❖ India’s first-ever pilot project for Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) comes at the Kasta coal block in Jamtara district, Jharkhand.

❖ It intends to use in-situ gasification to transform coal into useful gasses, including carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide in order to revolutionise the coal business.

❖ These gases are used in many industrial processes, such as the synthesis of synthetic natural gas and the chemistry of chemical feedstocks used to make explosives, fertilisers, and fuels.

❖ India’s use of fossil fuels increased by 8% in 2023, accounting for nearly all of the growth in demand.

❖ Its share of total consumption was 89%.