On the road to Liberty

Most Indians experience daily power cuts. Now, voters are realising that the price of being powerless without electricity, which may be free yet not available at all, can be quite high. And politicians too are becoming aware of the high political price for promising electric power and then failing to meet the growing demand. This is putting a premium on availability of reliable electricity. I explore the changing political dynamics over electric power, and look at the prospect of creating new opportunities for politicians and policy makers to explore new and innovative ways to reform the electricity sector. A slightly shorter version of the article has been published in the Asian Wall Street Journal, on July 26, 2012, under the title "Power to India's People". The longer version is below.  India is facing an electricity crisis. This year, five states have declared power holidays and another eight say they intend to ration pow...

Barun Mitra, co-author of Climate change and sustainable development (released 29 November 2004), writes "Not surprisingly, Kyoto does not sound convincing to the world's poor. For what this present debate over climate change has done is to divert attention from the core issue of mankind ó poverty." Mitra discusses a salient economic lesson from history ó "increased consumption stimulates efforts at improving efficiency, which in turn contributes to conservation, economic and environmental... The Kyoto protocol seeks to reverse this relationship by focusing on reducing consumption through punitive taxes and so on, which will not ultimately help conservation goals." My article titled Save the planet and the third world will pay was published In Sunday Times on December 5 2004. The Kyoto protocol was finally ratified a few weeks ago. It seeks to promote energy efficiency and alternatives to fossil fuels, and insists on reductions in the emission of greenhouse gas...

Does Anita Roddick warm her home with cow or buffalo manure? No? Then why is the Body Shop owner telling poor rural Indians that they should choose outdated and dangerous energy sources instead of the modern electricity that she and many of her do-gooder counterparts in organisations like Greenpeace use? I ask this question in the article titled Stop energy eco-imperialism was published by the International Policy Network on 20 October 2002. Does Anita Roddick warm her home with cow or buffalo manure? No? Then why is the Body Shop owner telling poor rural Indians that they should choose outdated and dangerous energy sources instead of the modern electricity that she and many of her do-gooder counterparts in organisations like Greenpeace use? Though British consumers have yet to make dung warming stoves the 'must have' heating source this season, Greenpeace and The Body Shop's Choose Positive Energy campaign, urges developing countries to 'Choose Positive Energy' s...