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.

Introduction: Minerals power energy, steel and construction and earn vital export revenue, but extracting them scars the environment across land, water, air and biodiversity. Sound regulation and reclamation can soften, though not erase, this footprint.

Why mining is an environmental hazard:

• Land — open-cast pits and overburden dumps cause deforestation, soil erosion and land subsidence; abandoned pits leave a permanently scarred landscape.
• Water — acid mine drainage and heavy-metal leachate contaminate rivers and groundwater, while silt and tailings choke streams.
• Air — dust and particulate matter from blasting, crushing and haulage, plus diesel emissions, harm worker and community health.
• Ecology — habitat loss, fragmentation and displacement of forest-dependent and tribal communities, often in the most biodiverse belts.

Remedial measures:

• Scientific, progressive Mine Closure Plans that mandate land reshaping and compensatory afforestation as each seam is exhausted.
• Treat acid mine drainage through limestone neutralisation and constructed wetlands; store overburden on impervious dumps to cut leaching.
• Dust suppression by water sprinkling, green belts around mines and continuous emission monitoring.
• Enforce the MMDR Act and Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, and fund local restoration and welfare through the District Mineral Foundation.
• Rigorous Environmental Impact Assessment and prior clearances before any project is sanctioned.

Conclusion: The goal is sustainable, scientific mining — extracting mineral value while progressively reclaiming land, restoring ecology and sharing benefits with the communities that bear the cost.