India, Jan. 30 -- As part of ongoing structural reforms in the mining sector and in line with the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat 2047, the Government of India has notified coking coal as a Critical and Strategic Mineral under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act).

Details of the notification are available on the Ministry of Coal's website.

India has estimated coking coal resources of 37.37 billion tonnes, primarily located in Jharkhand, with additional reserves in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.

To address this dependence, the Central Government, exercising powers under Section 11C of the MMDR Act, has amended the First Schedule of the Act. In Part A, the term "Coal" has...