Coastal sand mining, whether legal or illegal, poses one of the biggest threats to our environment. Analyze the impact of sand mining along the Indian coasts, citing specific examples.
Approach · directive: “analyse / citing examples”
What it asks · Analyse how taking sand from beaches, dunes, estuaries and the near-shore harms the coastal environment and the people who live on it, and support the analysis with Indian examples.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- Analyse the impact of sand mining along the Indian coasts: erosion, ecology, water, livelihoods
- Cite specific Indian examples
Open with · Beaches and dunes are natural sea-walls refilled slowly by rivers and waves; mining removes sand faster than nature can restore it.
Cover
- Erosion and risk: removing beach and dune sand lets waves reach inland, shrinks the shoreline and weakens natural protection against cyclones and storm surges.
- Ecology: damages nesting sites of turtles, crabs and shorebirds; disturbs mangroves, estuaries and seagrass; muddies water and harms fish breeding.
- Water: lowers the beach water table and lets seawater move into aquifers and river mouths, turning wells and farm soil saline.
- Livelihoods: fishing grounds, landing sites and tourism suffer; local people bear the costs while profits go to contractors and illegal operators.
- Examples: Alappad in Kollam, Kerala, where shoreline erosion near beach-mineral mining sites (mined by IREL and KMML since the 1960s) drew suo motu notice from the National Green Tribunal in 2019.
- Governance: CRZ Notifications (2011, 2019) list sand mining in the regulated zone as prohibited, with a narrow exception for manual removal of sandbars by traditional communities; the Supreme Court (Deepak Kumar, 2012) required environmental clearance even for small minor-mineral leases, but enforcement is weak.
Close with · Protecting coasts needs strict CRZ enforcement, scientific limits on extraction, sand alternatives such as manufactured sand and recycled construction waste, and community monitoring.
Add value (verified)
- Ministry of Mines (PIB, 1 August 2022): to check illegal mining of beach sand minerals, their export was canalised through IREL (DGFT notification of 21 August 2018) and on 20 February 2019 the monazite threshold for beach sand minerals was set at 0.00 per cent, giving the government complete control over monazite and zircon in them. Illegal mining of beach sand minerals — Ministry of Mines press release, PIB, 1 August 2022 ↗“On 20.2.2019, towards ensuring complete government control over "Monazite" and "Zircon" occurring within the "Beach sand Minerals" Ministry of Mines (MoM) amended AMCR-2016- Threshold value of Monazite" for BSM occurring in teri or placer deposits as "0.00% in Total Heavy Minerals (THM).”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2019, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 217 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
Beaches and dunes are natural sea-walls that rivers and waves rebuild only slowly; mining removes sand faster than nature returns it.
Impact along the coast
- Erosion: removing beach and dune sand lets waves reach inland, shrinks the shoreline and weakens the buffer against cyclones and storm surges.
- Ecology: nesting sites of turtles, crabs and shorebirds are lost; mangroves, estuaries and seagrass suffer; turbid water harms fish breeding.
- Water: the beach water table falls and seawater enters aquifers and river mouths, turning wells and fields saline.
- Livelihoods: fishing grounds, landing sites and tourism decline; locals bear the cost while contractors and illegal operators profit.
Examples
- Alappad, Kollam (Kerala): shoreline loss around beach-mineral mining by IREL and KMML, which began in the 1960s, led the National Green Tribunal to take suo motu notice in 2019.
- Beach-sand minerals: responding to illegal mining, the Centre canalised their export through IREL (2018) and in February 2019 set the monazite threshold at zero, placing monazite-bearing beach sand under complete government control.
- Law: the CRZ Notifications (2011, 2019) prohibit sand mining in the regulated zone, and Deepak Kumar (2012) requires environmental clearance even for small minor-mineral leases, yet enforcement remains weak.
Coastal protection needs strict CRZ enforcement, scientific extraction limits, alternatives such as manufactured sand and recycled construction waste, and community watch over beaches.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.