l./'ld,'a.,? E)l{/.JL{~J5 . /Y!7)7 ...'Plantations Will TurnW Ghats into U'khand'by Jagadeesh Sampalli

Shimoga: Uttarakhand will repeatin Karnutaka, unless preventivemeasures are taken: this is the warn-ing sounded by a team of scientistsfrom the Ind ia n Institute of SCI-

ence.The team, ,dollg with the Forest

Dep,lrllllellt, studied the groundre-alities in the Sh.uavathi valley, ,1major part or the river basin ill theW~stern Ghats, and recorded fac-tors contributing t{) such disastersfor:t decade Irom :.wo:). Their finalreport ha\ been submitted to thestille l',overnlll<'lll.

Scientist TV RaJllLlchandra oftheCentre lor Ecological Sciences (CES)at IISc who led the study told Ex-press: "We conducted the study inVurada and Shuravathi river valleys.

~V"\X •.•ncessant 'ain Lashes

MalnadRemoving of trees atop hills andcreation of mono-culture planta-tions is the reason for landslides inthe Sharavathi valley, just like in Ut-tarakhand. Nothing has happenedwhere there is thick forest and grass-lands."

Ramachandra said that incidents .of landslides in the entire WesternChats range has been increasing."We found landslides reported in 32 .places in the interior part of the·Western Ghats, including Honnavar .and Karwar. In 2009, 19 people losttheir lives in landslides that oc-curred in 21 places in Karwar," heoutlined.

The Uttarkhand disaster, he said,was caused because the district ad-ministration replaced the oaks withmono-species trees, causing the soilto loosen. MORE: P6

Ish'a{fpl~~tati~t;'sor K'takaWill Meet U'I(hand Fate: ProfContinued from P1

Also, more than 74 hydro-power projects were imple-mented in the ecologicallysensitive areas. "Normally,an area around 100 metresfrom the river is declared assensitive area, which shouldnot be disturbed as it is richin bio-diversity. But in Ut-tarkhand, this sensitive areawas largely damaged," hesaid.

Ramachaudra said the

Sharavati valley might face asimilar catastrophe if pre-ventive measures are nottaken immediately.. "We had alerted the thenadministration about thepossibility of landslides inUltarakannada district in2009," he said.

He pointed out thatMysorc Paper Mills had beenallowed to grow plantationsin the region. This causedwater scarcity and harmedhie-diversity, he said.

"While constructing theLinganamakki Dam, its lifewas calculated as 100 years.But in its present state, thelife is reduced to 75 years dueto storage of silt in the damcaused due to widespreaddeforestation in the catch-ments area. When we stud-ied the average rainfall in thelast 65 years, we found thatthe quantity of rain in Shara-vathi valley and Agumbe isdeclining by five to 10 percent," he said.

Express News Service

Bangalore: Life has cometo a near halt in Malnad andmost of Bornbay-Karnataka,as incessant rain lashed thearea, throwing traffic out ofgear and shutting d wnschools and offices.

Traffic on National High-way 75 between Mangaloreand Bangalore was disruptedon Wednesday for a while, asa tree fell across the highwaynear Gundia. Power supplyand telephones lines are alsodown in many palt§...Qi theState.Landslides were reportedin parts of Belgaurn, UttaraKannada, Dakshina Karina-da, Chikmagalur and Shi-moga districts, while all riv-ers across the region are inspate. In several districts alllow-lying areas are inun-dated. Shivanna, a residentof Mandagadde village inShimoga district told Ex-press: "I never witnessedsuch rains ill my life time."

However, the eerasagarlake which takes care of thewater needs of 30 per cent ofH ubli is still dry, "In the last10-15 days, the inflow hasbeen very little or nil as therehas been insufficient rain inthe catchment areas of thelake," said an official in-charge of water supply fromthe lake.

.•

ace against time to provi erelief~s rain t~r~T~tloomsDehradun, July 3: Th~ ' " ;_.work to provide succour topeople affected by thecolossal tragedy inUttarakhand was on at warfooting with choppers andtrucks supplying reliefmaterial running againsttime as fresh threat ofheavy rains loomed largeover the state.

Trucks carrying reliefmaterial are unloaded atfive nodal pointsGoachar, Karnaprayag,Joshimath, Gopeshwarand Gwaldam, from whereit was being dispatched inchoppers to affected areas.

The flood-devastatedUttarakhand onWednesday witnessedheavy rainfall in severalregions affecting the reliefand rehabilitation workbeing carried out by vari-ous central and the stateagencies in the Himalayanstate.

According to reports,Garhwal and Kumaonregions of the state wit-nessed heavy downpour onWednesday morningwhich led to partial sus-pension of relief work inthese areas AMIT S. UPADHYE I DC

The Met department has DHAK/CHAIEN.JULY 3predicted heavy rainfall inthe next 48 to 72 hours.Amid fears that fresh spelJof rains could again blockroads, the authorities areracing against time to pro-vide relief to flood-hit peo-ple.

The state administrationhas warned people for anyeventuality and villagershave been asked to stayaway from river banks aswater level of the Ganga isrising in Uttarkashi andJoshimath. Officialsinvolved in relief and reha-bilitation work fear thatheavy rain and landslidescould again block severalkey routes which wereopened recently. - PTI

The dam site of the Tapovan Vishnugarh power project in Dhak village which has been washed away - Amit 5. Upadhye

The 'hydel' threat to Uttarakhand I"The developers may be selling us a big dream,hut the countless ordinary people here only wanta secure life and assured livelihood," lamentedLaxman Singh Negi, who has been fighting hydelprojects in Uttarakhand for the last two decades

Life was normal in the vil-lage of Dhak before theNational Thermal PowerCorporation (NTPC) built adam across the Dholi Gangariver two years ago. The vil-lage had five naturalsprings which provideddrinking water throughoutthe year to its people, butthen everything changed.

The natural springs driedup as the tunnelling for thedam hit the village watersources, besides its agrrcul-:tural and horticultural oper-ations. The villagers had nooption bu t to walk 1.5 km tofetch drinking water despiteliving right next to a river.Muddied by the construe-

tion debris from the 'damsite, its water had becomeunfit for use. But the recentfloods saw the river washaway the entire dam underconstruction.

The villagers had opposedthe Tapovan VishnugarhPower Project saying it wasa threat to their forests andnatural springs, but the gov-ernment paid no attention.The developers divided thevillagers by promising tohire their vehicles for a

high fee and even offeringsilver vessels to those whogave up their opposition toit at the public hearings.

"We opposed the projectsince we often saw land-slides on the mountainsaround during the mon-soon. Scientists too warnedthat the natural springswhich provided drinkingwater to the village woulddry up if the river wasdiverted. But a ll·km tunnelwas dug right under our vil-

'11+llJ 1= C 0 (V C rrl Ii 'T, ((1 f.-':>

Alstom Wins €27-mcontract from BHEL

"j,cW uH II Alstom SA, the world's-~.lthird-largest power equipment;~1maker, on Wednesday said it has

fit .l.-eZif- won a €27-million contractfromsnarat Heavy ElectrlCals LId (BHEL)for supplyof components and services for a power plantin Rajasthan. "Alstom has been awarded a con-tract by BHELto supply components and ser·vices for the 2x660 MW Suratgarh Super Ther·mal Power Project (STPpl,located in Suratgarh,Rajasthan, India," the company said in a state·ment here. The contract, it said, is worth aboutE27 million ($35 million) Alstom is to helpBHELIn desrgnrng the boilers and supply iden-tified pressure parts of the 660 MW super-critical boilers. along with wind boxes.

//" TIeL Jjr/Jdv oltlr!I!,';,.::::.solarenergy enclave in

lIT KanpurI{ANPUR:To encourage research inother sources of energy, it SolarEnergy Research Enclave has beenset up at the Indian Institute ofTechnoloqy-Kanpur. The chairmanof the Board of Governors of IIT· 1(,M. Anandakrishnan, inaugurated thebuilding, a first of its kind in thecountry, in which a plant Wildproduce power. (I .

lage drying up all thesprings. As we protested, thegovernment inauguratedthe project from Dehradun,"said Mohanlal Bajwal, a for-mer village chiefofDhak.

"The government anddevelopers call this project amilestone III the state'sdevelopment. But the 139families which were dis-placed for the constructionof the dam have still notbeen rehabilitated," regret-ted environmentalistRajerulra Rawat. Almost allvillagers of Uttarakhand liv-ing around upcoming hydelprojects have a similar storyto tell. Around 520 hydelprojects are proposed on the12 major rivers ofUttarakhand and work isunderway on 240 already. /"

.r>

•

,.------------'-'1I::rtb- "tL'O~(;rr\t(--'~ ~E...s

[ltl1I1[1mgLtJI)JP ASSOCIATES

Cement'PlantSale, CuttingDebt Crucial

RAJESH NAIDUETINTELLIGENCEGROUP

The steep 20% fall in JP Associates stock over the past weekappears to be a case of over-reaction to two events- the delayselling one of its cement plants and the temporary shutdown ofa hydro power plan t in flood-hit Uttarakhand. Due tounprecedentedfloods in Uttarakhand, J P had to temporarilyshut its in Uttarakhand,The shutdown of the 400MWhydropower plant at

Vishnuprayag due to unprecedented heavy rains inUttarakhand, however; should not worry investors --thecompany can cap its losses by enforcing the force majeureclause in the power purchase agreement with the UttarPradesh Power Corporation and avail of its insurance policy.However, the delay in selling the Gujarat cement plant is a

setback for the company. JP Associates has been consideringthe sale of the plant for about a year, to de-leverage its stretchedbalance sheet. The company now has consolidated debt of over~50,OOOcrore. According to analysts' estimates, the sale ofthecement plant was expected to bring in about ~4,000crore,However, due to weak demand, the valuations wereunattractive.

. Besides selling the Gujarat cement plant, the company hasplans to sell land parcels of its subsidiary Jaypee Infratech, At

i a recent analysts meet, the company said it would try to reduceits debt by ,6,000 crore by the end of the fiscal. JP Associates

, has a land parcel admeasuring 1l.7million sq uare feet acrossNoida and other parts of the NCR The company expects toraise close to f2,000 crore from the land sale.

: Going ahead, itis criticalfor the company to sell the cement. plant because it can substantially reduce its debt. However, notall is negative for the cement business. The company has begunoperations at its Andhra Pradesh unit and is re-commissioningthe Gulbarga plant in Karnataka, These two plants will raise itscement capacity to around40 million tonnes per annum in thenext two years, from 34MPTA now.Cement demand is expected to be subdued in the first half of

the current fiscal due to low construction activities. But itshould pick up in the second half. The management has saidthat it does not have any expansion plans for now. Hence, thecash flows generated from its cement and real estate businesscan be used for reducing debt.

!~ c EcOYJoYn:, 7-;'rneK 6Lt/7!~TANJALI

Services PMI Fallsto 51.7 in JuneOUR BUREAUNEW DELHI

The pace of growth in India's ser-vices sector shrank sharply inJune on deceleration in new busi-

t ness, a private survey showed,~ signaling that sustained econom-f icrecovery is yettoset in. The sea-r sonally adjusted HSBC Purchas-! ing Managers' Index (PMI) for! services posted a reading of 51.7,

~

compared with May's three-. month high of 53.6, data released

on Wednesday showed.t, "Service sector activity grew atr a slower clip as new business

flows moderated, which madebusinesses less optimistic aboutthe year ahead," said Leif Eske-sen, chief economist at surveysponsor HSBC, in a release.

.1 The services sector, which ac-, counts for about 60% of the GDp,

has been under-performing dueto sluggishness in the domesticeconomy; which expanded by 5%in 2012-13, the slowest in a decade.May had recorded a sharp pick-up in services sector activity; butJune's slump could be a sign thatthe economy is yet to see sus-tained pickup.According to the Central Statis-

tics Office, the sector's growthslowed to about 6.5% in 2012-13from 8.2% in 2011-12.The PMI index, compiled by fi-

nancial information servicescompany Markit, is based on asurvey of around 350 service sec-tor firms that try and replicatethe structure of the economyA reading above 50 means ex-

pansion.The sub-index for new orders

dropped to a zo-rnonth low of 51.9

from 53.2 in MayA similar survey on Monday

showed manufacturing growthin June was flat at 50.3. as produc-tion fell for the first time sinceMarch 2009 due to low domesticdemand and power outages.The composite output index,

which takes into account bothmanufacturing and services, fellfrom 52.0 in May to 50.9.According to the survey, the

pro blem was compounding by thesharp fall in the rupee and an up-tick in inflation."Notwithstanding the slow-

down, inflation readings firmedon the back of higher labour andraw material prices, with the de-

preciation of therupee also citedas a factor,"HSBC's Eskesensaid. India's cen-tral bank hadmaintained a sta-tus quo on policyrates, as the de-preciating rupeeincreases upsiderisks to inflationdue to high im-port dependency,the survey said.

In June, input prices rose at thequickest pace in three monthsdue to higher costs of raw materi-al, labour and fuel, the surveyadded. There were also concernsdue to unfavourable exchangerates. Volume of work-in-hand atservice providers also rose mar-ginally, with firms commentingon delayed payments from cli-ents. Employment increased atfaster rates across both the manufacturing and service sectors.

.-Servicessector, Whichaccounts forabout 60% ofGDP in India,has beenperformingbelow pardue tosluggishnessin domesticeconomy

,

PoultrylV!.J. Prabhu

CHENNAI: In the poultry huhof Narnakkal in Tamil Nadu,almost every farmer owns 'Itleast 2,000 birds, grown foregg and meat, but nonewould take a second look attheir droppings though, asan entrepreneur amongthem says, the litter "holdsthe key" to electricity gener-ation.

First ofits kind"If the total poultry litter

in the district is collecteddaily [6,000 tonnes] andprocessed, nearly 16 MW ofpower an hour can be gener-ated, with l,OOO tonnes ofmanure and 10,000 litres ofliquid biofertilizer as by-products," says Salai SiV8-prakasarn, executive direc-

Tiruchengode, is touted asthe country's first powerproject that extracts energyfrom poultry excrement. Itstarted with a capacity of2.5 MW, later scaled up to3.76 MW.

The bird muck is collect-ed daily from several placesand brought to the factory,where it is fed into a proc-essing unit. It emits me-thane gas that is convertedinto electricity with a pat-ented technology. The slur-ry, generated as residue, issold as manure and liquidbio-applications to farmers.

At a time when Tamil Na-du is reeling under severepower shortage, "contin-uous generation is not thatbig a problem. It is easy, andwe have been doing it since2006," says Mr. Sivapraka-

SUCCESSFULENTREPRENEUR: SalaiSivaprakasam avers thatpoultry droppings hold thekey to power generation.-PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

tor of Subhashreel3iocnergics (P) Ltd.

The plant, built on 60acres at Goundampalayam,

A cheap source inTamil Nadu, which isplagued by powershortage

sarn. So far around 5-! lakhunits O,W) of power, worthRs. 2 crore, has been gener-ated and sold to the govern-ment, with 10 per centreserved for the company.

"The company has alsogot approval from theUnion government underthe Clean DevelopmentMechanism (a Kyoto Proto-col component) since theplant helps to trap green-house gases that would oth-erwise' be emitted by thelitter left in the open, saysMr. Sivaprakasarn.

(Mr. Salai Sivaprakasarncan be contacted on 9-!43344737, Subhashree Bio-energies (P) Ltd., Goun-darnpalayarn,Tiruche ngode, NamakkalDistrict, Tamil Na-du-637205.)

sam. The plant has beenrecognised by the UnionMinistry of New and Re-newable Energy as a dem-onstration project forsustainable clean energy.

The entire plant, save theengines, is indigenous andis one among the 11 projectsworldwide approved by theUnited Nations Develop-ment Programme. It has al-so been declared a CleanDevelopment Project underthe Kyoto Protocol to theUnited Nations FrameworkConvention on ClimateChange, says Mr. Sivapraka-

New Delhi, .July 3: Russia has agreed to sup-ply on credit, the entire equipment for the4,80,~OO kw power plant to be constructed onthe nght bank of Bhakra Dam.

Mr I-!.R. Bhatia, chairman of the Punjab StateElectrIcIty Board, signed on behalf of the Boardand Mr. P.S. Besolov, acting Counsellor fo;ECOn.OmICAffairs of the USSR Embassy to NewDeIJ:1I,on behalf of "Technopromexport," the

Equipment SOVIet foreign trade organisation. According tof Bh k th.e terms of the contract, "Technopromexport"or a ra will supply machinery valued at ~5.6 crores. Theplant: .proposed power stati~n will comprise four hydro

USSR to umts of120 mw capacity each. Provision has alsobeen made for the installation of the fifth unit ofsupply the same capacity in future.

on credit~IG~EST POWER PLANT IN S.E. ASIA1 hIS IS the second power house to be construct-ed for generating electricity from the waters ofBhakra. The first one on the left bank of thedam IS already functioning. With the installa-tion of the fifth .unit in the proposed powerhouse, the total installed capacity of the twopower stati<;lBs will ~o up to over one millionkilowatts, grving !ndla the biggest power plantIn South. East ASIa.The first unit of the powerhouse will be commissioned before the end of1965, and the subsequent ones at the intervalsof three months each.

~;

~ G !-t' r,PTI~oLARSCAM:B~lL'PLEA OF CM'SEX-AIDE REJECTEDThiru v anan thapuram,July <\: The bail plea ofTenny Joppan, former per-sonal assistant of ChiefMinister Oommen Chandy,was rejected by a magis-trate court on Wednesdayas police stepped up searchfor the former director ofpublic relations depart-ment, A. Firoze, in thealleged solar panel scam.

While keeping up thedemand for resignation ofChandy, the OppositionLDF also trained guns onhome ministerThiruvanchur Radka-krishnan, accusing him ofshielding actor Sha1uMenon, whois said to haveconnections with theprime accused in the solarfraud case. The bail plea ofJoppan, arrested on June28, was turned down by thechief judicial magistrate atPathanamthitta.

Meanwhile, Firoze onWednesday moved theKerala High Court seekinganticipatory bail'. The peti-tion will come up for hear-ing on Thursday.

Firoze was suspendedfrom service a' fortnightback after his alleged linkswith the fraudstersinvolved in the scam sur-faced. - PTy:-

-Na~~~ffcM'fff!f'lrbureau officegutted inMumbaiMUMBAI, DHNS: Office of theNarcoticS Control Bureau(NCB) in south Mumbai Bal-lard Pier was partially guttedwhen a fire broke out in thepremises, on Wednesdaynoon.

Fire brigade said that thecall came around 11:30 am and12 fire tenders were pressedinto service to fight the blazethatwascontlned to third Boorhousing NCB office in Ex-change Building, Ballard Pier.

The fire was doused alter acouple of hours.

British era buildingThe three-storey European-style stone structured Ex-change Building, housinggovernment offices, thoughdating back to British era, hassolid foundations; however,the interiors in the officeshave a lot of wood work aswell as computer wiring andit is believed that the fire wassparked off by a short-circuitin one of the electrical wireswhich may have become wetin the rain.. ~DH News Service ~

. Ii (p ~-e-;0-~~) D N q

(oalMin grants 14blocks to PSU power casdna correspondent @dna

New Delhi: In the first captive coal block callocations in nearly three years, the coalministry on Wednesday gave away 14blocks to state-owned power companieson the recommendation of an inter-min-isterial committee.

The blocks, located in six stares.Jiavegeological reserves of 8.311 billion tonnewith a production capacity of around 159million tonne per annum (mtpa) and willcater to about 31,800 mw power genera-tion capacity.

Around 15 state and six central publicsector undertakings have been allocatedthe blocks.

"Some of the coal blocks, because oftheir size, had to be given to more thanone state. Namely, Deocha-Pachami blockin West Bengal. having a reserve of 2,102mt, has been given to six different state

power PSUs," a ministry release said.The ministry had invited proposals for

allocation of captive coal blocks in De-cember last year. It received 235 com-plete applications, of which 128 wereconsidered eligible for the 14 blocks.

l-vT:l10 Fe D rJ0 fY1L c --r[ (\1.£5

Coal Regulator Go.od,Competition BetterThere is notable movement on the coal front. The Cabinet'sgreen signal for setting up an independent regulatory auth-ority for the coal sector actualises a long-pendmg require-ment for modernisation, although in tandem, we need to over-haul market design and do away with the anacnronisuc pub-lic-sector monopoly in coal to shore up etficienctes right a~ro-ss the board. The proposed regulatory body would be requiredto monitor the quality, grading and supply of coal, a~d so,should bring about much-needed transparency in what 1Sourmain source of commercial energy. And the fact of the matteris that there is a growing shortage of domestic coal n~vermind our large, proven reserves.

11'" ,r~;""", . - Reportedly, the regulator would not ac-),-/""~ tually determine the pricmg of coal, but

would be empowered to resolve disputes,including those involving supply agree-ments with consumers. It does makesense to keep pricing -administered top-down, as it were - out, because it would

';':' fig; be a throwback to perverse, pre-reform

controls, in which thenow·defunctBureauof Industrial Costsand Prices pored over the figures to now and agam meffic~ent.ly work out coal prices. Instead: we need to aiOld rigtditieswith proactive policy to determme etficiencv pnces m coal,with multiple producers gainfully seeking custom and, in theprocess, improving productivity and efficacy in prospecting,

mining and evacuaticJn.Also envisaged is an appellate authority to adjudicate on

pricing and other matters. The new_regulatory body needs tomandate comprehensive coal beneficiation at the pithead, toboost calorific value and stamp out delivery of poor-quantvcoal. water- guzzling coal washeries must give way to greenertechnologies of dry beneficiation.

'10 H'IV\~t c\A1111~Centre allots14 coal blocksto power PSUs

NTPC, the largest power generator inthe country, got four coal blocks with ag-gregate reserves of 1,995 mt -- the Bhalu-mud a and Banai blocks in Chhattisgarhand Chandrabila in Odisha, besides theKudanali-Luburi block in Odisha which itwon jointly with Jammu & Kashmir StatePower Development Corp.

Neyveli Lignite Corp has bagged twoblocks. It has received the [ilga-Barpalicoal block in Chhattisgarh jointly withChhattisgarh State Power Generation Co,while its joint venture with Uttar PradeshRajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam has won thePachwara-South block in jharkhand.

The single largest block. with reservesof 1,234 mt, however. went to OdishaThermal Power Corporation.

The government. expects to spur in-vestments of more than H61akh crore inthe power sector through theseallocations. .----

NEW DELHI: Kickstarting theprocess or coal blocks alloca-tion, the guvernment has allo-cated 14 coal mines to Centraland State public sector under-takings (PSUs), including fourto NTPC.

"The Ministry uf Coal has al-located 14 coal blocks fur thepower sector ...Around15 Statesand six Central PSUs have beenallocated coal blocks," an offi-cial release said.

InveslmenlThe allocation uf the blocks,

having a geological reserve uf8,311 million tonnes (mt), willlead tu an investment of morethan Rs.1.60 lakh crore in thepower sector, it said.

Of the fuur coal blocks allo-cated to NTPC, twu are inChhattisgarh and the remain-ing in Odisha. The blocks havereserves of 1,995 mt of coul.,

Other PSUs which have beenallocated mines include Neyve-li Uttar Pradesh Power Ltd.,Odisha Thermal Power Corp,Jammu & Kashmir State PowerDev Corp, Chhattisgarh StatePower Gen Co Ltd, Andhra Pra-desh Generation Co, Malia-rashtra State pow~rGeneration Cu, Hajasthan VI-dyut Utpadan Nigam and Pun-jab State Power Curp Ltd. -PTI

%!~OCkSGO. to power PSUs

New Delhi: The govern-ment has allocated 14 coalmines to Central and statePSUs, including, four,toNTPC. "Ministry ol S·oalhas allocated 14 co.u blocksfor power sector".~·ounl'\15 states and SIXcentralPSUs have been all.ocatedcoal blocks," an offictnl .release said. The allocatIOnof the blocks, haV1ng, a geo-logical reserve 01 8,311 mil-lion tonnes (MT), w111 leadto an investment of morethan e i.e lakh Cl'Ore III the

ower sector, it said. Ollhl'Pt' r 1'0·\1 blocks allocated touu - , .NTPC, two are in Chlwllls-varh and the rcm;lll1l11g tworl~Odisha. The blocks havereserves of l,995~1).l1

1 => I'!'Ironne of coa .//

..

. -. - -.- .----.---.---.--- -.-. ·-_·-··-·c -------------7--:1---- ..------..--The. E« 0 /f0 r'1-/C T; rYJ ~j Lj /(1.1

Adozen alternatives to enlarged food subsidy, so as to improve the welfare of the poor

12Ways To Superior Subsidy

he government is rushingin with its version of man-na from heaven where an-gels already jostle againstother angels stumbling un-

der loads of subsidised grain for thepoor.Toimplement whatitconsiderstobefoodsecurity for the people andelectoral security for itself; the UPAwouldfoist an additional subsidy bu-rden on the exchequer whose size isestimated to range from an unrealis-tic ~25,OOOcrore to a probable ~80,OOOcrore, over and above the Budget al-location of ~85,000crore in 2012-13.Can we think of better ways of spen-ding such huge sums to advance pub-lic welfare? Here, we list a dozen .'

Any number of empirical studiesshow that hunger is no longer a ma-jor worry for the vast majority ofIn-dians(4% are hungry), butmalnutri-tion is (over 40%are malnourished).Alargenumberof states already dis-tribute very cheap grain. People atlarge stand to ga in very little fromthe Centre also getting into the act.

The UPAstands to lose politically,too. When the Cent.re now takes on,say,the no.coo crore an Opposition-ruled state spends [rom its budget oncheap grain, the state's budget nowgets an additional no.coo crore tosplurge on populist schemes withwhich to woo the voters. The creditfor a well-run, ongoing cheap grainscheme will not shift to the Centre orits political masters either.

People starve to death during fam-ines not because of a shortage ofgra-in but because the famine dries upwork, depriving people of purchas-ing power tobuy grain. The rural em-ployment guarantee scheme alreadyensures that people have access towork, regardless of anything. There-fore, they already have food securityof the basic kind.

To really improve welfare, peopleneed access to nutrition. safe drink-ing water, rural power, roads thatconnect villages tomarkets in towns,affordable healthcare, relevant in-formation, schools where teachersactually teach and make use of tech-nology a trifle more advanced thanchalk on blackboard, governanceand law and order.

Not by Bread AloneSo, lf the government is willing tospare an additional ~50,000crore forwelfare of the masses, here are a fewthings it could usefully spend on, toraise welfare far more effectivelythan sending more money down theFCIdrain.

More roads of the all-weather, mo-torable kind. Only good roads thatconnect villages to towns and townsto cities can price signals carry acro-ss the system and boost production.

Roads are not enough. The farmerneeds freedom tosell to those who of-fer the best price, taken away by themiddleman-centred AgriculturalProduce Market Committee (APMC)Act. So.Iet the Centre use spare cashto bribe states to scrap the APMCAct, or amend it to exclude perishab-les. Let the funds go to build climate-controlled warehouses and moderngrain silos - storage capacity is sh-ort by nearly 30million tonnes.

Climate-controlled storage is via-ble only when unbroken, reliable ru-ral power is a reality. Spend some

Spending more money on food grain will not raisewelfare. There are more intelligent ways of spendrngthat extra cash, if the government has cash to spare

money on building transmission in-frastructure. The rural electrificati-on mission has a skewed focus on thedistribution network.Iaying the gro-undfor huge losses when power doesstart flowing to rural India.

Rural power available during theday will diversify the economic str-ucture, enable new agro-processingindustry, raise incomes for both far-mers and workers and create a newfloodof rural prosperity, to feed who-sedemand urban industry will striveand thrive. It will also shake up thecaste hierarchy and social power dis-tribution. Incidentally, you wouldneed to abandon state monopoly incoal and break up COlJ,1India, to allowIndia's abundant supplies of coal tobe feed all the power generation ca-pacity that lies idle today,

Climate-controlled storage and tr-ansportlinks to towns will boost veg-etable, fruit, milk, poultry and meatproduction, boosting nutrition allaround and reining in food inflation.

Spend, But on What?Start 50medical colleges, to end theshortage of doctors and the corrupt-ing, sapping queue for MDand high-er degrees. Introduce shorter cours-

ANIMISHA

es for licensed medical practitionerto staff primary health cen tres.

Start teacher training colleges, toproduce teachers who know how toteach. Appoint them to individualschools, rather than to a state cadre.No transfer possible means only loc-als would apply and stay put.

Administrative Reform, TooPlace administrative and disciplina-ry control over school and healthca-re staff under panchayats. Absen tee-ism will disappear.

Build and launch a dozen commu-nication satellites with high-capaci-ty Ka-band transponders, to supple-ment and compete with terrestrialcable to make cheap high-speed bro-adband ubiquitous.

Appoint 20,000new judges at alllevels, build court houses, overhaulcourt procedure, ensure disposal ofall cases beyond final appeal within acouple of years. Hire policemen.

Announce a cash prize of n,OOOcr-ore each for new vaccines and curesfor widely-prevalent diseases, on thecondition that the intellectual prop-erty would vest with the state.

If there is cash to spare, moreideas will crop up.

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Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited(Wholly Owned Government of Karnataka Undertaking)

BRIEF TENDER NOTIFICATION: 2nd Call. . (Through e-Procurement) .

BESCOM, invites tender for the following: Bid Enquiry No. &Date: EE(ELE)/AEE(O)/JE-2/2012-13/EQ-293, 294, 295, 296,297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302 and 303 dt: 01-07-2013. Secondcall providing Infrastructure to unauthorized IP sets in Elevensections of Devanahalli and Hoskote sub-divisions of YelahankaDivision on RATE CONTRACT basis for a period of six monthson total turnkey basis, Approximate tender cost for each sectionis Rs.30 Lakhs. Last date & time of receipt of bid document18-07-2013, 16:00 Hrs. opening of Bid Document 20-07-2013,11:00 Hrs. The Bid Documents can be downloaded through thee-pro'CLi'r'e'ment poria: from the website http;!/eproc.karoataka,IJQy.in. Aspiring bidders need to register on e-procurement portal. Further, bidders can take assistance of thee-procurement help desk at 080-25501216 and 25501227.

For'EI~ctrlcltY,related)x . i.:''''''': Sd/-, Executive Engineer (Eie.),c'6ni"ii'lints ,calI! 080-2287.3333 Yelahanka Division, Bangaiore.

BESCOM invites tender for the following:Enquiry No. CEE/BMAZI/Enq-82/2013-14. Description: ProvidingSecurity Services to C,O&M Cash counters, offices, & Stores inBangaiore North, South, East & West Circle, BMAZ, for a period of :12 Months. Estimate cost of the service required Rs, 80.93 Lakhs.Last date for Receipt of Bid Document: Upto 18,07.2013 (17:00Hrs.). Opening of Bid Document: 22.07.2013 (11:00 Hrs.).The Tenders can be obtained through e-procurement websiteb.l!P..§.Jj~RroUarnata~_<;I~9QyjILAny clarifications about e-paymentcontact e-procurement helpdesk 080-25501216/25501227 or e-mail tohQ~desk. blr@rteserVices.corT]foranyissue.

Sd/- Chief Engineer (Ele.,),C,O&M, BMAZ, Bangalore.

For Electricity related 'complaints call ; 080·22873333

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