INDIA CALLING OR CRYING: SAD STATE OF INDIAN GOVERNANCE: Indian economy has been going through a rough patch. The economic growth has come down to a decade low of sub 5% from 8% plus. Rupee has b...

BENEFITS OF ENERGY SECURITY THROUGH CLEAN RENEWABLES

It is not for nothing that a large number of philosophers and analysts are raising their voice for achieving energy security on our globe through use of Renewable clean energy sources. The seeds of this idea were sowed as early as 1931 by none other than Thomas Alva Edison, the father of the electricity revolution.

Up to the nineties of the last century this idea appeared to be a fantasy of some philosophical brains and was almost dubbed as Utopian by the technologists and analysts working in the field of energy. With the dawning of the fact that all fuel reserves are finite and mankind will run out of them sooner than later,the researches and technologies started gathering steam so much so that today wise men have started talking of energy security through 100% renewable clean energies as early as 2030.

Why so much of concern for the route to energy security? The switch over to clean renewable energy sources is beneficial on all fronts.

• The first and the foremost is the fact that the very existence of earth as a planet of life is in danger because of man's quest to harness more and more comforts for himself through energy. This is quite obvious when we sift through the data on global warming which is on one hand resulting in more and more pressures on energy requirements and on the other resulting in a receding snowline and depleting water tables. In fact the policies on energy security are leading to disturbances in the natural food chain, carbon cycle, hydrology or water cycle and are taking mankind to a path of self destruction. All clean renewable energy sources contribute little to no global warming emissions during all life cycle activity of manufacturing, installation, operation and maintenance, and dismantling and decommissioning. Surprisingly the much touted clean nuclear power  results in up to 25 times more carbon emissions than wind energy, when reactor construction and uranium refining and transport are considered.
• The next major benefit of clean renewable energy technologies is improved public health and environment quality resulting in lesser load and expenditure on health services. Additionally the overall water requirements of the society will also be reduced drastically. They reduce deaths due to air pollution
• Solar, wind, tide etc are vast, inexhaustible and eternal sources of energy and harnessing them for energy security could easily qualify to be invention of the human civilization,  far too bigger and revolutionizing than the invention of wheel perhaps.
• Clean renewable energy technologies are labour intensive and provide far more jobs per KWatt than the heavily mechanized and automated technologies based on all types of fuels.
• The energy from renewable sources has traversed its path from birth to infancy to childhood and have become viable and competitive  with conventional energy sources. The prices will keep on coming down as these technologies graduate from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. And mark my words, the old age and death are never going to come! So with clean renewables we are in for an era of stable energy prices.
• Over and above all, the two hottest technologies i.e. wind and solar provide far too safe, reliable and resilient power generation system because of their suitability in standalone, micro, mini and large scale requirements and intrinsic nature of being modular. They are less prone to large scale failures in the event of extreme weather conditions and calamities such as storms as is borne by the facts emerging after Hurricane Sandy 2012. Similarly even in the eventuality of a drought they will keep on working because of negligible water requirements for their functioning.
• Energy sources have been one of the biggest bone of contention among nations and have wrought in many a wars and political manipulations leading to global upheavals. Since wind and solar are available with all nations in reasonably abundant quantities enough to match their requirements, may be with one major bone of contention removed, we will see a peaceful and tension free world in the coming years. 

INDIA CALLING OR CRYING: TRUTH ABOUT INDIAN GOVERNMENT: 

Today the truth and efficacy of Indian government,s quick fix / patchwork solutions to the economic problems being faced by the Indian economy was laid bare when the GDP growth figures for the year 2012-13 were announced and came to a dismal sub 5%, at a ten year low. Indian planners, economists and financial experts are failing to understand that the fundamental principles of economics and banking alone cannot end the miseries of the nation. In fact this reminds me about the end results witnessed by a mathematics enthusiast as is told to school students down the generations from times immemorial. A mathematician was to cross a rivulet near his village along with his family. After finding out the averages of both the water  depth and height of members of the family, he ordered the family to march ahead. To his surprise none of the members could reach the other end of the stream. He checked and rechecked both the averages a number of times and when no anomaly came to light he simply remarked with astonishment. " The maths is absolutely right but how come the family got drowned???".

The same seems to be dilemma of Indian rulers. They are simply ignoring the crucial fact that all theories work under suitable conditions. In fact the sooner they realize the importance of economics, governance and inflation in India, the better it will be for the country. We have seen the negative effects of trying to reign in inflation through monetary policies alone and have ended up with massive slow down of economy. For managing current account deficit no worthwhile effort has been made and if India is a little better placed today it is because of international prices of crude and gold have come down temporarily. God bless the country once the uptrend in the prices resumes!!!!!

The so called reforms undertaken by the government are supposed to make better atmosphere for more investments by the foreign investors but it could attract only FII money  and hardly anything has come through FDI route which could have been a real force multiplier. This would happen only when the Indian government could convince the world about its intentions of providing good corruption free governance and a will to do something that is good for Indian growth at higher rates around 9-10%. 

The fiscal deficit control through reducing oil subsidy only to give government leverage to go ahead with food security bill and by divestment by selling country's jewels are again negative means and will do more harm than any good to the economy. These improvisations may win a battle for UPA in the next election but India will definitely lose the war for becoming prosperous and global economic super power. 

NUCLEAR POWER - THE FUTURE FOR INDIA ????

Recently the Russian ambassador, Alexander Kadakin made a statement that Nuclear power is the future for India and contended that even if India buys all the oil in the world it will not suffice even for its energy requirements in the near future.The statement is nothing but a weak attempt to look after the interests of the nuclear cartel of nations, Russia being one of the major seller of this technology.

Yes it is a fact that even if India buys all the oil in the world it will not suffice even for its energy requirements in the near future. But will some sane person attempt to answer a simple fact if India utilizes a small fraction of all the  solar energy falling on its geographical area what will be the situation? This will never be answered by nuclear energy technology sellers and it is for the polity/policy makers of countries like India to understand who are fortunate enough to receive tremendous amounts of solar energy because of favourable geographic position.

To day the cost of building and operating a mid sized nuclear power plant ( say 500 MW ) is about 15 billion dollars and it takes about 15 years if all goes well to actually produce power from these plants. The pros and cons of going ahead with nuclear energy have been debated over the last few decades all over our globe and in fact nuclear power is our worst enemy. It is a curse that will perhaps continue to pester humanity and thrust towards renewable energy sources will keep on languishing till the world runs out of all kinds of fuels and  is left with no other alternative than to make use of renewable energy sources.

Let us for a moment forget all the thorns attached with nuclear energy. Let us buy the cost effectiveness logic given by the protagonists of nuclear power to provide weightage to their technology and logic by ignoring many aspects of cost calculation. True cost analysis of nuclear energy should cover capital cost, fuel cost, running cost, arrangements for stopping theft and pilferage of nuclear material, safety against terrorist groups, full arrangements for full compensation in case of a blow out for immediate damage/losses and losses resulting in even after two or three decades, decommissioning cost of a life expired plant and management of nuclear wastes and above all vulnerability to political and economic blackmail by the fuel suppliers and even the cost of transmission and distribution infrastructure and accompanying power losses. In fact the cost effectiveness of nuclear energy is a fraudulent myth being propagated solely by nuclear power technology sellers to get the best out of (wrong and out of sync with the realities of 21st century) investments made by them in research, technology and infrastructure development over the years. These guys are by design comparing the costs for a central mega power generation plant with huge transmission and distribution infrastructure whereas for solar the punch line is " solar is simple, keep it simple to retain its edge ".

The quick response capability of solar power should outweigh everything in a developing country like India. Compare the value addition the solar energy route will provide vis-a-vis the nuclear energy route. If a country opts for a 15 billion nuclear power plant, the money deployed annually will not yield any result for 15 years and any addition to the economy as a result of this plant will accrue from 16th year onward.  In the case of solar option, the 1 billion dollars spent will produce a capacity of 35 MW in the first year itself and 35 MW getting added to the power generation capacity each subsequent year available for use. In fact it means that the country will have on an average an additional power generation capacity of about 250 MW for all these 15 years. The impact of cumulative and snow balling effect of value addition to the industrial output or to the comforts of the citizenry as the case may be on the march to prosperity will be tremendous and cannot  be ignored by any true planner or ruler. 

HARNESSING SOLAR ENERGY FOR ENERGY SECURITY:AN ETERNAL HISTORY DEFINING IDEA

All life on our planet, be it human, animal or plant owes its very existence to the solar energy. The food chain, the carbon cycle and the hydrology or water cycle are all there because earth is lucky to have sun shining over its surface. The enormity of sun as a source of energy can be gauged by the fact that “In 14 and a half seconds, the sun provides as much energy to Earth as humanity uses in a day.” and over and above that this energy has been falling over earth's surface ever since earth came into existence and will continue to fall till eternity. Additionally solar energy is the mother of other energy sources like wind, tidal and even hydro. Compared to this all much talked about other 20th century energy sources like coal, petroleum, natural gas and nuclear fuel have started their journey towards depletion.

In the light of all this the very idea of harnessing solar energy for energy security on this globe should be the most outstanding idea that ever came to humanity. In fact this could easily qualify to be invention of the human civilization,  far too bigger and revolutionizing than the invention of wheel.

In a factual scenario as mind boggling as the one seen above, it is not difficult to understand    Why thrust towards renewable energy sources is languishing. It is only the hidden agendas and motivated vested interests of political leaders, industrial cartels/mafias, scientific and technical power groups which will keep on delaying the inevitable as long as possible.

CHALLENGES BEFORE INDIA , THE POTENTIAL ECONOMIC SUPERPOWER OF THE 21st CENTURY

Twenty first century belongs to Asia and India is potentially one of strongest contender for emerging as an economic superpower. This opportunity window is there for the asking but will it happen or not is the question, the entire Indian citizenry is holding its breath for. Happening of this miracle depends totally on the wisdom, vision, far sight and honesty of purpose of the Indian leadership. There is no doubt about the wisdom of the men at the top but sadly majority of their actions are guided by their baser instincts like lust for gaining power and sticking to it by fair means or foul. This more often than not results in their actions leading simply to vote catching rhetoric in stead of furthering the cause of India's march to prosperity and status of economic superpower.

The economic superpowers/giants of today are at that position not by a stroke of luck but because of the ability of their leaders to guide the destiny of those nations in the right manner.Mind you at the turn of the 20th century these countries were economically perhaps worse off than where India is today. This does not imply that it should take India something like five or six decades to realize this potential of economic superpower. As a matter of fact, India should be galloping on the road to prosperity  because it does not have to tread on the same beaten path of science,engineering and technology evolution unless and until it is foolish enough to experience reinventing of wheel all by itself.

There is many a slip between the cup and the lip. There are many pitfalls on the road to becoming an economic giant. India must learn from the experience of others and try to nip these pitfalls at the earliest. The challenges that need to be looked into and  overcome for realizing what is there for the asking.

• The first and foremost is curbing the menace of corruption and black money. In fact it is corruption and corruption alone which is blowing away Indian dream of getting prosperous.  The country must understand that corruption and black money is the biggest drag on its economy and is eating into all the good work being attempted by governments in a very big way. There cannot be a substitute for corruption mitigation and good governance - the biggest growth engines for Indian economy.
• The present economic downturn and melt down in global economy is a result of overdoing of social welfare by those countries and if they could not sustain with excesses of social welfare schemes  there is no way the Indian economy in its very infancy can pull off this miracle. In fact social welfare schemes have been the bane of many advanced economies of the world and these include allowances to jobless, pensionary benefits, health insurance etc. to name a few. There is no doubt that these are a must for any concerned government but all these benefits must be granted in a manner that they are self sustaining and in no case, at any point of time be a drag on the economy. India must learn from the horrid experiences of the western world and imbibe remedial measures to keep its date with the status of an economic superpower of 21st century.
• Reigning in population growth should be the topmost agenda of all Indian governments. In late fifties and early sixties of last century, everyone  was engrossed in the debate ' Is India Overpopulated ' and invariably one would come to the conclusion that India was certainly not overpopulated in the true economic sense as the land/mineral resources could certainly more than suffice for a population density of about 270 persons per sq. mile. Can we say the same with the present population density of about 750/ sq. mile. India is definitely on the verge of getting overpopulated if not already overpopulated. Today we talk of the demographic dividend but after a couple of decades this dividend is going to become a curse with more and more persons joining the ranks of pensioners and enjoying these benefits for very long periods because of increasing life expectancy as a result of good medical care and facilities provided by the Indian government. While the western world grew old after becoming rich, there is every likelihood that India will grow old before getting rich if the long term impacts of population numbers and demography are not taken care of now.
• Proper and out of the box management of water resources of India. comprising of perennial rivers, plenty of rainfall and underground water table. All civilizations and all prosperous geographies on our globe owe their very existence to the abundance of available water resource in their areas. Though India has been gifted by nature with a huge and well distributed water resource comprising of perennial rivers, plenty of rainfall and underground water table but the nation has not bothered to maintain it properly. This is amply seen in the snowline moving higher and higher and the groundwater table going deeper and deeper. This being a direct result of shoddy policies of the government emanating from quest for energy security through use of fossil fuels, deforestation because of pressures of growth in population and failure to harness any substantial amount of river water, in fact a major portion of this water is allowed to go to sea.
• Infrastructure is the core of all economic growth and index of a common man's comfort and conveniences and its importance is very well understood by the planners and economists. But simply raising the rhetoric is not enough. The nation is eagerly looking forward to some concrete action which is getting sacrificed at the altar of good governance. In fact India is plagued by bad governance in road and infrastructure sector.
• Energy security : If infrastructure is the core, energy security is the mother of all economic growth and much to the chagrin of all well meaning citizens of India is not only prey to bad governance but the path taken by the rulers and planners is directionless and not in sync with the futuristic realities of energy security scene all over the globe. India must draw strength from the fact that the oil rich countries have simply transformed their economies by getting the best out of their abundantly available energy source i.e. oil. Luckily for India, it has abundant solar, wind and hydro resources and in fact  many times more than the country's likely requirements by the turn of the century. The thrust in researches and technology development should logically come from India whose needs during the next decade or two for additional power are may be 5 times its present power production. With the pluses of resource availability, massive demand and almost nothing to loose because of obsolescence of high value investments in research, technology and manufacturing infrastructure for any other power production mode, India must seize this opportunity which can be the biggest catalyst in India's march to the status of a global superpower.
• All human beings are inherently wedded to the philosophy of getting short term gains, the gains that bring reward to the person in quickest possible time. The short term solution or patchwork may appear to be lucrative for the run of the mill polity but the long term fixes are a must for India, the potential superpower of the 21st century. 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 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.

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