The renewable energy revolution

The relatively rapid transition away from fossil fuels in China and India is driven by the economic benefits renewable energy sources are perceived as conveying 

In the United States and Europe, the benefits of renewable energy are predominantly seen as environmental. Energy from the wind and sun can offset the need to burn fossil fuels, helping to mitigate climate change.
In China and India, however, renewable energy is viewed in a remarkably different fashion. The relatively rapid transition away from fossil fuels in both countries is driven not so much by concerns about climate change as by the economic benefits renewable energy sources are perceived as conveying.
Indeed, while the economic benefits of renewables can be attractive to advanced economies such as Germany or Japan (both of which are rapidly moving away from fossil fuels), the advantages for emerging industrial giants are overwhelming. For India and China, an economic trajectory based on fossil fuels could spell catastrophe, as efforts to secure enough for their immense populations ratchet up geopolitical tensions. Aside from increased energy security, a low-carbon economy would promote domestic manufacturing and improve local environmental quality by, for example, reducing urban smog.
To be sure, fossil fuels conferred enormous benefits on the Western world as it industrialized over the past 200 years. The transition to a carbon-based economy liberated economies from age-old Malthusian constraints. For a group of select countries representing a small slice of the global population, burning fossil fuels enabled an era of explosive growth, ushering in dramatic improvements in productivity, income, wealth and standards of living.
For much of the past 20 years, China and India led the charge in claiming the benefits of fossil fuels. Recently, however, they have begun to moderate their approach. As their use of fossil fuels brushes up against geopolitical and environmental limits, they have been forced to invest seriously in alternatives. In doing so, they have put themselves in the vanguard of a planetary transition that in a few short decades could eliminate the use of fossil fuels altogether.
Those wishing to halt the expansion of renewables are unlikely to triumph over simple economics. The renewable energy revolution is not being driven by a tax on carbon emissions or subsidies for clean energy; it is the result of reductions in the cost of manufacturing that will soon make it more cost-effective to generate power from water, wind and the sun than from burning coal.
As China and India throw their economic weight into the renewables industrial revolution, they are triggering a global chain reaction known as “circular and cumulative causation”.
Investments in renewable energy drive down the cost of their production, expanding the market for their adoption and making further investment more attractive. From 2009 to 2014, these mechanisms drove down the cost of solar photovoltaic energy by 80% and reduced the cost of land-based wind power by 60%, according to Lazard’s Power, Energy & Infrastructure Group.
The impact of the rapid uptake in renewable energy could have consequences as profound as those unleashed by the Industrial Revolution. In the 18th century, the economies of Europe and the United States initiated the transition to an energy system based on fossil fuels without fully understanding what was happening. This time, we can see the way things are changing and prepare for the implications.
For the moment, the outlook appears promising. Efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions may not be the prime driver of the renewable energy revolution, but it is very possible that without the revolution, efforts to minimize the impact of climate change would never succeed. If we are able to avoid the worst dangers of a warming planet, we may have India and China to thank for it.

Seven charts that show why India’s healthcare system needs an overhaul

In a paper released in ‘Lancet’, a team of researchers identified seven structural problems in India’s healthcare system 

 Despite recording several gains in health in recent years, India continues to lag several health indicators such as mortality rates and malnutrition. The country carries a disproportionate burden of the world’s sick. Home to 17.5% of earth’s population, India accounts for 20% of the global burden of disease, 27% of all neonatal deaths and 21% of all child deaths (younger than five years). In a paper released over the weekend in health journal Lancet, a team of researchers led by Vikram Patel, a professor at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, identified seven structural problems in India’s healthcare system.

Here are seven charts that sum up these key challenges.
1) A weak primary healthcare sector
India has made strides in the expansion of public services. For instance, in 2015, there was one government hospital bed for every 1,833 people compared with 2,336 persons a decade earlier. However, as Lancet points out, this has been inequitably distributed. For instance, there is one government hospital bed for every 614 people in Goa compared with one every 8,789 people in Bihar. The care provided in these facilities is also not up to the mark. For example, in 2011, six out of every 10 hospitals in the less developed states did not provide intensive care and a quarter of them struggle with issues like sanitation and drainage.

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2) Unequally distributed skilled human resources
There aren’t enough skilled healthcare professionals in India despite recent increases in MBBS programmes and nursing courses. Lancet says this shortage is compounded by inequitable distribution of these resources. In community health centres in rural areas of many states, ranging from Gujarat to West Bengal, the shortfall of specialists exceeds 80%. “India does not have an overarching national policy for human resources for health. The dominance of medical lobbies such as the Medical Council of India has hindered adequate task sharing and, consequently, development of nurses and other health cadres, even in a state like Kerala that has historically encouraged nurse education and has been providing trained nurses to other parts of India and other countries,” said the Lancet study.

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3) Large unregulated private sector
Given the quality of care available, few frequent public sector hospitals. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) numbers show a decrease in the use of public hospitals over the past two decades—only 32% of urban Indians use them now, compared with 43% in 1995-96. However, a significant portion of these private practitioners may not be qualified or are under-qualified, Lancet said. For instance, a study in rural Madhya Pradesh found that only 11% of the sampled healthcare providers had a medical degree, and only 53% had completed high school. Moreover, “the many new institutions set up in the past decade... encouraged by commercial incentives, have often fuelled corrupt practices and failed to offer quality education”, the study said.

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4) Low public spending on health
Public health expenditure remains very low in India. Even though real state expenditure on health has increased by 7% annually in recent years, central government expenditure has plateaued. Economically weaker states are particularly susceptible to low public health investments. Many state governments also fail to use allocated funds, but this “might simply reflect structural weaknesses in the system and that need to be addressed with more resources and a different approach to provision and delivery of care”, said Lancet. The 14th finance commission recommendations, which will transfer a greater share of central taxes to states, offers an opportunity for the latter to increase investments in health.

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5) Fragmented health information systems
Like in most facets of life in modern India, getting quality, clean, up-to-date data is difficult in the health sector as well. This is despite the presence of many agencies ranging from NSSO to the Registrar General of India to disease-specific programme-based systems to survey malaria to HIV. Data is incomplete (in many cases it excludes the private sector) and many a time, it’s duplicated. Worse, the agencies don’t talk to each other. Further, its usage is limited because of an inadequate focus on outputs and outcomes.

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6) Irrational use and spiralling cost of drugs
Costs of medical treatment have increased so much that they are one of the primary reasons driving people into poverty, as Mint has pointed out previously. Yes, there have been schemes such as the Jan Aushadhi campaign to provide 361 generic drugs at affordable prices and different price regulation policies, but their implementation has been patchy and varied in different states, said Lancet. Corruption also increases irrational use of drugs and technology. For instance, kickbacks from referrals to other doctors or from pharmaceutical and device companies lead to unnecessary procedures such as CT scans, stent insertions and caesarean sections, the study said.

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7) Weak governance and accountability
“In the past 5 years, the government has introduced several new laws to strengthen governance of the health system, but many of these laws have not been widely implemented,” said Lancet. In some instances, the “scope of (some) regulations is still unclear, and there are fears that these laws have hindered public health trials led by non-commercial entities”, it added.
The Lancet study identified inadequate public investment in health, the missing trust and engagement between various healthcare sectors and poor coordination between state and central governments as the main constraints why universal healthcare is not assured in India.
“At the heart of these constraints is the apparent unwillingness on the part of the state to prioritize health as a fundamental public good, central to India’s developmental aspirations, on par with education. Put simply, there is no clear ownership of the idea of universal health coverage within the government,” it said.

India inches up one spot to 130 in UN human development index

Inequality, particularly in education, has contributed to India’s poor ranking in the human development index, the report said

India climbed one spot to 130 in the latest United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), indicating slow progress in improving people’s living standards in Asia’s third-largest economy.
The country was ranked 130 among 188 nations in the Human Development Report 2015 released on Wednesday by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). India’s ranking of 135 in the previous year’s report was revised to 131, the report said.
Inequality, particularly in education, has contributed to India’s poor ranking in the human development index, the report said.
“India loses 28.6% HDI due to inequality, largely due to inequality in education (42.1%),” it said. “Among BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), South Africa has the highest loss due to inequality at 35.7% and lowest is for Russia at 10.5%.”

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Education experts say inequalities in education have not been not addressed by policies such as the 2009 Right to Education, although it is enshrined in law.
“This Act does not address the inequality in education at all, it focuses on the inputs and infrastructure, not the quality of education,” said Parth J. Shah, head of New Delhi-based Centre for Civil Society think-tank. “There is no reference to learning outcomes and this is what we hope the new education policy will address.”
Only 42.1% of India’s population aged 25 years and older had at least some secondary education, the UNDP report said, adding that government spending on education was 3.8% of gross domestic product between 2005 and 2014.
In the 34 years between 1980 and 2014, India’s HDI value increased from 0.362 to 0.609, an increase of 68.1% or an average annual increase of about 1.54%,” said a press statement from UNDP.
HDI is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.
This year’s report focused on the nature of work and how new technologies and innovations influenced it. “Through work, people can build a secure basis for their lives, enabling them to make long-term decisions and establish priorities and choices. They can also sustain stable households, particularly if they use their income prudently on food and nutrition for their family, on education and health for their children, or for savings,” the report said.
Haoliang Xu, assistant administrator and director of the UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, who was cited in the UNDP statement, drew out the link between education and work, noting that: “In order to ensure that the work-force is capable of adapting to rapidly changing demands, governments need to make strategic investments into education and health care.”
India has been stressing the need to skill Indians to ensure the 12 million youth who enter the labour force every year are job-ready. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created a separate ministry to deliver on his “Skill India” mission.
The HDI report said that global participation of women in the labour force—who are generally less educated than men—have fallen slightly in recent years, mainly because of the reductions in India (from 35% in 1990 to 27% in 2013) and China (from 73% in 1990 to 64% in 2013). India’s female literacy rate among youth aged 15-24 years was 74.4% as against the male literacy rate of 88.4%, according to the report.
It said the expected years of schooling in India has been stagnant at 11.7 since 2011. Also, average years of schooling at 5.4 has not changed since 2010.
India’s 2014 HDI value of 0.609 is below the average of 0.630 for countries in the medium human development group but above the average of 0.607 for countries in South Asia, the report said.
In South Asia, countries which are close to India in the HDI rankings are Bangladesh and Pakistan, who have rankings of 142 and 147, respectively.
The average loss due to inequality for medium HDI countries is 25.8% and for South Asia it is 28.7%.
Among India’s HDI parameters that have improved between 1980 and 2014 were life expectancy at birth, which increased to 68 years in 2014 from 67.6 in the previous year and 53.9 in 1980.
Per capita gross national income was $5,497 in 2014—up from $5,180 in 2013 and $1,255 in 1980.

Cyclones

Cyclones are caused by atmospheric disturbances around a low-pressure area distinguished by swift and often destructive air circulation. Cyclones are usually accompanied by violent storms and bad weather. The air circulates inward in an anticlockwise direction in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere. Cyclones are classified as: (i) extra tropical cyclones (also called temperate cyclones); and (ii) tropical cyclones. The word Cyclone is derived from the Greek word Cyclos meaning the coils of a snake. It was coined by Henry Peddington because the tropical storms in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea appear like coiled serpents of the sea.

Classifications

Cyclones are classified as extra tropical cyclones (also called temperate cyclones); and tropical cyclones.
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO, 1976) uses the term 'Tropical Cyclone’ to cover weather systems in which winds exceed ‘Gale Force’ (minimum of 34 knots or 63 kph). Tropical cyclones are the progeny of ocean and atmosphere, powered by the heat from the sea; and driven by easterly trades and temperate westerlies, high planetary winds and their own fierce energy.
In India, cyclones are classified by:

• Strength of associated winds,
• Storm surges
• Exceptional rainfall occurrences.

Extra tropical cyclones occur in temperate zones and high latitude regions, though they are known to originate in the Polar Regions.
Cyclones that develop in the regions between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer are called tropical cyclones. Tropical cyclones are large-scale weather systems developing over tropical or subtropical waters, where they get organized into surface wind circulation.
Worldwide terminology
Cyclones are given many names in different regions of the world – They are known as typhoons in the China Sea and Pacific Ocean; hurricanes in the West Indian islands in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean; tornados in the Guinea lands of West Africa and southern USA.; willy-willies in north-western Australia and tropical cyclones in the Indian Ocean.

Indian Meteorological Department

The criteria below have been formulated by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), which classifies the low pressure systems in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea on the basis of capacity to damage, which is adopted by the WMO.

Type of Disturbances	Wind Speed in Km/h	Wind Speed in Knots
Low Pressure	Less than 31	Less than 17
Depression	31-49	17-27
Deep Depression	49-61	27-33
Cyclonic Storm	61-88	33-47
Severe Cyclonic Storm	88-117	47-63
Super Cyclone	More than 221	More than 120

1 knot - 1.85 km per hour
Cyclones are classified into five different levels on the basis of wind speed. They are further divided into the following categories according to their capacity to cause damage:-

Cyclone Category	Wind Speed in Km/h	Damage Capacity
1	120-150	Minimal
2	150-180	Moderate
3	180-210	Extensive
4	210-250	Extreme
5	250 and above	Catastrophic

Storm surges (tidal waves) are defined as the rise in sea level above the normally predicted astronomical tide. Major factors include:

• A fall in the atmospheric pressure over the sea surface
• Effect of the wind
• Influence of the sea bed
• A funnelling effect
• The angle and speed at which the storm approaches the coast
• The tides

The very high specific humidity condenses into exceptionally large raindrops and giant cumulus clouds, resulting in high precipitation rates. When a cyclone makes landfall, rain rapidly saturates the catchment areas and the rapid runoff may extensively flood the usual water sources or create new ones.

How Cyclones are formed

The development cycle of tropical cyclones may be divided into three stages:
Formation and Initial Development Stage
The formation and initial development of a cyclonic storm depends upon various conditions. These are:

• A warm sea (a temperature in excess of 26 degrees Celsius to a depth of 60 m) with abundant and turbulent transfer of water vapour to the overlying atmosphere by evaporation.
• Atmospheric instability encouraging formation of massive vertical cumulus clouds due to convection with condensation of rising air above ocean surface.

Mature Tropical Cyclones
When a tropical storm intensifies, the air rises in vigorous thunderstorms and tends to spread out horizontally at the tropopause level. Once air spreads out, a positive perturbation pressure at high levels is produced, which accelerates the downward motion of air due to convection. With the inducement of subsidence, air warms up by compression and a warm ‘Eye’ is generated. Generally, the ‘Eye’ of the storms has three basic shapes: (i) circular; (ii) concentric; and (iii) elliptical. The main physical feature of a mature tropical cyclone in the Indian Ocean is a concentric pattern of highly turbulent giant cumulus thundercloud bands.
Modification and Decay
A tropical cyclone begins to weaken in terms of its central low pressure, internal warmth and extremely high speeds, as soon as its source of warm moist air begins to ebb, or is abruptly cut off. This happens after its landfall or when it passes over cold waters. The weakening of a cyclone does not mean that the danger to life and property is over.

Indian Context

The Indian subcontinent is one of the worst affected regions in the world. The subcontinent with a long coastline of 8041 kilometres is exposed to nearly 10 per cent of the world’s tropical cyclones. Of these, the majority of them have their initial genesis over the Bay of Bengal and strike the East coast of India. On an average, five to six tropical cyclones form every year, of which two or three could be severe. More cyclones occur in the Bay of Bengal than the Arabian Sea and the ratio is approximately 4:1. Cyclones occur frequently on both the coasts (the West coast - Arabian Sea; and the East coast - Bay of Bengal). An analysis of the frequency of cyclones on the East and West coasts of India between 1891 and 1990 shows that nearly 262 cyclones occurred (92 of these severe) in a 50 km wide strip above the East coast. Less severe cyclonic activity has been noticed on the West coast, where 33 cyclones occurred the same period, out of which 19 of were severe.
Tropical cyclones occur in the months of May-June and October-November. Cyclones of severe intensity and frequency in the North Indian Ocean are bi-modal in character, with their primary peak in November and secondary peak in May. The disaster potential is particularly high during landfall in the North Indian Ocean (Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea) due to the accompanying destructive wind, storm surges and torrential rainfall. Of these, storm surges cause the most damage as sea water inundates low lying areas of coastal regions and causes heavy floods, erodes beaches and embankments, destroys vegetation and reduces soil fertility.
Cyclones vary in diameter from 50 to 320 km but their effects dominate thousands of square kilometers of ocean surface and the lower atmosphere. The perimeter may measure 1,000 km but the powerhouse is located within the 100-km radius. Nearer the Eye, winds may hit at a speed of 320 km. Thus, tropical cyclones, characterized by destructive winds, torrential rainfall and storm surges disrupt normal life with the  accompanying phenomena of floods due to the exceptional level of rainfall and storm surge inundation into inland areas. Cyclones are characterized by their devastating potential to damage structures, viz. houses; lifeline infrastructure-power and communication towers; hospitals; food storage facilities; roads, bridges and culverts; cropss etc. The most fatalities come from storm surges and the torrential rain flooding the lowland areas of coastal territories

National policy on Voluntary Sector 2007

National policy on Voluntary Sector 2007

Scope of the Policy

In the Policy, voluntary organizations (VOs) mean to include organizations engaged in public service, based on ethical, cultural, social, economic, political, religious, spiritual, philanthropic or scientific & technological considerations. VOs include formal as well as informal groups, such as:

• Community-based organizations (CBOs)
• Non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs)
• Charitable organizations
• Support organizations
• Networks or federations of such organisations
• As well as professional membership associations.

To be covered under the Policy, VOs should broadly have the following characteristics:

• They are private, i.e., separate from Government
• They do not return profits generated to their owners or directors
• They are self-governing, i.e., not controlled by Government
• They are registered organizations or informal groups, with defined aims and objectives.

Objectives of the Policy

The specific objectives of the policy are listed below:

• To create an enabling environment for VOs that stimulates their enterprise and effectiveness, and safeguards their autonomy;
• To enable VOs to legitimately mobilize necessary financial resources from India and abroad;
• To identify systems by which the Government may work together with VOs, on the basis of the principles of mutual trust and respect, and with shared responsibility; and,
• To encourage VOs to adopt transparent and accountable systems of governance and management.

Establishing an Enabling Environment for the Voluntary Sector

• The independence of VOs allows them to explore alternative paradigms of development to challenge social, economic and political forces that may work against public interest and to find new ways to combat poverty, deprivation and other social problems. It is therefore crucial that all laws, policies, rules and regulations relating to VOs categorically safeguard their autonomy, while simultaneously ensuring their accountability .
• Voluntary organizations may be registered as societies, as charitable trusts, or as non-profit companies under Central or State laws. Some States have adopted the Societies Registration Act (1860), with amendments, while others have independent laws. Similarly, laws relating to charitable trusts vary across States. Over time, many of these laws and their corresponding rules have become complex and restrictive, thus leading to delays, harassment and corruption. As the nodal agency for interface between the Government and the Voluntary Sector, the Planning Commission will encourage State Governments to review prevailing laws & rules and simplify, liberalise and rationalise them as far as possible. In order to facilitate registration of non-profit companies, the Government will examine measures to simplify procedures under section 25 of the Companies Act (1956), including those for license, registration, and remuneration to member-employees.
• The Government will also examine the feasibility of enacting a simple and liberal central law that will serve as an alternative all- India statute for registering VOs, particularly those that wish to operate in different parts of the country and even abroad. Such a law would co-exist with prevailing central and state laws, allowing a VO the option of registering under one or more laws, depending on the nature and sphere of its activities.
• There has been much public debate on the voluntary sector, particularly its governance, accountability, and transparency. It is widely believed that the voluntary sector must address these issues through suitable self-regulation. The Government will encourage the evolution of, and subsequently accord recognition to, an independent, national level, self-regulatory agency for the voluntary sector.
• At the same time, there is need to bolster public confidence in the voluntary sector by opening it up to greater public scrutiny. The Government will encourage Central and State level agencies to introduce norms for filing basic documents in respect of VOs, which have been receiving funding by Government agencies and placing them in the public domain (with easy access through the internet) in order to inculcate a spirit of public oversight.
• Public donation is an important source of funds for the voluntary sector and one that can and must increase substantially. Tax incentives play a positive role in this process. Stocks and s hares have become a significant form of wealth in the country today. In order to encourage transfer of shares and stock options to VOs, the Government will consider suitable tax rebates for this form of donation. The Government will also simplify and streamline the system for granting income tax exemption status to charitable projects under the Income Tax Act. At the same time, the Government will consider tightening administrative and penal procedures to ensure that these incentives are not misused by paper charities for private financial gain.
• International funding of voluntary organizations plays a small, but significant part in supporting such organizations and their work in the country. An organization seeking foreign funding must be registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. This law prescribes stringent screening norms that often restrict the ability of VOs to avail foreign funds. When approved, there are problems like funds must be held in a single bank account, thus presenting enormous difficulties to VOs working at different locations. The Government will review the FCRA and simplify its provisions that apply to VOs, from time to time, in consultation with the joint consultative group to be set up by the concerned Ministry.
• The Central Government has framed guidelines for bilateral agencies to give direct assistance to voluntary organizations for projects of social and economic importance. It controls access to such funds and their utilisation, both through the FCRA and through regulation by the Department of Economic Affairs. This system needs to be simplified in consultation with the joint consultative group to be set up by the concerned Ministry.
• The Government will encourage all relevant Central and State Government agencies to introduce pre-service and in-service training modules on constructive relations with the voluntary sector. Such agencies should introduce time bound procedures for dealing with the VOs. These would cover registration, income tax clearances, financial assistance, etc. There would be formal systems for registering complaints and for redressing grievances of VOs.

For More Information: National policy on Voluntary Sector 2007

Policy Updates

Advisory to associations registered / granted prior permission under FCRA, 2010 to incur expenditure above Rs 20,000 by cheques / drafts
The Home Ministry has asked NGOs to incur all expenditure above Rs 20000 by cheque or drafts. "As per the Income Tax Act, any expenditure incurred by certain category of NGOs in respect of which payment is made for a sum exceeding Rs 20000 otherwise than by an account payee cheque drawn on a bank or by an account payee bank draft, shall not be allowed as a deduction under the Income Tax Act," the Circular says.
It adds that the issue of fixing an upper limit for incurring expenditure by associations registered/granted permission under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010 by cash from designated bank accounts has been "under consideration" of the government for some time. "The Government, after considering the issue, advises all FCRA associations that items of expenditure/payments amounting to Rs 20000 should be done by cheque or demand drafts," the Ministry says.
It has been further specified that the records and accounts of associations indulging in cash payments of Rs 20000 or more from the designated bank accounts "are likely to require more intensive scrutiny by government" and the circular has been issued with approval of the competent authority.

Launch of TAPI

Launch of TAPI is first step towards fulfilling the vision of an economically integrated region: Vice President

Addresses Groundbreaking Ceremony of the TAPI Gas Pipeline Project

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that the launch of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline Project marks the first step towards fulfilling the vision of an economically integrated region stretching from the Bay of Bengal to the Caspian Sea. He was addressing at the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the TAPI Gas Pipeline Project in Mary, Turkmenistan today in the presence of the President of Turkmenistan, Mr.  Gurbanguly Berdimohamedov, the President of Afghanistan, Mr. Ashraf Ghani, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Nawaz Sharif and other dignitaries.  

The Vice President said that TAPI is not just a gas pipeline project, but a reflection of the common desire of the four member countries to reconnect and a way to re-claim the shared geography and revitalise an age-old legacy of our mutually enriching interactions. The launch of TAPI also marks the first step towards fulfilling the vision of an economically integrated region, he added.

The Vice President said that we must be aware of the challenges that lie ahead and we must work together to keep away the negative forces inimical to the success of the project. We must recognise that the forces of violence and disruption can no longer be allowed to threaten the quest for economic development and security of our people, he added. The Vice President also said that we need to work together to ensure the technical and commercial viability of the project in its broadest sense and said that the international marketplace for energy works on complex principles. However, given the widespread poverty that exists in our countries, it is essential to ensure that we can make energy available at the least possible cost to the largest sections of our people, he added

A Himalayan solution