Cleaning Up Coal - Ravi Deka
It’s ironic how the world’s two most used energy resources are the ones getting the worst rap. Petroleum is invariably associated with fundamentalist medieval regimes or brutal foreign invasions under the self-righteous guise of ushering democracy. While Coal, which produces 41 % of the world’s and 68% of India’s electricity, is usually thought about only in terms of pollution, mafia, miners dying in explosions and in the recent years; scandals involving corrupt Indian politicians and their Crony-Capitalist friends. Though boasting India’s first colliery but only having 0.37% of the country’s reserves, in North Eastern India, it is also infamous for the so-called Coal Syndicate of Assam and the notorious rat-hole mines of Meghalaya. The precarious conditions and safety records of the latter even made it to the pages of the L.A. Times, leading to the current mining ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal. It just takes a short 20 minute ride from Assam's