Chapter 5

COAL MINING INDUSTRY IN INDIA

5.1 Introduction

In this chapter we first give a brief historical sketch of the development of the

Indian coal mining industry. We then analyze the trajectories of some of the major

institutional and technological changes that have taken place in this industry with a focus

on post-independence period. Among all institutional and technological changes we

confine ourselves to those which have had bearing upon gender discrimination in the

work force of the industry. Our main aim is to analyse the first hypothesis mentioned in

the previous chapter, i.e. we examine how technologies and institutions have interacted

with each other to produce gender discrimination in the work force. Please note that we

have already pointed out that the share of women in the labour force of this industry has

shrunk from around 22% during independence to a meager 6% in recent years. It may

also be worth noting that the analysis in this chapter is entirely based on secondary data.

The chapter is organized as follows. The next section (5.2) presents an overview

and discusses the economic importance of the coal mining industry in the country. The

second section (5.3) discusses the major technologies used and the production processes

of coal mining industry. The fourth section outlines a brief history of the coal mining

industry through the various phases. The fifth section discusses the evolution of

institutions in the coal mining industry. The sixth section examines the nature of

evolution of technology used in the coal mining industry, particularly focusing on the

post-Independence period. Senth section, then, analyzes the developments and examines

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the first hypothesis of the study: whether the changes in coal mining laws and policies

(institutions), technological upgradation and the displacement of women workers from

the mines are interrelated and coevolutionary? This section shows how the trajectory of

gender discrimination in the workforce of coal mining industry can be linked with the

coevolutionary trajectory of technology and institution.

5.2 Coal Mining Industry in India: An overview

Coal is an extremely important fuel source. Coal's share is around 22% in the total global

primary energy consumption and 38% in the total world electricity generation. It is the

most abundantly available source of energy not only in India but also globally. Coal

caters to 50 percent of primary commercial energy need of India. About 70% of power

generated in India is coal and lignite based (Planning Commission, 2002: 778). Coal is

found in a wide range of forms and qualities; but there are two broad categories: (a) hard

coal, which includes coking, used in steel production and other bituminous and anthracite

coal used for steam and power generation, and (b) brown coal (sub-bituminous and

lignite), which is used mostly as onsite fuel. India has 245.69 billion tones of total coal

reserve out of which 91.63 billion tones (about 38%) is proven resource. However, only

21% of the proven reserve is extractable coal (Planning Commission 2002: 781).

Thermal power houses are the largest consumers of Indian coal. The electricity

generation consumed about 75% of the total coal produced during the year 2003-04

(provisional estimates) (Min. of Coal, 2004). Planning Commission (2002: 778)

underlines the importance of coal as " ... relatively inexpensive source of energy

compared to fuels and coal prices are more stable when compared to the more volatile

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prices of oil and gas." The Planning Commission suggests in the Tenth Five Year Plan

docin:nent that indigenous coal is likely to remain most stable and least cost option for the

bulk of India's energy in the foreseeable future (Planning Commission, 2002). The

Commission estimates the demand of coal to be increased up to 460.5 million tons

(excluding 5.24 million ton of washery middling), at a rate of 5.73% of annual growth

during the Tenth Plan period (2002-07) (Planning Commssion, 2002: 788).

Until now, however, the production of coal is largely in the hands of few public

sector companies. The Coal India Limited (CIL) through its 7 subsidiaries produces

almost 85% of total coal production in the country, and is the largest coal company in the

world. The company is also India's one of the largest employers with more than 4 lakhs

employees and workers (Ministry of Coal: 2008: 48). About 6% of the CIL's employees are

women. The number of total employees in CIL, however, has declined sharply during the last

a decade, number of employees falling from over six lakhs to around 4 lakhs (Min of Coal,

2007: 97).

The total coal production, however, has gone up steadily. The total production in

the country (excluding Meghalaya) during the year 2006-07 has been 430.832 million

tonnes (Table 5.1). This production meets around 44% of India's commercial energy

requirement, and is the largest energy source for the country. 27.

27 Planning Commission (2002) estimates suggest that India's total primary energy supply has increased from a modest figure of 147.05 MTOE (million tonnes of oil equivalent) in 1970 to approximately 437.69 MTOE by 2001, thereby growing at an average annual rate of5.19%, taken from TERI's website, availble on the link http://www.teriin.org/features/art126.htm, last accessed on August 3, 2007

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Table 5.1: Coal production in India (In million tonnes)

Company Actual Production Actual Production 2006-07 2007-08 (April-December)*

CIL 360.913 257.754 SCCL 37.707 29.962 OTHERS 32.212 21.801 Total 430.832 309.517

.. *PrOVISIOnal Note: Figures excluding Meghalaya Source: Annual Report 2007-08, Min. of Coal, Pg. I

Globally, coal reserve is spread in as many as 100 countries. International trading

of coal is, thus very low. World wide, most of the coal is consumed within national

boundaries and only 12% of the world production is traded annually (Planning

Commission, 2002: 778). Although India's coal reserves cover all ranks from low quality

(lignite) to high quality (bituminous) they tend to have high ash content and low calorific

value. Coal is under Open General License (OGL) list. The low quality of much of its

coal prevents India from being anything but a small exporter of coal (traditionally to the

neighboring countries of Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan) and conversely, is responsible

for sizeable imports from Australia, China, Indonesia and South Africa (WEC, 2007).

The quantum of coal exported by CIL during 2002-03 to the neighboring countries was

12,650 tons. During 2003-2004 the quantity of coal exported by CIL was 35,831 tons

(Provisional).

5.3 Technologies of Coal Mining Industry

Any mining operation generally involves five steps. Exploration, by which the

presence of a mineral, its depth, quality etc. are determined; Project development, in

which initial development of project area takes place and road, rail, power, water etc. are

taken to the area; Mine operation, in which the mineral is extracted from the earth

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through different methods; Beneficiation or processing of the mined mineral and the

Mine closure, when the mine is abundant after all the mineral which could be mined is

extracted.

In the context of coal, here we are going to discuss mainly the mining operations.

Coal Mining is done in two major ways: 1. underground mining and 2. opencast

mining. During last 150 years, the mining technology has undergone considerable

changes in India. In the very beginning the extraction in Raniganj collieries of West

Bengal were done in the shallow opencast mines. In response to the increasing demand of

coal by the 1920s the mining shifted to underground method with the help of improved

technology.

5.3.1 Underground Mining

Underground mining is a method in which coal is extracted from the earth by

opening the earth surface at a point and then going forward and deeper under the earth to

extract the coal. There are two main methods of underground mining, board and pillar (or

room and pillar) mining and long wall mining.

5.3.1a Board and Pillar Mining

The underground mining in India is usually done by the 'board and pillar' (or

room and pillar) method. In this method a mesh of tunnels or galleries (a network of

'rooms') are first driven into the coal seam, leaving coal pillars for roof support. Twenty

to 30 per cent of the coal reserve is extracted in this 'development phase'. In the final,

'depillaring' phase, the pillars, which could be 40% of total coal, are also extracted. If the

surface area is free from human settlements, it is allowed to subside in this phase. If the

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mine is under a town or a village, then the holes are filled up with sand mixed with water.

This process is called sand stowing (Lahiri-Dutt, 1999). The drilling, blasting, cutting,

loading, and transporting of coal ore from active areas (also called faces) are carried out

according to a mining plan.

5.3.1b Long Wall Mining

Another underground method used now a day in the developed countries is long

wall mining. This method now used in the countries like the USA and Australia. Long

wall mining involves full extraction of coal from a section of the seam or face using

mechanical shearer (a cutting machine) mounted on a steel conveyer that moves it along

the face. "The conveyer discharges the coal onto a conveyer belt for transport out of

mine. The long wall face crew, the shearer and the face conveyer are under a continuous

canopy of steel created by supports called shields. The shields, face conveyer and shearer

are connected to each other and move in a programmed sequence so that the long wall

face is always supported as the shearer continuously cuts the coal in slices about 1 meter

thick". In long wall mining over 75% of the deposit can be extracted from the panels of

coal that can extend 3 Km through the coal seams (WCI, 2005: 7)

The modem long walls are very capital intensive (the equipment alone costs more

than $52 million), highly instrumented and automated, employ fewer than six workers at

the face, and produce more than 10000 thousand tons per shift.

Generally the long wall mining experiments have not been successful in the

country (Ghose 1995: 22). This method now in use in countries like Australia and the

USA is not much in use in India.

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5.3.2 Opencast Mining

Opencast mining ts a type of surface mining, which entails removing the

vegetation, top soil and rock (called overburden materials) above the mineral deposit,

removing the deposit and reclaiming the affected land for post mining land use. Opencast

mining equipments are Heavy Earth Moving Machines (HEMMs) e.g. scrapers,

bulldozers, drills, shovels, front end loaders, trucks, cranes, draglines etc. Opencast

mining today is characterized by very large equipment (e.g. trucks that can haul more

than 300 tons of rocks, loading shovels with buckets greater than 36 cubic meters,

draglines with buckets greater than 120 cubic meters) and modem technology for

planning, designing, monitoring and controlling operations.

In India more than 85% of the coal production is currently from opencast mines.

Coal production through opencast mining increased from 19.8 million tons (25% of total

production) in 1973-7 4 to 3 73.13 million tons (86% of total production) in 2006-07.

Whereas, the production through underground mining increased from 58.4 mts in 1973-

74 to 74 million tons in 1993-94 and has been declining since then. It came down to 58

million tons in 2006-0'728.

5.3.3 Coal Processing and Transportation Technologies

In the coal mining industry the other activities like coal handling (processing),

washing (in washery) and coal transportation are also equally important. Coal handling

involves crushing the coal and sorting it according to required sizes, while in washery

coal is washed to get rid of its ash content. The transportation involves transporting the

28 Data for 2006-07 taken from Coal Controller's Organization, 2007: III-19. Whereas, data for the year 1973-74 are taken from Das and Parikh, 1999: 126)

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coal from mine to the end users. We have briefly discussed the process and technology

related to coal handling and rail transportation in the next chapter (Chapter 6).

5.4 The coal industry in India: various phases

5.4.1 Phase I: Until Independence

This phase is characterized by opening of new mmes spreading across the

country. In fact, coal mining is the very first modem industry to be established in the

country (Gadgil1972: 59). The opening of first mine dates back to 1774, when coal was

struck in the Raniganj coalfields (Prasad, 1992). However, the growth of the industry was

rather slow in the beginning. In 1820 another mine was opened in Raniganj district in

Bengal. 3 more mines were started in 1854. Finaly, the introduction of steam locomotives

in 1853 gave a fillip to coal production. In 1954 the Eastern Indian Railway lines,

running through the coal bearing regions of the Damodar basin were laid down, and gave

impetuous to the coal mining industry. Jharia, Bokaro and Karanpura coalfields started in

1856. In 1870, Mohpani deposits in the central fields were opened and in the same year

coal mining started in Korhbari district of Bengal. In 187 4-7 5 another coalfield was

opened in Warora in central province. However, this phase seems to be a bad phase for

coal production.as production declined considerably from 467,000 tons in 1869, and did

not touch the same level until 1875-76. From tllis date onwards, however, it continued to

grow steadily (Gadgil, 1972: 58-59). However, production during that time was not

enough to meet domestic demand, mainly by the railways, and a considerable amount of

coal was imported. The annual import of coal in the year 1880 stood at 600,000 tons

(Gadgill972: 59).

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Within a short span, however, production rose to an annual average of 1 million

ton (mt) and India could produce 6.12 million tons per year by the tum of the century. It

increased steadily to 18 million tons per year by 1920. By the year 1902 the Indian

railways could entirely give up using imported coal (Gandgil, 1972: Ill). The production

got a further boost due to the First World War but went through a slump in the early

thirties (Min. of Coal)29• The production reached a level of 29 million tons by 1942 and

30 million tons by 1946.

5.4.2 Phase II: 1947-1970

This period roughly coincides with period after independence till nationalization

of mines. Along with increasing production a need was felt to increase efficiency of

mining with systematic and scientific development of the industry. Setting up of the

National Coal Development Corporation (NCDC), a Government of India undertaking in

1956 with the collieries owned by the railways as its nucleus was the first major step

towards planned development of the Indian Coal Industry. The annual production

increased sharply and reached up to 72 million tons in 1971-72 (Ghosh, 1990: 318). India

had two Government coal companies in the fifties, another being the Singareni Collieries

Companies Limited (SCCL) which became a government company in 1956 and is owned

jointly by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Government of India since 1960

5.4.3 Phase III: 1970-1990s- Nationalizatio11 of coal mines Barring taking over of SCCL, however, no major drive was taken to reduce

private participation in coal mines during this initial phase, post-independence. Most of

29 Min. of Coal, 'Coal Mining in India', available at www.coal.nic.in last accessed on July 16,2009 30 See SCCL, 'History', http://scclmines.com/historv.asp, last accessed on July 16,2009

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the coal mining companies remained in the private hands and, prior to 1970-71, coal was

extracted in a haphazard, unscientific and wasteful manner by the private mine owners.

According to then estimates the coking coal reserve was likely to be exhausted in about

50 years. The government became quite concerned about the conservation of coal. Also

the private suppliers were not able to keep pace with the increasing demands of coking

coal by the iron and steel industry. The demand of non-coking was also increasing as the

demand of energy was increasing in various sectors of the industry. Fulfillment of the

growing demand required huge investment and mechanization. The government was also

concerned about the.very poor working conditions of the mine workers in the privately

owned mines. The workers lived in miserable and sub human conditions while the

owners and to managers enjoyed best of the comforts (Kumarmangalam, 1973).

On account of the above mentioned reasons the Central Government took a

decision to nationalize the private coalmines. The nationalization was done in two phases,

the first with the coking coalmines in 1971-72 and then with the non-coking coalmines in

1973. In October 1971, the Coking Coal Mines (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1971

provided for taking over in public interest of the management of coking coal mines and

coke oven plants. This was followed by the Coking Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act,

1972 under which the coking coal mines and the coke oven plants were nationalized on

1.5.1972 and brought under the Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), a new Central

Government Undertaking. However, the Tata Iron & Steel Company Limited and Indian

Iron & Steel Company Limited were noted exception to this and the mines of these

companies remained with them. Another enactment, namely the Coal Mines (Taking over

of Management) Act, 1973, extended the right of the Government of India to take over

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the management of the coking and non-coking coalmines in seven States including the

coking coalmines taken over in 1971. This was followed by the nationalization of all

these mines on 1.5.1973 with the enactment of the Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act,

1973, which now is the piece of Central legislation determining the eligibility of coal

mining in India (Min. of Coal)31•

Eventually almost the entire coal industry was entrusted to the Coal India Limited

(CIL), a public sector enterprise of the Government oflndia, formed in 1975. Now about

85% of the coal mining is done by CIL, which operations are done through its eight

subsidiaries. 32 Rest of the coal mining is done by Singareni Collieries Company Limited

(SCCL), another public sector company owned jointly by the central government and

Andhra Pardesh government, and some private and public sector companies for their

captive use. In Meghalaya coal mining is done by private companies. After

nationalization, coal mining grew at a much higher rate. Coal production in the country

increased from 56.9 million tons in 1971-72 to the present (2006-07) level of 430.832

million tones. Since nationalization, almost an exclusive thrust has been put on opencast

mining. We have already shown in the last section how the share of opencast mining has

gone up spteadily in the post nationalization era.

31 Min. of Coal, 'Coal Mining in India', available at www.coal.nic.in, last accessed on July 16,2009 32 Following are the eight subsidiaries of CIL: Eastern Coalfields Limited - ECL, Bharat Coking Coal Limited - BCCL, Central Coalfields Limited - CCL, Northern Coalfields Limited - NCL, Western Coalfields Limited - WCL, South Eastern Coalfields Limited - SECL, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited -MCL, Central Mines Planning and Design Institute Limited - CMPDIL. The first seven companies are involved in coal mining and the eighth is a planning, designing and consultation company.

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5.4.4 Phase IV: 1991- onwards, the era of economic liberalization

Interestingly, the policy of nationalization was to be reversed (at least partially)

within two decades. With the major shift in economic policy towards privatisation

and liberalisation of the economy, steps were also taken to facilitate private

ownership of coal mines. The economic reforms initiated in the 1991 focused on

"abandoning the earlier predisposition in favour of a dominant role for the public

sector and recognizing the importance of the private sector as a leading engine

of growth" (Ahluwalia, 2005). The reforms placed much greater reliance on

market forces and competition as the primary means of increasing efficiency.

Simultaneously the Indian economy was now more open to international trade,

foreign investment, and foreign technology.

Policy towards the public sector enterprises (PSEs) including CIL also

underwent significant changes. Apart from disinvestment and privatising the PSEs,

from which the CIL is so far protected; the government cut on the budgetary support to

the PSEs and their downsizing and restructuring was initiated. The big PSEs, including

the CIL, were also given greater operational autonomy. 33 This gave the company

freedom to formulate policies towards its workers.

The mining policy of the government has also changed with the introduction of

the economic reforms. The Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act 1973 was amended in 1993

to allow captive operations for the private sector. This was in addition to the already

33 See Mishra, 2009 for a detailed survey of policy towards PSEs.

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existing provision for iron and steel companies. Washing operations were also privatized

and the import of coking coal was put on the open general license list. Foreign

participation was also allowed (Das and Parikh, 1999). Import of coal was permitted, and

import duties slashed, and budgetary support available to CIL was also slashed. These

changes again forced CIL to become more competitive and productivity enhancement,

subsequently, became a top priority (Ghose, 1995: 16).

With the opening up of the Indian economy during the late 1980's, the entry of

private companies and multinationals started taking place mainly as collaboration

between CIL and the various multinational corporations (See BJA & NBJK, 1993, also

FIAN, 2000). Piparwar Opencast Project started in collaboration with the White

Industries Australia Limited and is funded by the Australian government. India Coal

Sector Rehabilitation Project, funded by the World Bank and others strived for better

efficiency, lowering costs and reduction of surplus staff and closure ofloss making mines

(Bhengra, 1996). India has set-up a Joint Working Groups with France, Germany, Russia,

Canada, Australia and China, to promote international cooperation in coal mining and

related fields, with the objectives of bringing in new technologies, seeking bilateral funds

for import of equipments and bringing in foreign financial assistance to meet the

investment requirement (Min. of Coal, 2004). A bill to further amend in The Coal Mining

(Nationalization) Act to allow the private companies to do coal mining is pending before

the parliament.

The Planning Commission set up The Committee on Integrated Coal Policy in

1995, which gave its recommendations in 1996. The committee, though does not suggest

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much as regard the mining technology (except expressing concern for unsustainablity of

underground coal mines as it employs "75% of total workforce and produces only

27.5%" and suggesting for mining deeper seams in case of SCCL) again emphasizes on

further liberalization of coal sector and on making procedures easy for the private players

to enter the sector (Planning Commission, 1996). The Tenth Five Year Plan also outlines

"continuation of reform process and facilitation of private sector participation in

commercial coal mining with a view to gaining access to latest technologies" as a major

thrust area for the plan period (Planning Commission 2002: 788).

Departing, somewhat, from the policies of the Nationalization era, The Eleventh

Fiver Years Plan (2007-12) underlines the importance of the underground mines and calls

for "promoting underground mining operations for extraction of deep seated deposits"

(Planning Commission, 2008: 380). The Eleventh Fiver Year Plan continues to

emphasize the opening up the coal sector for private players and also advocates

restructuring of the CIL (Planning Commission, 2008: 380).

The briefly described history of the coal mining industry in the country suggests

that the industry has gone through various phases and has seen many ups and downs. But

the fast growth it started to achieve after independence has only got boosted with the

nationalization of the coal mines. Though the focus has been on highly mechanized

opencast mines during the post nationalization period, recently the Planning Commission

as well as the CIL has started exploring the possibilities of advancing the underground

mining in the country. In the next section we discuss the institutional evolution which

took place during the various phases.

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5.5 Institutions and Institutional Change in the Coal Mining Industry

5.5.1 Historical Overview

The Indian coal mining industry is governed by a number of formal institutions which

have evolved over the last century. These institutions include formal laws and

regulations, the circulars issued by Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) and the

energy, economic and other related policies. The related acts focus on safety, work

condition and labour welfare. Workers safety and extremely difficult work conditions got

attention in beginning as the coal mining was marked by extremely harsh and inhuman

work conditions (Kejriwal, 2006: 7 -8). France is credited to regularize the mines in as

early as 1781. Protection of women and children soon became a major part of the

legislations related to mining. Employment of women and children below 12 years old

was prohibited by law in as early as 1874. The first act to regulate the mining operations

in India was enacted in 1901, after a decade long deliberations. The first proposal to

regulate the mining operations was made in 1890 after the International Labour

Conference in Berlin (Kejriwal, 2006: 8). The First Inspector of Mines was appointed

1894, in the Geological Survey of India. The Indian Mines Act, 1901 was passed on the

recommendations made by the First Inspector of Mines. The act had provisions like

empowering the inspectors to enter any mines and to inquire into accidents; and the

government was empowered to frame rules for regulating mining activities. The Chief

Inspector of Mines was also authorized to prohibit employment of children (persons

below the age of twelve) and women in mines. The act went through amendments in year

1910 and 1914. Later on the Indian Mines act was reenacted in 1923 which also gone

through many amendments.

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Though protective provisions were part of the Mines Act since very beginning but

it could not be implemented in the coal mines for long. The 1901 Act gave powers to the

Governor General to prohibit the employment of women in underground mines. This

power, however, could not be exercised till 1937. The private coal mines owners could

oppose and successfully resisted the ban on employment of women in underground mines

(Gadgil1972: 314). In 1929 the government issued a notification under section 29 of the

Mines Act requiring progressive elimination of employment of women below ground in

the course of next 10 years. The Government of India prohibited underground

employment of women in mines, with effect from July 1, 1937, after the Underground

Work (Women) convention no 47 was adopted by International Labour Conference in

1935. The ban, however, was temporarily lifted for coal mines in May 1943 to meet

increased demand of coal due to the II World War. The ban was re-imposed on February

1, 1946 (Kejriwal 2006: 11). The existing act, known as The Mines Act, 1952 was

brought into force from July 1, 1952. Below we discuss some of the main features of the

various existing acts and regulations governing the coal mining operations in the country.

5.5.2 Existing laws in the Coal Mining Industry

The umbrella act which governs mining activities in the country is The Mines

Act, 1952 under which various rules have been framed, which are amended from time to

time. Coal mining is specifically governed by The Coal Mines Regulations, 1957 and the

Circulars issued by the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) from time to time.

The non-coal mining is regulated by The Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 1961 and

related DGMS Circulars. Other legislation governing mining of minerals, including coal,

are the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMRD) Act, 1957, Mineral

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Conservation and Development Rules (MCDR), 1988, and Mineral Concession Rules

(MCR), 1060. Coal Mining Nationalization Act, 1973, Coal Mines (Conservation and

Development) Act, 1974, and Coal Mines (Conservation and Development) Rules, 1975,

etc. also govern the coal mining activities. Other labour legislations like Worksmen

Compensation Act etc. also imply to the coal mining. The Mines Vocational Training

Rules 1966 and The Mines Creche Rules 1966 are also important piece of regulation.

The Mines Act 1952 prohibits the employment of any persons below 18 years of

age in the mines and employment of women in the underground mines. Women

employment is also prohibited in any mines {opencast or above surface) "except between

the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.". The act lays down the provisions related to the roles and

responsibility of various major actors ("Owner", "Manager'' etc.), sets norms about the

work hours and restrictions on employment of women and children, availability of certain

facilities in the mines etc.

The Mines Vocational Training Rules 1966 is a regulation based on the Mines

Act 1952 which provides the rules for basic as well as other trainings to the employees

working in mines. It also requires every "owner" to have a training centre equipped with

adequate training staff and other facilities. The Mines Creche Rules 1966 requires that

every coal mine should have a creche for the children of its women employees.

The mining legislations are administered by the Director General of Mines Safety

(DGMS). DGMS carried out regular inspections and also issues circulars time to time for

various safety norms to be followed in the mines.

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5.5.3 Laws and Policies towards Technology

The mining laws discussed above set the major rules as how the mining should be

done. These institutions set the rules about ownership, land acquisition, labour relations,

workers' safety, 'protection' for the women workers and various workers welfare and

social security issues. Apart from these legal institutions the coal mining industry is also

led by the various set of policies particularly about the technology choice and workers

recruitment, retirement and training etc. Some of these policies are result of the socio­

economic and political environment while others emanate from the various legal

institutions themselves. In the country, policy making towards the coal mines is given a

lot of importance, particularly after the Nationalization of the coal mines. As we will see

in the later section, the technological changes were mostly introduced after the

Nationalization. As far as technology is concerned, the emphasis in post nationalization

period has been on opencast mining. However, we did not fmd specific policy document

which could give an outline of the technology policy of the coal mining industry, and had

to rely on secondary sources (se, for instance, Kumar 1989). Fuel Policy Committee

(FPC) (1974) provides the first statement of technology policy in the coal mining after

nationalization. Some other documents which describe technology policy in the coal

mining are the following.

• Planning Commission's Working Group on Coal and Lignite (1975)

• Project Black Diamond (1976 and 1978)

• Committee on Economics in the Cost of Production of Coal (or Bajeva

Committee) (1978)

• Working Group on Energy Policy (1979)

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• Working Group on Coal and Lignite for Sixth Five Year Plan (1980)

• CIL's Corporate Plan (1980-85 and 1982-87)

General thrust of the technology policy, its direction and content, has been largely

provided by CIL's perspective plan known as Project Black Diamond. Almost all these

documents gave emphasis on developing mechanized opencast mines. FPC highlighted

the need of mechanized opencast mines to meet the increasing demand of coal. Working

group of planning commission closely followed the recommendations. Project Black

Diamond of CIL which could be said to be only comprehensive document on long term

plan (10 years) again emphasized on opencast mining. In case of underground mining,

mechanized long wall mining was to be given major thrust and it was envisioned that

50% of the total underground mines production would come from long wall mines by

1985-86. The Project Black Diamond also emphasized on mechanization of existing bord

and pillar mines.

According to Kumar (1989), only voice of dissent was Bajewa committee report,

which reviewed the CIL's technology plan in Project Black Diamond and disagreed with

the CIL on pace and extent of technological upgradations and suggested a more cautious

approach towards introduction of new equipments and emphasized the need for adequate

development of infrastructural facilities as a pre condition for utilization of advanced

long wall and HEMM. The committee also warned against launching of large projects

whether underground or opencaste mining projects. This cautious approach was

necessary as the committee felt that the mine industry did not have enough experiences in

large scale operations. However, Planning Commission's Working Group for Coal and

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Lignite for the Sixth Five Year Plan overlooked Bajeva Committee's cautions and

recommended rapid mechanization in line with Project Black Diamond, assuming that all

the infrastructural constraints will be overcome during the five year period. Thus all the

committees showed their inclination towards highly mechanized opencast mines, which

has contribution in the rapid growth in coal production in post nationalization period has

been significantly higher than the underground mining (Kumar 1989).

This thrust on increasing production through rapid technological advancement

was the result of a change in country's energy scenario. The power generation capacity in

the country has grown at the rate of 8% per annum during the last five decades. Up to

mid 1960's, thrust was more on developing hydel projects and oil. However, since the oil

crises in the 1970s, the share of coal based power generating has increased remarkably

(Bose, 2003: 192). Also after nationalization, the labour force in the coal mining was now

part of the organized labour force and their wages increased sharply and linked firmly to

the cost of living. So the cheap labour as earlier available to the coal industry was not

available anymore to CIL and it had to look for other mechanism to increase labour

productivity and cut its production costs {Kumar, 1989)

5.4.4 Laws and Policy towards Labour and Employment:

In CIL, there is a restriction on fresh recruitment, and the company has been

reducing its size of employment. The retrenchment of manpower is often termed as

'rationalization of workforce' by the CIL. As the company faces competition from the

cheap imports of coal and has lost the budgetary support from the government, it faces

immense pressure to cut its costs and increase efficiency. The rationalization of workers

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is partly an outcome of such changes in the policy environment during the reforms era.

According to the Annual Report of the Ministry of Coal, the total manpower deployed by

the CIL declined from 6.70 lakhs in 1985 to 4.43 lakhs in 2006 (Min of Coal, 2007: 97).

The new recruitment, however, becomes necessary for the company due to the large scale

displacement of population in order to mine the coal (particularly by the opencast

method) for which the company provides employment to displaced persons (or project

affected persons) according to its rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) policy. The

company also has to provide employment on the compassion ground to the dependents of

those employees who die or become permanently disabled while in job.

5.5.5 Laws and Policy towards Women Workers

The Mining Act prohibits women workers from working inside the underground

mines and working in opencast mines and on above surface activities "except between

the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m." Ban on women from working underground and during the

night shift was enforced even before the Independence. The law also provides for some

benefits to women workers. These include maternity benefits and provision of a creche

for their children in every mine and separate toilets for men and women workers in verey

mine.

The restriction on their employment in underground mines and during night shifts

and the maternity and other benefits which the company tequires to give to its women

employees, however, have led CIL to formulate policies to get rid of women workers.

The CIL management has been coming out with the measures to reduce the number of

women workers since the very beginning. The first Voluntary Retirement Scheme was

announced as early as 1976, only one year after the formation of CIL, and women

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workers were 'encouraged' to take retirement and give their job to their husband, their

son or son in law (Barnes, 2006: 330). The table below gives the number of women who

'opted' for special FVRS in Central Coalfields Limited. In total 2960 women have left

CCL during 1993-98.

Table 5.2: No. of women workers quitting CCL under FVRS

Year No of women opting for FVRS 1993-94 174 1994-95 354 1995-96 1123 1996-97 9 1997-98 1300 Total 2960

Source: CCL Headquarter, Ranchi

Since the company also considers itself to be over employed and is trying to

'rationalize' its workforce by downsizing, there is no question of fresh recruitment,

except for the some compulsory recruitments such as compensatory employment (to

people getting displaced due to mining operations) and the employment on the basis of

compassion (in case of death or permanent disability of an employee to his/her dependent

-spouse, son/daughter).

There is, however, a clear bias against women in the jobs given on compassion

basis. According to the 'wage board>34 agreements, in case of death or permanent

disability of a male miner, his wife would be given a job only when she is younger than

34 Wage Board is a Joint Bipartite Committee for the Coal Industry (JBCCI) consisting of representatives of management and the five Central Trade Unions. The unionized employees of the entire Coal Sector i.e. from the Coal India Limited and its subsidiaries, the Singareni Collieries Company Limited and the captive coal mines of TlSCO and liSCO are covered under this. Six National Coal Wage Agreements have so far been signed. The wage structure and other conditions of service (including fringe benefits, welfare measures etc.) of the unionized employees (i.e. other than executives) in the coal industry are settled by negotiations in the wage board.

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40. But, in case of death or permanent disability of a female miner, there would be no age

restriction for her spouse in getting the job on compassion ground, as agreed in Wage

Board Agreements VI and VII.

Other provisions related to female dependent (clause 9.5 in Wage Board

Agreement VI: 30-31), too, are clearly not designed to encourage employing or retaining

women. For example, women dependents of a deceased employee are given option to

accept monetary compensation (of Rs. 4000/3000 per month till the age of 60). This is

contrast to the provision of putting a male dependent, in similar situation, on the live

roster is a clear manifestation of such bias.

5.6 Evolution35 of Technological Changes in Indian Coal Mines

In the case of Indian coal mining, there seem to be an interesting interface of the

various factors determining the level of technological upgradation in the mines. Please

note that almost all major technologies have been imported in the country. Here we

present an overview of the technological changes the coal mining industry has been

witnessing through the various phases of its development.

5.6.1 Phase I: Until Independence

Since the inception of mining in the early l91h century up to as late as 1920s, coal

mining in India remained primitive and largely manual. An easy and abundantly available

35 Originally, evolution refers to indigenous generation of technologies. However, in the Indian coal mining industry almost all technologies have been imported from abroad. We, nevertheless, call it evolution since imported technologies are 'selected' on the basis of certain economic, and socio-political considerations, including techniques, the economic circumstances of the country, and nature and objectives of the decision makers. If the objective is to maximize profit and I or increase production the technology adopted could be different from what it would be if the objective is to increase employment and local profits (Stewart 1977). Thus the technology choice while importing a technology follows the same process of technological evolution. 'Selection' indeed remains an important, if not the important, guiding force of evolutionary processes.

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cheap labour made it more economical for the coal industry to mine coal manually than

to mechanize. However, as demand increased during the First World War and with the

proliferation of railway networks, the coal mining slowly began to adopt new

technologies. The mining industry saw a recession in the aftermath of the First World

War, when prices of coal declined sharply and many small mines had to be closed down.

However, this prompted the big collieries to adopt labour saving mechanizations in order

to increase productivity and check the cost of production. Owing to these reasons big coal

mines started to have hand operated coal cutting machines (CCMs). The coal mines grew

deeper and more and more coal was mined from the underground mines. Other forms of

mechanizations could be noticed in the form of using electricity in the mines, use of

safety lamps, use of explosives for blasting, and ventilation of mines to improve work

conditions. However, use of these new instruments was very limited and only a slow

growth can be achieved by the middle of the century. As Ghosh (1977: 151-56) points out

by 1945 only 16% of coal mines were electrified (producing 64% oftotal coal produced),

and only 46.3% electric safety lamps were being used, at a time when the total number

workers in underground mines was around 152 thousand. The work condition in the

underground coal mines was extremely bad and difficult due to excessive heat and lack of

ventilation. Use of coal cutting machines was also very low and only 76 out of 673 coal

mines were using CCMs (in total 232) in 1945 and less than 10% of the total coal

produced was cut using the CCMs (Ghosh 1977). By 1951 when the First Five Year Plan

was launched only 18.4% of all mines ( 424 mines in total) producing however more than

40% of total output used total of 400 CCMs. Only 29% of the mines were electrified, and

Ill

only 28 conveyors of various capacities handling only 1 million tons (against 35 million

tons oftotal production in the year) were installed (Kumar 1989: 2).

5.6.2 Phase II: 1947-70

Not much progress as regard the mechanization could be made during the first

two decades of planned development either. The major reason, as Kumar (1989: 2)

suggests, "for the extremely slow progress of mechanization and technological

development in the Indian coal mines was presence of a large number of private

companies operating small mines and pits." These seasonally operated small mines

(remained closed during monsoons) prevented any "rationalization" and also pulled down

the prices. An effort of voluntary amalgamation of these mines by the government in

1965 was unsuccessful. By 1971 when cocking coal mines were nationalized there still

remained 275 mines (34% of total) which produced less than 12000 tonnes per annum

and 228 of them had annual output of 6000 tonnes per annum (Kumar 1989: 3).

However, by 1971 some advances were made. 81% of the mines had power connections

and used mechanical ventilators.32.4% of the total coal output was produced by CCMs

and blasting in the underground mines. The number of CCMs rose to 925 from 400 in

1951. Whatever technological development was made was, nonetheless, confined to

larger mines. The big private operators along with two public sector units - SCCL and

NCDC - accounted for all technological developments in coal mining. The technological

development in coal mines was made in both underground and opencast mines. The

technological advancement during the period is also reflected in the rising labor

productivity measured in output per man shift (OMS) which increased from 0.35 tonnes

in 1951 to 0.67 tom1es in 1971. This increase was made in both underground and

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opencast mines. Improvement in labour productivity in underground mines was mainly

made during 1963-69, which was a result if substantial investment made during the Third

Five Year Plan period with the assistance of a World Bank loan of Rs. 175 million of

which Rs. 174 million could be utilized with matching contribution from the mine

owners. This was only substantial investment in pre nationalization period. The overall

capital formation in the coal industry was, however, significantly lower compared to all­

industry average (Kumar 1989: 4).

Most of the technological development in pre-nationalization period was in

underground board and pillar mining. Opencast mines were mainly operated by the

NCDC. Long wall technology, which had for long been established in Europe, was

almost completely ignored. With easy accessibility of coal reserves at relatively shallow

levels, availability of cheap labor and long experience with mechanized bord and pillar

mining, Indian companies did not attempt to long wall technology, presumably, due to

higher capital cost and skills requirement that it would have entailed.

Advances in opencast technology were exclusively taken up by NCDC, the public

sector undertaking. Mines owned by the company were earlier managed by the Railway

Board during 1925-44 and Coal Controller until 1956. These mines, as a result, were

historically better planned and more mechanized. All the new mines opened by the

company during the period of 1956 to 1973 were opencast and were highly mechanized,

using heavy earth moving machines (HEMM), and rope shovels and dumpers of

increasingly higher capacities.

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5.6.3 Phase Ill: 1970 Onwards- Post Nationalization Developments

All the coal mines were nationalized in two phases in 1971 and 1973. After

nationalization, the coal mining in the country was entrusted to CIL, established in 1975.

Currently 85% of the mining is carried out by CIL and rest by another public sector

undertaking SCCL and some private and public sector companies for their captive use.

As discussed above the emphasis in the post nationalization era has been on the highly

mechanized opencast mines36• The highly mechanized opencast mines used Heavy Earth

Moving Machines (HEMMs) to mine and coal from the relatively shallow layers of coal.

The opencast coal mines mostly use the shovel-dumper method. The following table

provides the growth in the technology in the opencast mines since 1972.

Table -5.3: Trends in Usage ofOpencast Machinery

Equipment 1972 1980 1990 2000 2004 Shovel Number 73 211 787 1143 1135

HP 22781 64810 264465 437697 479579 Drill Number 83 182 703 $ 969.00 978

HP 13950 41451 198571 301451 332532 Dragline Number 13 21 41 43 45

HP 13062 19623 70784 107356 118809 Dozer Number 102 336 1020 1224 1309

HP 25029 92141 352302 431599 506301 Dumper Number 336 1089 3663 4602 4516

HP 118606 379539 1755192 2417848 2335655 Scrapper Number 6 82 100 8 1

HP 1400 26253 31897 2334 330 Grader Number 5 13 142 215 282

HP 670 1587 25426 46518 47926 Loader Number 21 243 138 91

HP 3135 53521 36513 22203 Crane Number 7 227 361 359

HP 1595 42785 45645 50993

36 The fact that the opencast mines are highly mechanized is also reflected in the infonnal nomenclature given to the opencast mines in Bhurkunda where in did my fieldwork for the study. The opencast mines of the Bhurkunda project (which also has underground mines) are known by the term "mechanized" itself.

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Others Number 10 153 387 325 HP 2590 54732 111935 101222

Total Number 522 1741 7079 9090 9041 HP 158533 547935 2849675 3938896 3995550 Average 303.7 314.72 402.55 433.32 441.94 HPper machine

Source: Volumes of Statistics ofMmes m India (Coal), Published by Duector General ofMmes Safety, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.

The table suggests that there has been a phenomenal increase not only in number

of the Heavy Earth Moving Machines (HEMMs) but also in their capacities measured in

horse power (HP). The number of HEMMs like shovel, dozer, dumpers and drills has

increased many folds and so have their capacities. The average capacity of the HEMMs

and other machines used in the opencast mines increased from 303 HP per machine to

441 HP per machine during 1972-2004.

The underground mines, it seems, have not seen a matching mechanization after

the nationalization. The following table (5.4) provides data in machines used in the

underground mines and their capacities. As we can see in table, the total number of

machines, in fact, declined in the underground mines from 9306 to 8663 during the

period of 1990-2004. The average capacity of these machines, however, shows a slight

increase from 34 HP per machine to 39 HP per machine. The declining share of

production through the underground mines in post nationalization period can partially be

explained by this apathy towards underground mining in general, and mechanization of

those mines in particular.

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Table-5.4 Trend in Usage ofMachinery in Below Ground Workings

Equipment 1990 2000 2004 Coal Cutting Number 320 69 15 Machine HP 20188 4366 1056 Mechanical Number 69 46 41 Cutter/Loader HP 14054 11929 11382 Mechanical Number 301 816 964 Loader HP 18607 51997 92683 Drills Number 4077 3850 3624

HP 6326 5885 5494 Rope-haulage Number 3334 3089 2680

HP 177536 170656 154005 Locomotives Number 72 49 36

HP 5688 3828 1367 Shuttle car Number 7 - 3

HP 500 - 300 Conveyors Number 969 1156 1192

HP 68800 8810 95602 Others Number 157 109 108

HP 6098 4938 5361 Total Number 9306 9184 8663

HP 317797 342109 337250 Average HP 34.15 37.25 38.93 per machine

.. Source: Volumes of Statistics ofMmes m India (Coal), Published by the Director General ofMmes Safety, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.

The rapid mechanization of opencast mines after nationalization has resulted in

higher productivity of the opencast mines measured in output per man-shift (OMS),

compared to the OMS in underground mines. The OMS for opencast mines increased

from 1.90 tonne in the year 1981-82 to 7.23 tonne in 2005-06. In sharp contrast to this

laudable achievement, the OMS in the underground coal mines increased from 0.55

tonnes to 0. 7 tonnes during the same period (Min. of Coal, 2000 & 2007). This extremely

higher OMS in the opencast mines in comparison to underground mines, only indicates

the uneven emphasis placed on the opencast coal mines in post nationalization period.

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5.7 Coevolution of Technology, Institutions and Gender Participation in the Coal

Mines Workforce: An Analysis

The institutional and technological changes in the coal mining industry, discussed

in the above sections, affected the participation of women in the coal mining industry.

The shifting thrust in the early 201h century from surface mining to underground mines

and the perceived unsuitability of women to work in the underground mines made sure

that the protective legislations are enacted. By the year 1937 employment of women was

banned in the underground mines. This was done to protect them from the hazards of

rigorous mining work and negative impact of mining on health as well as to check 'moral

delinquencies'. These 'protective' measures by the state, however, reduced women's

work participation sharply as seen in the table below (Table 5.5). The protective laws are

based on the biological differences between men and women. Women need to be

protected, and have to take care of their families are reproductive functions is the basic

premise. In the core of this debate is the cultural construction of gender, which, as

discussed in the previous chapter (chapter 3), differentiates between men and women on

the basis of their biology and gives higher importance to the women's reproductive roles.

Women workers are seen primarily as women and' their reproductive functions are

accommodated with their economic functions as evident in the laws related to maternity

benefits etc.

Seth (1940) has discussed in detail the fallacy of arguments behind the exclusion

of women working in underground mines. The reasons given such as health and safety of

women in underground mines, increase in moral delinquency in the dark underground

mines, giving labourers a better family life etc. have all been found invalid in closer

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scrutiny. For instance, local authorities were of the view that the underground mine work

was not more dangerous health wise for women than other labour works. Also, the work

condition in the underground mines could have been improved by using proper

ventilation. However instead of taking these measures the coal industry and government

found it easier to ban women from working in the underground mines.

Table 5.5: Percentage of women workers in the coal mines

Year Opencast Surface Aggregate 1901 28.24 31.76 29.28 1906 29.78 30.48 29.97 1911 34.08 29.32 32.47 1916 36.94 28.94 34.12 1921 35.26 33.18 34.35 1926 28.14 25.17 27.19 1931 17.17 22.33 18.66 1936 7.24 22.34 11.78 1941 1.55 31.08 13.25 1946 8.85 33.68 23.33

Source: Calculated from Appendix Table 1

The women labour in mines kept on being displaced by their men counterpart.

This process halted only temporarily, post World War II period, when demand for coal

increased sharply without matching increase in labour supply. Seth {1940) in his study of

Labour in the Indian Coal Industry suggests some other reasons as well. Most important

of which being the depression the coal industry was facing since 1923. The prices of coal

declined during the period 1923-30 and the fall in prices continued till 1936. This slump

in coal prices was responsible for closing down of many small collieries, which were less

mechanized and employed considerable number of women. This also prompted the big

collieries to look for labour saving mechanizations in the mines which drove away the

miners, particularly women miners. As Seth {1940: 141) observes that "the loading and

screening plants deprived women of much of their surface loading work for which they

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were chiefly employed. The introduction of haulages reduced the tramming work. The

using of pumping engines for bailing water removed another important work for the

women." Thus the increase in unemployment forced women out of jobs as men displaced

them even from those jobs, which women were doing for a considerably long time. Also,

earlier, men refused to do those works, as those were considered 'womanish', like

loaders. Data shows that the number of women loaders declined by 15,719 during 1928-

33 and that of men loaders increased by 8,587 during the same period (Seth, 1940: 142,

table 7). Also the women in the mines would work with their husbands and other

relatives. However with the increasing use of coal cutting machines the number of coal

cutter labour declined and with the men miners their female loaders also suffered a

decline. "The wives and daughters ceased to work underground when their husband and

fathers were not allowed to go with them to cut the coal" (Seth, 1940: 141)

The above discussion highlights the role of technology and policies coupled with

various other socio-economic factors in displacing women from the coal mines. Change

in method of mining from surface mines to underground entailed many technological

changes which coupled with the protective legislations forced women out of the mines.

However, role of economic factors are also important as the slump in the coal industry

forced smaller mines to shut down their operations and bigger mines to look for labour

saving technologies. This again resulted in women getting out of the mines. Role of

informal institutions and norms, which allowed women to work in the underground mines

only with their male relatives, also made their status secondary in the workforce, making

them the most vulnerable section in the face of economic slowdown and unemployment.

When the men workers lost their jobs the women who accompanied them into the mines

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as loaders also lost their work. The interface of institutions and technology and their

gendered impact in a patriarchal and feudal industry is quite obvious here.

In the post independence period, the trend of declining number of women workers

continued and has currently reached to a mere 6% (Annual Report 2006-07, Ministry of

Coal) including women executives in CIL which with its subsidiaries produces 90% of

the total coal mined in the country. The data on average daily employment in coal mines,

presented in the following figure (Figure I) suggests the same.

Figure 5.1: Percent of Women in Total employment in the coal mines

o/o of women in total

20.00

! 15.00

H 10.00

5.00 b ::!! 0

0.00 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49

Years 1951-2002 (data for years 1958-60 are missing)

\-- o/o of women in total \

Source: Appendix Table 2

After nationalization in 1971-73, the most of the coal mines came under the

control of public sector company Coal India Limited (CIL), which controls all the policy

decision and produces 90% of the total coal in the country. As discussed above, this

policy change marked a major institutional change not only in altering the organizational

structure through ownership, but also in terms of changing policy on technology.

Emphasis after the nationalization has been on highly mechanized opencast mining and

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the share of the opencast mining in total production has increased from 25% at the time

of nationalization to more than 85% today.

The gender impact of these highly mechanized mining particularly in opencast

mines are distressing for women. Being far behind men in terms of education and skills

women are considered unsuitable for the sophisticated and mechanized mining done in

modem mines. However, the shared mental models of the policy makers and

management also influenced these impacts. The discriminatory policies like FVRS and

discrimination against women in compensatory jobs and jobs on compassion grounds are

designed to drive women out of the mining industry.

However these are women who are affected the most by the displacement and

environmental destructions caused by mining. Before displacement, these indigenous and

lower caste women were involved in agriculture and forest work, would work like equal

partners with their men. After the displacement, some men of the displaced communities

get jobs with the mining companies. But women are rarely considered for the

compensatory jobs. According to the CIL's rehabilitation policy (which was declared as

late as in 1993) the company should give 1 job for every three acres of land lost to family

members and one job for every 2 acres of land to the members having matriculation

degree. It clearly excludes those families who are landless and families having less than

two acres land. The indigenous and poor peasant families who have land between two to

three acre and no member with a matriculation degree are also at a disadvantage. Besides,

after liberalization of the economy, the CIL is also following the retrenchment,

downsizing and restructuring in order to become efficient and competitive - the usual

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neo-liberal principle of survival and growth. So the prospect for giving jobs to the

displacement families is even thinner. According to a government study CIL could give

jobs to the persons only from the 30.33 percents of the displaced families (MoHA, Gol,

1985, cited in Fenandes, 1998: 231).

Apart from being highly mechanized and skill oriented the jobs in coal mining

under the public sector CIL have become highly attractive with relatively higher salaries

and other benefits and better social security system (Lahiri-Dutt, 2001). However, the

monetary benefits and social security available to mine workers also contribute towards

the non-employment of women in mines. Men, being the legal owners of the family

properties and being the family heads and being considered the main bread earners would

like to join the job, if company is willing to give any. The shared mental model and

informal institutions which consider men as main breadwinners have a clear influence on

the family members while deciding who is going to take the compensatory jobs and jobs

given on compensatory grounds. Soon after nationalization, as a result, women workers

were persuaded to give their jobs to their male relatives in the name ofFVRS. Many fake

relative of those women working the mines appropriated their jobs by paying them a

meager amount. Ramanika Gupta (2004), a former trade union leader herself, has given a

detailed account of many such cases.

The post independence and particularly the post nationalization developments in

the coal mining industry suggest the dynamic interface of the technology and formal and

informal institutions in the coal mining industry which has resulted in ouster of women

from the coal mines. The CIL management would have retained the women workers after

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Nationalization if it had given any importance to the employment of women or to the

values of equality and justice. On the contrary, the CIL management brought in measures

like FVRS. And as we see in the next chapter, based on primary data collected from field,

the trade unions, instead of demanding better training and employment for women

workers in mines supported and encouraged the measures like FVRS and supported the

discrimination against women in the Wage Board provisions. The technology played its

role but it was not in isolation of other broader economic, socio political and cognitive

factors. On one hand, the economic factors (like growing need of energy) pushed

opencast mines with rapid mechanization which in tum had gendered impact. On the

other hand, the societal and cultural norms played important roles in declining number of

women workers in the mines. The notion of men as main breadwinner and the cultural

needs of protecting women from being in a rigorous and harsh activity like mining have

had their impact on women workers in the mines.

The first hypothesis of this study, therefore, is found to be valid which says that

technological changes, institutional changes and gender discrimination in the workforce

are outcome of a coevolutionary trajectory. The technological changes or. selection of

highly mechanized opencast technology was pushed by the institutional change which

took place in form of nationalization of the coal mines. The choice of opencast

technology as the main technology to increase coal production was necessitated by the

economic and political situations. As discussed in the section on policy governing the

coal mining, oil crisis of 1970s brought the focus back on the coal as a major source of

energy and for that the coal production had to be increased manifolds. The technological

changes, however, made the workers redundant. The women workers became the soft

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target. The first special FVRS was announced as early as in 1976 just after a year of the

formation of the CIL. During the reform era, when the pressure on the company increased

to raise its efficiency and productivity, the CIL realized that it has to 'rationalize' its

workforce. The axe of 'rationalization', however, again fell on the women workers more

heavily than their male counterparts. Ironically, the policies like special FVRS, which led

to reduction in number of women workers, are argued to be an indirect outcome of the so

called 'protective legislations', which barred women from working in underground mines

and in night shifts. These restrictions, arguably, reduced the scope of the management to

use the women workforce 'optimally'. As a result, ironically, such protective legislations

made women workers appear 'more costly' to keep, when the economic rationale became

the most important selection criteria for survival and grow in the aftermath of economic

liberalization. Consequently, policy makers and policy administrators (the CIL top

management), apparently, found an easy way out to reduce the size of workforce by

encouraging women to retire. We, however, intend to go beyond such more visible

economic and political factors and examine the roles of underlying values and

perceptions, embodied in shared mental models, behind such a process. In chapter 7 we

analyse the shared mental models of policy makers, management, and trade unions to

understand why and how such gender discriminatory policies and institutions were

selected and retained in the industry. This chapter, therefore, examined part of the second

hypothesis to understand how the various social and economic factors have shaped the

coevolutionary trajectory. The role of cognitive factors would, however, be examined in

chapter 7.

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In so far as our specific research questions are concerned, the chapter has

identified the vanous social and economic forces, which shaped the coevolutionary

trajectory of technology, institutions and gender discriminations in the coal mines

(research question 1). We have seen that concerns for the conservation of coal, increasing

demand of coal by the iron and steel industries, and the energy needs of a growing

economy are some of the economic factors which pushed the process of nationalization

of mines. This institutional change, in tum, facilitated the process of heavy investment

and mechanization of coal mines. The consequent thrust on opencast mines and rapid

mechanization made some of the workforce redundant. However, being a public sector

organization, the company could not go for direct retrenchment of workers. It instead,

attempted to entice workers to retire voluntarily through various policy means, and

women workers became a major target group. The company started schemes like special

FVRS for getting rid of women workers and employing their men relatives. This

indicates to the cognitive factors like the shared mental models of the policy makers and

those who implemented those policies. The shared mental model of the management,

workers and trade unions, however, has been discussed in detail in Chapter 7, based on

primary data.

The current chapter also answers the third research question, suggesting that the

gender discrimination in the coal mining industry workforce is outcome of the conscious

policy decision taken in form of special FVRS and gender discrimination in the

compensatory jobs. However, in so far as these policy changes have been encouraged by

'protective' legislation, one can also argue that gender discrimination is partly an

unintended consequence of various policies as well.

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The study also sought to examine how existing gender discrimination may have

shaped the trajectory of gender discrimination in the mines (question 4). We find that the

gender discriminatory policies like special FVRS and the course of negotiations on

compensatory jobs are demanded and supported by the trade unions.

The fifth question on the difference in the coevoluntinary trajectories after and

before nationalization is also answered in this chapter. The protective legislations

banning women from working in underground mines and during nights in the opencast

mines and above surface activities were supplemented by gender discriminatory special

FVRS in the post nationalization era, as the technological advancement made workers

redundant and women workers were softer target. Another possible difference arose from

the change in ownership during post nationalization period. In the pre-nationalisation

times when mines were in private hands some of the protective legislations providing

benefits to women workers (like maternity benefits) would have not been effectively

implemented. However, after the nationalization, the CIL, being a public sector company

had to give all the benefits to the workers. This increased the cost of labour for the CIL

and it strated looking for labour saving mechanization (emphasis on highly mechanized

opencast mines) and institutions (policies like special FVRS).

Similarly the policies, post-liberalization, (the last research question) have been

that of rationalization of workforce and increasing the coal production at minimum costs.

Economic factors, apparently, became the overriding selection criteria during this period.

The trends set by the nationalization seem to have been further strengthened during the

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era of liberalization as the CIL lacked the budgetary support and faced competition from

the open import of coal.

However, the analysis of this chapter could focus on only one aspect of gender

discrimination, namely, reduction of number of women workers in the coal mines. But,

gender discrimination may have various other manifestations including the status of

women in the workforce, aspects of gender based division of work, and participation of

women in the decision-making process within the company (research question 2). We

examine some of these dimensions in the next chapter (chapter 6).

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