The next challenge will be to diversify the coal-dependent economy — and to find alternative livelihoods for the many thousands of people currently employed in the coal sector.
The deep coal dependence in Jharkhand has drawn researchers to try to understand the challenges likely to be faced by some of the country's most coal-dependent communities in the clean-energy transition.
According a recent study co-authored by Pai about how to implement a just transition in coal-dependent communities in India and South Africa, the coal sector provides more than , direct jobs and nearly one million indirect jobs in coal supply chains and service sectors in Jharkhand. But several million additional people work as illegal coal miners, mostly local villagers who scavenge coal from abandoned mines.
Most of the coal is transported to other states that have more facilities to burn it for power. Pai's research has found that without intervention, the decline of Jharkhand's coal industry could result in a loss of local jobs, falling local and state government revenues, and a decrease in corporate social responsibility funds from the industry. It is hard to overstate how entrenched coal is in India's power supply.
Only China consumes more coal. And in the past year or so, the country's ambitions have tilted towards producing more, not less, coal, with a push to auction licenses for commercial mining for the first time since the s. Coal is also a source of considerable taxes and royalties to governments at all levels and, of course, provides many people with jobs and livelihoods. The company also employs , people. The problem with this is, of course, the immense quantities of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide that coal releases when burned.
India contributes significantly to global emissions, ranking third in total emissions , although its per capita emissions continue to be among the lowest in the world. Coal power plants also generate huge amounts of air pollution in India, which in turn kills over a million people a year in the country. Despite the international pressure to move away from coal, in October the Indian government announced a target to produce one billion tonnes of coal by to secure the country's energy requirements.
For India, coal is here to stay for the near future. At the same time, India is pursuing renewable energy, with a new pledge at COP26 to install gigawatts of renewable power capacity by Evidently, India is undergoing a massive energy transition.
But for a country whose energy demands are expected to grow more than any other country in the near future, ensuring a well planned and just transition away from coal is a critical challenge. The government has prepared a coal mine closure framework on the principles of just transition, but its details in public domain are limited.
So far, no comprehensive official initiative has been launched. There are signs such plans could begin to get off the ground, following India's new targets for The move away from coal will need to be rapid if the world is to stay within 1. There is some local movement towards a just transition happening on the ground in India. Not least, in the heart of Jharkhand itself, the nation's capital of coal.
A few relatively small-scale attempts to transition away from coal in Jharkhand could serve as potential blueprints to emulate, says Pai, whose research in the region cites examples of successful ecological restoration of closed mines. One abandoned open-cast coal mine in Ramgarh was turned into a fishery through an initiative from Central Coalfields, an arm of the state-owned coal mining corporation. Another instance is the ecological restoration work on the overburden dump in the Khas Kusunda area of Jharkhand, where waste from coal mines was previously discarded.
Following an ecological restoration project in Khas Kusunda, nine different plant species were found here in on the previously barren land. The project was spread only over two hectares, but was one of many such small-scale projects. After that, we started doing it ourselves. Every year we added about 10 projects," says Raju EVR, former lead of the environment management division of Bharat Coking Coal, a federal government owned company.
Raju EVR, who retired in from the company, explains that the company used its workforce, which was previously employed at functional mines, to carry out ecological restoration of sites standing on former coal mines.
The company financed ecological restoration activities — planting grass, shrubs and plants suitable to the local soil and climate. Local people who were previously dependent on the mine for their livelihood also benefited, says Raju EVR. The company allowed them to farm food crops on the ecologically restored land.
This way, about 1, workers and some local people restored roughly hectares spread across 60 sites, he says. Promoting fisheries, planting trees and creating forests in abandoned mines and setting up renewable energy projects are all initiatives that can work for a just transition, says Pai, but the efforts so far have been small in scale. There are also barriers to replicating these projects. Regulatory bodies need funding and powers to enforce rehabilitation of coal mines, says Pai, while adequate laws are needed to govern the process, and mine closure plans require transparency.
Pai advises diversifying the state's economy by facilitating growth of six potential sectors in consultation with local people: agriculture, tourism, non-coal mining, manufacturing, renewable energy production and non-timber forest products. In , Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. But by , only 4, families were relocated. Over the years, the number of people needing to be resettled has risen to at least , families. As the government deadline of approaches, the lives of people in the fire-affected areas are getting harder.
Sections U. Science Technology Business U. In this Oct. The fires started in coal pits in eastern India in More than a century later, they are still spewing flames and clouds of poisonous fumes into the air, forcing residents to brave sizzling temperatures, deadly sinkholes and toxic gases.
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