'Your thoughts are the architects of your Destiny'
"David O Mekay"

Power & Communications are the basic inputs for development for any region. International example of South Korea, when its premier decided to concentrate on power and highways is well documented and rest is history.

As per Union Power Secretary presently power capacity of the country is 1,28,000 MW with overall shortage of 10% and projected requirement by 2032 is 8,00,000 MW.

What a wide gap! That a developing nation like ours needs to bridge between existing capacity & the requirement two & half decades later? To meet this gigantic challenge there is need to harness every ounce of available power.

North East India can contribute enormously to meet this power gap. Estimated hydro electric power potential of this region is 50,000 MW approx. Till now only 4029 MW i.e. 7% of estimated capacity has been harnessed in this part of the country. Availability of other resources of power like natural gas and deposits of coal will be talked about later.

It is ironical that vested interests resist exploration of these natural resources. This attitude is neither in the interest of the concerned State nor in the interest of this Region/ Nation as a whole.

All those who resist need to understand related aspects; development of roads, development of surrounding areas, creation of job opportunities and above all self reliance that will follow these explorations. 1500 MW Tipaimukh Dam is one such mega project, which is objected to vehemently giving unfounded arguments while ignoring the resultant benefits.

This dam will make up the existing shortfall of power (1150MW) for North East region with a surplus of 350MW. Yes! Notwithstanding the development all affected humans of the area need to be suitably rehabilitated, simultaneously.

Are we forgetting the loss of study hours faced by students? Not that they don’t want to study but inadequacy of lighting may be the cause. The whole world is moving ahead, then why we do not want to ensure congenial study environment for our students.

Our youth does not lack in any sphere e.g. Ms Mary Kom in field of sports and five youth qualifying in final list of UPSC candidates etc. are live examples of capability of youth. The moment youth starts getting suitable environment then sky is the limit for Manipur.

Financially better off people end up buying inverters, rechargeable battery, emergency lighting etc.(which are cheap made in China or Thailand), brought in through border town Moreh, to make up for non availability of electricity. But recharging remains a distant dream due to non availability of power, because light is available for 8 hours only spread over two days in Manipur.

As per statistics available percentage of households with safe drinking water, electricity and toilet in Manipur is approx 15%, which is dismal compared to other places e.g.Chandigarh- 70%, Delhi-60%, Punjab- 30% etc. Power will: lead to development, lead to better educated youth, lead to more youth adopting positive ways of society and not fall prey to gun culture plaguing the state.

As per 2001 census almost 40% or more household are meeting their lighting needs on Kerosene (Rs36/-a litre) or other sources of lighting. Not that, fortunate ones have uninterrupted supply of eletricity. Wish they could.

Power Grid Corporation of India has already planned to transmit power from this region through eight 1800 km long power transmission lines to Agra for further distribution. It has been decided to accumulate power at Biswanath Chariali in Assam (mostly from Arunachal Pradesh) and then transmit. It will pass through Chicken Neck corridor that will assume importance due to its size.

It is planned to have 800 KV direct current transmission lines carrying 6000 MW of power (first of its kind in the world, Brazil has 600 KV transmission current lines carrying 3500 MW.) Chicken Neck will have 5 to 6 lines of 800 KV within ½ Km. It already has other lines like oil pipelines, railway lines etc.

Not only hydro electric power North Eastern region possesses 151.68 billion cubic meters of natural gas, capable of generating 7500 MW power for 10 years. Huge coal deposits estimated 864.74 million tones can generate 240 MW power a day for 100 years. Meghalaya has 9.2 million tonne deposits of Uranium that can also be utilized for generating energy for peaceful purposes.

However, there is resistance by the people, fearing harmful effects of Uranium open cast mining by UCIL. May be this is due ignorance at various levels that must be allayed before the mining is undertaken. But vested interests need to stay away for overall interest.

At present India is heading for double digit growth rate. For sustaining this growth rate there is a need to harness every conceivable source of energy. In 1915 Late Ramnath could generate electricity by installing a small generator near Mawlai Bridge in Shillong when development was not reckonable.

Now we have so many innovations why can’t we do in mega way now. In the renewable sources of energy India has made a reckonable effort. India is presently contributing 3 percent to total energy consumption and constitute 6 percent of installed power generation capacity in India compared to 13 percent in the world today. Global position of India in renewable sources of energy is: wind installation-4th, SPV cell production-7th, Biogas plants-2nd, Solar Thermal-9th.

Not only generation there is needed to learn saving of power also. Power saved is Power generated (one unit saved is equal to one and half unit generated). A solar water heater of 100 litre capacity can save electricity up to 1500 KWh a year and pay back its cost in 3-4 years.

Once the available power potential is explored and transmission to other states commences, this region of the country will transform from perceived insurgent North East India to Surging North East India. This region will be richer by earning additional revenue and hold the key for development of not only this region but balance of the nation as well.

It will change the economic situation from few Takers of industry( e.g there are few takers of food processing industry despite 25 % grants in aid by the Govt to a max of 75 lakhs) to many Takers in this region. The region will become an investor’s paradise.

To avail the economic opportunity there will be queuing up of investors from with in the state, other states of this region/other regions of the nation and also foreign nations.

We need to introspect and decide, do we want to hold the key to development or lose the opportunity?

"The quality of a decision is like the well timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike & destroy its victims"
'Sun Tzu'