sun watcher, India’s Aditya-L1

sun watcher, India’s Aditya-L1

Made in India probe prepares to study solar phenomena

Sometime in 2019 or 2020 India will send ISRO’s solar mission Aditya-L1 to a vantage point in space, known as the L1 Lagrange point, to do imaging and study of the sun. This launch will happen in the early part of the next solar cycle - an occurrence in which sunspots form on the face of the sun, growing in size and number and eventually diminishing, all over a period of eleven years. It will be a mission of many firsts.

The so-called L1 point is 1.5 million kilometres away. Here, due to the delicate balance of gravitational forces, the satellite will require very little energy to maintain its orbit. Also it will not be eclipsed from the sun. The 1,500-kg class satellite will be programmed to orbit this point and image the sun’s magnetic field from space for the very first time in the world. Scientists hope to capture the close-ups of the sun from here, uninterrupted by eclipses for years.

Few other space agencies have successfully placed their satellites at this location. Among the few, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a NASA-ESA collaboration involving America and Europe, and NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) are at L1 exclusively to study the sun and space weather, respectively. Aditya-L1 is expected to be the very first to study from space two months from the time of launch, the magnetic field of the sun’s corona. The corona is the outer layer that we see during total solar eclipses. It will be the first 100% Indian mission which will not only negotiate a challenging orbit, but will also benefit the global scientific community in understanding the sun.

Deeper look

Earlier, the NASA-ESA mission SOHO was launched in 1995, and while it made many discoveries, its coronagraph, meant to image the sun, broke down shortly after the mission commenced. Hence there is currently no satellite imaging the sun from space. Aditya-L1 will not only fill this gap it will also literally, look deeper into the sun than SOHO. “The nominal mission lifetime is expected to be five years, though it is expected to go on for much longer, perhaps even ten,” says Dipankar Banerjee from Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAP), Bengaluru, which is collaborating with ISRO on this project.

The mission will carry seven payloads,consisting of a coronagraph, equipment that will image the sun using ultraviolet filters, X-ray spectrometers, and particle samplers all being made within the country.

The largest payload, or instrument, aboard the satellite, will be the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VLEC). This can view the sun more closely than has been done before even by SOHO.

With this advantage, the instrument has the capacity to observe the loop-like magnetic structures that form in the corona, the outer layer of the sun. “This will be the first experiment to measure the coronal magnetic field from a space platform. This was not even done by SOHO,” says Dipankar Banerjee, the Science Working Group Chair of VELC.

Between them, the three payloads — VLEC, the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) and the X-ray spectrometers — can image the sun in all wavelengths.

Like seasonal changes on the earth, the sun experiences approximately eleven-year-long cycles during which sunspots, caused by the sun’s magnetic field, start forming, increase in the ascending phase and decrease in the descending phase towards the end of the cycle.

“Studying coronal mass ejections [a phenomenon that would correlate with high sunspot activity] is not the only objective. This study can also help us understand the coronal heating problem,” says Prof. Banerjee. The ‘coronal heating problem’ refers to the fact that the photosphere, a deeper layer of the sun, is at a much lower temperature than the outer layer, the corona. Since it is believed that the heating process happens from within, what causes this heating of the outer layer, the corona, remains a mystery. Observations by Aditya-L1 of the magnetic fields bubbling out of the photosphere into the corona will help shed light on this.

First proposed in 2008 as a 400 kg-class satellite with one scientific instrument, a coronagraph, the project has since changed and grown in size and scope. Aditya-L1 will carry seven payloads. Each of these will either image the sun or sample the space around it for traces of charged particles spewed out by the sun during coronal mass ejections.

The payloads alone will weigh close to 250 kg. The biggest of these is the VLEC, about 170 kg. The next is SUIT, weighing around 35 kg; others are much lighter. Orbiting about the L1 point, due to a play of gravitational forces acting on it, Aditya-L1 will require little energy to keep it in place.

The ultraviolet (UV) imaging payload will capture the sun using UV filters, something that is not possible from Earth. the wavelength range 200-400 nanometres. This is The range of ultraviolet light to be observed is prevented from entering the lower layers of the earth’s atmosphere by the ozone layer in the stratosphere. Ozone depletion can lead to this radiation filtering through to lower levels where it can have harmful effects. Since this radiation is stopped at the stratosphere, images of the sun in this wavelength cannot be obtained on earth. Therefore, this will be the first time a UV imaging of the sun will be done.

Durgesh Tripathi and A.N. Ramaprakash of Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) are the principal investigators for the SUIT payload. “When it was decided that the project expanded and the satellite was to be placed in L1 point, ISRO called for proposals for developing more instruments. The original payload was also improved to form the VLEC and six more payloads were added,” says Prof. Tripathi.

Apart from this, the two in situ particle-detection payloads - Aditya Solar wind Particle EXperiment (ASPEX) and Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA) will study aspects that affect space weather. the origin of solar wind ions, their reaction to coronal mass ejections, the distribution of these in the heliosphere – the space around the sun that extends up to Pluto - and so on. The various payloads in Aditya-L1 will also study space weather.

India’s dairy sector offers numerous possibilities for entrepreneurs globally

India’s dairy sector offers numerous possibilities for entrepreneurs globally: Shri Radha Mohan Singh

Milk production increased by 18.81% in 2016-17 when compared to 2013-14: Shri Singh

Per capita availability of milk increased from 307 gm/day in 2013-14 to 351 gm/day in 2016-17

National Milk Day Celebrations

Union Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh today on the occasion of National Milk Day said that India is the ‘Oyster' of the global dairy industry with opportunities galore for the entrepreneurs globally. Since last 15 years, India continues to be the largest producer of milk in the world. This phenomenal increase is contributed to the several measures initiated by the Government of India to increase the productivity of livestock.

Shri Singh said that increasing the milk production significantly from 137.7 million tonnes in 2013-14 to 164 million tonnes in 2016-17. Milk production increased by 18.81% in 2016-17 when compared to 2013-14. Similarly, the per capita availability of milk increased from 307 gram in 2013-14 to 351 gram in 2016-17. Annual growth rate of Milk Production during the period 2011-14 was 4%, which has increase to 6% during 2014-17. The annual growth rate of world milk production has increased by 2% during 2014-17.

On this occasion the Minister said that Livestock sector contributes significantly towardslivelihoods and security net for the landless and marginal farmers. About 70 million rural households are engaged in dairying in India with 80% of total cow population. The strength of women in Dairy has reached to the 70% of the total work force (about 44 lakh) of which 3,60,000 women are in leadership roles in village dairy cooperatives and 380 women on the boards of Union and State Federations.

Union Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Minister said that the consumption of milk is rising, commensurate with increase in the purchasing power of people, increasing urbanization, changing food habits & life styles and demographic growth. Milk with its varied benefits is the only source of animal protein for the largely vegetarian population of the country. Further, factors such as increased consumer interest in high protein diets and increasing awareness & availability of value-added dairy products through organised retail chains are also driving its demand. During last 15 years, Milk Cooperatives have converted about 20% of milk procured into traditional and value added products that offers about 20% higher revenue.This share of value-added products is estimated to increase to 30% by 2021-22.

Shri Singh informed that the Government has initiated a number of dairy development schemes so that the enhanced demand due to variety of factorsis met through domestic sources by laying special focus on raising milk production through improved productivity of our dairy animals. A new scheme “Rashtriya Gokul Mission” has been initiated for the first time in the country under which 18 Gokul Grams in 12 different States are being set up. Also two awards ‘Gopal Ratna Award’ for upkeep of the best dairy animals of indigenous breeds and ‘Kamdhenu Award’ for institutions maintaining best herd of indigenous breeds. This year on World Milk Day 10 Gopal Ratna and 12 Kamdhenu awards have been awarded. Two “National Kamdhenu Breeding Centres” one each in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are being setup for conservation of indigenous breeds. In these centres 41 cattle and 13 buffalo breeds would be conserved. In order to make dairy business more profitable “National Bovine Productivity Mission” has been in initiated with creation of e Pashuhaat portal. This is playing an important role in linking milk producers and breeders for indigenous breeds.

Union Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Minister further said that a scheme titled Dairy Processing & Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) for dairy cooperative sector has been initiated with an outlay of Rs.10881 crore. This scheme would focus on creation of additional milk processing infrastructure and chilling infrastructure through setting up of Bulk Milk Coolers. Also provisions have been made for providing Electronic milk adulteration testing equipment and facilities for manufacturing value added products.

On antibiotic resistance

On antibiotic resistance
around the time the UN Climate Change Conference drew to a close in Bonn last week, so did the World Antibiotic Awareness Week, a World Health Organisation campaign to focus attention on antibiotic resistance. The global threats of climate change and antibiotic resistance have much in common. In both cases, the actions of people in one region have consequences across the globe. Also, tackling both requires collective action across multiple focus areas. For resistance, this means cutting the misuse of antibiotics in humans and farm animals, fighting environmental pollution, improving infection control in hospitals, and boosting surveillance. While most of these goals need government intervention, individuals have a critical part to play too. This is especially true for India, which faces a unique predicament when it comes to restricting the sale of antibiotics — some Indians use too few antibiotics, while others use too many. Many of the 410,000 Indian children who die of pneumonia each year do not get the antibiotics they need, while others misuse drugs, buying them without prescription and taking them for viral illnesses like influenza. Sometimes this irrational use is driven by quacks. But just as often, qualified doctors add to the problem by yielding to pressure from patients or drug-makers. This tussle — between increasing antibiotic use among those who really need them, and decreasing misuse among the irresponsible — has kept India from imposing blanket bans on the non-prescription sale of these drugs.

When policymakers did propose such a ban in 2011, it was met with strong opposition. Instead, India turned to fine-edged tools such as the Schedule H1, a list of 24 critical antibiotics such as cephalosporins and carbapenems, whose sale is tightly controlled. But even Schedule H1 hasn’t accomplished much: pharmacists often flout rules, and drug controllers are unable to monitor them. Thus, the power to purchase antibiotics still remains in the hands of the consumer. It is up to consumers now to appreciate the threat of antibiotic resistance and exercise this power with care. These miracle drugs form the bedrock of modern medicine today, and are needed for everything from prophylaxis for a complicated hip surgery to treatment for an infected knee scrape. Losing these drugs would mean that even minor illnesses could become killers, and the cost of health care will soar. Consumers need to remember that not all illnesses need antibiotics, and the decision on when to take them and for how long is best left to a doctor. Multi-resistance in some tertiary-care hospitals to bugs like Staphylococcus aureus has grown to dangerous levels. But the experience of countries like Australia shows that cutting down on antibiotics can reverse such trends. The National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance aims to repeat such successes in India. Meanwhile, awareness must be built among consumers so that they see the coming crisis and take up the baton.

India should be very realistic about Buenos Aires WTO meeting:

India should be very realistic about Buenos Aires WTO meeting: Suresh Prabhu
Commerce minister Suresh Prabhu on his strategy for the WTO meeting in Buenos Aires, China and India’s free trade agreements

India’s new commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu will face his first big challenge of defending multilateralism and securing India’s interests at the upcoming ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Buenos Aires starting 10 December. In an interview, Prabhu talks about his strategy for WTO, China and free trade agreements (FTAs). Prabhu also hopes to use exports as a tool to create employment opportunities in India. Edited excerpts:

In the previous Nairobi ministerial of WTO two years ago, the Doha Development Agenda could not be affirmed unanimously. Will we see the proverbial final nails in the coffin of Doha round in Buenos Aires?

Nothing dramatic happens in every WTO ministerial, particularly today when the global economy is not as sound as it was, when the US has certain strong position on the entire multilateral institution, when there is still an overhang of the previous rounds of negotiations on this ministerial. We should be very realistic about the ministerial in Buenos Aires. At the same time, we are not giving up the issues. Doha Development Agenda is very much there and is an important component of the WTO agenda. I have talked to at least 40 ministers about it.

So we will not agree to a new round of WTO talks?

There is no question about it. I said very clearly at the Marrakesh mini-ministerial that before adding any new issues, let us deal with the issues that are already on the plate. Those issues are development issues.

What about new issues like investment protection and e-commerce?

There are issues that every country puts up. But there is a difference between issues raised and negotiations. Issues raised can be anything, issues for negotiations should be the ones upon which there is agreement and they are part of the work programme.

Fisheries subsidy is one of the possible deliverables at the Argentina ministerial. How are we going to protect our interest on this matter?

We are very clear that traditional fishermen should not be subjected to any conditions as such. They should be free to do what they do. Fisheries should be sustainable. There should not be overfishing. Even when you do overfishing in deep sea, that affects the coastal fishermen also because fish travel from one place to the other. This is something that will benefit India.

After you took charge in the ministry, you talked about an agriculture export policy. Government recently imposed Minimum Export Price (MEP) on onions. Do you think a consistent agriculture export policy is possible given our focus on meeting domestic demand?

Work has already started regarding this. Having a policy does not mean import and export will not be subjected to change. It is always possible. Protecting the vulnerable, whether farmers or consumers is part of public policy. Sometimes, it is challenging. Therefore, public policy has to be done in a proper way, that’s why we are consulting as many stakeholders as possible. I have already met some farmers’ organizations and some agricultural experts. It is necessary that India has an agri-exports policy because doubling farmers’ income can be achieved through exports in a short period of time.

India has a huge trade deficit with China and consistent pleas by India for more market access have not yielded any result. What strategy you will follow vis-a-vis China?

This is the first significant change that has happened in our bilateral relationship. I have met my counterpart in China in Manila after becoming the commerce minister. I told him this is unsustainable, we run huge trade deficit with you and it is not going to work. After some convincing, they have agreed to look at each and every sector, wherein we can actually export more by giving more market access, thus reducing trade deficit in a phased manner. I have already set up a task force which is chaired by the commerce secretary from the Indian side, I have requested the Chinese side to appoint somebody, they were busy with their party Congress and they have said they will do it very quickly. They will start meeting to make sure that it happens. I have told all export promotion councils to give ideas to this task force.

India is negotiating a FTA with Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) members. Does an RCEP agreement without a strong services pact make sense for India?

We are already pushing for it. Our strong view is that global trade must include global trade in services. There is more and more servicification of manufacturing also. We are very keen that services is part of RCEP.

While India has yielded access to its huge domestic market to trade partners in goods under FTAs, it has never been able to include strong services pacts in FTAs where it considers having an advantage. Do you think we need to be more careful while signing FTAs henceforth?

Generally, we have to be always careful when we sign an FTA. I have asked my colleagues to prepare a proper standard operating procedure before signing an FTA. We are negotiating quite a few FTAs like Sri Lanka, Canada, European Union (EU), and Colombia, where we will follow the procedures. Along with that, services trade will be our strong policy parameter. We have realized that services trade can actually grow at a much faster rate than goods. Services speak languages unlike goods, so we need to have proper geographical strategy. We are also in the process of identifying new services which can be exported including professional services, business services. For example, have you thought about homecare services? Japan with whom we have an FTA has (an) aging population. They need homecare services that can be both onshore and offshore. From here, one can also enquire in Japanese “Aunty, have you taken your medicine?”

How do you plan to use exports as a tool to create more jobs?

In my first day in office, I decided we will create a policy for exports and employment. We have asked NITI Aayog to prepare a study for it. They have already done some preliminary work. The propensity to create more jobs in exports is far higher than any other activity.

Do you think Indian companies are risk-averse to explore new markets outside India?

Indian industry’s low capacity utilization can improve dramatically with export taking place. With exports, even if industry can recover its variable cost and only a part of its fixed cost, they still can make profit because their capacity utilization is low. Industry can outbid their competitors in global markets because they will be selling items at a cheaper rate. I have met four industry associations and they said they have not thought about it. I have told them to think about and come back for any support they may need from us. This will give us huge benefits: capacity utilization will improve, production will go up, exports will increase, employment will be created, trade deficit will also be addressed.

In the recently concluded Trade Policy Forum with the US, both sides failed to come out with a joint statement. Has our trade relationship with the US entered an uncertain phase?

We deliberately didn’t bring it out. We both published statements separately and the tone of the statements are same. Commerce Secretary (Wilbur) Ross told me that “we don’t want to reduce trade deficit with India by reducing your exports to the US, rather by increasing our exports to India.” This is a significant statement. That means our exports are protected. I gave him an example. We are going to buy 1,000 aircraft in the next few years. I am not saying we will buy from the US, but there is a market. I said please look at these issues with the future in mind. When India’s GDP will be $5 trillion, these numbers will dramatically change.

Locked out, without a GI tag

Locked out, without a GI tag

The existing law for Geographical Indications leans too heavily on documentary proof

The law of Geographical Indications (GIs) is linked to the terroir, that is the quality of a product is essentially attributable to the territory where the product originates from. GIs support local production and are an important economic tool for the uplift of rural and tribal communities. Unlike other Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) which guarantee the protection of individual interest, GI is a collective right. If their products qualify, producers can use the collective GI mark while commercially exploiting their products.

Path to introduction

India implemented a sui generis legislation on GI in 1999, a prime reason being its obligation to have a law on GI as a member of the World Trade Organisation-Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (WTO-TRIPS).

Making India GI brand conscious

The politics behind the incorporation of GI in TRIPS is revealing. The United States was not a supporter of GI, and it was lobbying by the European Union (EU) that ensured its inclusion in TRIPS. The EU already had its domestic mechanisms in place to protect GIs and was keen to protect its products in international markets.

Interestingly, the debate on GI in India has never gone beyond Article 23 of TRIPS, which gives a preference to wines and spirits over other goods. Scholars in India have always observed that the additional protection of wines and spirits is a huge setback for GI trade related to the developing countries whose GIs are largely related to agricultural and handicraft products. The protection given to wines and spirits is absolute and unqualified, and unlike right holders of other goods, the proprietor of GI relating to wines and spirits does not have to prove that incorrect use of the geographic origin is misleading as well.

Shortcomings in Indian Act

As India has failed over the years to introspect on its own domestic legislation, it is important to highlight the shortcomings of the Indian GI Act. It is important to note that TRIPS only provides a minimum standard of protection. Nowhere is there an insistence on a particular framework for protection of GI. In fact, TRIPS does not even mandate a sui generis mode of protection for GI.

Against this backdrop, proof of origin is a mandatory criterion for registering GIs in India. This provision is borrowed from the EU’s regulations on GI protection. What is cause for concern is not proof of origin as a criteria to register GI, but the focus on historic proof in the form of documentary evidence (such as gazetteers, published documents, news articles, advertisement materials) to bring out the historic development of GIs as laid down under GI Rules, 2002, and clarified by the GI Manual of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, and Registrar of Geographical Indications to establish proof of origin. The point here is about the rationale behind including such a provision in our law as there was no mandate under TRIPs to do so.

Documentary evidence as proof of origin may be a foolproof mechanism to ensure the link between the product and territory, but in a country such as India where there are regions like the Northeast where oral history has had far wider convention over written history, this provision will prove to be a formidable hurdle.

The case of Assam

Assam has been exploring its natural, agricultural and traditional products as potential GI material. One such example is a traditional rice wine called ‘Judima’ which is made by the Dimasa tribe of Dima Hasao, one of the autonomous hill districts of Assam. The State government has been tracking academic discourse on the subject with the intent of exploring possibilities in registering it. But a stumbling block has been the difficulty in gathering documentary evidence as proof of origin. It is the same case with many other products from the Northeast. For example, in the case of ‘Judima’, the word ‘Ju’ stands for drink and ‘Dima’ for Dimasas, but the absence of any documentary proof makes the case a difficult one to prove.

Therefore, what is the rationality behind including and retaining such provisions in the law? For most products, especially those of tribal communities, this is bound to be a recurrent problem. A few years ago, India faced difficulties in a patent case involving turmeric when two scientists of the University of Mississippi Medical Centre, were granted the U.S. patent for the use of turmeric in wound healing. India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which opposed this, was asked by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to submit documentary evidence of usage of turmeric for healing purposes in India in order to revoke the patent. On finding the existing documentary evidence insufficient, CSIR was compelled to launch a project of translating ancient Sanskrit texts which were later produced as evidence, and accepted.

So, what happens in cases such where a written history is rare? Do the products of the region then not stand a chance under the GI law? In a particular instance, the GI Registry considered etymology in establishing proof of origin. However, this does not guarantee that a similar stance will be adopted while considering other potential GI products, especially when the existing law leans heavily on documentary proof. The GI authorities should amend the existing provision.

No point pursuing coal over renewables

No point pursuing coal over renewables
Investing in coal in the 2020s would lock India into the wrong technology for the foreseeable future
From Paris Agreement to International Solar Alliance, India sends a reassuring signal to the global community of its commitment to increasing the share of non-fossil fuel energy, particularly through greater use of renewables—solar and wind—in its power-generation capacity.

Yet, India’s Economic Survey 2016-17 dampens hopes about the role of this renewable energy in resolving India’s energy deficit. Estimating social costs of coal- and renewables-based power on undisclosed assumptions and calculations, the survey reports that renewables’ cost at Rs11/kWh (kilowatt-hour) is three times higher than that of coal in 2017. Further, it predicts a decline in renewables’ social cost as well as the gap between renewables’ and coal’s social costs. The survey concludes that renewable energy investments are crucial but emphasizes that meeting India’s socioeconomic developmental goals also means tapping non-renewable cleaner energy sources.

In a lecture at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Arvind Subramanian, chief economic adviser (CEA) to the government of India, takes the last point a step further. He argues that in the narrow window before renewables’ costs decline to the level of coal, India should maximize the use of the black resource, focusing on accelerating coal expansion. While renewables may be the future, he contends that so-called “clean” coal will and should remain India’s primary source of energy. Slamming advanced countries for “carbon imperialism”, he calls upon the world to form a global green and clean coal coalition.

Subramanian raises important questions. However, his arguments supplementing the survey’s black box calculations are superficial in economic reasoning, biased in supporting the case of coal against renewables. Consequently, policy recommendations are vague and exaggerated, and the government should exercise caution before adopting them.

For instance, the government should exercise caution when being advised to expand coal in the “narrow window” before renewables become cost-effective. Assuming that with increasing carbon concerns, coal costs increase over time, the narrow window where coal would be cost-effective would have to end in the late 2020s, by when Economic Survey numbers for mean renewables costs would have fallen below coal costs. However, coal plants tend to keep running for many decades. Hence investing in them in the 2020s would lock India into the wrong technology for the foreseeable future.

Moreover, new coal power plants and mines not only entail a long-term economic lock-in to coal, but also a logistical and political lock-in of the entire grid system and market policies—a complex system that can only slowly evolve. Therefore, CEA’s advice further locks India into coal, only exacerbating India’s worry of unaffordable coal closure costs. Coal expansion—upgrading existing or building new—is a doubtful prescription.

The government should be careful of the suggestion that coal be maintained as a measure of economic redistribution, helping poorer states. Resource curse makes it highly doubtful whether higher coal endowments at all improve development in areas with the weakest political institutions dealing with coal revenue redistribution and pollution issues. Undeniably, coal is on the very top of polluting businesses and allegedly associated with corruption at all political levels. Consideration should be given to alternative policies helping inter-regional economic redistribution before sustaining coal for this cause. For example, decentralized renewables technologies could have better redistributional impact than king coal, which is more likely to cause deadly diseases than healthy redistribution.

On the one hand, it is being suggested that the government reduce support for renewables to avoid what Subramanian calls a “double whammy”, while on the other, the government is being advised to invest heavily into developing clean coal technologies to render coal less polluting. A “double whammy” for the government is particularly associated with clean coal. First, transitioning to clean coal still leads to irrecoverable sunk costs of existing coal assets. Second, it would be very costly. In the CEA’s own words, developing reasonably clean coal technology would be an endeavour akin to the “Manhattan Project” that produced the first nuclear bomb. Given the colossal scale of the physical challenges of cleaning coal, the comparison has its point. It is ignored that for the Manhattan Project there was a clear target and known physics ready to be exploited to solve what seemed the single most urgent problem to secure liberty of an entire hemisphere against another. The effort suggested for cleaning coal, on the other hand, is for an unknown, limited gain in the use of an outdated technology—a desperate attempt to keep a to-be-overcome technology alive as newer and cleaner alternatives rapidly mature.

The government should exercise caution when William Nordhaus’ social costs of carbon estimates are employed. Such estimates are controversial, stemming from highly stylized models with strong assumptions, not necessarily paying careful attention to individual regions’ particular situations, using discount rates that may place too low a weight on damages that occur in the future.

India should be wary of superficial economic arguments that can undermine global harmony and collaboration, especially when all parties already have their own opportunistic biases. Putting all bets on yet-to-be-invented clean coal energy at a time when renewables projects start to become cheaper than the fuel-based alternatives means investing in long-lived coal plants and infrastructure based on a to-be-phased-out technology. It also means a country, particularly vulnerable to climate changes, sending wrong signals to a carbon-concerned world. Ultimately, a more balanced assessment is the need of the hour, a necessity if growing economies like India want to ever be able to enjoy abundant energy without frying our planet.

Building India one miracle at a time

Building India one miracle at a time

देश मे कुछ अच्छा भी हुआ हैं
India has had a few modern ‘miracles’ of its own, from Operation Flood to the Delhi Metro, the IITs and IIMs, and Isro, among others

On American Thanksgiving Day last week, I had the good fortune of spending a morning with my mother at Dubai’s Miracle Garden (DMG). Set in about 70,000 square metres of space it houses over 150 million flowers. Petunias, marigolds, snapdragons and violas adorn different frames in a “miracle” riot of colour in the middle of the desert. And for a few hours on a brilliantly sunny desert morning it gave a mother and son great joy.

The field of development economics does not have much literature on whether development is best done by stringing a bunch of miracles in a bouquet. Empirically speaking many East Asian “miracle” economies—China and Korea in particular—have followed the method of piloting a few successes and then generalizing them. China, for instance, opened up its economy in miracle spurts, first in Shenzhen and Zhuhai and then by adding cities in the coastal belt from Dalian in the north to Pudong in the middle to Xiamen in the south. These city “special economic zones” were then generalized into the Pearl River Delta and the Yangze Delta with Shanghai-Pudong as its “dragon head”. Korea’s initial development, called the Miracle on Han River, followed a slightly different model of sectoral industrial policy—first energy then chemicals then electronics—together with macroeconomic stability.

India has had a few modern “miracles” of its own. Operation Flood—popularly but incorrectly known to many as “Amul”—the Delhi Metro, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Management (IIMs), the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and perhaps a handful of others. Let me take a moment to describe each to deduce the “miracle” factor.

“Amul”: Following its success as a federated cooperative in Gujarat, Operation Flood (OF) by the National Dairy Development Board became the largest dairy development project in the world. It delivered India from chronic milk shortage to a country with the largest milk production and consumption in the world today. OF was led by one man, Verghese Kurien, with a vision and on a mission. He demanded and was granted autonomy to spread his cooperative vision with built-in quality control for dairy production which he did with great dedication and elan for three decades. Much more needs to be done since India’s per capita milk consumption is still low, but OF has lost steam after Kurien’s death and milk production is now moving towards the private sector.

Delhi Metro: The Delhi Metro was built in phases from 2002 to 2011 and now represents the 12th largest metro system in the world in terms of length. The metro is clean and modern and runs on time. It was delivered on time and within budget and was again led by one man, Dr. E. Sreedharan, who like Kurien demanded autonomy and non-interference.

Metros in other cities in India have not managed the same success mostly because they did not have the same focus on costs and delivery.

IITs and IIMs: These institutions of higher education were built and operated by many capable people over the years. The IITs today are governed by an IIT council which has significant government participation but operates with a fair degree of autonomy. Time will tell if the expanded set of IITs and IIMs will match the original excellence.

Isro: Space research and exploration in India owes much to the inspiration provided by Jawaharlal Nehru and the pioneering efforts and culture of autonomy and technical excellence established by Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. Isro continues its trajectory of taking India faster and further than other space agencies, with a budget that is a small fraction of those programmes.

Others: Of the newer miracles in India, Aadhaar, India’s population-wide biometric identification system, is one. Even though many Indians are currently annoyed by the thoughtless overreach by the government through banks and telecom companies in demanding the linking of their accounts, Aadhaar will help in providing an identity to millions and reducing the mis-targeting of national resources. India’s private sector led by its technology, healthcare and private financial companies with strong return on capital collectively represent a mini miracle for the country to build on.

The argumentative Indian will suggest that it is no miracle to ship pots thousands of miles and pour 700,000 litres of water a day into the desert to grow flowers. They might add that India’s miracle is its vibrant democracy and its continuing union despite the odds. All true. But that does not negate the fact that we must string our microcosmic miracles and learn from them to scale to the rest of the country.

One lesson is that large-scale projects need to be free from generalized governmental interference: the common factor is autonomy with accountability. Most often the success is led by individuals such as in the case of OF or the Delhi Metro but not exclusively–organizational culture has also led to world-beating success. Less recognized is that specialists with experience are required to lead specialized projects like Sreedharan, Sarabhai and Nandan Nilekani. Political willingness and air cover are critical but so too is specialty.

There are many talented and specialized people in India. We must tap into them to make a million flowers bloom here.

P.S. “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change,” said the Buddha.