Hazards of mining and mining communities

Detail

1. Why mining is hazardous

• Hazards of mining are the dangers mining creates for two groups:
• the miners who dig;

• the land, water and people around the mine.

• Mining is a "robber" activity. It takes out a non-renewable resource and leaves behind holes, waste and polluted water.

2. Hazards to miners' health and safety

• Dust and fumes in the lungs
• Drilling, blasting and loading throw fine rock dust and noxious fumes (poisonous gases) into the air.
• Miners breathe this in for years. Dust settles in the lungs and scars them.
• This leads to pulmonary diseases (lung diseases):
  • Silicosis: lung scarring caused by breathing silica (quartz) dust. It is common in stone, sandstone and mica mines.
  • Pneumoconiosis: the general name for lung disease caused by mineral dust. Coal workers' pneumoconiosis is known as "black lung".
• Cases of silicosis, coal workers' pneumoconiosis and manganese poisoning have been reported from Indian mines [7].
• Most of these diseases cause permanent disablement and cannot be treated effectively. They can be prevented through dust control and health checks [7].

• Many cases go unreported or are misdiagnosed because doctors lack training. Some mine operators do not even notify the safety regulator that their mine has opened [7].

• Accidents in coal mines

Hazard	What happens
Roof collapse	The rock ceiling of an underground tunnel falls in and buries workers
Inundation	Water floods the mine from old water-filled workings or a nearby river
Fire	Coal catches fire on its own when exposed to air, and methane can explode

• Regulator: the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) looks after workers' safety and health in mines. It works under the Ministry of Labour and Employment [7]. The Mines Act, 1952 is the main safety law [5].

3. Hazards to the environment

• Water: rain washes mine waste into streams, rivers and groundwater, so water sources become contaminated.
• Land: overburden (the soil and rock removed to reach the mineral), dumped waste and slurry (a wet mud of fine mineral waste) cover farmland. The soil loses its fertility.
• Land degradation in mining states: abandoned pits, overburden dumps and the clearing of forests are seen in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. These states also hold most of India's coal, iron ore and bauxite.
• Mine closure plans: a mine must have an approved plan to refill, level and replant its land after mining stops. Without one, the pits are simply left behind.

4. Jharia: the classic case (NCERT clippings)

• Location: the Jharia coalfield is in Dhanbad district, Jharkhand, in the Damodar valley. It is India's main source of coking coal (coal used to make steel).
• Underground coal fires
• Cause: coal seams lie close to the surface, and old unscientific mining left them open to air.
• Process: the coal oxidises and burns slowly underground. Fires have been burning since about 1916.

• Result: gas leaks, cracks in the ground and land subsidence (the ground sinks or caves in) under homes. NCERT notes that the whole township is to be relocated.

• BCCL: Bharat Coking Coal Limited, a subsidiary of Coal India. It admitted that half the mines in the area were unsafe after a disaster killed 54 people.

• SECL: the Supreme Court made South Eastern Coalfields Limited pay compensation for using forest land in Chhattisgarh.
• Jharia Master Plan
• The first plan for fire, subsidence and rehabilitation was approved in 2009.
• Ministry of Coal efforts brought surface fire sites down from 77 to 27 (2023) [8].
• The Union Cabinet approved a Revised Jharia Master Plan in 2025. Its outlay is ₹5,940.47 crore [4].
• Target: relocate 15,080 families by December 2028 [4].
• Each family gets a livelihood grant of ₹1 lakh and access to credit of up to ₹3 lakh. This covers both families with legal title to their land and families without it [4].
• Resettlement sites will get roads, electricity, water, sewerage, schools, hospitals and skill centres [4].

5. Rat-hole mining in Meghalaya

• Who owns minerals? In most of India, minerals are nationalised (they belong to the state). In the tribal north-east, they are owned by individuals or communities.
• Rat-hole mining means digging coal through long, narrow tunnels just wide enough for one person. Families do this work, often including children.

• Where: Jowai (Jaintia Hills) and Cherrapunji (East Khasi Hills) in Meghalaya.

• NGT ban: on 17 April 2014, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered that rat-hole and illegal mining be stopped at once throughout Meghalaya. It called the practice illegal and unsafe [5].

• The NGT noted serious air, water and environmental pollution from this unregulated mining [5].

• Acid mine drainage (AMD)

• Cause: Meghalaya's coal is high in sulphur and contains pyrite (iron sulphide).
• Process: rain and air react with the exposed pyrite and form sulphuric acid. This acid dissolves iron and other metals.

• Result: rivers turn acidic and rust-orange, and fish and other aquatic life die. Examples are the Kopili (which flows from Meghalaya into Assam) and the Lukha (East Jaintia Hills).

• Ksan mine disaster (December 2018): in East Jaintia Hills, an illegal rat-hole mine flooded from a nearby river and trapped 15 miners. This happened while the ban was in force.

• Supreme Court, 3 July 2019 (State of Meghalaya v. All Dimasa Students Union)
• Mining is allowed only as scientific mining under proper leases, and the Mines Act, 1952 must be followed before any mine is worked [5].

• The ban on rat-hole mining continues [5].

• Effect of the ban: no coal production was reported from Meghalaya for the four years up to 2022, according to the Coal Controller Organisation [6].

• Silkyara (November 2023): rat-hole miners dug manually through the debris to help rescue 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand.

6. Benefit-sharing with mining communities

• The resource curse is the paradox that districts rich in minerals often stay poor and polluted. One example is the tribal belt across Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
• District Mineral Foundation (DMF)
• It is a trust (a body that holds and spends money for others) in every mining district, set up under Section 9B of the MMDR Amendment Act 2015.
• Miners pay into it:
  • 30% of royalty on leases granted before 12 January 2015;
  • 10% of royalty on auctioned leases.

• Funds collected (up to November 2024): ₹1,02,083.03 crore [2]

  • ₹87,357.28 crore sanctioned for 3.60 lakh projects [2];
  • 2.01 lakh projects completed, with ₹54,892 crore spent [2].
  • This means only about half the money collected has actually been spent.

• PM Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY)

• Launched in 2015, it decides how DMF money is spent.
• Priority sectors: drinking water, environment protection and pollution control, health care, education, women and children, the elderly and disabled, skills and livelihoods, and sanitation [3].
• Revised guidelines (January 2024) [3]:
  • at least 70% of funds must go to directly affected areas and high-priority sectors;
  • DMF accounts must be audited by the CAG;
  • MPs, MLAs and MLCs sit on the Governing Council;
  • a State Level Monitoring Committee is chaired by the Chief Secretary.

• Criticism: funds lie unspent, or are spent on city roads and buildings far from the mines (verify current).

• Legal safeguards for tribal mining areas

Safeguard	What it does
Samatha judgment (1997)	Supreme Court case from Andhra Pradesh: Fifth Schedule (tribal) lands cannot be leased to private non-tribal miners
PESA Act, 1996	The gram sabha (village assembly) in Scheduled Areas must be consulted before land is acquired or minor-mineral leases are granted
Forest Rights Act, 2006	Recognises the forest rights of tribals and other forest dwellers, so forest land cannot be diverted until these rights are settled
Niyamgiri case (2013)	Gram sabhas in Rayagada and Kalahandi (Odisha) rejected bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills, which are sacred to the Dongria Kondh

Prelims Hooks

• Silicosis is caused by silica (quartz) dust, and pneumoconiosis by mineral dust in general. Both are occupational lung diseases of miners.
• The Jharia coalfield is in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, in the Damodar valley. Its underground fires have burned since about 1916.
• The Revised Jharia Master Plan (2025) has an outlay of ₹5,940.47 crore and aims to relocate 15,080 families by December 2028 [4].
• The DGMS works under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, not the Ministry of Mines [7].
• Rat-hole mining is done in Jowai (Jaintia Hills) and Cherrapunji, Meghalaya. The NGT banned it on 17 April 2014 [5].
• Trap: minerals in tribal Meghalaya are owned by individuals or communities, not the state.
• The DMF comes from MMDR Amendment Act 2015, s.9B. Miners pay 30% of royalty on pre-2015 leases and 10% on auctioned leases.
• The 2024 PMKKKY guidelines require that ≥70% of DMF funds go to directly affected areas, with a CAG audit [3].
• The Samatha (1997) judgment concerns Fifth Schedule lands. Niyamgiri (2013) concerns bauxite in Odisha and gram sabha consent.

Mains Points

• Hidden health cost: silicosis and pneumoconiosis cannot be cured, yet they are under-reported. Weak notification to DGMS and poor medical screening hide the real burden on mine workers [7]. Dust control, regular check-ups and compensation are needed.
• Unsafe mining degrades land and water: Jharia's fires and subsidence, slurry in Jharkhand and Odisha, and acid mine drainage in Meghalaya's Kopili and Lukha all show this. Mine closure plans, scientific mining under leases (Supreme Court, 2019) [5] and planned rehabilitation such as the Revised Jharia Master Plan [4] are the policy responses.
• Resource curse and benefit-sharing: the DMF has collected more than ₹1 lakh crore but spent only about ₹54,892 crore (to November 2024) [2]. The 2024 PMKKKY reforms (70% for affected areas, CAG audit) [3] aim to fix this. Real impact also needs PESA consent, Forest Rights Act compliance and the Samatha principle.
• Community ownership has two sides: in Meghalaya, community ownership of minerals led to unregulated rat-hole mining, child labour and disasters like Ksan (2018). A ban without other jobs for local people has pushed some mining underground and kept it illegal.