The battle for oorj swaraj must begin at once. Our mountains, from the Himalayas to the Western Ghats, and our rivers, from the Ganga to the Cauvery and the Krishna, have rich power potential. Our long coastline harbours significant levels of tidal resources. We have considerable potential for wind farms. Our waterfalls are being wasted. Our garbage heaps, a menace to public health today, have the potential to create biogas and other energy sources. If all these gifts of nature are expertly investigated and used to plan and commission power projects, all electricity scarcity will end, and we can get rid of the foreign dependency syndrome. This is no mirage but a feasible plan of action to exploit untapped wealth. To be blind to this fact will amount to tragic feudal-colonial energy illiteracy.

The Central government has not inherited the visionary tradition of leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, the missionary drive and the scientific-technological impetus to undertake large-scale studies of India’s energy riches.

Why have we not developed massively like China, employing thousands of engineers, technologists and planners? The enviable enormity of the aqua-potential, wind energy, tidal power, solar power and geothermal energy remains latent. Then there is the boon of uranium resources, which could be carefully used to avoid a catastrophe. These will create a marvel of Bharat. The neglect of scientific search is unforgivable, and running after exotic treaties is unfortunate.

The political leadership is apparently aware of the vast prospect of solar energy. It has been reported that India is planning to develop 60 “solar cities,” based on a model already practised in New York, Tokyo and London. The target is to reduce the use of conventional energy by at least 10 per cent over the next five years. At least one city in each State will be targeted as a “solar city,” while up to five will be eligible for such status.

From ancient times the sun has been deified and worshipped for its limitless cosmic light, heat and life-saving jyoti. Let us banish darkness and illumine our habitations with the sun’s inexhaustible radiance. It will amount to illiteracy about nature to blink at the sun, which shines universally, and to beg or borrow nuclear material that is fraught with global risks.

Our solar potential is large and its harnessing should be immediately taken up in practical terms. No large building should be allowed to come up unless it has a solar power generation unit installed. Even Kathmandu, in backward Nepal, has plenty of them working in high-rises. Florida, which has sunshine through most of the year, has big energy-generation plans — not nuclear, but solar.

Politicians, bureaucrats, judges, legislators, media activists and professionals in areas of developmental importance must gain insight into these vibrant prospects. This is the dialectics of social philosophy, not cheap political platitudes. This is no distant dream but a realisable end, given unity at the national developmental level and a spirit of fraternity and socialist democracy. This is a majestic march towards the redemption of our historic tryst with destiny and the fulfilment of our Constitution’s paramount promise of human rights for every Indian.

Without energy our freedom is a flop. Daring science and vibrant fraternity are the sine qua non of a socialist democratic republic.

Consider Kerala and its phoney power starvation. In a larger perspective, its lessons apply to the whole country. Kerala fears lasting electricity shortage. Its people do not realise that the State’s energy resources are abundant but lie dormant because of indifference, ignorance and inaction.

As a Minister in Kerala in the 1950s with power as one of my portfolios, I made a preliminary study of the State’s water resources and called it a Master Plan. It was discovered that with 44 small rivers Kerala has rich and plentiful water resources, with the possibility of setting up hundreds of lift irrigation schemes and energy generation projects. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, to whom I presented the Master Plan, appreciated it and thoughtfully advised me to start several small schemes as in the collective farms of the Soviet Union, as against colossal, expensive storage dams with their inherent dangers and delays.

Dr. K.L. Rao, a great engineer and the Central Minister for Irrigation and Power, marvelled at the vision of the 1957 Kerala government and pointed out that no other State had made a scientific study of its aqua-capital that could be harnessed for agricultural irrigation and industrial supply. But the enchanting prospect was missed.

Why should Kerala sleep over its vast potential? On the one hand, it can be transformed into a solar energy wonder, given its innovative genius and equatorial location. Then there are the hydel resources.

Among other such sources, the State has two small rivers near Mananthavady in Wayanad district, which can be diverted to make the Kuttiyadi project in North Malabar yield constant energy. There is a large waterfall on the border between Malabar and Coorg which, if tapped technologically, will yield an enormous amount of energy. Many waterfalls on the Western Ghats can yield electricity to meet the needs of remote villages — without transmission losses. What is needed is education, imagination and adventure in electricity generation, the spirit of experiment and shramdan (a generous offer of free labour by way of developmental donation) from expert engineers and technically trained manpower, and mobilisation of public support.

Mere lamentation and grievance rhetoric are but signs of incompetence and cowardice. Creative courage and investigative daring, utilised to transform our multifarious but unexploited resources of water, wind, wave, sun and even garbage into power projects, will win for Kerala a happy community. The Kerala State Electricity Board, in consultation with its counterparts in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, can explore the possibilities in the Cauvery’s tributaries of Wayanad and the mighty waterfalls on the borders of North Kerala.

Where is the research and development spirit? Let us not complain, let us conquer. To weep helplessly is humiliation; to wage an energy war with the wonder of achievement is glory.

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