India leads Asia's dash for coal as emissions blow east

Magadh, India

DEEP in the thickly forested hills in its east, India last month started production at what it hopes will in five years be Asia's biggest coal mine.

At the open-cast mine, which involves the clearing of more than 18,000 hectares of land, noisy excavators are busy digging for coal that will feed a huge power plant being built nearby to fuel India's energy-hungry economy.