Naxalites are performing an important function in areas where the state is absent. And the state governments know this. (more…)

The state electricity regulatory commissions (SERCs) are moving towards a multi-year tariff (MYT) regulation. However, this adoption is slow and tardy. MYT falls under what is known as incentive regulation and the current approach adopted is the Cost of Service (CoS) or the Rate of Return Regulation (RoR) regulation. Why is incentive regulation more preferable to the CoS regulation? (more…)

Rural Electrification is viewed as the key component for accelerating rural development. However, a large section of the rural population in India is still devoid of this basic minimum requirement for a decent living. According to the latest statistics, only around 60% of rural households (more…)

Just saw a twitter link by Mark Thoma for a solar powered garbage compactor

and I thought..this is JUST what we need! When we were writing the Demand Curve piece on North India, I was a bit taken aback when I read Laveesh had written ‘Kanpur, north India’s industrial hub at one point, has now become a big garbage dump’, I thought that was a bit severe and thought I should tone it down a bit, but when I surfed to crosscheck this, I found the Municipal Commissioner of Kanpur calling it the dirtiest town in Uttar Pradesh!

All of urban India is turning into garbage dumps, actually, and hardly anything seems to be happening on that front. Though the Supreme Court has passed a ruling asking for segregation of garbage, for instance in Pune, action is zilch…I find this amazing piece from the TOI from 2005 talking of the PMC making wealth from waste…needless to say, the ground reality is nothing like that reported.

In early days of Indicus,..2001?.., Laveesh and Peeyush had done a paper on private and public garbage removal, which I cant find online anymore. But whether removal is private or public, enforcement of anti-littering laws will have to be public sector and a sense amongst residents of the need to be clean. But on both counts I am not too hopeful.

Experts have said for many years that subsidies do not reach the poor, the leakages are too many. The solution is direct transfer. (more…)