As India battles unemployment, the muted fresh capacity additions in coal-fired generation and stressed power assets are set to magnify the job crisis, a study said.
A report by Canada-based think-tank International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) forecasts that if a significant volume of India’s coal-fired capacity turns stranded, the phenomenon could affect labour directly or indirectly linked to the coal value chain.
“The large absolute numbers of workers in India’s coal sector workforce would require this to be managed in a socially just way, particularly in the most affected regions. Given the ongoing decline of employment in the coal sector, driven by mechanization and shifting relative costs of capital and labour, this should be a natural extension of existing strategic thinking on how to manage labour loss among sector workers”, the IISD report said.
