Adanis' Australian coalmining project to "release" 121 million tonnes of greenhouse gases: Greenpleace

The project site

By A Representative
Top international environmental NGO Greenpeace has raised the alarm that if India's powerful Adani Group is allowed to go ahead with its Carmichael coal-mining project worth $21.7 billion in Australia, on full production, a whopping 121 million tonnes of greenhouse gas would be released into the atmosphere each year.
To be set up on 28,000 hectares (ha) land, the compay proposes to ship 60 million tonnes of coal directly through the heart of the Great Barrier Reef, which Greenpeace has says is Australian province Queensland’s "most precious environmental asset."
“It doesn’t matter if the coal is burnt in India, in Korea or Australia. Climate change is a global problem and exporting the coal makes it our problem when the future of the Great Barrier Reef is at stake,” said Shani Tager, Greenpeace Australia Pacific reef campaigner.
The Greenpeace statement, carried by news portal southasiatimes.com.au, comes close on the heels of Queensland Parliament agreeing to provide "all state government approvals for Adani Mining’s $21.7 billion Carmichael Coal project, located north-west of Clermont", reports from Australia said.
The motion to support the project, ironically, was supported by both Government and Opposition speakers, who told Queensland Parliament that the project would "provide thousands of jobs and rapid economic development for the region." What makes the Adani project particularly high profile is the business group's strong support comes from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The government strongly supports the sustainable development of the Galilee Basin for the jobs and economic development it could provide for regional Queensland,” Mines Minister Anthony Lynham claimed.
Last month, the State’s Department of Environment and Heritage Protection granted Adani a formal environmental authority (EA) for project, though with approximately 140 conditions, including 9 conditions relating to the black throated finch as required by the Land Court, the report said.
The Adanis, however, have still not crossed the last hurdle of gaining a mining license from the state before it begins project development. Dr Lynham told Parliament that the license could be "approved when compensation agreements were reached."
Calling the Queensland Parliament’s "support" for the Carmichael coal project as "utterly irresponsible" and "grossly hypocritical", Greenpeace said, “Instead of offering words of support for the coal industry under the banner of creating potential jobs, the Queensland government needs to protect the Great Barrier Reef, which provides jobs for more than 69,000 people already."
“Allowing any new coal mines will worsen the threat to the reef, and is incredibly hypocritical, given the Queensland government’s continued promises to UNESCO that it will protect this World Heritage icon. Instead of wasting their time with empty statements of support for the coal industry, the Queensland government should be working to transition to clean energy and sustainable jobs”, it said.
“Jobs associated with Carmichael have been grossly overstated, as the Land Court heard. There are no sustainable jobs in coal The Queensland Government seems to have forgotten that coal creates carbon emissions. If the Carmichael mine, the biggest proposed coal mine in Australia, gets built, the coal will be burnt overseas, driving climate change, warming our oceans and contributing to coral bleaching", it added.

Comments

What Sister Nivedita understood about India that we have forgotten

By Harasankar Adhikari In the idea of a “Vikshit Bharat,” many real problems—hunger, poverty, ill health, unemployment, and joblessness—are increasingly overshadowed by the religious contest between Hindu and Muslim fundamentalisms. This contest is often sponsored and patronised by political parties across the spectrum, whether openly Hindutva-oriented, Islamist, partisan, or self-proclaimed secular.

Safety, pay and job security drive Urban Company gig workers’ protest in Gurugram

By A Representative Gig and platform service workers associated with Urban Company have stepped up their protest against what they describe as exploitative and unsafe working conditions, submitting a detailed Memorandum of Demands at the company’s Udyog Vihar office in Gurugram. The action is being seen as part of a wider and growing wave of dissatisfaction among gig workers across India, many of whom have resorted to demonstrations, app log-outs and strikes in recent months to press for fair pay, job security and basic labour protections.

India’s universities lag global standards, pushing students overseas: NITI Aayog study

By Rajiv Shah A new Government of India study, Internationalisation of Higher Education in India: Prospects, Potential, and Policy Recommendations , prepared by NITI Aayog , regrets that India’s lag in this sector is the direct result of “several systemic challenges such as inadequate infrastructure to provide quality education and deliver world-class research, weak industry–academia collaboration, and outdated curricula.”

The rise of the civilizational state: Prof. Pratap Bhanu Mehta warns of new authoritarianism

By A Representative Noted political theorist and public intellectual Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta delivered a poignant reflection on the changing nature of the Indian state today, warning that the rise of a "civilizational state" poses a significant threat to the foundations of modern democracy and individual freedom. Delivering the Achyut Yagnik Memorial Lecture titled "The Idea of Civilization: Poison or Cure?" at the Ahmedabad Management Association, Mehta argued that India is currently witnessing a self-conscious political project that seeks to redefine the state not as a product of a modern constitution, but as an instrument of an ancient, authentic civilization.

Gig workers’ strike halts platforms, union submits demands to Labour Ministry

By A Representative India’s gig economy witnessed an partial disruption on December 31, 2025, as a large number of delivery workers, app-based service providers, and freelancers across the country participated in a nationwide strike called by the Gig & Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU). The strike, which followed days of coordinated protests, shut down major platforms including Zomato , Swiggy , Blinkit , Zepto , Flipkart , and BigBasket in several areas.

Why experts say replacing MGNREGA could undo two decades of rural empowerment

By A Representative A group of scientists, academics, civil society organisations and field practitioners from India and abroad has issued an open letter urging the Union government to reconsider the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and to withdraw the newly enacted Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025. The letter, dated December 27, 2025, comes days after the VB–G RAM G Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 16 and subsequently approved by both Houses of Parliament, formally replacing the two-decade-old employment guarantee law.

From Kerala to Bangladesh: Lynching highlights deep social faultlines

By A Representative The recent incidents of mob lynching—one in Bangladesh involving a Hindu citizen and another in Kerala where a man was killed after being mistaken for a “Bangladeshi”—have sparked outrage and calls for accountability.

NYT: RSS 'infiltrates' institutions, 'drives' religious divide under Modi's leadership

By Jag Jivan A comprehensive New York Times investigation published on December 26, 2025, chronicles the rise of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — characterized as a far-right Hindu nationalist organization — from a shadowy group founded in 1925 to the world's largest right-wing force, marking its centenary in 2025 with unprecedented influence and mainstream acceptance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi , who joined the RSS as a young boy and later became a full-time campaigner before being deputized to its political wing in the 1980s, delivered his strongest public tribute to the group in his August 2025 Independence Day address. Speaking from the Red Fort , he called the RSS a "giant river" with dozens of streams touching every aspect of Indian life, praising its "service, dedication, organization, and unmatched discipline." The report describes how the RSS has deeply infiltrated India's institutions — government, courts, police, media, and academia — ...

Reshaping welfare policy? G-RAM-G marks the end of rights-based rural employment

By Ram Puniyani With the Ram Janmabhoomi Rath Yatra, the BJP’s political strength began to grow. From then on, it started projecting itself as a “party with a difference.” Gradually, the party’s electoral success graph kept rising. However, many thinkers and writers did not find this particularly worrying at the time, as they saw little difference between the BJP and the ruling Congress. The BJP’s real face began to emerge when it became the principal party of the NDA led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It first came to power for two brief tenures—13 days and then 13 months—and subsequently governed for nearly six years with Vajpayee as Prime Minister. During this period, many of these writers began to understand that the BJP was indeed a “different kind” of party, as even then the process of undermining democratic values and norms had begun. During the first term of the UPA government, several schemes were implemented that were based on the concept of “rights.” These included the right...

Search This Blog