CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -The High Court of Karnataka has upheld the order of the Department of Mines and Geology prohibiting sand extraction from rivers during rainy season. It observed that the ban was incorporated into the law for protecting the environment.

Detailed explanation-2: -A large portion of the business is illegal, despite repeated claims by police and Mines and Geology Department officials that they have cracked down on such operations. A senior officer at the Mines and Geology Department admits that, ban or not, illegal sand mining takes place daily in rivers across the state.

Detailed explanation-3: -Sand mining is the extraction of sand through an open pit but sometimes mined from inland dunes from oceans, riverbeds and beaches. It is defined under section 3(e) of mines and mineral development and regulation act, 1957(mmdr act) .

Detailed explanation-4: -In the new mining policy, the government has banned storage and sale of sand within 2 km from a mine. Moreover, the policy states that only the licensed contractor or the one having a mining lease would be allowed to sell sand within 50 km from any sanctioned sand quarry.