A Report on “Go No-Go” Policy for Coal Mining in India
A Report on “Go No-Go” Policy
Submitted to:
Professor Gurdeep Singh
What is the concept of “go and no go”?
The concept of `go and no go’ areas is the new strategy formulated by the Environment Ministry to categorize coal-bearing areas in the country as “go and no go” areas for miners. It is to proposed to replace the earlier system of environment and forestry clearance to projects using the existing norms and through the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC). Under the Forest Conservation Act , 1980, all diversion of forest cover for non-forest uses requires the approval of FAC.
What is the faceoff?
There is an overlap of the regulations by the Coal Ministry and Environment Ministry over the coal mine rights. The Ministry of Coals had earlier (2010) considered keeping 10% of thickly forested areas in the “no go” zone and open others for mining after following the due clearance process.
Prior to that the environment ministry had carried out a joint exercise with the coal ministry studying nine major coal mining areas. fields (Singrauli,IB valley,Mand Raigarh,Sohagpur,Talcher,Vardha valley,Hasdeo-Arand, North karanpura and West bokaro). The ministry classified these blocks into categories: (1) Category A or NO GO areas (2) Category B or GO areas
The current policy defines category A blocks as those : * having either more than 10 percent weighted forest cover(WFC) * or more than 30 percent gross forest cover(GFC). If both the conditions are not met it is a category B block.
The formula for weighted forest cover (WFC) is derived as follows
WFC=(ADVT*0.85) +(AMDF*0.55) +(AOF*0.25)
Where ADVT =dense forest cover >= 0.85 are mid values of canopy density
AMDF=moderate dense forest cover >=0.55 are mid values of canopy density
AOF= open forest cover >=0.25 are mid values of canopy density.
% =WFC/total area of block
This exercise concluded that about 48% of the area under study (primarily in central and eastern India) is not
Submitted to:
Professor Gurdeep Singh
What is the concept of “go and no go”?
The concept of `go and no go’ areas is the new strategy formulated by the Environment Ministry to categorize coal-bearing areas in the country as “go and no go” areas for miners. It is to proposed to replace the earlier system of environment and forestry clearance to projects using the existing norms and through the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC). Under the Forest Conservation Act , 1980, all diversion of forest cover for non-forest uses requires the approval of FAC.
What is the faceoff?
There is an overlap of the regulations by the Coal Ministry and Environment Ministry over the coal mine rights. The Ministry of Coals had earlier (2010) considered keeping 10% of thickly forested areas in the “no go” zone and open others for mining after following the due clearance process.
Prior to that the environment ministry had carried out a joint exercise with the coal ministry studying nine major coal mining areas. fields (Singrauli,IB valley,Mand Raigarh,Sohagpur,Talcher,Vardha valley,Hasdeo-Arand, North karanpura and West bokaro). The ministry classified these blocks into categories: (1) Category A or NO GO areas (2) Category B or GO areas
The current policy defines category A blocks as those : * having either more than 10 percent weighted forest cover(WFC) * or more than 30 percent gross forest cover(GFC). If both the conditions are not met it is a category B block.
The formula for weighted forest cover (WFC) is derived as follows
WFC=(ADVT*0.85) +(AMDF*0.55) +(AOF*0.25)
Where ADVT =dense forest cover >= 0.85 are mid values of canopy density
AMDF=moderate dense forest cover >=0.55 are mid values of canopy density
AOF= open forest cover >=0.25 are mid values of canopy density.
% =WFC/total area of block
This exercise concluded that about 48% of the area under study (primarily in central and eastern India) is not