‘Odisha's organic farming can be worth Rs 23,000 cr in 5 years’

Optimistic that promotion of organic farming could lead to wealth accumulation of about Rs 23,000 crore in Odisha, industry body Assocham today said it had the potential to create about 80 lakh jobs in five years.

Promotion of organic farming could generate about 60 lakh jobs in the State apart from creating additional 20 lakh job if on-farm storing, processing, value addition, packaging and marketing facilities were included, National Secretary-General of Assoham, D.S. Rawat told reporters here.

Organic farms provided over 30 per cent more jobs per hectare as against non-organic farms, Rawat said, adding these facts came to light in a study titled ‘Organic Odisha: Inching towards Organic Farming,’ released by Assocham.

“Besides, promotion of organic farming in Odisha can lead to wealth accumulation of about Rs 23,000 crore and generate exports of Rs 600 crore during the next five years,” he said quoting the study.

Adoption of organic farming could increase the net per capita income of a farmer in the State by 250 per cent to over Rs 10,500 in five years from a meagre Rs 3,000 currently, Rawat said.

Stating that it would also arrest migration of people from Odisha for jobs, he said of the total organically certified area of 1.7 lakh hectares across the country, the State had the maximum area of over 26,300 hectare followed by Jammu and Kashmir with 22,316 hectare.

He said Odisha has a huge share in global organic exports from about 0.2 per cent to about 2.5 per cent by 2017.

The State also had the potential of being the country’s export hub for certified organic food to different world markets.

In its study, Assocham suggested that organic agriculture be recognised and integrated in main policies of the Central government such as those on agriculture, food, health and environment

India to reach solar market potential of 12,500MW by 2016-17

With solar PV capacity rising from under 20MW to more than 1,000MW in two years, all eyes are turned towards India. The latest energy report from KPMG, The Rising Sun, predicts that India has a solar market potential of 12,500MW, calculated to be reached by 2016-17.

India currently has a power deficit of 9%, expected to continue its steady increase over the next few years. This has generated net losses of INR88,170 crores this year.

Author of the KMPG report, Arvind Mahajan, insists that, “To realize this, utilities and regulators should create an enabling environment recognizing the specific characteristics of solar power.”

However, The Hindu Business Line cannot envisage an Indian solar future because of the radio silence surrounding Phase II of the National Solar Mission, which was due to be announced this July.

KPMG states that the captive and REC market has the potential of reaching 2,500MW by 2016-17. Despite this, The Hindu Business Line argues that these electricity distribution companies, which are driven by renewable purchase obligations, have become bankrupt entities. The publication contends that there is no “evidence of the various electricity regulatory commissions enforcing the obligation”.

Mahajan puts the onus on the central and state government to provide the necessary support to the solar industry over the next five years, “to realize the immense potential solar power offers for an energy starved country like India”.

The Hindu Business Line suggests raiding the coffers of the National Clean Energy Fund in order to be able to offer FiTs on the same scale as those available in Japan. KPMG is in agreement: “This financial assistance can help states support solar power and mitigate payment security concerns.”

Additionally, KMPG recommends the Indian government should provide “infrastructural support, appropriate regulations such as “banking facility” or “net-metering” to allow access to rooftop and small-scale solar power projects which is expected to reach parity before grid-level consumers.”

Furthermore, KPMG’s report helps to instil a little faith in the Indian government because it has proposed the creation of a number of National Manufacturing & Investment Zones (NMIZ) to boost growth of the manufacturing industry in India. “The concept of NMIZ proposes a framework for more business friendly policy, procedures and approval ecosystem, combined with superior physical infrastructure,” states Mahajan. He believes this could be used as a model for a solar industry focused manufacturing and investment zones to “encourage investments in this clean source of energy”.

All legislative proposals need financial backing to make them concrete, however, The Hindu Business Line writes, “The government does not have money”. Unfortunately, without appropriate remuneration, KPMG’s optimistic predictions for a rising sun in India may not come to fruition.

Shoppers Stop turns to solar power to avoid service tax on electricity

"The company is trying to rework power consumption as mall owners and retailers will have to pay 12.5%service tax on electricity with effect from July this year according to a recent government notification," Govind Shrikhande, managing director at Shoppers Stop, says. "The difference between solar power cost and our power bill will be minimal after the new tax." The country's largest department store chain paid over Rs 70 crore on power bills last year.

While Shoppers Stop plans to use solar power at its four stand-alone stores, many other retailers and mall owners are looking for ways to lower energy usage to limit the impact of the new tax.

Dubai-based Landmark Group's departmental store chain Lifestyle, for example, plans to install energy saving lighting systems in its stores.

"There has been pressure on the profit and overall markets since few years now. Imposing taxes like this puts retailers under pressure at the wrong point of time," Kabir Lumba, managing director at Lifestyle International, says.

Mumbai-based Oberoi Mall is mulling various alternative fuel options. "Even water consumption is taxed. Hence, we started rain-water harvesting which has cut costs significantly," Nirzar Jain, vice-president at Oberoi Mall, says.

Retailers also plan to take up the issue with the government as the new tax is imposed at a time when consumer sentiment is down and companies' profitability is under severe pressure.

"When retailers are paying service tax on costs such as rentals and electricity, it should be ideally adjusted in sales tax. But retailers eventually will end up paying both sales and service tax," says Kumar Rajagopalan, chief executive of Retailers Association of India, a 400-member strong industry body. "It's a huge concern for a business that makes a net profit of just 3% on an average," he adds.

If the levy is brought in after the start of GST, retailers would be able to avail of the setoff of service tax paid against the VAT liability on sale of goods, Rajagopalan says.

Electricity is the third most expense for retailers after salaries and rent.

Recently, credit rating agency Fitch revised the outlook for Indian retail sector to negative from stable for the first half of the fiscal, saying same-store sales growth slipped across lifestyle and value-based formats in the quarter ended June. Last year, retailers had challenged the government's move to impose a service tax on commercial rentals but failed to secure a relief.

What is Energy???

Can you imagine life without lights, fans, cars, computers and television, or of fetching water from the well and river? This is what life would have been like had man not discovered the uses of energy – both renewable and nonrenewable sources.....

"Energy lights our cities, powers our vehicles, and runs machinery in factories. It warms and cools our homes, cooks our food, plays our music, and gives us pictures on television."

Energy Conservation

Energy conservation is the practice of decreasing the quantity of energy used. It may be achieved through efficient energy use, in which case energy use is decreased while achieving a similar outcome, or by reduced consumption of energy services. Energy conservation may result in increase of financial capital, environmental value, national security, personal security, and human comfort. Individuals and organizations that are direct consumers of energy may want to conserve energy in order to reduce energy costs and promote economic security. Industrial and commercial users may want to increase efficiency and thus maximize profit.

Energy conservation is the reduction of quantity of energy used. Energy conservation supports the eco friendly lifestyle by providing energy, which saves your money and at the same time saves the earth. When you decrease the amount of energy you use you automatically make efforts to reduce increasing global warming.

Renewable Energy

"The term renewable energy generally refers to electricity supplied from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, geothermal, hydropower and various forms of biomass. These energy sources are considered renewable sources because their fuel sources are continuously replenished."

- Key renewable energy sources:

o Hydropower, hydraulic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of moving water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes

o Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines. is becoming increasingly popular and production costs are dropping rapidly, making it increasingly competitive to fossil power production

o Solar power is by far the Earth's most available energy source, easily capable of providing many times the total current energy demand

o Biomass energy is the term used to describe the generation of energy from organic sources. The energy stored in plants can be captured for energy generation by several different methods such as decomposition, combustion or gasification

o Geothermal energy involves using the earth's heat to supply power. Geothermal heat pumps can be used nearly anywhere

- Advantages of Renewable Energy:

o We can use it repeatedly without depleting it

o Can help reserve fossil resources for future generations

o No contribution to global warming or greenhouse effects

o No polluting emissions

o Since their sources are natural the cost of operations is reduced

o Saving on health and its costs

- Disadvantages:

o It is difficult to produce the large quantities of electricity their counterpart the fossil fuels are able to.

Since they are also new technologies, the cost of initiating them is high.

Environmental Impact of the coal Industry

Coal is the only natural resource and fossil fuel available in abundance in India. Consequently, it is used widely as a thermal energy source and also as fuel for thermal power plants producing electricity. India has about 90,000 MW installed capacity for electricity generation, of which more than 70% is produced by coal-based thermal power plants. Hydro-electricity contributes about 25%, and the remaining is mostly from nuclear power plants (NPPs). The problems associated with the use of coal are low calorific value and very high ash content. The ash content is as high as 55-60%, with an average value of about 35-40%. Further, most of the coal is located in the eastern parts of the country and requires transportation over long distances, mostly by trains, which run on diesel. About 70% oil is imported and is a big drain on India's hard currency. 

In the foreseeable future, there is no other option likely to be available, as the nuclear power programme envisages installing 20,000 MWe by the year 2020, when it will still be around 5% of the installed capacity. Hence, attempts are being made to reduce the adverse environmental and ecological impact of coal-fired power plants. The installed electricity generating capacity has to increase very rapidly (at present around 8-10% per annum), as India has one of the lowest per capita electricity consumptions. Therefore, the problems for the future are formidable from ecological, radio-ecological and pollution viewpoints. A similar situation exists in many developing countries of the region, including the People's Republic of China, where coal is used extensively. The paper highlights some of these problems with the data generated in the author's laboratory and gives a brief description of the solutions being attempted. The extent of global warming in this century will be determined by how developing countries like India manage their energy generation plans. Some of the recommendations have been implemented for new plants, and the situation in the new plants is much better. A few coal washeries have also been established. It will be quite some time before the steps to improve the environmental releases are implemented in older plants and several coal mines due to resource constraints.

Energy

Energy is the most basic need of any organism.Modernization has made our energy requirements soar higher than what we and our nature can handle.