For a place in the sun
<p>How will solar energy be made to work in India? As I discussed in my previous article there are three key challenges. One, how will the country pay for solar energy in a situation where there is no
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Heading for a burnout
Increased incomes, innovative financing schemes, short-sighted policies and wasteful attitudes have led to an enormous amount of energy being squandered
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Pakistan lacks energy efficiency development road map: ADB
Pakistan lacks a comprehensive energy efficiency development road map and investment programme and international experience indicates that the effective implementation and incorporation of energy efficiency into the policy mainstream requires concerted, long-term action and commitment, said Asian Development Bank report. In a project update report on 'Preparing the Sustainable Energy Efficiency Development Programme for Pakistan', the ADB emphasised the need for a comprehensive policy and regulatory framework; energy price and utility rate-setting reforms and incentives; a strong equipment standards, certification, and testing regime; complementary alternative and renewable energy programmes; and easy, widespread access to energy efficiency information, financing, products, and services by all categories and levels of energy market players and end users. According to ADB project study, the energy efficiency assessment conducted under ADB's Energy Efficiency Initiative determined that Pakistan has a large and untapped energy efficiency market. It identifies several energy efficiency improvement opportunities in gas distribution (supply side) and in the government and residential sectors (demand side) that can be tapped into. These opportunities may be explored without extensive precursor preparations, detailed policy design, or framework development, achieving immediate energy savings and deferring additional supply requirements. Further refinement and expansion of such options could result in a portfolio of immediate, bankable energy efficiency investment options for Pakistan, which the government and ADB may consider. According to report, the government and domestic consumers consume more than 60 percent of Pakistan's energy. The public sector is the most inefficient consumer, and the government is looking for more efficient utilisation and conservation measures. The government is eager to procure and adopt energy efficient technology in its operations, including the use of efficient lighting and heating and cooling systems in existing and new buildings, and introduction of energy-efficient building codes. The domestic sector currently uses 45 percent of the power supply. The most effective way to expedite the use of efficient compact fluorescent lamps by domestic consumers is to inject a large volume of such lamps into the market at a low price. This approach has been successful in several countries, where it has immediately reduced customers' monthly power bills. Preliminary analysis suggests that the introduction of 15 million high-quality compact fluorescent lamps into Pakistan's domestic market would save customers $78 million over the lifetime of those bulbs (approximately 2 years). This money could be used more productively in the economy. In addition, 880 MW of power demand would be avoided. The cost of such additional new generation capacity would be $1.15 billion (at $1.3 million per MW), ADB report disclosed. ADB report further pointed out that Pakistan's gas distribution system is ageing and is suffering from high technical losses (25-30 percent in some areas compared to industry standard 5 percent) that could be eliminated by replacing medium and low pressure pipes with more efficient, corrosion-free pipes. Natural gas accounted for half (43 billion cubic meters) of Pakistan's primary energy supply in 2006. A more efficient gas distribution system would result in significant national savings (up to $580 million per year) and increased use of cleaner fuel by more domestic, industrial, and commercial consumers, ADB report mentioned. It said that Electricity consumption, projected to grow an average of 8 percent per annum until 2015 (although recent experience suggests much higher demand growth), will similarly require large power generation capacity additions. Higher energy demand and imports will also require massive investments in associated port terminals, storage facilities, refining capacity, pipeline and transmission networks, and surface fuel transport infrastructure. During 2001-2006, ADB report stated that primary energy supply increased 5.4 percent per year. Meanwhile, consumption of electricity rose at an average annual rate of 6.8 percent, natural gas by 10.4 percent, liquefied petroleum gas by 17.6 percent, and coal by 22.8 percent. Electricity use, in particular, is growing robustly across all sectors-industry, agriculture, domestic, and commercial-recording a 10.2 percent overall jump in 2005-2006, while generation increases lagged at 9.3 percent during the same period. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008
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A question of heredity
The environment in which an embryo develops influences gene expression and some acquired traits can be inherited
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Seeds of change
The NSC has transformed itself from the usual non-profit-earning PSU into a vibrant entity. Private sector seed companies have, till now, had a virtual monopoly over the production and sale of seeds, mostly hybrid seeds, of high-value crops. This was chiefly because the public sector seed producers, besides being fewer in number, remained focused right from the beginning on the production of seeds of low-value but high-volume crops (basically cereals), where profits were low though the quantities to be handled were large. Besides, public sector units (PSUs) made little attempt to keep pace with time. However, the much-needed change in the public seed sector is coming about now with the largest player, the National Seeds Corporation (NSC), adopting a corporate culture and deploying state-of-the-art technology to produce seeds even of high-value crops and hybrids. Indeed, as could be expected, this change in the work culture has transformed the NSC from the usual non-profit-earning PSU into a vibrant entity striving to find a place among the mini-Ratnas, if not the Navratnas. The headquarters of the NSC and four of its regional units in Bhopal, Jaipur, Secunderabad and Bangalore, have already acquired the ISO 9001-2000 certificate and the remaining regional units are in the process of doing so. No wonder then that, after a gap of 32 years, the NSC paid a 5 per cent dividend, amounting to a little over Rs 1 crore, to the government in November last. This was made possible by a massive 46 per cent growth in business in the past one year alone. Its post-tax profits jumped by a whopping 200 per cent in 2006-07. Indeed, the man behind this incredible transformation is the present chairman and managing director B B Pattanaik. "I would be able to declare a much higher dividend for the current year,' asserts an enthusiastic Pattanaik. He has not only motivated the aging employees of this 45-year-old corporation for better performance but has also taken several new initiatives to be in a position to rub shoulders with the well-run private sector seed companies, many of which now have business tie-ups with the NSC. "I am not interested in increasing competition with the corporate houses; I am more for partnerships,' says Pattanaik. About a dozen big houses, including some multinational companies like Monsanto and Cargill and domestic players like ITC, ECL Agro-Tech and Sheel Biotech, have forged strategic business alliances with the NSC. Most of these companies use the vast marketing network of the NSC for the sale of their seeds and other farm inputs. The Indian Oil Corporation, on the other hand, sells the NSC seeds through its network of Kisan Seva Kendras (farmers' service centres). Significantly, the NSC is now very much into the production of hybrid seeds, organic seeds and even tissue culture plantlets. It is multiplying the seeds of mustard hybrid DMH-1-DHARA evolved through biotechnological interventions by the Delhi University; as also those of the pigeon pea (arhar) hybrid, ICPH 2671, evolved by the Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Besides, the NSC would soon begin supplying gladiolus bulbs for flower cultivation. The NSC's tissue culture unit with a capacity to churn out annually about two lakh test tube-raised plantlets for propagation of the banana is coming up in Bhubaneswar and may become operational by the next month. For research and development back-up, the NSC gets support from the vast agricultural research network of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the state agriculture universities. This helps the NSC to add, on an average, around 20 new varieties and hybrids to its product range every year. Significantly, the NSC is now playing a catalytic role in the expansion of seed production, processing and storage infrastructure in the private sector under a government scheme involving 25 per cent subsidy for this purpose. About 120 projects for the creation of seed processing capacity worth 23 lakh quintals and seed storage capacity of 9 lakh quintals have already been approved. A total subsidy of Rs 6.94 crore would be paid to the private sector companies which are creating these facilities. For involving more and more farmers in the relatively more lucrative seed production business, the NSC is facilitating the provision of loans to them from the State Bank of India. Besides, it is ploughing back about 2 per cent of its own profits into the activities related to seed production by farmers and other measures as part of its corporate social responsibility initiative.
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Sharks being killed: Cosmetic industry gains (Editorial)
Environmental management does not mean changing your light bulbs to use less energy. It means looking at everything you use to see what is beingdestroyed. Have you ever looked at the ingredients in your make up or lotions? Does your moisturizer or lipstick carry the word squalene in the ingredient list? If your answer is yes, then you are partly responsible for destroying the oceans. Squalene is oil derived from the liver of deep-sea sharks. 270,000 sharks are killed every day just for their fins and oil. The oil from their livers goes to the cosmetic industry and the fins go for soup. This enormous and mindless genocide has made 307 species of sharks endangered. In fact, the total number of sharks left in the ocean is ten percent of what they were in 1950. Deep-sea sharks (those living in ocean depths of 300 to 1500 metres) have especially large reserves of squalene since their livers comprise one-third of the weight of the entire animal. So, most deep-sea sharks are caught only for their oil. The excessive catching of these sharks has caused the dramatic population declines of certain species. Some repeatedly targeted shark species are the Aizame shark (dog fish) Leafscale Gulper Shark, and the Gulper, Kitefin and Portuguese dogfish which live between 1300 to 1500 m below sea level. Deep sea sharks grow very slowly, mature late in life and have only a few young in their entire lives. They take long breaks between reproductive cycles, rendering them extremely vulnerable to over-fishing. These sharks are a target species in many industrial fisheries and are frequently caught by fishermen targeting other species. As a result deep sea sharks are at extreme risk and their numbers will take long to recover. The ocean is a very fragile ecosystem. Sharks are apex predators and oceanic food chains are dependent on them. The ocean will implode without predators and our dependence on ocean creatures will impact us tremendously as well. It is immoral to let entire species disappear for the dubious benefits of personal skin specially when there is a renewable alternative in olives. The cosmetic industry has a duty to educate consumers about what they are putting on their faces. Squalene is an oil used in cosmetic products ranging from anti aging creams to lip-gloss to give them a smooth finish and make your skin glisten. It is found in all animals, humans and some plants. It is the sebum oil that your body produces at the root of its hair. In fact it is the same composition as ear wax so it would be cheaper to use that rather than killing such an important species and rubbing its liver oil into your skin. The point is, it is unnecessary. It is not a vitamin or a mineral, it is just oil. Shark-based squalene has a readily available substitute in the market that comes from a purely vegetable origin. Squalene can be obtained from olives and it is of better quality than animal-based squalene and is less expensive as well. Squalene is also found in amaranth seeds, rice bran, wheat germ, fungi and date palm. Vegetable derived squalane is cheaper to produce, more stable against oxidation, of a higher food grade and more compatible with skin than that produced from shark-liver. Oceana is the world's largest international ocean environmental group and is campaigning to end the use of squalene in cosmetic products. As a result some companies have promised to stop using it from this year. Unilever has promised to replace shark derived squalene with plant oil in Ponds and Dove by April 2008 ( However they will still use it in other products). With this decision, Unilever has joined other European-based cosmetic companies that informed Oceana that they do not use this product from threatened animals and prefer sustainable plant-based sources. L'Oreal is also phasing-out products containing shark-based squalene. Other companies are Boots, Clarins, Sisley and La Mer (an Estie Lauder brand. Squalene 'Health Capsules' are another scam. Fly by night companies use the internet to advertise 'pure squalene oil' and 'squalene capsules' making claims about its anti-oxidant properties something consistently debunked by scientists. Among the nonsensical claims made, are those saying that sharks defend themselves therefore their liver oil will make the human body defend itself (I actually read this on an Australian selling site). Other claims are that squalene helps protect against substances that weaken or damage our natural defense systems. There is no clinical evidence to support this. It is is an oil which keeps skin soft - mustard, coconut, olive and all the other oils do. When the cosmetic industry talks about corporate social responsibility, they should start with using ingredients responsibly. Here is no point killing part of the earth and then giving a few dollars to feed children in Ethiopia or creating AIDS awareness. (To join the animal welfare movement contact gandhim@nic.in).
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Dang and blast
The anachronistic, and explosive, colonial formula of exploiting forests by denying the forest people their rights is still being followed to the letter by underdeveloped Indian administrators in the Dangs, Gujarat"s boondocks tribal belt