# Punjab's drone threat, Odisha's mining dispute, and a zero-vote mystery

An episode of [3 Things](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1406730235), 16 Sep 2026, 29 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75150093/3_things_2026_september_16_v2.mp3

First, we speak to The Indian Express’ Man Aman Singh Chhina about how increasingly sophisticated drones are transforming cross-border smuggling along Punjab’s border with Pakistan, what they are carrying, and the growing challenge for security agencies and border villages. Next, we speak to The Indian Express’ Sujit Bisoyi about an amendment to India’s mining law that gives the Centre the power to restrict state taxes on minerals, why it is facing opposition in Odisha, and what it could mean for the mineral-rich state. (14:50) And in the end, we examine a curious result from Rajasthan’s urban local body elections, where candidate Omprakash Bawri has alleged irregularities after officially receiving zero votes despite claiming that he and members of his family voted for him. (26:11) Hosted by Ichha Sharma Produced and written by Shashank Bhargava, Niharika Nanda and Ichha Sharma Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: In today's episode, we look at Odisha, where a new
[0:03] Speaker 1: amendment to India's mining law has triggered opposition over the
[0:07] Speaker 1: centre's power to restrict state taxes on minerals. We also
[0:11] Speaker 1: take a look at Rajasthan, where a local election candidate
[0:15] Speaker 1: is questioning the voting process after official results showed that
[0:19] Speaker 1: he received zero votes despite claiming he voted for himself.
[0:23] Speaker 1: But first … we talk about Punjab's border with Pakistan,
[0:27] Speaker 1: where an old fence built to stop smugglers is facing
[0:30] Speaker 1: a very new kind of threat– drones. The 462-kilometre fence
[0:49] Speaker 1: along the international border in Punjab was largely built in
[0:53] Speaker 1: the late 1980s and early 1990s during the militancy years
[0:59] Speaker 1: to stop infiltration and smuggling. It is a tall, heavily
[1:02] Speaker 1: guarded barrier lined with concertina wire, patrol tracks and observation posts.
[1:09] Speaker 1: But the threat has now moved above it. Since 2024,
[1:13] Speaker 1: More than 1,200 Pakistani drones have been intercepted by security agencies,
[1:19] Speaker 1: including the BSF and Punjab Place. And what began as
[1:23] Speaker 1: relatively simple drone incursions has now become far more sophisticated.
[1:29] Speaker 1: And so for border villages, this is no longer an
[1:32] Speaker 1: occasional incident. Drones have dropped consignments in fields and near
[1:37] Speaker 1: their homes. So how are drones changing cross-border smuggling in Punjab?
[1:42] Speaker 1: And what does this mean for security agencies and border villages?
[1:47] Speaker 1: To answer these questions, we are joined by the Indian
[1:49] Speaker 1: Express's Manaman Singh Channa, who reported on the issue for
[1:53] Speaker 1: the paper. Manaman, could you start by telling our listeners
[1:56] Speaker 1: a bit about how the nature of the border threat
[2:00] Speaker 1: has changed? Like, why is a fence that once kind
[2:04] Speaker 1: of deterred smugglers and infiltrators now proving inadequate?
[2:09] Speaker 2: So, Punjab shares an international border with Pakistan for more
[2:14] Speaker 2: than 500 kilometers. This land border, it is between 532
[2:18] Speaker 2: to 540 kilometers approximately. There is uncertainty about the exact
[2:22] Speaker 2: number because there are riverine stretches in between which cannot
[2:26] Speaker 2: be classified as land. But, of course, they form a
[2:29] Speaker 2: part of the international border. So, this border has been
[2:33] Speaker 2: fenced since the late 1980s. So, as our listeners would
[2:37] Speaker 2: be aware that Punjab faced a bout of militancy which
[2:40] Speaker 2: started in around middle of 1980s and carried on till
[2:46] Speaker 2: the middle of 1990s. So, for about 10 to 12 years, roughly,
[2:51] Speaker 2: Punjab was afflicted by militancy which was aided and abetted
[2:55] Speaker 2: by Pakistan and its intelligence agency ISI.
[2:58] Speaker 3: So, because we share a.
[2:59] Speaker 2: Border with Pakistan and at that time the border was open.
[3:04] Speaker 2: Anybody could cross the border at will, though there were
[3:06] Speaker 2: BSF checkpoints, but it was very difficult to plug it thoroughly.
[3:10] Speaker 2: So the government at the time decided that there should
[3:13] Speaker 2: be a fence, there should be a deterrent, there should
[3:15] Speaker 2: be an obstacle so that, you know, it should not
[3:18] Speaker 2: be very easy for anybody to come and go from
[3:20] Speaker 2: India to Pakistan and vice versa and bring in arms
[3:23] Speaker 2: and ammunition or get trained in Pakistan and then come
[3:26] Speaker 2: into India and carry out terrorist activities. Now, what has
[3:29] Speaker 2: happened is that because of the march of technology, the
[3:33] Speaker 2: advent of drone technology, now Pakistan is increasingly using drones
[3:39] Speaker 2: in order to send across drugs, arms and ammunition into
[3:43] Speaker 2: Indian Punjab. So what it effectively does is that it
[3:46] Speaker 2: defeats the physical presence of the fence, as you know,
[3:51] Speaker 2: the drones can fly at great heights and at faster speeds.
[3:55] Speaker 2: So therefore, there is a change in the nature of threat,
[3:59] Speaker 2: which India is facing from Pakistan. And there is an
[4:02] Speaker 2: increasing need in order to counter this drone menace, which
[4:06] Speaker 2: is coming from Pakistan.
[4:08] Speaker 4: Right.
[4:08] Speaker 1: And so when we say drone smuggling has become routine,
[4:12] Speaker 1: what does the scale actually look like in numbers? Like,
[4:16] Speaker 1: how frequently are these incursions happening now?
[4:19] Speaker 2: So what our sources tell us and senior police officials
[4:22] Speaker 2: and other intelligence officials tell us is that there are
[4:25] Speaker 2: dozens of drone sorties which take place originating from Pakistan,
[4:29] Speaker 2: Punjab into Indian Punjab. And the maximum frequency of these
[4:35] Speaker 2: sorties we are told is during the night. However, our
[4:37] Speaker 2: ground reporters have been to the villages along the border
[4:41] Speaker 2: and what they have found out is that the drones
[4:43] Speaker 2: are now coming during the daytime also. So therefore, it
[4:47] Speaker 2: is quite clear that the magnitude of the threat is increasing.
[4:51] Speaker 2: And these drones are now operating even in daytime and
[4:55] Speaker 2: not only at night. And though we have anti-drone systems,
[5:00] Speaker 2: which are operated by the Punjab Police, the Border Security
[5:03] Speaker 2: Force and other security agencies, yet because the technology changes
[5:07] Speaker 2: very quickly and adapts very quickly, so these drones are
[5:11] Speaker 2: able to defeat some of.
[5:13] Speaker 3: The anti-drone systems. So this is the situation. And so
[5:15] Speaker 3: what all are these drones actually carrying?
[5:17] Speaker 1: Apart from drugs, these drones are also carrying arms.
[5:19] Speaker 3: And ammunitions and explosives.
[5:43] Speaker 2: So you have AK-47 rifles coming across via these drones,
[5:47] Speaker 2: Chinese-made pistols, automatic pistols which are manufactured in Pakistan itself,
[5:52] Speaker 2: rounds of ammunition, you know, the bullets, as we call it,
[5:55] Speaker 2: also grenades and improvised explosive devices. So these are the
[6:00] Speaker 2: kind of things which are being smuggled across from Pakistan
[6:03] Speaker 2: by these drones.
[6:05] Speaker 1: And Manaman, how organized are these operations? Because you highlight
[6:08] Speaker 1: that there are specific launch corridors across the border. So
[6:13] Speaker 1: are we looking at individual smugglers or kind of established
[6:18] Speaker 1: launch networks with recurring routes?
[6:21] Speaker 2: So these smugglers from Pakistan who are operating these drones,
[6:25] Speaker 2: they are trained by the Pakistan army and the Intelligence
[6:30] Speaker 2: Agency of Pakistan, the ISI. So they have entire support
[6:34] Speaker 2: of the official system, military system of Pakistan. And while
[6:38] Speaker 2: they might be launching and recovering these drones on their
[6:42] Speaker 2: own from various places along the Indo-Pak border, yet there
[6:46] Speaker 2: is definite proof that these drug smugglers have the backing
[6:50] Speaker 2: of Pakistan Army and the ISI, which is why they
[6:53] Speaker 2: are operating with such impunity along their bordered areas.
[6:57] Speaker 1: And Manaman, how far inside India can these drones fly?
[7:02] Speaker 2: Well, it all really depends upon the flight time that
[7:06] Speaker 2: a drone has as per its battery and as far
[7:09] Speaker 2: as the line of sight would allow it to go. Because,
[7:13] Speaker 2: you know, the drone operator who's having the remote control
[7:16] Speaker 2: with him, he has to be in line of sight
[7:19] Speaker 2: with the drones. But now increasingly it is being seen
[7:23] Speaker 2: that instead of using these line of sight and radio
[7:25] Speaker 2: frequency methods of directing the drones where the range of
[7:29] Speaker 2: the drone was actually limited to a few kilometers. Now,
[7:32] Speaker 2: satellite systems like the Starlink system is being used by
[7:36] Speaker 2: the Pakistani smugglers. And since this uses a different kind
[7:40] Speaker 2: of system, a satellite navigation system, Therefore, their range increases drastically.
[7:45] Speaker 2: So as of now, the maximum which has been detected
[7:49] Speaker 2: is around 10 to 15 kilometers. But they definitely have
[7:52] Speaker 2: the capability of going farther than that.
[7:55] Speaker 3: This is what our sources tell us.
[7:57] Speaker 1: And so on the Indian side, do we know who
[7:59] Speaker 1: picks up these consignments?
[8:01] Speaker 2: Well, yes, there are multiple tiers of security which have
[8:04] Speaker 2: been put into place by the BSF as well as
[8:07] Speaker 2: the Punjab police along the international border. So as to
[8:11] Speaker 2: at least make sure that once these drones have dropped
[8:13] Speaker 2: their payloads, those who come to pick them up, the
[8:17] Speaker 2: Indian smugglers who are hand in glove with the Pakistani
[8:20] Speaker 2: drug cartels or the armed smuggling network, they should not
[8:23] Speaker 2: be able to recover them. So CCTV cameras have been
[8:26] Speaker 2: set up along the international border.
[8:28] Speaker 3: There is physical monitoring. There are physical checkposts.
[8:32] Speaker 2: And the police is also dependent upon tip-offs, which are
[8:35] Speaker 2: received from the common citizens, the villagers who live along
[8:38] Speaker 2: the international border. And of course, rewards are offered in
[8:42] Speaker 2: order to give some tip-offs. So that is how they
[8:44] Speaker 2: try to keep an eye on who is coming and
[8:46] Speaker 2: who is recovering the payload.
[8:48] Speaker 3: Of these drones.
[8:49] Speaker 1: And Manaman, you write about how villagers are helping the
[8:53] Speaker 1: border security force and the police. So how much responsibility
[8:57] Speaker 1: now falls on villagers?
[8:59] Speaker 2: Well, it is all a voluntary effort on the part
[9:01] Speaker 2: of the villagers. What the Punjab police has done is
[9:04] Speaker 2: that they have set up village defense committees, the VDCs.
[9:07] Speaker 2: So these village defense committees, they are interested with the
[9:12] Speaker 2: responsibility of checking if there is any drone activity taking
[9:16] Speaker 2: place in and around their villages. And if they see
[9:19] Speaker 2: any such activity, they are supposed to inform the local
[9:22] Speaker 2: police immediately. And if they see any payload being dropped
[9:26] Speaker 2: or somebody in their village or around their village or
[9:29] Speaker 2: somebody from outside the village who's coming regularly and indulging in.
[9:33] Speaker 3: Such activities, they are supposed to tip off the police.
[9:36] Speaker 2: And from what we have learned from Punjab police officials
[9:39] Speaker 2: is that these BDCs are really doing a good job
[9:41] Speaker 2: and they are thwarting the attempts of the Pakistanis to
[9:44] Speaker 2: push in drugs and arms and ammunition.
[9:47] Speaker 1: Okay, and so if a drone accidentally drops drugs or
[9:51] Speaker 1: a weapon in somebody's field or courtyard, how does that
[9:55] Speaker 1: farmer prove they had nothing to do with it?
[9:58] Speaker 2: No, that farmer is not to be blamed at all.
[10:00] Speaker 2: if some payload or some contraband has been found lying
[10:03] Speaker 2: on in his field.
[10:05] Speaker 3: He is definitely not to be blamed. It is who
[10:07] Speaker 3: comes to pick it up.
[10:08] Speaker 2: Very often it has been found that, you know, sometimes
[10:11] Speaker 2: there is navigational error and, you know, the contraband has
[10:14] Speaker 2: also been robbed in the houses of some people.
[10:18] Speaker 3: But they have immediately informed the police.
[10:20] Speaker 2: And in the fields also it happens that if the
[10:22] Speaker 2: farmers come across any such thing lying in their fields
[10:26] Speaker 2: and they are not involved, most of them not involved
[10:28] Speaker 2: in these activities, they immediately inform the BSF or the
[10:31] Speaker 2: Punjab police. So, just the very fact that something is
[10:34] Speaker 2: lying in your field does not automatically make you guilty
[10:38] Speaker 2: because these drones are coming from high above and eventually
[10:42] Speaker 2: when they drop their payload, it has to drop in
[10:43] Speaker 2: somebody's field. But somebody has to come and pick them up. So,
[10:47] Speaker 2: that is the person whom the police looks for.
[10:50] Speaker 3: Right.
[10:50] Speaker 1: And you earlier spoke of how officials say drones seen
[10:53] Speaker 1: this year include anti-jamming systems and Satellite communication. So how
[10:59] Speaker 1: sophisticated have these machines become?
[11:01] Speaker 2: So these drones nowadays come with the return to home feature.
[11:06] Speaker 2: Wherein what happens is that if you jam the radio frequency,
[11:10] Speaker 2: so instead of dropping down, now they have a feature
[11:13] Speaker 2: called return to home wherein they go back to the
[11:15] Speaker 2: base from where they have been launched. So this is something,
[11:18] Speaker 2: a new technology which has come up to deal with
[11:21] Speaker 2: the jamming capabilities of the other side so that, you know,
[11:24] Speaker 2: that payload does not get wasted or that drone does
[11:27] Speaker 2: not get caught by the Indian security. So increasingly it
[11:30] Speaker 2: is being seen that when you jam the frequency of
[11:33] Speaker 2: these drones, they manage to return back into Pakistan.
[11:37] Speaker 1: And Manaman, this might sound like a very obvious question,
[11:40] Speaker 1: but instead of jamming these drones, why can we not
[11:42] Speaker 1: simply shoot them down? Well, these drones are very small
[11:43] Speaker 1: in size and at the height at which they operate, it.
[11:45] Speaker 3: Is very difficult to shoot them down.
[11:46] Speaker 2: These drones are very small in size and at the
[11:49] Speaker 2: height at which they operate, it is very difficult to
[11:51] Speaker 2: shoot them down. There are bigger drones also, the hexacopters
[11:57] Speaker 2: and octacopters, which are modified and used.
[11:59] Speaker 3: But then again, you know, that maximum activity takes place
[12:02] Speaker 3: at night.
[12:03] Speaker 2: And at night, it is very difficult to spot these drones,
[12:06] Speaker 2: especially when they come in very high and they suddenly come.
[12:08] Speaker 3: Low and drop. So the reaction time is very less.
[12:12] Speaker 2: The cross section of the drone is very small in
[12:15] Speaker 2: order to sight it and fire on it. So therefore,
[12:18] Speaker 2: firing and bringing it down is all luck by chance.
[12:22] Speaker 2: So you cannot depend upon that.
[12:24] Speaker 3: Right.
[12:24] Speaker 1: So what's next for the security agencies here? Like you
[12:28] Speaker 1: highlight how security officials are already warning about drone swarms
[12:33] Speaker 1: and AI-enabled coordination. So how much more difficult would the
[12:37] Speaker 1: challenge become if dozens of drones cross simultaneously?
[12:42] Speaker 2: So this is a cat and mouse game and capabilities
[12:44] Speaker 2: have to be enhanced and fresh developments on the drone
[12:48] Speaker 2: front whenever they take place, the Indian security forces have
[12:51] Speaker 2: to be on top of that because whatever capability you
[12:54] Speaker 2: develop to deny the airspace. ingress of drones the other
[12:58] Speaker 2: side will ensure that there is more capability to come
[13:01] Speaker 2: so the technology keeps evolving and therefore you have to
[13:04] Speaker 2: keep up with it yes there are chances of drone
[13:07] Speaker 2: swarms coming in and then you know you have to
[13:09] Speaker 2: defeat them the technology exists it's just that there's a
[13:12] Speaker 2: huge area which has to be defended and therefore there
[13:16] Speaker 2: has to be a concentrated effort in order to you
[13:19] Speaker 2: know invest a lot of money and equipment into it
[13:23] Speaker 2: so as of now A lot is being done, but
[13:25] Speaker 2: a lot more can also be done in order to
[13:28] Speaker 2: counter this threat.
[13:30] Speaker 1: And Manaman, taking a broader lens, talk about why is
[13:33] Speaker 1: this region vulnerable to such scale of incursions?
[13:37] Speaker 2: Well, it is because of the designs of ISI in
[13:41] Speaker 2: order to create unrest in Punjab and, you know, also
[13:46] Speaker 2: to push in drugs. So since there is a history
[13:48] Speaker 2: of ISI's involvement in Punjab and creating unrest, therefore we
[13:53] Speaker 2: see these drone activities taking more care. It's not that
[13:56] Speaker 2: they don't take place in Jammu and Kashmir or Rajasthan.
[13:59] Speaker 2: or Gujarat, where Pakistan shares a border with India. But
[14:03] Speaker 2: the focus is on Punjab in order to destabilize the state.
[14:07] Speaker 2: Because you see, this is a state where the militancy
[14:10] Speaker 2: has been defeated. So it's now more than 30 years.
[14:13] Speaker 2: In 1995, the militancy was defeated. So it's been 31
[14:17] Speaker 2: years now that Punjab has been more or less peaceful.
[14:20] Speaker 2: So therefore, the ISI is always looking for fresh chance
[14:24] Speaker 2: to create some unrest and therefore they utilize this corridor
[14:28] Speaker 2: to push in their drugs also because there is a
[14:30] Speaker 2: lot of in kashmir and in jammu there are you
[14:34] Speaker 2: know the security forces presence is much more than what
[14:37] Speaker 2: it is in punjab so punjab is a peaceful state
[14:41] Speaker 2: and therefore the level of security forces is less so
[14:44] Speaker 2: they feel that they have a good chance of pushing
[14:46] Speaker 2: in drugs from punjab or arms and ammunition to create unrest.
[14:55] Speaker 1: And next, we begin by looking at an amendment to
[14:58] Speaker 1: India's mining law that is facing opposition in Odisha. The
[15:02] Speaker 1: Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act of 1957 is
[15:07] Speaker 1: the principal law governing the development and regulation of mines
[15:11] Speaker 1: and minerals in India. Now, last month, the Centre passed
[15:14] Speaker 1: an amendment giving it the sole authority to frame rules
[15:18] Speaker 1: that could restrict the power of states to levy taxes
[15:21] Speaker 1: on minerals. This move has now drawn strong opposition in Odisha.
[15:27] Speaker 1: In a letter opposing the amendment, former Odisha Chief Minister
[15:30] Speaker 1: Naveen Patnaik said the new provisions have far-reaching implications for
[15:35] Speaker 1: the people of the state and described the day the
[15:38] Speaker 1: amendment was passed as a black day for Odisha. So
[15:41] Speaker 1: to understand what the amendment changes, the impact it could
[15:45] Speaker 1: have on Odisha, and the reasons behind the opposition, my
[15:48] Speaker 1: colleague Niharika Nanda speaks with the Indian Express's Sujit Bishoy
[15:52] Speaker 1: in this segment.
[15:54] Speaker 5: Sujit, to give our listeners context, can you tell us
[15:57] Speaker 5: the significance of mining for Odisha?
[16:00] Speaker 1: How important is it for the state?
[16:02] Speaker 6: Well, you know, Orissa is a mineral bearing state. Around
[16:06] Speaker 6: 40 to 45% of India's total coal reserves are in Orissa. Similarly,
[16:11] Speaker 6: around 30% of India's total iron ore reserves are also
[16:14] Speaker 6: in Orissa. As far as chromite is concerned, around 98%
[16:19] Speaker 6: of India's total chromite are in Orissa. And also bauxite,
[16:22] Speaker 6: one more key mineral that Orissa also contains more than
[16:26] Speaker 6: 40% of India's total bauxite reserves. So, Orissa being a
[16:29] Speaker 6: mineral reserve, mineral-wearing state and a mineral-rich state that spreads
[16:34] Speaker 6: across not just in one particular corner of the state.
[16:37] Speaker 6: As I said, the southern parts of Orissa's region like Dikkalhandi,
[16:41] Speaker 6: Rayagada and Kurapur that.
[16:43] Speaker 4: Contains key bauxite reserves.
[16:45] Speaker 6: Similarly, the northern parts that is the Jodha and Kymzardik
[16:49] Speaker 6: state and the Kohida and Sundargarh district. Those two regions
[16:52] Speaker 6: are known as the mineral hinterland of Orissa because of
[16:55] Speaker 6: the rich iron ore and manganese reserves. Similarly, as far
[16:59] Speaker 6: as coal is concerned, the Sundargarh Valley and Talche region
[17:04] Speaker 6: in the central Orissa that one of the major coal
[17:08] Speaker 6: reserves in India and one of Coal India Limited subsidiary
[17:12] Speaker 6: like the Mohandadi Coal Field has its operations in those regions.
[17:16] Speaker 6: And as I said, chromite that is exclusively to Orissa
[17:20] Speaker 6: as number one in chromite production, the Sukinda area and
[17:23] Speaker 6: Jaspur state as coastal wealth. So that has reached chromite wealth.
[17:28] Speaker 6: And so this is what I said, the mineral scenario
[17:31] Speaker 6: of Orissa and why it is so important to Orissa
[17:34] Speaker 6: because of the earning.
[17:36] Speaker 4: As I said, as for the.
[17:38] Speaker 6: Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act, as even in
[17:41] Speaker 6: the present context, The center levies the tax on the
[17:45] Speaker 6: mining leaseholders. They extract mining and they pay a royalty
[17:49] Speaker 6: amount to the states. And Orissa's around 25% of its
[17:53] Speaker 6: total income and around 90% of its total non-tax revenues
[17:58] Speaker 6: are from the mining sector. In volumes, Orissa earns around 50,000
[18:02] Speaker 6: crore annually from the mining sector. That is the important
[18:06] Speaker 6: issue holds for the state.
[18:08] Speaker 5: So what did the original act that is the Mines
[18:11] Speaker 5: and Minerals Development and Regulation Act 1957 say and how
[18:16] Speaker 5: has it changed over the years?
[18:18] Speaker 6: As far as I know, the original bill was formulated
[18:22] Speaker 6: in 1957. But after the Narendra Modi government came to
[18:25] Speaker 6: power in 2015, they amended it for the maybe for
[18:28] Speaker 6: the first time. So what they introduced two key changes
[18:32] Speaker 6: in the act, that is that the mining leases, which
[18:36] Speaker 6: were earlier, it was given on preferential basis. I mean,
[18:40] Speaker 6: if the government wants, it can give to anyone. But
[18:42] Speaker 6: what the Modi government introduced that it will be allocated only.
[18:46] Speaker 4: Through an electronic auction system.
[18:49] Speaker 6: That is one and they have introduced one more important
[18:51] Speaker 6: provisions that the introduction of the district mineral foundation.
[18:56] Speaker 4: What does that mean?
[18:57] Speaker 6: It means that the mining leach holders who are mining
[19:01] Speaker 6: because most of these mines are situated or located in
[19:04] Speaker 6: tribal regions. and one of the most underdeveloped regions so
[19:07] Speaker 6: what this dmf helps that a certain amount of tax
[19:11] Speaker 6: or money they put in those funds and the entire
[19:14] Speaker 6: fund dmf fund is meant for the socio-economic development for
[19:18] Speaker 6: building infrastructure for building skill development center for building hospital
[19:22] Speaker 6: or roads in the areas affected by mining so those
[19:26] Speaker 6: two and now this has been again amended in 2026
[19:29] Speaker 6: and they inserted certain clauses which triggered a political slugfest Right.
[19:35] Speaker 5: But why is the amendment facing opposition and what kind
[19:39] Speaker 5: of an impact could it have on the people of Odisha?
[19:43] Speaker 6: Well, before reflying to your queries, I want to take
[19:46] Speaker 6: you to 2015 when the amendment was made by the
[19:49] Speaker 6: Narendra Modi government and at that time it received a
[19:52] Speaker 6: whole lot of welcome from the state.
[19:54] Speaker 3: Why?
[19:54] Speaker 6: Because as I said it introduced provisions like allocation of
[19:58] Speaker 6: mining leases through an auction process that helps the state
[20:01] Speaker 6: to garner more revenue And the provision of this Dixit
[20:05] Speaker 6: Mineral Foundation, a fund exclusively for the socio-economic development of
[20:09] Speaker 6: areas affected by mining.
[20:11] Speaker 4: So this was welcomed.
[20:12] Speaker 6: And now this has been opposed because the center has
[20:16] Speaker 6: introduced provision like they inserted a new clause in the
[20:20] Speaker 6: recent amendment that the states cannot levy any tax on
[20:25] Speaker 6: the mining holders. And why this amendment is significant, you
[20:29] Speaker 6: need to go to a Supreme Court judgment. So ever
[20:33] Speaker 6: since the mining operation started by this because of the
[20:37] Speaker 6: mining mineral bearing states, they said that the land belonged
[20:41] Speaker 6: to those states. The people affected by the mining activities,
[20:44] Speaker 6: they are getting diseases because of pollution. They are affected
[20:48] Speaker 6: because of the rampant mining. So the call was always
[20:52] Speaker 6: there for the right of state or the empowerment of
[20:55] Speaker 6: states to levy taxes to impose tax on the mining
[20:59] Speaker 6: leach holders. So the provision was there that the center
[21:02] Speaker 6: fixes a certain amount of royalty because the land of
[21:05] Speaker 6: the state is used for mining extraction. But the Supreme
[21:08] Speaker 6: Court in July 2024, a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court,
[21:12] Speaker 6: it gave a landmark verdict empowering the states. And what
[21:16] Speaker 6: the Supreme Court said that the states have.
[21:18] Speaker 4: The power to levy taxes.
[21:21] Speaker 6: And the court also specifically said that the royalty is
[21:24] Speaker 6: not a tax.
[21:25] Speaker 4: It clearly said that.
[21:27] Speaker 6: And when the Supreme Court's constitutional bench gives a judgment,
[21:30] Speaker 6: it becomes the law of the land. And maybe that
[21:32] Speaker 6: was the necessity why the central government now amended the act.
[21:35] Speaker 4: That is why the opposition in Orissa.
[21:39] Speaker 5: And Sujit, what is the ruling BJP's argument in favour
[21:42] Speaker 5: of the amendment?
[21:44] Speaker 6: See, when the cases was going on in Supreme Court, Orissa,
[21:47] Speaker 6: he argued that because there was a question whether the
[21:50] Speaker 6: Supreme Court's ruling should be implemented retrospectively or the day
[21:54] Speaker 6: the judgment came. So Orissa argued that the judgments must
[21:58] Speaker 6: be implemented retrospectively. The BJP government's advocate general argued in
[22:02] Speaker 6: the Supreme Court. And as per the suggestions from various
[22:07] Speaker 6: mineral-bearing states, including from the BJP-ruled Orissa, the Supreme Court
[22:11] Speaker 6: allowed states, not just allowed the states to empower tax,
[22:14] Speaker 6: but it also allowed to impose tax retrospectively. It allowed
[22:19] Speaker 6: the states to collect tax from April 1, 2005, in
[22:21] Speaker 6: 12 installments. So as per the estimate, there was no
[22:26] Speaker 6: official estimate though, but as per estimate, the officials admit
[22:30] Speaker 6: that Orissa was supposed to gain around 1 lakh crore
[22:34] Speaker 6: because of the arrears to be collected from April 1st.
[22:37] Speaker 4: 2005 till date.
[22:38] Speaker 6: But Orissa didn't collect those arrears and some other states
[22:42] Speaker 6: like Jharkhand, they collected those tax. Now, as I said,
[22:47] Speaker 6: BJP is in power both in Orissa and the union government.
[22:51] Speaker 4: So now they cannot oppose.
[22:52] Speaker 6: If they oppose it, it's like they are going against
[22:55] Speaker 6: their central leadership. So now the BJP leadership in state
[22:58] Speaker 6: are in a catch-22 position.
[22:59] Speaker 4: Even the people.
[23:00] Speaker 6: Also feel that the Supreme Court's judgment should have been
[23:05] Speaker 6: implemented in Orissa and the state should oppose the MMDRB.
[23:09] Speaker 6: But the BJP leadership, they are trying to convince that
[23:12] Speaker 6: the rule will not affect or the new legislation will
[23:15] Speaker 6: not affect by any means to a state like Orissa.
[23:18] Speaker 6: They are trying to convince people by saying that before
[23:21] Speaker 6: Modi government came, the mining revenue of Orissa was around 5,000
[23:24] Speaker 6: to 6,000 crores Orissa was earning. But when the act
[23:28] Speaker 6: was last amended in 2015 and provisions like DMF and
[23:32] Speaker 6: auction process was introduced, it helped the states to earn more,
[23:36] Speaker 6: as I mentioned earlier.
[23:38] Speaker 5: And the BJD claims that the ruling could have brought
[23:40] Speaker 5: Odisha Rs 1 lakh crore in arrears alone.
[23:45] Speaker 1: Is there any evidence to support this claim?
[23:47] Speaker 6: No, the claim is not entirely superficial, but the Odisha government,
[23:52] Speaker 6: although there was no official estimate by the state government,
[23:55] Speaker 6: they never put it in public forum. But officials admit
[23:58] Speaker 6: that it was close to, I mean, had the government
[24:01] Speaker 6: gone to collect the arrears from the mining companies since
[24:04] Speaker 6: April 1st, 2005, as per the Supreme Court order, it
[24:07] Speaker 6: would have won around 1 lakh crore. Because even the BJD, BJP,
[24:10] Speaker 6: the alliance government had earlier introduced one law when there
[24:14] Speaker 6: was alliance government in Orissa. So they introduced one law
[24:17] Speaker 6: that was called the Orissa Day Act. And the Orissa
[24:20] Speaker 6: Day Act was to levy taxes, but that was struck
[24:23] Speaker 6: down by this Orissa High.
[24:25] Speaker 4: Court in 2015.
[24:26] Speaker 6: And later the government challenged it to Supreme Court and
[24:29] Speaker 6: that is still pending in the Supreme Court. So the
[24:32] Speaker 6: BJD's claim of the state lose around 1 lakh crore
[24:35] Speaker 6: a year amount is not entirely superficial because that was
[24:38] Speaker 6: also admitted by.
[24:39] Speaker 4: Officials of the state steel and mines department unofficially.
[24:43] Speaker 6: And not just that, had the Supreme Court's order was
[24:46] Speaker 6: implemented by the state government, it would also have empowered
[24:49] Speaker 6: the states to collect additional 12 to 15 thousand crore
[24:53] Speaker 6: annually from the mining owners because of the tax imposed
[24:57] Speaker 6: on them. But now the new amendment would not allow
[25:00] Speaker 6: the states because it is clearly mentioned that what the
[25:03] Speaker 6: opposition are claiming and even the experts are also saying
[25:06] Speaker 6: that the new act takes the power from the states
[25:09] Speaker 6: to introduce any new text which was given to them
[25:11] Speaker 6: by the Supreme Court.
[25:13] Speaker 5: And Sujit, mining is something that has always been at
[25:16] Speaker 5: the center of political debates in Odisha, right?
[25:19] Speaker 6: Well, as I mentioned, the mining orissa is bestowed with
[25:23] Speaker 6: rich mineral resources and the mineral reserves spread across regions.
[25:28] Speaker 6: It's not just pointed to a particular region. And because
[25:32] Speaker 6: there is money in mining, so it directly correlates with politics.
[25:37] Speaker 6: The mining lobby indirectly funds political parties and even for
[25:41] Speaker 6: their business of interest. So they support an individual candidate
[25:45] Speaker 6: or they support, I mean, they directly or indirectly fund parties.
[25:49] Speaker 6: Even in the electoral bond case, when the data was
[25:53] Speaker 6: released after the Supreme Court, the donations made by companies
[25:56] Speaker 6: or individuals to political parties, we saw that around 90%
[25:59] Speaker 6: of funds earned by the Biju Janata Dal, the regional
[26:03] Speaker 6: parties in Orissa, was donated by mining majors. Even BJP's
[26:07] Speaker 6: major fund was also from mining giants who.
[26:11] Speaker 4: Had operation in Orissa.
[26:13] Speaker 6: So that could be the reason because mining and politics
[26:16] Speaker 6: is correlated.
[26:23] Speaker 1: And in the end, we talk about a curious result
[26:26] Speaker 1: from Rajasthan's urban local body elections, where a candidate has
[26:30] Speaker 1: alleged irregularities after official results showed that he received exactly
[26:35] Speaker 1: zero votes, despite claiming that he and members of his
[26:39] Speaker 1: family had voted for him. Om Prakash Bori of the
[26:42] Speaker 1: Rashtriya Lok Tantrik Party contested from Ward 3 of the
[26:46] Speaker 1: Sindhri Municipal Council in Balotra district. He has now approached
[26:50] Speaker 1: the State Election Commission questioning both the voting and counting process.
[26:55] Speaker 1: As reported by the Indian Express's Parul Kulshresht, the results
[26:58] Speaker 1: cited in his complaint, a total of 227 votes, were
[27:01] Speaker 1: cast in the board. The Congress candidate received 132 votes,
[27:04] Speaker 1: the BJP candidate received 92 and Nota received 1. Bori, however,
[27:06] Speaker 1: was shown as receiving none. Now, that is what has
[27:16] Speaker 1: led him to challenge the result. He says that not
[27:19] Speaker 1: only did he cast his own vote, but several members
[27:22] Speaker 1: of his family and other people in the ward had
[27:25] Speaker 1: also told him they had voted for him. In a
[27:27] Speaker 1: video released after the result, Borey alleged that votes may
[27:30] Speaker 1: have been stolen either during polling or counting and demanded
[27:34] Speaker 1: that the EVMs used in the ward be immediately secured
[27:37] Speaker 1: and examined. He also alleged procedural irregularities during the sealing
[27:42] Speaker 1: of the machines. According to Bori, although he was present
[27:45] Speaker 1: at the time, officials did not obtain his signature on
[27:48] Speaker 1: documents relating to the sealing process and instead removed him
[27:51] Speaker 1: from the premises. He is now seeking scrutiny of the
[27:55] Speaker 1: polling records, counting documents and videography along with a recount
[27:59] Speaker 1: if necessary. And this was not the only unusual result.
[28:03] Speaker 1: In Parbat Sir municipality, A BJP candidate received just one
[28:07] Speaker 1: vote in Ward 13. The party said it had fielded
[28:11] Speaker 1: him despite knowing the contest would be heavily one-sided, simply
[28:15] Speaker 1: to ensure the opposing candidate did not win unopposed. So,
[28:19] Speaker 1: while the BJP emerged ahead of the Congress overall in
[28:22] Speaker 1: Rajasthan's urban local body polls, the zero-vote result in Sindhri
[28:26] Speaker 1: has now drawn attention to a very specific question. How
[28:30] Speaker 1: a candidate who insists he voted for himself... ended up
[28:34] Speaker 1: with no votes at all. You were listening to Three
[28:39] Speaker 1: Things by The Indian Express. Today's show was edited and
[28:43] Speaker 1: mixed by Suresh Bavar and produced by Niharika Nanda and me,
[28:46] Speaker 1: Ichha Sharma. If you like the show, do subscribe to
[28:49] Speaker 1: us wherever you get your podcast. You can also recommend
[28:52] Speaker 1: it to someone you think may like it, with a
[28:54] Speaker 1: friend or in your family. This is the best way
[28:56] Speaker 1: for people to get to know about us. You can
[28:59] Speaker 1: also tweet us at Express Podcast or write to us
[29:02] Speaker 1: at podcast at indianexpress.com.

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