Chhattisgarh is industrialising fast: within 10 years of its creation, the state has 200 large industrial units and scores of small ones. More than 700 are on their way. A handful of units existed when this largely agricultural state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000. Known as central …
JANJGIR-CHAMPAWhere power kills Located on the banks of the Mahanadi, a predominantely agricultural district, Janjgir-Champa is poised to become a industrial hub as several mega projects are planned there. Four thermal power plants have got clearance and 13 are under process. Two biomass-based thermal power plants are also planned. The …
Forty thousand years ago, in the caves of Lascaux in southern France, our ancestors lumped animal fat in hollowed-out stone to make lamps. Early settlers in the Shetland Islands would fix a petrel carcass to a base of clay, thread a wick down its throat, and set it alight. In …
AWAY from the conference rooms of climate talks, developed countries have begun arm-twisting developing countries to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. Sasan, a coal-based project of Reliance Power, almost lost out on funding from a US-based lending agency (See: US bank uses carbon smokescreen). Earlier in the year, power …
JINDAL Power Limited (JPL), the power bigwig of the private arena in India, is making news. In the spotlight is the 2,400 MW expansion of the company’s existing 1,000 MW coal-based thermal power facility at Tamnar village in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh. The Rs 13,410-crore project hit a roadblock on …
THE Ministry of Coal has decided to deallocate the captive coal block in Agarzari, Maharashtra, following the notification of the buffer zone around Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Chandrapur district. The 700 ha coal block was allocated to the Maharashtra State Mining Corporation Limited in July 2007. It reportedly …
RELIANCE Power’s 4,000 megawatt ultra mega power project in Sidhi district in Madhya Pradesh came close to becoming the first coal-fired power plant in India to be denied financing by a developed country on the pretext of reducing carbon emissions. On June 24, the board of Export-Import Bank of the …
In India the mining operations have degraded significant area of land and have replaced the ecosystem of the mined out areas with the undesirable waste materials in form of overburden dumps. The process of coal extraction drastically alters the physical and biological nature of the mined out areas, so the …
This recent report on illegal coal mines around Balphakram NP in Meghalaya prepared by Dr Asad Rahmani recommends immediate ban on all mining activity within the national park & demands strict regulation of all coal mines in Garo Hills The issue of illegal coal mining in Meghalaya is quite well-known …
A visit to the coastal areas adjoining the Mundra port in the Kutch reveals discontent among fisherfolk, traders and pastoralists over the creation of a special economic zone in the area. Apart from environmental concerns, the traditional livelihoods of residents in the area have also been affected by the new …
Vegetation condition monitoring has been done from 1975 to 2000 in the waste dump of Haizhou opencast coalmine area, China, using remote sensing techniques with the objective of improving our understanding of the temporal and spatial variation of vegetation recovery in the mining dump.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a planning tool now generally accepted as an integral component of sound decision-making. The Environmental Clearance [EC] process for majority of projects will comprise of a maximum of four stages
In India, the lives and livelihoods of a large number of people are affected by forced displacement due to development projects such as mining, dams, industries, power plants, etc. Not only such displacements put the affected people at grave impoverishment but also sets back the entire poverty reduction efforts of …
This study is an analysis of the social impacts and community engagement process for an IFC-supported project in Chhattisgarh, India. It also provides an assessment of the application of IFC Performance Standard 7 (Indigenous Peoples) and related IFC standards and requirements
The purpose of this statement is to set out the basic principles for the resettlement and rehabilitation of people affected by coal mining projects (PAPs). As such, this statement attempts to streamline the different resettlement and rehabilitation practices that are being followed by subsidiaries and to modify them in a …
Meghalaya Mining and Geology Minister Donkupar Massar has said that the mining policy would have to be strictly implemented to regulate unscientific mining in the state. He, however, did not give an exact time-frame for the same. Massar, however, assured that coal mine owners would not be forced to adopt …
A transition period is essential for people to adopt the mooted mining ideas under the State's mining policy, feels Meghalaya Minister in-charge of Geology and Mining Donkupar Massar. Keeping in view the unscientific way of coal mining in the State, the Government is developing a mining policy that will enable …
India Inc is in hot pursuit of coal. Twenty-eight Companies have lined up for developing and running the two coal blocks of MahaGuj Collieries Ltd (MGCL) in Orissa. The Ambani brothers are there, through Reliance Industries and Reliance Energy, respectively. So are groups like Adani, GVK, Indiabulls, Bharat Forge and …
Coal is our cheapest and most abundant source of fossil-fuel energy. We probably have enough to keep the world powered for hundreds of years. Trouble is, the carbon emissions from burning it all would make the planet uninhabitable long before then. Is there a way to get the energy without …
