Supreme Court ban on mines resulted in 2.3 million job losses — laments industry body

• The Federation of Indian Mining Industries (FIMI) has held the Supreme Court liable for job losses in the mining sector.
  
• The Supreme Court judgements have cost India nearly 2.3 million jobs — directly and indirectly.
  
• The imposed ban and restrictions has taken away around 1.28 million jobs in Karnataka and Goa mining sector.
  
• There are 10 indirect jobs created against every direct employment in the mining sector.

Amid economic slowdown, the Federation of Indian Mining Industries (FIMI) has held the Supreme Court liable for job losses in the mining sector.

India’s mining sector is the third largest employment generator. And, the industrial body said that the judgements rolled out by the court has cost India nearly 2.3 million jobs — directly and indirectly. This number excludes the petroleum and natural gas segment.

“Although the mining sector employed 2.3 million people in 2011-12, various judgments, including bans and restrictions on mining by the Supreme Court, has led to a significant drop in employment in the mining sector,” Financial Express reported citing FIMI’s secretary general RK Sharma.

The shutdowns have largely impacted operations in remote and tribal areas of the country. And, roughly 264,000 jobs are on the line.

"We are staring at huge employment loss due to expiry of tenure of 329 non-captive mining leases on 31st March, 2020. Out of 329 non-captive, 48 are working mines. The closure of these mines will hit production of about 50-60 million tonnes of raw materials, mainly iron ore and is expected to result in loss of about 2,64,000 jobs, direct and indirect," he added.

The apex court’s ban on mining activities led to the closure of several mines. This has led to a loss of around 1.28 million jobs in Karnataka and Goa mining sector alone, news agency IANS reported. This was after the Supreme Court suspended mining activities across Goa in 2012.

The restrictions and penalties also resulted in loss of 50,000 direct jobs in Odisha. And the ban affected indirect employees even more.

According to Sharma, the ratio of direct to indirect employment in the mining sector is 1:10. That means, there are 10 indirect jobs created against every direct job.

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