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What is the News?
The Union Minister of Coal has informed Rajya Sabha about the reforms undertaken in the Coal Sector.
| Read more: Coal crisis in India – Explained, pointwise |
What are the measures that have been taken by the Government to meet the coal requirement in India?
Commercial Auction of coal on revenue share mechanism: This methodology for coal mine auctions entails reduced upfront payment and the bidders will be required to bid for a percentage share of revenue payable to the government. Earlier, blocks were allocated to companies on payment of fixed amounts per tonne.
Allowed sale of excess coal production: The Ministry of Coal has amended Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 to allow 50% sale of coal produced in a financial year from captive mines. This is applicable for both the private and public sector captive mines.
Rolling Auctions: In order to expedite the process for conducting auctions and to carry out more rounds of the auction in a year, a mechanism of rolling auctions of coal mines has been planned. Under this mechanism, upon completion of the electronic auction process of a tranche, the next tranche of the auction would be launched for the following mines:
– Mines where no bid or only a single bid was received in the previous tranche of auction (except for those mines where the Ministry of Coal decides to go for a second attempt of the auction)
– New mines, if any, identified by the Ministry of Coal.
Single Window Clearance: The Union government has launched a Single Window Clearance portal for the coal sector to speed up the operationalisation of coal mines. It is a unified platform that facilitates grants of clearances and approvals required for starting a coal mine in India.
Source: This post is based on the article “Innovative Measures Adopted by Coal Ministry To Meet Growing Requirement of Coal” published in PIB on 15th Mar 2022.
