Atal Bihari Vajpayee visioned India as ‘Energy Surplus’ nation. Today’s ‘Green Energy Revolution’ has its foundation in the policies visioned by him way back in 2000.
During his regime Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) brought out a report – the Indian Hydrocarbon Vision 2025 – which recommended a proactive and prominent role for government in securing the country’s energy needs through acquisition of oilfields abroad, building strategic oil storage and promoting ‘swadeshi’ biofuels.
The Hydrocarbon Vision 2025, envisaged that 25 per cent of the potential area would be fully explored by 2005, 50 per cent by 2010, 75 per cent by 2015 and 100 per cent by 2025. This would reduce the India’s dependence on imported hydrocarbons which is projected to increase from 80 to 90 per cent by 2040, leaving the country highly vulnerable to geopolitical developments, especially in the Middle East.There’s a compelling opportunity for gas, which India must seize to reduce import dependency and shift to a lower carbon trajectory.
HE said, “Environmental security is no longer peripheral to the issues of food and nutritional security. Neglecting it yesterday has proved costly today; and could prove far costlier tomorrow. We must, therefore, step up our program on soil and water management, renewable energy sources, forest management, containment of chemicals and other pollutants, waste management, and conservation of bio-diversity for sustainability of Indian agriculture.”
HIS government introduced clean-burning CNG in Delhi and laid the roadmap of improving the quality of India’s motor fuels to European standards.
The Vajpayee government also laid the foundation of all the power sector reforms being talked about currently with the Electricity Act of 2003.
While separation of distribution and generation of discoms as well as leapfrogging generation capacity with Ultra-Mega Power Plants met with success, distribution reforms lagged in Centre-state politics. But the Act succeeded in putting the issues of subsidy, inefficiency and theft firmly on the discussion table.
Reference- TOI, Wikipedia, Frontline, Gov.in