Manipur- Non-Conventional Energy For Manipur

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Non-Conventional Energy For Manipur
By Dr. S. Vettivel
In the last ten years of my intimate association with Manipur, there has been no time during my visit to Imphal where there was electricity during the full course of my stay, whether it was at Imphal Hotel or any where else. Invariably, there has been no electricity at all, or it came very occasionally, during my visit to rural and tribal areas. This is not to blame the authorities, but this is the situation almost all Manipuris live through every day enduring patiently and without complaining. Families with resources have made alternative arrangement for power with cheap Chinese-made generators, inverters and batteries available in the "Moreh" markets. The problem with Manipur is that power production sources are few and unpredictable, among a number of other factors. The energy production systems which function/operate on much below their capacity lead to severe power shortage. The result is that power is rationed, and as can be expected, the VIP areas get priority supply. VIP areas in Imphal are not the real Manipur. Candles and kerosene lamps are the real and dependable sources of light. Lines have been laid in a number of villages that receive electricity only occasionally. And there are villages where lines have been laid years ago but have never ever received supply at all; the IT road villages for example. The sad news is that all these villages have been counted as electrified while most of these villages remain dark during most part of the year. On top of this are villages which are yet to be electrified. The ethnic conflict during the nineties caused uprootment of entire village communities even from one district to another. Some families are still migrating from one village to another trying to find a safer place. An interesting feature of the tribal culture is that any number of families of the same tribe is welcome to settle down in a village: they are given a house plot and a plot of land to cultivate, and assistance in constructing the house. The belief is: larger a village, safer it is. Consequently, in the last ten years or so, villages have been disappearing and appearing, and the household number of villages goes up and down all the time. Thus, there is no correct list of un-electrified villages. A number of villages listed as unelectrified may not even have a habitat. Perhaps, the darkness and use of kerosene lamps have a number of critical implications. One is the low pass percentage in class X and XII examinations. The other is the high decennial population growth. These have cyclic effect of ¾ pressure on land for house construction and cultivation, and competitiveness of Manipuri students. Rich Manipuris send their children outside Manipur at an early age so as to be competitive, but the poor children who cannot afford this suffer. While education of their children is the top priority of most Manipuri families, this dark environment at home puts off even the bright students. Moreover, different services and industry are not able to come up due to lack of power. The recent mobile service, that seems to make Manipur on par with other Indian states, often suffers from power failures. Moreover, energy has a gender dimension as well. While it is only the men who cut the trees in the jhum land, it is the women who mainly do the most strenuous job of carrying the cut pieces home. She also cuts trees that are in the jungle. Alternative energy will save the woman from this severe drudgery. A recent survey, conducted by me in the tribal areas of Manipur, indicates that a family uses five to twenty liters of kerosene a month paying Rs. 20/l. That is, a family spends about Rs. 100 to 400 a month or Rs. 1,200 to 4,800 per year. And the main source of heat is fuel wood. A family burns 6,000 to 10,000 kg of firewood in a year. A village of 100 families burns 600 to 1,000 tons of wood in a year. The use of firewood is double during winter. The main source of fuel wood is jhum land and jungle. While the negative feature is that this much of bio-mass is lost annually, the positive feature is that this much of biomass is available to produce energy through alternative sources. What is important is to use a package of non-conventional energy technologies. Where biomass is plenty, the best option is to go in for biomass-based gasifiers to produce electricity. A 9 KW gasifier, consuming 50 kg. wood a day (18 tons a year ¾ this quantity is a fraction of what the village burns fuel wood for heating), can provide adequate electricity for 50 households as well as street lights. In the daytime, with additional wood use, a motor pump-set can be run to pump water for drinking purpose or for irrigation. Villages that have perennial streams running alongside will be able to raise double crops instead of one. This gasifier, including the cost of internal power distribution system and street lighting, would cost about Rs. 8 lakhs. The other options are biogas-based heating systems, improving the chulas, wind energy and mini hydel systems. It requires enormous ground work though. Firstly, the list of villages that are not electrified need to be updated and also the list of villages where lines have been laid but may not receive electricity supply in the near future. In Manipur situation, "electrified villages" must be redefined as those that receive supply regularly. Just laying the lines should not be a sufficient condition to call a village "electrified". With uncertain power supply even to the villages that have the lines laid, there is just no point of blindly laying more lines and adding on the paper that the villages have been electrified. Manipur has to turn to non-conventional energy sources and systems seriously and urgently. Secondly, the panchayats and the village authorities need to be made aware of the various non-conventional energy options. In Tamil Nadu, the panchayats are taking lead roles in using non-conventional energy options. Thirdly, it is not sufficient just to make people aware. What is important is to test and demonstrate how each of these technology options works on the ground, especially in Manipur conditions. Test projects need to be taken up to learn and demonstrate how non-conventional energy sources actually operate. My fourth point is the unit of operation. Governmental organizations have not been very effective. Even the non-governmental organizations have not performed effectively either. But they have the local contact and enormous facilitating/coordinating capability; and it is they who are able to move about freely in the rural and tribal areas. It is this capability of the NGOs that needs to be captured and nurtured now. The panchayats and the village authorities should become the unit of operation and the centre of control and action. They need to be empowered. Their capacity has to be enhanced to prepare village energy plans (VEP) to meet their energy requirements. The panchayats and the village authorities (or a village energy committee -VEC- formed to implement the VEP on their behalf) must be the recipients of the money from the government to implement their VEP. The amount of money that comes to the project will then be an open knowledge to the people. The VEC can put this money into a separate bank account of its own, and it can decide to spend the money as per the approved VEP. A social audit committee can be formed to undertake social and economic impact assessments and financial audit. The NGOs should play the role of facilitators and coordinators. A partnership between the government, NGOs and the community organizations need to be developed to plan and implement non-conventional energy programs, the goal being ‘village energy security’. Manipur should take advantage of the non-conventional energy opportunities and ensure that its villages see light quickly. But, as I said, to make the program a success, the centre of operation must be the panchayats and the village authorities, and not the government organizations or NGOs. Their role is facilitation and coordination only. *** Dr. Vettivel can be reached at skvetrivel@hotmail.com
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)

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