Jesting on the Environment: Australian Mining Gets a Present
Mining magnates seem to have it all. Far more significant than royalty, such figures are the unelected captains of industry who know that governments will do whatever they can to…
Coal
The commercial extraction of coal is not beneficial to Odisha and local communities
The ongoing auction of 16 non-coking coal blocks declared by the Union Coal ministry, may not be beneficial to Odisha because the periodic royalty revisions have not been done and…
Allotment of Bijahan coal block for mining by an Adani company in Hemgir block in Sundargarh district of Odisha violates the letter and spirit of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution
To Shri Vibhu Nayar Union Tribal Affairs Secretary Dear Shri Nayar, I understand that the Ministries of Mines/Coal have allotted the Bijahan coal block in Hemgir Block of Sundargarh district…
Dhirauli coal block in Singrauli district in Madhya Pradesh- Prima facie violation of PESA Act and Forest Rights Act
To Shri A L Meena Union Secretary for Coal Shri A K Jha Union Secretary for Tribal; Affairs Dear S/Shri Meena and Jha, The Ministry of Coal has allotted the…
Ministry of Power should not force PSPCL to import coal
Ministry of Power should not force PSPCL to import coal in preference to PSPCL obtaining coal from its captive Pacchwara mine in Jharkhand ToShri Rajiv Gauba Cabinet Secretary Government of…
Fake coal quality certification in the case of Australian coal imported by India- Calls for investigation and necessary action
To Shri Praveen Sood Director CBI Shri Keshav Chandra Director SFIO Shri Rahul Naveen Director Enforcement Directorate Dear S/Shri Sood, Keshav Chandra, Naveen, Earlier, I addressed the Cabinet Secretary vide…
Has SECL followed the auctioning route to appoint the Adani Group as MDO for Gare Palma coal block?
To Shri Rajiv Gauba Cabinet Secretary Government of India Dear Shri Gauba, In my letter dated 6-4-023 (https://countercurrents.org/2023/04/most-mineral-block-allocations-violate-the-doctrine-of-public-trust/), I pointed out the lack of transparency in mineral block auctions in…
Coal block auctions in Telangana attract prohibitive provisions under PESA/FRA
To Smt Alka Tiwari Secretary NCST Dear Smt Tiwari, I understand that the Ministry of Coal has notified Sathupalli-3 and Penagadapa coal blocks in Telangana. These blocks are located in villages covered…
CAG Report No 20/16 on E-Auction of coal mines- public interest concerns
To Shri A L Meena Union Coal Secretary Dear Shri Meena, I refer to the CAG Report No 20/2016 on E-Auctions conducted by your Ministry for allotment of coal…
Why should Punjab pay for coal mismanagement by the Centre? Claim compensation
To Shri Bhagwant Mann Chief Minister Punjab Dear Mann saheb, I have come across reports on the Centre asking Punjab power utilities to pay for transporting coal from the State's…
World’s Coal Consumption To Reach New High In 2022, Says IEA
Global coal demand is set to increase only marginally in 2022 but enough to push it to an all-time high amid the energy crisis, according to a report from the…
Allotment of Gondalpura Coal Block to the Adani Group violates Forest Rights Act
To Shri A L Meena Union Coal Secretary Shri A K Jha Union Secretary for Tribal affairs Dear S/Shri Meena and Jha, I understand that the Ministry of Coal has…
Why the Deucha Pachami Coal Project Should be Given Up at an Early Stage
As the crisis of climate change has aggravated rapidly, there is a strong reason for being highly cautious about development of any new coal projects. Nevertheless, countries of the global…
Can We Abandon Pollutive Fossil Fuels and Avoid an Energy Crisis?
Similar to the two navigational hazards mythologized as sea monsters in ancient Greece—Scylla and Charybdis—which gave rise to sayings such as, “between the devil and the deep blue sea” and…
Coal Worries in India
Coal is now a major subject of news on India. This is happening in the background of the on-going war in Ukraine and West’s pressure on India to join West’s…
Private companies exploiting the coal crisis- Need for an investigation
To Shri A K Jain Union Coal Secretary Dear Shri Jain, The 2021 coal crisis has severely impacted the power sector, especially the performance of the DISCOMs operating within the…
Let the Vandalism Begin: Adani Strikes Coal
He began on RN Breakfast by claiming that he, and his company, would be open and transparent about mining operations. But Lucas Dow, chief executive of Adani’s Australian operations, soon…
Coal is coming back in Europe as Gas is Scarce
Coal is a hot issue in this energy-starved world. There is a drive to get out of coal for a better climate. But coal is coming back in Europe. A…
Coal Pollution Puts The Lives Of Villagers Into Misery And Land Them In Jail For Protesting It
On 19th March I along with Ananta , social activist, Advocate Pradosh Mohanty and Adv. Gaiendra Pradhan visited the villages like Kandadhuda, Beleimunda and Ratanpur in Hemagiri Block of Sundargarh…
Environmental Disaster and Health Crisis in Cerrejon
At Cerrejon (Colombia), the largest open-pit coal mine in Latin America owned equally by BHP (Australia), Anglo American PLC (United Kingdom) and Glencore (Switzerland), the situation of the indigenous people…
Post-Facto ‘Clearance’ of 16 years of Illegal Coal Mining in Dehing Patkai and Fresh Approval for Mining by NBWL is an Environmental Travesty!
12th July, 2020: National Alliance of People’s Movements expresses deep concern over the series of destructive and extractive projects being taken up in the bio-diverse rich regions of the North-Eastern…
Letter To Prime Minister On Coal Auction
Respected Sri Narendra Modi ji, We understand that the Union Ministry of Coal is going ahead with the auction of 41 coal blocks in MP, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra…
‘70% of India’s coal-fired power stations may not meet environmental norms by 2022’
The sector must meet the environmental norms to ensure ‘our right to breathe in clean air,’ says CSE report New Delhi: With barely two years to go before the deadline…
Privatisation of coal and mineral mining and corporatization of farming
The Central Government through its Finance Minister announced on 16th of May what it calls major structural changes which they claim will catapult India on the world stage and thanked…
Time To Relook At India’s Erstwhile Coal Cess
In the nondescript landscape of Tetariakhar coal mines in Basiya village, India the localvillagers bear the brunt of development, for ‘others’ far away. At the fringes, the Dalitfamilies are coerced…
Indonesian Borneo Is Finished: They Also Rape Orangutans
How destructive can man get, how ruthless, in his quest to secure maximum profit, even as he endangers the very survival of our planet? The tropical forests of Kalimantan…
Australia, India And Coal Proliferation
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is in New Delhi today on a four-day visit. It is widely expected that he will advocate for, among other things, increased coal and Uranium…
Anti-Coal Power Plant Activist Threatened With Death In Banlgadesh: Ensure Safety Of Anu Muhammad
On 13 October 2016, Anu Muhammad received two messages on his phone from the same number. The first one was sent at approximately 1 am and stated “Death keeps no…
China: Is Peak Coal Part Of Its Problem?
The world’s coal resources are clearly huge. How could China, or the world in total, reach peak coal in a timeframe that makes a difference? If we look at China’s…
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