Prayas Energy Group organized talk By Dr. E. A. S. Sarma on Conflicts and challenges in balancing India's development, energy and environment needs on Sunday, 5th Dec 2010.

The speaker: Dr. E.A.S. Sarma studied Public Administration at Harvard and then did his PhD on Energy Planning from IIT Delhi. He held many senior positions in both the AP state and central governments during his career, such as Adviser (Energy), Secretary (Power), Secretary (Expenditure) and Secretary (Economic Affairs). He was closely associated with the legislation resulting in the constitution of regulatory authorities in electricity, telecommunications and insurance sectors, and headed the expert committee that drafted the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill. After taking voluntary retirement from IAS, Dr. Sarma became the principal of the Administrative Staff College of India (Hyderabad). He was also a member of the Godbole Committee that investigated the Dabhol power project. Presently, he works with civil society groups in Vishakhapatnam to help citizens' demand a more accountable city administration under the aegis of "Forum for a better Vishakha". He is actively involved in various people's issues related to energy, environment and livelihoods, and has published many papers in journals such as Economic and Political Weekly on these topics.

Please visit http://eassarma.in for papers and articles by Dr. E A S Sarma

The talk: The ongoing debate on "environment vs development" is based on the misconception that there are some mutual conflicts between the two. Energy development is a sub-set of the wider concept of development itself. It is first essential to define what "development" really implies, since it is often a widely misunderstood concept. In Amartya Sen's words, "development" is a process that is determined by public choice, with its outcomes enlarging the freedoms of the beneficiary community. The talk will focus on trying to explain this concept with specific reference to the large number of merchant power projects that have often come in conflict with the environment in many parts of the country today. It will bring out inherent flaws in electricity planning that have artificially propped up the demand for new generation projects, especially the coal-based and nuclear power projects. In the name of promoting power development, the Central and the State governments have embarked on a laissez faire approach of diverting fertile agricultural lands, wetlands with mangroves, coastal lands etc. for setting up highly polluting power plants. Once there is clarity on the definition of "development", the duality between development and environment would disappear. In fact, protection of environment and pursuing development would then become mutually reinforcing activities, rather than conflicting ones. A development process based on this premise will be sustainable in the long-run.