2 Which states will have to work hardest to shift fossil fuel jobs?
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) gives six sub-classes of industries that are directly related to electric power generation. Of these, two are based on fossil fuels: coal and non-coal (diesel, gas, for instance) based thermal power plants. Coal and lignite mining can also be considered to be part of this, although parts of it also fuel industries other than those related to electric power generation. Power generation industries listed in the PLFS that do not rely on fossil fuels are those related to hydroelectric power generation, solar energy and other non-conventional sources.
The fossil-fuel based power generation industries had a three-fourth share (73.8%) in the total number of jobs in all the power generation industries listed above in 2018-19, according to PLFS. These jobs, however, were not equally distributed across the country. Workers of the industry had a higher share among workers of states such as Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana and a very low share in states such as Haryana, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan. States with a higher share of such workers will have to make the most effort to transfer them to other jobs.
States such as Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand have an incentive for making this transition. They are likely to face a big decline in living standards (measured by per capita consumption expenditure) due to the climate crisis by 2050 itself, as per data from a World Bank report on climate crisis hot spots. Others such as Telangana, West Bengal, or Karnataka may not have to contend with such problems. So they will need other kinds of incentives to bear the pain of job losses.