Volume 16, Number 1 Article by Ajay Shankar March, 2004
Reform Initiatives :
Ajay Shankar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India, presented a stark picture of the state of the power sector in his keynote address: a basic good like electricity not being accessible in many rural areas in states like Bihar and West Bengal; the mounting losses of SEBs and their colossal arrears to central public sector undertakings like the National Thermal Power Corporation; the reversal in central and state emphasis on investment in the power sector based on the euphoric expectation of a private investment 'prince'; and the general failure of the Orissa reforms pioneered by the World Bank. He then details what the Ministry is doing by way of correctives - enlarging the definition of captive generation in the Electricity Bill (now Act) 2003 to include groups of individuals so as to force the pace of competition, reversing the deterioration in hydro-thermal mix, stepping up public investment and inducing the states to reform through performance enhancing incentives.
Reprint No 04105b
