Question : MINING OF GRANITE. .

(a) Whether the Government has any scheme for extracting granite and improving mining activities in the country;

(b) If so, the details thereof;

(c) The States in the which granite reserves are available in the country, location-wise;

(d) The details of granite exported during each of the last three years;

(e) Whether the granite export has been badly affected during recent past years;

(f) If so, the details thereof alongwith the reasons therefor; and

(g) The steps taken by the Government in this regard?

THE MINISTRY OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINES (DR. T. SUBBARAMI REDDY)

(a)& (b). Granite is a minor mineral defined under Section 3(e) of the Mines and Minerals(Development and Regulation)Act,1957(MMDR Act) and as per Section 15 of the MMDR Act, 1957, all powers to make rules and grant mineral concessions for minor minerals have been given to the concerned State Government. The Central Government has notified the Granite Conservation and Development Rules, 1999 on 1st June, 1999, to conserve the granite resources and to prescribe a uniform frame work with regard to systematic and scientific exploitation of granite throughout the country.

The Central Government has constituted a Granite Development Council(GDC) including various stakeholders to discuss and redressal issues raised by granite industry.

(c) As per available information, resources of granite( as per United Nation Framework classification UNFC) as on 1-4-2000 are as follows:

State	(in’000 cu.m.)
Andhra Pradesh	2405890
Assam	583950
Bihar	877612
Chattisgarh	50057
Gujarat	419547
Haryana
34000
Jharkhand
8847364
Karantaka	9571593
Kerala	2808
Madhya Pradesh	1994084
Maharasthra	1158847
Meghalaya	286467
Orissa
1843204
Rajasthan	8461408
Tamil Nadu
559435
Uttar Pradresh
494819
West Bengal
33426
All India Total	37624611

(d) to (g). As per available information, quantity-wise export of granite
during the years 2002-03,2003-04 and 2004-05 is as follows:-
Year	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Quantity	2183570	2098169	2468182 

(in tonnes)