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Non-governmental organisations working on rights based issues in India have recently been in the firing line of the government. The controversial Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), originally instituted during the national emergency in 1976, has been further amended in recent times to arbitrarily restrict groups speaking out against human rights abuses and environmental problems in a rapidly industrialising India. Yet again raising the spectre of the 'foreign hand', governments have proceeded to cancel the licences and freeze the foreign funds of NGOs. Using the case study of the crackdown on Greenpeace on account of its advocacy against coal development, this paper discusses how the Indian Government has used the FCRA as a lever to stifle the capability of NGOs to protest the violation of rights across the landscape. It analyses Greenpeace's fight-back to the government's crackdown. In labelling civil society groups as anti-national in an era of neoliberal economic growth, the government's corporate bias stands fully exposed. Consequently, the government's crackdown contributed to retriggering two much needed debates in society: about who benefits and who misses out from India's economic growth, and about the social and environmental costs of coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal mills are bottleneck in coal–fired power generation process due to difficulty in developing efficient controls and faults occurring inside the mills. In this paper, a dynamic coal mill model is developed using conservation laws and empirical relations. The physical processes occurring inside the mill such as grinding, pneumatic transport, drying, heat transfer, and classification are modeled. Differential Evolution is used to estimate the model parameters. The model is validated using data obtained from a 500 MW plant in India. An application of the proposed model for online estimation of moisture in the raw coal is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal production in India is around 700 Mt and is mostly done by Opencast method. Uses of coal have issues galore on carbon footprints and climate change however, plethora of concerns are also being raised on counts of ecological and social footprints to companies engaged in coal production. The very production of coal by opencast method in India is certainly anything but clean and responsible. This paper presents a case of an opencast coal mine "Parsa East Kanta Basan" (PEKB) operated by M/s Adani Enterprises Ltd. Looking into its voluntary exhibits towards environmental concerns, the mine qualifies to be an ideal case to apply and institutionalize a holistic concept of sustainability framework therein to make it a model sustainable mine. The sustainability framework suggested herein necessarily covers ecological, economical, societal dimensions with inputs of Carrying Capacity (CC), Accountability (A) Conservation (C) as its first layer treatment coupled with Gender Equity (GE), Diversity (DI) and Democratic (D) as its final touch of metrics detailed in the paper. This would render Sustainability Index of the mine and help develop sustainable mining practices. • A Sustainable Framework to usher mine operators' adapting to sustainable mining. • The Framework dwells upon Ecology, Economy and Societal concerns with sub-metrics. • An index as a measure of sustainability practices in the mine has been evolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal-fired energy generation is the backbone of India's power sector and considered a driver of its economic development. However, it is associated with detrimental environmental and health impacts in India and its fleet is currently struggling with overcapacity and inefficiency problems. One solution to address these challenges is the early retirement of some of India's coal-fired power plants. In this paper, we introduce multidimensional indices that identify plants for retirement based on comprehensive criteria that include technical and economic characteristics of plants as well as their environmental impacts. We implement an ensemble approach, where we formulate 8008 indices based on all possible combination of seven relevant parameters and rank plants accordingly. This approach facilitates a comprehensive analysis of the plants' performance on different parameters and provides a new outlook on plant retirements that differs from the common approach of retiring plants based solely on technical characteristics such as age, capacity, and heat rate. Our results show that top plants recommended for early retirement are typically 7 years older, 13% more expensive and have around 40% higher population exposure to emissions compared to an average plant in India. We estimate the potential costs saved from the retirement of the worst-performing 50 GW of generating capacity to be $21 billion resulting from shifting ownership towards a cheaper cost of capital and replacing coal by more competitive sources such as solar power. • Identify plants for early retirement based on technical, economic and environmental indicators. • Worst performing 50 GW capacity are older, more expensive to operate and have higher population exposure. • Costs saved from retiring 50 GW capacity and replacing them with solar are $21 billion. • A multidimensional approach is essential for a politically feasible phaseout of coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues with conventional depillaring techniques resulted in unscientific development of a number of coal seams into rectangular/square shaped pillars, mainly, located at shallow depths in different coalfields of India. Continuous miner based mechanised depillaring (MD) has been introduced to extract these coal pillars which is the main stage of production. The practise of leaving a proper sized rib/snook is a legal requirement as it decides the efficiency and safety of the MD operation. However, MD of square/rectangular shaped pillars created irregular-shaped-heightened-rib/snook. Conventional empirical formula is not capable to estimate strength of such ribs/snooks. These ribs/snooks should be of sufficient size to protect the adjacent slicing operation and junction as well as it should fail in a controlled manner when shifted inside the goaf. Field studies conducted at 39 panels of 7 different mines found a number of factors affecting the design of rib/snook. Proper assessment of performance of different sizes and shapes of ribs/snooks in field is difficult due to the complex and challenging underground mining environment of depillaring. These challenges prohibit a detailed study to be carried out in field. Therefore, parametric study on calibrated numerical model is conducted to estimate the strength of rib/snook with variation in sizes and heights of rib/snook and depth of cover. Further, an empirical relationship is developed to estimate the strength of rib/snook based on multivariate regression analysis. The values of strength estimated by the developed relationship is found to be least when compared with the popular pillar strength formulations due to effect of pillar/rib/snook spalling observed during field investigation with increase in depth of working. Results of field and simulation studies are presented and discussed in this paper for the design of irregular-shaped-heightened-rib/snook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In India, there are a number of cases of parting failures in mines due to instability of the parting between contiguous seam workings. So far, no suitable norm exists for predicting the stability of the parting during simultaneous depillaring of contiguous seams or sections, the latter being in thick seams. The factors affecting parting stability in contiguous depillaring have been identified as horizontal to vertical in situ stress ratio, width of splits/slices; rock mass rating, parting thickness and combination of different face positions in upper and lower workings. A large number of two- and three-dimensional models were run covering all these variables to arrive at suitable predictive equations to define parting stability and support requirements in contiguous seams/sections during depillaring operations in Indian coal fields. Finally, two representative case studies, briefly discussed in this paper, validated the developed equations for parting stability and support requirements at mine sites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Coal mine fires due to spontaneous heating are a major concern worldwide. Most of these fires could be averted if suitable preventive measures are taken. Since the spontaneous heating potential of all types of coals are not the same, its accurate prediction is essential to plan efficient preventive measures and improve production and storage capabilities of a mine. The current paper presents a comparison of two approaches viz. fuzzy expert system and the commonly used artificial neural networks (ANN) for forecasting the self heating of coals. To apply these techniques, 30 coal samples of varying ranks were collected from different coalfields of the country. The intrinsic properties of the coal seams were determined by proximate, ultimate and petrographic analyses. The spontaneous heating proneness of the samples was studied using crossing point temperature (CPT), which is treated as an important measure for fire susceptibility of coal seams in Indian mines. Correlation studies between the intrinsic properties and CPT was carried out to identify the parameters for prediction purpose. Using moisture, volatile matter, and ash content as input parameters, CPT is predicted using fuzzy logic based on Takagi–Sugeno–Kang (TSK) model and ANN based on back propagation algorithm. Triangular fuzzy membership function is adopted for describing input variables. The results show both the models predict CPT with reasonable accuracy. Fuzzy modelling being a simpler approach, it can be utilized in the field where experimental data on coal properties are not precisely available but human judgement and intuition can be adopted for prediction purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy is required for every aspect of our daily life. At present, commercial energy consumption makes up about 65% of the total energy consumed in India. This includes coal with the largest share of 55%, followed by oil at 31%, natural gas at 11% and hydro energy at 3%. Non-commercial energy sources consisting of firewood, cow dung and agriculture wastes account for over 30% of the total energy consumption. The critical feature of India's energy sector and linkages to economy is the import dependence on crude and petroleum products. Import bill is likely to grow to more than 100% in the near future because of population explosion and improved living standard in the country. Being a tropical country India has unlimited potential for producing renewable energy sources. These sources of energy can play an important role in the sustainable development by providing basic energy needs of rural and remote areas. A survey of energy consumption pattern has been carried out in different sector domestic, agricultural, transport, rural industries and miscellaneous uses in a cluster of 3 villages, district Ballia, Uttar Pradesh India during 2008. The questionnaires have been filled by gram pradhan, respective old persons and head of the family of the surveyed households. This paper discusses the current energy status, choice of energy options and potential of renewable energy systems for creating sustainable livelihoods in rural areas. The outline plan at decentralized level was prepared with the objective of providing energy security in villages by meeting total energy needs for cooking, lighting and motive power through various forms of available renewable energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world gets ready to begin the second decade of the twenty-first century, global climate change has been recognized as a real threat to civilization as we know it. The rapid and successful economic growth of developing nations, particularly China and India, is contributing to climate change. The route to initial economic success in China followed that of the developed nations through the development of industries. Unfortunately, China''s environmental protection efforts have not been the same as in developed countries because China is vastly different culturally, socially, economically and, especially, politically from developed nations. When China started to deal with environmental concerns in the late 1970s, it took advantage of the experiences of other countries in establishing environmental standards and regulations, but it did not have a model to follow when it came to implementing these standards and regulations because of the abovementioned differences. Economically, China is transitioning from an agricultural base into an industrial base; however, even now, 60% of the population remains farmers. China has been and still is heavily dependent upon coal for energy, resulting in serious atmospheric particulate pollution. While growing efforts have been expended on the environment, at this juncture of its economic development, China would be well served to revisit the traditional “develop first and clean up later” approach and to find a balance between development and protecting the environment. Against this backdrop, a reflective look of the effort to manage air quality from 1949–2008 (with an emphasis on the past 30years) in China is presented in this paper. The environmental component of the 2008 Olympic Games is examined as a special example to illustrate the current measures being used to improve air quality in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An extraction method for deep-seated thick seam deposits by underground mining with high resource recovery has remained a great challenge for Indian mining engineers, whereas the longwall top coal caving (LTCC) method has evolved as an effective method for various geo mining conditions in China and other counties. The percentage of top coal recovery (TCR) plays a predominant role in determining the feasibility of LTCC, which relies on the First Top Coal Caving Distance (FTCD). In this paper, the critical geotechnical parameters are identified, numerically simulated, and statistically analyzed, and the FTCD for Indian geo-mining conditions is developed and validated. A financial assessment is conducted, considering 70% top coal recovery at 85% performance level, cost of production escalated by 20% and fall in coal grade by two grades. The internal rate of return (IRR) for LTCC is 30.24% as per the sensitivity analysis where it is only 18% in single pass longwall method. This study contributes to evaluating both the technical and economic feasibility of introducing LTCC in Indian geo-mining conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most Indian coals have high ash content of the order of 25–35%. High ash in the coal not only reduces the thermal value of coal but also leads to production of fly ash, which is a major environmental problem. Cleaning with gravity concentration techniques is ineffective and more efficient techniques need to be developed. In recent times, bioflocculation as an alternative preparation method has been reported for a number of mineral systems including high-sulfur coals. In this paper, bioflocculation of high-ash Indian coals has been studied using Paenibacillus polymyxa for two coal samples. A quartz sample was used for comparison purposes. Zeta-potential measurements showed that coal samples and the bacterium were negatively charged over most of the pH range with a point-of-zero-charge (PZC) around pH 2–3. Surface free energy, determined through contact angle measurements, showed that the coal samples were hydrophobic while the bacterium was hydrophilic. Among the coal samples, the coal with the lower ash content exhibited greater hydrophobicity. Adhesion tests revealed that adhesion took place in about 25 min and that maximum adhesion occurred around pH 2. Similarly, flocculation tests showed that the bacterium flocculated coal effectively and efficiently with the best results around pH 2. More than 90% of the coal flocculated in about a minute in the presence of the bacterium while compared to about 20–30% in the absence of the bacterium. Flocculation of quartz was retarded under the same conditions, indicating that it is dispersed. Ash analysis of the flocculated portion showed a decrease in ash by 60% thereby suggesting that selective flocculation of coal is possible. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The coal power plants will continue to be the backbone of the Indian power sector for next few decades in India. • The Advanced Coal Technologies (ACT) have higher Sustainability Index. • The ACTs coupled with Carbon Capture Systems help to meet the future electricity demand as well as combat climate change. • Optimal mix of all energy source and technologies will create a sustainable society. In India, more than two-thirds of the total electricity is generated from coal-based power plants. The country will be heavily dependent on coal for electricity generation at least for a few more decades. A low carbon scenario for 2030 is projected and the results show that coal-based power plant will contribute to 58 % of electricity generated. This paper reports the sustainability assessment of several Advanced Coal Technologies (ACT), with and without a CO 2 capture system, for application in Indian coal-based power plants. In order to assess sustainability quantitatively, an index called Sustainability Index is estimated using a sequential combination of the Analytic Hierarchy Process and a multi-criteria decision-making method. The results show that ACTs like supercritical and ultra supercritical power plants with a carbon capture system have higher sustainability indices. These ACTs will help in reducing the CO 2 emissions and combat climate change. This study helps academicians, industrialists, policymakers, and other stakeholders to develop a technology roadmap for sustainable development in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) aim to increase the share of non-fossil fuel, especially renewables, in power generation. But at the same time, it mentions that coal is likely to dominate the power generation in the short and medium term to meet the increase in demand and support the intermittency of renewable energy-based power generation. Thus, additional efforts to transform the thermal power generation to a more efficient and less emitting one in the near term by increasing the use of natural gas (a fossil fuel with a lower emission factor than coal) may be planned towards achieving India's additional mitigation commitments. The paper presents the implications of a proposed increase in the share of natural gas in thermal power generation of India by looking into the trade-off between emission mitigation and energy security. Along with a Reference Scenario, three alternative emission scenarios are proposed to understand the likely impacts of increased penetration of natural gas in power generation on India's projected emission profile up to 2050. Results suggest that higher mitigation potential can be achieved through fuel-switch in thermal generation and technological up-gradation to enhance energy use efficiency. The energy security due to the increased share of natural gas imports can be dealt with by diversifying import sources. Shifts can achieve this in the emphasis on long-term contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CO 2 emissions are more sensitive towards upside shocks in in per capita income and FDI than downside shocks. • The upside shocks in coal-fired electricity have significantly increased the pollution level. • Coal-fired and oil-fired electricity generation appears to be significant substitute for each other. • The association between CO 2 emissions and the selected variables has remained nonlinear during the study period. Building upon the present growth paradigm of India, the authors of this paper examined the impact of coal-fired and oil-fired electrical power generation on CO 2 emissions in India for the period of 1976−2016. The simulation results confirmed that the upside shocks in coal-fired electricity will contribute considerably to increase the pollution level in the long run. Contrarily, the impact of downside variations was found to be negative and significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]