SWITCH-ON THE 'OFF-POWER'

Where do we go in search of power when actually it is coming towards us? The nature of such a mysterious existence remains still unknown for the so-called 'human-brains'. The different facets of the human civilization have shown that cruelty has always overshadowed the good. In this case, the wither of the golden spring is yet to begin and thus the beginning of such a prosperous time lies in the reforms. When the news of the 'Rationalization of tariffs' in power sector was announced, the one thing that stuck everyone was whether India could be able to pull-off more power with the existing resources. The answer is definitely a sound 'yes’. The power sector reforms as stated by the government in order to regulate the activities of State Electricity Boards (SEBs) and their distribution channels have received overwhelmingly a positive response. There is so much fuss about the structuring of the state capital and shareholding that the regulation of tariffs hardly been noticed. The emancipation of derailment of faults in the power sector administration could well solve this issue of irregularities and introduce a system that is the output of a power sector reform. At present, the SEBs sometimes buys power at Rs.7 to Rs.8 per unit, and sells it to consumers at anything from Rs.3 to Rs.5 per unit, incurring additional losses. Meanwhile for selling the power from an independent producer to the common man, facing huge losses, logically the government couldn't satisfy its purpose of being stable in regulation power. Eventually huge money is again procured from the Central Power Regulation Agency for compensating the losses faced. In such a scenario, introducing the 'rationalization of tariffs' seems to be a must and 'the need of the hour' phenomenon. Unbelievably and astoundingly large, the estimated total losses run up by the SEBs has been pegged at Rs.1.9 lakh crore which is far more larger than the revenue generated by the largest independent power producer. The package the CCEA has now worked out having made the inroads to get back an additional sum for compensations. The dependent States have the time till December 31, 2012 to opt into CCEA for power regulation by a central body with virtual authority by the State itself. The money comes with reform strings attached and this is where the ruling parties of the respective State governments have to bite the bait and obviously go by the reforms. The State governments must commit to revising their power tariff annually through the mentioned regulatory boards to pursue their power regulation through this package. Moreover, the tariff order for 2012-13 will have to be notified before the restructuring package gets approved for the reforms to be completely done. Unfortunately, the SEBs are the reason for transmission and distribution losses, which account for as much as 40 per cent of output in some States and thus cutting the losses will enhance more power and less losses. To get straight, while states like Gujarat, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are able to regulate power through independent power producers why cannot the most of the other States with available resources resort to tide over crisis-like situations like now? The evident answer is to be analyzed and approved. Rain flows cautiously even. Our minds think like the same. If it is for the good, then the results are better. Wish such minds think about power reforms and the situation just gets better!

THE FORTUNE SWINGS!

When there is a dearth of air entering a space of vacuum, it creates a hell and lot of disturbance for that particular system. The condition of India's Multi-brand domestic retail shops is in such havoc state. When the ruling party announced their decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, it took away the sleep of thousands of domestic traders and retailers alike. This is a period when the smallest of decisions can change the fate of so many people for their entire lives. FDI is a system in which foreign retailers can trade into our domestic markets with Government tax exemptions and other benefits. The foreign investors shake the normalcy of the common trader here and would attract a new brand of buyers. This will severely affect the profits of the common trader. But the Government needs to improve the annual GDP - the growth rate - to an expected 7% and there is no other way other than this. For some of the economists, the decision taken by the Government in allowing FDI into domestic markets in the form of multi-brand retail maybe right, but considering the effects that would be borne by the domestic traders is much more than it is expected by the authorities concerned. In the view of checking this reeling act and also for increasing the price of diesel - this would majorly hurt lorry men - NDA (National Democrative Alliance) and Left parties called on for a nation-wide bandh today. Only some days before, Trinamool Congress (TNC) led by the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Ms.Mamta Bannerjee withdrew its support to the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA). The sudden and surprising act of Ms.Bannerjee raised the expectations of early elections but those went to the ground when other coalition parties decided to stay intact with the Indian National Congress (INC) making its majority more than the required number. The enormity of the bandh could only be realized in the Northern states of India where the effects of FDI were already felt in an atrocious way when Singur happened. The people in those states breaking their normalcy to the fore flooded on the roads blocking any kind of road transport. The only state in the country which differed in the view of the bandh and where normalcy was upheld was Tamil Nadu. Even when Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) which is a strong coalition party to the UPA government announced its support to the bandh with its Labour Wing executing the orders, the effect of bandh was however less. The shops at the Koyambedu market -around 3000 in number - remained closed hugely distributing the 'metro' people in and around Chennai. Other than that, it was usual for the people of Tamil Nadu. Schools and colleges were open and the attendance was considerably normal. Government buses were on the road and the public transport - air transport, including - was not affected much. The public welfare offices also functioned normally making the total bandh meaningless in the state. It made everyone to realize that just calling a bandh alone will not squeeze the fire but right decisions benefiting all is the 'need of the hour'. Better decisions are made by better leaders. Better leaders are created under worse situations. In my point of view, the situation can't get worse than this and we shall hope it brings us better leaders and decisions. Let us rise to the problem to floor the solution!

THE 'CRACKER' NEWS

Sivakasi and its surrounding villages in southern Tamil Nadu are the most cracker-accident prone places in the country. The tragic death of nearly 38 workers and onlookers at a fireworks unit in Mudalipatti village is one of the so many fire accidents the district has facing so far in the last few years. The main reason for this havoc is the reason that it has not been deployed with proper enforcement of rules. There haven't been many situations where the police forces feebly fought the public - the 'on-lookers' - who overstepped the fence put rounding the explosion site and such was the terribleness of the incident that the on-lookers were the huge causalities for their attempt in rescuing their fellow people. According to the sources in and around the accident place, it is said that the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization, mandated with responsibilities under the Explosives Act and the Petroleum Act, is reported to have suspended the license of the unit just a day before the accident. Thus, it is obvious that the concerned authority has not taken serious inspections in the unit and issue intense warnings if anything in the unit is out of order or seems like violating the rules. The national Factories Act, 1948, and the Tamil Nadu Fire Service Act, 1985, empower safety inspectors and fire service officers to order the factory owners to stick to the rules or stop the operations that particular industry is doing. There is no doubt that this particular accident is all about the non-compliance of the small-scale industries with safety norms and hence witnessing a tragedy that is a telling statement on the failure of enforcement authorities in supervising these hazardous units at the peak of their activity in the weeks leading to Diwali. The supervising organizations include PESO also which is one of the most influential bodies in view of checking such risks and safety measures concerned. Most of those killed in the accident were onlookers who rushed to the site on hearing the first explosion and in the intention of saving their people. But unfortunately, the first explosion was followed by another one which was more severe than its predecessor which caused the maximum number of deaths. This makes the thing of brutality very clear that the calculation of huge risks involved in these units have not been carefully analyzed and the severity of such accidents were not clearly explained to the workers and the people living around the place. With all these information put into the view, this particular accident can be well termed as an 'incident'. Other than some weak attempts to push people back, the police appear to have done little to warn the crowd that had gathered of the impending danger. The sense of tragedy is the greater because not only were the explosions preventable, but the deaths in the explosions too could have been avoided with some foresight and greater effort, had the local authorities developed protocols for dealing with hazardous fires in a high-risk area like Sivakasi. Finally, only tough enforcement of production and storage rules is the only way to minimize and eliminate risk in the firecracker industry. Wishing that this Diwali will not bear the stamp of so many deaths at the back of its cracker covers. Strict enforcement of rules over the small scale industries alone will help the people involved. The rolling stone could never be stopped. Let us make its road flat!

THE OTHER FACE OF MEDIA

Where we are heading to? Indian media over the last few years have grown a tendency of 'cooking the news'. The growing number of news channels have flooded the country with highlighted news and over-analyzed anticipations. In case of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the private news channels have made the issue a bit too much to say the least. The coverage of those attacks has thus far been termed as 'the ultimate low in the history of Indian news channels'. There could be no other disgrace which hurtled the people more than this news coverage of 26/11 attacks. In the view that the Pakistani masterminds regulated the activities from being at their camps with the help of the terrorists here by is due to the live coverage of the hostage issue. This is literally called as the 'walking on a knife'. The court should curtail the TV channels for risking the right to life of others while taking care of allowing them the right to free expression. Private TV channels should themselves know what is right and what is wrong, thereby establishing a rule book for regulating news coverage on their own. After the introduction of self-regulation into the rules of TV channels, the other national events were covered with legitimately with heart and mind. The liability of information suggested so far in TV coverage has been too much for an ordinary person to digest. In fact, regarding the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the news coverage acted as a medium of communication between the terrorists and their handlers who were the masterminds and had their base at their own place back in Pakistan. No matter how farfetched this trajectory of the news projection, the TV channels have certainly violated the basic rules enrolled on them. The Supreme Court hangs on the balance between providing justice to the seekers of 'Right to live' who have been hurtled by the TV Channels indirectly and allowing the media their own, 'Right to free expression'! But the fact is that the basic right to free expression is for the people and in the scenario where even they are violated by this right, the basics have to be redefined. The question of redefinition is 'is government there for the people or for the rules?’ If this question is answered by changing the most basic amenities to live better, there is no doubt why there could be two swords in a single stand. After the Supreme Court's order of 'self-regulation' over the private news channels was implemented, the news coverage of similar subsequent events after 26/11 attacks was well established with an open-heart and mind. The going is better only in the sense there is nothing tougher on the way. Stern tests await the media and their efficiency for bringing out better scrutinizing of news will be looked upon seriously. If the going gets tough, the tough gets going. There is peace and war in everything around us. Wish the media takes the peace out of the wars and give us better life!!