As part of India’ strategy to revive economic activity, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a new auction process for awarding coal blocks. Comment.
Coal accounts for 55% of India’s energy needs and has the world’s third-largest coal reserves, still, 25% of our coal requirements are met through imports.
Various issues like monopoly of Coal India limited & end-use restriction on captive coal mines led to a virtual shortage of coal which impacted the efficiency of power plants as they had to work below their working potential and this had a spillover effect in the economy.
To address the above issues, the cabinet has approved a new auction process for awarding coal blocks. Features of this new auction process are:
Composite licensing: Exploration cum mining cum production licence
Changes in Revenue sharing model: From Rupee/tonne model to the percentage of revenue model. Hence rise/fall of coal price is taken care of
Removal of restriction on captive mining
100% FDI allowed
This would bring about the following benefits:
Boost competition: With good competition comes greater innovation which in turn will improve the capacity of power plant operations.
Increase in investments: FDI would increase which in turn will boost coal mining
With improvements in coal mining comes technological advancement.
Spillover effects on other sectors like transportation services, opportunities for unemployed people etc.
Though the reform will help in boosting coal mining, following challenges should be taken care such as
Environmental degradation
The private sector tends to look for profits and demeans labour laws
Sustainable development goals could get compromised. For eg- Focus on renewable energy could take a backseat, negative impact on health due to pollution etc.
The coal sector is one of the key pillars of Indian economy and such reforms will help in improving our Current Account Deficit (CAD) but the government should tread carefully so that economic development and environment protection should go hand in hand.
The question is limited to comments on the issue. So you could focus more on the features of the policy. Add to your content.
Where you are critiquing the policy, limit it to a short para or a couple of most important points.
Thirdly, in the same part, you have mentioned 'difficult to attract investment due to tilt towards renewables' and again 'detrimental to environment'. Although both are valid, but together in the same part, they are contradicting each other. So focus on presentation in a way that it doesn't seem like that.
Content is fine. When writing about the shortcomings, avoid making sweeping statements like 'will bring back pre nationalisation' .. ' will flout labour laws...' these are probabilities only, so present it like 'this may lead to ......'
Also what do you mean by 'pre-nationalisation' always explain jargons and phrases in brief. Otherwise it could create confusion in the mind of the evaluator.
Coal accounts for 55% of India’s energy needs and has the world’s third-largest coal reserves, still, 25% of our coal requirements are met through imports.
Various issues like monopoly of Coal India limited & end-use restriction on captive coal mines led to a virtual shortage of coal which impacted the efficiency of power plants as they had to work below their working potential and this had a spillover effect in the economy.
To address the above issues, the cabinet has approved a new auction process for awarding coal blocks. Features of this new auction process are:
Composite licensing: Exploration cum mining cum production licence
Changes in Revenue sharing model: From Rupee/tonne model to the percentage of revenue model. Hence rise/fall of coal price is taken care of
Removal of restriction on captive mining
100% FDI allowed
This would bring about the following benefits:
Boost competition: With good competition comes greater innovation which in turn will improve the capacity of power plant operations.
Increase in investments: FDI would increase which in turn will boost coal mining
With improvements in coal mining comes technological advancement.
Spillover effects on other sectors like transportation services, opportunities for unemployed people etc.
Though the reform will help in boosting coal mining, following challenges should be taken care such as
Environmental degradation
The private sector tends to look for profits and demeans labour laws
Sustainable development goals could get compromised. For eg- Focus on renewable energy could take a backseat, negative impact on health due to pollution etc.
The coal sector is one of the key pillars of Indian economy and such reforms will help in improving our Current Account Deficit (CAD) but the government should tread carefully so that economic development and environment protection should go hand in hand.
Good. From now on I suggest you to write on a sheet of paper and write within 10 minutes or 7 minutes as per word limit.
Yes, I agree...
Good answer Manohar. As Ashis Sir has already pointed out, edit the conclusion. Intro and conclusion should be very crisp. Keep writing more...
Make conclusion very short. Adhere to the time and word limit. Content and writing skills impressive. Keep writing.
The question is limited to comments on the issue. So you could focus more on the features of the policy. Add to your content. Where you are critiquing the policy, limit it to a short para or a couple of most important points. Thirdly, in the same part, you have mentioned 'difficult to attract investment due to tilt towards renewables' and again 'detrimental to environment'. Although both are valid, but together in the same part, they are contradicting each other. So focus on presentation in a way that it doesn't seem like that.
Good answer.
Content is fine. When writing about the shortcomings, avoid making sweeping statements like 'will bring back pre nationalisation' .. ' will flout labour laws...' these are probabilities only, so present it like 'this may lead to ......' Also what do you mean by 'pre-nationalisation' always explain jargons and phrases in brief. Otherwise it could create confusion in the mind of the evaluator.
Right! Got it!
Thank you Sir.....Noted...
Thank You Sir... Sure, I will edit and repost