Exterminate rat-hole mining once & for all

The deaths of at least 27 miners, and injuries to over 80 others, in East Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya are not a tragic accident. They are the predictable outcome of a mine that should never have existed. The primitive and inhuman mining practice - 'rat-hole mining' - involves blasting open tunnels barely 4-5 ft wide, forcing workers to crouch for hours to extract coal. Banned by National Green Tribunal in 2014, its continued existence is yet another indictment of systemic enforcement failure in an India clamouring to be viksit in the next 20 yrs.

Illegal mining survives because high coal demand collides with poverty, abysmal regulation and implementation of laws, due to political-bureaucratic patronage. What makes this failure particularly damning is that neither the problem nor its solution is unknown. The court-appointed committee headed by retired Justice B P Katakey, tasked with monitoring compliance and recommending environmental restoration after the ban, repeatedly flagged enforcement lapses. Little has changed.

Both GoI and the state must act decisively and in tandem. If need be, let mining operations be temporarily entrusted to state-owned enterprises. Equally important is creation of alternative livelihoods - through mineral processing, value addition, allied industries - to starve the illegal mining economy while enforcing norms with uncompromising vigilance. India must clean up this sector. Meghalaya and the northeast hold deposits far beyond coal and bauxite, including critical minerals and rare earths. Unlocking these potential needs science-based, environmentally sound mining. Sustainability, labour rights and human dignity are no longer optional, but prerequisites for global trade, development and long-term growth.