Mining is a major economic activity, but its benefits are increasingly being overtaken by the liabilities of operating the mines. Not only does indiscriminate mining lead to environmental damage, it is a major threat to human health
The International Monetary Fund last month predicted that India would overtake China next year as the fastest growing major economy, with 6.5 per cent annual growth compared with 6.3 per cent for China.
This is a heartening vindication of the reform-oriented efforts of the National Democratic Alliance Government. One of the crucial drivers of economic growth surge has been the burgeoning mining sector that has ensured that the industrial growth rate continued in a robust manner.
Mining is a major economic activity that contributes upto 11 per cent of the gross domestic product of the total industrial sector in India. Over the years, mining activities have led to rapid economic expansion and increased employment in local communities. According to estimates, the mining sector currently provides job opportunities to around 7,00,000 individuals.
However, the benefits of mining activities are increasingly being overtaken by the liabilities of operating these mines. As the ever-growing and resource-hungry Indian economy races ahead, it is literally leaving behind nature in a trail of dust and destruction.
The exploited, vast stretches of mines across the country are a grim testimony to this. Policymakers and development stalwarts are planning and implementing strategies to power the economy ahead but the absence of measures to contain and avoid collateral damage to the environment are proving to be a glaring omission.
The problems pertaining to mining are arising due to the unequal distribution of costs and profits of mining activities. Matters take a turn for the worse when the profits don’t even live up to the costs and a huge price is paid passively by the community and ecology.
The coastal district of Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu is an example of how mining for rare beach minerals has ruined the landscape and the local lives, forever. The southern coastal mining has attained a feverish pitch, thanks to the presence of the monazite, an atomic mineral that is naturally found in beach sands and can be processed to extract nuclear fuels thorium and uranium.
According to the World Nuclear Association, the world’s monazite resources are estimated to be 12 million tonnes of which two-third reserves are found in India’s southern coastal areas. The quest for this mineral has transformed much of Tuticorin’s once rich and delicate local ecology into a state of devastation. The local populace is now suffering as the fish catch has come down, groundwater has turned brackish, palm trees have dried and died, and the ever-increasing sea levels are inundating village areas.
As mining for minerals in coastal Tamil Nadu continues, the risk has moved beyond, to threaten human health and well-being. In Tirunelveli district, the red dust spewing from mining quarries has brought on a slew of health issues for the hapless local community. Constant inhalation of fine dust has resulted in internal organs getting affected and terminal health problems increasing.
The Government must intervene in an exemplary manner to demonstrate that environment and community health is non-negotiable. This message must clearly go out to the private enterprises that make massive profits and leave behind the local communities to bear the cost of the aftermath.
Recent instructions passed by the National Green Tribunal are a welcome move in this direction. After making it mandatory to seek environmental clearances for mining near the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, the National Green Tribunal has instructed the State Government to adopt required measures to stop the indiscriminate mining activities in Alwar.
In addition, the NGT has also passed orders that flora and fauna in Alwar be restored and re-forested, following the indiscriminate mining there. Through appropriate enforcing agencies and special task units, the Government must ensure that a new agenda for green mining is initiated; one that seeks to mitigate the adverse impacts of mining done till date, and sets the pace for a new age of mining that incorporates cutting-edge green technology.
For instance, in the underground and open-pit mining model, excesses can be avoided by minimising the amount of waste rock that is unearthed as a part of mineral extraction. This selective extraction ensures harvesting of valuable minerals from the rock without impacting the surrounding environment.
Yet another technology that can be adopted is the explosive-free rock-breaking methods that can minimise the amount of waste produced. This approach involves the usage of electricity to heat the vein that contains valuable minerals. When the vein is heated, it creates micro-stress; as a result the ore breaks off in small flakes and leaves the surrounding rock intact. Measures such as these will help us respect and conserve nature, that has in the first place given these invaluable resources to mankind.