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IFC has completed first rooftop solar power project in Gandhinagar, with the aim to improve access to power and reducing air pollution from the burning of wood and fossil fuels.

New Delhi, India – International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is supporting the Indian State of Gujarat to replicate in five cities a rooftop solar project first completed in Gandhinagar, improving access to power and reducing air pollution from the burning of wood and fossil fuels.

The two pilot projects of 2.5 megawatt each demonstrated the viability of generating solar power through a grid-interactive system on rooftops, and will serve as a model for roll-out across the cities of Bhavnagar, Mehsana, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara. IFC is also developing a policy framework for replicating the rooftop solar concept in Gujarat based on the experience gained in Gandhinagar.

This program is the first of its kind in India and aims to be a benchmark for green energy generation at the household level. The two pilot projects will produce approximately nine million units of clean energy and help to avoid 6,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. The project will also help to mobilize private sector investment of approximately $ 12-14 million.

“We want to fully exploit the potential of solar power generation,” said D. Jagatheesa Pandian, Principal Secretary in the state Energy and Petrochemicals Department. “IFC’s support will help us implement the rooftop solar power generation project in other cities of Gujarat and make the state the preferred destination for solar projects in India.”

The project aims to help the government introduce public-private participation in generating a green energy source. The solar installations will convert sunlight into electricity and directly feed into the electrical grid. The Public Private Partnership and Sustainable Business Advisory team of IFC structured the project and advised the Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI) and Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL), the two state supported agencies for implementing solar power, on the global competitive bid process.

“Gujarat is pioneering the adoption and promotion of clean energy by installing rooftop solar plants in the state,” said Anita M. George, IFC Director for Infrastructure in Asia. “The project will provide economic opportunities to the local residents, whose rooftops will be used for the installation of solar panels.”

Successful implementation of the business model for the rooftop solar project in a leading state like Gujarat will encourage similar models to be adopted in India and elsewhere in the region.

About IFC

International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. It helps developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, providing advisory services to businesses and governments, and mobilizing capital in the international financial markets. In fiscal 2011, amid economic uncertainty across the globe, they helped clients create jobs, strengthen environmental performance, and contribute to their local communities – all while driving their investments to an all-time high of nearly $ 19 billion. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

Source: IFC.

Dahanu PV solar power plant in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan has started commercial operations to provide electricity to thousands of households and businesses in Maharashtra.

Jodhpur, India – India’s largest photovoltaic solar power plant, located in the western state of Rajasthan, has started generating clean energy that will provide electricity to thousands of households and businesses in Mumbai.

“The 40-megawatt plant is expected to produce more than 60 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, enough to light up more than 70,000 average Indian households, while avoiding more than 60,000 metric tons of harmful carbon dioxide emissions per year,” said Michael Barrow, Director of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Private Sector Operations Department.

The $ 147.5 million Dahanu Plant, near the village of Dhursar in the Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan, was developed by Reliance Power Ltd., one of the largest private power developers in India, with support of a $ 48 million loan from ADB.

The site, 180 kilometers west of the city of Jodhpur, has one of the highest levels of solar irradiation in the country. That, plus the arid, barren landscape of that part of the state, meant it was an ideal location for the 350-acre plant that comprises 500,000 solar panels.

ADB is also lending $ 103 million to Reliance Power to help build the Rajasthan Concentrating Solar Power Project, which will be located adjacent to the Dahanu plant. Concentrating solar power and photovoltaic solar power are different methods of generating electricity from the energy of the sun and the Government of India is looking to develop both.

The Dahanu plant is part of ADB’s goal of developing, financing, or commissioning, 3,000 megawatts of solar energy generation capacity in developing Asia by May 2013. This Asia Solar Energy Initiative is aimed at helping to ensure that the region’s demand for energy is met in a way that is environmentally sustainable. The Government of India is also keen to develop renewable energy to avoid greenhouse gas emissions and to diversify its energy sources.

In addition to the two plants, ADB is supporting the development of a Solar Park in Charanka in Gujarat State by financing a transmission line and sub-station to evacuate power. ADB has also set up a financing facility to provide partial credit guarantees to lenders willing to fund solar power projects of up to 25 megawatts. The facility is designed to help reduce risk for the private sector, and to mobilize long-term funding for solar energy development.

Source: ADB.

With incidents of earthquake getting more frequent in National Capital region, this article highlights how Delhi’s unplanned urban villages, already creaking under the burden off over-population and infrastructural shortages, would be most vulnerable to the risk of natural disasters. 

Delhi is one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world. Between dense population and limited resources, it faces serious health, social, and environmental problems. Delhi, being the national capital, has had the privilege of planned development. But the unusual growth of this burgeoning megacity has set off all plans. The urban population has escalated from 8.472 million in 1991 to 16.75 million in 2011 census, which is substantial growth of more than 55 per cent. Such growth has put tremendous pressure not only on national resources, but has also increased risks of natural disaster. The city is dotted with all kinds of buildings and infrastructural facilities, ranging from very good constructions to extremely poor designs and constructions.

Delhi, being well-connected to all parts of the nation, has a rich mix of cultures. People from all over the country migrate to Delhi in search of better economic opportunities. Rapid population growth, fuelled by in-migration, has been the hallmark of creating a “top-heavy” structure of Delhi’s urbanisation. This has resulted in a continuous urban sprawl and deterioration of the urban environment. The situation is similar in most of Indian megacities.

The most pressing issue of urbanization is unplanned, haphazard urban growth and development of villages leading to urban villages.Delhi has at least 135 urban villages, all of which once existed as rural settlements (Lal Dora Committee, 2007).These are marked with high density of lower economic population, mainly migrants in the form of tenants. Urban villages are also characterised by unplanned buildings, narrow roads and by-lanes, lack of proper sanitation and drinking water, low cost business activities, and informal or unregistered business and manufacturing activities. Urban villages in Delhi are “protected” habitation lands, which have been exempted from the urban development authorities and are not affected by any building by-laws (Delhi Municipal Act, 1957). In a typical rural village, the village authority is well-defined. But in an urban village, there is no distinct political institution or governance structure. Each person tries to exercise authority, and it is the land mafia literally at work.

If one goes through lanes of urban villages like Munirka, Hauz Khas, Hauz Rani, Tughlakabad, Khirkee, Begumpur, Sangam Vihar, Sheikh Sarai and Nizamuddin, one finds that there is hardly any space for people to pass through the narrow lanes, leave alone vehicles. Animals like donkeys are used to bring in building material through these narrow lanes for construction. Rapid construction and stacking floors over floors, without undertaking any safety measures, is taking place in these areas. This is just a way for many land owners in these villages to maximize their monetary benefits. High income from tenancy is another factor which has led to haphazard and mindless construction of buildings. These buildings are of major concern in case of any disaster, as they have poor safety measures and the density of population in urban villages is very high.

These urban villages are home to thousands of students who migrate to Delhi for better educational opportunities as they are cheap and affordable.People from nearby places who migrate in search of work also reside in such villages. For instance, Munirka Village caters to lower middle class section of the urban population, with small-scale businesses mushrooming in every corner of the village. Its residents range from migrant labourers to students from all parts of India.

The seismic zoning map of India divides the country into four seismic zones, namely Zone II (MSK intensity VI), Zone III (MSK intensity VII), Zone IV (MSK VIII) and Zone V (MSK intensity IX or more), and according to map, Delhi falls under Zone III (earthquake intensities of VII MSK or more) (Shailesh et al, 2006). Delhi, being home to such large population and falling under high seismic zone, requires immediate attention, especially to such urban villages. There is urgent need for the government to look into urban villages. Urban planning bodies and urban planners need to function more efficiently in order to save these areas from becoming urban slums. The population growth of Delhi vis-a-vis the finiteness of environmental resources, stress on common property resources (such as ground water) and civic amenities poses serious threat to sustainability of the city.

As already mentioned, Delhi falls in the seismically active zone and might face an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 in a period of 50 years and there is 80% probability of magnitude 7.0 event in the region (Ghosh, 2008). Such high impact earthquakes will lead to insurmountable destruction of human lives, property and social fabric of the city. Growing population, ill planned habitat and non-engineered building practices have compounded the risk of many urban conglomerations. Thus, assessing the multi-hazards and risks of built structures, taking appropriate structural and non-structural mitigation measures, and managing post disaster events efficiently, are some of the challenging tasks of disaster management that the city needs to deal with.

In terms of construction practices, India has developed National Building Code (2005) and hazard-specific practices and guidelines. In spite of availability of such documents, enforcement mechanism, applicability and implementation is most deficient. Existing urban villages do not address safety requirements of build environment. Therefore, there is need to carry out seismic analysis of existing buildings to make them safe against earthquake forces using seismic retrofitting techniques. There is a need to develop suitable screening methods for seismic safety of existing buildings so that prioritization may be undertaken on the deficient buildings (Ghosh, 2008).

There is urgent need to check and control illegal construction in various urban villages of Delhi and to strengthen the emergency response capability in such villages. By making general population more aware of consequences of natural disaster and investing more in developing appropriate capacity development interventions – such as conducting mock drills by creating simulated situations across the city involving schools, colleges, metro-network, malls, markets, hospitals and road transport – we can test and check Delhi’s disaster response mechanism in the event of a high-intensity earthquake. An effective earthquake management system can reduce and make us better prepared for the consequences of such an event.

[Nida Yamin is a student at TERI University pursuing her Masters in Sustainable Development Practice (MA-SDP).] 

References: 

1. “Earthquake Risk Mitigation Strategies”; C. Ghosh; National Institute of Disaster Management, New Delhi, October 2008; India.
2. “Seismic Hazard Assessment for Delhi Region”; Shailesh Kr. Agrawal & Jyoti Chawla; Central Building Research Institute; Current Science; December 2006; India.
3. Report of the expert committee on Lal Dora and extended Lal Dora in Delhi; January 2007; India; available at: http://urbanindia.nic.in/programme/dd/laldora.pdf (accessed on 24th April 2012)

1.   About BIMTECH:

Located in National Capital Region (NCR), Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) is one of the top MBA colleges to study in India. It was established in 1988 under the aegis of the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, and supported by Birla Group of Companies.

BIMTECH is approved by AICTE, Ministry of HRD, Government of India; also accredited by National Board of Accreditation for 5 years which is the highest quality mark of accreditation by NBA. The PGDM is approved to be equivalent to MBA by AICTE and AIU (Association of Indian Universities).

BIMTECH offers post graduate academic programmes as well as consultancy and training in Business Management, Insurance Management, International Business and Retail Management, and Sustainable Development. It also offers Doctorate in few areas of Business and Management and publishes related research journals, reports and books.

India Centre for Public Policy (ICPP), an academic centre and think-tank, is the latest development at BIMTECH for promotion of research and debate on policy issues in business and society. ICPP aims to create research base documents, engage in advocacy for development and public policy and develop a professional workforce leading to public policy, sustainable development and inclusive growth in the country.

A survey conducted by ICPP revealed that in India there is an acute need of professionals to carry forward the agenda of sustainable development and inclusive growth, and hence, PGDM-Sustainable Development Practices was launched at BIMTECH.

2.   About PGDM-Sustainable Development Practices (PGDM-SDP): 

The two-year programme on Sustainable Development Practices is robustly designed to address current and the potential future needs of corporate and the development sector. The programme offers highly focused courses in health economics, environmental science, energy management, social science consulting & business modeling, project management, corporate social responsibility, sustainability measurement tools, and green supply chain management. The graduates of this programme may be looked as experts who will address the technical issues of social development and provide practical and feasible solutions.

Click here to Download PGDM-SDP Brochure for more details.

3.   Programme Objectives: 

• To provide knowledge and skill sets to aspiring professionals to understand, analyze and lead change towards a sustainable future and responsible business for nation and world
• To produce expert practitioners for development practices in national and international developments
• To produce a critical mass of professionals to be employed by national and international research and advocacy agencies, corporate, NGOs, donor agencies, and governments working with ethos and sustainable development

4.   No. of Seats: 30

5.   Eligibility: Any Graduate (10 + 2 + 3) with 50% marks can apply. Professionals from development area will get an additional consideration.

6.   Selection Criteria: CAT-2011 / MAT (Sep. 2011, Dec. 2011, Feb. 2012) / XAT-2012 / GMAT OR other prominent national/international level management exams + Group Discussion + Personal Interview + Write-Up

7.   How to Apply / Admission Procedure: Click here to learn how to procure and fill the Application Form.

8.   Programme Fees:

• Merit-based Candidates: INR 5,00,000/-
• Corporate Sponsored Candidates: INR 9,00,000/-
• NRI Candidates: INR 9,00,000/-
• NRI Sponsored Candidates: INR 9,00,000/-

Last Date for Submission of Application Forms: May 20, 2012

9.   Contact Details:

Dr. Manmohan Singh stress upon need of periodical review of corporate laws, and says that new thinking is required in important areas such as investor education & protection, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and competition law.

The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on April 13 inaugurated the new campus of Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) in Manesar, Haryana. Speaking on the occasion, he said that the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs has been conceived as a think-tank and research institute in the area of corporate law and allied disciplines, and also as a training organization for officers of the Indian Company Law Service. Complimenting the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for this very important initiative, he expressed confidence in the institute to live up to the expectations.

Dr. Manmohan Singh stressed upon the need of periodical review of corporate laws and amendments effected. He said new thinking is required in important areas such as investor education and protection, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and competition law. The tremendous potential of MCA-21, the e-governance initiative of the Ministry, needs to be fully exploited. Also, in view of the increasing importance of small unlisted companies and new formats such as limited liability partnerships, the Ministry needs to develop new oversight structures and enabling frameworks.

He said the last two decades were the times of great change for our country as our economy has grown at unprecedented high rates and the corporate sector has been one of the major drivers of this high economic growth. He referred to the growth of registered companies from about 30 thousand in 1956, the year in which the Companies Act came into force, to having about 9 lakh companies on the rolls of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs today, and said it must be our continuous endeavor to provide our companies a non-cumbersome, customer-friendly and transparent regulatory environment to enable them to function efficiently and productively, to contribute to our economic development and also to fulfill their social obligations.

Dr. Singh expected from the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs to fulfill this role and be of benefit to the corporate sector, the micro, small and medium enterprises, professional bodies such as Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Institute of Cost Accountants of India and Institute of Company Secretaries of India, investors and depositors, trade bodies, and domestic and international educational and professional institutes.

Dr. Manmohan singh said his government stands committed to providing an environment which is conducive to enterprise and growth of entrepreneurship, an environment which will facilitate rapid economic growth and higher living standards. “We are committed to having a regulatory and policy environment which will unleash the creative energies of our people and will fulfill the expectations of our founding fathers of our republic. We must adjust our systems, rules, procedures and processes of administration to meet the needs that would arise in the years to come,” he said.

He also complemented the Union Corporate Affairs Minister Dr. M. Veerappa Moily on the setting-up of the National Corporate Social Responsibility Foundation, as a division within the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs. “This would help our country to take a leadership position in the area of corporate social responsibility.”

He also referred to The Companies Bill, presently under consideration of Parliament, and said IT seeks to provide a further fillip to the cause of corporate social responsibility, corporate governance and investor protection. He expressed the hope of passing of this bill shortly.

Earlier, welcoming the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Union Corporate Affairs Minister Dr. M. Veerappa Moily said, “With the liberalization of the economy and the resultant influx of both technology and investment, enthusiasm in terms of business confidence, buoyant economy, increasing business investments and enhanced global presence are palpably visible. Different inputs, therefore, are required to address the changing needs of the corporate sector.”

He further added, “Global opportunities generating capital, technology, finance and expertise are no longer limited- several alliances have been forged between Indian companies and their foreign counterparts, while venture capital and private equity have experienced significant changes. All these changes have come about as a result of enabling regulatory frameworks which facilitate the corporate sector to function productively and responsibly.”

The next major challenge is the adequate capacity building at all levels of corporate governance. Setting up of IICA is a step in that direction. He said IICA is first of its kind anywhere in the world, and has been designed to function as a holistic, capacity-building institution and a think-tank for corporate regulation and reform, through synergized knowledge-creation and management, global partnerships and real time solutions. The IICA is expected to undertake research, consultancy, incubation and problem-solving to enable innovative solutions. It will aim to foster inclusive growth and entrepreneurial excellence with a focus on ethical business practices.

The Minister said in order to become a globally recognized front-runner in matters related to corporate affairs, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has imparted to the IICA a well-thought-out organization structure which includes a network of six schools – the Centers of Excellence and Forums – which will pertain to the areas of Corporate Law, Competition Law, Corporate Finance, Business Environment, Corporate Governance and the ICLS Academy.

“We are also planning to introduce degree / post graduate academic programmes on these subjects shortly. Also, training and development is expected to be another major area of activity for each IICA School. Thus, the IICA will offer education and training to working professionals both in the Government and the private sector.”

The Institute will be in a position to be considered as benchmark by the corporate sector for their organizational capacity building needs. He said “Certification” will be a major priority for the IICA as well as a significant potential source of revenue. The strategy will be to create certification of choice that becomes the “gold standard” for the country.

The Minister said the Institute has facility to impart induction level and in-service training to officers of the Indian Corporate Law Service. “It will be our endeavour to upgrade it to the status of National Academies of other Group A Services.” He said the role of corporate social responsibility has become all the more relevant, hence the National Foundation for CSR has just been established within the IICA. The overall mission of the Foundation is to help in creating a national platform for the corporate sector to work in partnership with government, non-governmental and civil society organizations to advocate and capture issues that lead to inclusive growth and sustainable development.

The Minister added, “The IICA has been asked to take pro-active and immediate steps to ensure the recruitment of the leadership and support staff for each of these Schools. We will be completing these recruitments over the next 6 months time.” He said the IICA is poised to begin its activities in right earnest. “The mandate of establishing a world class Institute is paramount in our vision and strategy. We will create the platform to build a scalable and high-quality institution which will set a bench mark for the rest of the world.”

The Haryana Chief Minister Shri Bhupinder Singh Hudda also spoke on the occasion. Others present on this occasion included Shri R. P. N. Singh, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas; Shri Naved Masood, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs; Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, Director General & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, and a number of other dignitaries.

Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB), GoI.