O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

Guest Column
Burning twigs can’t secure energy needs of 1.2b
Dr RK Pachauri
If India has to attain a 9 to 10 per cent growth of the economy, the management of the energy sector and its evolution in the coming future would need immediate attention by the country’s leadership.
THE Government of India was host to the Clean Energy Ministerial held in New Delhi on April 17 and 18. This global forum focuses on actions by which the entire energy cycle can be made cleaner and with reduced emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in particular.

Touchstones
Rustling up delicacies fit for the Gods
Bhicoo Manekshaw was the first Indian lady to earn the prestigious Cordon Bleu degree in culinary skills. In her long career as culinary adviser, she was consultant to Air India and handled important state dinners and banquets.
Ira Pande
IT is often said now that the present dispensation has systematically destroyed all the institutions that were so painstakingly established by the founders of our democracy.

ground zero
Musharraf in the line of fire — as always
It was apparent that Musharraf was not going to ride into the sunset quietly. He waited till he thought he had an opportunity to make a comeback. He threw caution to the wind and did a commando-like return. But it was his turn to be caught by surprise.
raj chengappa
Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf never ceases to surprise; the latest being his arrest last week in Islamabad, thereby becoming the first ever Pakistan Army chief to face such ignominy. His recent return to Pakistan to contest the May general elections after being in exile in the UK for the past five years is the latest in the series of miscalculations the former supremo has made in his checkered career.

EDITORIALS

Guest Column
Burning twigs can’t secure energy needs of 1.2b
If India has to attain a 9 to 10 per cent growth of the economy, the management of the energy sector and its evolution in the coming future would need immediate attention by the country’s leadership.
Dr RK Pachauri

THE Government of India was host to the Clean Energy Ministerial held in New Delhi on April 17 and 18. This global forum focuses on actions by which the entire energy cycle can be made cleaner and with reduced emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in particular. The energy sector requires a major transformation in technology, which would also involve changes in infrastructure as well as the mix of energy supply in the future. It is obvious that if India has to attain a 9 to 10 per cent growth of the economy, the management of the energy sector and its evolution in the coming future would need attention by the country’s leadership and every section of society.

Much attention is being provided by the public and the media to the problem of coal supply for the power sector, and according to recent reports much of the capacity installed for power generation, which in any case is inadequate, would be unable to deliver because of the problems in the supply of coal. At the same time, the streets of several cities and highways connecting them are suffering from growing congestion and traffic delays as the number of private vehicles increases and the share of public transport in the total movement of goods and passengers continues to decline. These are, of course, symptoms of a much larger problem, which is compounded by the fact that almost 400 million people in the country are still without access to electricity, and around twice that number still depends on biomass, often of very poor quality, to meet their cooking needs.

About 800 million Indians depend on biomass for cooking.Thinkstock photo/gettyimages

Dealing with the twin challenge of ensuring adequate supply of energy to meet the basic needs of the 1.2 billion people of India and to fuel economic growth at a satisfactory level requires a long-term vision and a policy framework that would bring about efficient use of resources. Power plants, for instance, have a long gestation period, and measures for the adequate supply of fuel to produce electricity often longer. At the same time, the growing energy dependence of the transport sector, in particular on petroleum products, is added to by the growth of captive power generation, using diesel oil and other petroleum products. This adds to the challenge of planning effectively for the supply of energy in a growing economy like that of India.

If we look at the future, the problem of energy security acquires growing importance, and raises some alarm. With rigorous modelling carried out by TERI, it has been found that if we continue with business as usual, by 2031 India would need to import about 1,200 million tonnes of oil equivalent of coal. This would be a staggering volume, which would require matching growth of port capacity as well as inland transportation, assuming that India would be able to purchase this quantity in the international market. In the case of oil, the demand in 2031 would be over 750 million tonnes. Hence, based on reasonable projections of indigenous production in 2031, India would be importing 90 per cent of its oil consumption. There is every reason to believe that India’s consumption would influence coal as well as oil prices in the international market appreciably with these quantities of imports. That would make the Indian economy even more vulnerable to global developments, particularly with sudden price increases. There is, of course, the accompanying problem of energy security for the poor, because with a large number of people having no access to modern forms of energy as mentioned above, we would certainly not be creating conditions for secure livelihoods for a large number of our citizens. The country, therefore, needs to address the issue of energy security by exercising a long-term vision, and investing on a timely basis on research and development by which new technology can be developed and disseminated on a large scale.

One segment of the energy sector which acquires high priority is in the field of renewable energy production and supply. India is one of the countries in the world which receives the largest flow of solar energy incident on its land area. We also have substantial wind energy potential. In addition, India produces large quantities of agricultural waste which makes biomass an attractive option for conversion to modern fuels both through gasification on a decentralised basis, and possible conversion to liquid fuels on a diverse scale through technologies that are being worked on across the world, though not adequately in India.

In the case of solar energy, the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Energy Mission, which is a part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, has made a good beginning, but needs ambitious translation of plans into practice expeditiously. A policy framework also needs to be developed by which financing, inflow of technology and creation of domestic capacity can help achieve existing targets and preferably even exceed them substantially.

The writer is Director-General, Energy and Resources Institute, and Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Touchstones
Rustling up delicacies fit for the Gods
Bhicoo Manekshaw was the first Indian lady to earn the prestigious Cordon Bleu degree in culinary skills. In her long career as culinary adviser, she was consultant to Air India and handled important state dinners and banquets.
Ira Pande

IT is often said now that the present dispensation has systematically destroyed all the institutions that were so painstakingly established by the founders of our democracy. The task of building institutions to enable the new republic to function in a liberal and fair manner needed several other institutions to uphold the Constitution bestowed by our founding fathers. To a large extent, this was the task that the 50s and 60s undertook for these two decades were a period of remarkable institution-building. Almost all the eminent research and academic and cultural centres that have made India into what it is today owe much to the visionaries who set them up. It was an age of hope and enthusiasm with nation-building the mantra that guided all political and cultural policy. Homi Bhabha, JRD Tata, Vikram Sarabhai, Dr CD Deshmukh, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, LC Jain… there are so many Indians to whom we must always be grateful for enabling the success of later generations to make their mark in various fields.

Among the key institutions that were set up in the 60s, the India International Centre (IIC) occupies a unique place. A cultural centre, where free and open dialogue among members of an international community has been ever encouraged, it has preserved its tranquil, cultured atmosphere through almost 60 years of productive work. Till today, it remains an important hub of social and cultural dialogue among prominent players. That said, what many regard as its greatest achievement is its wonderful bar and fine dining. Its various dining spaces are packed to capacity and on any given day, you can be sure to find among the guests, eminent jurists, parliamentarians, venerable professors and economists with a sprinkling of artists and performers. All of them come to its dining halls or the tea lounge for the great food and drink always available at a modest price and served by waiters who know each member personally.

Memories: Bhicoo transformed the kitchen of the India International Centre, Delhi.

Behind this great tradition of personalised hospitality, there is one towering personality: Mrs Bhicoo Manekshaw. A familiar sight until just a year ago, she was a tall, imposing lady, impeccably dressed in elegant handloom saris and coiffed to perfection, walking into the lounge and dining hall to check how everything was going. The kitchen staff adored her and a few years ago, long after she had stepped down as the catering consultant to the IIC, she decided to launch her latest recipe book in the IIC kitchen and made the chef, Vijay, do the honours. What can be a greater tribute to the staff than that?

Mrs Manekshaw started her career by giving cooking lessons to Air Force wives (her husband was in the Air Force, busy setting up the Institute of Aviation Medicine in Bangalore). Later, when he was Air attaché to the Indian High Commissioner in London, she became the first Indian lady to earn the prestigious Cordon Bleu degree in culinary skills. In her long career as culinary adviser, she was consultant to Air India and was requested to handle important state dinners and banquets, notably the Commonwealth Chiefs Conference and the Asiad Games. Her work caught the eye of several discerning people, among them John Lal, the then Director of the IIC, who persuaded her to become the IIC’s catering consultant.

Recently, to celebrate its golden jubilee, the IIC brought out a recipe book that has Mrs Manekshaw stamped all over it. From the delectable grilled cheese sandwiches to the elegant croquembouche, she changed the face of the IIC from a stodgy canteen fare to delicious soups, grills, confectionery and stunning desserts. She loved to regale us with stories of how she devised the concept of the Plat de Jour and the Gateau Indira she created once in honour of Mrs Gandhi, who loved entertaining there. She also named a dish for IIC’s architect, Joseph Stein, and one for Mr Lal. She was so fond of Premola Ghose, the Chief Programme Officer, whom she fondly called her foster daughter that she created a dessert Gateau Premola, a delicious concoction of gooseberries and cake.

Even after she officially retired, she continued to regularly visit the centre. She was affectionately greeted by everyone and the chef would come personally to ask her what she fancied that day. Sometimes, she would lunch with us and invite us for a return meal at her smart restaurant Basil and Thyme in the upmarket Santushti shopping complex. How we looked forward to those invitations for they were at least three-course meals with a chilled soup (in summer), starters, entrée and a dessert to die for. Often we took the day off to digest the excesses of that meal. She also set up the popular Lodi Restaurant inside the Lodi Gardens where treetops sway to the aromas of the cuisine. My last meeting with her was in the IIC where she had come to have lunch with Premola and I was shocked at how frail she seemed. Leaning heavily on her silver topped walking stick, she had a nursing attendant and seemed to have shrunk. We greeted each other warmly and then parted. I am told that was one of her last outings.

On April 14, soon after Navroz, this valiant Parsi left forever. No doubt she is busy advising the powers above on how to streamline their kitchen and making friends with all the foodies up there as she whisks ambrosia and nectar into a gateau fit for God.