What is a Captive coal block?

Answer 1

I will rephrase the question by answering what is captive coal mining. It is a policy used to develop coal resources in India. A block is an area from which the government has granted permission in the form of a mining license to mine coal. The term "captive" infers being locked up. In the sense of a policy, it is a mandatory allocation of resources. The intent of the captive coal mining policy is to allocate a specific block to a specific need for the country. Captive mining was used to supply the iron and steel production in 1976, then for power generation in 1993 and finally coal gasification and liquefaction in 2007. End user companies (allocatee) can get blocks developed through an associated state run mining company. Independent mining companies are eligible for a captive block provided the company has commitments to sell coal to approved end users. I will add that most of India's coal is produced by the state run, Coal India Ltd (CIL), not independent mining companies. It has been a practice in India to keep energy prices low, which means the government must subsidize the state-run companies. I will add that due to India's growth, there has been added demand for energy. One means of increasing supply has been redefining "captive mining" which has been controversial.