Opinion
General scenario not very inspiring
17 Jul 2006 |
Dr R K Pachauri
| The Financial Express
It is very difficult to generalise on this as well as any other such issue in India. Whether the environment is conducive or otherwise for Indian scientists and researchers to undertake world-class research is something on which a uniform opinion would not be valid. We do have pockets of excellence where outstanding work is being done, in several fields of science and technology.
Weigh the costs and benefits of creating monopolies
14 Jul 2006 |
Dr Leena Srivastava
| The Financial Express
A widely held view, spanning various network-based sectors such as electricity, water and now natural gas, is that distribution of these services is a natural monopoly. However, this view needs to be examined in the context of the maturity of the existing distribution systems, their coverage and age. The telecom sector is an outstanding example of competitive distribution wherein multiple service providers have rolled out their network infrastructure to provide competition. Of course, the number of competitors varies across distribution circles. The underlying premise in the way that this sector expanded was that the economics of the business was linked to both the size of the system as well as the intensity of customer loads!
Respond, But Intelligently: The government must look at innovative ways to soften the fuel price hike
26 Jun 2006 |
Dr R K Pachauri
| Outlook
The recent hike in prices of diesel and petrol had been anticipated for weeks. By the time it happened, the public was, to some extent, conditioned to accept the decision. However, a single move such as this cannot remove the politics embedded in oil product prices. It is, thus, hardly surprising that the political parties of the Left and others have taken to the streets, protesting the move. The Centre has countered this by convincing some of the Congress-led governments, Maharashtra and Delhi, or allies in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, to reduce state sales tax and soften the blow. Others are set to take similar steps, allowing the Centre to not roll back the increase it announced and yet show responsiveness to the consumers' interests. The average consumer would no doubt find the increase inconvenient, but the government had no choice, given that global oil prices have been hovering in excess of $70 per barrel in recent weeks.
Towards rational pricing of oil
20 Jun 2006 |
Dr R K Pachauri
| The Economic Times
Painful as it might seem in the short run, India would be far better off with higher oil product prices if they reflect inevitable current and future global realities.
Adopt a sliding scale formula for excise duties and sales tax
20 Jun 2006 |
Dr Leena Srivastava
| The Financial Express
India just had one of the steepest increases in the prices of two crucial petroleum products - petrol and diesel. It is often stated that the reason for this increase is high international crude oil price. However, the price rise is also an outcome of the cascading effect of taxes.
Now that's Cricket, Coach
13 Jun 2006 |
Dr R K Pachauri
| Indian Express
This is a refreshingly honest and absorbing account of a remarkable period in Indian cricket presented by perhaps India's most successful coach. John Wright has, of course, resisted the temptation of glorifying his own role in the success of the team, leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions. The book is well written, and like his own batting as one of New Zealand's best batsmen in recent times, Wright's articulation is elegant and attractive. It is sprinkled with humour and several anecdotes, which make this volume interesting even for those who know little about cricket beyond casual exposure to the extensive TV coverage of the game. Samples of Wright's sense of humour are extensive, such as his account of how after he retired from cricket and took up an uninspiring job in the retail section of a major New Zealand company, he noted, "I discovered I was good at two things: driving a fork lift and hiding from customers."
Fuelling the public
13 Jun 2006 |
Dr R K Pachauri
| DNA
It is difficult to understand why the Indian public was partly unprepared for the increase in the price of diesel and petrol effected by the government this month. It is, of course, another matter that some political parties would have opposed the move anyway, because they need to maintain consistency in their well-established stands on these matters and would not be willing to lose faith of their constituents, who have become accustomed to irrationally low prices of oil products irrespective of what the country has to pay to import oil.
Are we moving in the right direction?
07 Jun 2006 |
Ms Namrata Mukherjee
| The Hindu Business Line
em>A Renewable Portfolio Standard is a policy instrument that ensures renewable energy promotion in a way that is compatible with competitive electricity markets.
Power generation in India is currently dominated by coal, though the country also has significant renewable energy potential (1,40,000 MW) from wind, small hydro, biomass and solar power. The Government has formulated several policies to support renewables. As a result of such initiatives, the current renewable energy power achievement stands at 6,158 MW installed capacity (5 per cent of the country's total installed capacity) with the majority share contributed by wind (47 per cent), followed by small hydro (38 per cent) and biomass (12 per cent).
Pricing haze continues
07 Jun 2006 |
Dr Leena Srivastava
| The Financial Express
The increase in prices of petrol and diesel seems to have been imminent given the steep increase in the international price of crude oil. However, the haze surrounding the whole issue of petroleum product pricing remains as dense.
A wake-up call
05 Jun 2006 |
Dr R K Pachauri
| The Economic Times
The World Environment Day's theme this year, 'Deserts and Desertification', is a problem which the global community recognized when it adopted in 1994 the Convention to Combat Desertification.
World Environment Day is observed worldwide to focus attention on a set of global problems that human society cannot ignore much longer. The UN generally assigns a specific theme for this day each year, and the focus for 2006 is 'Deserts and Desertification', a problem which the global community recognized when it adopted in 1994 the Convention to Combat Desertification. However, action at the international level to combat desertification in reality has been weak and unfocussed. The issue of desertification is often is perceived in the West as a natural problem of advancing desert is in far away developing countries. In actual fact desertification is essentially a problem of land degradation and loss of biological productivity of land caused by human induced factors and climate change, covering 1/3rd of the earth's surface area and over a billion people.