A study of the practices and processes and benefit sharing of limestone mining in the Banour-Shiva Mining Region in Himachal Pradesh, India

Mining is essentially an important income generating activity in the developing countries of the world. This is beneficial for their social and economic development and thus developing countries place a great dependence on their exploitation of mineral resources. The focal points for discussion in this article are the process of limestone mining, growth trends in limestone production, allocation of royalties, benefit sharing between limestone miners and local communities. The article undertakes an income-expenditure analysis of limestone contractors and transporters and considers local environmental issues including land degradation, rehabilitation, and compensation problems connected with the mining process. This study has been carried out in the Banor-Shiva limestone mining region which is located in the Sirmaur District of Himachal Pradesh State in India. The study calculated compound annual growth rates and benefit sharing between the miners and local people, and made a calculation of transport costs based on the mining rules in force and the actual practice prevailing in the region. The overall compound annual growth rates for limestone production are 16.2%, 1.6 % and 3.9% and for royalties are 14.1%, 8.5%, and 7.8 5 respectively for the State, District, and Banor-Shiva mining region over the study period. However, these growth rates have continuously decelerated and even found to be negative between the periods following the National Mineral Policies Act of 1993 and 2008. There is a sizeable divergence between the benefits from limestone mining shared between the indigenous communities and limestone miners highlighting the poor land acquisition practices in the study area. The financial benefits awarded by the miners in 2016-17 to the local communities are 1.22% whereas miners have appropriated the lion’s share with 81.37% of total limestone value. The revenue to the Government is 4.30% of market value of limestone. The transportation of limestone from quarry sites to the point of final sale is the largest cost factor in limestone miners’ expenditure which is 10% of the total market value of limestone. Adverse impacts of limestone mining operations in the vicinity such as public health problems, change in land use and cropping patterns, water pollution, lack of rehabilitation of the abandoned mines and unjust division of limestone receipts are the main contentious issues in the study area which are affecting the production and process of limestone mining. These have been reflected in the declining growth rates in production and royalties accrued from limestone produce.