By Toki Blah In an apparent attempt to come up with the long awaited Mining Policy, the State Government has finally circulated (to a very selected circle of readers I must admit) a Draft Document called the Meghalaya Mineral Policy 2010. It makes very interesting reading material and the very title of the document is by itself a matter of great grammatical intrigue. How does one establish or create a Policy for a mineral? A mineral by standard universal definition is usually made up by a compound of elements or that is what most of us were taught in school. No amount of policies can change that aspect and I sincerely doubt if that actually is the objective of the draft document under discussion. What the draft actually wants to say (presumptuous interpretation on the part of the writer) is the manner in which the Government proposes on how Meghalaya should approach its mineral resources in the future. The document candidly admits the existence and presence of a large quantity of mineral resources in our state. It also frankly admits that the manner in which we have been extracting these resources has not been exactly up to the mark. We have evidently failed to address the issue of sustainability. What we have allowed to happen is the exploitation of our mineral wealth in a manner that has actually been extremely hazardous to both man and nature. An unscrupulous, ignorant and arrogant few have exploited our community owned mineral base at the expense of our environment, our communities and the very existence of our future. Meghalaya has ample mineral wealth. What needs to be stopped is the rampant exploitation of this wealth. What is needed is controlled scientific management on how this wealth is to be extracted. What Meghalaya actually needs is a Mineral Resource Management Policy! On going to Part I, Para 1, titled Background read with sub para 1.1 of the draft policy one is struck by the statement that "Minerals are a finite and non