Rural India might be 'calling' but urban India still 'flailing' for energy

A typical domestic gas geyser in Indian households

I have been meaning to write a post for a very long time but was spoiled for choice as much water has flown under the bridge in terms of development issues and news.
The recent article by Mr. George Black, OnEarth Magazine caught my attention as it’s titled ‘India Calling How the cell phone revolution can raisemillions out of poverty, promote clean energy, and help fix the climate’.

As I started reading the article it brought back all the memories flooding when I was student at the Chaudhary CharanSingh University’s Masters in Environmental Sciences and Public Health course back in 2003 in Meerut Uttar Pradesh India.

Meerut is only 75 kms north of Delhi on the Delhi Haridwar highway and is considered to be the satellite city of Delhi in the National Capital Region (NCR).

It broke my heart to realize from the article that not much has changed in terms of the clean and noiseless energy choices even after the passing of a decade since my school and university days.

I remember distinctly that we used to run all the appliances in our classrooms as well as our laboratories with the diesel empowered generators which were both noisy and polluting at the same time. It was ironical as we were studying environmental sciences at the cost of polluting the environment.

The situation became grimmer when I joined Janhit Foundation, Meerut as an Assistant Program Coordinator in 2003 after finishing my master’s course.  The electricity situation was so compelling back then that we had to wait until 2 pm in the afternoon for the electricity to come back on so as to start our official work everyday. We used to run the computers on diesel powered generator only if it was absolutely indispensable and urgent.

At home I remember distinctly that we had to install the inverters (emergency back up) when I was taking my high school exams as the power cuts were long and unannounced. It was despite the fact the inverters coasted a bomb back in the late 90s in India and the business of inverters flourished especially in the power deprived states like U.P. and Bihar.

After having lived in Delhi for more than 5 years before relocating to New York City last year, I found adjusting to only 4-5 hours of uninterrupted power supply at Meerut very annoying and discomforting during my trips back home over the weekends.  

For the sake of hot water in the winters, my parents had to get a gas geyser which runs on the domestic liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders. These geysers are independent of the power supply and bring down the huge electricity bills too unlike the conventional electric water heaters in India. So it’s the geysers’ market which is on the boom right now.

I am lamenting here because I read about how the cellular phone service providers in India (such as Uninor) are joining hands to help the rural Indians, women in particular, reach their dream of a clean and unpolluted energy future.

Mr. Black’s effort of sketching a road map for rural India out of the energy crisis is definitely enlightening.

However, coming from the heart of the study area I can foresee that there is long way to go to attain that dream. Until and unless the model of the public private partnership (PPP) is brought into perspective without ignoring the nonprofits as well as the academic and research institutions’ contribution to achieve this goal, the dream remains a distant reality.