Democratic distribution of electrical power

This post is about the (mis)use of electrical power in energy deficient India and shows that the current allocation of electrical power is a cause of many problems that India faces.

Country running on UPS and inverters:
                UPS and inverters are as common in Indian house holds as salt. This is true not just in cities but also in villages. The reason behind this is that one knows that power cuts are regular, unpredictable and very often. The reason behind power cuts is that India does not have enough power generation plants. The reason there are not enough power generation plants is that there is not enough fuel.
                India has a shortage of all types of fuels. It imports the petrol for transport, it imports coal for thermal power plants, it imports uranium for nuclear power, it even imports hydro power from Bhutan and to top it all India imports cooking oil to power its human population. You can see the wastage of energy everywhere in India.
               UPS and inverters are used to run only the essentials, like a bulb in each room, or a computer in the office.No one uses inverters to run Televisions or music systems. When there is a short supply, it is common sense to prioritize the needs and use the resource cautiously. Indians do that in their home, but collectively as a nation they do not.
               Take for example, if a city has given amount of power will it use it to light up neon signs and keep hospitals in the dark. No, but that is what happens in every Indian city. In one part of the city, usually where poor people live or on the outskirts, power cuts are more often and hospitals and houses are without power while in the central part of the city, the neon signs and the bill boards are lit.


             The smaller towns endure longer power cuts, in villages the power is available only for a few hours and voltage fluctuations are high. People wonders whose needs are more important, a hospital in a village/town near New Delhi/Mumbai etc or a bill board in new Delhi/Mumbai which consumes enough electricity that can power a hospital.

                      The argument of economics fails here as the hospital is paying for bills and when there is a shortage of resources, the state has a duty to do a fair allocation of resources. More on economic arguments below.


The downward spiral of darkness:
                 No human being would like to live in darkness. So those living in villages want to move to cities, those living in out skirts want to move in central parts of cities. So the resourceful will move out of town and those places will become less desirable.
                But what about the business, the factories, the shops. They find it more and more difficult to operate. If they buy generators, the cost increases. This adds to the inflation numbers every week.
                As with any other services, you would not like to pay if the service is not good. You will not pay a restaurant if it doesn't serve you food when you need it. Same with the power supply.  If the power supply is eratic and unpredictable, there will be a point where the consumer will say I will not pay for this service. This is what has started happening is villages and small towns.


The problems of Power(ful):
                        The places where the power supply is regular and good, have their problems for the same reason. The big cities have too many people living in them. More and more people want to live in big towns because that is where all the power is. People need jobs, medical facilities etc and as we have seen business are moving out of small town, so are people.
                       This brings the problems of overcrowded big cities. Traffic jams and high commuting time are a daily affair in big cities. Over crowding is straining the physical and service infrastructure. There is a shortage of water in all the big cities and public health facilities are insufficient. The quality of life in cities is deteriorating.


The failure of economic arguments:
                         India has a complex web of subsidies which have the intention of supporting the poor, but largely end up supporting the rich.
                         It is true, that farmers are getting free electricity, which is wrong but the electricity that they get is so little and of such quality that no one can ask them to pay for it. The supply to farms is during midnight, when there is less need in cities, the voltage fluctuations damage the water pumps, the supply is not predictable, it will be there on one day and not the next, the farmer cannot plan his day or irrigation of field. How can one pay for this kind of service. Electricity to farmers is used for production and an increase in its cost will increase cost of food to city dwellers. So most of the farmers have turned to diesel generators which is also subsidized.  But more of the subsidized diesel is being burnt in SUVs in the traffic jams of large cities.

                     Lets stick to electricity. The street lights in cities are also subsidized. So is most of the consumption for government offices. The electricity dues of the government and politicians are waved of more often that farmers dues. Even if the government pays for it , it is by taking that money off from other services that the government is supposed to give.
                     

The solution:
                      Prioritize the use of electric power. India has a shortage, that means it need to give priorities to the requirements. Some public services like hospitals, schools etc must have higher priorities than other consumption like marriages, or neon signs.

                       Put a cap on use by individual or events. This will lead to more innovation in efficiency and usage of the power. For example, a shop can use only 500W for the name sign on the board or a shop can use a total of 2000W. Such measures will lead to shopkeepers investing in efficient lightning. For example, a public ceremony, like marriages or Durga pooja, Dasheera etc. there can be a limit on the electricity consumed.
                      Some consumption can be totally stopped till the requirements of first priority is fulfilled across the country. Example here is bill boards vs hospitals. Till there is enough electricity that no hospital is facing a powercut, no bill boards should be allowed to use electricity. Some of these suggestions may sound impractical, but there is no denying that the situation has reached alarming levels.



Abhinav
07 Oct 2011

India at 60: Still a Half Baked Democracy

Why the elected representatives don’t feel the need to serve their voters? Because they were ‘selected’ to be elected.

In a democracy, by definition, people are free to elect their representatives. Practically speaking, that’s not the whole truth. As any person selling cold drink or detergent knows, the consumer can be forced by limiting the choices available. Political parties in India, work more like Network marketing companies.

The ground reality of Indian Democracy:
Let’s say, there is a state legislative assembly election round the corner. Each political party has to decide the candidates for contesting elections in each constituency. So, the probables within the party, show their strengths to the party bosses (in the state or centre) to win nominations. Their strengths are not necessarily their popularity among the party workers or their popularity among the voters or their policies for the people. Strength can be money, connections, caste/religion calculations etc. That’s why, a nomination is called getting the ‘ticket’, as like a travel ticket they are often sold for cash or other favors. So the persons whom the people can vote are ‘selected’ by the party bosses, rather than being ‘elected’ by the party workers. So, we see the probables, making rounds to party head quarters or party bosses rather then convincing their constituency voters. People ‘elect’ the person ‘selected’ by the party bosses. Then, once the people have elected the ‘selected’ candidates, the Chief Minister is not elected by the elected representatives. Keeping the same considerations, the Chief Minister (CM) is also selected by the party bosses. Then the council of minister, which should be appointed by the CM based on competency (as they are executives), is also done in consultation with party bosses. This is only half the democracy that was envisaged by the founding fathers of India.

How it started:
There’s not much point going into historical facts, but lets have a look at the leading political parties. The Congress, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, in her initial years, faced enough opposition within the party to fully abandon internal democracy within Congress. The tradition is still followed. The BJP, it started so small that there were very few candidates to be put up, and there was little need for internal democracy. When they grew big, I guess, they thought internal democracy would be dangerous for their vested interest. Communist, as the name suggest, will never do it. Regional parties are ‘one man’ parties and that (wo)man doesn’t want to loose her/his grip.

Why elected person fulfills the wishes of party bosses rather than the people:
The probables know that getting the nomination (ticket) is not so much in the hands of constituency voters (including party workers) as much as it is in the hands of party bosses. So he/she don’t have to use their brains to find solutions for peoples problems, but to make connections in the ‘Network’ above them and below them. Even after they get elected, they know that re-election is by the same process. So they are supposed to ‘pay back’ the party bosses who gave them the opportunity to ‘serve people’. In a Network-marketing company, you share part of your profits with the network. So the race among politicians is not of making better policies for their people, but of making better network. Politicians know that if they keep their boss happy, they are sure to get promotions. Promotions are also influenced by ‘Network-dynamics’ and not by the work done for the people.

Why this is also the root of corruption:
Once the ‘selected’ person gets ‘elected’, he/she is under pressure to do something for the network. Their first job is to distribute profits in the network. What the elected representative does for the people of the constituency comes secondary, the network comes first. Hence they have to find ways of making money and sharing with network, otherwise they will not be ‘selected’ again. So the politicians have made it a business that whenever there is any transaction (fair/unfair) of the government with any entity outside the government, they must get some benefits. Now this business has grown to such an extent that its beyond their control to stop it. So much so, that even if they have to get their routine fair tasks done, they need to trade benefits. The genie is out of the bottle.

Why national parties are loosing to regional parties:
If a python starts swallowing its tail, it ends up nowhere. This is what is happening to the national parties in India. The tail end of the party, the party workers, have been finding it difficult to get to the right place in the network. They find the network too big to give them any benefit. It first happened at the places farthest from Delhi, the head quarters of national parties. Party workers in Tamilnadu, for example, didn’t want their fate, or the fate of their representative to be decided in Delhi, so they choose to form a Regional party. At least now their fate is decided in Chennai. As in Network marketing, in politics also, a small network is easier to get into and means less profit is to be shared in the network. In the era of coalition politics, this also increases their bargaining power. The same thing happened in Andhra, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Orissa, J&K etc. The list is getting longer by each election.

How and why to cure:
Total democracy is the only solution. If the national parties want to survive as national parties they will have to cure themselves. Total democracy would mean that political parties establish fair and transparent election mechanisms within the party. This is must for posts within the party and for any elections in the public domain. People who wish to contest the elections should get the opportunity to canvass and convince their constituency within the party, i.e. the party workers. By this only will the political parties gain back the confidence of the people and their workers. This will remove the emphasis on networking and bring back the focus on policies and governance. This will also ensure that leaderships and talents are nurtured. That’s the only way, else India will soon have 30 regional parties making a coalition of the willing for the purpose they seem fit. The half baked chapatti doesn’t tastes good and causes indigestion.

Abhinav
14 Aug 2007