POWERLESS In India only 40 percent of the poor have electricity. Yet, it is the rich who steal the power subsidized for the poor. A look at India's power problems: SINKING SUBSIDIES: Although agricultural electricity subsidies have been introduced in the name of social benefits, poor farmers do not benefit from it, and indeed may be hurt by subsidies. However, wealthier farmers have successfully grouped up and lobbied for continuation of this policy. Subsidized electricity has imposed high costs and compounded the technological, institutional, and political problems in the sector. RICH MAN'S THEFT: A 2001 Delhi Vidyut Board survey revealed that the power theft in one posh house in South Delhi equals to that of 500 houses in resettlement colonies! The survey also showed that the so-called "rich class" were involved in 75 per cent of the power thefts in the Capital. LOST IN TRANSIT: Out of the total electricity generated, nearly 7 per cent is used for auxiliary consumption and 30-31% is lost in the Transmission and Distribution. These T&D losses include commercial losses like faulty meters and non-payment of dues. SOLUTION is THE PROBLEM?: The government hopes to improve matters by privatising power generation and distribution. There again it is the poor and powerless who have been found to suffer. India's biggest private power plant deal between the now infamous multinational energy giant Enron and Maharashtra is a case in point. The Dhabol power plant had to be scrapped after it was found that Enron paid bribes to wrangle a deal where it would provide power at a cost far higher than what consumers were presently paying. Had the Enron project gone ahead, then the poor would have been shut out.

Plant Damage: SO2 pollution can reduce the leaf area of a plant by 40 per cent and the shoot length by 14 per cent, thereby bringing down agricultural yields.

..in the air
Coal fires: Coal fires lead to the emission of greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Smoke and wind blown ash is also a hazard.

Coal dust: This is full of suspended particulate matter. The blasting in coalmines disperses coal dust as far as 2-3 kilometres. Coal crushing plants are not well protected and hence many houses around these areas are totally black.

..in water
Groundwater Loss: 10 billion litres of groundwater is extracted every day in coalfields in one Orissa district alone. Wells in the area have run dry. Towns near coal mining areas complain of chronic water shortage.

Coal Washing: Washed coal reduces the release of particulate matter into ambient air. But coal washing itself is polluting. The resulting slurry is laden with carbon particles and discharged into water bodies. Damodar in Jharkhand bears the brunt of this and is a highly polluted river. Wastewater from coalfields has heavy metals discharge.

..on people
Sinking lands: The soil surface in areas where coal mining takes place may collapse, causing extensive damage to agricultural land, buildings and transport networks. Sometimes a whole village or settlement is displaced.

Health of workers: Some 150,000 workers, truck drivers and loaders battle this threat every day. Most suffer from coal-related health problems.

...on the transport network
Transport costs reduce the competitiveness of domestic coal. Railways transport 51 per cent of mined coal. A further 23 per cent is transported on industry-owned rail networks. Coal is the largest single freight item handled by the railways.

Out of the total electricity generated in India, only 41 per cent is paid for. The rest is lost in transmission and distribution

 

	600 BC Greek philosopher Thales discovers a fossil resin (called amber today) that can attract feathers when rubbed with fur. He calls the resin elektron.	1600 AD Queen Elizabeth’s court physician finds other materials that can attract things when rubbed. He calls this attractive force electricity.	1752 Risking electrocution, American Benjamin Franklin slips a key over a kite string to prove that lightning is electricity.	1785 Coulomb defines electricity: The force of attraction or repulsion between two charged spheres is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.	1786 Professor Luigi Galvani notices that sparks from a electric machine cause contractions in the leg of a frog. He wrongly credits this to "animal electricity," but his work leads to the discovery of electrical currents.

1800 Alessandro Volta invents the battery, the first source of electricity that can produce a continuous flow of current. This becomes the energy source for the telegraph and the telephone.	1805 Humphry Davy invents the arc light—a continuous charge between two generators. Some cities begin use it for street illumination, but they are fire hazards, produce a harsh light, and smell bad.	1827 German Schoolteacher Georg Ohm develops a simple law of electrical conduction. The unit of electrical resistance is named after him.	1831 School dropout Michael Faraday converts mechanical energy into electricity, giving rise to the electric motor, the dynamo and the transformer.	1835 Blacksmith Thomas Davenport invents the electric motor, but he regards it as a "toy" because it performs no useful work.