Badal valley in Uttarakhand has now become a demo valley for green energy---- The coming years are going to be quite difficult for the world if preventive measures are not taken to tap new and non-conventional sources for its energy requirements. This realization has led to the formation of an international forum comprising members of 17 countries with its headquarters in China. Known as International Non-Governmental Cooperation Organisation for Renewable Energy (INGCORE), the group has members from USA, Canada, Brazil, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Austria, Iran, Hong Kong and representatives from N America, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. A meeting of this group was recently held in Changsha City in China to discuss ways and means to produce energy from small hydro power projects which, besides producing the energy requirements of the country, would go a long way in preventing migration from the villages to the big cities. Anil Joshi, founder of the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), who is the lone Indian on the seven-member governing body of INGCORE is delighted that he has been able to get the nod for a feasibility study of the Badal Valley in Tehri district for an experiment of this new methodology. Talking to Sahara Time, Joshi said, "If China can prevent migration from its villages by developing small hydro power projects why can't India do the same. We have selected 10 villages in the Badal Valley which would be developed as a demo valley for this kind of experiment. If this is successful the model could be replicated in other parts of the country." Joshi further says, "India has a lot to learn from China where the villages have been so transformed that the rural versus urban ratio is 3:1 as against India where this ratio stands at 13:1. China has been able to generate 45,000 MW power through small hydro projects of its total capacity of 5,00,000 MW whereas we in India have been able to generate only 3000 MW from the water mills which are spread across the Himalayas." He said that the HESCO had already been working on several projects in the Himalayas to develop and upgrade the techniques for harnessing power from the traditional Gharats, which are almost on the verge of collapse in Uttarakhand. Joshi suggested that a Rural Energy Window for the Himalayas should be set up and this was accepted and adopted unanimously by the international forum. Giving details of the project, he said that the 10 villages would meet all their energy requirements through solar energy, hydro energy and bio-mass energy instead of using up the already depleting energy resources. This would be the first international effort of its kind in the country to work on the renewable energy sector by involving the local communities with experts from all over the world, Joshi said. The high profile Governing Body of INGCORE is headed by Tong Jiadong from China and its director general is an Indian scientist settled in China, V K Damodaran. The general secretary of the World Trade Forum, Sujit Chowdhary, has also shown keen interest in the matter and would be visiting the HESCO during his visit to India in October to study its programmes. ?