Coal gives electricity. Coal gives jobs. Coal is necessary for country’s development. But coal is dirty. Coal is polluting. Coal mining is killing forests. And why is it that while coal is affecting everyone around it trees, animals, people urban Indians, living miles away from the coal mines and thermal power plants, but benefiting the most from it, aren’t sharing the ill-effects?

Coal accounts for 55 per cent of India’s energy usage. Pic/Getty Images