Power to the people?

When the Electricity Act of 2003 replaced the earlier law of 1948, the planners of the Central government...

When the Electricity Act of 2003 replaced the earlier law of 1948, the planners of the Central government would not have anticipated the possible fallout in Kahalgaon. Earlier, electricity was considered to be an essential lubricant for development and industrialisation. Today, its tariff is determined by principles of demand and supply. However, unlike the history of many developed countries in their formative years, a kind of economic fundamentalism is operating in India in the name of correcting market distortions. Thus, electricity is available in the peak hours at premium prices. In the backdrop of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, to which Bihar is a signatory, controlling the deficit is the key agenda and purchasing electricity with a premium price tag in peak hours tantamounts to financial imprudence.

Any fundamentalism is bad, religious or economic, because it destabilises both social cohesion and the developmental agenda. The recent agitation in Kahalgaon against the non-supply of electricity from the NTPC plant to the local area, was possibly one of the first mass revolts related to power deprivation. The incident could have a domino effect, unless the present Electricity Act is repealed and the Central government brings about a change in its energy distribution policy.

The immediate cause of the consumer cataclysm in Kahalgaon in district Bhagalpur was the near power famine in the surrounding areas for months. Even though the power from the plant lit up the large cities, its immediate surroundings were engulfed in darkness. This sense of deprivation got aggravated in the cold nights in winter.

Gone are the days when the policy of freight equalisation allowed the mineral resources of united Bihar to serve outside interests without protest in Bihar. With unprecedented social empowerment in the state and its subsequent vivisection, there is now a reverse 8216;cost and benefit analysis8217; by the subaltern. Will the mammoth industrial edifice, located in one of the most backward regions of the country, go unchallenged by the displaced, in a situation when they are not benefiting from its fruit?

In Kahalgaon, what started as an unorganised movement later gave way to the formation of the Nagarik Sangharsh Samiti. The social base of this non-political movement was constituted by the lowest strata. The movement was led by faceless people. The bulk belonged to the Scheduled Castes, backward castes and Muslims. It also mirrored brilliant social cohesion, belying the scars left behind by the earlier communal conflagrations in the district.

This was indeed an authentic example of bottom-up empowerment. This was not a proxy political movement to destabilise the provincial government. The clamour was essentially for energy equity for those who were affected by the establishment of the power plant. The movement got further legitimacy, because the Union power minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, had earlier promised uninterrupted power supply in the surrounding areas. The maturity of the movement could be seen from the fact that when the 8216;Bihar bandh8217; was called on two successive days after the police firing on protestors, the locals did not join in the protest.

Bihar is not a producer of electricity, except about 60-70 MW from the Barauni Thermal Plant. Most of its power plants have gone to Jharkhand. Against the peak need of 1,500 to 1,800 MW energy in Bihar, it has been allocated 1,170 MW. Even this allocation is not provided fully. On an average, Bihar gets between 550 to 600 MW of electricity; the rest is met on the basis of peak hour premium tariff. The energy need in Patna town itself is about 325 MW. When the consequences of Nitish Kumar8217;s developmental agenda unfold, the energy needs in the state will leapfrog.

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Irrespective of the energy production base of the state, Bihar has a commitment to supply 75 MW energy to Nepal. It has to extend a munificence of equal magnitude 75 MW to the railways as well, the richest ministry of the central government. Ironically, the quality of governance in Lalu Prasad Yadav8217;s ministry will be determined by the quality of energy subsidy provided by the Nitish government.

While the NTPC is committed for production of energy, it is not concerned with its distribution. Its Kahalgaon plant did not follow even the basic grammar of corporate responsibility. Instead of the positive intervention of social service, a negative intervention of police firing was encouraged. Selective favours were given to one section of the lower government functionaries. In fact, the government of Bihar had to reinvent itself and co-opt the responsibility of the NTPC. It is now ensuring social tranquility around the plant in Kahalgaon, by supplying uninterrupted power by purchasing premium price energy.

The energy bill of the Bihar State Electricity Board BSEB is already staggering. The government of Bihar provides nearly Rs 70 crore every month to the BSEB as a subsidy, to keep its financial balance. Over and above, Bihar has to buy about 80 to 90 MW energy at a premium price daily. The question for the Bihar government is this: Will public finance prudence allow the state government to subsidise energy needs of a foreign government, a Union ministry and a public sector undertaking located in its own geographical area, indefinitely? If the exploitation of the economic periphery continues, won8217;t it erode the state8217;s legitimacy?

The writer is member secretary, Asian Development Research Institute , Patna