Opinion
Integrated energy policy in a limbo
29 Dec 2009 |
Dr Leena Srivastava
| Financial Chronicle
In the last week of December 2008, the Union cabinet approved the salient features of an integrated energy policy for India put up by the planning commission on the basis of a report prepared by an expert committee constituted for the purpose. The draft policy contained several rational and oft-demanded features, including the encouragement of competitive behaviour, the provision of a level playing field between the private and public sectors, transparent and targeted subsidies, a focus on energy efficiency and demand management, promotion of renewable energy through production-linked incentives and a major focus on biomass-based energy.
India and China are the most decisive factors
16 Dec 2009 |
Mr Sakarama Somayaji
| The Financial Express
‘Climate change’ is the buzz word today. According to reports of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there is enough scientific evidence to prove that the matter is serious and needs immediate global action. As the Copenhagen Conference has started, every international leader is keen to be in the centre of the talks on climate change. However, one thing remains unclear—who will do what and by when, to save the planet from global warming.
India and China are the most decisive countries, not only because of their size and hence the capacity to contribute to the climate change, but also because of their current growth rate. In the next two decades, these two developing giants are supposed to reach a stage where other developed countries stand today. The large investments flowing into these countries carry huge social and human costs. Projects often involve involuntary resettlement, mostly of poorer groups, with its potentially impoverishing impacts. In the fast-track race for development being currently pursued, it is critical that the interests of people displaced in the process are adequately protected. Development-induced displacement, resettlement and rehabilitation will be a major challenge for both the nations in pursuing their developmental goals.
The Copenhagen conundrum
15 Dec 2009 |
Dr Leena Srivastava
| Financial Chronicle
The news media has been full of the controversies surrounding the climate change summit at Copenhagen. Prime space and time has been accorded to the stand-off between members of India’s negotiating team as also to the stand-off between the developing and the developed world; within the developing world and within the developed world too! There seems to be a complete breakdown in negotiations.
Why are the governments of the world in such an unprecedented situation? The answers probably lie in the increasingly undeniable and threatening findings of science (the leaked e-mail exchanges notwithstanding), the numbing and desperate moral responsibility arising from the knowledge of the impact of current decisions and negotiating skills on the future existence of millions and balancing the above with a narrowly defined — both in terms of geographical and time scales — task of protecting national interests.
A place in the sun
07 Dec 2009 |
| Business Standard
Given India\'s large geographical spread and ready availability of sunshine, solar energy could be the answer to our energy shortage.
The average intensity of solar radiation received on India is 200 Mw per sq km. With a geographical area of 3.287 million sq km, this amounts to 657.4 million Mw. However, leaving aside land being used for agriculture, forests, housing and industry etc, only 12.5 per cent of the land area (amounting to 0.413 million sq km) can, in theory, be used for solar energy installations. Even if 10 per cent of this area is used, the available solar energy would be about 8 million Mw, which is equivalent to 5909 mtoe (million tonnes of oil-equivalent) per year. TERI estimates show that the country’s total commercial energy consumption could increase from 284 mtoe in 2001 to 1,727 mtoe in 2031 in a ‘business-as-usual’ (BAU) scenario. In that scenario, the available solar energy would be more than three times the estimated commercial energy consumption in 2031.
Cold, necessary cuts
04 Dec 2009 |
Dr R K Pachauri
| The Hindustan Times
Two days before Copenhagen, governments are staking their positions on the boundaries of the agreement that they would accept coming out of that meeting. The focus today is entirely on what governments may have to do to deal with the problem of growing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), which is leading to human-induced climate change and creating impacts that would prove extremely harmful for several societies across the world. However, based on current indications, Copenhagen would hopefully move the world towards an effective agreement, but may still not result in legally binding and precisely defined commitments. Governments are likely to continue negotiating the details of an agreement that all countries hopefully would sign on to, possibly before 2010 is out. However, particularly in democratic societies, the only means by which action can be taken by governments, business and civil society would require the public being convinced that reducing GHG emissions is in their individual and collective interest.
India’s strategy in Copenhagen
01 Dec 2009 |
Dr Leena Srivastava
| Financial Chronicle
With the Copenhagen negotiations on climate change less than a week away, the likely outcomes seem to be more mixed and uncertain than ever before. Whereas some countries - notably Japan, Norway and the European Union - have taken leadership positions and made concrete commitments in support of a climate-friendly future, others such as the US and China (the G-2!) have indulged in mere tokenism. India, too, is under tremendous pressure to participate at the highest government level in the summit and take on commitments to deviate from its business-as-usual emissions path.
BT brinjal opens new avenues for farmers and consumers
23 Nov 2009 |
Dr Vibha Dhawan
| The Financial Express
The landmark decision of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, on October 14 to allow the release of BT Brinjal has been viewed by some as the government\'s commitment to opening doors to new technologies, while others are viewing it with suspicion and call it a hasty decision.
The success of BT cotton, where within seven years, over 80% of the farmers have adopted the technology gives confidence about the BT technology, raising farmers\' expectations. However, one must keep in mind that cotton is a non-food crop and thus has concerns related only to environmental safety. BT brinjal, being a food crop, has to be adequately tested for food safety in addition to environmental safety. There is an ongoing debate about whether it should be labelled, thus giving consumers the choice to make their own decisions.
Bite the bullet on utility pricing
17 Nov 2009 |
Dr Leena Srivastava
| Financial Chronicle
The most basic of economics taught at the school level talks about demand and supply and the role of pricing in ensuring equilibrium and clearing markets. However, in India, despite huge shortages and inefficiencies in supply and consumption, we refuse to move to market-determined pricing.
In the case of water, the tariffs are flat, unmetered charges that do not reflect the volume of consumption, the cost of supply or indeed the purpose of consumption. For electricity services, there is a demand charge that reflects connected or sanctioned load and metered tariffs that are not differentiated either by time-of-day or the load on a system at any given point in time. In the case of transport, there is really no real differentiation in taxes on either the fuel efficiency of a vehicle or the road space it occupies. The one-time road tax on motor vehicles also limits the degree of freedom available with authorities to charge for congestion dynamically or road infrastructure improvements - unless it is done through the fuel bills.
Do we need a new Copenhagen plan?
04 Nov 2009 |
Dr R K Pachauri
| Business Standard
A big polluter like China comes across as wanting to curb greenhouse gas emissions. India has a GHG-plan but unless this is tabled, we come across as spoilers\'
The issue of whether India should change its position on climate change is largely academic. In reality, India\'s climate change position has already undergone progressive transformation with the establishment of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Climate Change and its formulation of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The overview of the NAPCC clearly states, \"our approach must be compatible with our role as a responsible and enlightened member of the international community, ready to make our contribution to the solution of a global challenge, which impacts on humanity as a whole\". The NAPCC includes eight separate missions, the very first being the solar energy mission, with plans to set up approximately 20,000 Mw of solar capacity by 2020. This is clearly a deviation from business as usual, because India has promoted only coal-based thermal or hydro power on this scale.
The oil fires in Rajasthan
03 Nov 2009 |
Dr Leena Srivastava
| Financial Chronicle
The raging oil tank fires in Jaipur have once again highlighted the state of disaster preparedness and response mechanisms in India. What is particularly alarming about the incident is the knowledge that hundreds of such oil depots are probably spread across the country with scant regulatory oversight and even lower levels of awareness about the magnitude of storage, risks and vulnerabilities amongst the residents around the area.
This fire is not the first such incident in the world. There have been oil tank fires in China, the UK and the US as well. The accusation flow in some of these countries closely resembled what we are witnessing around the Jaipur incident today. But the key question is what do our regulatory authorities learn from similar incidents that occur internationally? What is the level of coordination between the various departments that authorise the establishment/continuation of a hazardous enterprise in given locations and the authorities that may need to deal with the consequences of a disaster occurring? It would be useful to do a case study on the roles of the fire department, the traffic police, the disaster management authority, the pollution control board, the health department and others to learn lessons for the future.