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DEPARTMENT OF SWASTHAVRITTASHREE GULBKUNVERBA AYURVEDA MAHAVIDHYALAYA

GUJARAT AYURVEDA UNIVERSITY, JAMNAGAR

ScholarSEJAL KUCHHADIA

MEERA JIVANI

GuideDR. ARPAN BHATT(HOD SWASTHVRITTA, SGAM)

Mining – Its effect on Environmental health and Ayurveda

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef or placer deposits which forms the mineralized package of economic interest to the miner.

In urbanized environments mining may produce noise pollution, dust pollution and visual pollution. Mining not only affect biodiversity but it also reduce plantation. Hence it affects flora and fauna. In the process of manufacturing Ayurvedic medicines various herbs and minerals are used. Mining affects plants and minerals due to deforestation and unnecessary removal of minerals. Hence it indirectly hampers the Ayurvedic treatment.

Impacts of mining on the environment which can

adversely affect the animate world also can be

summarized as under:

Damage to lands

Noise pollution

Dust

Truck traffic

Sedimentation and erosion

Land subsidence

Vibration from blasting and air blast

In the light of above stated point it may bevisualized that „mining‟ which happens to be a need ofsociety today has both positive and negative impactson the animate world and the environment as a whole.Therefore to understand the effect of mining in detailand to look into the possible remedies to prevent andtreat the hazards occurring by it, the present study hadbeen understand based on following aims andobjectives.

To know the importance of mining

To understand mining and its effect on environment

To understand advantages and disadvantages ofmining

To understand the impact of mining on Ayurveda

This study being literary review study was based on

literary material available through various sources.

An extensive data mining was carried out from

various texts, peer reviewed journals, periodicals,

websites of the concerned subjects etc.

Finally, the document has been prepared by

going through and utilizing the relevant portion of

the reference material compiled under respective

captions:-

Depending upon the requirement,

mining may be divided into two major

types:

› Open cast [surface] mining

› Underground mining

Open cast [surface] mining-Surface mining is basically

employed when deposits of commercially viable minerals or

rock are found closer to the surface. Surface mining includes

strip mining, open-pit mining, mountaintop removal mining

and dredging.

Advantage

Surface mining includes

economic and financial

benefits for miners and

communities and a safer

alternative to pit mining.

Disadvantage

Disadvantage includes

environmental impacts,

such as erosion of soil and

contamination of land.

Underground mining-Underground mining is carried out when the

rocks, minerals, or precious stones are located at a distance far

beneath the ground to be extracted with surface mining. Two

prominent ways through which underground mining is done are:

Underground hard rock mining

Underground soft rock mining

•Underground mining can mine as deep as the administration permits excavation to take place. If there is a shaft with headgear, then mining can take place until that depth. If it is accessed by horizontal adits, it can mine until the lowest adit upwards.

Advantage

•Underground mining is not suited to the exploitation of a low grade, wide, ore body composed of disseminated mineralization high cost per ton of ore, ventilation, more hazardous to workers

Disadvantage

In Ayurveda, there is a branch named “Rasa Shastra”which advocates use of various metals and minerals, used formaking Aushadhi and Bhasma. After proper purification,medicine can be used internally. Soil doesn‟t contain only onemineral, but it contains lot of other minerals too. Hence whiledoing mining to obtain only one mineral, it also erode otherprecious minerals too. For example, while obtaining sand stonefrom red soil, it also erodes iron ore and from iron ore we obtainloha bhasma and others. So indirectly it affects Ayurvedicmedicine and it causes reduction of medicines too. Manymedicinal plants are on verge of extinction due to mining. Forexample, at Barda hill of Porbandar region , many variety ofherbs grow. Out of them, more than 300 herbs are useful inmanufacturing Ayurvedic medicine. But due to illegal miningoccurring over that region, it causes reduction and extinction ofsome plants. Mountains are responsible for rain and winddirection. Due to mining at mountain region, mountains areshredded off . Hence it affects nature and climatic condition too.

Mining and its effect on humans:

Coalworker's pneumoconiosis, Torokuarsenic disease and Itai Itai disease arecaused due to mining. Itai Itai disease wasthe name given to mass cadmiumpoisoning. People suffer from excessive pain,softening of the bones and kidney failuredue to itai itai disease . One of the mostimportant impacts on the environment ofmining is subsidence, subsidence caused bygold mining in the Johannesburg area.Exposure to nuclear radiation is affecting thehealth of miners and villagers at Jadugodain Jharkhand State, which is India‟s firsturanium mining. A health survey carried outby the State Health Department, toinvestigate the radiation effects, found 31 outof 712 people to be suffering from healthdisorders, which may be due to exposure toradiation..

The simple concept, „too much and unjudicial mining is

good for nothing‟ apply here. Mining benefits everyone

including the government and that is why the mining industry

is widely supported.

Mining plays a great role in economic interest and

provides job opportunity to a large number of workers but too

much of mining leads to pollution, adversely affect the healthof people and creates problems in biodiversity. Mining is not

something discovered in the recent years but it had been

discovered before so many years back. But its adverse effect

is increasing in today‟s era only due to its large and improper

utilization. Many medicinal plants are on verge of extinction

and some are endangered due to mining. Hence excessivemining is harmful to entire ecosystem.