Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Impact of Coal Mining in Diversification of Rural Livelihoods: A Case Study in the Barjora Colliery Area of Bankura District, West Bengal

Abstract

Coal mining plays a key role in developing the economic backbone of many developing countries, such as India, although on a local scale. Coal mining industries enormously influence the surrounding environments and livelihoods. An open cast coal mine severely enhances the dust particles in the local atmosphere over time and in turn, affects the fertility of the surrounding lands.

Additionally, the socio-economic conditions of the local community go through a massive perturbation due to land acquisition, migration of people and insecurity of jobs. In this present work, an effort has been made to understand the effect of open cast coal mining on the diverse livelihoods of the rural community in Barjora colliery area of West Bengal. The livelihood pattern of the local community has significantly changed from pre-mining to post-mining, such as in agriculture sector, the work participation rate has reduced from 62% to 3%, and at present, about 55% people are now engaged in the mining sector. The immediate effect helped to increase the financial capacity of rural people. However, the upward socio-economic condition is not sustainable for the long-term. The discontinuity in coal extraction is also the major cause for the job insecurity and vulnerability in socio-economic life.

Keywords

Barjora Colliery, Open Cast Coal Mining, Diversify Rural Livelihood, Unsustainable Livelihood, West Bengal

PDF

References

Banerjee, A.K. (1968). West Bengal District Gazetteers, Bankura. State Book Depot: Calcutta (State Editor).
Bhattacharya, A.P. and Roy, S.K. (1982). Palynology of the lower Gondwana Sedimentary deposits in Bankura deposits, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Burdwan, West Bengal, India, p. 4-7.
Cavestro, L. (2003). PRA-Participatory Rural Appraisal Concepts Methodologies and Techniques, Universita’ Degli Studi di Padova Facolta’ di Agraria, p. 26-38. Retrieved from https://liberiafti.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/cavestro_participatory-rural-appraisal-concepts-methodologies-techniques.pdf
Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited (CMPDI), (2016). Annual Report & Accounts 2015-16, CIN: U14292JH1975GOI 001223, A Subsidiary of Coal India Limited, Ranchi. Retrieved from http://www.cmpdi.co.in/accounts/CMPDIAnnualReport2015-16.pdf
Chambers, R. and Conway, G.R. (1992). ‘Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: Practical Concepts for the 21st Century’, Discussion Paper 296. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies, p. 6. Retrieved from https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/775/Dp296.pdf
Das, N. and Mishra, N. (2015: a). Assessing the Impact of Coal Mining on Diversified Sources of Rural Livelihoods: A Case Study in the Ib Valley Coalfield Area of Western. International Research Journal of Social Sciences, 4(6), p. 83–88.
Das, N and Mishra, N. (2015: b). Socio-economic Impact on Rural Livelihood on Rural Communities: A Study of the Ib Valley Coalfield in Orrisa. Ph.D. Thesis, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India, p. 125-138. Retrieved from, http://ethesis.nitrkl.ac.in/6913/1/Nabanita_509HS304_PhD_2015.pdf
DFID (2001). Sustainable Livelihoods Guidance Sheets. Department for International Development, London. Retrieved from http://www.livelihoodscentre.org/documents/20720/100145/Sustainable+livelihoods+guidance+sheets/8f35b59f-8207-43fc-8b99-df75d3000e86
Ellis, F. (1998). Household strategies and rural livelihood diversification, The Journal of development studies, 35 (1), p. 38.
Frankenberger, T. (1996). Measuring household livelihood security: An approach for reducing absolute poverty. Paper prepared for the Applied Anthropology Meetings, Baltimore.
Jones, T. (1993). The role of environmental–impact assessment in coal production and utilization. Natural Resources Forum, 17 (1993), p. 170-180.
Kitula, A. G. N. (2004). The environmental and socio-economic impacts of mining on local livelihoods in Tanzania: A case study of Geita District. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(3–4), p. 405–414.
Krantz, L. (2001). The Sustainable Livelihood Approach to Poverty Reduction, An Introduction. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Stockholm, Sweden.
Mishra, P.P. (2009). Coal Mining and Rural Livelihoods: Case of the Ib Valley Coalfield, Orissa. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLIV NO (44), p. 117-123.
Oskarsson, P. (2011). “ Jobless Opening: The Expansion of open cast coal mining at the expense of rural livelihoods in the Godavari valley of Andhra Pradesh”, A report prepared by MORE (Motivational Organisation for Rural Education), Manuguru, Andhra Pradesh). Oxford University Press, p. 75.
Reardon, T., Berdegué, J., Barrett, C. B., Stamoulis, K., (2006). Household Income Diversification into Rural Nonfarm Activities, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 1-26.
Roy, K., & Samanta, G. (2018). Spread Effects vs. Localised Growth: The Case of Census Towns in Murshidabad District. Space and Culture, India, 6(3), 97-109. https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v6i3.327
Ruthenberg, H. (1976). Farming Systems in the Tropics, Second edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Scoones, I. (1998). Sustainable rural livelihoods: a framework for analysis. IDS working paper, 72, Brignton, p. 9-11. Retrieved from
https://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/david.harvey/AEF806/Sconnes1998.pdf
Siddiqui, M.Z. and Lahiri-Dutt, K. (2015). Livelihood s of Marginal Mining and Quarrying Households in India. Economic and Political Weekely, Vol L NoS 26 & 27, p. 27-32.
Woerheide, W. and Persson, D. (1993). An Index of Portfolio Diversification. Financial Services Review, 2(2), p. 76-77. Retrieved from,http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.399.1779&rep=rep1&type=pdf
World Coal Association, (2015). Coal Facts 2015. London. Retrieved from, http://www.worldcoal.org/file_validate.php?file=Coal%20Facts%202015.pdf

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.