Mineral resources are fundamental to the country's economy and these are exploited by mining. Why is…

Question

Mineral resources are fundamental to the country's economy and these are exploited by mining. Why is mining considered an environmental hazard ? Explain the remedial measures required to reduce the environmental hazard due to mining.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Mining is an environmental hazard because it strips forests and topsoil, poisons water with heavy metals, fills the air with dust and fires, and fuels illegal extraction. Remedies include EIA, progressive mine closure plans, satellite surveillance, District Mineral Foundations and recycling under the National Critical Mineral Mission.

**Introduction**

India is self-sufficient in iron ore, bauxite and limestone but import-dependent for lithium, cobalt and nickel (Standing Committee, 2025), so mining must expand even though minerals lie under forests, rivers and tribal homelands.

**Why Mining Is an Environmental Hazard**

SKETCH: fishbone | Mining as Environmental Hazard
effect: Degraded land, water, air
- Overburden dumps
- Acid mine drainage
- Dust and fires
- Forest clearance
- Riverbed sand loss
- Displaced communities

1. **Land and forest loss**: Opencast pits strip topsoil and forest, as in Chhattisgarh's Hasdeo Arand, leaving barren dumps.
2. **Water contamination**: Heavy metals and acid drainage poison water, as hexavalent chromium in Odisha's Sukinda valley shows.
3. **Air and fire**: Dust causes silicosis, and Jharia's coal fires have burned since 1916.
4. **Illegal mining**: The CAG found illegal mining cases in Uttar Pradesh rising from 10,188 (2017-18) to 25,986 (2021-22), much of it riverbed sand.

**Remedial Measures to Reduce the Hazard**

1. **Clearance and closure**: EIA, compensatory afforestation under the CAMPA Act, 2016 and mandatory progressive mine closure plans under the 2017 rules.
2. **On-site technology**: Water sprays, covered conveyors, pit backfilling and overburden stabilisation with native grasses.
3. **Surveillance and consent**: The satellite Mining Surveillance System and sand mining guidelines (2020) curb illegal pits, while District Mineral Foundations and the Niyamgiri (2013) verdict give communities a share and a voice.

**Way Forward**

1. **Regional assessment**: Carrying-capacity studies for whole belts like Singrauli would capture combined impacts that lease-by-lease clearance misses.
2. **Circular minerals**: Scale the NCMM's Rs 1,500 crore recycling incentive to reduce fresh extraction.

**Conclusion**

Scientific mining that restores what it takes and shares gains locally would reconcile mineral self-reliance with SDG 15.

Mineral resources are fundamental to the country's economy and these are exploited by mining. Why is mining considered an environmental hazard ? Explain the remedial measures required to reduce the environmental hazard due to mining.

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