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What is the news?
The Ministry of Coal has launched several initiatives in the year 2021.
Some of these initiatives are:
Amendments to Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) [CBA] Act, 1957
Minerals Concession (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2021
Single Window Clearance Portal
Coal Import Monitoring System: It requires importers to submit advance information in an online system for import of Steam Coal. On submission of online data/information, the system will generate an automatic unique Registration Number. No manual documents are to be submitted to any public authority for this purpose.
Commercial Coal Mining: The auction-based regime introduced in 2014 allowed private sector participation.However, it was limited to captive usage in own end use plants.The sector has been opened up for commercial coal mining by private players in 2020.
Setting up of Coking Coal Washeries: Metallurgical coal or coking coal is a grade of coal that can be used to produce good-quality coke. Coke is an essential fuel and reactant in the blast furnace process for primary steelmaking.
Source: This post is based on the article ‘Year End Review – 2021 – Ministry of Coal’ published in PIB on 31st Dec 2021.
