Rajasthan : Emerging as solar Energy Hub

Rajasthan has a huge potential of solar energy, the climatic conditions of state, makes it ideal for capturing the solar rays in abundance.

The climate of Rajasthan is arid and semi arid, the desert of Thar is spreaded on the 2/3rd part of state. These climatic specialties makes it able to receive almost 300-325 sunny days in a year and 6-6.4kwh/m2/day of sun radiation, which is second highest amount of sun radiation all over the world. The average temperature of western cities of Rajasthan like Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bikaner and Churu is between 35-40 degree, and in summer, it used to reach above 45degree. The availability of solar energy in Rajasthan is 6 to 7KW/sqkm, that provide the potential of one lakh MW energy for commercial production capacity every year, out of which only 883 MW is currently being produced. Certainly, it is not a satisfactory situation; the potential of solar energy is not being fully exploited yet.

At present, India is depend on fossil fuel energy resourses for its 70% energy necessities, total installed energy capacity of India is 156909 MW, out of which 64% comes form thermal plants. Renewable resourses account only 10% share (13,242MW) and solar energy stands at a meager fraction of 9.84MW. (Source: Ministry of Energy)

What is Solar Energy

Solar energy can be generated through two methods, solar thermal power plants and solar photovoltaic cells. The solar thermal power plants used mainly for MW level energy projects and SPVs are meant for small KW scale projects. The solar rays contains photons, when these photons fell upon SPVs, it start an action of absorbing photons and producing voltage, that meant to store in those cells as energy packets.

The government of India has launched, The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNSM) on fifth march 2010, with the target of 20,000 MW energy installation capacities until 2020. The mission has a special focus on Rajasthan, which aims to make Rajasthan, a solar hub. The 11solar energy projects of 66MW capacity of state government will be included in the first phase (2009-13) of JNSM. The first phase is aimed to establish the solar energy units’ of1000MW capacity. The state government of Rajasthan has already marked-up 20,000-hactyar land for solar energy projects in above-mentioned cities.

Previous Initiatives in Solar Energy Field in Rajasthan

Solar energy industry is still in its initial stage. However, the government of Rajasthan is encouraging private sector investment through various fiscal and promotional incentives these incentives given for both solar thermal and SPV projects. The state government has made a project to develop Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Barmer as Solar Energy Enterprises Zone (SEEZ). The Mathania solar power project (140MW) is a milestone in this field, as it is the first solar/thermal hybrid power plant of country. This project is based on integrated solar combined cycle (ISCC) technology, it will use parabolic trough mirrors to focus sun heat and further drive the turbine to generate power. This plant will produce 40MW energy, which will cost 1 million/MW and still cheaper then other methods like SPV. Besides these steps, few more small solar power based projects are working successfully, such as, 100KW capacity power plant in Gourir ( jhunjhunu), which is first of its kind in country, a solar energy driven refrigerator in Balesar (Jodhpur), state’s first totally solar energy electrified village in Jaipur etc.

In private sector, many companies are taking interest in solar energy. Reliance and Moser Bear both are developing solar power plants of 1 to 5 MW each. In which Moser Bear’s project will be the largest grid connected solar farm in India. The Rajasthan government has signed a memorandum with Clinton foundation on january2010. According to which the foundation will provide technical assistance and other necessary help to establish solar parks of 3,000 MW to 5,000 MW capacities in the state.



Centre of Excellence in Solar Energy

IIT-Jodhpur would be developed as the centre of excellence for the R&D purpose in solar energy and renewable energy field. The major area of research will be focused on storage of renewable energy, to minimize its cost, problems in grid interface, transition and up gradation etc. IIT will work with the collaboration of the government of France; its campus will be a green campus to promote awareness about environment and its conservation. In this context, it will set an example about the commercial capability of solar energy for various usages.

Under the JNSM, the central government has decided to start a project, named “Rooftop PV and small scale generation program”, that is intended to create awareness about solar energy among the common people and to let the investors know about its commercial possibilities. This project is in first phase of JNSM, under which small SPV based solar energy plants of maximum 20MW capacity will be setup in every state. In rajasthan, these plants will carry one to three MW power capacities and the state government has already marked up the land of 10 acre each in various cities, including SEEZ. Here one more fact is in favor of Rajasthan, as there is ample of barren land is available, which can be easily used to construct the power plants, this would not only raise employment opportunities in state, but will also attract the private investment and trade.

The central government has made a target of 100 MW power generations in the first phase of JNSM and according to speculations; half of that (500MW) can be produced in Rajasthan.

Draw backs of solar energy

The overall picture raises lofty hopes for the future of solar energy, but still there are many set back on the way towards green and clean energy.

Primarily problem is high cost, installation cost of a solar thermal power plant is two to 3 times higher then the traditional thermal plants.

Cost of per unit energy production is also higher then conventional energy production. Another issue is the lack of awareness about solar energy, its uses, viability and reliability. Solar energy cannot be produced in daytime, so it raises questions in a common person’s mind about its all time availability. Solar heaters, solar cookers and other solar equipments still costlier and quite complicated in use then conventional equipments, these tings used to keep the common away from solar energy. Solar equipments, such as cookers, water heater and solar panels used to occupy a lots of space, which is not suitable according to modern housing where space shortage is already a huge problem.

However, above issue are not such problematic that could not be solved. The JNNSM has a special attention on cost efficiency issue. the GOI is working on a roadmap to bring down import duty and custom duty exemption on capital equipments and other materials, low interest loan for solar plant installation etc. apart from these initiatives, some kind of subsidies or incentives can also be given to the consumers to encourage them. We can hope that these steps will help to promote the use of solar energy and make it consumer friendly.

The Flourishing World of Social Networking Sites

Twitter, Facebook, Orkut, My space blogger, wordpress etc, and many such names has become a part of our life. Those are called internet based social networking sites. Chatting, scraping and messaging on those sites is a part of daily schedule for many of us. Its craze and addiction could be understood from this fact that Shashi Tharoor got a name of twitter minister and finally lost his post in ministry of external affairs due to his frequent expressions of personal views on twitter about government policy matters. Craze of social network sites is not limited towards only young generation; the oldies are also liking to be a part of this new socio-techno phenomenon. Social network sites has provided a new sphere to express our selves, to meet with people across the globe and to transmit our thoughts and views. Off course, it is all limited towards only cyber space; still it has a huge impact on our life.

The celebrities and famous personalities are also finding it a very effective and easy way to communicate with their fans all over the world. Every day a new celebrity, from politics to bollywood, sports persons and many other public figures are joining twitter, Facebook etc. Shahrukh Khan posted his tweets at every half an hour during the release of his new film, “my name is khan”. But at the same time, complaints of fake celeb accounts of celebrities specially female celebrities is increasing, hacking of their accounts and steeling of their personal information has become a common trouble, Anushka shankar’s case when her photographs were stolen from her PC is a genuine example of such incidents. However, such incidents or uncomfortable acts do not stop people to use social networking sites.

Every day we are sharing lots of information about our personal, professional and social life through our profile statements, games, applications and pictures. Important events of our life, things happening in day-to-day life and what we are thinking at a specific moment of time; every thing we are sharing on the virtual world. Without thinking a moment that such information,  we are providing in small-small pieces can become a huge source of information or can be used to make our whole public and private profile in real world as well. It is a kind of stage where everyone has something to say, where everyone wants to express him/herself, without caring of the fact that whether there is someone who is listening or not? Everyone wants to speak more and more, wants to share more and more of his/her life.

These sites have created a virtual identity or say, it is very easy to make fake profiles on those sites. Fake names, fake occupations, profiles pictures of whatever we like, can be added. No one will come to us to ask or verify about that information. E.G. if a girl see a man some where in market or on road, she may not like to talk him or even do not bother to give him a look, but if she receives a friend request on Facebook or Orkut with a nice profile photo and some interesting information given on profile, she could easily add him in her friends network. The same thing can be told about the male users, who merely care about whom they are adding in their friend network, no matter if later on, any of that profile with a fake female name proved a hacker, and the victim has to pay the cost. Recently a couple of friends of mine faced same situation, they added female profiles as friend who not only hacked their account but also filled their profile with a lots of vulgar and obscene stuff and the worst sent such content to their friends also. When I asked them, why you added such profile that is already containing some objectionable stuff? The answer I got “well…men are always men”. It shows the carelessness of people, a negligence, it happens or let it be kind of tendency. Because people take it as a source of entertainment, a time pass where they can full fill their hidden desires without much risk. Because once you signed out from your account and shut down the PC, whole game is ended there, at least for a while it seems to be ended up.

Nevertheless, in spite of such incidents the popularity of social networking is increasing at a faster pace. People, who are not on these sites, considered as old fashioned by those who are actively participating on these sites. At the other side, many people consider these sites as useless and a total wastage of time and energy. So there are mixed opinion about these sites. However, what makes these sites so popular that people cannot imagine their life without login and logout?

It is because here is a wide platform that is not bounded by any strict laws, rules and regulations, a complete freedom of speech and expression. Say what ever you like, do whatever you want. Be a part of various political and social activities such as being supporter of saving girl child campaign, saving tiger campaign, join Indian army and so on… all at a click of mouse. These sites give us a feeling of individualism. It fulfills our hunger of separate identity…a space of my own. Even the friendship on Facebook and Orkut is not so instant, continuous messaging, chatting creates a kind of attachment and bonding among the unknown people, whom we never met in real life but would certainly like to meet and communicate further. It is the charm of these sites that always attract us to use them and to become a part of this virtual world, some times with a real identity and some times with a fake identity.

Right to Food Draft Bill : Some Concerns

“We gave our people Right to Know , we gave our people Right to work , we gave our people Right to education & now we are going to give our people Right to food “.

Above lines are the part of the budget speech of finance minister Pranab mukherjee on Right to food draft bill. An empowered group of ministers, headed by mukherjee, prepares the draft bill.

A universal food security is one of the congress party’s election manifesto2009 promises. Which particularly address the most deprived & marginalized section of society & promise for 25 k.g. food grains per month at Rs.3 for BPL. However, the bill still has to get clearance of parliament & will take further more time to be implemented. But the right of food indirectly comes under article 21 of our constitution, where Supreme Court has regarded it an essential necessity for a dignified human life. Let us look at the provisions of this proposed bill.

The draft bill guarantees a legal security against hunger by providing 25 k.g. food grains per month at Rs.3 per k.g. to the BPL families. The BPL families will be identify as per the norms of planning commission . The central government will supply food grains to state government through the central pool . The bill has provisions of food security allowance that will be given in case of not availability of food grains to the beneficiaries. It is a kind of cash subsidy for poor people .The bill have an exclusive provision of establishing food tribunals at taluka & district level & an apex food security tribunal for the adjudication of violation or malfunctioning of the bill. Certainly, this is a very useful provision, which will help to fight with corruption that has become a comman feature in government food schemes in most states.

Here a significant question arises, that what is food security? Food security means a social, economic & physical capability & access of a person towards necessary & adequate food In that context this bill could be seen as a positive vision against poverty & hunger . specially when India stand at 65th rank in global hunger index 2009 , which is merely better then Bangladesh & worse then Sudan & Nigeria . The percentage of underweight children below 5 years is 42.5 in India .

But still the drat bill is totally rejected by the activist of right for food campaign & regarded as anti –poor by left parties & faced a huge criticism from various organizations of civil society . So let’s examine some important features of the proposed bill.

The first objection on the bill is, that it does not talk about universal food security, instead of that its focused only on BPL families . Therefore, in one sense it is like any other government scheme for poors not a particular right, like right to information, right to work or education. As national council for applied economic research has already pointed out that inclusion of non –poors in subsidized food schemes is a much severe task.
The second issue is the identification of beneficiaries or the BPL people. The bill for this purpose depends on planning commission data. However, there are different data is available on BPL population. . The data released by planning commission in 2004-05 was 30 core, the saxena committee estimated 9.5 crore & DP wadhwa committee estimate is 20 crore.
The problem of different data of BPL population lies in definition of poverty line. Which is defined as calorie intake of per person. ( that is 2100 cal for urban India & 2400 cal in rural India). As Abhijit Sen, member of planning commission indicated , that if above definition taken then 80% of rural India & 64% urban India will come under poverty line. Tendulkar committee covered 38% of population under poverty line

In short, the poverty measurement should be based on income rather then calorie intake.

The another concern is about the quantity of food grains. At present, 35 k.g. food grains are being distributed under Antyoday Ann Yozna , at Rs. 2 per k.g. the Supreme Court also mandated 35 k.g. food grains as the essential requirement for food security , in its decision on Right to food PIL . Therefore, in one sense, whatever the bill is giving is lesser then, what is already been given.

The provision of cash subsidy is also not much attractive one. Because since last couple of years India has seen a sever inflation or rapid prise rise in food items. In case of hyperinflation, how much the fixed amount of subsidy could help is doubtful. Then the distribution of cash subsidy is the responsibility of state governments. Here the effective execution of law would be very much depend on the food tribunals that will be setup on taluka & district level In India , we have largest number of food base schemes in world , at one side our grain stock is rising ( in 2008-09 we had record production of grains 228 million approx.)
But at the other side half of the undernourished person(252 million) are in our country. Obviously, we need to get rid of this situation.

Right to food if executed well, then can add another landmark achievement for UPA 2nd term government. As NAREGS did for UPA 1st term government. It will make our democratic structure more equitable, more right base & more just. However, it need to meet with above concerns. The exclusion of APLs from security net is another concerned issue. the policy maker should keep this in mind that food security just do not limit only to a mare economic access of food , but it should make the lives of our people dignified , productive & healthy.