The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has introduced a new Solar Power Scheme as part of the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM JANMAN) aimed at Particularly Vulnerable Tribal
The country is facing a power crisis.
The much-hyped High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) to improve the quality of power supply is moving at snail's pace.
There are 1,515 villages in the State, which are totally covered under the rural electrification programme. The number villages partially covered under the programme is 6,603. This was stated by Power Minister Pradyut Bardoloi in the State Assembly today in reply to a starred question from Independent member Pranab Kalita. He also said that the State Government had adopted schemes to complete the rural electrification programme covering all the villages by 2009. After the approval of the Rural Electrification Corporation, all the villages will be covered, he said apprising the House that altogether 18, 517 revenue villages were covered earlier through various schemes. But natural calamities have severed connections to 4,061 villages. Again, 12,949 villages are covered partially under the programme, the Minister said. However, to implement the programme, an amount of Rs 2,300 crore will be required and this amount is to be obtained from the Central Government. The Central Government has set norms for making the payment for the purpose. It includes installation of at least one transformer in a village, said the Minister. The Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Programme has also included the component for providing free electric connection to the BPL families. The programme is being implemented in Golapara, Tinsukia and Cachar districts. Efforts are on to collect the lists of the BPL families from the Deputy Commissioners of these districts for the purpose of providing free electric connection, he said. The Minister also informed the House in reply to a call attention motion moved by Mission Ranjan Das (BJP), that the reports of closure of 22,000 small scale industrial units due to the installation of digital meters were not based on facts. The Assam Small Industries Development Corporation has said in a report that no SSI unit was closed after installation of digital meters. Moreover, the Minister said, only five small-scale industrial units were closed in the State during the past two years due to their inherent problems. Four of these closed units were located in Kamrup district and one in Jorhat district, he said.
THIS refers to the column "Far from failure' (February 15). The National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) is an inefficient way to revive rural economy. It would be better to improve infrastructure such as road and electricity in rural India and encourage the growth of industries. Only this would ensure employment and income to the poor. Brajendra Kumar Bardhaman, West Bengal
as part of the power sector reforms in Maharashtra, a government-owned distributor will separate feeders that service homes from those that feed agricultural pumpsets. Expected to complete over two
Cash-rich Haryana has earmarked Rs 2,800 crore for power subsidy to farm sector for the year 2008-09, surpassing even Andhra Pradesh, which has earmarked Rs 2,385 crore for free power supply to the farmers in its 2008-09 Budget presented this month. From Rs 400 crore six years back, it is a seven-fold leap for Haryana which is paying an average of Rs 40,000 per tubewell for the nearly 4.3 lakh tubewells in the state. Though Haryana, unlike neighbouring Punjab, does not dole out power free to the farm sector, but subsidises it at 25 paisa per unit. As a result, the farmer pays less than Rs 4,000 per tubewell to the power utilities and nearly 10 times the amount (Rs 40,000) is borne by the state Government. An estimated Rs 300 crore out of the Budget outlay of Rs 2,800 crore for power subsidy is due to the hike in the cost of generation and transmission of power, official sources in Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) said. "The estimate for power subsidy for 2008-09 is Rs 2,800 crore, against Rs 2,132 crore last year. Though we are able to afford it, subsidies cannot go on endlessly,' said Haryana Finance Minister Birender Singh. "We are mulling over ways to reduce power subsidy burden. At a recent Cabinet meeting, we discussed the proposal of providing power subsidy directly to farmers instead of the power utilities, on the lines of Union Finance Minister's view on providing direct fertiliser subsidy to farmers. It will also help us adjudge the magnitude of transmission and distribution losses which are passed on as power subsidy by the power utilities of the state,' he added. Interestingly, Haryana, unlike Punjab, which was recently directed by its state electricity regulatory commission to clear subsidy arrears of the last few years, is also very prompt in making payments for the power subsidy to the power utilities, which are made twice in a month and even weekly. However, even after footing a huge subsidy bill, the state has failed to ensure that there are no defaults in payments by farmers. The present Congress regime had announced Rs 1,600 crore waiver for arrears of rural domestic and agriculture categories of consumers in the year 2005. "The waiver scheme was an effort to support the farmers to join the mainstream. It was not a blanket waiver, but one aimed at encouraging farmers to pay their current bills for 20 months without fail after which their arrears will be waived off,' says Haryana power secretary Ashok Lavasa. About 60 per cent of defaulting farmers have joined the scheme, which till the last review meeting of the power department, has generated close to Rs 350 crore for the state. However, according to a World Bank report on Haryana power subsidy, they are proving counterproductive for the farm sector, which has to endure the frustration and economic costs of supply that is both unreliable (not available at predictable times) and of poor quality (with fluctuating voltage).
Entrepreneurs and NGOs find innovative models to take solar energy to rural homes in the country. As dusk slowly lapses into night, it is time for millions to call it a day. For, before the night falls, farmers with their cattle have to be at home, children have to finish studies, housewives have to finish the household chores, as life comes to a standstill once it is dark.
In contemporary parlance, SEBs remain deeply subprime. Several initiatives in the power sector are supposedly on the anvil. First, a Rs 100,000 crore National Electricity Fund (NEF) has been reportedly proposed by a committee. Ostensibly the objective is to provide loans to those state electricity boards and, presumably, their successor unbundled entities comprising transmission and distribution companies that cannot otherwise borrow from normal channels, like banks. The money will be borrowed for the benefit of state electricity boards (SEBs) by government-owned specialised financial intermediaries, specifically, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) with the help of fiscal sops and concessions (and implicitly government backing given the origins of these entities). Second, the possible extension of the tax holiday for new power projects (including mega ones) from 2010 to 2017 since projects that have been awarded recently are unlikely to begin operations on time to benefit within the current deadline. Third, a revamped Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (APDRP) to induce reduction in aggregate technical and commercial (ATC) losses may be introduced, whereby states are financially rewarded if losses decline to a target level, say, 15 per cent. The serious "new' money is the NEF, if it comes about. The proposed initiatives are hardly original, they are devoid of conviction (since we are close to elections), and they are largely an admission of failure. Since the beginning of the decade, this will be the second instance of a major central government financial intervention in the electricity sector. It may be recalled that in 2001, unpaid dues (including interest and penalties) of SEBs to central public sector units (CPSUs) and Indian Railways had reached Rs 41,500 crore (about 2 per cent of 2000/01 GDP); the sector was on the verge of a default crisis, which would have taken CPSUs down, financially. The way out, in a manner of speaking, entailed securitising Rs 35,000 crore through bonds
The Planning Commission on Tuesday suggested a slew of measures to reform Punjab's power sector, including charging differential peak and non-peak tariffs for commercial users in the state. At a meeting to finalise the state's Annual Plan for 2008-09 on Tuesday, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal discussed at length the issues concerning the power sector with Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Zira (Ferozepur), February 17 In what could show light at the end of the tunnel to power-starved Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), which spends more than about Rs 2 crore daily to bridge the demand and supply gap of electricity in the state, a village in Ferozepur district is fast on its way to become the first village of the state, and perhaps of the country, to earn the distinction of a power theft-free village. Notably, besides the unavoidable transmission and distribution losses, power thefts give a tough time to PSEB in terms of losses.
