Indo-US Strategic Energy Partnership, Preserve and promote the cultural tradition of India, Tap connections reach remote tribal households of Arunachal Pradesh
1. Preserve and promote the grand cultural tradition of India of living together and working together Maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore
- The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu made an appeal to preserve and promote the grand cultural tradition of India of living together and working together, for the country, the world and the entire humanity in true spirit of the core Indian philosophy of ‘share and care‘.
- The concluding ceremony of the centenary celebrations of the Sri Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar, the 25th Maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore, the Vice President called for celebrating the knowledge, wisdom, patriotism and vision of all great rulers and statesmen like Maharaja Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar who have shaped our history.
- He built one of the strong, self-reliant and progressive states in pre-Independence India and the Maharaja a democrat at heart and a true people’s ruler who always wanted to remain in touch with his people and ensure the wellbeing of the masses.
- Crediting the Maharaja with leading India’s transition to being a strong democracy and contributing greatly to the unity and integrity of the nation and a perfect blend of ancient values and the modernity.
- Mysore was the first major State to accept the ‘Instrument of Accession’ after independence and said Sri Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar possessed qualities of the head and the heart, which made him one of the tallest leaders and most admired rulers of this nation.
- In many ways, he embodied the ideal king like qualities that Chanakya describes in the Artha Shastra.
- The 25th Maharaja of Mysore is widely respected for the support and encouragement provided towards the establishment of many important institutes of modern India such as Hindustan Aircrafts Ltd. (which subsequently became HAL) at Banguluru, Central Food Technological Research Institute at Mysore, National Tuberculosis Institute in Bangalore and the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing at Mysore, among others.
- The Maharaja also carried on his family’s tradition of providing Indian Institutes of Science, Bangalore with funds and Scholarships for running the Institute and occasionally for its expansion, when needed.
- Appreciating Sri Jaya Chamaraja’s mastery over Sanskrit language and his outstanding oratory skills and his ‘Jaya Chamaraja Grantha Ratna Mala’ series has greatly enriched Kannada language and literature.
- However, we should celebrate the timeless Indian values, the rich cultural heritage and along with the spirit of democracy and of people-centred good governance.
2. Tap connections reach remote tribal households of Arunachal Pradesh
- Serin, a quaint village at an altitude of 2,000 feet, nestled in the greens of Arunachal Pradesh has all the reasons to rejoice now.
- Accessing this small remote village is not an easy task.
- One has to trek minimum one day on foot to reach Serin, which is situated in Tamen – Raga block of Kamle district in the State.
- The terrain is tough here and so is the life of people.
- The distance between Serin village and its nearest Pucca road is 22 km.
- The village is inhabited by Nyishi tribe with a total population of 130.
- Their happiness knows no bound as every household is enabled with a tap connection now, ensuring potable water in their premises.
- Earlier, fetching water was a time taking and arduous task especially for the elderly people of Serin village as they had to fetch water from the nearby spring sources.
- But now thanks to the Serin water supply scheme, tap connections are available in every household.
- Arunachal Pradesh Government has decided to provide 100% tap water connections to all the households in the State by 2023 under Jal Jeevan Mission, the flagship programme of Government, which aims to provide safe drinking water to all.
- It is the vision of the Prime Minister to bring improvements in the lives of people of the country, especially the rural people.
- The mission aims to change the lives of the people residing in rural area.
- In hilly areas, it is a huge burden on the women of the household to go and fetch water from a distance, which takes heavy toll on their body.
- To reduce their drudgery, this mission has come as a boon and aims to provide potable water to every rural household in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis.
- The States are required to train five persons especially women in every village for use of field test kits for testing of water supplied at local level.
- It was an uphill task to implement Serin water supply project.
- Since the village is situated on top of the mountain, all the River Bed Materials like sand, shingles, boulders, etc., had to be collected from the rivers located far below the village.
- Besides, all the bulky materials like steel, cement, pipes, etc., had to be carried by head load from the nearest motorable road to worksite negotiating the tough terrains.
- High operation cost of the project, compounded by non-availability of skilled labourers locally increased the challenges manifold.
- But the work was meticulously planned and implemented by the PHE department.
- Being a hilly State, gravity-based water supply system is used in Arunachal Pradesh, means the force of gravity is used to move the water downhill from a source to the village.
- An intake structure is built to collect the water from surface sources, which is then conveyed to the village through a pipe system.
- In the olden days, water treatment plants were not usually considered due to restrictive per capita cost norms.
- But now with the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission, water treatment plants are being made integral part of schemes to provide potable water of prescribed quality.
- Post treatment, water is collected in a clear water reservoir built above the village, from where water is distributed to FHTCs in the village by a distribution network of pipes.
- In order to facilitate equitable distribution of water, in larger villages, distribution tanks within the villages are provided.
- Serin village is not a stand-alone example in the frontier State.
- Dalbing, another village located at an altitude of 3,300 feet in Upper Siang District with 79 households and population of about 380 people is an excellent example of community mobilisation.
- The village belonging to Adi tribe is situated on table top hillock.
- Since the Jal Jeevan Mission is a decentralized, demand-driven and community-managed water supply scheme, the natives of Dalbing village made community contribution in the form of labour.
- Similar works have been done in Upper Karko village which is a border block having international boundary.
- During the execution of work to provide FHTCs, the pipe and other construction materials were carried by the villagers.
- They had also assisted PHED in plumbing works.
- Another village Pumao located at an altitude of about 3,900 feet in Longding District, which is the eastern most district of Arunachal Pradesh had toilets made under Swachh Bharat Mission, but villagers were reluctant to use them due to non- availability of running water supply.
- Now they are happily using the toilets as well after provision of water in their households.
- The implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission in these tough terrains and high altitude is a challenging task.
- Impediments increase with the harsh climatic conditions and poor connectivity.
- Equally challenging is to instil behavioural change in the villagers who are very reluctant to shun their beliefs and lifestyle.
- But the success stories of these villages are a proof of the better future envisioned by the Union Government to improve the lives of people especially the women.
3. Indo-US Strategic Energy Partnership
- India and the United States have announced new areas of research on transformational power generation based on supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power cycles and advanced coal technologies, including carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).
Key points:
- New areas of research on transformational power generation based on supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power cycles and advanced coal technologies, including carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) announced
- Smart grids and energy storage is being implemented by consortium comprising of 30 Indian and US entities
- Policy directions for the societal acceptance of smart grid concepts, Distributed Energy Resources, impact and value of the integrative solutions and emerging role of utilities as Distributed System Operators
- Common priorities for collaboration evolved in Clean Coal Technologies, Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (sCO2) Power Cycles and Carbon Capture Utilisation & Storage (CCUS) technologies
The collaboration between India and United States has grown over the years under the Programme for Accelerating Clean Energy – Research (PACE-R)
- The ongoing collaboration on smart grids and energy storage is being implemented by consortium comprising of 30 Indian and US entities with investment of US $ 7.5 million each by India DST and US DoE (US Department of Energy) with matching amount provided by the consortium.
- This project addresses essential issues related to the adoption and deployment of smart grid concepts along with Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) including storage in the distribution network for its efficient and reliable operation and will also provide policy directions for the societal acceptance, impact and value of the integrative solutions and emerging role of utilities as Distributed System Operators.
- The dialogue between US-DoE and India’s DST on clean coal technologies, Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (sCO2) Power Cycles and Carbon Capture Utilisation & Storage (CCUS) technologies has progressed well and common priorities for collaboration have been evolved.
- The one of the notable outcomes of the dialogue is participation of India in the multilateral platform for Accelerating CCUS Technologies (ACT) through which avenues have been generated for possible US- India collaboration.
- The United States and India share an all-of-the-above approach to energy security and energy access.
- The two countries recognise the importance of Clean Energy Research, Development and Innovation and are also leading joint research and development (R&D) through the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy-Research (PACE-R) on smart grids and energy storage to increase resilience and reliability of the electric grid.
