According a recent  co-authored by Pai about how to implement a just transition in coal-dependent communities in India and South Africa, the coal sector provides more than 300,000 direct jobs and nearly one million indirect jobs in coal supply chains and service sectors in Jharkhand. But several million additional people work as illegal coal miners, mostly local villagers who scavenge coal from abandoned mines. Together, these jobs constitute nearly 10% of employment in the state.