On Prof G.D. Aggarwal’s Indefinite Fast

COMMUNICATION

At the time of writing this, Prof G.D. Aggarwal has completed 105 days of his indefinite fast to protect the Ganga river in the Himalyan region from indiscriminate construction of dams. Without necessarily agreeing with all that this venerable saint-cum-scientist (now called Swami Saanand) has said, his great commitment to checking indiscriminate construction of hydel projects on Ganga river in Himalayan region should be widely supported.

In this context I would also like to draw attention to suitable alternatives. These should be in the form of rural decentralised renewable energy systems. This effort has the following components:

1. Essential information relating to main renewable energy sources which can be effective at panchayat/village level should be made available to rural communities. This will include information about well-known sources like solar, wind, bio-mass, bio-gas, watermills, micro-hydel etc. as well as less known new devices like Mangal Turbine for lifting water from streams without diesel or electricity. Animal power should also be encouraged with emphasis on indigenous species.

2. With some technical help from outside, villages should be encouraged to select a mix of various sources of renewable energy which is most suitable to the conditions and resources in a village.

3. Hence a most appropriate decentralised renewable energy plan for a village, or a cluster of small villages, should be prepared with the active involvement of villagers after appropriate training and generating maximum possible local employment.

4. Local people particularly youth and women should be trained both in the installation, repair and maintenance of these systems. In this context the model of barefoot solar engineers of Tilonia (Rajasthan) may be relevant.

5. Such systems should be planned on the basis of making villagers largely self-reliant in meeting their energy needs without harming ecology and sustainable livelihoods.

Bharat Dogra
C-27 Raksha Kunj,
Paschim Vihar,
New Delhi-110063