New Delhi, Sept. 8 -- The latest overhaul of India's mining law addresses one of the industry's most persistent bottlenecks-access to mineral-bearing land-as the Centre moves to bring structural certainty to the regulatory framework governing mining projects.

While headline attention around the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026, has focused on restrictions regarding additional state taxes, cesses, and levies, the legislation carries far wider operational significance when read alongside the Centre's policy interventions on surface rights, compensation, and physical access.

With this legislative passage, the policy architecture has eliminated a major surface bottleneck, smoothing the path from auction vi...