UPSC Mains 2017 GS Paper 1 Q6: model answer
“In spite of adverse environmental impact, coal mining is still inevitable for development.” Discuss.
What the question wants
Discuss whether coal mining remains unavoidable for India's development despite its environmental damage.
How to structure it
Discuss: both sides, then a balanced view.
- Coal's place
- Why still inevitable
- Environmental costs
- Way to reconcile
How to think it through
Coal is the relative everyone complains about but nobody can ask to leave, at least not yet. It still lights most Indian homes. So the honest answer is 'inevitable for now, replaceable over time', and the trick is to show how to mine it less badly.
Model answer
Coal still generates around 70% of India's electricity, and Coal India alone produced over 770 million tonnes in 2024–25. Few development plans in India can yet do without it.
Why it remains inevitable
- Energy security: India has among the world's largest coal reserves (about 380 billion tonnes in Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal); imports of oil and gas are costly.
- Base-load power: solar and wind are intermittent and storage is still expensive.
- Industry: steel, cement and fertiliser need coal.
- Jobs and revenue: royalties and District Mineral Fund money support mining districts.
Environmental costs
- Deforestation and loss of biodiversity (Hasdeo Arand forest).
- Air pollution, fly ash, acid mine drainage and mine fires (Jharia).
- Displacement of tribal communities.
- India's largest source of carbon dioxide emissions.
Reconciling the two
- Cleaner technology: supercritical plants, washeries, coal gasification.
- Mine reclamation and afforestation; strict environmental clearance.
- Just transition plans for coal regions; a steady shift to renewables towards net zero by 2070.
Coal is necessary in the medium term, but how it is mined and burned must change.
Draw: A seesaw: 'energy security, jobs' versus 'forests, health, climate', with 'clean tech' as the fulcrum.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Coal reserves 380 bt, Coal India, Jharia fires, Hasdeo Arand, DMF, coal gasification mission, just transition, net zero 2070.
Where most answers lose marks
- Either total support or total rejection. 'Discuss' asks for balance.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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