineral Foundation to provide Rs 2 crore towards desilting of the rivulets, agriculture fields and reconstruction of existing sluice gates so that their agricultural activity could revive. And indeed, by January 2020, their fields were full of paddy again.

South Goa District Mineral Foundation had Rs 97.43 crore in its coffers, and, of that, it used Rs 14.95 crore.

Of that, Rs 14.10 crore went towards Covid-19 relief work while the remaining Rs 85 lakh were utilised for providing drinking water to the mining-affected villages in south Goa, and transportation facilities to school-going children.

Indefinite delays
Apart from the lack of priority and initiative towards the mining-affected villages, the DMF funds have also been criticised for a tardy administrative function.

According to the minutes of the meeting, that took place for the North Goa District Mineral Foundation in June 2020, it was decided that all applications will be routed via the concerned departments – water queries to the water resource department, education-related queries to the education department.

However, no information was given about this change, so the individuals would continue to send their applications to the District Mineral Foundation authorities, who would then send them to the department concerned for scrutiny who would then respond if it was worthy of funding or not and a final decision would be taken by the governing council at meetings that are supposed to be held once every three months. Another problem that cropped up was the lack of ease of obtaining information from the website.

“There is no dedicated website for District Mineral Foundation,” said Gode. “Some sporadic information has been provided in PDF documents on the mines department website.”

“How is anyone ever going to update themselves on the status of the application? How will they ever know what happened to their application?” she asked.

“Goa could have been a model state for District Mineral Foundation activity,” she said. “Mining came to a halt, the government had a real opportunity to rehabilitate the villages and we could have really shone because we know that it is possible to bring the fields and water sources alive again and resolve issues, but sadly, the reality is quite different.”

Odisha to use District Mineral Foundation fund for traffic surveillance

The New Indian Express | | March 19, 2021

Odisha government has decided to utilise funds from District Mineral Foundation (DMF) or CSR for integrated traffic management system to check road fatalities in the State.

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government has decided to utilise funds from District Mineral Foundation (DMF) or CSR for integrated traffic management system to check road fatalities in the State. The Commerce and Transport department has asked all districts to install CCTV surveillance system for intelligent enforcement of traffic violations at vulnerable stretches and black spots on highways from the DMF or CSR fund where DMF is not available.

The decision to utilise DMF or CSR fund in road safety activities was taken after the Sundargarh Collector sought approval of the government to implement a similar project in the district out of DMF fund. Principal Secretary of Transport department Madhusudan Padhi said Sundargarh Collector had expressed willingness to implement a project in the district out of DMF fund and it has been approved. “We have asked the collectors of other districts to take up similar projects out of DMF or CSR funds for building surveillance infrastructure to check road fatalities,” he said.

The system to be implemented under Driving Electronic Enforcement to Save Human Lives (DEESHA) scheme will detect the violations through automatic number plate recognition technology and send message to a dedicated command and control centre. The centre will be integrated with SARATHI, VAHAN and e-challan application, which will send message to the registered mobile number of the vehicle / driver about the violation. The e-challan will be generated through the system.

There has been steady increase in number of fatalities in Odisha due to road accidents from 3,931 in 2014 to 5,333 in 2019, an increase of about 36 per cent during the period. Last year, though the number of fatalities was less due to lockdown following the Covid-19 pandemic, there was over 30 pc rise in road fatalities post lockdown.

In view of the rising road deaths, the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety has directed to intensify enforcement against traffic rule violators and install CCTV cameras at the black spots and on highways, Padhi added. Meanwhile, the Transport Commissioner has initiated bid process for selection of a vendor for implementation of CCTV surveillance on the stretch from Rameswar (Khurda) to Chhatia (Jajpur).

Road fatalities
3,931 accidents in 2014
5,333 accidents in 2019
30 pc rise in road fatalities post lockdown

Now, Centre seeks to control district mineral funds

Financial Express | Surya Sarathi Ray | March 18, 2021

While the guidelines say that 60% of the DMF funds have to be utilised for ‘high priority sectors’ such as drinking water supply and education, 40% is earmarked for ‘other priority sectors’ such as physical infrastructure, energy and cowshed development.

The Centre has inserted a new clause into the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2021, to take control of the district mineral funds from the state governments. The amendment, part of many changes to the relevant Act cleared by the Cabinet last week and introduced in Parliament on Monday, could spark a political storm. Many would likely see it as yet another bid by the Narendra Modi government to usurp the states’ fiscal powers and undermine their constitutionally defined role in governance.

As per the MMDR (Amendment) Act, 2015, state governments must establish district mineral foundations (DMFs) in all districts affected by mining-related operations; lease holders are required to contribute to these not-for-profit foundations as a defined percentage of royalty, in addition to the royalty paid to state governments. The DMFs are needed to use these funds, total collections stood at over Rs 45,000 crore in September 2020, for the welfare of persons and areas affected by mining-related operations, the tribal population being the principal intended beneficiaries.
The scheme is called Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana.

While the sub-section 3 of Section 9(B) of the MMDR Act brought in through the 2015 amendment, says, “The composition and functions of the District Mineral Foundation shall be such as may be prescribed by the State Government”, the Centre’s new Bill seeks to add a proviso to the sub-section that, “provided that the Central Government may give directions regarding composition and utilisation of fund by (the DMF). Clearly, the idea is to deprive the states of discretion in the utilisation of DMF funds.

The Centre’s unhappiness with the way the states use the DMF kitty or the states being the custodian of these funds came to the fore in March 2020, as finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman suggested, as part of the first tranche of the Atmanirbhar package, that, “We will request the state governments to utilise the funds which are available at the DMF at the district level so that medical testing, medical screening and also providing of health attention will not suffer”.

Sitharaman also cited some “Rs 25,000 crore lying unutilised” with DMFs; however, data gathered by FE show that of Rs 45,096 crore collected by DMFs so far, Rs 42,141 crore has already been sanctioned for over 2 lakh projects. Of course, the amount released so far is Rs 20,337 crore, but that doesn’t show a wider gap between the sanctioned and released amounts than under the government’s other welfare schemes.

The Centre is also apparently worried about reports that states are diverting the DMF funds for other purposes. An mining industry official told FE on condition of anonymity: “Instances of diversion of DMF funds by states have been noticed in the past. By adding this provisio (in the Bill), the Centre may be trying to regulate such practices.”

While the guidelines say that 60% of the DMF funds have to be utilised for ‘high priority sectors’ such as drinking water supply and education, 40% is earmarked for ‘other priority sectors’ such as physical infrastructure, energy and cowshed development.

According to the MMDR Rules 2015, “every holder of a mining lease or a prospecting licence-cum-mining lease shall, in addition to the royalty, pay to the DMF of the district in which mining operations are carried on, an amount at the rate of 10% of the royalty in respect of mining leases or prospecting licence cum-mining lease granted on or after January 12, 2015 and 30% of the royalty in respect of mining leases granted before January 12, 2015”.

The DMF funds collections have been the highest in mineral-rich Odisha (Rs 11,099 crore), followed by Jharkhand (Rs 5,921 crore), Chhattisgarh (Rs 5,830 crore), Rajasthan (Rs 4,121 crore) and Telangana (Rs 2,902 crore).

In recent years, the Centre has come under fire for allegedly showing a tendency to centralise fiscal powers and policymaking – this was reflected in the terms of reference given to the 15th Finance Commission and the increased use of the cess route, which hit the divisible tax pool, to the detriment of states. As the pandemic dented the goods and services tax (GST) revenue and compensation kitty, the states had to put up a fight to make the Centre agree to honour the commitment to compensate them fully, despite a law mandating such succour being in place.

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