AKHAND-JYOTI

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) specialises in the activities related to the renewable energy (RE) in India. In early 1980s, ours was the first country in the whole world to establish a specialised ministry of non-conventional or RE energy resources. The main components of RE in India are wind energy, solar energy, small hydro, industrial co-generation, biomass and waste to energy. In 1990s, Indian wind energy sector was launched with a humble start. However, today it has significantly increased in its overall impact with regards to installed capacity, market size, infrastructure and number of investors. As a result, the domestic policy support for wind power has resulted in India having the fifth largest installed wind power capacity in the world at present. Wind continues to be the mainstay of grid-connected renewable power in India. India is located in such a way that the entire country receives solar radiation throughout the y...

In India, we have a powerful transparency tool. It is called the Right To Information (RTI) Act. The Government of India has made it compulsory for all government offices and enterprises to implement the RTI act. With the passage of time, all government transactions, businesses and operations have fallen under the scanner of the public view. The general public can now raise queries and inquire about what’s going on in a particular government office at a particular time regarding a particular task. The power of this information is amazing. In a short span of time, a lot of RTI activists have established themselves as active participants working to put responsibilities back on the shoulders of the government servants for completing the referred tasks as soon as possible. The RTI act has revolutionized the government-public interaction. At the international level, India is now considered as a progressive nation-state that values transparency in the public works. The RTI act has also l...

What will happen if you are asked to pickup and hold or keep as many apples as you can in your hands from a big basket full of big-sized apples? Of course, you will be able to pick up apples according to your capacity, i.e., according to the size of your hands.  Similarly, the current Indian government has been facing several issues, and is seriously trying to resolve them during the limited tenure it has. Some of the major issues that the government is trying to resolve at present are: a). the issue of pilots who have gone on a strike, b) the issue of corruption charges on its ministers, c) the issue of keeping a good working relationship with its coalition partners, d) the issue of price rise and inflation, e) the issue of getting the Lokpal Bill passed in both the Houses, f) the issue of decline in the value of rupee in comparison to dollar, g) the issue of FDI in the retail market, h) the issue of ending Naxal terrorism, etc. etc. This means we ca...