I refer to the Hindu and Business Line of 20th of August 2008 and two articles that made me think.
Let me take the first one mentioned above: ‘Denmark’s solution to energy crises by Thomas L Friedman. That particularly favorite journalist of mine talks about energy conservation and alternate energy development in two small countries. He starts with describing a town in Greenland as a ‘charming little place’ where energy saving has become a way of life. I immediately wonder whether he would say that about my little suburban village in Chennai. Of course we have this beautiful temple which is around six hundred years old. But would he able to ignore the empty temple tank which now emanates sulphurous fumes (of course I am joking)? Anyhow Mr. Friedman then goes on to elaborate on Denmark and the responsible Danes. At this moment I think about the other article I mentioned about, the one which appeared just above the said article in the Editorial page. ‘What about guarantee of output?’ asks B S Raghavan rhetorically. I had just finished reading about the hard truths which I generally try to forget about pointed out with dexterity by Mr. Raghavan. I remember the adjectives and nouns used there ‘appalling’, ‘callousness’, ‘corruption’ and this rather long but explicitly correct expression: ‘workers who are absent, incompetent, indifferent and outright corrupt’ by the World Bank. I also think about the comments made by the honourable judges of the Supreme Court of India that ‘even God cannot help our country’ while speaking about the inaction of the government and the officials.
Denmark, Mr. Friedman says is today energy independent. The Danes did not protest the imposition of a set of gasoline taxes in 1973 when it was hammered by the Arab oil embargo. Instead they innovated. They recycled waste heat from their coal-fired power plants for home heating and hot water; incinerated their trash in central stations to provide home heating. I think about the Pallikkaranai marsh, the virtual mountains of city waste and its dying flora and fauna. I think about all the overflowing dust bins as well as the empty dust bins with the waste thrown around by us otherwise vociferous city dwellers! I think about all the political parties and the party workers who have generally all the time to agitate on any issue but organize the clearing of the waste. I wondered why they do not come in to raise awareness amongst the people about self-help.
To come back to Mr. Friedman, he comes around to talking about wind industry and how it was nothing in 1970s and that today one third of all terrestrial wind turbines come from Denmark. India is a leading of wind power generator. Where is all the political will required to elevate this technology to bridge the energy gap now prevalent in India? I am an aam aadmi and needs to understand. I see fanatical obsession about the rights of diverse faiths, even the intellectuals pitching in. When will we direct our energy towards a total clean-up?
Now let me see, I want to see India with well laid out roads, clean railway stations, clean public civic amenities, continuous water supply, clean drinking water, uninterrupted electricity, housing for all … the list can go and on. Is this an Utopia? They say we have more than a billion population. But I think these facilities are available elsewhere where the population is more than ours. I quote an article in Hindu by Parvathy Menon on Tibet (Inside Tibet 1). She talks of attractive tree-lined avenues, a busy industry district, open spaces… I am jealous. China proudly holds the Olympic Games. The Chinese athletes shine. We start the blame-game. Actually we can make the blame-game our national sports.
Actually I will stop here. Not because I have covered all the issues facing us, because I am already depressed. Now do I have good mental health-care doctors?
Let me take the first one mentioned above: ‘Denmark’s solution to energy crises by Thomas L Friedman. That particularly favorite journalist of mine talks about energy conservation and alternate energy development in two small countries. He starts with describing a town in Greenland as a ‘charming little place’ where energy saving has become a way of life. I immediately wonder whether he would say that about my little suburban village in Chennai. Of course we have this beautiful temple which is around six hundred years old. But would he able to ignore the empty temple tank which now emanates sulphurous fumes (of course I am joking)? Anyhow Mr. Friedman then goes on to elaborate on Denmark and the responsible Danes. At this moment I think about the other article I mentioned about, the one which appeared just above the said article in the Editorial page. ‘What about guarantee of output?’ asks B S Raghavan rhetorically. I had just finished reading about the hard truths which I generally try to forget about pointed out with dexterity by Mr. Raghavan. I remember the adjectives and nouns used there ‘appalling’, ‘callousness’, ‘corruption’ and this rather long but explicitly correct expression: ‘workers who are absent, incompetent, indifferent and outright corrupt’ by the World Bank. I also think about the comments made by the honourable judges of the Supreme Court of India that ‘even God cannot help our country’ while speaking about the inaction of the government and the officials.
Denmark, Mr. Friedman says is today energy independent. The Danes did not protest the imposition of a set of gasoline taxes in 1973 when it was hammered by the Arab oil embargo. Instead they innovated. They recycled waste heat from their coal-fired power plants for home heating and hot water; incinerated their trash in central stations to provide home heating. I think about the Pallikkaranai marsh, the virtual mountains of city waste and its dying flora and fauna. I think about all the overflowing dust bins as well as the empty dust bins with the waste thrown around by us otherwise vociferous city dwellers! I think about all the political parties and the party workers who have generally all the time to agitate on any issue but organize the clearing of the waste. I wondered why they do not come in to raise awareness amongst the people about self-help.
To come back to Mr. Friedman, he comes around to talking about wind industry and how it was nothing in 1970s and that today one third of all terrestrial wind turbines come from Denmark. India is a leading of wind power generator. Where is all the political will required to elevate this technology to bridge the energy gap now prevalent in India? I am an aam aadmi and needs to understand. I see fanatical obsession about the rights of diverse faiths, even the intellectuals pitching in. When will we direct our energy towards a total clean-up?
Now let me see, I want to see India with well laid out roads, clean railway stations, clean public civic amenities, continuous water supply, clean drinking water, uninterrupted electricity, housing for all … the list can go and on. Is this an Utopia? They say we have more than a billion population. But I think these facilities are available elsewhere where the population is more than ours. I quote an article in Hindu by Parvathy Menon on Tibet (Inside Tibet 1). She talks of attractive tree-lined avenues, a busy industry district, open spaces… I am jealous. China proudly holds the Olympic Games. The Chinese athletes shine. We start the blame-game. Actually we can make the blame-game our national sports.
Actually I will stop here. Not because I have covered all the issues facing us, because I am already depressed. Now do I have good mental health-care doctors?
