Commodity Online
BANGALORE: A report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Wednesday said, employment potential of Indian mines has decreased by 70 per cent in the last nine years due to the advent of mechanized mining.

In its report, the CME clearly outlines that large scale employment opportunities were not available to local people and presents statistics to prove its claim.

According to CSE, 25 employees were required to produce minerals worth Rs one crore in 1994-95. Ten years later only eight people required doing the same job. Thus in nine years, the employment potential of the mines had decreased 70 per cent.

Sunita Narain, Director of New Delhi-based CSE said, “Mining has the worst record in rehabilitation and resettlement. Less than 25 per cent of people displaced have been resettled''.

The study also said, only 0.5 people were needed to complete mining 1000 tones bauxite in 2002 as against 18 people in 1951.Between 1991 and 2004-05, employment in the formal mining industry in the country fell by 30 per cent, it said.

Modern large-scale mining nowadays doesn't need people but just big machines and a few specialized operators, the study said.