Tags:
Journalism of Courage
In the national interest, I would like to request Balasaheb Thackeray to reconsider his decision on Power minister Suresh Prabhu. It is his prerogative to choose his party candidate for the Cabinet, but he should also take care of India’s national interest. Prabhu has been a dynamic and enthusiastic minister who understood the power sector and had the vision to bring about necessary changes and reforms in this crucial field.
I often say that if a mass rebellion ever takes place in India, it won’t be on issues of bread and butter, but on the power and water crises. Consumption has gone up as has overall demand, particularly in semi-urban and rural areas. The unchecked phenomenon of power theft has only put a further load on insufficient generation. Already, we have seen agitations in Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh over power cuts. These core sectors need immediate attention and should top the priority list of any government. If something is not done urgently in this sector, the situation may spin out of control.
Prabhu had quite a few proactive plans to bring about necessary changes in the sector. His was a holistic approach to bridge the gap between consumption and generation. In view of the projected demand of 1,00,000 mw power in 2012, he wanted to increase the plant load capacity by 41,000 mw in the 10th Plan. He recognised that the country should have at least five mega plants (we currently have two) and was trying to clear the road for projects which had been lying dormant even after the Centre issued a counter warranty. He also recognised the need to set up atomic power plants to facilitate major capacity addition.
The Power Ministry also set up a committee to look into the question of finances for the sector for the 10th and the 11th Plans. After reviewing the 9th Plan performances, Prabhu wanted to make the reforms movement a success to generate confidence among investors as well as financial institutions regarding payment security, and make private sector projects feasible. He used to spend a lot of time personally reviewing major ongoing projects and involved officials from other ministries, like Environment and Forest, Coal or Planning Commission, as well. Prabhu should be allowed to continue with his good work for at least another year.
To Be JD(UB)
After Vijay Mallya, chairman of UB Group, became the JD(U) senior vice president, the latest joke doing the rounds in political circles is that the new name of the party, given by the general secretary KC Tyagi, is Janata Dal (UB). Tyagi said that UB stood for Unbreakable despite the fact that the party had split several times in the past. Recently, party president Sharad Yadav, along with Mallya, addressed a party convention in Kolkata. Now they will address a tribal conclave in Gujarat and will be fielding party candidates too. There are also plans to organise a kisan sammelan in Mumbai which will be addressed by Mallya.
Flying into Trouble
One needs to find out who gave the Ministry of External Affairs the idea of closing Indian airspace for Pakistan Airlines. It often backfires when important policy decisions of the government are inspired by armchair columnists. These so-called opinion-makers have little understanding of issues concerned, and are usually driven more by emotion than logic. In this case, these self-styled Chanakyas didn’t consider the ground reality that such a move would invariably invite a reciprocal ban from Pakistan and that Air India would emerge a much bigger loser than PIA. Somebody should have checked the figures which state that Pakistan used to operate only 16 flights a week over the Indian skies while India had 72 flights crossing Pak airspace every week. Naturally, all AI flights going West required a detour that added an extra couple of flying hours. It meant additional expenditure in terms of increased fuel consumption and extra charges for airspace usage.
Besides, longer flights translates into extra fatigue for AI aircraft, which, in any case, are not in the pink of health. No wonder PIA is not using Indian airspace even after India lifted the ban so that Pakistan can keep its airspace closed for India and inflict financial damage.
