STOP INSTALLING SODIUM VAPOUR LIGHTS

D.V. Dayanand Sagar, Member, Mysore Grahakara Parishat writes

Mysore City Corporation is on a spree replacing tube lights on streets with sodium vapour lamps, not just on street corners, but also away from street corners (The photo in the Attachment shows two sodium lamps within 50 feet of each other on a short quiet street in Yadavagiri). It has become a status symbol to have a sodium vapour lamp in front of one's house and so anyone with any influence at all moves heaven and earth to get a sodium vapour lamp next to his house.

According to Down To Earth magazine dated 1-3-2009, experts are of the view that sodium vapour lamps may be more suited for highways, but for residential roads, T5 and T8 fluorescent lamps are better for efficiency and economy. Following this advice, Indore Municipal Corporation recently changed about half the city's street lights from sodium vapour to fluorescent lights and as a consequence is saving Rs. 1 crore in electricity charges.

Has MCC undertaken any study on the relative merits of sodium vapour lamps and fluorescent lamps? If not, why is it changing fluorescent lamps with sodium lamps incurring enormous installation costs and higher operating costs? Does it not know that other cities are going the opposite way and saving money?

Government Clarification on Kannada Licence Plates

Maj. Gen (Rtd.) S.G. Vombatkere, President, Mysore Grahakara Parishat writes

The Ministry of Kannada and Culture of Karnataka has been issuing directives in the media about display of Kannada licence plates in vehicles in our state. Since these directives go against Rule 77 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules which clearly states that the only english letters are permitted on licence plates, the public is confused. So MGP wrote to the Government of Karnataka asking it to clarify its stand on Kannada licence plates. The Government has now issued a clarification. It states " ... if the vehicle owner wishes, he/she may have an additional number plate bearing the registration number in Kannada". The clarification also states "if Kannada is used in licence plates, it will make for effective implementation of Kannada language".

Therefore, the current legal position concerning licence plates is as follows:

1. Licence plates in Kannada violate Rule 77 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules and therefore such vehicles can be prosecuted. Only English licence plates are legally permitted.

2. According to the state Government clarification, the additional licence plate in Kannada is optional and so if one does not display the additional Kannada licence plate, he can not be punished (contrary to what the Ministry of Kannada and Culture officials are saying).

3. The state Government does not seem serious about Kannada licence plates. Sec. 65 of the Motor Vehicles Act empowers the state Government to make binding rules on the additional information that needs to be dsplayed on vehicles. The state Government can exercise this power and make the additional Kannada licence plate mandatory. Then, non-display of the additional Kannada licence would the be a violation of the law which can be prosecuted.

Focus On Millets, Says Expert

K.N. Ramachandra, Member, Mysore Grahakara Parishat writes

Global warming will reduce drastically the production of wheat and rice in India. Therefore, depending on these cereals for feeding India's ever-increasing population is a risky proposition. Millets (ragi, jowar, etc.) are quite tolerant of both heat and water shortage and so are the most logical choice to become the future staple diet of our nation. Agricultural research must be focussing on these grains, opined Dr. Satheesh Periyapatna, Director, Deccan Development Society, Hyderabad. He was speaking on "Rethinking Food & Agricultural Research" in a programme hosted recently by Mysore Grahakara Parishat and The Institution of Engineers (India), Mysore Local Centre

Global warming has already begun to reduce the world's food production. The temperature increase that occurred between 1981 and 2002 reduced major cereal (rice, wheat, etc.) crop yields by an annual average of 40 million metric tons. These are huge losses, but they are nothing compared to what is expected in the future. A recent study sponsored by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research forecast a 51% decline in India's wheat-growing land. Under Indian growing conditions, wheat is at the limit of heat tolerance. Any further rise in average temperatures during the growing season December-March will drastically affect yields. This can be devastating to the food security of our country.

Increased temperatures and the accompanying change in rainfall will have an even bigger adverse impact on rice production in India. It is estimated that a 2øC increase in temperature and the consequent change in rainfall will result in a 20% deficit in rice production.

In light of global warming, it is imperative that India look away from rice and wheat and focus more on millets as the foods of the future. Millets are not only better suited to the hotter and drier conditions expected in the future, they are also more nutritious than rice and wheat. But agricultural research in India has been ignoring these issues and is focussing mainly on wheat, rice (and cash crops) to the almost total neglect of millets. That is because, food and agricultural reasearch in India are being dominated more and more by multi-national companies such as Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, etc, whose main motive is profit and not the future food security of India. This should change, urged Dr. Periyapatna.

Talk on "Rethinking Food & Agricultural Research"

K.N. Ramachandra, Member, Mysore Grahakara Parishat writes

Mysore Grahakara Parishat and The Institution of Engineers(India), Mysore Local Centre have organized a talk on "Rethinking Food & Agricultural Research" by Dr. Satheesh Periyapatna, Director, Deccan Development Society, Hyderabad. The talk will be at 6 PM on Tuesday, 24-3-09 at the S.P. Bhat Hall of The Institution of Engineers, JLB Road. The public is invited.

For the last several decades, agricultural research has been oriented away from the ordinary farmer. Today's research emphasis on biotechnology and biofuels is of little relevance to the average farmer. There are relatively few direct inputs from small scale farmers, food workers and ordinary citizens on what kind of food and agricultural research they want. Deccan Development Society is proposing a new initiative to rethink food and agricultural research under the assumption that scientific innovations can be beneficial to small scale producers, the rural poor and the ordinary consumer.

Dr. Satheesh Periyapatna will give a presentation on this initiative.

JNNURM Project Reports Are Now On The Internet

Dr. T.N. Manjunath, Member, Mysore Grahakara Parishat writes

Mysore Grahakara Parishat has been meeting with MCC officials for the last six months to get the Detailed Project Reports of the various JNNURM projects on the internet so that the people of Mysore, who are the real stakeholders can get to know what they are paying for (Even though the Central and State governments meet 90% of the cost of JNNURM Projects, MCC and hence the taxpayers of Mysore have to foot the remaining 10% of the bill).

Most of these project reports have now been put on the internet. They are available at http://www.jnnurm.mysorecity.gov.in. The public of Mysore can go through them and voice their opinions about these projects.

The public of Mysore have been asked to submit their opinions and objections concerning the agreement MCC has signed with JUSCO to remodel the water supply system in Mysore. The DPR of this project is also on the above website. MGP members met Mr. H. Honne Gowda, EE and Mr. M. Ramachandraiah, AEE of Vani Vilas Water Works today and requested them to put the actual contract signed with JUSCO on the internet. They have agreed to do so within a day. These documents will help the public of Mysore to understand the agreement and to voice their opinions and objections.

Power Cuts Without Rationale in Karnataka - MGP's Letter to KERC

Maj.Gen.(Rtd.) S.G. Vombatkere, President, Mysore Grahakara Parishat, writes

Electricity consumers in the State have been subjected to extremely unreliable electricity supply. Lengthy power cuts, upto twelve continuous hours in some areas, have been imposed all over the State, severely degrading the quality of life and economic welfare of people.

Ministers and officials of Government of Karnataka have been making statements since October 2008 that the situation will be improved soon by purchasing power from outside the State. But, almost all states are short of power and it is not clear from where this power will come.

After carefully studying the available power data for Karnataka, it is MGP's considered opinion that if all the available power capacity is generated and if some basic steps in demand management are taken, there should be no power shortage this summer, even without purchase of additional expensive power from elsewhere. MGP has written letters to the State government on this matter, but has received no response. Therefore, MGP has written to KERC requesting it to exercise powers given by various provisions of the IE Act (especially Sec. 86(2) which makes it mandatory for KERC to advise the government on such matters) and the KER Act to impress upon the State government to the short term and long term steps which need to be initiated urgently in the overall interest of society. MGP has also suggested some such measures. They include the following:

1. Many captive power plants in the state are not running at full capacity for want of suitable tariff mechanism. With suitable incentives they can provide peak demand support especially during summer months.ÿSuch additional generation will cost much less than power from other states and with much less transmission loss.

2. Aggregate Technical & Commercial losses in the state are about 35%, while the international levels are below 10%. Even if we reduce the losses to 15%, the norm set by the Ministry of Power, we can postpone power cuts by many years.

3. Agriculture sector which is consuming 37% of the sold energy, is wasting 40-50% of this energy since technical guidance is lacking. This loss can be avoided by a small investment of Rs. 3,000-4,000 per IP set. This step will again postpone power cuts by many years.

4. Losses in lighting, heating and motive power applications can be reduced by 15-20%. The electric supply companies can procure good quality CFL lamps and supply them to all consumers to replace incandescent lamps. Each CFL consumes only about a quarter of the energy required by an incandescent lamp to produce the same light and lasts much longer. The cost of such lamps can be passed on the consumers in installments. If all incandescent lamps are replaced by CFL lamps, the state's peak demand will fall by about 600 MW and more than 100 MU per month can be saved. One CFL lamp can save more than Rs. 300 per year in electricity usage.

5. Large scale use of solar energy for water heating in residences, hospitals, hotels etc. should be encouraged with the help of limited period subsidies and loans. If all AEH installations switch to solar water heating, about 150 MU per month can be saved.

6. Incentives should be given to commercial establishments to reduce energy consumption compared to the corresponding months of the last summer. This can significantly reduce the peak hour demand and also produce substantial energy savings.

7. Industry working hours in different parts of the state should be staggered to reduce peak hour demand. Single shift operations can operate between 9 AM and 5 PM while double shift operations can switch from morning and evening to night and morning. This measure will also reduce peak hour demand.

8. For consumers having time-of-day meters, incentives can be given for reducing the energy consumption between 5 PM and 9 PM.

9. Controlling street lighting with light sensitive switches will save enormous power.

10. Preventive maintenance schedules of existing generating stations in the State should be planned so that failure downtime during the summer months is minimized, especially during the morning and evening peak hours. Maintenance shutdowns should be avoided, as far as possible, during these months. Minor shutdown should be taken up, if absolutely required, only between 10 PM and 4 AM. Close monitoring of generating stations is a part of efficient management.

11. A concerted public awareness campaign on energy efficiency and conservation should be launched. Schools and colleges are ideal for inculcating a sense of responsibility in every individual not to waste energy.

These measures will not only eliminate the need for power cuts or for buying additional power from other states at huge costs, but they will also improve the voltage at all points of the grid, and also will provide much better quality electricity to farmers. Investment in these measures is much less than the cost of buying power from neighboring states and will produce perpetual benefits like reduced T&D losses, improved quality of electricity and economic and social welfare of the state. Assured quality of grid supply will also result in avoiding the usage of small diesel generating sets by commercial and industrial establishments, which are inefficient and cause air and noise pollution.

MGP Celebrates World Consumer Day

Sreemathi Hariprasad, Secretary, Mysore Grahakara Parishat writes

March 15th is World Consumer Day. To celebrate it, Mysore Grahakara Parishat is holding a consumer awareness program from 10 AM to 5 PM on Monday, 16-3-09. The programme will take place opposite Ayurveda College. The programme has two parts.

The danger of food adulteration is increasing day by day. All the food items we use every day, such as rice, dhal, spices, oil, tea, etc. are being adulterated and this adulteration is threatening not only our health but even our lives. Simple methods which can be used at home to detect many types of food adulteration will be demonstrated.

Simple methods to test the water we drink for potability will also be shown. Simple and inexpensive methods to render water safe for drinking will be demonstrated. The public is invited to record complaints about any leaking water mains they have come across.

Books on food adulteration and drinking water, food adulteration detection kits and kits which can be used to render water safe for drinking will be available to the public. Other publications of MGP will also be available.

The public should make use of this opportunity.

Meters in Auto Rickshaws

Asha Vombatkere, Member, Mysore Grahakara Parishat, writes

The public is continually facing hardship due to defective and tampered auto rickshaw meters. This is true in all cities and towns in the State.

The problem is exacerbated by the frequent fare rate changes which are implemented whenever the market prices for petrol change. It makes it difficult for the public to figure out if they are being overcharged.

We believe that the problem can be eliminated by installing auto rickshaw meters that read the distance covered in kilometers rather than the actual fare in rupees as is being done now. A conversion card issued by the concerned Regional Transport Office can be used to convert the distance travelled to the fare amount.

There are several advantages to this system. Thousands of auto rickshaw meters need not be recalibrated every time there is a rate change. Only the new fare conversion cards have to be issued saving enormous amounts of money. Whenever there is fare rate change, the conversion table can also be published in local dailies so that the public is up-to-date on the fare change.

The correct distances between the various landmarks in a city can be made available in the form of a booklet to the public, charging a fee to cover the cost of the booklet. If these distances are known to the public, there will be very little incentive to tamper with the meters. Defective meters can also be easily identified and corrective measures taken.

By changing fare meters to distance meters in auto rickshaws, overcharging of the public due to defective or tampered meters will stop all over the state. MGP has written to the Commissioner of Transport, Government of Karnataka about this matter