-The Times of India CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government, which had suspended mining of rare earth minerals like garnet, ilmenite and rutile along the Tuticorin coast last month following complaints of large-scale illegal mining, on Tuesday extended the ban to Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Trichy and Madurai districts. Chief minister J Jayalalithaa, in a statement, said a team headed by revenue secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi, who had conducted an inquiry into violations in mining...

-Outlook The Uttar Pradesh government today reluctantly admitted before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that Illegal sand mining was going on in the state and not even a single environmental clearance granted for it in Gautam Budh Nagar district. "We (UP government) have not caught anyone till now. It's there Lordship. Yes it (Illegal sand mining) is going on," the counsel, appearing for Uttar Pradesh government and its Chief Secretary, said. A five-member...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Humble sand is today big business. The boom in the construction industry in the last decade has triggered a huge demand for sand, to meet which contractors, with the help of pliant state officials, have begun a dig-load-sell exercise at a frantic pace. The story of illegal loot of sand in this high-stake business is repeated in state after state. TOI spoke to several officials, activists,...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A Union government panel has found evidence of rampant illegal mining along the Yamuna in Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh where the suspension of an IAS officer who had cracked down on the sand mafia has snowballed into a political controversy. A three-member panel set up by the environment ministry said there has been "rampant, unscientific and illegal mining" at several sites along the river in violation...

-The Hindu As the operations of organised gangs that seek to make a killing out of the insatiable demand for sand are in focus, environmental concerns posed by indiscriminate mining grow. Nitin Sethi discusses the imperatives. Should India have a river regulatory zone, on the lines of the coastal regulatory zone, to manage development and mining activity? The devastation in Uttarakhand, and the controversy over the sand mafia's control on river beds,...