Sand Mining in India

Sand Mining in India

Subject – Environment

Context – Violation of environmental laws needs pressing attention by officials; a strict law enforcement is needed against illegal sand mining, says experts.

Concept –

• Sand mining is a pan-India problem.
• It is prevalent in the Garo Hills in Meghalaya, the Sutlej in Punjab, Yamuna in Delhi, the Ganga in Haridwar, Urmil and Betwa in Bundelkhand, Kosi in Bihar, the Chambal and Narmada in Madhya Pradesh, Ojat in Gujarat, the Subarnarekha in Odisha, Musi in Telangana, Netravati and Phalguni rivers in Karnataka, Godavari and Krishna in Andhra Pradesh, and Cauvery in Tamil Nadu.
• A United Nations study calculates that humankind’s total consumption of sand—more than 40 billion tons a year—is now double the number of sediments being replenished naturally on the Earth by the sum of the world’s rivers.
• UNEP in its report ‘Sand and Sustainability’ highlighted that the demand for sand has increased three-fold over the last decades, driven by shifting consumption patterns, growing populations, increasing urbanisation and rapid infrastructure development.

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued Sustainable Sand Mining Management Guidelines, 2016, which, inter-alia, addresses the issues relating to regulation of sand mining. The salient features of the Guidelines in this regard are as follows:

1. It provides for a detailed programme for ensuring that mining of river sand is done in a sustainable manner;
2. Grant of Environment Clearance for minor minerals, including sand and gravel, for mining lease of area up to 5 hectare will be done by the District Environment Impact Assessment Authority headed by the District Collector / District Magistrate.
3. Removal of sand accumulated on the agricultural field after cessation of flooding will not be considered as mining operation and its removal and selling can be allowed without the requirement of environment clearance till it is done only to the extent of reclaiming the agricultural land.
4. Exemption of certain cases from being considered as mining for the purpose of requirement of environment clearance like:
   • extraction of ordinary clay or ordinary sand manually by hereditary Kumhars (Potter) who prepare earthen pots on a cottage industry basis;
   • extraction of ordinary clay or ordinary sand manually by earthen tile makers who prepare earthen tiles on a cottage industry basis;
   • removal of sand deposited on agricultural field after flood by owner farmers;
   • customary extraction of sand and ordinary earth from sources situated in Gram Panchayat for personal use or community work in village;
   • community works like desilting of village ponds / tanks, rural roads under taken in MGNREGS and other Government sponsored schemes;
   • dredging and desilting of dam, reservoirs, weirs, barrages, river, and canals for maintenance and upkeep and avert natural disaster provided the dredged material is used departmentally. If the dredging activities are under taken for the purpose of winning mineral and selling it commercially it will be considered mining.

Constitutional/ Legal Framework of Mining Sector in India

• The entry at serial No. 23 of List II (State List) to the Constitution of India mandates the state government to own the minerals located within their boundaries.
• The entry at serial No. 54 of List I (Central List) mandates the central government to own the minerals within the exclusive economic zone of India (EEZ). In pursuance to this Mines & Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act of 1957 was framed.
• Also, the Central Government notifies certain minerals as ‘minor’ minerals from time to time for which the absolute powers for deciding on procedures of seeking applications for and granting mineral concessions, fixing rates of royalty, dead rent, and power to revise orders rest only with the State Government.
• Example of minor minerals include building stones, gravel, ordinary clay, ordinary sand.
• For minerals specified in the First Schedule to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 approval of the Central Government is necessary.
• Schedule I contains minerals such as coal and lignite, minerals of the “rare earths” group containing Uranium and Thorium.