WHO WILL STEM THIS ROT???

The Indian national elections to the 16th Lok Sabha are still about nine months away and all political parties are busy fooling the Indian voter and maligning each other in the murkiest of the manner. The well meaning honest Indian is witnessing  the high voltage drama going on everyday wherein the biggest howlers disguised as spokespersons are at their worst best and keep the nation amused by their daily quota of prowess of gift of the gab with half lies and no truth whatsoever. The hapless common man is all the more helpless as he fully knows that he has no choice of an honest government, and with the choices available his aspirations will just meet the fate 'out of the frying pan into the fire'. All such people would like to vote for the best man but sadly enough either this best man is not a candidate or is not allowed to be a candidate by the system of goons and buffoons ruling/ruining India.

The country which boasts of a galaxy of economists and a committed  polity ( committed to what? Your guess is as good as mine ) is passing through one of the worst economic crisis and the leaders of the advanced western countries of our globe are thoroughly enjoying the hara kiri acts of the Indian government towards destroying the Indian dream and chance to become world leaders. Isn't it really ironic that instead of present advanced countries and economic superpowers working for maintaining their coveted supremacy and global leadership, it is the Indian polity that is helping them all out by not doing anything to meet the challenges before India, the potential superpower of the 21st century. 
The need of the hour is to have somebody who could say with Charles de Gaulle, "In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate". It is a pity that political masters of India betray both, the country as well as electorate just to be in power by all kind of foul means. How one wishes that Indian polity too has some statesmen in its ranks, for 
Statesmen think of next generation and create opportunities, Leaders Seize opportunities that come their way, while Politicians think of next elections and fritter away these opportunities and dirty politicians who are the core of Indian polity simply mess up everything and this is what separates wise men from men, men from boys and boys from impudent louts in the realm of changing fate of a nation.

SOLAR ENERGY: BEST BET FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH

The Indian government's thrust on inclusive growth is laudable and it is well known that growth, prosperity, healthcare, education and improvement in living conditions are all dependent on availability of power and an energy security model based on large power producing plants and a massive transmission and distribution system is neither viable nor feasible in rural areas whether remote or otherwise. A city conglomerate with a population of  about 2 million and an area of about 200 sq. kms is a concentrated pocket requiring something like 200 MW of electricity and the costs incurred on bringing in electricity from a large power plant 150 to 200 kms away can be justified but imagine a rural cluster of 5 villages in the same area with a population of  may be 5000 and an energy requirement of  5 - 10 MW can hardly justify the costs of being on a national grid system. India today needs many fold increase in its energy generation to cover all industrialization and households electrification needs. Firstly, this quantum of energy requirement cannot be met without resorting to renewable energy sources and secondly putting a national grid in place to cover all nooks and corners of the country may not materialize in the coming few decades even if the country decides to forget the cost, commercial aspects and the economy of energy production, transmission and distribution. Power engineers and policy makers anywhere must never forget that solar is simple, keep it simple to retain its edge when looking for solutions to energy security. It is because of such concerns and considerations of giving boost to rural industrialization that Brasil, Indonesia and now Zambia has opted for Solar energy to boost rural industrialization.

Of late the government of India has started realizing the importance of development of solar energy and it has proposed a target of 20000 mw by the end of 13th five year plan, though too little and too slow in view of the potential and advantages of basing India's energy security entirely on renewable energy concepts. The Indian prime minister has asked Bharat Heavy Electricals ( BHEL ) to take lead in developing solar power technology. It will be wonderful if other engineering giants are also involved in this national endeavor to make India into a global leader in the field of power from renewable energy sources. It was equally heartening to note that Dr Kakodkar, former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, one of the most vociferous advocates of nuclear energy has bracketed solar along with nuclear for the ultimate energy security of the country. Nuclear energy is debatable and a very contentious issue in the light of false safety promises and likelihood of catastrophic accidents. In comparison solar has no thorns attached to it and easily emerges as the only wise option. It is not just for nothing that many advanced countries are putting in all their eggs in the basket of renewable energy, so much so that their yearly additions to power from renewable energy sources are to the tune of 4000 mw and higher and solar power being the highest contributor.
The whole world takes cognizance of the fact that India   is  at  the  thresh  hold  of  a  huge  step forward to become one of the economic super powers of  21st century because of a huge opportunity knocking on its doors with a combination of favourable factors like vast technical and management  human  resource at much lower expense,  an  awesome demography  advantage   coupled   with   an enormous demand for all kind of consumer goods, infrastructure, housing and healthcare needs even if one talks about extending  the benefits of development to a level of reasonably good living as per the European standards to the 1 billion plus population of the country. Add to this the need and inner desire on the part of all nations to shift over to renewable energy sources for energy security because of global environmental concerns and finite nature of all fuel based energy. Total reliance and a super thrust on renewable energy is a must for India becoming a global leader and the sheer magnitude of India's additional power requirements in the coming two decades should prompt the country's leadership to find solutions which can give the country leadership in newer power technologies for all times to come.

INDIAN OIL ECONOMICS : IS IT THE ETERNAL BANE OF INDIAN ECONOMY AND INDIAN GROWTH STORY

In a country like India which relies mainly on the oil imports for meeting its needs, all aspects of oil economy should find the topmost concern and priority in country's policies, governance.India is heavily dependent on the imports of oil, in fact 80% of the country's demand is met through imports.The oil demand and requirement is  likely to grow many fold in the light of likely prosperity that will ensue with the passage of time and unless and until the government clears the mess of oil economics through radical policy changes, transparent oil pricing mechanisms and pin pointed governance. The road infrastructure must be improved for its quality, quantity and conformance to international traffic engineering principles at all levels starting with national and state level highways, urban road infrastructure and rural roads.In fact all infrastructure is the key to Indian growth story and the road sector with more than 50% weightage in infrastructure is the all important next gen growth engine of Indian Economy directly through employment and construction activity, logistic support etc. and indirectly through massive savings on oil requirements.

Oil Economy: Pricing and distortions
The Excise, VAT and other taxation accruals from the oil sector are of the order of Rs 2,35000 cr whereas the subsidy burden is to the tune of 1,85000 cr. Through the subsidy or doles to the oil companies to cater for their under recoveries, these companies manage hefty profits a major portion of which accrues to the government in the form of dividend. ( in fact government received Rs 20000 cr as dividend from these companies in the last two years ). No doubt the Indian oil economics over the years has been the goose that lays golden eggs for the government kitty, it is likely to become an eternal bane of Indian economy and Indian growth story in the light of finite nature of oil availability on our planet, the ever increasing requirements of mankind and the awareness amongst the oil producers to milk their limited resources to the maximum.
While the government can neither afford to lose its oil revenues nor pass on even partial burden to the public at large because of compulsions of dirty coalition politics and requirements of vote politics.But it surely can resort to minimizing the effects of oil economy on Indian growth story through following time tested steps guided by reductions in imports and decreasing subsidy burden to control both current account deficit and fiscal deficit.

• Cutting down Oil wastages and needless subsidies

1. Toll barriers and slow speeds : Delays at toll cost Rs 87,000 crore every year as per the survey to be released by road ministry out of which the fuel loss is a hefty Rs 60000 crores with an additional subsidy burden of about Rs 20000 crores.
2. The subsidy cost of pilferage, theft and kerosene consumption by other than the target group is of the order of  Rs 25000 crores.
3. The LPG earmarked for domestic use finds its way to all kind of commercial activity leading to a gross subsidy of Rs 50000 cr.
4.  Out of the total diesel subsidy of Rs 1.05 lakh crore, the goods vehicles account for 37.9% and agriculture sector accounts for 18.8% which is desirable. The rest consumed by taxis, cars, other private vehicles, three wheelers, power, industry, railways, defence and others should not have access to subsidised diesel. A saving of about Rs 45000 cr can be easily achieved without any major effect on inflation.                        

• Use of Biofuel Blends

A 10% blend which is used by countries like Brazil will result in a 10% decrease in oil import bill and  subsidy bill.

• Urban Transportation Infrastructure and System   

Topmost priority for an effective, efficient, fast, reliable and comfortable mass transportation system for all urban conglomerates with a population of 0.5 million and above rather than individual's own vehicle based model. The high efficiency and low cost of travel coupled with de-congestion of roads can result in massive savings in both, the oil imports and subsidies.

In fact it is time that the rulers and planners of the country understand the implications and full impact of oil economics on Indian economy, for otherwise they can neither attain the high growth trajectory being aimed at nor give a meaningful push to their social welfare programmes. Indian economy and Indian growth story will always be at the mercy of global factors and manipulations as is being witnessed presently. No body can deny the fact that if the Indian current account as well as fiscal deficit had been kept at reasonably low levels, the inflation, high interest rates, economic slow down and devaluation of rupee would not have escalated to such an extent because of global economic turmoil that has almost signalled the onset of disbelief in Indian growth story.

CARBON Is PRECIOUS: SAVE It For FUTURE GENERATIONS

Carbon is the fourth most abundant element on our earth and is mainly found as  fossil fuels and in all forms of plant and animal life. Carbon available in plants and animal life is a part of the all important ecosystem and is reserved exclusively for food chain and carbon cycle so very essential to all life on our planet.Carbon of fossil fuels is the only Carbon available to mankind to fulfil its overall requirements of metallurgy, hydrocarbons, plastics and the much sought after strong and light materials. For energy and electricity requirements the use of fossil fuels should be the last priority. 

In the light of limited resources of fossil fuels available to this world, barely sufficient to last, may be for five decades at the most, it is mandatory that we start curbing the use of fossil fuels for energy requirements which is terribly harmful to environment and tempers with the carbon cycle by enhancing green house effect thus contributing to global warming. All electricity requirements can be met easily by non fuel clean energy sources.In metallurgical industry,carbon should be used exclusively for metallurgical requirements of reduction of various ores to metals and the heating part should be looked after by energy from a renewable source.

Transport industry is another guzzler of carbon fuels and in transport/ traction industry the efficiency is highly dependent upon the weight of the vehicle. This weight can be drastically reduced by switching over to light weight high strength carbon fibres thus achieving an almost 50% increase in the fuel efficiency resulting in a two way advantage of reducing hot CO2 emissions and using carbon for a better use.

Hydrocarbons, plastics, solvents,organic fibres have a unique place in the advanced society and the world in future will be incomplete if it does not have access to these materials because the present generation depleted carbon resources by burning them recklessly.