Crucial role of panchayats in decentralised energy model

The many-sided benefits of renewable energy sources are now widely accepted. The challenge now is to create a model of renewable energy development that is most suited to the needs and potential of a rural-based economy like India, says Bharat Dogra.

A DECENTRALISED, rural-based model of renewable energy will be most beneficial for a country like India. Nearly 70% of the population lives in villages but the over-centralised energy model that exists today has been found inappropriate in many ways for meeting the energy needs of the rural population. A decentralised renewable energy model, on the other hand, is particularly suitable for meeting the needs of villages, particularly the more remote and inaccessible villages which are least covered by the centralised grids.

While planning such a decentralised energy model, it will be most useful to link up this planning with the panchayat raj institutions in the country (PRIs or rural local self-government institutions). The functioning of panchayats at present is far from ideal and there is growing agreement that PRIs should be reformed in such a way that the gram sabha or the assembly of all villagers can play a more effective role. Village plans should be prepared on the basis of extensive discussion in the gram sabha, with adequate opportunities for weaker sections and women to present their views. The planning for renewable energy should also be linked to this process.

For example, there is a lot of potential for the development of watermills in hilly areas. While travelling in many hill villages, I noticed that traditionally water mills played a very useful role particularly for milling wheat, but there has been a decline in recent years. Several well-informed persons told me that watermills can still be very useful and the generation of very small-scale hydel power (micro hydel) can be added to watermills. There will be no adverse effect while a lot of employment will be generated. This decentralised model is very different from the centralised model of inflicting large dams on villagers with highly disruptive social and environmental impacts in many cases.

When thousands of gram sabhas prepare watermill-cum-micro hydel plans, keeping in view local conditions and sensitivities so as to minimise the possibility of any adverse impact, then opportunities of making available electricity to villages at a low cost and with minimum adverse effects are opened up. While each effort is small, adding up the efforts of thousands of panchayats will lead to considerable electricity generation in a safe and environmentally secure way.

This is precisely the beauty of the decentralised model - that it makes it possible to harness the potential of so many local people for obtaining best development results.

In this context a very important contribution has been made by the Barefoot College (BC) based in Tilonia (Ajmer district, Rajasthan state). BC has spread solar energy in very remote villages and what is most remarkable is that this task was mainly performed by villagers (with up to class X school education). Barefoot College has been organising many trainings in solar energy. After about six months' training many villagers emerge as 'barefoot solar engineers' although on-the-job learning continues long after this.

The work done by BC and the success of its barefoot solar engineers has increased the possibilities of harnessing the neglected talent of villagers and providing them a lot of employment in decentralised renewable energy systems. If we did not have this example of Tilonia's barefoot solar engineers before us, then probably local villagers would not even be considered for many technical tasks which they can certainly accomplish with good training. The success of the barefoot solar engineers can be replicated in the case of several other renewable energy sources as well.

The model in sharp contrast to the Tilonia model is one in which a company installs a solar system in a village without involving the villagers in the task. This model neither increases the self-reliance of villagers, nor enhances their skills or employment opportunities. The Tilonia model, which increases self-reliance, skills and employment prospects of villagers, should certainly be the preferred model.

Recently the cause of decentralised renewable energy-based systems has been helped by the campaigns of Greenpeace. In particular, attention has been drawn to an intensive campaign in Bihar state which convinced many people of the usefulness of decentralised renewable alternatives for villagers who have been treated so shabbily by the centralised electricity systems and grids. As this organisation's campaign asserted strongly, 'Greenpeace believes that a resurgent Bihar can chart an alternative development pathway via decentralised energy infrastructure to provide for the energy needs of the rural population in an equitable and sustainable manner. Bihar needs an energy revolution now and decentralised renewable energy can fuel that change.'

Greenpeace has demanded that a state-based regulatory framework should be developed to encourage utilisation of renewable energy through a Renewable Energy Law. The new law should be drafted with proper and wide consultations. Adequate infrastructure should be created at the government level for successful implementation of decentralised renewable energy.

These and other various efforts for the progress of decentralised renewable energy systems should link up with panchayat raj and reform of panchayat raj so that the chances of such a decentralised renewable energy model succeeding in more and more villages can increase.                   

Bharat Dogra is a freelance journalist and currently a Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. This article is extracted from a booklet by the same author entitled Renewable Energy & Panchayats (2010).

*Third World Resurgence No. 245/246, January/February 2011, pp 59-60