India, the second-most populous country in the world, is facing an unprecedented electricity crisis due to a shortage of coal, which is disrupting the production in thermal power plants. India’s coal-fired, thermal-power plants account for nearly 54 percent of the country’s electricity generation capacity. The disruptions have caused some states to resort to limited daily power cuts. Others are on the verge of announcing them soon. Out of India’s 135 power plants dependent on coal for electricity, more than 60 percent are reported to be in some form of crisis. Some of these power plants, as per media reports, presently have a stock of coal to last four days, well short of the federal recommendation of at least two weeks. On Oct. 10, India’s Union Minister of Power, New and Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh reviewed the coal-stock position in all thermal-power plants. A government press release, on Oct. 9 said the …