hindi → English transcript

So today our story is about Adani becoming the Coal King.

And it begins with sidelining Coal India.

gearing up to deliver his electoral promise of reviving investment and reforming infrastructure

to boost growth.

And BJP sources insist that the country's largest coal producer

could well be at the receiving end of these reforms.

The new government could break up Coal India into smaller companies

with state governments holding equity stake in them.

In 2013-14, Coal India was considered the best among government companies.

Coal India, despite being a government company,

in the year 2014-15,

paid a tax of 10,000 crore to the Government of India.

In 2011, Coal India

was given the Maharatna status by the Government of India.

There are 215 public sector enterprises in the country.

Among them, this was the fifth company

to receive this Maharatna status.

Even today, it holds the title of being

the world's largest coal-producing company.

When a public sector company is privatized,

the reasons given are these:

that it is not efficient,

taxpayers are running it with their money,

if it's loss-making, taxpayers' money will be wasted.

that with the entry of private players, efficiency will increase.

But with Coal India, none of these things were true.

So the question is, when everything was going so well,

what was the need to hand over our coal mines to Adani?

The need didn't arise, it was created.

We'll tell you how.

June 2020. A time when the entire country was grappling with the COVID lockdown.

Lines of migrants were visible on the roads.

People were living in fear.

And amidst all this, the government quietly introduces a notification.

Under this notification, the private sector

is given free rein for mining in coal mines.

You see the government's priorities.

When people are walking home, shops are closed,

dying on the railway tracks,

work and business are at a standstill,

people don't have rations for a week,

and in the midst of this, the government sees an opportunity in the crisis.

Previously, private companies would get a backdoor entry.

But after this notification,

the red carpet was rolled out for private companies.

So, the notification paved the way,

but a story was needed to justify it.

Now we come to October 2021.

A narrative was created in the media

that India's power plants

had only four days of coal left.

Upon hearing 'only four days,'

everyone went into a full panic.

A grandfather worries that he had to study by lantern,

and now his grandson might have to as well.

This is when we see the entry

of the Association of Power Producers'

Director General, Ashok Khurana.

Ashok Khurana writes a letter

to the Coal Secretary.

Citing this news from the media,

they say that we need to mine more coal.

While on one hand, this rumor of a coal shortage was being spread,

the Coal Ministry stood in Parliament and said

that there is no coal shortage.

इरे महाला बारे मुझे नहीं कॉल पर नीज़ी रहा है।

असल ही नहीं रहा है कि जैसे याज़ाब जीवग करें जो पूर्ट नग रहे हैं।

हम एक अनुभी लोग खेल रहे हैं

कि बहुत मुझे अगर बारी कॉस्टल पलनर पर जीवग रहा हैं,

और नारोटले पॉर्ड़ेट गोल तुमरि कॉओटोर का डेज़ जबो गफते हैं

और नारोटले गोल के पहले पॉर्डेट गोल ट्यूंक नहीं है

Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air

also said the same thing:

There is no shortfall in coal production.

This shortage in thermal power plants

was due to improper stocking.

When the media was spreading the lie that there was a coal shortage,

then according to CREA's report,

We produced the most coal in 2022.

8.5% more than in 2021.

What's going on? Is there a shortage or not?

The CREA report told us one more thing.

That of our total mining capacity,

we are only using half of it.

So, in our existing mines,

we can overcome the shortage by mining more.

In short, Mr. Khurana was completely wrong

that we need to open new mines.

It seems this was the government's script.

Mr. Khurana comes, creates a panic,

and then dig for coal, distribute it among friends, and rip off the public.