Presentation long abstract

This paper examines the discourses and legitimating strategies that underpin efforts to expand private coal extraction in India. It highlights the continued dominance of arguments around resource nationalism and energy security which characterised the earlier period of state-led mining. At the same time, specific ways in which these long-running narratives are mobilised by the state and private actors have evolved significantly in the context of liberalisation. The paper focuses particularly on evolving legal and regulatory frameworks that attempt to balance the interests of private capital and mining-affected communities. It argues that such interventions are highly inadequate, but nevertheless provide vital opportunities for affected groups to challenge their dispossession and exploitation. However, their ability to contest broader pro-coal hegemonies remains unclear, especially since many such struggles focus on more locally specific concerns. Methodologically, the paper draws from government documents on coal mines allocated through the ‘mining for captive use’ and ‘commercial mining’ mechanisms, and project-specific documentation for a purposively selected sample of private coal mines. Its findings have wider relevance for explaining how dominant understandings of coal are sustained in rapidly industrialising contexts, even in the face of an existential climate crises, and for exploring how these could be effectively challenged.