ABSTRACT
‘Development’ as a concept has a considerably long existence; however, it has emerged as a buzzword along with ‘sustainability’ only recently. It can be broadly referred to as a process of desirable change and attainable goal as well. The very nature of human society is to continuously evolve for betterment, and to do so, humankind sets different development goals during different time periods. With the passage of time, these goals are depreciated, and people start searching for alternatives. The proposed essay is an attempt to understand contemporary development alternatives by advocating mining tourism with reference to coal mining. It is a theoretical work with a threefold objective: make a critical appraisal of general development practices and associated problems in India, to identify the alternative approaches to development, and to evaluate the potentiality of mining tourism as a sustainable alternative. Mining tourism is an emerging sector of industrial heritage tourism having strong bases in developed countries. But in developing countries like India with a considerably long history of mining, it has a strong ground as well. On the one hand, active mines could have tourism as a secondary economic activity, as it would create extra employment for locals, extra revenue for the owners and live experiences and educational insights of modern mining technology for tourists, and, on the other, the introduction of tourism in the post-mining heritage-scapes could pave the path for sustainable development coping up with environmental, economic and social challenges. As a matter of fact, tourism could never reach the economic pinnacle mining itself could do, but it surely has the potential to revitalize post-mining societies.
