Between Legitimacy and Illegality: Informal Coal Mining at the Limits of Justice

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

    Abstract

    Commonly presented as arising from poor policing and corruption, and as destroying the environmental commons, "illegal" production and marketing of coal is a significant aspect of everyday life in eastern India. Representations of illegality hide unpleasant social realities of the coal mining tracts: poor environmental performance of the state-owned mining sector, social disruption and displacement of communities, and a general decay in the traditional subsistence base. This paper works through the complex layers of mining laws and investigates whether the laws protect the interests of the disadvantaged. It offers a rethinking of what causes and constitutes illegality when a large number of people's livelihoods depend on this kind of mining.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Coal Nation: Histories, Ecologies and Politics of Coal in India
    Editors Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt
    Place of PublicationFarnham, UK and Burlington, USA
    PublisherAshgate Publishing Ltd.
    Pages39-62
    Edition1st
    ISBN (Print)9781472424709
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

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