Sustainable And Responsible Mining
While we talk about increased mineral production to meet India’s increasing energy demand, we must also be fully conscious of the environmental impact of fossil fuel. Today, coal mining across the globe may be frowned upon as being an anti-nature activity, but it also carries an understanding of being an imperative to spur growth and development. Minerals, and especially coal, have been one of the most significant resources for advancing human civilization. In fact, coal mining has been instrumental in the Industrial Revolution and has helped economies and societies take their present shape.
However, India seems to have woken up late in terms of leveraging the benefits of mining this important fossil-fuel to lift millions out of poverty. This is one of reasons why India still has a long way to go to fully harness the potential of its mineral reserves.
India represents 17% of the global population but its historical cumulative emissions are only 4% and the country’s current annual greenhouse gas emissions are only about 5%. India has abundant reserves of mineral resources and the mining sector is not only the industrial backbone, but also one of the leading employment generating sectors in the country. The sector has potential to boost India’s growth and has an indispensable role to play in making India Aatma-Nirbhar. Therefore, the effects of mining on the environment and on biodiversity need to be counterbalanced with environmentally-sustainable activities so that mining can continue to contribute in building a New India.
As we celebrate Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav on the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s clarion call, it becomes imperative to draw the nation’s attention towards a host of initiatives in the last 8 years by our government to scale up mining activities in the country in an environmentally sustainable way. This is where the nation’s mining PSUs come into the picture. Not only are our mining companies demonstrating stellar performance of excavating minerals and assuring mineral security to the nation, but they are also undertaking several initiatives to restore the ecological balance. Our government is also conscious about the fact that while coal is going to remain the most important fuel as energy source in the country, clean coal technologies and diversification is the only way forward. With overhauling legislative reforms in the sector, inter alia, a provision for 50% rebate in the revenue share has been introduced for use of coal in coal gasification and liquefaction. This has been done keeping in mind the newer technologies which will be inducted in coal mining with wider participation as a result of incentives being provided through these reforms. Moreover, as announced in the most recent annual budget for the year 2022-23, 4 pilot projects for coal gasification and conversion are in the pipeline.
The PSUs under the Coal Ministry are diversifying into green mining alternatives and have made an investment plan of almost Rs. 2.5 Lakh crore by 2030 in new business areas, clean coal technologies and new mine development projects.
Not only this, CIL is also venturing into renewables sector and planning to soon become a ‘Net Zero Energy’ company. Its recent decision to form 2 subsidiaries is an extension of this ambition. Another PSU, NLC India is the first CPSE in the country to achieve solar power generation capacity of more than 1 GW. All these steps indicate how our coal companies are fighting the climate war, something for which they have always been held guilty. Being on track with climate consciousness, India has no reason to single out coal, which is among the key sources of energy for the nation. India has a balanced energy basket and remains dependent on coal for power generation.
What needs to be understood and acknowledged is that in India, coal is much more than just a source of energy. Coal is also a binding factor of an integrated ecosystem that is socially and economically dependent on it – for all developmental purposes. While the states rich in coal reserve deposits derive an indispensable part of their revenue from coal, the livelihood of people in districts surrounding the mining areas are completely dependent on coal usage and the revenue generated thereof. The huge corpus of funds in the District Mineral Foundation constituted under the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana is mainly responsible for the development of areas in the mining states. With amendment in 2021, local MPs, MLAs and MLCs have been made member of DMF governing council to ensure local participation and participative development of mining affected regions. The total amount collected in DMF as on 31 March, 2022 is Rs. 61868 crores.
Apart from diversifying into clean energy, coal and lignite PSUs have also set an ambitious target to green almost 2400 hectares of land this year. This will be achieved by planting 60 lakh saplings of local species in and around coalfield areas. Till now, Coal/Lignite PSUs have planted more than 100 million trees/saplings. These companies are distributing more than 10 lakh seedlings amongst locals and are also taking up hi-tech cultivation and development of grasslands in the mining areas. The overall impact of these activities would be huge, considering the vast ecosystem these companies maintain.
Under the vision and guidance of the Hon’ble PM, we are taking firm steps not only at the policy level but also at subsidiary level, with targeted resolution of persisting issues in the critical Coal and Mining space. Aligned with our government’s big push towards an Aatma-Nirbhar Bharat, we believe that making India self-reliant can propel and fast-track India’s rise to the league of Superpowers.
Even as coal continues to serve as the bedrock of India’s industrial growth and modernisation, I believe India is a land of opportunities and offers ample scope for several sources of energy coal, wind, solar, hydro, etc., to be at play simultaneously. Such is the sheer size and potential of our country that one single source of energy will not be sufficient to satiate the demands of the aspirational Indian citizen.
[The Blog was first published in Outlook India and is written by Shri Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines.]
