Coal Mining and Access to Livelihood Capitals: Mines and Non-mines Affected Villages in Jharkhand (India (original) (raw)
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Coal mining plays a key role in developing the economic backbone of many developing countries, such as India, although on a local scale. Coal mining industries enormously influence the surrounding environments and livelihoods. An open cast coal mine severely enhances the dust particles in the local atmosphere over time and in turn, affects the fertility of the surrounding lands. Additionally, the socioeconomic conditions of the local community go through a massive perturbation due to land acquisition, migration of people and insecurity of jobs. In this present work, an effort has been made to understand the effect of open cast coal mining on the diverse livelihoods of the rural community in Barjora colliery area of West Bengal. The livelihood pattern of the local community has significantly changed from pre-mining to post-mining, such as in agriculture sector, the work participation rate has reduced from 62% to 3%, and at present, about 55% people are now engaged in the mining secto...
Environmental Impact of Coal Mining on Local Livelihoods in Odisha, India
Ecology, Environment and Conservation, 2023
The study aims to examine the sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF) of local people in Talcher coal mining in Odisha. The study used five types of capital such as human, social, financial, physical and natural. The Herfindahl Hirschman index has been used to differentiate income diversification in mining villages and control villages. The backwards step-wise multiple regression model has been used to show the relationship between expenditure and different socioeconomic variables in the mining villages. The Mining has a positive footprint on physical capital. But it has detrimental effects on natural and mixed effects on human, social and financial capital in the mining villages. The Herfindahl index and multiple regression models revealed that mining has a positive influence on the livelihoods of people in the mining area. There is more livelihoods diversification in the mining villages than in the control villages. The standard of living and income has increased in the mining villages. There are some challenges faced by the mining communities such as job insecurity and livelihoods insecurity for their children. The adverse impact of coal mining on livelihoods can be minimised by controlling environmental degradation through rigorous monitoring. Further, there should be proper coordination between the state government and coal mining companies to provide benefits to the affected communities and conduct different training programmes on driving, computer training and tailoring to people who not engaged in mining activities. Institutional farsightedness is required to ensure sustainable livelihoods for local people.
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Indian Growth and Development Review, 2010
Can mining serve as a pathway for economic development despite the environmental externalities? The co-occurrence of poor economic performance and natural resource abundance is an empirical regularity. The extensive literature on this 'resource curse' phenomenon at the national level generally finds that economic dependence on point resources such as minerals is associated with lower levels of economic growth and human welfare. Various explanations have been offered for this association, many related to trade, rent-seeking, and national political institutions. Our premise is that further insight can be obtained through consideration of the resource curse at the micro level, because of heterogeneity in institutions, natural resources and economic behaviors. We empirically test the resource curse at the household and village level in Orissa, India, using data from household surveys and secondary community statistics. Specifically, we examine the possibility that iron ore mining undermines welfare, as represented most fundamentally by health status, conditional on wage earnings. Clearly, mining workers could face occupational health issues from employment in the mine, but direct impacts on individuals are at least potentially compensated through wage differentials. Of greater concern are environmental health effects that occur through degradation of water quality, air quality, or forest resources that are central to the livelihoods of tribal populations in the mining belt. Identification of this environmental health effect requires controlling for the endogenous occupational health effect.
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Extraction of coal and minerals has become an indispensable activity for industrial and societal development. But since its invasion it has been considered as a societal and environmental unfriendly substance as it creates unbearable damages on each and every component of the environment as well as society. Generally, most of the coal bearing areas exists in forest cum-agricultural zones which usually are socially and economically underdeveloped. Up to some extent, the coal mining industries prove their brilliance by providing employment opportunity and some infrastructural betterment. Certainly with the prologue establishment of these coal mining projects not only the economic development grows up, but on the other hand, some serious issues like land acquisition, mass scale displacement, loss of livelihood opportunities, air water and noise pollution, loss of biodiversity etc. crop up. Again the rural regions which have their peculiar source of diversified livelihood are becoming r...
2015
Though mining activity in odisha has played an important role in industrial growth of state, but it has led to affecting the environment and social life of the community located nearby. The effort taken by mining companies in minimizing the adverse impacts on the environment and society is inadequate and not matching the need of hour. The current research paper has attempted to give a picture on the impact of mining activity on the socioeconomic condition of the local inhabitants living around the iron ore mines of Keonjhar district in Odisha. The study area is habituated by Paudi bhuyan and Juanga, two primitive tribal group of Eastern India. A sum of 300 households comprising 1204 individuals was selected and interviewed through the help of a pretexted structured questionnaire. The Quality of Life (QOL) has been indexed in a 0-10 point scale based on some important value function like occupation, caste and prevailing economic and social condition. Data on socioeconomic conditions ...
Unbridled coal extraction and concerns for livelihood: evidences from Odisha, India
Mineral Economics, 2021
Coal mining and its unfavourable consequences have generated global attention. It has further stimulated the paradoxical debate of development and desolation in the contemporary scenario. Since the coal resources are profusely available in India and it is comparatively less expensive, the country has been largely relying on it for its essential and non-essential consumption needs. Coal resources indirectly fulfil many of the modern requirements and comforts. Consequently, mining of minerals in general and coal in particular has become the prime focus. It helps to generate revenue, augment industrialisation and promote employment opportunities in India. Despite these progressive features, the opencast coal mining activities impose serious threats to the livelihood of the local communities. Based on critical review of the relevant literature, the article seeks to exhibit the mineral reserves and coal mining activities at global, national and regional context. The paper has incorporated a special focus on Odisha-a resource-rich state located in eastern part of India. Particularly, the two existing major coalfields-Talcher and Ib valley, situated in western part of the state-have been emphasised. The manifold adverse externalities of the coal mining practices on the livelihood pattern among the affected people have been assessed. Furthermore, the paper aims to examine the mining-induced threats on different livelihood capitals which has given rise to multiple risks and challenges.
A SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF MINING Vs. NON-MINING VILLAGES WITHIN SAME TALUKAS IN GOA
International Journal of Research in Commerce and Management, 2017
Mining comes with a lot of employment opportunities coupled with developmental activities in the area of operation that has an impact on the socioeconomic characteristics of the inhabitants in the areas. Following the Chinese boom, during the last decade iron ore mining took place in full swing in the iron ore rich state of Goa. With this background the current study aims at comparing the socioeconomic characteristics of the households in the mining areas with the non-mining areas within the same talukas. For the purpose, an interview schedule was forwarded to 256 respondents in the mining and 191 respondents in the non-mining areas within the same talukas. Descriptive statistics and t-test was used to compare the socioeconomic variables of the two areas. The study revealed a significant difference in the economic variables but no difference in the educational status of the households in the two areas. The study suggests the need to promote higher education in the areas to improve people's thinking skills and to educate them about the nature of mining industry so as to enable a holistic socioeconomic development in the area.
Journal of Human Ecology, 2008
The paper presents the socioeconomic profile of the people around proposed mining areas of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited at Talcher and Ib valley coal mine areas to generate base line data for future intervention. The Quality Of Life (QOL) has also been indexed in a 0-10 point scale based on some important value function like occupation , caste and land ownership. The over all quality of life index based on the value functions ranged from 2.93 (very poor) to 4.12 (poor) with overall average score of 3.27. Thus these localities are infrastructurally backward and people's access to economic resources and modern amenities has been very low. Therefore, while making an Environmental Management Plan, the authority of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited should also lay emphasis on providing infrastructure facilities to the locality and to enhance the quality of life of the people.
The historical importance of mining in the economic development of Ghana is considerable and well documented with the country being the second most important producer of gold. The study determines the effect of mining on rural livelihoods by considering impact of gold mining on rural households. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse the extent of threat posed by mining and its activities on assets and rural livelihoods. The Livelihood Vulnerability Index results show that social, physical and human capital were vulnerable to the impact of mining whilst natural and financial capital were found to be moderately vulnerable as compared to that of non-mining communities. This means that livelihood resources were exposed to the detrimental impact of mining and its activities, hence making it difficult for livelihood outcomes to be achieved by rural households. Also the propensity score matching results obtained showed that households in mining communities...
Does coal mining affect household food security? An empirical study of Dhanbad, India
Agriculture & Food Security, 2019
Background: Mining industries have enormous potential to improve food shortage by providing employment opportunities in its mining vicinity. But, simultaneously, these areas also suffer from 'resource curse' due to detrimental effects of mining. Hence, this study examined the effects of coal mining on household food availability and food access among proximate population residing in resource-rich but economically backward mining region of Dhanbad district, Jharkhand, India. The primary data was collected from two compare groups, viz. households from exposed versus non-exposed villages of mining effect under the cross-sectional research design using structured questionnaire between September, 2014, and February, 2015. Both bivariate and multivariate statistics were used to assess the study objectives. Results: Finding shows that households from non-mines affected villages were at 40% higher risk of food shortage than household from mines affected villages. Furthermore, odds ratio shows that rise in percentage of expenditure on food also increases the food shortage vulnerability. Female-headed households, below poverty line households and MNREGA card holders households were significantly positively related to food shortage. In contrast, households with membership of any socio-political organization and more than 2 acres of farmland were significant negatively associated with food shortage. Procurement of food on credit from ration shops was found to be a predominant strategies to cope with food shortage, followed by borrowing food from neighbours and relatives. Conclusion: In nutshell, the study shows that households from non-mines affected villages were at high risk of food shortage. However, percentage expenditure on food indicator reveals that household from mines affected villages was comparatively more vulnerable to food shortage than its counterpart. The membership of any socio-political organization emerges as a main factor which reduces the risk of food shortage.