India is the world’s
second largest
coal consumer.
But renewables delivered
over two-thirds of the
new generating capacity
additions in the 2019-20
fiscal year.
Prime Minister Modi
says private coal mining
will boost India’s energy
security.
And opening coal mining
to private investment
would create hundreds
of thousands of jobs,
helping the coronavirus
economic recovery.
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
launched the auction
of 41 coal mining blocks
to private companies
last week.
Coal mining is
currently dominated
by state-controlled
Coal India.
Modi wants to reduce
India’s reliance
on energy imports
and develop the
eastern and central
parts of the country.
The 16 districts
in these areas had
“huge stocks of coal”
but people living there
had not been able
to benefit from the coal.
Modi said
commercial mining
would reduce the need
for people to migrate
far from their homes
to seek employment.
He said India would spend
$6.5 billion on new coal
infrastructure.
“Extra revenue through
coal production will be
used for public welfare
schemes” in those regions,
he added.
Before the coronavirus
pandemic, the coal power
sector had most plants
running well under capacity.
Coal generators’ problems
deepened when energy
demand collapsed
by nearly 30%
during the lockdown.
Sunil Dahiya, analyst at the
Centre for Research on
Energy and Clean Air, said:
“So, even if this coal
is mined where is demand?
That would be another
economic disaster,” .
Rohit Chandra, a coal expert
and a fellow at the Delhi-based
Centre for Policy Research,
said only a handful of private
companies in India had
sufficient liquidity to invest
in these coal mines.
“If you invest
in a coal mine today,
it will take 2-5 years
to open and for the
company to receive
dividends.
There is going to be
a gradual transition
away from coal
and in 5-7 years
you are unlikely
to see new coal
power plants
opening.”
Aruna Chandrasekhar,
an independent journalist
who has written extensively
on India’s coal sector,
said a majority of the mines
for sale in the auction
were located
“in environmentally fragile
zones and indigenous land
that should not have been
acquired in the first place”.
This includes
the Hasdeo Arand,
one of the largest
contiguous stretches
of very dense forest
and an elephant habitat
in central India.
At least four new mines
are being sold in the forest,
despite local opposition
to mining activity.
The forest was once
earmarked as a “no-go”
area for mining –
a decision reversed
in 2011 to allow Indian
conglomerate Adani
to mine coal in the forest.
The Supreme Court
called on the government
to reassess its mining
policy in the forest,
but that demand
has been ignored.
Jharkhand Janadhikar
Mahasabha, a coalition
of pro-democracy groups,
called for mass protests
opposing the new mines
in the mineral-rich
eastern state of Jharkhand.