India’s Power Crisis and Nuclear Energy: Avoiding Power Black-outs, Avoiding False Solutions

Seminar on

India’s Power Crisis and Nuclear Energy: Avoiding Power Black-outs, Avoiding False Solutions

Date: August 23, 2012
Time: 10:00 am
Place: INDIAN SOCIAL INSTITUTE, Room No. 313, 10, Institutional Area, Lodi Road, New Delhi- 110003

The Indian public has been shaken by the long, horrible blackouts caused by multiple grid collapses on July 30 and 31. This exposes the hole at the heart of the “India growth story” and the depth of our energy crisis. The episode has led to strident demands for more addition to India’s electricity generation capacity, no matter from which source—to the exclusion of a discussion of electricity for whom, for what purpose, how grids can be better regulated, and how power can be saved and demand managed to provide energy security to all within a climate-friendly framework.

The nuclear lobby has cynically exploited the crisis to push its case for yet more atomic power, regardless of appropriateness, safety, environmental soundness, and costs. The Seminar will critically examine these arguments in the light of experience, and discuss what could be a sustainable and equitable energy perspective for the coming years, in which renewable sources, decentralised energy systems and energy conservation must play a crucial role.

The Seminar will be addressed by independent experts on energy and power sector regulation, analysts of nuclear power, environmentalists, proponents of equitable access to electricity, especially for the poor, and civil society representatives.

Chaired by: Gen V K Singh (Retd.)

Speakers: Praful Bidwai, eminent journalist and peace activist
M G Devasahayam, IAS (Retd)
Shankar Sharma, Power Policy analyst
Suvrat raju, Physicist, Harishchandra Institute,Allahabad
Karuna Raina, Greenpeace India