Energy Crisis in India

Energy is indispensable to life. What is our obligation as citizen of the world? The question is “Are we citizens first?” or “Are we consumers first?” Policy Vs Reality, Facts are facts. How to close these gaps? Where is the solution? Who will resolve the crisis in India? Role Vs Responsibility in India is unclear and uncertain. Constitution Vs Acts the problem of right interpretations and definitions is not new to India. National Vs Global the struggle is on with the duality philosophy. Why we are targeting Global Markets? Will every citizen of India get electricity by 2025? We should not kill the facts. Killing fact is as good as crime. The transparency in resolving national crisis is always going to be in the right direction of national development. An effort big or small which adds to national betterment must be encouraged at any level of commitment. Can you think of life without energy? This is a study primarily to share the voices of Indian citizens who experience the gains and losses with and without power to their homes. There is no fun in flaming the blames in the sector. An integrated system is the call of the day now in India. The needs of “Modern India” are very much based on electrical energy. How to generate sufficient electrical power meeting the daily loads in India? Load shedding is to be minimized is the national agenda voiced by the citizens of India. Unity Vs Diversity is part and parcel of existence. Need Vs Greed the equilibrium is invariably essential. Population Vs Service is a national challenge to any form, size and style of government across the world. India is trying to shine with frozen limbs. Where are industries to produce food? Agriculture was India’s backbone and will remain in future too. Who is going to provide us food grains for more than one billion people in India? Rather than focusing on “SMART CITIES” the government should develop and create “RURAL CITIES”. I firmly believe that “Irrigation should be given Industry status in India”. Every farmer is an entrepreneur who is religiously contributing in providing food to citizens of India. Food security is a serious concern for India seeing the rate of rising population. Irrigation needs Power. A good irrigation system is only possible by connecting all the fields with the electricity distribution network. Every home in every village needs electricity connection. Lot is to be done to ultimately realize hundred percent rural electrification in India. India is driven by “Political Mix”. The policies are guided by “Government Mix”. The “Economic Mix” impacts our growth and development. Amidst this is the emerging “Energy Mix”. India is today sailing in “Era of Mix”. History in times to come will salute this phase of transition India is undergoing. The greatest turbulence is in energy sector. Crisis Vs Surplus dreams yet to be realized in the electricity sector. What went wrong in policy earlier is not that important than what is going wrong today? New Policies should not hold the legacy of unsuccessful stories in the power sector in India. Though amendments are being enacted after long debates and discussions but the apprehensions are still at the grass roots. Training Vs Awareness the gap is vast. More and more programs are to be implemented to educate the society in India. The Institutions have to take the leading role in grooming and developing the young generations in India. Industrialization Vs Modernization continually brings in technological changes in society. Infrastructure is becoming key to elevating standards of living, health and happiness. Energy is no doubt enriching lives all over the world. How will Indians benefit by revamping the energy sector? Profile Vs Pattern of energy speaks of supply and demand gap from dawn to dusk. The present type of society, community, culture, tradition and living is regularly creating the surge in demand of power. Where Energy is heading in India? This is throughout the day on the lips of every citizen in India. Will all the Rural Villages become Smart Cities in the coming decades? Can we have a power system absolutely free from problems and issues in the coming years? Can we get rid of “Black Out in India” completely? Who can design an integrated power system of that kind for India? This analytical study was undertaken for unearthing the possible opportunities which can help society as a whole in efficiently utilizing the reserves of natural resources, economically consuming electrical energy and simultaneously conserving the power equally to save energy for betterment of human living on this earth. The task of designing the methodology of study and implementing it with limited resources was the challenge in front of me. Not limiting it to be useful only for academic values, made it more difficult assignment to be judiciously undertaken. Moreover my focus was towards all the stakeholders of the energy and power sector in the country. I had to seriously endeavor to see that the outcome of the study should add value to the whole process of research. It may be a crude research but the base findings can substantially bring in enormous insight to any beginner trying to understand the energy crisis in India. “Drain of Energy” is “Drain of Life”. Let us all understand this. “Energy on Earth” is for everybody today and tomorrow. It is our responsibility to balance the living. Energy Saving is equally important as energy generation. How to be successful in preserving energy? Construction Vs Operation the blame scope for poor performance of power plants continues to invade the power sector in India. Maximizing out Put Vs Minimizing Costs keeps redefining the economics of scale again and again in the sector. Operation & Maintenance practices are also among the key factors in evaluating performance of power plants in India and needs immediate technological advancement. Obsolete Vs New Technologies, the power sector is lagging behind. Training and implementation gaps are remaining unattended for longer time. Renovation & Modernization has brought in only marginal improvements. The decisions are not without risks. Feasibility is not always the criteria against social service and national needs. The above are not the exact micro analysis findings of the sector suffering from serious energy crisis. However, it incites the ways to improve the ailing power sector. Much detailed study and research is essential to reach the virus of crisis in India. Opportunities Vs Challenges in the Indian Electricity Sector are going hand in hand. The prime action is to drive the campaign of awareness in our citizens related to the issues and problems pertaining to the energy crisis in India. My readers no doubt might be thinking of way forward in the sector. Are we really meeting the aspirations of key stakeholders in the power sector? What should be the next wave of reforms in the power sector? What is way forward? The purpose of the study was to investigate the reality the citizens are facing with electricity services and the troubles the utilities are taking to generate and distribute electricity. The purpose of this commentary on “Energy Crisis in India” is to bring in awareness to all stakeholders of the system. The citizens, stakeholders, consumers, utilities, service providers, regulators, policy makers, promoters, investors, governments, builders, developers, and many more directly or indirectly have to join hands together to work towards eliminating energy crisis in India.