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In
this issue we look at a few contemporary topics such as
wind energy in India; telecommunication infrastructure in
India; jurisdictional limits of Electricity Regulatory Commissions;
social infrastructure; health infrastructure in Orissa;
and modeling the public transport system for privatization.
The articles are exploratory in nature and look at suggested
solutions to the thorny practical problems.
The
world urgently needs energy from non-fossil fuel sources
and the best alternative has been the wind energy which
is totally environment friendly. Denmark is the first country
to adopt wind energy as its prime source of energy. As a
matter of fact, Denmark is the leading wind power nation
in the world. Wind energy is green and clean, but it requires
the employment of 20,000 people in the manufacturing of
the equipment. India too needs the help of wind energy and
in an increasing quantum. In the paper, "Wind Energy
in India: The Future and the Challenge", the authors
focus on the energy scenario in India. The paper examines
the Indian Wind Energy Industry and projects its future
in India. The authors also focus on the challenges to be
faced when investment is planned in this source.
Telecom
has been one of the success stories of India but the journey
has not always been smooth. There have been regulatory issues,
interconnectivity issues (between different service providers)
and tussles between different regulators. But the general
thrust has always been forwards. As a result, telecommunication
infrastructure has registered a remarkable growth in India.
The paper, "Telecommunication Infrastructure in India:
An Uphill Journey", mainly focuses on the present status
of telecommunication infrastructure in India. The paper
also provides an overview of uphill (but ultimately successful)
journey of the Indian Telecom sector.
The
Electricity Act, 2003, which laid a strong foundation for
electricity sector reforms in India, has also placed a significant
emphasis on the Electricity Regulatory Commissions. A Central
Commission and State Level Commissions have therefore been
constituted. There has been a lot of debate on the jurisdictional
boundaries of the regulatory commissions. Several such cases
have come before the Appellate Tribunal of Electricity formed
under Section 110 of the Electricity Act, 2003. An analysis
of these case laws provides very interesting and valuable
insight into the jurisdictional issues. The paper, "Jurisdictional
Limits of Electricity Regulatory Commissions", presents
such an analysis based on 36 case laws covering several
appeals tried before the Appellate Tribunal.
Whilst
the economic aspects of core infrastructure have been taken
care of, most planners have understood that the growth momentum
of 8-9% can only continue if the social infrastructure is
adequately taken care of. A lot of the growth is due to
the service sector economy which again is reliant on a continuous
supply of high quality manpower. India has been one of the
hubs of human capital. In order to sustain this, there is
a need to develop the social infrastructure to garner the
demographic dividend. In the paper, "Social Infrastructure:
A Key Factor for Harnessing Demographic Dividend",
the author analyzes the bottlenecks in the areas of social
infrastructure and also suggests ways to overcome them.
One
of the core aspects of social infrastructure is health.
Health infrastructure, in terms of hospitals, hospital beds,
doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc., has a significant, direct
and positive contribution to the social infrastructure of
any country. In this context, the paper, "Health Infrastructure
in Orissa: An Inter-District Analysis", attempts to
analyze the inter district availability of health infrastructure
in Orissa through the construction of Composite Index of
Health Infrastructure (CIHI) and suggests some policy measures
for better health outcomes in the state.
Privatization
of public transport system has been working fairly well
in certain areas. But there have been consistent lacunae
regarding the same which need to be looked into in detail.
On examination of the lacunae, many investigative committees
have concluded that proper modeling is to be done before
such projects are put out to bid. Modeling should take care
of both the socio-economic concerns of the society as well
as the economic returns to the private investor/developer.
In the paper, "Modeling the Public Transport System
for Privatization: An Empirical Study", the authors
give a rationale for the privatization of the public transport
system through empirical studies such as simulation, modeling
and observation survey methods. Various permutations and
combinations of the variables involved are taken, which
could have an impact on the revenue generation and the constraints
in the process. The authors also focus on the application
of operations research to resolve the issue of the optimal
distance, which the private vehicle owners could adopt for
the successful by running the public transport, considering
the various possible constraints. A simulation model is
proposed based on the problem, and the solution to which
can suggest strategies that could be adopted for the successful
privatization of public transport system.
All
of these are but recommended methods to resolve problems
of enormous practical concern. The endeavor always is to
trigger thought in a practitioner and allow him or her to
explore ways and means of developing models which can better
address these problems.
-
P Nair
Consulting
Editor |
