India has greatly underestimated the issue of illegal mining, which damages the environment and causes revenue loss
India has greatly underestimated the issue of illegal mining, which damages the environment and causes revenue loss
With the increase in the pace of development, the demand for minor minerals like sand and gravel in India has crossed 60 million metric tonnes. This also makes it the second largest extraction industry on the planet after water. While laws and oversight for mining of major minerals have been tightened as a result of the uncovering of several related scams across the country, the fact remains that large-scale and illegal mining of minor minerals continues unabated. In many instances, gravel is removed from agricultural land or government fallow land near major highways or construction projects, as the contractor finds it easier and cheaper to do so, even though estimates of such work include distances (called ‘ Includes ‘Lead’) for transporting such gravel from authorized mines.
issue of regulation
Unlike major minerals, regulatory and administrative powers of making rules, setting rates of royalty, mineral concessions, enforcement, etc. are exclusively delegated to the State Governments.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notifications of 1994 and 2006 made environmental clearance mandatory for mining in areas greater than or equal to five hectares. However, the Supreme Court of India after taking note of a report by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on the environmental aspects of mining of minor minerals (2010) directed all state governments to make necessary changes in the regulatory framework of minor minerals. Environment clearance is required for mining in an area of less than five hectares. As a result, the EIA was amended in 2016, which made environmental clearance mandatory for mining in areas of less than five hectares, including minor minerals. The amendment also provides for setting up of District Environment Impact Assessment Authority (EIAA) and District Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC).
However, a state-wise review of EACs and EIAAs in major industrialized states such as Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu shows that these authorities review more than 50 project proposals a day and the rejection rate at the state level remained the same. Is. Only 1%. This raises a pertinent question whether only granting clearances can help in eliminating irregularities in illegal mining of minor minerals? The situation now indicates that the problem is even more complex and widespread and requires a robust technology-driven enforcement approach.
The problem of illegal mining of minor minerals is often underestimated, leading to unwanted environmental consequences. Several cases of illegal mining of dolomite, marble and sand have been reported in the states. For example, in the Konanki limestone mines of Andhra Pradesh, 28.92 lakh metric tonnes of limestone has been illegally quarried. However, the continued pace of sand mining is a matter of serious concern.
Oversight by Agencies
In 2019, the United Nations Environment Program ranked India and China as the top two countries where illegal sand mining has led to widespread environmental degradation. Despite this, no comprehensive assessment is available to assess the scale of sand mining in India. Nevertheless, field studies conducted by the Center for Science and Environment along the Yamuna River in Uttar Pradesh have found that increased soil demand has severely affected soil formation and the soil’s ability to hold soil, leading to marine There has been a loss in life. Increase in the frequency of floods, droughts, and deterioration in water quality. Such effects can also be seen in the beds of the Godavari, Narmada and Mahanadi basins. As reported in a study from the Narmada Basin, sand mining reduced the mahseer fish population by 76% between 1963 and 2015.
It doesn’t just harm the environment. Illegal mining causes huge loss to the exchequer. According to an estimate, UP is losing revenue from 70% of mining activities as only 30% of the area is mined legally. Similarly, Bihar has suffered a loss of ₹700 crore due to absence of royalty, while non-payment of various cesses due to irregular mining has resulted in a loss of ₹100 crore to Karnataka and ₹600 crore to Madhya Pradesh in 2016-17. .
judicial order, state response
Judicial orders are often ignored by the state governments. For example, as per the orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Uttar Pradesh (where illegal sand mining has posed a serious threat) with respect to compensation for illegal sand mining in the report of the Inspection Committee, either partially complied. Such laxity can also be seen in states like West Bengal, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
A state-wide review of the reasons behind non-compliance, poor governance due to weak institutions, lack of state resources to ensure enforcement, poorly designed regulatory provisions, inadequate monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, and excessive litigation that reduces the administrative capacity of the state. ,
Conservation of minor minerals requires investment in production and consumption measurement as well as monitoring and planning tools. For this, technology has to be used to provide a sustainable solution.
power of technology
Satellite imagery can be used to monitor the amount of extraction and investigate the mining process. Even for past violations, the NGT and administrative officials can obtain satellite images of the last 10 to 15 years and show indisputably how small hills, gravel or small stone mounds of clay disappeared in an area Huh. Recently, the NGT directed some states to use satellite imagery to monitor the amount of sand being transported and transported from the river bed. The systematic implementation of these instructions led to an increase in the revenue from minor mineral mining in all these states.
Additionally, drones, Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technology can be leveraged for monitoring mechanisms using Global Positioning Systems, radar and radio frequency (RF) locators. State governments such as Gujarat and judicial directions such as the Madras High Court have employed some of these techniques to check illegal sand mining.
Amar Patnaik is a Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha. A former Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) bureaucrat and an academic, he now practices law. Views expressed are personal