All you wanted to know about the coal scam - India - DNA

What is the basic issue?

Between 1993 and 2011, the government of
India gave away 206 coal blocks for free to
government and private companies.
So, if these blocks were being given away free from 1993, why so much
commotion now?

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in a recent report, estimated that the losses due to the policy of the government giving out coal locks for free amounted to Rs1.86 lakh crore.

Why is the Congress-led UPA
government being blamed if the policy
started in 1993?
Estimates made by stock brokerage CLSA
suggest that only 41 out of the 206 blocks given
away for free were allocated before the end of
2003. This means that 165 blocks were
allocated between 2004 and 2011. The UPA
government has been in power since May 2004.
Hence, a major number of coal blocks were
given away free during the UPA rule.
And how is Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh involved in all this?
The PM also happened to be the coal minister
between 2006 and 2009. During this period, 134
coal blocks were given away for free.
Estimates made by Nomura Equity Research
suggest that between 2006 and 2009, the coal
blocks given away for free had geological
reserves of around 40 billion tonne. India has
around 286 billion tonne of geological reserves
of coal. This means around 14% of total
geological reserves of coal was given away
free during the period Manmohan Singh was the
coal minister.


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All you wanted to know about the coal scam - India - DNA