CPSI completed 20 years of existence last year. To commemorate this an International webinar was organized which was very well attended. The subject of the Webinar was- Coal to dominate India's Energy Mix: Preparing it for responsible usage is an imperative’. The webinar was inaugurated by the former chairman of National Green Tribunal. The speakers were from various organizations who are involved in some way with the usage of coal either for power generation, metallurgical application or coal conversion to gas or liquid. The most noticeable feature of the deliberations was that without exception every one supported washing of coal indicating the several benefits use of uniform and better-quality coal can render. Dr. VKSaraswat of NITI Aayog also mentioned that use of washed coal is beneficial. It is a matter of concern that despite wide scale acceptance of the fact that washing of coal has many benefits from environmental and economic angles the government without consultation with a large number of stakeholders decided to do away with mandatory washing of coal which was to move more than 500 Kms from the producing mine. Even at this stage if a process of consultation with power producers who are using washed coal is done it is likely that most of them would support washing indicating a highly beneficial experience they have had with washed coal.

Following this anniversary webinar CPSI had another webinar on an equally important subject. This was related to quality issues and in particular to methods of sampling and analysis. The deliberations of this webinar clearly pointed out the vast deficiencies existing in the present systems deployed in our country. Even the standards are more than half a century old which is a matter of concern when scientific advancements take place so rapidly. The commitment to update the BIS standards is a welcome step. While the investments required for modernizing the coal handling methods which will enable proper sampling and testing is not beyond the reach of the coal companies but the reluctance to lay emphasis on this is unfortunate. We understand that now there is a move to invest huge sums for this purpose. The problem lies in process and here the past experience in evaluating tenders etc. is unfortunately not encouraging.

In the anniversary webinar a reference was made to the International Energy Agency’s proposed plan to achieve zero emission by 2070. Many countries are working out on how this goal can be achieved. Every country is expected to create a vision in which the method for achieving zero emission will be attained. This vision would then have to be converted into plans which would include extensive research and development efforts. It may also require some estimation of fund requirement. India is yet to initiate work on this matter. China, we believe has declared that they would reach this goal by 2060. This exercise would set the prospects of the coal mining industry and therefore the earlier it is done the better it would be. It is quite clear that traditional coal usage is going to decline and the future is uncertain.

The government’s initiative to introduce commercial mining was a welcome step but the response being weak is also understandable from the coal miners prospective. While one accepts the fact that at present the requirement of coal for power generation is going to increase but the growth rate would be much lower than that witnessed in the last decade. The government’s attempt to ensure that mines acquired for commercial mining do not in practice become captive mines is not likely to be successful as is evident from the first round of auctions. We feel that while this initiative is laudable it is perhaps too late in the day.