•    Vision - provide sustainable solutions for efficient and economic ways of lighting, electricity and cooking, and eradicate the use of fossil fuel (kerosene and diesel), used for lighting and electricity in rural West Bengal.
•    Location - VSSU’s The Oceanic Library, Ashok Nilay, Ullon, South 24 Parganas.

Vivekananda Shakti Kendra - Core Activity and Design
REC will bring lighting, electricity, and cooking solutions to households in South 24 Parganas, by incrementally deploying solar LED lights, improved cooking stoves, solar cookers and subsequently installing bio-energy systems (gasification, biogas).

a)    Education and Awareness – The center will be disseminate awareness and education on the benefits of renewable energy
b)    Entrepreneur Training  - Micro-entreprenerus will be trained in the center to distribute renewable energy solutions thus providing livelihood and green jobs

Products and Solutions
•    Lighting - Solar LED Lamps (0.5-2Watt) & home lighting (2.5-15 Watt)
•    Electrification - 10-100 KWe Biomass Gasifier (micro power systems)
•    Cooking – Biogas, Solar Cookers, Improved Cooking stoves and burners (Community and Household)

Benefits
Lighting and Electrification cuts across all sectors of development. For example - improving health services, providing clean water, enabling better communications, facilitating education, improving food security, reducing environmental damage and driving micro-enterprise development.

Beneficiary and Market
•    Market – 80 million rural households across India, do not have access to clean and reliable energy - leading to a food, development and environment crisis.
•    Beneficiary – South 24 Parganas, is one of the most underdeveloped parts of india – plagued with poverty, health, education problems.
South 24 Parganas has a population of approx 7,000,000, of which
o    78% households use kerosene for lighting,
o    79% households do not have access to electricity
o    96% households use biomass for cooking.

Contact - Vinay Jaju | VJ@ONergy.in | www.ONergy.in

The Tribune shared the latest from the coal ministry and Ministry of Environment - where Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal today joined hands to solve the country’s power problems by putting degraded forest lands (between 55 to 60 per cent of the total forest land in the country) as “Go” areas for coal exploitationto achieve a production level pf 1.7 to 2 billion tonnes by 2030.

This by far has to be the most thoughtless decisions - leaving most of us really grasping for lack of reasoning, sustainability and equity. I am penning some thoughts on problems with coal, and how decisions like these must be questioned and dealt with.

—————

Coal comes with two major problems – while it literally powers all of present state India, and keeps India “shining” and us basking in all its light and growth..we must fully acknowledge the role of coal not just to india’s current “growth and development” but also to our personal lifestyles.

Problems with coal
1) CO2 emissions - Climate change
2) Externalities - social problems of coal to the local environment and communities

1) CO2 emissions - Climate change
No coal in india because  “coal is bad for climate change” is a self defeating argument in India . For reasons completely understandable. Even though coal is the single largest target for climate action, the argument holds no value in india for the following reasons
a) India’s per capita consumption of coal is one of the lowest in the world ??
b) To provide electricity to 2/3rd of Indias energy poor, COAL will have to continue to remain the major share in power generation growth – if we want to sustain indias “so called” growth and development –        since we don’t  have an alternative as cheap as coal for power generation.
c) Internationally coal plants are still getting sanctioned, forget coal being phased out. - thank god for some brave souls sometimes risking their lives, to stop a few new coal plants.

But the real problem with coal in India lies in the other problem with coal -

2) Externalities - social problems of coal to the local environment and communities
There are serious issues with coal , very very serious issues , in-fact horrifying – these issues are related to the social costs /externalities of coal on local environment and communities and their livelihoods – coal    affects water, agriculture, health, soil, rivers – everything the local communities depend on - gets affected. Leaving them worse than they already are.

To question coal in india, we have to question the social cost of mining and deforestation on local environment and communities this has to be our premise followed by climate change which will aggravate the problems that coal is already inflicting on the above communities.
I am sharing this because its important to understand - our approach to coal in india – it is different in developed countries and we (atleast I did) often take up the issue as it is looked upon in the global north. We have the same culprit but with a different crime to book for.

Without doubt The decision to go ahead and start de-foresting to dig out coal is the worst idea for the local communities.

The key questions to ask are -

Why do we need all this additional energy ? Who is this coal for ? What purpose is it solving and for who ?
It certainly not for the energy poor, they are the ones getting displaced and severely affected by this decision ?

2.  What is impact of this deforestation on local communities, local environment and livelihoods?
This must be measured, the followup plan must be openly shared.

3.  How much coal and how are we looking at extracting from this coal from these areas ? -
Open caste mining will be a disaster ? btw India does not have the resources for underground mining?

The key answer we must prepare for is -

What alternative are we suggesting, in my opinion efficiency is the key and in the long run RE. but with our current state of affairs we still need more power which will come from coal generation..
Which leaves me thinking – do we really need all this power, r we really operating in the right framework of things – leaving me disappointed with our obsession for growth and development and aping the western philosophy .

The only people who will really stop this from happening are the the local communities and tribal inhabiting those jungles – infact it has driven a few to take up arms and fight the state.. its already happening across india and we have to strengthen their voices.

“Its not important that the people of Jharia are living on fire. Whats important is that they are living on coal.”

Jharia Coal Field is one of the most important coal mines in India and one of the largest in Asia. Once a treasure trove of high-quality coking coal, uncontrollable coal fires have turned the mine into a slow-burning inferno.

Underground mining first started in the area about a hundred years ago and was done very unscientifically and unsustainably. When the mines were nationalized and a public sector company Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) took over, they started to dig huge opencast mines to get to seams of coal near the surface – a cheaper way of mining. Once used, these enormous coal pits were then abandoned, leaving the coal seams exposed to the atmosphere. This caused the seams to ignite. Once alight, these fires spread across, and entered the town.

India accounts for the world’s greatest concentration of coal fires. Rising surface temperatures, and toxic by-products in groundwater, soil and air have turned the densely populated Jharia coal fields into wastelands.

About fourteen million ton of high quality coal is locked up in fire underneath. 595 sites have been indentified where fire and subsidence exists. The ground underneath can collapse anytime, taking with it the lives  on it.

Pilfering coal is a major source of livelyhood, almost a industry in Jharia. Most people collect coal illegally for less than a dollar a day. Children as young as 10 years of age are a part of this coal trade, having to give up on their rights to education and a safe life in face of hunger and starvation. Its almost ironical, that the people, who live on land so rich with coal and other minerals, are the once fated to be the most poor in the world!

Ill health adds to the sense of despair in the town. Pollution invades everything – air, water and land. Smoke from the fires contains poisonous gases including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. These fumes, along with fine coal dust from the fires, cause several lung and skin diseases.

There is a very strong belief amongst the people that these fires can be quenched, but is being used as an excuse instead to scare and displace the populace so that they can extract the coal below. People are willing to loose their lives to fire, but not give up on their land.

My film will revolve around a thirty year old lady who collects coal for a living, and a fifty year old man who is raging a war against the government to save his town from inhilation.

Gayitri Devi lives in a one-room house in one of the active fire zones called Bokapahadi. The floor of her house has a huge crack running through it, and fumes from underneath fill the house. She pilfers coal for a living.

Mr. Ashok Agarwal, is a social activist, heading Jharia Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (Save Jharia Committee). His organization is striving hard to get Jharia into the frontlines, putting pressure on the Government to quench the fire or provide sustainable rehabilitation to the people of Jharia. They recently filed a case against the government, which is going on in the supreme court of India.

Gayitri Devi has a family of eight members who share the small room with her. They can’t walk barefoot, as their feet burn. At night, they suffocated due to the pungent fumes. They have no where to go. They are fated to die right there in that room unless Mr. Agarwal and his team can make create a miracle…

Treatment of the Film

The film is the human story of coal, the story of a town that is dependant on coal for its survival, yet ironically, its same coal that will eventually lead to their annihilation.

The story will be a parallel narration of the two main characters – Gayitri Devi and Ashok Agarwal – Their lives, endeavors and aspirations.

Both the character have a common enemy – Coal. While Devi’s struggle with coal is direct – as she struggles to save our house and family from the fire raging below, as she pilfers coal for the survival of her family, Agarwal is fighting coal in the court. He has filled a petition in the Supreme court for the proper rehabilitation of Jharia, and for quenching the fire beneath.

This film will be an observational journey of my characters over a period, to give the audience a glimpse on the impact of coal on their lives, family, health, attitude, environment, livelihood etc. How they are being haunted by the same commodity that we think has taken our civilization forward in to the new era of development.

What the film maker is really trying to ask is – Is this what we mean by development? Is this what we bargained for? Is it fair, that the people who live on the most mineral rich land, remain the poorest of the lot?

Ekta Kothari the author of this piece is an independent film-maker and cofounder of Switch ON and has been coordinating all media and communication for Climate Ride. She is preparing a documentary on the ride - “Riders on the Storm” containing interviews by energy experts.

Check out more videos from powershift at - http://www.youtube.com/user/energyaction

Check out website - http://www.powershift09.org/

But what that criticism did for me was trigger some thought and questions on - what we feel proud about india, what do some people imagine India to be. I really want to question people about what part of India are they living in, what part of India do they represent and are proud of..

- That 1/3 rd of India which is living or aspiring to live the western life / that seemingly is developing / that is consuming and wasting like the west / dreaming and living the American life..

OR

- That 2/3rd of India, which is struggling to make ends meet. That lives in darkness , that cook their daily meal on wood

To the folks that represent the 1/3rd of india and have massive pride in “India Shining” some perspective from the Mr Surya Sethi of the planning commission might add some value to your thoughts, as he says “We will run into all sorts of problems in the country – our development paradigm is not the correct development paradigm – we are deficient in all the key resources we need for development – land, water and energy ”

A little digging into the numbers tell us that with 17% of world population, globally our country has
-     2.4% of land reserves
-    Less than 2% of water reserves
-    We consume 3.5% of global energy supply

To keep that seemingly “India shining” there is a huge part of india which is living in poverty – like Mr Agarwal from Save the Jharaia coal field movment says “The buck stops here - the poor always end up paying the price.”

The 1/3rd of India is Making the other 2/3rd pay for the bills for its impact on society, environment etc.. One example I can draw from our case “Why New Coal” – the energy that is driving all our developmet - that is keeping the lights on in the shopping malls and a/c’s running in our houses – have we ever thought of where that electricity is coming from and who is paying the price of it..That electricity is coming from the coal being mined in the poorest part of india , Jharkhand is one state for example. And Mr AP Khalku, Superintendent Environment, BCCL ( a state owned Coal mining company)  himself says “Jharkhand has been exploited – the nation has benefited – India has gotten a lot of advantage from jharkhand without keeping any advantage of jharkhand in mind.”

He continues and says “Because of Coal, soil degrades – fertility dies out, people get displaced, water population, river pollutes, natural water table goes down, air gets pollute (dust etc)”

Now coming back to my original question on what part of india are you proud of?? I can say for myself I pride the rich culture, heritage, values of the country – and all the periods of struggles and the victories..

I am proud of the 2/3rd of India which is struggling and still puts a smile on his face cause he sees another victory looming near..

Climate Crisis ⇔ Energy Crisis

The biggest challenge staring at the face of India is - how can we sustainably develop and provide energy to 700 million citizens – which will give these citizens access to equal opportunity and basic needs – elevate poverty and provide better health and living conditions – but providing this energy may come at a huge cost to life on earth (if we use coal & other fossil fuel). The good we were trying to achieve will be washed off by the effects of Climate change and first of all devastate the same people for whom the good was meant to be for.

With a handful decades of fossil fuel remaining and a climate catastrophe looming on our heads, the crisis may look like something in the future, but we would be mistaken if we thought like that. It is an emergency situation today – as our current actions will determine our future. We face a challenge now to provide energy in the most sustainable manner to the growing demands.

Challenge ⇔ Opportunity

18 days – 1800 Kms, 130 climate leaders, 5 theatre productions, 2 videos, 20 photography journalists, 2 Pothochitros..

Yesterday was quite an extraordinary day, we were pushed for time and had to cover up for the lost hours of cycling from the day before, as our press event in Varanasi finished late- Now we were left with 150 Km to do - the most we had done in this ride was 115 and 150 looked tough but doable - until we hit the roads ofcourse..

The first 50 km went well, but the next 40 as we crossed allahbad and the surrounds were nighhtmare -It was UP traffic and roads at its worst - but we managed unharmed shouting our way out of the hole..Then we were in for some very strong head wind (we have been getting a moderate head wind through the ride but yesterday was a toughy (it went on until about sunset)

We were really pushed - but we ended up doing 165 Km - we did it so we could have a safe ride today and make it in time for the kanpur event.

At the end of the day i had two thoughts which co-related with our case “why new coal” -

1) Human capacity has no limits - We can achieve whatever - i would have never imagined i could do 165 km a day - infact we exceeded our expectation, our target. We should not set boundaries for what can be done and what cant be - we can just about achieve anything we want. With indias future energy needs - if we push ourselves, challenge ourselves and stretch - i have no doubt that a low carbon even a zero carbon future with no new coal or even no coal is possible.

2) Work hard today for a secured tomorrow - We only pushed ourselves yesterday so that we could comfortably reach kanpur and have a secure ride.. Similarly, just so that it is easy now to put up coal to answer india’s energy demands we will leave a mess for future generations. We can work hard now so that we have a stable climate , life on earth has a secure future.

Humans in the past have struggled and toiled hard for future generations -its the way life has evolved - today we have the same opportunity. We only need to switch ON and start riding.

(The picture was taken in jharkhand, the lady with the child on her back was such a powerfull image of humanity)

We knew we were in jharkhand.. One of the most mineral rich states in india - yet one fo the most underdeveloped..

I keep getting this question a lot - and while riding today, I suddenly realized why I was doing the ride – thank god, I will now know “why”..

When we look at the entire ride from delhi to Kolkata in totality – 1600 Km in 16 days - it almost sounds craz for myself (i panicked when i had to do a 90 km ride)

But when we break it up and simplify it - 100 km/day, Speed - 20 km/hr - it starts making sense! And when we apply the same sense into India’s New Coal (for power generation ) it starts making , rather it doesn’t make sense building new coal power plants..

It may seem impossible to move away from coal - now, but so do a lot of things. So coming back to where we started - as a very small example – our cycle ride seemed impossible (the ride ofcourse is insignificant to the mamoth task of moving away from coal), But what we want to do through the ride is - demonstrate that the seemingly impossible is possible if we put our mind to it..

A bit on the personal note – I had a million reasons not to do the ride – I almost convinced myself once that I would not- but I had one extraordinary reason to do it – ride for yourself.. i wanted to do it
for myself..and here I am on the road..

And when I was in jharia speaking with Mr. Agarwal (who is heading the save jharia NGO) he put it “I don’t know what will happen to jharia tomorrow – it may burn down , it may survive – I don’t know , but today I know I need to do what I am doing”.. It summed everything for me and when I look at it in perspective to all I have been doing with Switch ON and the cycle ride – I don’t know tomorrow if the world just boils and life on earth stops existing or a miracle volcanoe or meteorite turns up - and saves us from the climate change catastrophe.

But I Switch ON myself today because today that’s what I want to do, I have to and I must do..

Likewise god knows if government of India does go ahead putting the 213 new coal plants or actually does a massive effort on efficiency and taps solar for all our energy needs – I am doing my ride today because “I” need to..