eature Special F Jalyukat Shivar - MEDC · capita power consumption level, India continues to be among the low performing countries in the world. India's annual per capita electricity

VOL. I NO. : 06 February 2019 Pages 48

Jalyukat Shivar

Rural

Infrastructure

Special F

eature

MEDC Economic DigestFebruary 2019�2

MEDC Economic Digest February 2019

MEDC Governing Board

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Dear Members,

ur country, the world's sixth largestOand the fastest growing majoreconomy, is on the cusp of a massivedemographic dividend. However, giventhat India continues to reside in itsvillages and rural areas, meaningful

growth in the economy will not occur until adequate investmentis made in the development of rural infrastructure. Census 2011reports that there are 6.4 lakh villages in India, which shelter overtwo-thirds of the country's population. Ensuring theirinhabitants access to basic health and sanitation facilities,primary education, affordable housing, reliable power and watersupply, road and rail connectivity, and child nutrition remains thecollective responsibility of every Indian.

Many of our cities have grown immensely over the past fewyears, but most rural areas are still awaiting significantinfrastructural expansions. Infrastructure plays a critical role innot just economic growth, but also for ensuring sustainedhuman development which is of the utmost importance. Ruralinfrastructure not only promotes agriculture and agri-businesses, but also strengthens the intricate forward andbackward links between various sectors of the economy. Thedevelopment of rural infrastructure will help curb the relentlessmigration to urban areas, and thus, the chaotic situations foundin most of our metros due to the collapse of their infrastructurefacilities under the weight of sheer numbers can be contained.The country as a whole will be able to progress only when therural economy prospers. If India is to gain global economiccompetitiveness, it is essential to boost the growth prospects ofthe rural community through sustained infrastructuredevelopment.

The previous Union Budget delved into some pressing issuesfacing the rural sector and tried to provide permanent solutionsto most of them. Ideation is certainly important but unless it isbacked up by adequate implementation, even the best of

�3


infrastructure development plans have little meaning. Asuccessful rural infrastructure development plan seamlesslyintegrates various sectoral policies relating to agriculture andeconomic growth, food and nutrition security, povertyalleviation, and human development. Judged by that yardstick,unfortunately, India has met with only limited success.

We need to remember that the rural economy continues to play asignificant role in the country's development strategy. The ruralsector has the highest potential in terms of supply of labour andthe availability of natural resources, both of which are keyinputs in the production process. If this sector is deniedadequate infrastructural facilities, it will be driven into povertyand marginalized, and will pose a major challenge to whateversocioeconomic progress has taken place so far in the nation.From the humanitarian point of view also, the provisioning ofbasic infrastructure in rural areas needs to remain our topmostpriority. The gaps in rural infrastructure should be addressedadequately and rapidly if we are to achieve economic growthwith social justice and strengthen the democratic traditions ofour nation. Doing so will also undoubtedly enhance thegovernability of India.

The current issue of the Digest focuses on many diverse issuespertaining to the development of rural infrastructure, and offerssome interesting perspectives in that regard. This is an ideawhose time has surely come and whose importance cannot beunderestimated, especially for Maharashtra and India.

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F T P ’ D 03ROM HE RESIDENT S ESK

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MEDC Economic Digest February 2019 �5

� �C SOVER TORY

Rural Infrastructure in India: Some

Aspects of

Rural Electrification

- Dr. R. K. Pattnaik

Asst. Prof., S. P. Jain

Management Institute 15

Crowdfunding: An Impetus To

Rural Infrastructure

- Mr. Darryl Barretto 21

E-Governance in Rural India: Need

of Broadband Connectivity

Using Wireless Technology

- Ms. Kalpana Chaudhari

- Ms. Upena Dala

- Mr. Rakesh Jha 24

Innovations at Universal biomass

power plant to use paddy

bales 33

Decentralized Application of

Biomass Gasifier for

thermal energy demand 36


Interim ChairmanMr. Ravindra Boratkar

EditorMs. Ananya Prem NathSenior Manager - Research& Training

Editorial Advisers:

Cdr. Dipak Naik,Immediate Past President,MEDC

Dr. Prakash Hebalkar,President, ProfiTech

Dr. Dhananjay Samant,Chief Economic Adviser,MEDC

Address:MEDC Research Centre,3rd Floor, Y.B. Chavan Centre,Nariman Point,Mumbai - 400 021.Tel.: +91 22 2284 2206/09Fax : 22846394Email: [email protected]: www.medcindia.com

MEDC Economic DigestEditorial Board

� �W EOMEN NTREPRENEURS

Satkshree

- Ms. Hema Ghadiai 45

State Economy 38

� �& FFACTS IGURES

Jalyukat Shivar

Special Feature


Special Feature


Special Feature


Special Feature


Special Feature


Special Feature


Special Feature


Special Feature


Rural Infrastructure in India: Some Aspects ofRural Electrification

Dr. R. K. PattnaikProfessor at SPJIMR, Mumbai. (Views are Personal)

Mr. Chinmay Joshi,Research assistance at SPJIMR

1. Introduction

Rural Infrastructure is the lifeand blood of an economy likeIndia as it promotes inclusivegrowth and helps enhancingIndia's progress in humandevelopment . Rura linfrastructure encompassesroad, housing, water supply,e lectr ificat ion andtelecommunication conn-ectivity. According to Census2011 reports there are 6.4 lakhvillages in India, which sheltermore than two-third of thecountry's population. A majorpolicy challenge therefore, hasb e e n t o s u s t a i n a b l ep r o v i s i o n i n g o f b a s i cinfrastructure facilities for thislarge section of the populationspread across 3.28 millionsquare kilometers of thecountry's geographical area.

In the above context it isimportant to note that thepower sector has the maximumlinkages with otherinfrastructure like road,housing, telecommunicationand above all the growthprocess in the economy.Moreover, social ruralinfrastructure like educationand primary health criticallydepend upon power sector.The Census repor t 2011

indicates that 45% of the ruralhouseholds are not connectedwith electricity and depend onkerosene and other means forlighting. In terms of the percapita power consumptionlevel, India continues to beamong the low performingcountries in the world. India'sannual per capita electricityconsumption in 2011 stands at670 kwh compared to China's3310 kwh and USA's 13,230kwh. The CentralGovernment has launched afew policies like provisioningof 1 kwh of free power per dayto the BPL families. Thehybrid electricity provisioningthrough off-grid connectivityand power supply fromcogeneration, solar and micro-hydro projects have been someof the programmesimplemented by the CentralGovernment to bring theremote villages under thecoverage of power supply.Fur ther more, r ura lelectrification infrastructurecan very well cater to therequirements of agricultureand other activities includingirrigation pump sets, small andmedium industries, khadi andvillage industries, cold storagechains, healthcare, educationand rural IT. Besides, as

discussed in contemporaryliterature, the correlationbetween electricity deprivationand rural poverty is higher at0.925 than that of 0.625 in caseof roads and 0.655 in case oftelecom.

In view of the foregoing anattempt has been made in thepresent article to discuss someaspects of rural electrification.The remainder of the articlehas been organised thus.Section 2 presents the status ofrural electr ificat ion.Government pol ic ies arecovered in Section 3. Section 4discusses the emerging issues.Concluding observations aregiven in section 5.

2. Status of RuralElectrification

2.1 Definition ofElectrification

After February 2004: Issued byMOP, vide their letter No.42/1/2001-D(RE) dated 5thFe b r u a r y 2 0 0 4 a n d i t scorrigendum vide letter no.42/1/2001-D(RE) dated 17thFebruary 2004) As per the new.definition, a village would bedeclared as electrified, if:

� Basic infrastructure such asDistribution Transformer

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and Distribution lines areprovided in the inhabitedlocality as well as the DalitBasti hamlet where it exists.

� Electricity is provided topublic places like Schools,Panchayat Office, HealthCentres, Dispensar ies,Community Centres etc.

� The number of householdselectrified should be at least10% of the total number ofhouseholds in the village.

2.2 Status of electrificationof villages

According to the Press releaseby Ministry of Powerc u m u l a t i v e l y, ( a s o n30.11.2017), electrification in1,24,219 villages and intensiveelectrification in 4,68,827villages has been completed.Free electricity connections to277.20 Lakh BPL Householdshave been released. 18,452census villages in the country(out of total inhabited villagesof 5,97,644 as per Census2011) were reportedunelectrified by the States as onApril 1, 2015.

A s o n 3 0 . 1 1 . 2 0 1 7 ,electrification in 15,183 villageshas been completed and 1,052villages have been reported un-inhabited. Remaining 2217villages are expected to beelectrified by 1st May 2018.These 2217 villages are locatedin the State of ArunachalPradesh (1069), Assam (214),Bihar (111), Chhattisgarh(176), J&K (99), Jharkhand

(176), Karnataka (8), MadhyaPradesh (34), Manipur (54),Meghalaya (50), Mizoram (11),

Table 1: Total Electrified and Unelectrified Villages (In Numbers)

Total villages as per 2011 census 597464

Unelectrified Census villages

As on 31.03.2016 11344

As on 31.03.2017 4492

Cumulative Inhabited Village Electrified

As on 31.03.2016 586120

As on 31.03.2017 592135

Source: http://www.cea.nic.in/reports/annual/pfam/village_electrification-2017.pdf

Table 2: Northern Region Electrification of Villages (In Numbers)

RegionCumulative

Inhabited VillageElectrified

InhabitedUnelectrified

Villages

Mode of Electrification ofUnelectrified Villages

UnderDDUGJY/

RGGVY

Throughoff-Grid

UnderStatePlan

Northern Region(NR) As on 31.03.2017

Chandigarh 5 0 0 0 0

Delhi 103 0 0 0 0

Haryana 6642 0 0 0 0

Himachal Pradesh 17848 0 0 0 0

Jammu & Kashmir 6230 102 102 0 0

Punjab 12168 0 0 0 0

Rajasthan 42932 1 0 1 0

Uttarakhand 15669 58 43 15 0

Uttar Pradesh 97589 9 9 0 0

Total (NR) 199186 170 154 16 0


Table 3: Western Region Electrification of Villages (In Numbers)

RegionCumulative



Villages


UnderDDUGJY/

RGGVY

Throughoff-Grid

UnderStatePlan

Western Region(WR) As on 31.03.2017

Chattisgarh 18892 381 75 306 0

Daman & Diu 19 0 0 0 0

D & N Haveli 65 0 0 0 0

Goa 320 0 0 0 0

Gujarat 17843 0 0 0 0

Madhya Pradesh 51671 52 14 38 0

Maharashtra 40956 0 0 0 0

Total (WR) 129766 433 89 344 0


Odisha (182) and Uttarakhand(33).

The relevant data are set out in Tables 1 through 6 and Chart 1

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Table 4: Southern Region Electrification of Villages (In Numbers)

RegionCumulative



Villages


UnderDDUGJY/

RGGVY

Throughoff-Grid

UnderStatePlan

Southern Region(SR) As on 31.03.2017

Andhra Pradesh 16158 0 0 0 0

Karnataka 27358 25 21 4 0

Kerala 1017 0 0 0 0

Lakshadweep 6 0 0 0 0

Puducherry 90 0 0 0 0

Tamil Nadu 15049 0 0 0 0

Telangana 10128 0 0 0 0

Total (SR) 69806 25 21 4 0


Table 5: Eastern Region Electrification of Villages (In Numbers)

RegionCumulative



Villages


UnderDDUGJY/

RGGVY

Throughoff-Grid

UnderStatePlan

Eastern Region(ER) As on 31.03.2017

A & N Island @ 396 0 0 0 0

Bihar 38080 437 395 42 0

Jharkhand 27717 617 233 356 28

Odisha 45467 616 512 104 0

Sikkim 425 0 0 0 0

West Bengal 37449 5 5 0 0

Total (ER) 149534 1675 1145 502 28


Table 6: North-Eastern Region Electrification of Villages (In Numbers)

RegionCumulative



Villages


UnderDDUGJY/

RGGVY

Throughoff-Grid

UnderStatePlan

North-EasternRegion(NER) As on 31.03.2017

Arunachal Pradesh 3854 1229 271 958 0

Assam 23422 628 271 357 0

Manipur 2178 80 80 0 0

Meghalaya 5548 230 215 15 0

Mizoram 662 18 18 0 0

Nagaland 1318 4 4 0 0

Tripura 846 0 0 0 0

Total (NER) 37828 2189 859 1330 0


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Chart1: Rural Electrification Map

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/rural-electrification-in-full-swing-connecting-7-lakh-homes-a-week/articleshow/66979728.cms

3. National RuralElectrification Policy andSchemes/ programmes

3.1National RuralElectrification Policy, 2006(Source: Ministry of Power)

The National RuralElectrification Policy wasnotified in compliance withSections 4 & 5 of the ElectricityAct, 2003 by the CentralGovernment. Relevant extractsof the National RuralElectrification Policy, 2006 areset out below:

� For villages/habitationswhere grid connectivity

would not be feasible or notcost-effective, off-gridsolutions based on stand-alone systems may be takenup for supply of electricity.Where these also are notfeasible and if onlyalternative is to use isolatedlighting technologies likesolar photovoltaic, thesemay be adopted. However,such remote villages maynot be designated aselectrified.

� State government should,within 6 months, prepareand notify a ruralelectrification plan whichshould map and detail the

electrification deliverymechanism. The plan may belinked to and integrated withdistrict development plans.The plan should also beintimated to the appropriatecommission.

� Gram panchayat shall issuethe first certificate at the timeof the village becomingeligible for declaration aselectrified. Subsequently, theGram Panchayat shall certifyand confirm the electrifiedstatus of the village as on31st March each year.

3.2 Schemes/ Programmescurrently in Operation

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3.2.1 Pradhan Mantri SahajBijli Har Ghar Yojana(Saubhagya)

Government of India haslaunched a scheme called"Pradhan Mantri Sahaj BijliHar Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya)"in September 2017 to achieveuniversal householdelectrification in the country ata total cost of Rs. 16,320 croreincluding gross budgetarysupport of Rs. 12,320 croresfrom Government of India.The objective of the scheme isto prov ide las t mi leconnectivity and electricityconnections to all householdsin rural and urban areas. It istargeted to achieve universalhousehold electrification in thecountry by March 31, 2019.

3.2.2 Deen Dayal UpadhyayaGram Jyoti Yojana(DDUGJY)

This scheme focuses on feederseparation (rural householdsand agricultural) andstrengthening of sub-transmission & distributioninfrastructure includingmetering at all levels in ruralareas. This will help inproviding round the clockpower to rural households andadequate power to agriculturalconsumers. The earlier schemefor rural electrification viz.Rajiv Gandhi GrameenVidyutikaran Yojana(RGGVY) has been subsumedin the new scheme as its ruralelectrification component. The

full scheme entails aninvestment of Rs 43,033 crorewhich includes therequirement of budgetarysupport of Rs. 33,453 croresfrom GoI over the entireimplementation period.

3.2.3 Remote VillageElectrification Programme

The Ministry of New andRenewable Energy (MNRE),Government of India, isimplementing this programmefor providing financialsupport for electrification ofthose remote unelectrifiedcensus villages andunelectrified hamlets ofelectrified census villageswhere grid-extension is eithernot feasible or not costeffective and are not coveredunder DDUGJY.

3.2.4 Village EnergySecurity Programme

The objective of the project isto go beyond electrification byaddressing the total energyrequirements for cooking,electricity, and motivate theprovision of access toelectricity through renewablesto households in remotevillages and hamlets, which arenot likely to get coveredthrough grid extension.

4. Emerging IssuesAs may be seen from theforgoing there has beensignificant progress withr e s p e c t t o v i l l a g eelectrification and providing

electricity connections to ruralhouseholds. However, there aresome structural issues whichneed urgent attention. Theseissues relate to (a) poor qualityof supply and services, (b) higharrears due to delay in billing,(c) low and absence of eveningand night supply, (d) lack ofmaintenance, (e) and safetyconcerns.

In many rural areas supply ofelectricity has been givenwithout proper meters andsometimes meters are notmonitored. This leads to billingdelays and consequently arrearsin payments or paymentsde fau l t s. T he r ura lelectrification corporation(REC) as per some studies fore.g. the article published inEconomic and Political Weekly(EPW, November 17, 2018) hasnot performed well in tacklingthe metering and billing status.Since the tariff for small andrural domestic households islow, evidence suggests thatthere is an in built disincentivefor low hours of supply. Thereis also an issue with the tariffstructure. In many states thesmall industrial andcommercial consumers pay thesame tariffs as applicable tolarge industrial units andcommercial complexes.Therefore, it is important toaddress, the affordability ofhigher tariff for smaller andrural consumers. Apart fromthis there are evidences thatrural electrification doesn't

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appear to have a plannedstructure. It was recognisedthat the capaci ty of thetransformer in the villages tosupply power to non-households is l imited.According to the EPW studymentioned above there hasbeen an increasing trend in fatalelectricity related accidents.Another important issue ismanaging the growing ruralconsumer base. In this contextdistribution companies(DISCOMS) should beaccountable for quality ruralelectr icity supply. The

performance evaluation ofUjwal DISCOM AssuranceYojana (UDAY) holdingDISCOMS accountable couldcontribute to a quality ruralelectricity supply.

5. Concluding Observations

Rural electrification drive bythe government hasundergone progressivetransformation. However,there are challenges asdiscussed above. In order torealize the benefits of ruralelectrification, these

chal lenges need to beaddressed particularly forquality supply and tariff rate. Itis important to have a centralagency to coordinate andmonitor rural electrificationinitiatives. Therefore, RECshould get the mandate tomonitor and evaluate byperiodically tracking the qualityof supply. The authoritiesshould focus on affordability,quality, and sufficiency ofelectricity supply rather thanmerely fixing a target for ruralelectrification.

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Crowdfunding: An Impetus To Rural InfrastructureMr. Darryl Barretto

An independent [email protected]

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Introduction:

The development ofinfrastructure in rural India isimportant so that India canachieve its economic and socialgoals. This fact was recognisedby none other than MahatmaGandhi himself, who said that,“India has still to attain social, moraland economic independence in termsof its seven hundred thousandvillages as distinguished from its citiesand towns”

1. Funds are necessary

for the development of villageinfrastructure in India. As perone estimate, India needs US$4.5 trillion by 2040 to developits Infrastructure . Where

2

would these funds come from?Our banks and financia linstitution are already bearingthe brunt of an increase in non-performing assets and baddebts, and have turned over-caut ious wi th lendingdecisions. With increase inpublic debt and governmentspending, it is difficult toexpect the government to bearthe entire load of fundingrequirements. This shortage offunds has given rise to the

concept of crowd funding.

Crowdfunding is an umbrellaterm describing the use ofsmall amounts of money,obtained from a large numberof individuals ororganisations, to fund aproject, a business or personalloan, and other needs throughan on l ine web-basedplatform . As per the RBI's

3

Consultative Paper ,4

“crowdfunding generally refers to amethod of funding a project orventure through small amounts ofmoney raised from a large numberof people, typically through a portalacting as an intermediary”.

There are different forms ofcrowdfunding models whichare adopted throughout theworld. SEBI's ConsultativePaper , has divided crowd

5

funding into four majorcategories:

(i) Social Lending / DonationCrowdfunding - Donationcrowdfunding denotessolicitation of funds for social,artistic, philanthropic or otherpurpose, and not in exchange

for anything of tangible value;

(ii) Reward Crowdfunding -Reward crowdfunding refers tosolicitation of funds, whereininvestors receive someexisting or future tangiblereward (such as an existing orfuture consumer product or amembership rewards scheme)as consideration;

(iii) Peer-to-Peer Lending - Inpeer-to-peer lending, an onlinep l a t fo r m matche sl ende r s/ inves to r s w i thborrowers/issuers in order toprovide unsecured loans andthe interest rate is set by theplatform; and

(iv) Equity Crowdfunding - Inequ i ty crowdfund ing , inconsideration of fundssolicited from investors, equityshares of the companyconcerned are issued.

The Impact:

The World Bank estimates thatglobal investment throughcrowdfunding will reach US$96 billion a year by 2025 indeveloping countries alone .

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Definitely the concept ofcrowdfunding is here to stayand to grow. But cancrowdfunding help India fightrural infrastructure issues. Theanswer to this is yes, and in factcrowd funding has alreadystarted to leave its mark onrural India. Lets take theexample of rural electrification.German debt crowdfundingplatform Bettervest divided itsEuro 400,000 investmentbetween Mera Gao Micro GridPower Private Limited (“MeraGao Power”) Power andBoond Engineer ing &Development Private Limited(“Boond”)7

. Mera Gao Powerbuilds, owns, and operatesmicro grids in Uttar Pradesh,and is serving off-grid villageswith high quality, dependablelighting and mobile phonecharging services . Other than

8

the receiving investments fromBettervest, Mera Gao Poweralso underatken a fund raisercampaign on the crowdfunding platform Milaap.Boond on the other hand, hasbeen providing light, cleanwater, pest control and hygieneto the poor living in remoteareas of India and creatingrural entrepreneurs anddistr ibution channels forproducts like solar lamps, solarhome systems, water filters,efficient cook-stoves etc .

9

Boond has come up withapico-grid with fixed paymentsystem in which customersare required to charge theirportable batteries at the centralcharging station and take themto their homes to power theirlights . Boond's total installed

10

capacity, as of March 2017,was over 4.5 MW, impactingmore than 200,000 individualsand enterprises .

11

Other areas of ruralinfrastructure, where crowdfunding is making a differenceis education. Think SharpFoundation, a crowd fundedentity which has opened a'StudyMall' in Surangali inrural Maharashtra .

1 2

'StudyMall' is an idea of alibrary that provides bettereducational infrastructure inrural areas by including anattractive sitting place duringand after school with books,educational games, toys,c o m p u t e r l e a r n i n g ,digital/multimedia learningalong with workshopsconducted by volunteers onvarious topics . This venture

13

intends to bridge the gapbetween educationalinfrastructure between urbanand rural schools.

The success stories of crowdfunding in rural infrastructureprojects are not limited to

India. In Swindon UK, the localcouncil built a 4.8MW solarpark by raising £1.8m throughcrowd funding, of which£500,000 was invested by thelocal community . The local

14

people could put in as little as£5 and it took 5 months to raisethe full amount . This is an idea

15

which can be replicated invillages in India to solve localissues like building small dams,bridges, street lighting or otherminor infrastructural projects.

The Challenges:

There are challenges toimplementation of successfulcrowd funding campaigns. Forexample, the crowd fundingplan of the Kerala governmentto rebuild infrastructuredevastated in the floods ofAugust 2018, has failed to elicitan encouraging response . In

16

other than failing adequatemarketing, there are a numberof regulatory issues involvedwhen it comes to crowdfunding. As of now there is nocomprehensive system togovern equity crowd funding inIndia. Although SEBI hasreleased its consultation paperson the subject a long time agoye t there are no for ma lregulations rolled out. InAugust 2016, SEBI released acommunication stating that,

17

“electronic platforms are allegedly


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facilitating investment in the formof private placement with companies,as the offer is open to all the investorsr eg i s t e r ed wi th the p lat formamounting to a contravention ofthe provisions of Securities Contract(Regulation) Act, 1956 (SCRA)and the Companies Act, 2013.”This jeopardised the entireconcept of equity crowdfunding in India, which manystart ups were banking upon. InJuly 2017, SEBI also directedcrowd funding platforms to putup a certain disclaimer .

18

Although, as a positive step, theRBI in August 2017 issuedcomprehensive MasterDirections regulating peer to

19

peer lending.

Other than this, the Indiangovernment has maintained at ight control on fore ign

donations received by NGOsand charitable organisations inInd ia through st r ingentregulations under the ForeignContribution Regulation Act,2010. These regulat ionsimpact the free flow of fundsreceived for donation basedcrowdfunded projects. Thenthere are issues such asa c c o u n t a b i l i t y a n dtransparency in crowd fundingprojects which affect theefficacy of crowd funding. Thesteep service fee that crowdfunding platform charge is alsoa cause of concern.The way-ahead:

Crowd funding seems to be asuccessful model which can beused to br ing aboutinfrastructural developmentsin rural India. It may bring

about the self-sustainingdevelopment of villages whichwas a dream of MahatmaGandhi. It is necessary that thegovernment and regulatorscons ider refor ming theexisting regulatory system so asto encourage crowd funding,but with sufficient built-insafeguards. On the lines ofpublic procurement policy, theg over nment shou ld a l soformulate a crowd fundingp o l i c y w h i c h c a n b eimplemented at the grampanchayat level. This willensure that the funds collectedare properly utilised.

E-Governance in Rural India: Need of Broadband ConnectivityUsing Wireless Technology

Ms. Kalpana ChaudhariE-mail: [email protected]

Ms. Upena DalalE-mail: [email protected]

Rakesh JhaE-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The Information andCommunication Technologiesplay an important role in ruraldeve lopment . TheE m p owe r m e n t o f r u r a lcommunities is crucial for thedevelopment of the ruralregion. Bringing the people inthe rural region in themainstream of the digitaltechnologies to access andadopt modern technologies is amajor concern now. RuralDevel- opment implies both,the economic development ofthe people and greater socialt r a n s f o r m a t i o n u s i n gelectronic gov-ernance (e-governance). In order toprovide the rural people inMaharashtra with betterprospects and opportunitiesfor economic development,agricultural development andmanagement, market ingmanagement, increasedparticipation of rural people inusage and adoption ofinformation andcommunication technologies(ICTs) is envisaged. This paperaims to explore the nature, roleand relevance of theElectronic / DigitalGovernance using ICTs andwireless technologies for

ag r i cu l ture and r ura ldevelopment in the ruralregions. It also aims to studythe impact of e-governanceon rural development andmethods for improving localenvironmental governancehaving regard particularly tothe range of interests andactors involved ine-governance. The paperexamines the current status ofelectronic governance inJalgaon district in India. Itfocuses on development ofthe model using ICTs/wirelesstechnologies for e-governanceof Jalgaon district inMaharashtra state, India.

1. Introduction

Connectivity is vital inbusiness and society in India.There is rapid growth ininformation technologyrelated business in India. Butonly a meagre percentage ofIndi - ans have internetconnection at their residence.India has more than 9000internet cafes havinguninterrupted internet accessenabling communication andinteraction with other actors ine-governance through ICTsand wireless technologies suchas, e-mail, audio or video chat

etc. It also enables utilization ofthe various public services tocollect the information abouteducation opportunities, tosearch jobs for seekingemployment etc by browsingthe internet . Indians aregenerally enthusiastic about theInternet. With the lack ofphys ica l connect iv i t y ort e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o ninfrastructure, unaffordablecost and lack of readyaccessibility to broadbandtechnologies only few can usethe Internet. Mostly rural Indiais lag- ging in development,education, health,entertainment services and thegeneral living standard due tolack of Government support increating ICT and Wirelessinfra- structure to reach ruralmasses. India is a land of geo-graphical diversities. There iscomprehensive wiredcommunication infrastructurein place today. WiMAXconnectivity could play majorrole in improving the qualityof public services and couldbring substantial im-provement in rural areas. Basedon the IEEE 802.16 standard,the WiMAX (Worldwide Inter-operability for MicrowaveAccess) is a tele-


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communications technologythat provides wire lesstransmission of data using avariety of transmissionm o d e s , f r o m p o i n t - t o -multipoint links to portable andfully mobile internet access”.The Wi- MAX is supported bythe WiMAX forum, which is an o n - p r o fi t o r g a n i z a t i o nfo r med to promote thea d o p t i o n o f W i M A Xcompatible products andservices. WiMAX is a verypromising technology withmany key features over otherwireless technologies. WiMAXis also known as wirelessbroadband. IEEE 802.16 is thestandard for WiMAX. IEEE802.16d—2004 is known asfixed Wi- MAX and IEEE802.16e—2005 is known asmobile WiMAX.

2. We Must Get Wireless inRural Areas

Despite the advantages ofwireless alternatives in ruralIndia, many rural areas are stillw i thout wi re less access.Sometimes this is due simply tolimitations of technology.Residences can be tens of milesapart in rural areas, making itdifficult to propagate a signal toeach home around the basestation. The fact that homes areso sparse in rural areas alsohinders companies frommaking the investments neededto supply rural areas withquality Internet service, even iftechnology exists to make thispossible. As one can see from

the illustration of Figure 1with few potential customersin rural areas and so manypacked closely together incities, it is much more profit-able to supply service to thedensely populated areasrather than the spread-outfarmers who would love tohave the service that othersenjoy. But, there are a fewcompanies who recognize thetechnology needs of ruralIndia and seek to fill them.

3. The Benefits of WirelessInternet Access

India is increasinglye m b r a c i n g w i r e l e s stechnologies. Cellular phonesbased on various wirelesstechnologies haver e v o l u t i o n i s e dtelecommunication in India.Wher- eas the growth offixed-line subscribers hasslowed over the past severalyears, cellular usage has skyrocketed, nearly doubling in2003 and growing by 159percent so far in 2004, with 1.4million new subscribers addedever y month. But thesecellular technologies have notbeen sufficiently applied todeliver the broadband datacon- nectivity to householdsin rural area due to high bothcost and complexity. Yet, Indianeeds a way to provide wide-spread Internet access. Withwidespread wireless broad-band facilities, the Indianinformation technology (IT)industry would grow beyond

cities reaching out to the ruralpopulace. Students in ruralareas could videocon- ferencewith educators across thecountry, and enter- tainmentprograms could be telecast toremote and otherwiseunreachable areas along withInternet telephony services,using technologies likeVoiceover Internet Protocol(VoIP) . Improvedcommunication could bringre-mote vil lages into themainstream world economy.In- formation access couldspeed rural productivity and thefaster communication betweenproducers and suppliers wouldfuel greater demand for Indianproducts.

4. The WiMAX Vis-A-VisOther Cellular Technologies

WiMAX promises to providehigh-speed wire less costeffective connectivity moreeasily than current cellulartechnologies and it offers thescalability to deliver af- fordablebroadband access across India.W i t h t h e p o t e n t i a lextendibility of wirelessinfrastructure to provideportable and mobile devicesupport in future, WiMAXoffers additional advantages fordeveloping economies globally,such as that of India that do nothave wide-spread broadbandtechnologies already in place.Tables 2 and 3 show thecomparison with differentwireless op- tions for ruralareas.


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1. Role of WiMAX inE-Gover nance in RuralIndia

The Empowerment of Ruralcommunities is crucial for thedevelopment of Rural India.Bringing the rural people intothe mainstream of the digitaltechnologies is a major concernnow. Rural Developmentimplies both the eco- nomicdevelopment of the people andsocial transforma- tion using e-governance. In order toprovide the rural people withb e t t e r p r o s p e c t s a n dopportunities for eco- nomicd e ve l o p m e n t , i n c r e a s e dparticipation of rural peo- plein electronic governancethrough information andcommunication technologiesare envisaged. In near future,rural population is likely toincrease with further increasein poverty aggravating social,economic and environmentalprob lems. Due to theseproblems, management ofdifferent services, naturalresources and fi- nancialresource mobilization in ruralareas, it would be necessary tostudy the application of e-governance usingInformation andCommunication Technologies(ICTs)/ wireless technologies

for its economic development.This paper studies the case ofJalgaon district located in Ma-harashtra state in India. Thelocation is shown in Figure 3Jalgaon district has 15 Talukas,1498 villages and 767Grampanchayats. Thegeographical information ofJal- gaon district is given inTable 1. The WiMAX inter-connectivity between thedistrict head quarters (DHQ)and the 15 Taluka headquarters (THQ) enables themto access the information. It isfurther desirable that all vil-lages in the district too be able

to access the information. Thev i l l ag e panchaya t wou ldestabl ish GrampancahyatKnowledge Centre (GKC) tocoordinate between the ruralcitizen, DHQ and THQ usingWiMAX technology to makeavailable the public services inall sectors. Wi- MAX modeland e-governance models areshown in Figures 2 and 4respectively. The model isdesigned to increase theeconomical growth of ruralpopulation, improve the livingstandard of rural populace,empower rural families withnewly acquired knowledge and

Geographical Area 11,765 SqKm

Jalgaon City 68.78 Sqkm (Source—Jalgaon City Municipal Corporation)

Crop Cultivation Area 180,100 Hectare

Taluka/Tahsil in Jalgaon District

15, Jalgaon, Jamner, Erandol, Dharangaon, Bhusaval, Bodwad,

Yaval, Raver, MuktaiNagar, Amalner, Chopda, Parola, Pachora,Chalisgaon, Bhadgaon

Total Villages, Cities and Places in Jalgaon District 1498

Total Number of Gram Panchayats in Jalgaon District 787 (as per Election Commission’s statistics—01/05/2005)

Per Capita Income (at Current Prices) Rs. 2666

Population 36,79,936

Growth Rate Around 1.6% per year

Male 19,04,437

Female 17,75,499

Male-Female Ratio 932 female to 1000 male

Languages Spoken Marathi, Hindi and English

Population Density (per SqKm) 313

Literacy (as per Census 2001) 76.06% (Male—86.53%, Female—64.95%)

Computer Literacy 57%

Computer Usage Ratio 47 per 100

Table 1. Geographical information of Jalgoan district.


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Table 2. Comparisons of rural wireless optionsTechnology Data Rate Coverage**

Wi-Fi 11 or 50 MBps <= 200 Mbps* 100 - 1000 ft < 10 Km

WiMAX <= 70 Mbps <= 50 Km

Satellite 256 Kbps - 15 Mbps 40% of earth

Balloons Unsure 40 cell towers

*Wi-Fi typically ha a rate of 11 or 54 Mbps (802.11a, b, g) but rates can get as high as 200 Mbps for 802.11n;**Coverage range of a single tower or device. For WiFi, one source cites ranges only to 100 ft while another gives a range of Kms.

Table 3. Comparison of WiMAX standards

IEEE 802.16—2001 IEEE 802.16a IEEE 802.16d—2004 IEEE 802.16e—2005

Completed

Spectrum

Dec 2001

10 - 66 GHz

Jan 2003

2 - 11 GHz

Sept 2004

2 - 11 GHz

Dec 2005

2 - 11 GHz

Propagation/Channel

ConditionLOS NLOS NLOS NLOS

Bit RateUp to 134 Mbps Up to 75 Mbps Up to 75 MHz Up to 15 Mbps

(28 MHz channelization) (20 MHz channelization) (20 MHz channelization)

256 Subscriber

(5 MHz channelization)

Scalable

Modulation

QPSK-16-QAM

(Optional in UL)64-QAM

(Optional)

BPSK, QPSK16-QAM

64-QAM

256-QAM

(Optional)

OFDM, BPSKQPSK,

16-QAM64-QAM

256-QAM

OFDMA, QPSK16-QAM

64-QAM256-QAM

(Optional)

Mobility Fixed

Fixed

Fixed/NomadicPortable/Mobile

Figure 2. WiMAX model for Jalgoan district.


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Figure 3. Jalgoan district map. Figure 4. E-governance model for Jalgoan district.

skills and make life secure andhealthy. The local populationwould have to be made aware towillingly and enthusiasticallyuse GKC functionality,ensuring the sustainability ofthe program. The localcommunity would be trained tobe able to run the WiMAXcentres before the imple-menting agency moves to otherregions. The GKCs, THQs andDHQ together should act as arural library, Informationcentre, Public service facilitycentre, etc. Each THQ centrecovers all villages within aradius of 50km in the taluka.The centre will be equippedwith PC/laptop computer,scanner, land-l ine phoneconnection, cell phone, webcameras, internet facility, aprinter, a digital camera, solarpower backup facility, etc. TheGKC should be located in apublic place. DHQ and EachTHQ should promote two-waycommunication with GKC.With the help of this project,

data-base will be created inregard to various records andtaxes such as agriculture,Land/property, pets, houses,transfer of property, propertytax, gender related record,l iteracy, bir th and deathrecord, marriage registrationrecord etc. Through theWiMAX model rural womenfolk would be empowered andenlightened on various issuesentailing women's rightsand opportunit ies to besocially respon- sive anda l l ev ia te pover ty.Administering Panchayatmatters [births, deaths, utilityconnections (water, electricityetc.), property transfer, taxrules, all tax payments, license& permits, Tourism andtransport etc, booking oflong distance Railway/bustravel etc is easily possible byinvolvement of the relatedservice providers and the endusers. Through wire lessc o m m u n i c a t i o n / v i d e oconfer- ence with experts in

agriculture/public health,d o c t o r s / v e t e r i n a r ydoctors/counsellor, the ruralpeople can seek help throughthe GKCs. It is also possible top r o v i d e i n - f o r m a t i o nr e g a r d i n g i n d i v i d u a lvaccinat ion schedule forpregnant women and infants,family planning, medicines,ambu l ance se r v i c e s andtransportation, hospital andpri- mary centre information,blood bank, life-saving drugs,doctors' database, appointmentwith doctors, tele-health, andhospital management system,to rural public health centre.For high speed data transferand wireless broad bandconnectivity, WiMAXtechnology isconvenientsolution fore-governance in rural region.

6. Simulation Setup

OPNET MODELER is used

for the simulation purpose.

OPNET is a network

technology development


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environment that allows design

and study communication

networks, devices, protocols

and applications. In simple

terms it allows to simulate

elements of a computer net-

work in order to investigate

and how they will react to

d i f fe rent c i rcumstances

without the need to physically

construct them. OPNET

MODELER is a highly

versatile piece of software that

is used for multiple purposes by

a range of companies in both

Figure 5. Network model

Figure 6 Throughput vs simulation time.


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Figure 7. Load vs simulation time

Figure 8. Delay vs simulation time


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industry and research. One of

its uses is in the design of

c o m p u t e r n e t w o r k s .

OPNET MODELER is used

to test the suitability of the

networks design. It offers

ability to ensure that the

networks design is capable of

supporting the traffic and

applications that would run on

them. Simulation results are

shown in Figures 6-8.Steps involved in simulation ofthe scenario are given below.1) Take scenario (network

model) which is shown inFigure 5 and set theapplication which is to beexamined.2) Choose the number of

subscribers and base stationand set their attributesaccording to application.

3) Set WiMAX attribute of allsubscribers and base stationand set symbol durationaccording to standard.

4) Set permutation mode asper the simulation criteria.

5) Simulate the scenario andobserve the throughput anddelay.

6) Create six scenarios andrepeat the steps 1 to 4.

7) Simulate the scenario andcompare the throughputand delay result withprevious result.

7. Performance Analysis ofDelay and Throughput

In this research, we havedivided our work into sixdif- ferent scenarios with the

help of OPNET Modeler.In this paper we have madesix scenarios. Here twotypes of MAC layer QoSare used and they are UGSand rtPS having applicationof Voice over IP (VoIP)and MPEG respectively.Also the traffic priority forUGS is high as comparedto rtPS. In each scenariothe number of fixed nodes(Fixed Subscriber Stations)

Table 4. Simulation parameters

Ef�ciency Mode Mobility and Ranging Enabled

MAC Service Class

Definition (QOS)

1) UGS

Eg. VOIP ( IP telephony)

2) rtpsEg. MPEG

(high rewsolution video)

Modulation Technique Wireless OFDMA

Number of Subcarrirs 2048

Band Width 20 MHz

Duplexing Technique TDD

and Mobile nodes (MobileSubscriber Stations) aredifferent. To cover morenodes or if nodes areoutside the coverage areamore than one BS arerequired. Through differentsce- nario we have comparethe throughput and delaywith respect to time. Thesimulation parameters usedin this model are listed inTable 4.

8. Result

Here the global analyses of allthe scenarios are done andthe comparison ofthroughput and delay aregiven. Here as the number ofn o d e s i n c r e a s e s t h ethroughput of completenetwork will get improvedsince more number. Figure 6shows the comparison of allsix scenarios. Sce- nario 1 hasthe lowest throughput whilescenario 6 has the highestthroughput. Figure 7Compares the load(packets/sec) throughout thenetwork in each scenario.

Here Scenario 1 has lowestload, scenarios 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 havesomewhat same load for someperiod of time. Scenario 6 hasthe highest load at the initialstage. Figure 8 Compare theresu l t between de lay vs.Simulation time here we haveseen that delay of scenario 2 isminimum and scenario 5 havemaximum delay.

9. Strength of WiMAX inRural Area

WiMAX shares Wi-Fi strengthof not requiring expensivewires and cables and o fa l lowing cheaper use of


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unl icensed spectr um. Inaddition to this, WiMAXprovides additional range. Wi-Fi provides coverage of about10 km, but WiMAX offers arange of up to 50 km. Anincrease in range is particularlyimportant in the denselypopulated rural areas, since thenumber of people cov- ered bya single tower is rather smallcompared to urban area. Nomatter what, having a towerand the range of the tower thatincreases the number ofhouseholds served cuts downconsiderably on cost and wouldencourage service providers toestablish themselves in ruralareas. Just like Wi-Fi, WiMAXis an economically feasibleoption for rural India.However, the profits may notmatch that made in the urbanareas. WiMAX also offers datatransfer rates higher than802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g,though not as high as the fastestWi-Fi speed of 802.11n.

10.Weakness of WiMAX inRural Area

Even though WiMAX iseconomically feasible, it is stillpotentially expensive to installand maintain with less thandesirable payback in rural areasto keep service providers awayfrom using it there. Eventhough WiMAX is betterequipped for some rural partsin India than Wi-Fi, WiMAX ismore expensive to install. Thus,even companies that werewilling to provide wireless

service to rural India, were notreadily willing to spend theadditional cost for installingWiMAX when they felt thatWi-Fi service was sufficient.

11. Limitations of WiMAX

WiMAX is suitablet e ch n o l o g y f o r n e x tgeneration with potentialapplications such as cellularbackhaul, hotspot, VoIPmobi les and broadbandconnection, but it has somelimitations as under.

1) Low bit rate over Longdistance: WiMAX technol-ogy offers long distancedata range of 50 km or 30miles and high bit rate of70 Mbps. That is fine, butboth these features do notwork together well. Withthe increase in the datadistance/range, the bit ratereduces and vice versa.

2) Speed of connectivity: TheWiMAX has otherdrawback that user closersto the tower can get highspeed up to 30 Mbit/s, butthe users at the cell edge ofthe tower may obtain onlyup to 14 Mbit/s speed.

3) Sharing of bandwidth: Inwireless technology, thebandwidth is shared byusers in a specified radiosector. Therefore,functionality quality couldgo down if more than oneuser exists in a single sector.

4) Mostly users have a speedof 2 to 8 or 12 Mbit/s. For

better results, additionalradio cards need to be addedto the base station to boostthe capability.

12.Conclusions

WiMAX is satisfactory solutionfor rural connectivity and it is anew standards-based wirelesstechnolog y gaining rapidacceptance around the world. Iti s capab le of de l ive r ingbroadband Internet service andextending services like Internettelephony throughout Indiawithout major disruption totransportation and otherser vices. Unl ike wiredso lut ions, i t requ i res noblocking of traffic, no diggingmiles of trenches for layingtelecommunica- tion cables, noruining blocks of roads toprovide Internet services, nowa i t ing on mass iveinfrastr ucture bui ld-outprojects, and no overhangingcables that could snap any-time. WiMAX offers a fast,affordable, convenient solu-tion to India's widespreadInternet access required tostart e-governance for ruraladministration, agriculturedevelopment and managementand also for educat ionaldevelopment. WiMAX deliversgreater throughput and greaterscalability to suit consumer'sneeds. WiMAX is suitableoption for starting the e-governance at grass root level inrural area.

Originally published in :Scientific research Organisation


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Innovations at Universal biomass power plant to use paddy balesUniversal Biomass Energy Pvt. Ltd.

- .Channu 152 101

About the plant

Universal Biomass EnergyPrivate Limited (UBEPL) setup a 14.5 MW crop-residuebased power plant in Channuvillage, Muktsar district,Punjab. The power plant wassanctioned by the PunjabEnergy DevelopmentAuthority (PEDA) on 9 July2008 and commissioned on 20October 2009.

A power purchase agreementwas signed with the PunjabState Electricity Board (PSEB)for 30 years with a tariff of Rs3.84/kWh with 2008-09 as thebase year and 5% annualescalation up to 2011-12.However, UBEPL appealed tothe Punjab State ElectricityRegulatory Commission(PSERC) in September 2009for a future escalation in tariff,and the commission, in itspetition order dated 26November 2010, awardedUBEPL a higher tariff of Rs5 .12/kWh from 2010-11onwards.

Plant technology

The biomass based power plantis designed to generateelectricity for the grid byburning a variety of renewablebiomass fuels (mainly cotton

PROJECT AT A GLANCE

Capacity 14.5 MW

Location Channu, Muktsar district, Punjab

Technology Biomass combustion: Rankine-cycle-based power plant

Feedstock Cotton stalks, mustard stalks, ricehusk and straw, and other localbiomass fuels

Fuel consumption About 400 tonnes a day

Plant commissioning October 2009

Project cost and�nancing

Rs 7,458.88 lakhOut of the total cost, term loan wasRs 4,800 lakh from Punjab NationalBank and Ministry of New andRenewable Energy (MNRE) subsidywas Rs 112.53 lakh

Operations andmaintenance cost

Rs 288.40 lakh annually withescalation of 5% every year

Electricity generated 9,513,750 kWh (from October 2009 toNovember 2014)

Power purchaseagreement

Signed with PSEB for 30 yearsRs 3.84/kWh with 5% annualescalation up to 2011/12Rs 5.12/kWh from 2010/11 onwards(PSERC petition order dated 26 Nov2010)

stalks, mustard stalks andpaddy straw). The plant usesthe standard Rankine cycle, inwhich the biomass is burnt

directly to fire a boiler that canuse such biomass to generatesteam at high pressure and hightemperature to drive an impulseturbine generator set.

The plant and the machineryfor the project consist of thefollowing items.� Boiler: 70 tonnes per hour

(tph) capacity with steam at67 bar and 475 +/- 5 °C


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� Furnace: Travelling Grate� Designed efficiency: 76%� Turbine: Condensing� Turbine generator set: 14.5

MW at 11 kV, 50 Hz, powerfactor of 0.8 at generatorterminals

� Cooling tower: 4,500 m³(three cells) capacity capableof cooling water from 42 °Cto 32 °C

� Other features: Water basedhydrant systems provided inthe fuel yard and variousboiler floors and electrostatic precipitators (ESP) toavoid fires at the plant etc.

� Grid interface: Turbogenerator is synchronizedthrough 11 kV steam turbogenerator (STG) incomer bymonitoring the voltage,frequency and phase angleof both the systems

� Power evacuation: Exportof power to the grid througha 132 kV transmission linethrough a substation inGidderbaha village,approximately 9 km fromthe site

Plant performance

The monthly average plant loadfactor (PLF) for the last fiveyears from 2010 is presented inthe figure below

The plant has been operatingquite well most of the time witha high PLF (at times higherthan 90% during the harvestingseason, namelyNovember–December). For afew months (the monsoon andoff-season months of July-

September), however, the PLFremained low either becausethe biomass fuel was in shortsupply (mainly in the initialyears) or because the plant wasshut down for maintenanceand because of heavy rains (inrecent years) . DuringSeptember 2011,July–September 2013 andAugust–September 2014, thePLF was very low because theplant was shut down for along time due to major repairsand maintenances.

UBEPL has established in all40 biomass depots of which13 operate round the year and27 operate mainly during thepeak harvesting season of thetwo major crops in the region,cotton and mustard.

Technological innovationsadopted to improve plantoperations

Boiler modification

Boiler being the heart ofbiomass combustion basedpower plant, majority of the

operational and maintenanceproblems is associated with it.Especially because ofvariations in thequa l i t y o f b iomas s, t h edeposition of soot and ash oninternal surfaces (especiallyboiler tubes and the chimney)gradually hinders the flow offlue gas, choking the tubes andthe chimney, resulting in lowerperformance and finallyshutdown to replace thedamaged/affected parts.UBEPL has undertaken somekey measures to overcome thisproblem.

� Optimizing secondary airsupply and flow to ensurecomplete burning of fuel,thereby minimizing loss ofenergy in the form of amixture of unburnt ash andchar

� Re-sizing and Re-routing theforced-draft (FD) fan duct tominimize pressure drop aswell as the deposition ofsoot or fly ash

� Improved clamping

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a r r ang ement s fo r thesuperheated tube banks tofacilitate their operation and toreduce jamming problems

� Using long, retractable androtary soot blowers to cleanthe boiler tube banks evenduring plant operat ionwithout stopping the plantoperation or shutting itdown

All these measures reduced thejamming problems and thechoking of tubes due to sootdeposits from flue gases.Earlier, jamming used to occurevery 3–5 days and the plantused to be stopped for clearingthe soot and overcomechoking. This was necessarybecause the plant ' sperformance would deterioratequickly (from 15 MW to as lowas 12 MW). However, afterthese measures, the problemoccurred less frequently andthe opera t ion improvedsignificantly: the plant wouldrun continuously for 3–4months, and for more than25–30 days at full capacity(14.5–15 MW).

The plant's management claimsthat the plant may be the onlyone that can handle such avariety of biomass resources(as many as 40 types) with awide range in characteristicsand moisture content and cannow run almost continuouslyfor several months at a stretch.Also, when it is shut down, thedowntime is much shorter.

Use of intact bales of paddystraw

Another major innovation atUBEPL has been the use ofbales of paddy straw as it is,without being cut into smallpieces, thereby avoiding theentire exercise of fuelprocessing. This has alsoenhanced fuel loading rates.This became possible becauseof the technical improvisationin the boiler section as

described earlier. The plant hasundertaken successful trialsw i t h p a d d y b a l e s u p t o30%–40% of fuel mix. Thecontent has been routinelymaintained at 20% for quitesome time now without anymajor problem. The advantagesof using baled paddy straw are:lower cost of fuel processing,easier storage, and lower costof fuel itself compared to otherfuels.

Separate conveyor for paddy bales installed at UBEPL

Separate conveyor for paddybales

The plant's management isupbeat about its success inusing baled paddy strawwithout chipping and plans toincrease the proportion ofpaddy bales to as much as 50%in the overall fuel mix of theplant.

A separate conveyor wasinstalled in the power plantexclusively for feeding paddybales. This also helped toreduce the load on the existingconveyor belt, thereby reducingvarious maintenance problemsassociated with it.


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Decentralized Application of Biomass Gasifier forthermal energy demand

In India, there is increasingconcern of depleting fossilreser ves and impacts ofClimate change due to GHGemissions on utilizing fossilfuels for energy needs. Indianindustries are one of the majorsectors where total energydemand has grown morerapidly since 2000, almostdoubled over the 2000-2013period. Figure below showsthat in industries, coal and oilproducts are used in significantquantity and therefore, it isimportant to look out foralternative renewable energyresources for fulfilling theenergy demand of the sector.

In India, in addition to bigenergy intensive industriessuch as Steel, Cement, etc.,there are several Medium andSmall industries which

Figure1: Energy demand in 2000-2013

consume large amount offossil fuels such as furnace oil,diesel, etc. for their routineprocesses. Replacing the fossilfuel with renewable energysources for such serviceswould help in saving the fueland reduc ing the GHGemissions in the country.

This case study wouldhighlight one such example ofusing biomass resource fordiesel replacement in Lead andAlloy melting and Red Oxideproduction.

M/s Starlit Power System,Mewat, Haryana is amanufacturer of Refined Leadw i t h m i n i mu m 9 9 . 9 7 %purity, Lead Alloys withCalcium, Antimony,Selenium, Tin and GreyOxide and Red lead. The

annual capacity of the plant is12,000 MT with an equivalent12 ,000-15 ,000 MT ofsmelting capacity. The processenergy requirement in the plantas thermal energy is forprocesses such as melting,refining and oxidation andreduction operations.

The Company decided to movetowards the green energy andtherefore looked out foroptions displacing diesel in theboilers.

Biomass gasifiers areadvantageous for suchapplications because of ease ofoperation, providing requiredtempera tu re l eve l s,cost–effective, etc. Thebiomass gasifier at the projectsite was implemented by M/sChanderpur Works based onTERI's technology.

Adaptation of gasifiertechnology

The plant has reactors for

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melting (2 numbers), refiningfurnace and the reductionrotary kiln which have acumulative thermal energyrequirement of about 4,00,000kCal/hr. The requiredtemperature in the furnace isabout 850- 900 °C. A total of1,650 litre of diesel was usedfor one batch of theproduction process in meltingand lead furnace.

The technology deployed inthe industry is downdraftgasifier with a capacity of 180kg/hr of wood consumptionwhich would be able to give athermal output of 4,50,000kCal/hr. The gasifier is capableof replacing at least 60% ofdiesel consumption in the DGset of 125 kVA rating, whenused in the dual fuel mode andwhen the Rotary reductionfurnace consuming about 35litre of diesel per hour is notrunning (which is normally thecase).

Payback analysis for theproject

A typical payback analysis forbiomass gasifier based thermalprojects is calculated andpresented in the table below.

From the given figures, it is

Cost calculation

Particulars Value Unit

Diesel consumption per hour 40.0 litre

Daily running hours 22.0 hours

Diesel consumption /day 880.0 litre

Price of diesel (at the time of project implementation) 49.0 Rs./ litre

Diesel Calorific Value 10000.0 kCal/litre

Cost of diesel per day (X) 43,120.0 Rs

Cost of wood

Wood Calorific Value 3500.0 kCal/kg

Wood required to replace 1 litre of Diesel 4.0 kg

Wood requirement/day 3520.0 kgs

Price of wood / kg (landed Cost) 5.0 Rs

Total cost (A) 17,600.0 Rs

Cost of electricity for running the gasi�ier

Auxiliary electricity consumption of gasifier per hour 20.0 kWh

Daily operating hours 22.0 hrs

Power cost 6.0 Rs/kWh

Total cost (B) 2,640.0 Rs

Cost of Manpower

Skilled (8 hrs/shift) 3.0 persons

Cost of skilled manpower 300 Rs/day

Unskilled (8 hrs/shift) 6.0 persons

Cost of skilled manpower 200 Rs/day

Total cost (C) 2,100.0 Rs

Cost of annual maintenance 50,000.0 Rs

Maintenance cost/day (Considering 300 working days) 167.0 Rs

Total cost (D) 167.0 Rs

Cost of running gasifier per day (A+B+C+D) (Y) 22,507.0 Rs

Profit per day (X-Y) 20,613.0 Rs

Annual Saving 61,83,900.0 Rs

clear that application ofbiomass gasifiers can be veryuseful in the industries, by wayof reducing the cost ofoperation in addition toreducing the carbon footprintof the industries.

Maha Facts & Figures














Mrs. Hema Ghadiali

A Product of Vrushti Creations

Entrepreneurs are the peoplewho have the courage to takethe risks and make importantengagements to get a new or anexisting business going, whereas a woman entrepreneur issomeone who is willing to passall the hurdles of economicuncertainty and society tocreate something new. This iswhat Mrs. Hema Ghadiali hasdone. She just broke all thehurdles in her life and startedher own business a year backwith the vision of setting atrend in women fashion.

“Changing globalization hasgiven women opportunities tobecome professional and takeup jobs in order to secure adownright source of incomeand to follow the dreams”,Hema says.

About the Journey

Textile sector of India is one ofthe largest and is as old as worldtextile industry. The Indiantextile industry offers vastopportunities for small andmedium enterprises whichplays an important role inIndian economy in terms ofdevelopment, employment andgrowth. Small scale sector hasenormous opportunities sinceit requires less capital, addingmore to its benefits are factors

like government support,finance & subsidies, rawmaterial & machineryprocurement, manpowertraining, export promotionetc.

Hema started her businesswhen she was just a housewife.She worked long, gruelingdays on her feet all day,surrounded by people whoweren't working in the samefield but because it wasHema's passion to givesomething to the society, sheworked day and night. She hada passion for design and ageeky love of numbers, so theidea of starting her ownbusiness seemed like abeautiful, exciting challenge toembark on.

In less developed countries or“emerging economies,” theidea of entrepreneurship takeson an entirely differentmeaning. It's not aboutbuilding a huge company withthe goal being an IPO or anacquisition, rather, one'sentrepreneurial spirit emergesin spite of dire circumstancesto solve different problems:supporting a family's basicneeds, setting a trend andgiving something new to thesociety.

Hema took initiative as a leader.She decided to have her own setup at Satpara, which is 5 kmfrom Virar in Suburbs ofMumbai and she started hiringworkers from there. Initially, itwas difficult to train thoseunskilled workers but Hemanot only succeeded in trainingthem but made her workersrealize the importance of self-independence. Today Hemahandles 14 people all togetherand with this team she ishandling her business.

As a promoter of ruralenterprise, Hema faced manyproblems to set up her ownenterprise. Starting from thefinancial problem, arrangingworking capital becomes amajor task as she could run outof money to buy raw materialsthough she may not yet haveearned any reputation in themarket to get raw materials oncredit. Similarly, she makesseveral production trials,improves quality, etc. This isnot it. There are also policychallenges faced by herenterprise. To top it all, therea r e marke t ing prob l ems(competition, middlemen),management problems (legalformalities, low quality ofproducts, procurement of raw

MEDC Economic Digest �45

Women Entrepreneurs

February 2019

materials, etc.), and HumanResources problems (low skilllevel of workers and negativeattitude of rural folk towardsthe ideas of business).

“To me, being an entrepreneurmeans having dedication and heart,knowing how to deal with peopleand loving and treasuring what youhave.”

Being a female entrepreneur meansgetting to make decisions and facechallenges and it gives me a feelingof confidence.It means a lot to me,and I've been dreaming about it aslong as I can remember. It means Ican depend on myself and surviveon my own.

- Says Hema

When Hema started her ownbusiness, she researched a lotabout the existing market andfound out that Mumbai marketis flooded with importedcloths. But with the vision ofhaving something more ethnicand Indian, Hema took theinitiative of trying Khadi as herproduct.

'Khadi', is originated fromIndia. Khadi is hand wovenfabric made out of cotton.There is no modern machineryused in its manufacturingprocess. Khadi can be wear inall Season. Its presence inIndian and Internat ionalmarket is from past 70 years.Today also, people of Indiawear khadi mostly on occasionof national event. However,Khadi still struggling to alignwith other competitivemachine made fabric.

Choosing Khadi as her basicfabric, Hema launched a brandcalled Satakshee under VrusthiCreation. Vrushti creationsworked under the supervisionof its Proprietor Mrs. HemaGhadiali herself. Shatakshi hastaken initiative to give khadi anew look. They introduced thenew and exclusive designs ofkhadi apparels. Sataksheemotive is to encourage peopleto wear khadi as regular wearand at most affordable prices.

During her business Hemaalso realized that business hastwo major aspects. One isPlanning and Production andother is Sales and Marketing.Though Hema is skilled withthe for mer one but formarketing she chooses themode of exhibition.According to her, exhibitionhas the power of reaching tothe customer directly and itwill give her a wide diversity ofcustomers. Star ted fromselling her fashionable clothesat train Hema is currentlyparticipating in Khadi andV i l l a g e I n d u s t r i e sCommission (KVIC)exhibitions, which is one ofthe reputed brands and she isvery thankful to Khadi andVil lage Industr iesCommission.Hema and her team innovativeideas and creative approachassist them in designingfashionable ladies apparels inbeautifully finished patterns.Now they have a monthlycapacity of manufacturingalmost 1K pieces of design.

Her product range includes:

Drawing inspiration from herown story Hema is takingexperience from her failure andsucces s. She says, in themoment, some failure mightseem like the end of the road,but remember, there arecountless successful men andwomen in the world today whoare only enjoying successbecause they decided to pushpast the inevitable bleakness offailure.

'Learn from your mistakes,reflect and accept the failure,but revisit your passion andkeep pursuing your goals nomatter what'.


Women Entrepreneurs


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