this in effect led to very little change on the ground. Beach sand and mineral mining The coasts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have beach sand deposits of various minerals such as illmenite, zircon, rutile, garnet, sillimanite, leucoxene, and monazite. From 1993 onwards, private firms were granted permission to mine beach sand and were allowed to mine the minerals- sillimanite and garnet. By 2007 this had expanded to include all the minerals including monazite from which radioactive elements such as thorium and small quantities of uranium can be extracted. Due to the presence of these radioactive elements in these minerals, their extraction poses occupational and environmental risk. Illegal sand mining without clearances was widespread in the districts of Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, and Tuticorin. Illegal mining Between 2000-2008 a group of companies including V.V Minerals, Transworld Garnet India, Beach Minerals Company, etc mined over 34 lakh (3.4 million) metric tonnes of raw sand, 9 lakh (900 thousand) metric tonnes of garnet, 8 lakh (800 thousand) metric tonnes of ilmenite, 3,500 metric tonnes of zircon, and 1,350 metric tonnes of rutile, which were mined and stored at quantities far above the legal amount allowed to be mined. The miners also tried to hide illegalities by showing waste sand as raw sand. In April–May 2017 the Sahoo Committee found that 37,000 metric tonnes of monazite, was sitting in godowns belonging to private beach sand miners. With 777 metric tonnes of it being ready for export. This was despite the Department of Atomic Energy prohibiting the processing and export of monazite. This monazite was stored either mixed in with raw beach sand, or as semi-processed and processed minerals in their godowns, in spite of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) requiring it to be stored in AERB approved sites, for regular inspection. It was calculated that over 4.6 crore (46 million) metric tonnes of raw sand was required to extract the 23,608 metric tonnes of monazite found in a yard belonging to V.V Minerals alone. Private Monopolization The private beach sand mining industry was dominated by S. Vaikundarajan and his family. His companies- V.V Minerals and Transworld Garnet India, alone accounted for 80% of the market share in the beach sand mining industry. His family members own the companies- Beach Minerals Company and Industrial Mineral Company, both of which are also involved in similar activities. Ban on private mining In 2016 the Central Government banned private