'Redefining India’s Energy Security: Rethinking paradigms' a talk by Ms. Sudha Mahalingam at Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 8th May 2014
Time : 3:00 pm
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Place : Seminar Room, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110011
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'
Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to a Public Lecture (in the ‘Science, Society and Nature’ series) on ‘Redefining India’s Energy Security: Rethinking paradigms’ by Ms. Sudha Mahalingam, Former Senior Fellow, NMML.
Abstract : Access to abundant, clean and affordable energy sources is a paramount concern for developing countries striving to raise the quality of life for their citizens. For India, with its billion plus population and low per capita income, balancing climate change concerns with an energy intensive growth paradigm constitutes a formidable energy security challenge. India's chosen growth paradigm is hugely import-intensive in as much as it relies heavily on hydrocarbons in which the country is deficient. Exploding private transport and the growing share of road-based freight movement continue to aggravate reliance on imported crude. Promise of abundant natural gas supplies from recent domestic offshore discoveries has floundered on geological and pricing problems, leaving gas infrastructure stranded and rendering gas-based industries unviable. Electricity generation continues to be the most polluting industrial activity, reliant as it is, on India's dirty coal. Yet, more than half of India’s rural households do not have electric connectivity and even those that do, get supply only for a few hours a day. Coal still supplies more than half of total commercial energy, and more than eighty percent of India’s electricity generation. Natural gas, the relatively cleaner fossil fuel accounts for a little over 10 per cent of India’s power generation capacity but generates insignificant quantities of power owing to shortage of domestic gas. Transnational gas pipelines which could have increased the share of gas in India’s energy basket, remain elusive, hostage as much to politics as economics. Big dams have become controversial thanks to mishandled resettlement and rehabilitation efforts. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar still need considerable subsidy support to render them affordable. With an aspirational population clamouring for a better life style and rapidly gaining the wherewithal to pay for it, Indian policy makers do face a formidable challenge in planning a transition to a clean growth paradigm. A fundamental rethink on the way in which we view development coupled with quantum leaps in accessible technologies that will make the transition possible, are the need of the moment. Against this backdrop, how do we redefine energy security? How do we rethink our growth paradigm, aligning it with our resource endowments and constraints, yet meet the aspirations of our energy-starved people? Do we, as a nation, have the vision and the fortitude to make course corrections in our growth trajectory?
Speaker : Ms. Sudha Mahalingam is an energy economist with over thirty years of professional experience. Currently she is visiting fellow at Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University. She is also a member of Scientific Advisory Board at Delft University, The Netherlands. She has been a guest faculty at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie that trains India’s senior civil servants, at NIAS, Bengaluru, Indian Police Academy, Hyderabad, National Defence Academy, New Delhi etc. In 2012, she completed five years as Member of India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. In her capacity as an energy expert, she was also Member of India’s National Security Advisory Board. Prior to her current assignment, she held the prestigious Senior Fellowship at the Centre for Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, India. In 2007, she was awarded the first K. Subrahmanyam award for excellence in strategic studies by IDSA, India’s leading strategic studies think-tank.
Related Links : Talks
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Place : Seminar Room, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110011
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'
Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to a Public Lecture (in the ‘Science, Society and Nature’ series) on ‘Redefining India’s Energy Security: Rethinking paradigms’ by Ms. Sudha Mahalingam, Former Senior Fellow, NMML.
Abstract : Access to abundant, clean and affordable energy sources is a paramount concern for developing countries striving to raise the quality of life for their citizens. For India, with its billion plus population and low per capita income, balancing climate change concerns with an energy intensive growth paradigm constitutes a formidable energy security challenge. India's chosen growth paradigm is hugely import-intensive in as much as it relies heavily on hydrocarbons in which the country is deficient. Exploding private transport and the growing share of road-based freight movement continue to aggravate reliance on imported crude. Promise of abundant natural gas supplies from recent domestic offshore discoveries has floundered on geological and pricing problems, leaving gas infrastructure stranded and rendering gas-based industries unviable. Electricity generation continues to be the most polluting industrial activity, reliant as it is, on India's dirty coal. Yet, more than half of India’s rural households do not have electric connectivity and even those that do, get supply only for a few hours a day. Coal still supplies more than half of total commercial energy, and more than eighty percent of India’s electricity generation. Natural gas, the relatively cleaner fossil fuel accounts for a little over 10 per cent of India’s power generation capacity but generates insignificant quantities of power owing to shortage of domestic gas. Transnational gas pipelines which could have increased the share of gas in India’s energy basket, remain elusive, hostage as much to politics as economics. Big dams have become controversial thanks to mishandled resettlement and rehabilitation efforts. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar still need considerable subsidy support to render them affordable. With an aspirational population clamouring for a better life style and rapidly gaining the wherewithal to pay for it, Indian policy makers do face a formidable challenge in planning a transition to a clean growth paradigm. A fundamental rethink on the way in which we view development coupled with quantum leaps in accessible technologies that will make the transition possible, are the need of the moment. Against this backdrop, how do we redefine energy security? How do we rethink our growth paradigm, aligning it with our resource endowments and constraints, yet meet the aspirations of our energy-starved people? Do we, as a nation, have the vision and the fortitude to make course corrections in our growth trajectory?
Speaker : Ms. Sudha Mahalingam is an energy economist with over thirty years of professional experience. Currently she is visiting fellow at Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University. She is also a member of Scientific Advisory Board at Delft University, The Netherlands. She has been a guest faculty at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie that trains India’s senior civil servants, at NIAS, Bengaluru, Indian Police Academy, Hyderabad, National Defence Academy, New Delhi etc. In 2012, she completed five years as Member of India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. In her capacity as an energy expert, she was also Member of India’s National Security Advisory Board. Prior to her current assignment, she held the prestigious Senior Fellowship at the Centre for Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, India. In 2007, she was awarded the first K. Subrahmanyam award for excellence in strategic studies by IDSA, India’s leading strategic studies think-tank.
Related Links : Talks
'Redefining India’s Energy Security: Rethinking paradigms' a talk by Ms. Sudha Mahalingam at Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 8th May 2014
!['Redefining India’s Energy Security: Rethinking paradigms' a talk by Ms. Sudha Mahalingam at Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 8th May 2014]()
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Thursday, May 08, 2014
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