GS Paper 1 10 marks · 150w 9 min Medium
“In spite of adverse environmental impact, coal mining is still inevitable for development.” Discuss.
Subtopic: Geography · distribution of key natural resources
How to structure your answer
Introduction → why coal remains inevitable (energy security, base load, industry, livelihoods) → adverse environmental impacts → reconciling the two: clean-coal and just transition → Conclusion
Detailed model answer
197 words · target 150 words · 9 min
Coal supplies about 55% of India’s commercial energy and roughly 70% of its electricity; production crossed about one billion tonnes in 2023–24. Its environmental costs are severe, yet it remains inevitable for development in the medium term.
Why coal is still inevitable
- Energy security: India holds nearly 380 billion tonnes of coal resources, while oil and gas are heavily import-dependent — coal is the cheapest domestic fuel for a growing economy.
- Base-load reliability: solar and wind are intermittent, and grid-scale storage remains costly; coal plants anchor round-the-clock supply.
- Industrial backbone: steel, cement, aluminium and fertilizer production depend on coal and coke.
- Livelihoods and revenue: Coal India is among the largest employers; coal is the biggest source of Railways’ freight earnings, and royalties fund District Mineral Foundations.
Adverse environmental impacts
- Deforestation and displacement in central India’s forest–tribal belt; land subsidence and mine fires (Jharia).
- Air pollution (PM, SOx, NOx, fly ash) and the largest share of India’s CO2 emissions; acid mine drainage and water stress.
The way forward is cleaner coal, not abrupt exit: supercritical plants, coal gasification and washing, FGD retrofits, mine reclamation and a just transition for coal districts — pursued alongside the 500 GW non-fossil target for 2030 and net-zero by 2070.
What an examiner expects to see
- Coal's centrality: ~55% of commercial energy, ~70% of electricity, ~1 billion tonnes production (2023-24) — no substitute at this scale yet
- Energy security logic: ~380 billion tonnes of domestic resources vs import-dependence for oil and gas
- Base-load argument: renewables are intermittent and storage costly; coal underwrites 24x7 power for industry and agriculture
- Industrial and fiscal dependence: steel/cement/fertilizer inputs, Railways' largest freight earner, DMF royalties for mining districts
- Environmental costs: deforestation and tribal displacement, Jharia-type mine fires, subsidence, acid mine drainage, PM/SOx/NOx and the largest share of India's CO2 emissions
- Reconciliation: supercritical/ultra-supercritical technology, coal gasification, FGD norms, mine reclamation, just-transition planning
- Directive balance: acknowledge inevitability now, but frame it as a managed, time-bound bridge to the 500 GW non-fossil (2030) and net-zero (2070) commitments
Concrete cases, schemes and judgments
- Jharia coalfield fires burning for over a century, forcing township relocation
- India's COP26 commitments: 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030, net-zero by 2070, 'phase-down' of unabated coal
- District Mineral Foundation funds under MMDR (amended 2015) for mining-affected communities
- Coal gasification mission targeting 100 MT gasification by 2030
- Hasdeo Arand (Chhattisgarh) protests over coal mining in dense forest
Terminology to weave into the answer
energy securitybase-load powerjust transitionclean coal technologyacid mine drainagephase-down