UPSC Mains 2019 GS Paper 3 Q7: model answer
Coastal sand mining, whether legal or illegal, poses one of the biggest threats to our environment. Analyze the impact of sand mining along the Indian coasts, citing specific examples.
What the question wants
Analyse how coastal sand mining, legal or illegal, harms India's coasts, with specific examples.
How to structure it
Why it happens, impacts, examples, controls.
- The demand for sand
- Impacts
- Indian examples
- Controls
How to think it through
Sand for construction; beach sand minerals (ilmenite, rutile, garnet, monazite) in TN, Kerala, AP, Odisha. Impacts: erosion, loss of beaches, saltwater intrusion, turtle nesting (Olive Ridley), mangroves, fisheries, livelihoods, radiation (monazite), tsunami buffer loss. Examples: Alappad, Kollam (Kerala) — 'Save Alappad' 2019, village shrunk; Tirunelveli–Thoothukudi garnet mining (Gagandeep Singh Bedi committee 2013); Ratnagiri. Controls: CRZ 2019, Sustainable Sand Mining Management Guidelines 2016 and Enforcement and Monitoring Guidelines 2020, atomic minerals rules, drones, district survey reports.
Model answer
Alappad, a narrow village in Kollam, Kerala, is said to have lost most of its land area over decades of beach sand mining for minerals. In 2019 its residents launched the 'Save Alappad' campaign. Their village is a warning for India's whole coastline.
Impacts of coastal sand mining
- Coastal erosion: removing sand starves beaches, and the sea moves inland.
- Saltwater intrusion into wells and farmland.
- Loss of natural defences against storms and tsunamis.
- Habitat destruction: Olive Ridley turtle nesting beaches, mangroves and dunes.
- Fisheries and livelihoods suffer as beaches and estuaries change.
- Radiation risk from monazite in some mineral sands.
Specific examples
- Alappad, Kerala: mineral sand mining and severe erosion.
- Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu: illegal garnet mining exposed by the Gagandeep Singh Bedi committee (2013).
- Konkan coast and estuaries in Karnataka: illegal sand dredging for construction.
Controls
- CRZ Notification, 2019.
- Sustainable Sand Mining Guidelines (2016) and enforcement guidelines (2020) with drones and tracking.
- Atomic minerals rules for monazite, and district survey reports before leases.
Beaches are not free sand; they are the coast's first line of defence.
Draw: A beach profile before and after mining, with the sea line moving inland.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Alappad, Save Alappad 2019, ilmenite, garnet, monazite, Gagandeep Singh Bedi committee, Olive Ridley, saltwater intrusion, CRZ 2019, SSMG 2016, EMGSM 2020.
Where most answers lose marks
- Writing about river sand only. The question is about the coast.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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