Kishan Reddy is the new Minister of Coal and Mines. What could be his top priorities?

G Kishan Reddy

The central government on June 10 appointed Kishan Reddy as the minister for mines and coal. This appointment arrives at a pivotal time for India's coal and mines sector in 2024, which is undergoing significant reforms and modernization efforts. As the backbone of India's energy and industrial framework, the sector is focused on increasing domestic coal production, reducing reliance on imports, and adopting sustainable mining practices.

Meet the minister

Reddy  started his political career as a Yuva karyakartha (youth worker) in Janata party. He joined the BJP on its inception in the year 1980. He was taken into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet in 2019. He has held important positions like MLA, president of BJP's state unit, national president of BJP's Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Union MoS (Home) and Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development of Northeast Region (DoNER).

Status Check 

In the past five years, reforms aimed to modernize the coal and mining sector, enhance production capabilities, ensure sustainable practices, and reduce dependency on coal imports, thereby strengthening India's energy security and economic growth were undertaken.

In 2020, the government opened up the coal sector to commercial mining, allowing private players to mine and sell coal. This marked a significant shift from the earlier monopoly of Coal India Limited (CIL). Later,  the ministry also introduced National Coal Index to create a benchmark price for coal based on market prices.

Initiatives  were made to expedite environmental clearances and land acquisition processes to facilitate quicker mining operations.

On the mining side, the ministry amended the MMDR Act, allowing private players to explore and mine critical minerals, essential for the green energy transition.

On November 29, the ministry officially launched the auction of 20 mineral blocks containing minerals such as lithium, platinum-group elements, graphite, molybdenum, potash, phosphorite, rare earth elements, and glauconite.

Setting the Agenda for 2024-2029   

1. Diversification of Energy Sources: Promoting the transition from coal to renewable energy sources to meet climate goals. The  coal sector aims to ramp up renewable energy capacity to over 9 GW by the year 2030 from the present 1.75 GW.
2. Coal Gasification:  India aims for 100 million tonnes (MT) coal gasification by 2030 with investments worth over Rs. 4 lakh crores, since coal gasification is considered as cleaner option compared to burning of coal. Gasification facilitates utilization of the chemical properties of coal.
3. Strengthen supply chain for critical minerals: Since India is still at an exploration stage, government is looking to  scale up  partnerships to get access to minerals from other geographies, while incentivizing  private agencies in India to speed up exploration.
4. Mission coking coal: Coal India  has planned to increase raw coking coal production from existing mines up to 26 MT and identified ten new mines, in a bid to reduce dependence on imports for the key steel making ingredient. At present, India imports coking coal from countries like Australia, South Africa and United States and the costs for getting the coal imported via shipping adds to the input costs of steel players.