Excavation work has started in 3 coal blocks in Jharkhand: Official

Ranchi: Excavation work has started in three out of 29 coal blocks of Jharkhand, according to a senior official of the Ministry of Mines.
Additional Secretary in the Union Ministry of Mines, M Nagaraju called on Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday and informed him that excavation work has already started in three coal blocks and in the coming months work will start in Keredari, Chatti Bariatu, Badam, Tubed, Tokisud and Lohari coal blocks also, a state government release said.
The chief minister told the additional secretary of Ministry of Mines to ensure that the allottees of various coal blocks follow the law of the state, it said.
According to state government rules, all companies should ensure that 75 per cent of the manpower working in a project should be from Jharkhand.
Nagaraju assured the Chief Minister that after holding a meeting with the allottees of various coal mining companies, instructions would be given to them to deploy 75 per cent manpower in the mining work of the state itself.
In the meeting, a special discussion was held on the positive steps being taken by the officials of the Central and state government for commissioning of many more coal blocks.
Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh, Additional Chief Secretary L.Khyangte, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Rajiv Arun Ekka and other officers were present in the meeting, the release added.
Time of ‘extreme pain’ in India, economy below 2019 levels: Abhijit Banerjee
Ahmedabad, Dec 5 (PTI) People in India are in “extreme pain” and the economy is still below the 2019 levels, with “small aspirations” of people becoming even smaller now, Nobel laureate economist Abhijit Banerjee has said.
He was virtually addressing students of the Ahmedabad University in Gujarat on Saturday night from the US during the varsity’s 11th annual convocation which was also held online.
The economist was sharing his observations from a recent visit to West Bengal.
“You (students) are in a place where you can give back. Society really needs it. We are in a time of extreme pain in India,” he said.
“I just spent some time in rural West Bengal and stories you hear about, you know, all the aspirations that have been a little bit dashed are very real…small aspirations which became smaller now,” Banerjee said.
“I think we are in a moment of great pain. The economy is still well below as against what it was in 2019. We don’t know how much below, but it is substantially below. And I am not blaming anybody, I am just saying,” said the economist, who won the Nobel Prize along with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer in 2019.
He also urged the students not to succumb to pressure from family or society in choosing their career paths, but have the courage to do what they really want to do in life.
Banerjee also informed the audience that he had spent 10 days in Tihar jail during his student days at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi.
“When I was about to leave the JNU and go to Harvard, I was in a student demonstration and then I was taken to Tihar jail, and kept there for ten days. When I came out, lot of elders told me that I have ruined my career, and Harvard or the US will never let you in. They thought I should be regretful,” he said.
—PTI

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