“In spite of adverse environmental impact, coal mining is still inevitable for development”. Discuss (150 words, 10 marks)

Coal remains important for India’s electricity, steel, cement and employment, especially because it is domestically abundant and can provide reliable baseload power. Its inevitability, however, is transitional and conditional, not unlimited.

• Coal supports affordable power, industrialisation, rail freight and energy access in a growing economy.
• Domestic reserves reduce import vulnerability and sustain mining-region livelihoods and public revenues.

Open-cast mining causes deforestation, land subsidence, dust, noise and displacement. Mine drainage contaminates water; combustion produces carbon dioxide, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, particulates and ash. Climate change and public-health costs are often externalised.

India needs efficiency, mine reclamation, methane capture, washeries, mine-mouth pollution control and just transition planning. Renewable energy, storage, grid modernisation and green hydrogen should steadily reduce coal dependence. New extraction must meet strict cumulative-impact, rehabilitation and community-consent standards.

Keywords: energy resources, coal mining, sustainable development