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The development of quartz and feldspar pulverizing industry in Ajmer district started at Beawar, in the year 1965-66. After 2002 industry witnessed exponential growth and the industry expanded to peripheral areas of Beawar (ThikranaGujran). Soon the industry developed in different sub-district of Ajmer namely, Masuda (Peeplaj and Ranisagar), Nasirabad (Bewanja), Kishangarh (Silora, Roopangarh and Udaipur kalan), Sarwar, Kekri. In this research paper all the major pulverizing industrial areas of Ajmer district have been identified. The total numbers of Ball Mill units and mineral production were tabulated from each individual tehsil records. The following study revealed that there is total 916 pulverizing units of quartz and feldspar in different tehsils of Ajmer District. In these units 1043 ball mills are installed whose production capacity is 14127317 metric ton. The total initial investment was Rs. 46332.98 lakh. The primary field survey revealed that most of the pulverizing units had more than one ball mill set-up in the industry but most of them showed only one ball mill in their paper work. This could be done to get benefits in government schemes and environmental clearance from the department. This is a growing industry which needs to be regularized by the government with strict policies so that it will benefit both ways economically as well as environmentally. Also, the investment data is given when the land value and raw material cost was cheap which rose to multi-fold in present times, hence the actual investment could be much higher.

1. The present study aims at calculating the total number of pulverizing units in different industrial areas of Ajmer district.

2. Secondly, total production and initial investment will be assessed.

3. Third, the factors of localization of quartz and feldspar pulverizing industry will be analyzed.

David Keeble (2022) in his book analyzed different Industrial Location and Planning in the United Kingdom. In his research he collected both primary and secondary data. Later he summarized his study with the well-established models of locational analysis given by different economist to validate his studies.

Anand, Kuldeep (2022) This research examines how India's historical perspectives and vernacular architectural traditions link to present environmental efforts. The report's literature review highlights India's green transformation's five pillars and four facilitators. Rajasthan, India's biggest state, is well-represented in the study, as is the state's contribution to the overall objective of greening economy of the country.

Arpana Chaudhary, Chetna Soni and Chilka Sharma (2020) in their research paper highlights water quality parameters of Rajasthan state using satellite remote sensing and GIS technology. Water and soil quality indices have been applied to identify and assess the magnitude of contamination due to textile effluents in the surroundings of textile industries. They concluded that remote sensing and GIS technologies along with natural resource parameters as utilized in the study can be performed for generating future assessment reports.

Anamika Shekhawat (2018) in her research concluded that states compete fiercely to attract huge sum of private investment by introducing several concessions and incentives. In recent years, the Government of Rajasthan has also introduced several measures to improve the investment climate and materialize its immense investment potential.There is an urgent need for the government to revisit the state's private sector and industrial development policies and emphasize on creating a better climate for private investment.

Ajmer District is situated in the center of Rajasthan state lying between 25⁰38’ and 26⁰58’ North latitudes and 73⁰54’ and 75⁰22’ East longitudes. The district is surrounded by Jaipur and Tonk districts in east and Pali district in west, Nagaur district touches its north boundaries while Bhilwara district lies in the south. The total geographical area of Ajmer district is 8481 Sq. Km.The district has no natural division. Its boundaries are territorial and comprised of four sub-divisions namely Ajmer, Beawar, Kekri and Kishangarh. Ajmer sub-division forms the Northern part of the district and is more or less triangular in shape, whereas Beawar sub-division is an irregular terrain lies in the south-west of the district. The track is generally hilly. Kekri sub-division forms the south-eastern portion of the district and consists of two separate strips of land from each other. The distinguishing feature of the district is the Aravali range, which has more prominence near the town of Ajmer.

Quartz and feldspar deposits are found in more than 200 kms long belt extending from Rajsamand in south-west to Tonk in north-east moving through Bhilwara and Ajmer.Feldspar deposits are scattered in large area of Ajmer district. The principal occurrences are in Beawar, Masuda, Nasirabad, Kekri, Sarwar and Kishangarh tehsils. The feldspar deposits of Ajmer district are largely potash bearing. The quality of feldspar produced in Ajmer- Beawar area is good with Potassium content 11% to 14%which meet the world market standards. The promising areas of Jawaja group, Makrera-Rajgarh group and Tilora-Piproli group of mines are the most important feldspar producing areas where good quality feldspar is being mined.

Fig: Location Map of Study Area

The study was based on both primary and secondary data. 1. Primary Survey:It was a questionnaire-based study conducted among owners of quartz and feldspar pulverizing units in Beawar, Masuda, Nasirabad and Kishangarh sub-districts of Ajmer. The study was conducted in Jan.-July. 2022, and was based on close-ended questions related to silicosis awareness. The questionnaire had different heads which constituted ownership, number of ball mills, total production and initial investment cost. 2. Secondary Data: It was procured from the Mining & Geology Department, Ajmer, Other government publications and the district census handbook. satellite images were retrieved from ISRO, Bhuvan. Data were processed using Microsoft Excel software and maps were prepared using QGIS. 3. To indicate the raw material and transport facilities on the localization of quartz and feldspar pulverizing industry the maps were prepared by overlapping the mining areas and rail-road transport GIS (vector) files over the Ajmer district map.

Pulverizing Units In Ajmer District

All the major pulverizing industrial areas of Ajmer district have been identified. The total numbers of Ball Mill units and mineral production were tabulated from each individual tehsil records. The following study revealed that there are total 916 pulverizing units of quartz and feldspar in different tehsils of Ajmer District. In these units 1043 ball mills are installed whose production capacity is 14127317 metric ton. The total initial investment was Rs. 46332.98 lakh.

The primary field survey revealed that most of the pulverizing units had more than one ball mill set-up in the industry but most of them showed only one ball mill in their paper work. This could be done to get benefits in government schemes and environmental clearence department. Also, the investment data is given when the land value and raw material cost was cheap which rose to multi-fold in present times, hence the actual investment could be much higher.

Table 1: Summary Of Distribution And Strength Of Quartz And Feldspar Pulverizing Industry In Different Tehsils Of Ajmer District

Name of Tehsil	Units	Ball Mill	HM/ JC	Installed Production Capacity (in MT)	Approximate initial investment (Lakh Rs.)
Masuda	432	501	127	7752290	22499.36
Beawar	198	234	66	2567360	7889.83
Kishangarh	149	169	64	1934170	8158.35
Sarwar	56	57	4	641667	2734.68
Nasirabad	55	64	35	846630	3451.9
Peesangan	5	13	4	233200	681.94
Kekri	10	11	17	85500	385.52
Ajmer	11	11	5	66500	531.4
Total	916	1043	317	14127317	46332.98

Source: Mines & Geology Department, Ajmer

The spatial-temporal analysis showed growth variation of different industrial areas of mineral pulverization which can be seen in the satellite images of 2005 to 2019. These satellite images also helped in identifying impact of pulverizing industry on land.

The figure shows installed capacity of mineral pulverization in different tehsils of Ajmer district. The highest is in Masuda tehsil (7752290 MT), followed by Beawar tehsil (2567360 MT) and Kishangarh tehsil (1934170 MT).

Figure: Distribution of Installed Capacity of Quartz and Feldspar Pulverization in Ajmer District 

Beawar Tehsil

Figure: Distribution of Quartz and feldspar pulverizing units in different industrial areas of Beawar Tehsil in Ajmer district

Masuda Tehsil

Figure: Distribution of Quartz and Feldspar pulverizing units in different industrial areas of Masuda Tehsil

Nasirabad Tehsil

Figure: Distribution of Quartz and Feldspar pulverizing units in different industrial areas of Nasirabad Tehsil in Ajmer District

Kishangarh Tehsil

Table: Distribution and strength of Quartz and Feldspar pulverizing units in industrial areas of Kishangarh Tehsil in Ajmer District

Name of Industrial area/ Village	Industrial units	Ball mills		HM/ JC	Installed capacity (MT)	Initial investment (Lakh Rs.)
Silora	55	54		18	611870	1677.94
Udaipur Kalan	58	71		27	769880	3613.73
Roopangarh	19	23		10	230320	1532.38
Other villages	17	21		9	322100	1334.3
	149	169		64	1934170	8158.35
Installed capacity range			3000 – 100000 Metric Ton
Average Production			12981±9364 Metric Ton per unit
Initial investment range			9.8 – 476 Lakh Rs.
Average initial investment			62.75±64.40 Lakh Rs.

 

Figure: Distribution of Quartz and Feldspar pulverizing units in different industrial areas of Kishangarh Tehsil in Ajmer District

Sarwar Tehsil

Figure: Distribution of Quartz and Feldspar pulverizing units in different industrial areas of Sarwar tehsil in Ajmer district

Riico Industrial Area Kekri

Table: Distribution and strength of Quartz and Feldspar pulverizing units in industrial areas of Kekri Tehsil in Ajmer District

Tehsil	Kekri
Location	25°59'40.23"N to 26°0'23.01"N 75°9'47.64"E to 75°10'21.00"E
Total developed Land area	85.5 Acres (34.57 Hectares)
Total Pulverizing units	11
Total investment	385.52 Lakh Rs.
Total installed capacity of pulverization	85500 Metric Ton
Distance from Highway	State Highway – 12 (100 mt)

 

Figure :  Location of RIICO industrial area Kekri in Kekri Tehsil of Ajmer District

Locational Factors of Quartz and Feldspar Pulverizing Industry

Raw Material

Quartz and feldspar lumps are heavy raw material and processed in a large quantity (tons of ton) in pulverizing units. During pulverization process quartz and feldspar lumps tend to loss 25% to 35% of their weight according to quality needed for various industrial applications. Thus, the average material index (ratio of weights of raw material and processed material) is 1.42, it would be very expensive to haul large quantity of heavy and cheap quartz and feldspar lumps to the market-area for processing. That is why quartz and feldspar pulverizing industry is raw-materialoriented industry. Quartz and feldspar pulverizing units are located near the mining areas of quartz and feldspar minerals in Ajmer district as shown in (Figure 6.30).

Transportation Facility

1. Location of quartz and feldspar pulverizing industry is supported by well-developed transportation network in the district. National Highway (NH)-8 works as a catalyst in the development of the industry in Ajmer district. It connects Ajmer with Delhi, National Capital Region, Jaipur, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Mumbai.

2. Industrial areas of Beawar and Kishangarh are located near NH-8. It assures easy and fast supply of raw material to pulverizing units and processed mineral powder to market centres of Alwar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and further foreign export.

3. NH 79 (Ajmer- Nasirabad), NH 79-A (Kishangarh- Srinagar- Nasirabad), SH-7E (Sarwar- Arain- Kishangarh), SH-26 (Nasirabad - Kekri- Deoli) and SH-26A (Beawar- Masuda- Bandanwara) connect mining and industrial areas of Nasirabad, Kekri, Sarwar, Srinagar, Silora, Roopangarh to NH-8.

4. After the development of DFC (dedicated freight corridor), facility of low cost and fast transport will increase multifold. It will enable to set-up more and more mineral pulverizing units in Ajmer district.

3. As the raw material is bulky these units tend to localize near the transport routes (National/State Highways) to reduce the transport cost of raw material and this also helps in easy supply of processed mineral powder to ceramic and glass-based industries of Ghiloth, Udaipur, Morbi, Himmatnagar, Khurja, Sikandra, Mumbai etc.

4. The figure 6.31 shows distribution of pulverizing units in different tehsils. From the figure it is seen that most of the mineral pulverizing industrial areas are located where transport network is dense.

Availability of Land and Industrial Infrastructure

1. RIICO acquire land to develop industrial areas and infrastructure facilities for industrial enterprises. It also provides financial assistance, technical consultancy, facilitates government clearances, banking and financial tie-ups, and extends incentive and concessions provided by the state Government and Department of Industries. Quartz and feldspar pulverizing industry initially developed in RIICO industrial areas later on it expended in private industrial areas.

2. RIICO industrial areas of Beawar, Silora, Bewanja, Sarwar and Kekri are predominantly occupied by quartz and feldspar pulverizing industrial units. Beside these two industrial areas at Jawaja (Beawar) and Roopangarh (Kishangarh) are developed by DIC (District industries centre), Ajmer. Private industrial areas near Beawar namely Indira Gandhi Udyogpuri, Lal Bahadur Shastri Udyogpuri, Radha Vallabh, Shree, Srinath, Vardhaman, Govindam are also developed in Peeplaj, Ranisagar, ThikranaGujran. All these areas are solely occupied by quartz and feldspar pulverizing industry and their ancillary units.

Electricity and Water

1. Pulverizing units work on electric mechanism. They consume a considerable amount of electricity. AVVNL provide desirable amount of electricity to pulverizing units by high tension 33 KV and 11 KV lines.

2. The pulverizing units in Ajmer district use dry grinding mechanism, so water is not a major concern for the industry. Bore wells and water tankers are the sources of water supply in these pulverizing units of RIICO as well as private industrial areas.

Labour

1. A traditional single set-up ball mill unit requires 10 workers in double shift. Most of the workers are unskilled doing the job of loading, sorting of quartz and feldspar lumps and filling of processed mineral powder into bags and loading them for consignment. Semi-skilled workers are also required to operate and maintain the machinery.

2. In large units with multiple machinery set-ups the labour requirement could reach up to 40 workers. In modern set-up of large pulverizing plants, sophisticated VSI mechanism is being used. The processing capacity of these plants is lakhs of tonnes per annum. In these plants 80 to 100 workers are employed. VSI plants require skilled mechanics and qualified management staff besides unskilled and semi-skilled labour. Due to scanty rain, agriculture activity is most uncertain thus making rural manpower easily and cheaply available.

Entrepreneurship

Natives of Beawar and Kishangarh are known for the entrepreneurial competence for a long time. Beawar was renowned hub of cotton textile and asbestos cement pipes. By the time cotton textile industry declined as the use of synthetic fiber increased and asbestos cement pipes were replaced by plastic pipes. This forces the entrepreneurs to change their field. They invested the money in quartz and feldspar pulverizing industry and soon the industry flourished in Beawar. Later the industry expanded to other areas of the district.

Capital Investment and Finance

1. Setting-up a small mineral pulverizing unit can cost 50-100 lakhs Rs., establishment cost of large units with multiple machinery set-ups can cost 2.5-3 crores Rs. and investment in automatic VSI plants is more than 4 crores Rs. Maintenance costs of these plants are also high.

2. Financial assistance in the form of various loan schemes, equity partnership, subsidies to these enterprises is provided by RIICO, RFC and Department of MSME.

3. Nationalized banks, private banks and cooperative banks are providing banking and finance facility to entrepreneurs for establishment of quartz and feldspar pulverizing units

Market

Quartz and feldspar granules and powder are semi-finished raw material, mainly used in ceramic and glass-based industries. There is no such establishment in and around Ajmer district where pulverized mineral can be consumed, so it is been sold to ceramic and glass-based industries of Udaipur, Ghiloth, Neemrana in Rajasthan; Morbi and Himmat Nagar in Gujarat, Sikandra and Khurja in Uttar Pradesh; Maharashtra, Orissa, and Karnataka. Pulverized quartz mineral is being exported to China, Indonesia and Japan.

Agglomeration of the Industry

Agglomeration is clearly seen in the quartz and feldspar pulverizing industry of Ajmer district. Nearness of raw material sources, well developed transport routes, availability of developed industrial land and infrastructure, demonstration effect of early establishment, benefits of bulk purchase of raw material and bulk supply of mineral powder, establishment of ancillary industries encourage clustering of a large number of mineral pulverizing units in a related area.

The following study revealed that there is total 916 pulverizing units of quartz and feldspar in different tehsils of Ajmer District. In these units 1043 ball mills are installed whose production capacity is 14127317 metric ton. The total initial investment was Rs. 46332.98 lakh. The primary field survey revealed that most of the pulverizing units had more than one ball mill set-up in the industry but most of them showed only one ball mill in their paper work. This could be done to get benefits in government schemes and environmental clearance from the department. On the basis of satellite imageries from Google Earth Pro, summary table of distribution of quartz and feldspar pulverizing units in different industrial areas and relative analysis of various locational factors it is proved that the industry is developed as 'mineral pulverizing cluster' due to proximity of raw material sources and well-developed transport network in Ajmer district.This is a growing industry which needs to be regularized by the government with strict policies so that it will benefit both ways economically as well as environmentally. Also, the investment data is given when the land value and raw material cost was cheap which rose to multi-fold in present times, hence the actual investment could be much higher.

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