Mapping the Impact of Coal Mines and their Closure: A Case of Betul Ruchi Gupta THE ENERGY AND RESOURCES INSTITUTE Creating Innovative Solutions for a Sustainable Future MAPPING THE IMPACT OF COAL MINES AND THEIR CLOSURE A CASE OF BETUL RUCHI GUPTA Electricity and Fuels Division The Energy and Resources Institute THE ENERGY AND RESOURCES INSTITUTE Creating Innovative Solutions for a Sustainable Future © THE ENERGY AND RESOURCES INSTITUTE 2021 The material in this publication is copyrighted. Content from this Report may be used for non-commercial purposes, provided is attributed to the source. Author Ruchi Gupta, Electricity and Fuels Division, TERI Advisors Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI Mr Ajay Shankar, Distinguished Fellow, TERI Mr K Ramanathan, Distinguished Fellow, TERI Mr Sanjay Mitra, Distinguished Fellow, TERI Reviewers: Mr AK Saxena, Senior Fellow & Senior Director, Electricity & Fuels Division, TERI Mr Amit Kumar, Senior Fellow & Senior Director, Rural Energy and Livelihoods Division, TERI Mr Girish Sethi, Senior Fellow & Senior Director, Industrial Energy Efficiency Division, TERI Suggested Format for Citation Gupta, Ruchi. 2021. Mapping the Impact of Coal Mines and their Closure: A Case of Betul. New Delhi: The Energy and Resources Institute Editorial and Design Team Ms Ipshita Mitra, Ms Sushmita Ghosh, Mr Rajiv Sharma, Mr Santosh Gautam and Mr Vijay Nipane Published by The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi, India For more information Project Monitoring Cell The Energy and Resources Institute, Darbari Seth Block, IHC Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003, India Tel: +91 11 2468 2100 | Fax: +91 11 2468 2144 | Email: [email protected] | Web: www.teriin.org TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. ix Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................................... xi About the Research ................................................................................................................................ xiii Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................xv 1. An Overview of the Energy Industry ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Locating Pathakhera Coalfield in Betul ....................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Brief History ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Demand for Coal by Satpura Thermal Power Station .....................................................................3 1.3 Coal Production and Supply from Pathakhera .............................................................................4 1.3.1 Supply to STPS ............................................................................................................4 1.3.2 Supply to Non-core Sectors .......................................................................................... 5 1.4 Mine Closure and Proposal for New Mines ..................................................................................6 1.4.1 WCL’s Justification for New Mines in Pathakhera ............................................................6 1.4.2 People’s Demand for New Mines in Pathakhera .............................................................8 2. Coal’s Interaction with Betul’s Economy ...............................................................................................9 2.1 An Overview of the District’s Economy .......................................................................................9 2.2 Coal’s Role .................................................................................................................................9 2.3 Employment Scenario in the District .........................................................................................11 2.3.1 Workforce Composition ...............................................................................................11 2.3.2 The ‘Main’ Workers .................................................................................................... 12 2.3.3 Average Daily Employment in the District .................................................................... 12 2.4 Manufacturing in the District ................................................................................................... 13 2.4.1 Major Commodities ....................................................................................................13 2.4.2 Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises ....................................................................... 14 2.5 Coal’s Influence on the Development Pattern ............................................................................17 2.5.1 Comparison of Coal Tahsil with Other Tahsils ............................................................... 18 2.5.2 Coal and Electricity Consumption ...............................................................................22 2.5.3 Transport, Trade Around Coal .................................................................................... 23 2.6 Coal and its Proceeds .............................................................................................................. 25 2.6.1 Revenue Source for District and Local Municipal Body .................................................26 2.6.2 Corporate Social Responsibility Expenditure ..............................................................28 2.6.3 Worker Compensation ...............................................................................................29 2.7 Impact of the Incomes from Mining on Final Demand for Goods and Services ............................30 2.8 Coal’s Influence on the Workforce Composition and Income Distribution in the Region ..............32 2.9 Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 35 3. Overview of Employment in the Energy Industry .................................................................................. 37 3.1 Coal Mining .............................................................................................................................. 37 3.1.1 Brief Background of the Coal Mine Employment in Pathakhera ...................................... 37 3.1.2 Impact of Mass Recruitment of the Early Years on Mass Retirements Today ....................38 3.1.3 Drivers to the Shift in Recruitment ..............................................................................39 3.1.4 The Declining Regular Workforce ................................................................................ 41 3.2 Employment in Satpura Thermal Power Station ........................................................................ 41 3.3 The Social Composition of the Workforce ..................................................................................42 3.4 The Reservation Policy and Its Implication ................................................................................44 3.5 The Industry Defined Socio-political Milieu ...............................................................................46 3.6 Emergence of Informality ......................................................................................................... 47 3.7 Formal Provisions for the Informal Workers and their Governance ..............................................49 3.7.1 Disparity in Entitlements and Working Conditions ........................................................ 50 3.7.2 Missing Social Context of Decent Work for the Contract Worker ..................................... 50 3.7.3 Implications of Informality on the Economy ..................................................................51 3.8 The Labour Market Around Coal ................................................................................................ 51 3.9 Hearing First-hand from the Youth, the Front runners of Transition ............................................ 54 3.10 Rising Undercurrents and the Political Demand for More Mines ............................................... 54 3.11 Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 57 4. Agrarian Landscape: Understanding the Economy Beyond Coal ........................................................... 59 4.1 Pandemic and the Returnees .................................................................................................... 59 4.2 The Stress on Agriculture ......................................................................................................... 59 4.3 Understanding the District’s Agriculture (not Including Fisheries) .............................................60 4.3.1 Change in Farmers’ Composition ................................................................................60 4.3.2 Changing Cropping Pattern ........................................................................................60 4.3.3 Fodder ......................................................................................................................62 4.3.4 Irrigation .................................................................................................................