Power crisis in Rajasthan: Strategies to attain sustainable development

Abstract

In the past hundred years development has been witnessed in the economy. Human beings have moved from carts driven by horses to space flight. All these have become possible only because of energy. And this is the reason why energy has been considered as the life blood of modern economy. No doubt the development of any economy depends on availability of energy, as development is positively correlated with the demand for it. Since industrial revolution, the use of more and more of energy has led to the path of prosperity and human welfare. In the modern era, energy is considered as inevitable and prime indicator of welfare. Energy is available in many forms but among all the sources electricity is considered as one of the important requisites for all economic and social activities. India is one of the fastest growing country in the world. But the development has resulted in many serious problems, and one among this is the growing power crisis. Power sector an important part of country's infrastructure is going through the process of churning. The power sector of our economy is confronted with the major problem of growing demand-supply gap. The per capita consumption of power has been continuously increasing in the past few decades but the increment in the production rate could not keep pace with the growing demand which has ultimately resulted in the widening of demand supply gap of electricity. The policy of the government in order to overcome the power deficit has been oriented towards increasing the supply of electricity, to bring a balance between demand and supply. But this would in fact have an adverse effect on the environment, since a major portion of installed capacity is based on thermal power resulting in climate change. The present paper would focus on the electrical power crisis in India with special reference to Rajasthan, the reasons for power crisis and the strategies to be adopted in order to overcome the crisis.