<div><em><strong>Sutanu Guru</strong> analyses the largely ignored story of coal imports.</em></div><div> </div><div> </div><div>If you look at headlines of newspapers or have the courage to watch prime time TV news debates, there is not much that Prime Minister Modi is doing right. This is not the place to analyze the political cum ideological war that is being waged at the moment. But ticked away in an obscure corner is a news item that should make Modi smile a bit. According to statistics released by the government, coal imports declined by about 27 per cent to less than 13 million tons in September, 2015 as compared to last year. This is primarily because the much maligned (justifiably) Coal India has managed to do very well in bringing coal out of the mines it operates. </div><div> </div><div>Coal happens to be the least talked about but biggest failures of the UPA government. It is a toxic legacy that makes a mockery of the Indian economy trying to secure energy security. When Dr. Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister of India in 2004, the import bill for coal imports was about Rs 5,000 crores. The amount of coal imported back then was about 23 million tons. Even that was a disgrace for the Indian economy as the author had written in an opinion piece in 2006. After all, depending on whose data you believe, India has the third, or fourth largest reserves of coal in the world. Every Tom, Dick and Harry knows that when it comes to oil, the Indian economy, like so many others,mis critically dependent on imports. But coal? One would have expected the economist Prime Minister Dr. Singh to do something about it. What did he do? No, I am not talking about the coal block allocation scam that has forever tarnished his image and legacy. I am talking about coal imports. By the time Dr. Singh bid goodbye to office, coal imports had gone up by about 10 times to touch 200 million tons and the import bill had shot up about more than 16 times to a figure well in excess of Rs 80,000 crore. This should be considered an even bigger scandal than the coal allocation scam.</div><div> </div><div>The UPA regime merrily kept allocating coal blocs to all and sundry since 2006, if not earlier. The ostensible idea or rationale was that coal blocs allotted to private sector companies would reduce dependence on coal imports and improve energy security in the Indian economy. Yet, coal imports kept rising and touched almost 200 million tons by 2014. When the Supreme Court cancelled all the coal allocations, there were “thoughtful” opinion pieces on how this would lead to a dramatic fall in coal production and a simultaneous increase in imports. For most of 2014, the “thought” leaders seemed to be correct as coal imports showed no signs of abating. But almost everyone missed the actual data. The fact is, state owned Coal India and its various subsidiaries account for an overwhelming share of coal output in India. Ever since Indira Gandhi nationalized coal in the 1970s, that has been the fact.</div><div> </div><div>And it is a significant increase in output from Coal India that has led to a gradual tapering down of imports. But the fact that coal imports still amounted to almost 13 million tons in September is a scandal. India currently produces about 650 million tons of coal a year. The Modi government has publicly announced that it wants output to increase to 1.6 billion tons by 2019. Do remember, coal blocs have been allotted again to private players through a bidding process. Who knows, this might become a rare success story of a government policy? </div><div> </div><div>But then, since we are obsessed with beef exports, who has the time for coal imports? </div><div> </div>
_20240527192124_original_image_21.webp)
