What Am I

This is in the context of the recent attempts of Andhra Pradesh state Government, in India to renegotiate the PPAs of existing Solar/Wind assets. To give you a brief context, the previous Government encouraged renewable power installations in an attempt to encourage green power generation in the state inspite of the government's financial conditions in not such a great condition. The new Govt., came and alleges that the contracts with those renewable assets would be renegotiated as the Govt. cannot afford payments to those companies and also that the contracts were awarded only to a few companies that had alleged relationship with members of the previous regime. AP govt has been insisting upon renegotiating the PPAs that have been signed as it is unable to honour the high cost contracts, inspite of the recommendation from govt of India to not do so. Is there any merit in the approach by AP. Before we get into further analysis, if we take a peek into the ground reality...

Once upon a time, as per the mythology, Ram let go of his wife Sita because a washerman questioned his behavior about accepting Sita. Leaving aside, the multiple beliefs about this event, Ram said that the person who is running the show should always be the person to look upto and not have any allegations against him. Now, Mr. Modi, leave aside all the allegations, how can you be happy at the spate of rape incidents. How can you live and sleep with peace when things like these happen. What has happened to your boasted large chest which gave you lot of pride. Has it shrunk because you cannot deal with things like this.. We all know that you will shift the blame to the local govt. who is responsible for the civic law and order. But, the IPC sections are in your jurisdiction, the overall education and the value driven things are in your hands. Even the openly known Nirbhaya case had to wait for 6 years to finally disallow the capital punishment. How will you stand and te...

Any one who has basic understanding of power plants would know that every equipment and the power plant as a total requires how much power to run. For example: a standard 270 MW plant would require so much, a super critical 800 MW boiler would burn so much coal etc. One wonders though why would the total consumption for a power plant change so much. As usual, the ambiguities come from one of Reliance for one of the largest power plants in the world (Sasan UMPP) Here is a brief history of the estimates given by Reliance on its expected coal consumption: In 2007, when Sasan was awarded to Reliance it initially quoted that it would require 16 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) to run its plant In 2007, Reliance quoted that it can mine 25 mtpa of coal from the mines it was awarded. This was 9 mtpa more than the requirement. As per the approved mine plant, Reliance was allowed to use 4 mtpa beyond the requirement of the plant In 2014, NDA government canc...

An enticing article written by Arundhati Roy in Outlook on Prof. Saibaba http://www.outlookindia.com/article/professor-pow/294265 Isn't it ironical that it's been an year that the person mentioned above has been in prison without bail and no charge sheet, whereas our beloved Salman Khan and of course the goddess of many, Ms. jayalalita are acquitted .. (Yeah, I got it .. Salman Khan isn't acquitted, but do you think he won't be!!) Oh, I forgot! Mr. Ramalingaraju is released on bail. ok, I will stop. I will not go down that route. I have no idea about Prof. Sai baba, but the way he is kept under prison is something that questions our ethos. But I also felt sad that I cannot stand up to him. I am also one amongst the millions, living and eventually dying in vain. I shouldn't be acquitted on my unbecoming attitude!! PS: Yes, I have started becoming conscious about my web foot print and hence the diplomatic undertone.

BSES, is one of the two distribution franchisee companies responsible for distribution of electricity in the city of New Delhi, India. Though, BSES is owned by Reliance group, which has asset base across the value chain of electricity, the electricity supply is not assured from its counterparts in electricity generation. The other distribution franchisee owned by Tata group is vertically integrated i.e. the the distribution franchisee entity of the group purchases electricity from it's counterpart in electricity generation. In India, electricity prices are calculated by the individual suppliers, but are approved by a regulatory body, but may be squashed by the political parties. hence, the electricity prices in most of the states in India are kept low, mostly due to the influence of the political parties. It has forced the distribution franchisees to a corner, where they are compelled to supply costly electricity but at the same time cannot recover their costs from the co...

The other day during a journey we halted for a while and when asked for a proper place for defecation, we were disappointed and disgusted at the place, and yet they were charging money to use that place. It may not come out as a surprise to many, but many of us in India still wash our shit with our hands!! We are just too ashamed to discuss about it. How many of us tried different and innovative techniques to try and use water instead of paper to perform the daily duty. But that's not the agenda of the blog. Wiki has a very good page about it ( Human_feces ) We have a belief that whenever we come out of toilet, it is really important to wash our feet. While, yes there is emphasis to wash our hands but we are specifically asked to wash our feet since misfortune may follow un-washed feet. Nothing was said about the hands part!!!! I was going through this article today which said that 60% of the open defecation of the world is in India due to various reasons ( fixing...

It is clear that Mr. Narendra Modi is the next PM candidate. And if all the dirty politics are kept away and if Mr. Gandhi remains the PM candidate, then in every likelihood the perception is that Mr. Narendra Modi will be the next PM. But, what if Mr. Gandhi is not nominated as the PM candidate? Then, who should that person be who can be nominated from the congress party that can stand the personality of Mr. Modi and has a cleaner image. In the recent past, while congress/ gandhi family has been running the show, the face of the nation i.e. the PM has always been an academician or a shrewd politician, which isn't the trait of the gandhi clan. Hence, even this time the PM candidate may be a person most likely with exemplary clean image and a well rounded and grounded personality. Imagine this! What if the next PM candidate from Congress party is Mr. Nandan Nilekani. He is amazing, excellent credentials and can appease all the youth. And, because he doesn't have the poli...

I remembered a beautiful carnatic classical rendition "Raghu Vamsa Sudhambudi" This is a song, praising Lord Ram, who belongs to "Raghu" family hoping that he would bring all the good luck and charm.  The song sets the tempo for further course of action and is a hope that the Raghu Ram will take care of the reins and lead every one ashore.  Hope Mr. Raghu Ram can do so. If you did not already get my intentions. This is a request and praise of Mr. RaghuRam Rajan who is the next RBI director. Not that the earlier chairman Mr. Subbarao did anything bad, it is just a hope that Mr. Raghuram rajan will be able to better handle the government and make it understand it's work better. This was a simple blog requesting the almighty (RBI chairman, I guess holds the key for a lot of activities) to bring a shape to the country. He will have to break the lock of Chidambaram and unshackle the country's growth potential.  Otherwise most of us will end up doing nothi...

When all that matters is, what will happen the next day. When you know the inevitable When you know the eventuality cannot be stopped When you know you are going to lose an identity When you know your voice is unheard When you know your days are counted When you know your next morning will be split When you know your next drop of water will have to be fought for When you know the decision may never give an option to look back When you know that you will be forced to pay for the visit which we believed was common ancestral property When you know that the days of bilingual talk are over and the pride in staying together ceases to exist All this, when I know that no anguish matters any more! I wish that I did not know!!

In our place, after the end of meals, betel leaf and nuts are given which earmarks the complete closure of the meal. After this the person who was hosting his role is officially considered complete. He would not care what happens later. So, the phrase above means that "we've extended the betel leaf, our role is over, now you may go to dogs!!" This is the stand of Congress. Hell bent on splitting my state, for a desire of meeting the short term objectives of one elections and later they will decide about the way forward. How will the states compete, what are the aspirations of people, what will happen to the resources sharing? What benefit does it actually create to the state .. Nothing seems to be a matter of concern to the Congress party. Once a party of unification, Congress has siphoned off itself as a party with a track record of splitting the states. I am not sure, what is fun that congress is deriving out of it. We cannot afford so many states. Every one kno...

Leading retail chain Fart Mart has recently signed a deal worth more than $15 bn in India. The news was revealed in a press meet by Congress spokesperson Mr. Raj Babbar. This came after his remarks about Walmart that  “If Walmart has gone, more marts are there. They will come.” It was evident that congress already knew about the FartMart’s investments and hence were not concerned when WalMart said that they cannot procure the mandatory 30% from local small industries. The details of the MoU are yet to be revealed. FartMart is a world’s leading retail store with global supply chain in equipment that support farting. With a huge presence across the developed world, FartMart has recently  forayed  into the Asian space to adhere to the increased demand of farting from the various political groups across the nations. FartMart has agreed to adhere to the 30% norms of local procurement. In its press release FartMart has stated the following: "India has an esta...

Turn back your pages in the dairies and go to your childhood, and you'd remember that one of the most important events at the onset of summer holidays is the preparation of Avakaya, the most solicited, famous & revered pickle of Andhra Pradesh. I was actually surprised that when I typed Avakaya there was no article cherishing the experiences of Avakaya. Then I thought of penning my memories associated with it.  ఎవడు  కనిపెట్టాడో కానీ  ఆవకాయని, అది లేని జీవితం ఎందుకూ పనికిరాదు !! At the onset of summer Holidays, when Mango is raw, the pickle preparartion season begins. More details about the preparation of the pickle itself can be found on the wiki page , but I want to write about the sweet nuances surrounding its preparation. On the day, when the mango pickle is decided to be kept, we used to go out to the fruit market and start looking out for Mangoes which are as sour as possible from as many dealers. Since my mother cannot really taste very sour ...

I was hearing this famous rendition by Lata ji and the other elite club. ( Link to Youtube version ) I was suddenly awestruck at the Mukhda of the song " Man mohana " bade Jhuthe.. It made me question, who was the song addressed to? It is about "Man" .. the hindi equivalent of 'Heart". But it stuck me again that .. it no longer is intended at "man"...  I need to add "man mohana" .. which actually means dear heart. And then it stuck me again that, even that is incorrect... it actually meant " man mohan " a bade jhuthe... Haa .. I see now, you get it.. "Manmohan"a bade jhuthe.. The rendition was developed 50 years ago protesting against, our Prime minister Mr. Manmohan singh's silence on coal gate scandal, 2G scandal, Hydro power allocation scandal, CBI file read/modify scandal, Land allocation scandal, Chopper procurement scandal, ... ok ok I will stop!! What a song "man mohana" ...

In the previous article I mentioned that the Price rise is a shot in the arm and now I also want to justify that it is a shot in the hand. Even while I was contemplating to file a PIL against this price rise, Haryana Govt. whose electricity distribution companies would be affected by this price rise has already challenged the verdict. Just to brief the context again .. the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, the authority to regulate the price of electricity, has allowed for a pass through of the additional cost of coal in the existing price of electricity. This is considered to a big shot in the arm and hence all the power generation companies' stocks also soared. (Click here for my previous article on this!) If we look at it in detail, there is more to it than just a good news. When Adani bid for the project, though the company had an option, they bid for a fixed tariff that is independent of the fuel prices (Incidentally all the others who lost the bid had opted...

Couple of days ago, one of my friends was asking me what would be the solution to the ailing power sector crisis in India. If we drew Porter's five forces model for the Power sector presently every force is dragging the sector down. Regulatory issues, Human resource issues, Lack of funds, lack of fuel, In adequate price and more to say the least. It looks like a vicious cycle with each leading to the other. So, what was one thing that could be done to revive the sector? The answer was precisely given by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission by allowing a pass through of increased fuel cost and agreeing to revise the power purchase agreement. No wonder, the stocks of the listed power generating companies soared by more than 5% in a single session, due to the hopes created by this judgement. Infact, this may be the single regulation that will have the maximum impact on the sector. But, how does it impact? When a power generation company is about to set up ...

I guess, even if I committed a gang rape I'd not have to worry. What will happen at max. let me see. First, the police, even if they catch me, will keep my identity safe and so I do not have to worry about my future reputation Second of all, some people and media will protest against me, but our bureaucrats and the politicians are very concerned about the law & order situation and hence the protests would be brutally crushed  So, I do not have to worry about the pressure from public Third, do you know what is the maximum punishment that I can get. 10 years or fine.  There are multiple ways to minimize the crime.  "Tujhe pata hai merae baap kaun hai" (Do you know who my father is?") .. need less to say anything else. If I prove that I did not plan for it and it was only in the heat of the moment because I was drunk, my punishment will be lessened since my intentions were never to hurt the person. Of-course, there are ways in which the corrupt...

Fucked up is probably the least thing to say, about the mentioned title's status in India! With the latest rape victim case just proving the case once again. So many rapes, gang rapes, blatant violations of the basic human rights .. sorry, I guess the word "human" is no longer relevant to our society. We are animals in a human form... not sure if even that sentence is correct. Every one understands that this is another story line, which will die out soon. Time and again, they keep happening, and now we are looking at some solutions to hasten the punishment process or the so called justice.  What justice are we referring to. What are the cases which actually have given justice in time to the petitioners in India.  The biggest problem behind rapes, gang-rapes or any crimes is the devastation of the legal infrastructure in India. All contracts can be violated, all crimes can be exempted, all criminals can be pardoned.. then what justice and what legal system...

As usual we ran out of cylinder last week, and it took us two days to get a new one and for both the days we had to eat outside and also pay a heft amount to get our cylinder. Every one in India knows that getting a cylinder is such a bad experience. And moreover owning a cylinder has its own hazards coming along with it. Due to all the repercussions surrounding LPG based cylinder system, it is beneficial to have a system where natural gas is directly supplied through a pipe, called as city gas distribution network (CGD) Hence the Petrolem and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has called for bids to setup city gas distribution systems across almost 200 cities/Towns in India, and as is the case with many grand schemes it is going at a very slow pace. It is important to understand that in the energy hungry society that we live in, having CGD pipelines help the society a lot. Imagine where every one of us can simply pay our gas bills online, and natural gas continues to ...

Another boring article on Coal Economics! :) While every one is clamoring for coal from Indonesia, Australia and South Africa, developments in the farther west might have shifted the overall paradigm of coal scenario. USA with its increasing Shale gas resources and the emphasis on cleaner coal has seen a decline in coal based electricity generation thereby leading to increased inventory of coal. (So far Cliched!!) With decreased coal consumption, it was inevitable that US starts exporting Coal from the power hungry countries like China and India. Till date the high prices and domestic consumption in USA were impediments. But they no longer are. Hence, as predicted Coal has slowly started moving out of USA.  To begin with its only a trickle, but the interesting thing is it has actually started moving out.  The below figure provides a snapshot of the coal moving out to the three of the largest consumers: As expected, with its proximity to USA and the hunger it ...

As has been the case always, India is only doing a catching up in terms of Shale oil & gas exploration. With USA already reeling under the excess gas production ever in its history, and China going ahead with its second round of bidding for Shale gas exploration. India finally woke up to the possibility of exploration options and hence has prepared a draft policy, which is available for comments on the Ministry of OIl's website. With the recent power crisis, brining the energy crisis into limelight the shale gas development becomes all the more significant and lot of eyes will remain glued to the way things shape up. The whole process in a very nascent stages, since at this time even the likes of "Yours sincerely" is also aspiring to bid for the shale gas, India has to be really cautious about the way forward. One of the most important aspects associated with Shale gas is the (the Nuclear related issue as well) is the long term liability of the deve...