Legal, Social and Political Conundrums in Regulating Rathole Mining in Meghalaya

In 2018, 15 people were found trapped in a sub-soil rat-hole mine in Jaintia Hills, creating panic among the officials of the Government of Meghalaya rushing before the Supreme Court (‘SC’) to challenge the order of National Green Tribunal passed in 2014. This 2014 order banned rat-hole mining, mostly happening in the Hills districts of Meghalaya, and penalised the State with a fine of 100 crores INR. The SC upheld the NGT order to ban the illegal and unscientific mining that is against the interests of the tribal people, the people employed in the mines and the environment of the area. Hardly any changes, driven by the socioeconomic conditions, in the region are seen as the miners are continuously violating the orders and tribals continue to work. Rat-hole coal mining requires people to go down through a narrow tunnel under the ground to extract coal that may involve these tunnels being flooded with water. Often children, due to their short stature, are exploited and sent underground. Apart from endangering lives of the miners, rat-hole mining has caused continuous and irreparable damage to water, air and agricultural land in many parts of Meghalaya. The SC examined this crisis and called for ‘honest and sincere efforts’ from the government, without which the NGT ban has no meaning. The chapter aims to examine the judicial approach of the courts and administrative approach of the state government in regulating or controlling illegal mining activity, while looking at the contributing legal, social and political conditions that have resulted in the continuation of this way of mining in Meghalaya.