Coal imports drop by 30% in April-june period
former Union ministers, P. Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh, were guests of honour. Earlier, it was told to the media that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former president Rahul Gandhi would speak through video links from Delhi, but that part was missing on Friday, for obvious reasons. When Uttam Kumar Reddy called up PV’S daughter Vani Devi and son P.V. Prabhakar Rao to join the event, they declined the invitation.
Both Vani Devi and Prabhakar Rao, along with others of their family, were present at an official event held by CM KCR at “Jnana Bhoomi” (PV’S memorial) on Necklace Road in Hyderabad on 28June, kick-starting the centenary celebrations. Not surprisingly, Congress leaders were shadowed by TRS and BJP leaders at the official event. KCR deftly passed resolutions at the meeting, urging the Centre to name University of Hyderabad after late PV, besides posthumously bestowing upon him the Bharat Ratna, etc. Now, the reports emanating from the ruling TRS suggest that Vani Devi would be made an MLC from the Governor’s quota which would be filled in August. An MLC is not a big thing for Vani Devi to switch loyalties from Congress to TRS, as already two of her late elder brothers—p.v. Ranga Rao and P.V. Rajeswar Rao—held minister and MP posts respectively. Ranga Rao was even made an MLC from the same Governor’s quota by late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy government. What hurt most the PV family is the way the late PM was ignored and cold-shouldered by the Congress leadership once he demitted the office in 1996. Not only were a clutch of cases booked against him by various central investigating agencies, which were clearly in the hands of the governments that were backed by the same party, PV was denied a burial in Delhi when he died on 23 December 2004. Vani Devi was quoted in the media recalling how her father’s body was noteven allowed inside AICC headquarters for the public to paytheir homage and how the body was flown to Hyderabad, much against the wishes of the family. Though they haven’t made any public statement, PV’S family has taken a collective decision to boycott the TPCC’S centenary fete. Prabhakar Rao who, too, faced a gruelling urea scam for long years was quoted in the media on why AICC was not celebrating PV’S birth centenary and why it was left to TPCC, as if PV is a leader limited to just Telangana. PV’S family is clearly miffed over the dismissive attitude of the Congress leadership towards a former PM who heralded economic liberalisation and saved India from the brink of collapse in 1991. Some senior Congress leaders attribute the high command’s lukewarm response towards PV to his role in the demolition of Babri mosque, but they also admit that the late PM himself was eloquent on this at many forums, including in his autobiography “Insider”. For them, one thing is clear– Sonia and Rahul Gandhi like Manmohan Singh, but not PV, two Congress PMS outside Nehru-gandhi family.
PV’S family (Rao had three sons and five daughters–late Ranga Rao, Sharada, late Rajeswara Rao, Vani Devi, Prabhakar Rao, Jaya and Vijaya, last are twins) has long been sidelined by Congress leaders much before the former premier’s demise. One of his grandsons, P.V. Subhash, son of Sharada, is in BJP as its national spokesperson. The local Congress leaders are on-the record claiming that PV was a “100 per cent Congressman” and that his legacy belonged to them, but off-the-record, they admit that the absence of his family members has robbed off that legacy. They also admit that if Vani Devi is made an MLC, it would benefit TRS in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections slated to be held early 2021.
As part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign, the Centre plans to reduce coal imports to zero.
India’s coal imports have registered a drop of about 30% to 48.84 million tonne (MT) during the Apriljune period of the current financial year (2020-21). The Centre, as part of the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” (Selfreliant India) campaign, has set a target of 1 billion tonne annual coal production by 2023-24 and reducing the imports to zero.
According to a provisional report of “mjunction”, a joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL, a B2B ecommerce company, India had imported 69.54 MT of coal during the same period in the last fiscal (2019-20). It also said that the country’s coal imports had dropped 22.5% to 15.22 MT last month, against 19.64 MT of coal imported in June in the last fiscal. In yet another indication, thermal coal imports at India’s 12 ports dropped 34.7% to 17.71 MT in the first quarter of the current fiscal, according to the latest Indian Ports’ Association (IPA) report. Impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, coking coal imports, too, witnessed a decline 28.49% to 10.69 MT in the quarter.
These ports, according to the report, had handled 27.13 MT of thermal coal and 14.95 MT of coking coal in the April-june period of the previous financial year. The IPA maintains cargo data handled by these ports. The report said “percentage variation from the previous year” in thermal coal and coking coal handling was 34.7% and 28.49% respectively. In 2019-20 (till March 2020), India’s total coal import was 248.55 MT, compared to 235.24 MT during 2018-19. As per the present import policy, coal can be freely imported (under Open General Licence) by the consumers themselves considering their needs based on their commercial prudence.
Interestingly, the drop in imports has come after government mandated Coal India Limited (CIL) to replace at least 100 MT of imports with domestically-produced coal in the current fiscal. Industry sources said the trend could be due to continued high stockpile of coal in the country.
Equally interesting is the fact that the Centre, about a month ago, began the process of auction of coal blocks for commercial mining, putting on sale 41 blocks. Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi had said that India may save around Rs 30,000 crore annually on import bill of thermal coal on account of commercial mining. He had also said the country still imports one-fifth of its annual coal requirements.
According to the Ministry’s provisional figures, the allindia production of coal was 728.72 MT in 2018-19, while it was 729.10 MT in 201920. CIL and its subsidiaries accounted for 606.89 million tonnes during 2018-19, but it came down to 602.15
MT during 2019-20, showing a negative growth. Coking coal is being imported by Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and other steel manufacturing units, mainly to bridge the gap between the requirement and indigenous availability and to improve the quality, while coal-based power plants, cement plants, captive power plants, sponge iron plants, industrial consumers and coal traders are importing non-coking coal. Coke is imported mainly by pig-iron manufacturers and iron and steel sector consumers using mini-blast furnace.