Mines, mafia and the demand for sand

In the heat of the controversy over the suspension of a civil servant in Uttar Pradesh, serious issues such as the link between unregulated activities such as sand mining from river banks and sea beaches have been ignored. Much of this demand is fuelled by the country’s construction boom. But if the subsequent knee-jerk reaction of the National Green Tribunal to ban sand mining without environmental clearance is anything to go by, the episode serves as a grim reminder of the ineptitude of country’s institutions to shape rational solutions to public policy problems.

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