Star Rating Awards for Coal Mines to Be Held at Raipur

India's coal and lignite mines are graded, and the best of them are about to be rewarded. The Ministry of Coal is holding its Star Rating Awards Ceremony on 2 November 2026 at Raipur in Chhattisgarh, where mines that earned the top grades will be felicitated.

Who will be present

The Union Minister of Coal and Mines, G. Kishan Reddy, is the Chief Guest. The Minister of State for Coal and Mines, Satish Chandra Dubey, attends as Guest of Honour, and the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Vishnu Deo Sai, as Special Guest. Vikram Dev Dutt, Secretary in the Ministry of Coal, and Sanoj Kumar Jha, Additional Secretary, will also be there, along with senior officials, the chairmen and managing directors of coal and lignite public sector undertakings, people from the industry and representatives of State Governments.

How the Star Rating Policy works

The Star Rating Policy for Coal Mines sets out an orderly way of judging how a coal or lignite mine performs. A mine is measured against a wide spread of parameters rather than output alone. These cover how efficiently it operates, whether it adopts new technology, how it handles occupational health and safety, how it manages the environment, how it pursues sustainable development, how it carries out rehabilitation and resettlement, and what it does for the welfare of the communities living nearby.

From five stars to none

Each mine is graded on a scale that runs from five stars down to no star at all. The grade is not self-declared: assessment and validation are done by reviewers appointed by the Coal Controller's Organisation. The mines that reached the highest star ratings for the assessment year 2024-25 are the ones to be honoured at Raipur.

Why the exercise matters

The awards are presented as part of the government's push for mining that is scientific, safe, efficient and careful with the environment, while the coal sector keeps supporting the country's energy security and economic growth. Because the assessment is transparent and tied to performance, it pushes mining companies to keep raising operating standards, tighten environmental safeguards and follow good practice across the whole life of a mine. It also sets up healthy competition between mine operators and spreads new and sustainable methods more widely through the sector. For aspirants, the policy is a reminder that coal governance is now measured on safety, environment and community outcomes, and not on production figures by themselves.