International Research Journal of Social Sciences_____________________________________ ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 3(8), 39-42, August (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci. International Science Congress Association 39 A case study on the effects of coal mining in the environment particularly in relation to Soil, Water and Air causing a Socio-economic Hazard in Asansol-Raniganj Area, India Debasis Guha Department of Master of Computer Applications, Dr. B.C. Roy Engineering College, Jemua Road, Fuljhore, Durgapur, West Bengal, INDIAAvailable online at: www.isca.in, www.isca.me Received 17th April 2014, revised 23rd June 2014, accepted 28th July 2014 AbstractIn the 21st century human habitation particularly the urban society are enormously affected by the industrial expansion promoted pollution and distortion of the natural environment. Environmental distortion directly and indirectly altered the precipitation rate, degradation of the cultivatable soil, water quality and also accelerates the production of different human diseases. Environmental degradation can act on social integration directly or indirectly through the constrains produced in the agricultural activities. Coal mining is such an activity which disturbs availability of the agricultural land for the cultivation purposes. Similarly the mining industry induces the human settlement pattern and thus may be a causative factor for the disruption of social relations. The economics of a particular area is also changed due the huge mining activities particularly in the native peoples and tribal peoples. Asansol-Raniganj area is one of the area in India which is important for coal mining since eighteenth century and which is still operating causing a huge damage on soil, water and also the air. This area is better known as Paschimanchal of Burdwan District. This paper indicates some results of the changes in soil, water and air affecting human habitations of this area. Keywords: Coal mine, soil, environment, management, Asansol-Raniganj, Burdwan. Introduction It is now well known facts that human society and natural environment interact together and plays an important role to maintain the social health1,2. Similarly the mining activities are also required for the country’s economic development. Alternatively the mining activity also distorts the natural environment particularly the cultivatable land and natural forest area. Distorted environment also changed the social structure and integration which again forced to change the environment further and vise versa. Therefore in the mining area the human rehabilitation is necessary for strengthening the social structures. In Asansol-Raniganj area coal mining is running since 100 years back and without any rehabilitation programme. The uppermost cover of the soil of this area is almost with fine and coarse coal dust which is almost about two to five inches thick and unsuitable for the cultivation of agricultural crops. This area is devoid of biodiversity of trees which is observed in the other regions of the Burdwan District. Basically there is no ground water source which compels the human habitates of this area to drink the water available from different rivers which again contain some amount pollutants and TDS and ultimately affecting the health of humans. Coal mining benefited some sections of the society while another section lost their social status and some are transformed as refugee. Now AsansolRaniganj area is a piece of black barren land without any green forest and vegetation. Loss of biodiversity is another one important parameter for this region due to coal mining. In view of the above, background the present investigation have been undertaken to study the actual impacts of coal mining in this region particularly on the soil, water and also in the air and its impact in the human habitations. Observations and Results Agricultural practice is almost at the bottom line in this area and the farmers belong to these areas that have some amount of land shows un-eagerness to cultivate due to non productiveness of the land4,5. Not only that the natural plants grows in this area is quite different from the other region of this district. This observation compels me to study the soil quality of this area. After careful study (study area given in figure-I) of some of the important parameters of soil and compared it to the soils of the other regions following results are found; The history of man the World over shows that landforms have always been viewed as a resource. The recent landforms are a result of different earth surface processes that operated over long geological times after human civilization6,7,8. Changes in the Landforms are usually the first and easiest thing we observe when we study the environmental change and the impacts of human activities on our environment and may contain important clues to past processes relating to environmental change and anthropogenic impacts. International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 3(8), 39-42, August (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 40 Figure-1 Key Map of Asansol Showing Study Area And Sampling Locations ***Significant at 1 percent level, **Significant at 5 percent level, *Significant at 10 percent level In order to be able to improve and conserve and to understand the sustainability of our earth surfaces and then predict the nature of these land surfaces in the future, we need to have a basic understanding of the general structures of landforms and of the surface processes. Also, important here are the environmental factors involved in their formation and evolution of landforms. Evolution of landforms is an important aspect of geological sciences and involves complicated interactions among different natural processes and environmental factors such as tectonic movement, underlying rock structure, type of surface rocks, climatic changes and anthropogenic activities, all occurring over a long range of times and temporal scales. However, because of the degree of complexity in spatial and temporal scales, long term landforms evolution cannot be observed directly. The issue of landforms has enabled us to know the geological time periods our physical landscape had passed through10. Geologically, areas of highlands and lowlands constitute 50 percent each of the total land surfaces in Asansol-Raniganj and 70-80 % constitutes the coal mining area. However, the geological history of Asansol-Raniganj can be divided into five periods. These are the Ancient or Precambrian era, primary or Paleozoic era, secondary or Mesozoic era, Tertiary or Cenozoic era and the Quaternary or recent times11,12,13. During these geological periods, the rocks of the earth were formed and these rocks go by the name of the appropriate period. Thus we have the Precambrian rocks, Primary rocks and so on. Over the years, there have been changes in climates and weather globally. The active coal mining over the centuries also accelerates the change in the land form in Asansol-Raniganj area. This change is made visible when we particularly focus on climatic elements especially rainfall, temperature and relative humidity. Rainfall data for example, have been changing in the past 15 years resulting into flooding because of urbanization14. The problem of flooding is not necessarily resulting because of increased amount of rainfall. It can be concluded from the present investigation that plantation on coalmine fallow land may cause significant changes in soil physico-chemical, biological properties particularly moisture content, organic matter accumulation, enrichment of available nutrients along with the fungal and microbial biomass as well as micro arthropods population15-17. International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 3(8), 39-42, August (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 41 The positive and significant interactions between them enhance fertility status of the soil and can promote crop productivity with time and management practices. Thus more and more suitable plantations should be raised on degraded land like coalmine fallow land in order to increase native biological diversity and improve the soil quality of coalmine fallow land. Soil biological parameters are the only potential and sensitive indicators of stress on key populations or productivity of the designated soils18. There is considerable evidence that soil biodiversity, microbial activity within the soil in combination or along with total organic carbon and related biological parameters (Oribatid mite), which change rapidly, could be used to evaluate the influence of land-use changes in soils. Conclusion The present study concludes that due to long coal pit mining the total natural environment has been degraded including the soil, water and air. They agricultural practices has been lost due to the non fertility of the soil and very low precipitation. The social bondage and structure has been modifies abruptly including the anthropogenic behavior. The present study also concludes that afforestation is necessary to conserve the natural environment of Asansol-Raniganj area. Table-1 Showing relationship between fungal population and different other Soil Physico-Chemical factors at two Study sites (Site I =Coal field Area; Site II= Agricultural Area)19,20Site Parameters Rvalue T value Regression Equation y=a+bx Site-I Rhizosphere y=Fungi soil Moisture Soil Temp. Soil pH Soil Organic Carbon Phosphate Nitrate .31559 -0.0317 .0058 .6452 .4733 .6263 1.0559 0.1002 0.01832 2.668** 1.697 2.5386** y=28.52-3.4605x y=8603.1-141.22x y=-577.5+2191.5x y=1.2504+0.0699x y=-4735+5563.8x y=-6404.6+5232.1x Site-II Rhizosphere y=Fungi soil Moisture Soil Temp. Soil pH Soil Organic Carbon Phosphate Nitrate .8041 -0.2063 -0.611 .7597 .6715 .4894 4.274*** -0.666 -2.438** 3.691*** 2.8635** 1.7733 y=4704+66.681x y=11343-286.33x y=-7053.6+16823x y=49409-7615.2x y=-804.82+18450x y=-3905.8+5268.8x ***Significant at 1 percent level, **Significant at 5 percent level, *Significant at 10 percent level Table-2 Showing relationship between Acarina, Collembola and Fungi population at two different Study sites (Site I =Coal field Area; Site II= Agricultural Area) Site Parameters Rvalue T value Regression Equation y=a+bx Site-I Rhizosphere y=Acarina Fungi y=Collembola Fungi .6745 6147 2.887** 2.462** y=9.6701+0.0035x y=4.7594+0.0007x Site-II Rhizosphere y=Acarina Fungi y=Collembola Fungi .9217 .7682 7.5084*** 3.7917*** y=-3.7941+0.0042x y=0.8876+0.0013x International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 3(8), 39-42, August (2014) Int. Res. J. 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