Context: A mining-ravaged area in Meghalaya – Moolamylliang has reaped the benefits of the National Green Tribunal order of a ban on rat-hole coal mining.
Key Points

• Moolamylliang, a village in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district, is making progress in becoming a greener place amid abandoned pits from the rat-hole mining.
• The Jaintia Coal Miners and Dealers’ Association claims there are around 60,000 coal mines across 360 villages in East Jaintia Hills district.
• Moolamylliang used to be one such village until the National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned hazardous rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya in April 2014 and set a time limit for transporting the coal already mined till that time.
• Though the NGT ban did not stop illegal mining in the district, it helped Moolamylliang reform.

Northeast India and Coal Mining (Especially in Meghalaya)

• In the northeast, coal mining is part of a larger trend which is the decimation of natural resources.
• For example, there is large-scale deforestation going on in the Garo and Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, besides limestone mining in the Jaintia Hills.
• Assam, which has lost most of its once extensive forest cover, sees poaching in the Dima Hasao region, coal mining in Upper Assam, and sand/stone mining from river beds.
• Meghalaya – being a tribal state where the 6th Schedule applies, all land is privately owned, and hence coal mining is done by private parties. The schedule does not explicitly refer to mining.
• The sizable coal deposits in the state, mostly in the Jaintia Hills, occur in horizontal seams only a few feet high that run through the hills which is why rat-hole mining is practised instead of open cast mining.
• Most of the labour (including children) comes from Nepal, the poorer areas of Assam, and Bangladesh. In Meghalaya, the non-tribal is a second-class citizen, as is the poor tribal, which explains the general lack of concern even within the State about the trapped miners.
• A flooded rat hole mine at Khloo Ryngksan in East Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya cause death of 17 miners in December 2018.

What is Rat-hole Mining?

• Rat-hole mining is a term used for a hazardous and arduous mining practice.
• Here, the miners crawl into winding underground tunnels that are just 4-5 feet in diameter to extract coal from the deep seams with a pickaxe.
• Rat-hole mining involves digging of narrow tunnels, usually 3-4 feet high, for workers to enter and extract coal.