A treaty too many

Coal blocks on offer

Powerless and lost

The power blackout in northern India on two days should not be dismissed or misjudged. Analysts are jumping to conclude that the crisis was foretold. They blame delays caused by environment and forest clearance procedures and demand winding down the regulatory framework so that we can re-energise ourselves.

Who’s afraid of auctioning coal?

THE Union ministries of coal and mines seem to have geared into action after a draft report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on allotment of coal blocks without auction was leaked to the media.

How India is getting gas and coal policy wrong

Two monopolies. One private and the other public; one in gas and one in coal. Both equally disastrous for the environment. I speak here of Reliance Industries Ltd and Coal India Ltd.

On shaky ground

Alok Kumar Gupta Nearly half a million people living in and around the Jharia coalfield in Jharkhand have to be shifted to control underground fires. But the government has no sound strategy for their rehabilitation and the people have no trust in the government

Cabinet dilutes new mining bill

The bogey of green clearances

The environment is holding up growth and economic development. This is the common refrain in circles that matter. So when the Group of Ministers tasked to resolve the issue of coal mining in forests asked for a report on what needs to be done, it was told that the best would be to dismantle green conditions, almost completely.

Seelaum, Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh

Seelaum, Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh: Sixty-year-old Ram Charan is used to taking solitary walks. He stays with his wife. Ram Charan’s two children, Babloo and Pramod, work as labourers in Delhi. He lost his farmland seven years ago when it was declared a forest area. Ram Charan says, “Who will employ an old man?” Photograph by: Prashanth Vishwanathan

Coal bonanza