At a moment when wind and solar have surpassed coal in the global electricity mix for the first time in history, India is moving in the opposite direction — proposing new mines at a scale that would add billions of tonnes of annual production capacity, driven by a growing economy, intensifying heatwaves, and the enduring logic of energy security. The two Indian states of Odisha and Jharkhand now account for nearly all new coal mine proposals worldwide, a paradox that places the world's most populous nation at the center of a tension as old as development itself: the urgent needs of today again