Abstract:
India has long been recognized as a nation well endowed in natural mineral resources. India is ranked fourth amongst the mineral producer countries, behind China, United States and Russia, on the basis of volume of production, as per the report on mineral production by International Organizing Committee for the World Mining Congress. It is however ranked eighth on the basis of the value of mineral production. Earth is moved by mining activity more than any other human endeavor. The mining sector therefore is one of the most important sectors in India’s economy and contributes about 2% to our GDP. However the contribution of the sector to India’s GDP has been on the decline due to increasing issues of pollution and global warming which lead to the concept of sustainable practices in most of the organizations. Many researchers are of the opinion that mining industries are major contributor to pollution of air, water and land; hence, it is important for the mining industries to develop environmentally conscious practices. This paper presents a detailed study of current mining practices in India and finding of different drivers/enablers to develop sustainable practices in mining industry in India. A Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach has been adopted to prioritize the drivers for sustainable development of mining industry.