India drew its three-stage nuclear power programme because of insufficient uranium reserves estimated in the region of 73,000 tonnes for the overall power generation plan. Curiously, all the three are in operation, though in different stages.
To understand better the linkage between the three stages, one should know about the fuels. The materials that one comes across as fuels for atomic power plants are U235, U238, U233, plutonium and thorium.
Says Dr S M Lee, director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR): Natural uranium has two isotopes: U238 (99.27 per cent) and U235 (0.72 per cent). Only U235 can sustain a fission chain reaction and is called fissile material. Two other fissile materials that can fuel nuclear reactors are plutonium and U233, which are manmade and not available in the nature.
Plutonium is created when U238 is irradiated in a nuclear reactor where it absorbs neutrons and part of it is transmuted into plutonium. Similarly, U233 is created when thorium is irradiated in a nuclear reactor, where it absorbs neutrons, which transmutes a part of the thorium into U233.
Thus U238 and thorium are also valuable nuclear resources, called fertile materials, as they can be converted into fissile material for fuelling nuclear reactors and generate power.
With the available uranium reserves around 20,000 mw can be generated for 30 years. In order to utilise the abundance availability of thorium (3.6-lakh-tonne reserves) and to be able to generate nuclear power beyond 30 years, India drew up a three-stage atomic power programme.
The first stage is the setting up of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR). India has 12 such reactors and several more are being planned. The readily-available natural uranium in India will be entirely committed to these reactors over their lifetime, says Lee. Besides generating power, PHWRs will convert a part of U238 in natural uranium into plutonium, which is separated from the spent fuel in plutonium reprocessing plants.
The second stage of fast breeder reactors (FBR), which will come into operation largely from 2020, will be fuelled by plutonium (obtained from the first stage PHWRs) and U238. The fast breeder reactors will fission plutonium for power production and at the same time breed more plutonium from the U238.
The surplus plutonium from each FBR can be used to set up additional FBRs and grow the nuclear capacity in tune with Indias needs. The uranium resource position is such that with FBRs a nuclear electric base of as much as 350 GW appears technically feasible.
Consolidation and further growth of the nuclear electric base is planned to by means of thorium breeders, which will form the third stage of the programme, which is several decades away. But this will set the stage for adequate power for the next couple of centuries. As mentioned earlier, thorium when irradiated in a nuclear reactor gets converted into U233, a fissile material.
The third stage use of thorium for power generation has already begun. A prototype 30 kv reactor at IGCAR called Kamini for thorium separation, irradiation in reactor, reprocessing for separation of U233, neutron radiography and activation analysis have been commissioned successfully.
Following the success Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is developing an advance heavy water reactor that will use both thorium U 233 and thorium plutonium-mixed oxide as fuel. It also incorporates several advanced safety features, such as heat removal by natural circulation. Thorium fuel bundles have also been successfully used in the PHWR for flux flattening. Construction is expected to start during the 10th Plan period.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
UNDERSTANDING INDIA'S NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME PART-1
India's
Nuclear Power
ASSISTING ENERGY INDEPENDENCEOR A DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT?
by Avilash Roul
Narora Atomic Power Station, Units 1 & 2220 Megawatts each, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh(map of all India's nuclear installations)
Editor's Note: According to the World Nuclear Association, nuclear power is now used in 37 countries. As a huge, technologically advanced country, soon to be the most populous nation on Earth, it should be no surprise that India has a long-standing nuclear power industry.
In 1954, India's First Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, said "It is perfectly clear that atomic energy can be used for peaceful purposes," as India even then was developing nuclear technology. In 1969 after years of effort, India's first atomic power station went critical, in Tarapur, Maharashtra. Five years later, India tested an atomic bomb (list of nuclear club members).
There are 440 land-based nuclear power reactors today in the world (table of world's reactors). They produce 16% of the world's electricity, or put another way, at capacity world nuclear power generates an impressive 370 gigawatts of electric output. In the world today there are another 232 nuclear power stations either under construction or proposed, which in sum would add another 186 gigawatts to world output.
But as a share of total world energy consumption, of which electricity is only a part, that's still small potatoes. What isn't generally acknowledged is the proportion nuclear power stations contribute to overall world energy production is minute. If every current and proposed nuclear power station on earth operated at maximum output for an entire year (impossible), they would generate an estimated 556 gigawatt years of energy. Since it takes 33.5 gigawatt-years to equal the same amount of energy as one quadrillion BTU's - these "quads" are how energy economists measure all energy production on earth - this means nuclear power, using a totally unrealistic best case, will eventually add 17 quadrillion BTU's of energy per year to total world output. This is barely 4% of the energy we use now, since all of human civilization in 2006 will produce about 400 quadrillion BTU's of energy.
In reality, nuclear power today provides barely 2% of the world's total energy. This means nuclear fuel will remain relatively abundant unless nuclear power plants are constructed at a rate many times current production, and the economics of incrementally adding nuclear capacity will continue to appeal to nations that have already invested in a nuclear infrastructure. Obviously the French, with 59 operating reactors providing over 80% of their electricity, have decided nuclear power works for them.
What powers the world, overwhelmingly, is coal and petroleum. The fondest imaginings of nuclear power advocates will not change that proportion through nuclear power. Should nuclear power still be used? It can be economical and technically it is safer now than it has ever been. There is reason to believe nuclear technology will continue to advance. India has invested decades in nuclear industry, and with these massive investments made, can now develop nuclear power at a cost lower than ever before. Is it worth it? What's worse, hydro-electric or nuclear? And aren't both of those energy sources emissions-free?
Still usually missing from today's energy production projections is any major ascendancy for renewables. For example, India's photovoltaic industrial potential could be significant. Even if nuclear power continues to be developed in India, renewables are still going to be the only way off the coal & oil treadmill. - Ed "Redwood" Ring
India's Nuclear Power - Assisting Energy Independence or a Dangerous Experiment? by Avilash Roul, September 9, 2006
Rajasthan Atomic Power Station, Units 3 & 4220 Megawatts each, Chittorgarh, Uttar Pradesh(map of all India's nuclear installations)
With a growing economy, an increasing population, mounting energy demand, limited availability of conventional sources, and a strong consensus for environmental protection, India is harnessing energy ranging from jatropha biodiesel to atomic power.
Efficient, reliable and environmentally sustainable energy supplied to each household at the least possible cost is a dream of India's government. While successive federal governments have been seeking energy security by 2012 for India, the current Scientist-President Abdul Kalam goes further to prescribe "Energy Independence" by 2032.
Energy independence is now India's first and highest priority. To address this critical challenge, the base of the country's energy supply system has steadily shifted from non-renewable to renewable sources as well as towards development of nuclear energy sources. Is India taking the right path to meet the energy requirements by emphasizing nuclear energy? Without nuclear energy, are there enough alternative energy sources to limited fossil fuels to meet future demand?
India, hosting fifteen percent of the world population and on track to replace China as the most populous country on Earth, ranks sixth in the world in terms of energy production. Experts believe demand for energy will soon surely be a defining characteristic of Indias life in the new millennium as India's economy continues to grow at an average of 8 percent per year.
Though commercial primary energy consumption in India has grown by about 700 percent in the last four decades, India's present level of energy consumption, by world standards, remains very low. The current per capita commercial primary energy consumption in India is about 350 Kilograms of Oil Equivalents per year (kgeo/yr) which is well below that of world average of 1,690 kgeo/yr. By 2010 per capita energy consumption is expected to increase around 450 kgoe/yr. Compared to this, the energy consumption in China is 1,200 kgeo/yr, Japan is over 4,050 kgeo/yr, South Korea is 4,275 kgeo/yr, the US is 7,850, and the OECD countries together average 4,670.
INDIA'S PRESENT ENERGY BASE
Coal has been and is the primary energy source in India as it accounts for 55 percent of India's energy production (see Table-1). This abundant fossil fuel, which within India accounts for 247.85 billion tonnes of reserves as of 2005, can last for some 80 years at the current level of consumption. If domestic coal production continues to grow at the current rate of 5 percent per year, however, India's total extractable coal reserves would run out in around 40 years.
Table 1: INDIA'S ENERGY CONSUMPTION (HISTORY)
(Data units "million tons equivalent in oil" or "MTEO")Source: BP Statistical Year Review 2005
With only half a percent of global reserves within India, oil nonetheless constitutes over 35 percent of the primary energy consumption in India. India's present level of oil consumption is about 114 million metric tons of oil equivalent out of which India produces 25 percent i.e., 29 million metric Tons (MMT). India's per capita consumption of oil and gas is one-third the global average. The reserves of crude oil are merely 739 MMT, which can sustain the current level of production for 22 years.
India's Production of natural gas, which was almost negligible at the time of independence in 1949, in 2006 is at the level of around 87 million standard cubic meters per day (MMSCMD). Natural gas constitutes about 9 percent of India's energy production, as compared to about 25 percent in the world. India already imports 20 per cent of its natural gas and this is predicted to go up to about 75 per cent by 2020.
INDIA'S ENERGY FUTURE
To encourage next generation fuels and increased use of renewable sources of energy, India is probably the only country in the world with a full-fledged ministry dedicated to the production of energy from renewable energy sources, the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (http://mnes.nic.in/). As prescribed by the President of India, power generated through renewable energy technologies is targeted to reach 20 to 25 percent of total energy generated compared to the present 5 percent (See Table-2). The government is promoting the use of ethanol made from sugar cane and bio-diesel extracted from trees that are common in many parts of India, such as Jatropha, Karanja and Mahua. India's Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources has put forward a goal for the nation to produce 60 million tons per year of bio-fuel.
Table 2: INDIA'S ENERGY CONSUMPTION (PROJECTION)
(Data units "million tons equivalent in oil" or "MTEO")Source: Draft Report of the Expert Committee on IntegratedEnergy Policy, Planning Commission, Government of India
India to-date has a total installed capacity of 870 megawatts based on biomass combustion, gasification and biomass cogeneration. Over 55 megawatts of the total was set up in the country just in 2005. India's government is already promoting biomass based technologies in selected villages for meeting energy requirements, such as cooking, motive power and electricity generation under various schemes. Biomass gasifier based electricity generation projects adding a total capacity of 423 megawatts were sanctioned during 2005-06 to states like Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Paradesh, and Pondicherry under the Biomass Gasification Programme.
By mid-2005, India's installed capacity of wind power had reached 3,740 megawatts. The present exploitable potential has been estimated at 14.5 gigawatts, when taking into consideration the grid constraints in the potential states. India's wind power projects are mostly set up as commercial projects through private investments. According to a report by the American Wind Energy Association (http://www.awea.org/) India currently ranks fifth in wind energy production, which is first place among developing countries. Under the wind resource assessment programme of the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, so far a total of 211 sites have been identified in 13 States and Union Territories that are considered suitable for setting up wind power projects.
India is endowed with enormous economically exploitable hydro potential, assessed at about 84 gigawatts. To-date only around 18 percent of India's hydro-electric potential has been harnessed. The sharply falling share of hydro in total energy production - from 46 percent in the 1970s to about 25 percent today - is cited as a serious problem confronting future development of hydro power. Opposition to large hydro infrastructure projects has been intensified because of the Indian government's poor track record of resettlement and rehabilitation of the people displaced by these projects. Currently this opposition has effectively put a halt to future projects.
Rajasthan Atomic Power StationNew Units Under Construction
NUCLEAR POWERIN INDIA
While India is amongst the top 10 countries of the world in terms of production of electricity by hydro, coal, oil and gas, it is nowhere near the top 10 with respect to nuclear power generation.
In spite of India becoming the sixth nation to become armed with nuclear weapons, after the 1998 nuclear tests, the contribution of nuclear power to India's overall power generation is negligible, even less than what wind energy generates.
Since the much debated high profile July 18 2005 Indo-US Joint Statement on civilian nuclear cooperation in Washington last year, there has been a renewed interest on nuclear energy put forward by the pro-nuclear lobby in India.
From the perspective of India's government, Indo-US cooperation will give new life to its nuclear program that has been handicapped by limitations of technology and fuel. While Western countries - with the exception of France which is unabashedly pro-nuclear power - are hesitantly moving towards further development of nuclear energy, the developing countries, especially India and China, are quickly gearing up to add nuclear energy to feed their rapidly growing economies. According to official announcements, China will be adding 40 gigawatts of nuclear power in the next 20 years while India adds 20 gigawatts.
"It is perfectly clear that atomic energy can be used for peaceful purposes."Jawaharlal Nehru (on right), 1954
Historically, development of India's nuclear technology has treaded carefully between the elusive thin line of civilian and military purposes.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India said in Lok Sabha (India's Lower House of Parliament) on May 10, 1954, "It is perfectly clear that atomic energy can be used for peaceful purposes...it may take some years before it can be used more or less economically." Experts believe that nuclear power, theoretically, offers India the most potent means to achieve long-term energy security. In practical terms, however, nuclear power may lack the logical preconditions, at least for India, to become their major source of independent energy.
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), (http://www.dae.gov.in/) under the direct control of the Prime Minister of India has formulated an approach and perspective on the nuclear energy resource. Their three stage nuclear program calls for setting up of natural uranium fuelled Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) in the first stage, Fast Breeder Reactors utilizing a uranium-plutonium fuel cycle in the second stage, and Breeder Reactors utilizing thorium fuel in the third stage. India's natural uranium deficiency has resulted in a commitment to this ambitious, technically challenging three-stage program designed to exploit the country's thorium reserves, which at an estimated 290,000 metric tons are the second largest in the world.
India's Coalition for NuclearDisarmament & Peace
According to the Indian government's official view, nuclear power for civil use is well established in India. Its civil nuclear strategy has been directed towards complete independence in the nuclear fuel cycle. This self-sufficiency extends from uranium exploration and mining through fuel fabrication, heavy water production, reactor design and construction, to reprocessing and waste management. The Atomic Energy Establishment was set up at Trombay in 1957 and renamed as Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) (http://www.barc.ernet.in/) ten years later. The first PHWR, the Rawatbhata-1 that had Canada's Douglas Point reactor as a reference unit, was built as a collaborative venture between Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (http://www.aecl.ca/site3.aspx) and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) (http://www.npcil.nic.in/). It commissioned in 1973 and was duplicated Subsequent indigenous PHWR development has been based on these units. The Rawatbhata-2 that commissioned in 1981 was also built by Canada. The NPCIL is responsible for design, construction, commissioning and operation of thermal nuclear power plants. The ten 220 MWe PHWRs (202 MWe each) were indigenously designed and constructed by NPCIL, based on Canadian design.
Table 3: INDIA'S NUCLEAR REACTORS - CURRENTLY OPERATING
Today 3,360 megawatts of India's electricity capacity is nuclear.Source: Nuclear Power Corporation of India
There are 15 nuclear power reactors in operation in India, 13 of which are PHWRs (See Table-3). Since 1969, when India's first nuclear reactor was commissioned for power generation, the total amount of power generation till 2005 is peeked at 3,360 megawatts. Among these PHWRs, the RAPS-1 reactor in Rajasthan has been virtually non-operational since its commissioning in December 1973. In addition, eight nuclear power reactors are currently under construction, five of which are PHWRs (See Table-4). Their total amount of power generation is expected to be 3,920 megawatts. There are 8 reactors to be established in the near future adding another 6,800 megawatts of capacity (See Table-5). Between 2010 and 2020, construction of four 220 megawatt PHWRs, ten 700 megawatt PHWRs, three 500 megawatt FBRs and up to six 1,000 megawatt VVERs is projected, adding about 20,000 megawatts, half from PHWRs. India has achieved maturity in the first stage of this program, construction of PHWRs. The beginning of the second stage of the program has been made with the commencement of construction of a 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu in 2003. The third stage of the program will be launched after a sizeable base capacity has been built of the second stage reactors.
The two Tarapur 150 megawatt Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) built by GE on a turnkey contract before the advent of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty were originally 200 megawatts but were de-rated due to recurrent problems. They have been using imported enriched uranium. However, late in 2004 Russia deferred to the Nuclear Suppliers' Group and declined to supply further uranium for them. Then in March 2006 Russia agreed to resume providing a fuel supply.
Table 4: INDIA'S NUCLEAR REACTORS - UNDER CONSTRUCTION 2006
India is adding 3,128 megawatts of nuclear power, nearly doubling their output.Source: Nuclear Power Corporation of India
Russia is supplying the country's first large nuclear power plant, comprising two VVER-1000 (V-392) reactors, under a Russian-financed US$ 3 billion contract. The units are being built by NPCIL. Russia will supply all the enriched fuel, though India will reprocess it and keep the plutonium. The first unit is due to be commissioned late in 2007. These are apart from India's 3-stage plan for nuclear power and are simply to increase generating capacity more rapidly.
In 2005 four sites were approved for eight new reactors. Two of the sites - Kakrapar and Rawatbhata, are to have 700 megawatt indigenous PHWR units, another is to have imported 1,000 megawatt light water reactors alongside the two being constructed by Russia at Kudankulam, and the fourth site is greenfield for 1,000 megawatt LWR units - Jaitapur in the Konkan region. Acquisition of any further light water reactors depends upon international political approvals.
Table 5: INDIA'S NUCLEAR REACTORSNEW SITES APPROVED 2006
India has already approved construction of newnuclear reactors adding another 6.8 gigawatts.Source: Nuclear Power Corp., India
India's long-standing civilian nuclear plans call for extensive reprocessing of spent fuel from current reactors to harvest plutonium. The plutonium would then be used in a new generation of reactors to breed uranium-233 from blankets of thorium that would surround the plutonium fuel. Many decades into the future, the dream is to have a thorium-based fuel cycle that would ensure India's energy independence into the distant future. However, anti nuclear experts believe that the long-term nuclear energy strategy is so technologically and economically dubious that no outside observers think it is viable.
Despite concerns against nuclear energy coming from the anti-nuclear establishment as well as civil society organizations in India, today there is a consensus across the major political parties that given India's existing and future energy needs, nuclear power provides a potentially attractive alternative. But nearly 60 years after its inception, the nuclear establishment in India has failed to deliver what the pro-nuclear lobby had promised. At this point, even if a 20-fold increase takes place in India's nuclear power capacity by 2031-32, the contribution of nuclear energy to India's energy mix is, at best, expected to be 5-6 percent.
In 1954, India's Atomic Energy Commission declared that nuclear plants would provide 8,000 megawatts of electricity by 1980-81. Yet by 1970, only 420 megawatts of electricity were coming from nuclear plants. In 1971, Vikram Sarabhai, the chairman of India's Atomic Energy Committee sought to bring Indian nuclear planning down to earth and scaled back projections, saying that by 1980-81, India would be producing 2,700 megawatts of electricity from nuclear plants. Thirty-five years later Indian nuclear plants are producing roughly 3,360 MW of electricity. But undaunted, the Indian pro-nuclear lobby now proclaims that India will produce 24,000 MW of nuclear power by 2010 and 50,000 MW of electricity from nuclear plants by the year 2030!
Nuclear Fuel Bundles
The fact remains that despite its great size, India has the misfortune to have been poorly endowed with natural uranium. It has been estimated that these modest reserves of about 70,000 metric tons will suffice to produce no more than approximately 420 gigawatt-years of electric power, if used in the PHWRs currently operating or under construction. On the other hand people won't let the government dig new uranium mines, so even these modest reserves may never be fully exploited.
India still faces severe challenges regarding the operational safety of all kinds of nuclear installations, from uranium mines to nuclear power stations. While the government boasts that the management and disposal of waste has been carried out fairly satisfactorily, there remain severe criticisms on the over all activities of nuclear energy. Public protests against Uranium Corporation of India Ltd's (UCIL) (http://www.ucil.gov.in/) have prevented it from opening up any new mine since 1985.
In last six months in 2004, UCIL has tried thrice to set up new uranium mines in Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya and Jharkhand but hasn't got permission anywhere.
The Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya governments have agreed to UCIL's proposal in principle, but have withheld permission because of public pressure and nuclear activist campaigns focusing on UCIL's poor safety record in Jaduguda in Jharkhand.
Independent studies have alleged that irresponsible handling of uranium ore had put some 50,000 people in Jaduguda at risk and caused genetic deformities in the area. Though Domiasat village in Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills contains India's largest and richest uranium reserve, UCIL officials are not welcomed by the indigenous communities in the Domiasat.
There are also serious problems to do with treating and disposing of the large volumes of highly radioactive waste generated not only by nuclear reactors but also by plants that extract plutonium or produce nuclear fuel. There is also the question of cost of decommissioning nuclear reactors after their useful life. Safety of nuclear reactors has also become an issue of concern.
The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) (http://www.aerb.gov.in/) had revealed about 130 incidents where safety had been compromised in various nuclear reactors, particularly Narora 1 and 2 and Kaiga. Also, there is a tremendous pressure on nuclear reactors safety from outside like terrorists attacks.
The Coalition of Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) (http://www.cndpindia.org/), a coalition of scientists, educationists, human rights activists, civil society organizations and so on, constituted in 2000 in response to nuclear weaponisation by India and Pakistan, calls for total nuclear disarmament in India as well as in the rest of the world. The CNDP does not accept the argument for nuclear energy put forward by atomic scientists as well as decision makers. While the option for nuclear energy is very expensive, the Indian government has restored faith in the DAE by allocating huge investment by ignoring various social issues like education, health etc.
President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (2nd from left),visiting an IITF exhibit in New Delhi in 2003.
Developing nuclear energy will be a slow, expensive and uncertain challenge at best. To increase the potential of nuclear energy, India has to look into outside help. Foreign involvement in nuclear power plant construction will diminish India's ambition of energy independence if India takes the path of nuclear.
The real solution to India's energy needs can come only when opting for energy sources that have low-impacts on the environment, low costs, and are easily available. Renewable energy has the potential to fulfill these critera. Renewable energy has the potential to bring true energy independence to India.
About the Author: Avilash Roul has been writing, advocating, researching, and creating knowledge on Environment and Development in various English Daily media since 2000. He has worked with Down To Earth (fortnightly magazine published in New Delhi, India) for the last three years. He has also contributed a Sunday column in New India Express on the environment and development. Right now Mr. Roul is working as an Assistant Coordinator for the Bank Information Center (www.bicusa.org), an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization that advocates for the protection of rights, participation, transparency, and public accountability in the governance and operations of the World Bank, regional development banks, and the International Monetary Fund.
Nuclear Power
ASSISTING ENERGY INDEPENDENCEOR A DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT?
by Avilash Roul
Narora Atomic Power Station, Units 1 & 2220 Megawatts each, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh(map of all India's nuclear installations)
Editor's Note: According to the World Nuclear Association, nuclear power is now used in 37 countries. As a huge, technologically advanced country, soon to be the most populous nation on Earth, it should be no surprise that India has a long-standing nuclear power industry.
In 1954, India's First Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, said "It is perfectly clear that atomic energy can be used for peaceful purposes," as India even then was developing nuclear technology. In 1969 after years of effort, India's first atomic power station went critical, in Tarapur, Maharashtra. Five years later, India tested an atomic bomb (list of nuclear club members).
There are 440 land-based nuclear power reactors today in the world (table of world's reactors). They produce 16% of the world's electricity, or put another way, at capacity world nuclear power generates an impressive 370 gigawatts of electric output. In the world today there are another 232 nuclear power stations either under construction or proposed, which in sum would add another 186 gigawatts to world output.
But as a share of total world energy consumption, of which electricity is only a part, that's still small potatoes. What isn't generally acknowledged is the proportion nuclear power stations contribute to overall world energy production is minute. If every current and proposed nuclear power station on earth operated at maximum output for an entire year (impossible), they would generate an estimated 556 gigawatt years of energy. Since it takes 33.5 gigawatt-years to equal the same amount of energy as one quadrillion BTU's - these "quads" are how energy economists measure all energy production on earth - this means nuclear power, using a totally unrealistic best case, will eventually add 17 quadrillion BTU's of energy per year to total world output. This is barely 4% of the energy we use now, since all of human civilization in 2006 will produce about 400 quadrillion BTU's of energy.
In reality, nuclear power today provides barely 2% of the world's total energy. This means nuclear fuel will remain relatively abundant unless nuclear power plants are constructed at a rate many times current production, and the economics of incrementally adding nuclear capacity will continue to appeal to nations that have already invested in a nuclear infrastructure. Obviously the French, with 59 operating reactors providing over 80% of their electricity, have decided nuclear power works for them.
What powers the world, overwhelmingly, is coal and petroleum. The fondest imaginings of nuclear power advocates will not change that proportion through nuclear power. Should nuclear power still be used? It can be economical and technically it is safer now than it has ever been. There is reason to believe nuclear technology will continue to advance. India has invested decades in nuclear industry, and with these massive investments made, can now develop nuclear power at a cost lower than ever before. Is it worth it? What's worse, hydro-electric or nuclear? And aren't both of those energy sources emissions-free?
Still usually missing from today's energy production projections is any major ascendancy for renewables. For example, India's photovoltaic industrial potential could be significant. Even if nuclear power continues to be developed in India, renewables are still going to be the only way off the coal & oil treadmill. - Ed "Redwood" Ring
India's Nuclear Power - Assisting Energy Independence or a Dangerous Experiment? by Avilash Roul, September 9, 2006
Rajasthan Atomic Power Station, Units 3 & 4220 Megawatts each, Chittorgarh, Uttar Pradesh(map of all India's nuclear installations)
With a growing economy, an increasing population, mounting energy demand, limited availability of conventional sources, and a strong consensus for environmental protection, India is harnessing energy ranging from jatropha biodiesel to atomic power.
Efficient, reliable and environmentally sustainable energy supplied to each household at the least possible cost is a dream of India's government. While successive federal governments have been seeking energy security by 2012 for India, the current Scientist-President Abdul Kalam goes further to prescribe "Energy Independence" by 2032.
Energy independence is now India's first and highest priority. To address this critical challenge, the base of the country's energy supply system has steadily shifted from non-renewable to renewable sources as well as towards development of nuclear energy sources. Is India taking the right path to meet the energy requirements by emphasizing nuclear energy? Without nuclear energy, are there enough alternative energy sources to limited fossil fuels to meet future demand?
India, hosting fifteen percent of the world population and on track to replace China as the most populous country on Earth, ranks sixth in the world in terms of energy production. Experts believe demand for energy will soon surely be a defining characteristic of Indias life in the new millennium as India's economy continues to grow at an average of 8 percent per year.
Though commercial primary energy consumption in India has grown by about 700 percent in the last four decades, India's present level of energy consumption, by world standards, remains very low. The current per capita commercial primary energy consumption in India is about 350 Kilograms of Oil Equivalents per year (kgeo/yr) which is well below that of world average of 1,690 kgeo/yr. By 2010 per capita energy consumption is expected to increase around 450 kgoe/yr. Compared to this, the energy consumption in China is 1,200 kgeo/yr, Japan is over 4,050 kgeo/yr, South Korea is 4,275 kgeo/yr, the US is 7,850, and the OECD countries together average 4,670.
INDIA'S PRESENT ENERGY BASE
Coal has been and is the primary energy source in India as it accounts for 55 percent of India's energy production (see Table-1). This abundant fossil fuel, which within India accounts for 247.85 billion tonnes of reserves as of 2005, can last for some 80 years at the current level of consumption. If domestic coal production continues to grow at the current rate of 5 percent per year, however, India's total extractable coal reserves would run out in around 40 years.
Table 1: INDIA'S ENERGY CONSUMPTION (HISTORY)
(Data units "million tons equivalent in oil" or "MTEO")Source: BP Statistical Year Review 2005
With only half a percent of global reserves within India, oil nonetheless constitutes over 35 percent of the primary energy consumption in India. India's present level of oil consumption is about 114 million metric tons of oil equivalent out of which India produces 25 percent i.e., 29 million metric Tons (MMT). India's per capita consumption of oil and gas is one-third the global average. The reserves of crude oil are merely 739 MMT, which can sustain the current level of production for 22 years.
India's Production of natural gas, which was almost negligible at the time of independence in 1949, in 2006 is at the level of around 87 million standard cubic meters per day (MMSCMD). Natural gas constitutes about 9 percent of India's energy production, as compared to about 25 percent in the world. India already imports 20 per cent of its natural gas and this is predicted to go up to about 75 per cent by 2020.
INDIA'S ENERGY FUTURE
To encourage next generation fuels and increased use of renewable sources of energy, India is probably the only country in the world with a full-fledged ministry dedicated to the production of energy from renewable energy sources, the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (http://mnes.nic.in/). As prescribed by the President of India, power generated through renewable energy technologies is targeted to reach 20 to 25 percent of total energy generated compared to the present 5 percent (See Table-2). The government is promoting the use of ethanol made from sugar cane and bio-diesel extracted from trees that are common in many parts of India, such as Jatropha, Karanja and Mahua. India's Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources has put forward a goal for the nation to produce 60 million tons per year of bio-fuel.
Table 2: INDIA'S ENERGY CONSUMPTION (PROJECTION)
(Data units "million tons equivalent in oil" or "MTEO")Source: Draft Report of the Expert Committee on IntegratedEnergy Policy, Planning Commission, Government of India
India to-date has a total installed capacity of 870 megawatts based on biomass combustion, gasification and biomass cogeneration. Over 55 megawatts of the total was set up in the country just in 2005. India's government is already promoting biomass based technologies in selected villages for meeting energy requirements, such as cooking, motive power and electricity generation under various schemes. Biomass gasifier based electricity generation projects adding a total capacity of 423 megawatts were sanctioned during 2005-06 to states like Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Paradesh, and Pondicherry under the Biomass Gasification Programme.
By mid-2005, India's installed capacity of wind power had reached 3,740 megawatts. The present exploitable potential has been estimated at 14.5 gigawatts, when taking into consideration the grid constraints in the potential states. India's wind power projects are mostly set up as commercial projects through private investments. According to a report by the American Wind Energy Association (http://www.awea.org/) India currently ranks fifth in wind energy production, which is first place among developing countries. Under the wind resource assessment programme of the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, so far a total of 211 sites have been identified in 13 States and Union Territories that are considered suitable for setting up wind power projects.
India is endowed with enormous economically exploitable hydro potential, assessed at about 84 gigawatts. To-date only around 18 percent of India's hydro-electric potential has been harnessed. The sharply falling share of hydro in total energy production - from 46 percent in the 1970s to about 25 percent today - is cited as a serious problem confronting future development of hydro power. Opposition to large hydro infrastructure projects has been intensified because of the Indian government's poor track record of resettlement and rehabilitation of the people displaced by these projects. Currently this opposition has effectively put a halt to future projects.
Rajasthan Atomic Power StationNew Units Under Construction
NUCLEAR POWERIN INDIA
While India is amongst the top 10 countries of the world in terms of production of electricity by hydro, coal, oil and gas, it is nowhere near the top 10 with respect to nuclear power generation.
In spite of India becoming the sixth nation to become armed with nuclear weapons, after the 1998 nuclear tests, the contribution of nuclear power to India's overall power generation is negligible, even less than what wind energy generates.
Since the much debated high profile July 18 2005 Indo-US Joint Statement on civilian nuclear cooperation in Washington last year, there has been a renewed interest on nuclear energy put forward by the pro-nuclear lobby in India.
From the perspective of India's government, Indo-US cooperation will give new life to its nuclear program that has been handicapped by limitations of technology and fuel. While Western countries - with the exception of France which is unabashedly pro-nuclear power - are hesitantly moving towards further development of nuclear energy, the developing countries, especially India and China, are quickly gearing up to add nuclear energy to feed their rapidly growing economies. According to official announcements, China will be adding 40 gigawatts of nuclear power in the next 20 years while India adds 20 gigawatts.
"It is perfectly clear that atomic energy can be used for peaceful purposes."Jawaharlal Nehru (on right), 1954
Historically, development of India's nuclear technology has treaded carefully between the elusive thin line of civilian and military purposes.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India said in Lok Sabha (India's Lower House of Parliament) on May 10, 1954, "It is perfectly clear that atomic energy can be used for peaceful purposes...it may take some years before it can be used more or less economically." Experts believe that nuclear power, theoretically, offers India the most potent means to achieve long-term energy security. In practical terms, however, nuclear power may lack the logical preconditions, at least for India, to become their major source of independent energy.
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), (http://www.dae.gov.in/) under the direct control of the Prime Minister of India has formulated an approach and perspective on the nuclear energy resource. Their three stage nuclear program calls for setting up of natural uranium fuelled Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) in the first stage, Fast Breeder Reactors utilizing a uranium-plutonium fuel cycle in the second stage, and Breeder Reactors utilizing thorium fuel in the third stage. India's natural uranium deficiency has resulted in a commitment to this ambitious, technically challenging three-stage program designed to exploit the country's thorium reserves, which at an estimated 290,000 metric tons are the second largest in the world.
India's Coalition for NuclearDisarmament & Peace
According to the Indian government's official view, nuclear power for civil use is well established in India. Its civil nuclear strategy has been directed towards complete independence in the nuclear fuel cycle. This self-sufficiency extends from uranium exploration and mining through fuel fabrication, heavy water production, reactor design and construction, to reprocessing and waste management. The Atomic Energy Establishment was set up at Trombay in 1957 and renamed as Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) (http://www.barc.ernet.in/) ten years later. The first PHWR, the Rawatbhata-1 that had Canada's Douglas Point reactor as a reference unit, was built as a collaborative venture between Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (http://www.aecl.ca/site3.aspx) and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) (http://www.npcil.nic.in/). It commissioned in 1973 and was duplicated Subsequent indigenous PHWR development has been based on these units. The Rawatbhata-2 that commissioned in 1981 was also built by Canada. The NPCIL is responsible for design, construction, commissioning and operation of thermal nuclear power plants. The ten 220 MWe PHWRs (202 MWe each) were indigenously designed and constructed by NPCIL, based on Canadian design.
Table 3: INDIA'S NUCLEAR REACTORS - CURRENTLY OPERATING
Today 3,360 megawatts of India's electricity capacity is nuclear.Source: Nuclear Power Corporation of India
There are 15 nuclear power reactors in operation in India, 13 of which are PHWRs (See Table-3). Since 1969, when India's first nuclear reactor was commissioned for power generation, the total amount of power generation till 2005 is peeked at 3,360 megawatts. Among these PHWRs, the RAPS-1 reactor in Rajasthan has been virtually non-operational since its commissioning in December 1973. In addition, eight nuclear power reactors are currently under construction, five of which are PHWRs (See Table-4). Their total amount of power generation is expected to be 3,920 megawatts. There are 8 reactors to be established in the near future adding another 6,800 megawatts of capacity (See Table-5). Between 2010 and 2020, construction of four 220 megawatt PHWRs, ten 700 megawatt PHWRs, three 500 megawatt FBRs and up to six 1,000 megawatt VVERs is projected, adding about 20,000 megawatts, half from PHWRs. India has achieved maturity in the first stage of this program, construction of PHWRs. The beginning of the second stage of the program has been made with the commencement of construction of a 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu in 2003. The third stage of the program will be launched after a sizeable base capacity has been built of the second stage reactors.
The two Tarapur 150 megawatt Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) built by GE on a turnkey contract before the advent of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty were originally 200 megawatts but were de-rated due to recurrent problems. They have been using imported enriched uranium. However, late in 2004 Russia deferred to the Nuclear Suppliers' Group and declined to supply further uranium for them. Then in March 2006 Russia agreed to resume providing a fuel supply.
Table 4: INDIA'S NUCLEAR REACTORS - UNDER CONSTRUCTION 2006
India is adding 3,128 megawatts of nuclear power, nearly doubling their output.Source: Nuclear Power Corporation of India
Russia is supplying the country's first large nuclear power plant, comprising two VVER-1000 (V-392) reactors, under a Russian-financed US$ 3 billion contract. The units are being built by NPCIL. Russia will supply all the enriched fuel, though India will reprocess it and keep the plutonium. The first unit is due to be commissioned late in 2007. These are apart from India's 3-stage plan for nuclear power and are simply to increase generating capacity more rapidly.
In 2005 four sites were approved for eight new reactors. Two of the sites - Kakrapar and Rawatbhata, are to have 700 megawatt indigenous PHWR units, another is to have imported 1,000 megawatt light water reactors alongside the two being constructed by Russia at Kudankulam, and the fourth site is greenfield for 1,000 megawatt LWR units - Jaitapur in the Konkan region. Acquisition of any further light water reactors depends upon international political approvals.
Table 5: INDIA'S NUCLEAR REACTORSNEW SITES APPROVED 2006
India has already approved construction of newnuclear reactors adding another 6.8 gigawatts.Source: Nuclear Power Corp., India
India's long-standing civilian nuclear plans call for extensive reprocessing of spent fuel from current reactors to harvest plutonium. The plutonium would then be used in a new generation of reactors to breed uranium-233 from blankets of thorium that would surround the plutonium fuel. Many decades into the future, the dream is to have a thorium-based fuel cycle that would ensure India's energy independence into the distant future. However, anti nuclear experts believe that the long-term nuclear energy strategy is so technologically and economically dubious that no outside observers think it is viable.
Despite concerns against nuclear energy coming from the anti-nuclear establishment as well as civil society organizations in India, today there is a consensus across the major political parties that given India's existing and future energy needs, nuclear power provides a potentially attractive alternative. But nearly 60 years after its inception, the nuclear establishment in India has failed to deliver what the pro-nuclear lobby had promised. At this point, even if a 20-fold increase takes place in India's nuclear power capacity by 2031-32, the contribution of nuclear energy to India's energy mix is, at best, expected to be 5-6 percent.
In 1954, India's Atomic Energy Commission declared that nuclear plants would provide 8,000 megawatts of electricity by 1980-81. Yet by 1970, only 420 megawatts of electricity were coming from nuclear plants. In 1971, Vikram Sarabhai, the chairman of India's Atomic Energy Committee sought to bring Indian nuclear planning down to earth and scaled back projections, saying that by 1980-81, India would be producing 2,700 megawatts of electricity from nuclear plants. Thirty-five years later Indian nuclear plants are producing roughly 3,360 MW of electricity. But undaunted, the Indian pro-nuclear lobby now proclaims that India will produce 24,000 MW of nuclear power by 2010 and 50,000 MW of electricity from nuclear plants by the year 2030!
Nuclear Fuel Bundles
The fact remains that despite its great size, India has the misfortune to have been poorly endowed with natural uranium. It has been estimated that these modest reserves of about 70,000 metric tons will suffice to produce no more than approximately 420 gigawatt-years of electric power, if used in the PHWRs currently operating or under construction. On the other hand people won't let the government dig new uranium mines, so even these modest reserves may never be fully exploited.
India still faces severe challenges regarding the operational safety of all kinds of nuclear installations, from uranium mines to nuclear power stations. While the government boasts that the management and disposal of waste has been carried out fairly satisfactorily, there remain severe criticisms on the over all activities of nuclear energy. Public protests against Uranium Corporation of India Ltd's (UCIL) (http://www.ucil.gov.in/) have prevented it from opening up any new mine since 1985.
In last six months in 2004, UCIL has tried thrice to set up new uranium mines in Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya and Jharkhand but hasn't got permission anywhere.
The Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya governments have agreed to UCIL's proposal in principle, but have withheld permission because of public pressure and nuclear activist campaigns focusing on UCIL's poor safety record in Jaduguda in Jharkhand.
Independent studies have alleged that irresponsible handling of uranium ore had put some 50,000 people in Jaduguda at risk and caused genetic deformities in the area. Though Domiasat village in Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills contains India's largest and richest uranium reserve, UCIL officials are not welcomed by the indigenous communities in the Domiasat.
There are also serious problems to do with treating and disposing of the large volumes of highly radioactive waste generated not only by nuclear reactors but also by plants that extract plutonium or produce nuclear fuel. There is also the question of cost of decommissioning nuclear reactors after their useful life. Safety of nuclear reactors has also become an issue of concern.
The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) (http://www.aerb.gov.in/) had revealed about 130 incidents where safety had been compromised in various nuclear reactors, particularly Narora 1 and 2 and Kaiga. Also, there is a tremendous pressure on nuclear reactors safety from outside like terrorists attacks.
The Coalition of Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) (http://www.cndpindia.org/), a coalition of scientists, educationists, human rights activists, civil society organizations and so on, constituted in 2000 in response to nuclear weaponisation by India and Pakistan, calls for total nuclear disarmament in India as well as in the rest of the world. The CNDP does not accept the argument for nuclear energy put forward by atomic scientists as well as decision makers. While the option for nuclear energy is very expensive, the Indian government has restored faith in the DAE by allocating huge investment by ignoring various social issues like education, health etc.
President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (2nd from left),visiting an IITF exhibit in New Delhi in 2003.
Developing nuclear energy will be a slow, expensive and uncertain challenge at best. To increase the potential of nuclear energy, India has to look into outside help. Foreign involvement in nuclear power plant construction will diminish India's ambition of energy independence if India takes the path of nuclear.
The real solution to India's energy needs can come only when opting for energy sources that have low-impacts on the environment, low costs, and are easily available. Renewable energy has the potential to fulfill these critera. Renewable energy has the potential to bring true energy independence to India.
About the Author: Avilash Roul has been writing, advocating, researching, and creating knowledge on Environment and Development in various English Daily media since 2000. He has worked with Down To Earth (fortnightly magazine published in New Delhi, India) for the last three years. He has also contributed a Sunday column in New India Express on the environment and development. Right now Mr. Roul is working as an Assistant Coordinator for the Bank Information Center (www.bicusa.org), an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization that advocates for the protection of rights, participation, transparency, and public accountability in the governance and operations of the World Bank, regional development banks, and the International Monetary Fund.
Friday, June 27, 2008
COMPARE REVISED LIST WITH THE OLD LIST OF IAS EXAM-2007
As we all are aware that UPSC has revised the final list of selected candidates in CSE-2007 exam by following the stay order of the honourable Supreme Court of India.Few hardworking guys on orkut has made tremendous effort to prepare a list to compare and contrast the two lists.Kindly have a look by a click on this link.
http://rapidshare.com/files/125341695/CSE_2007_old_and_new_lists.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/125341695/CSE_2007_old_and_new_lists.zip
ऊपर वाला जब भी देता देता छप्पर फाड़ के
This is an old saying in my area.I, sometime doubt in this old saying but today I feel that this is true at least in my life.Since,now I qualified in Civil Services Examination with good rank I don't require anything on the job front which can offer more then this job.But I am getting continuously numerous offer from myriad of organisations.When I required those offers, not a single offer was coming to me but now offers from all sides are just entering in my home.Recently I got a call for Group discussion and Interview from Steel Authority of India Limited [SAIL].When I applied for this post I was not at all prepared in my branch as I forgot everything during this gruesome preparation for IAS.Though I know that there is a little bit of SAIL in every body's life but today I even don't want this small bit of SAIL in my life.Anyway I thank God for this unexpected gift which will further add in to my list of achievements.I am planning to drop the idea to join for GD and Interview for this post as it will give someone really needy an opportunity..[though I feel I am not capable to pass the Interview as I completely forgot the Branch].Now I urge to all that please have a faith in this old saying that ऊपर वाला जब भी देता देता छापर फाड़ कें
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Scene 1: Today I went to AIIMS to meet one of my friend.I took 725 bus no and reached to the boys hostel.I saw lot of air conditioners in almost all the rooms in this hostel.When I entered in my friend's room,room temperature was 10 degree below outside temperature.I thanked him for this luxury and enquired about this phenomena.He told me that electricity is free of cost for the students here..so everybody can afford one AC in his/her room. After a good chat I returned to my place and found myself full of sweat.When I went to my dingy room,there was no power.
Scene 2 : When I entered to my room,it was very hot and poor cooler was unable to reduce the temperature substantially.I visualised the conditions at AIIMS and thought about the privileges they are enjoying.
When most of our villages are lack of adequate power supply,the enclaves like AIIMS are enjoying 24hr power with no bill. Even my small town is getting 6hr power supply in this hot summer.We can easily understand the plight and living standard of millions of our country man.Government must frame a long term policy to ensure 24 * 7 power supply in near future.
Scene 2 : When I entered to my room,it was very hot and poor cooler was unable to reduce the temperature substantially.I visualised the conditions at AIIMS and thought about the privileges they are enjoying.
When most of our villages are lack of adequate power supply,the enclaves like AIIMS are enjoying 24hr power with no bill. Even my small town is getting 6hr power supply in this hot summer.We can easily understand the plight and living standard of millions of our country man.Government must frame a long term policy to ensure 24 * 7 power supply in near future.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
QUESTIONS FROM A READER AND THEIR ANSWERS
QUESTIONS:
Thanks Manmauji Ji...(BTW is it ur real name...or a pseudo name ;))Well to begin with u can share ur experiences while preparing for this examination...with ur kind of experience freshers like us can learn a lot and also avoid certain mistakes that might have been committed....as in leaving a portion of syllabus etc.also if u can share ur strategy for pub ad, geog and GS preparation it will be of immense help as these r the most common optionals and u will be helping a huge section of aspirants (including me :))Well I have certain queries:
1. What is the role of coaching institute in op and GS prep...is it mandatory...which r the recommended coachings for geog and pub ad according to u?
2. What shud be the structure of an answer....what all u shud right?
3. How is pub ad as an optional...lately the qn pattern is shifted towards more opinion based qns and level of objectivity is reduced.....can a person from engg background with decent writing skills master the subject over ,say , a period of few months....and how important will be additional guidance in terms of coachings?
4. Is coaching for GS compulsary...or can one do it on own..with std books and material from market...(say Vajiram and all)?I know I have asked quite a few qns..u may chose to answer me in person or reflect on them in ur blogs...I will be following ur blogs keenly...In anticipation of a quick response...
**************************************************************************************
POSSIBLE ANSWERS:
Thank you for your intrest in this blog.Ofcourse Manmauji is not my real name. For the strategy first of all read whole syllabus.Sit with past year question papers and try to generate answers.If feel comfortable thne no need of any coaching.After completion of full syllabus you can avoid few units at the examinationn time for e.g inGeo optional-Thinker unit,world economy unit [few topic you must cover for short notes],biogeography,etc and in PA-financial adm,personnel ad[few topics],etc.
[1] It is not at all mandatory to go through coaching.It depends on you and your confidence level.You can do without it. Regarding coaching institutes...you can attend at anyone from Interaction,Jains,Direction for Geography and for Public Ad- VajiRam,Synergy or uniyals.
[2] First have a command over subject then start writing.You must write according to question.No need of Intro and conclusion in short notes...you can even write in points and paragraph in same answer.
[3]For me,PA is a good subject because it gives you space to express your opinion...here 'mugga' has little role [4 engg it is a huge problem]....you can master it within few months.If you face any problem then attend the coaching.
[4]Look,I have not attended any class for GS...so you can do without it....it is upto you how confident you feel in certain optional.....just take zerox of Vaji and mug it.Read few standard books several times.For eg histroy-Spectrum,polity-Vaji and DD Basu,Sc & Tech-Vaji,Geo-MNM series book,Stat-NCERT,Current-Vaji and Wizard,Eco-Vaji and PD special issue...I think this will be suffice and sail you through....."mugga' is must in GS....... But I will suggest you that first read whole syllabus by your own and then if requires attend the classes.In this way you can maximise your coaching.
For anyother query write to me....your views are welcome here.
Thanks Manmauji Ji...(BTW is it ur real name...or a pseudo name ;))Well to begin with u can share ur experiences while preparing for this examination...with ur kind of experience freshers like us can learn a lot and also avoid certain mistakes that might have been committed....as in leaving a portion of syllabus etc.also if u can share ur strategy for pub ad, geog and GS preparation it will be of immense help as these r the most common optionals and u will be helping a huge section of aspirants (including me :))Well I have certain queries:
1. What is the role of coaching institute in op and GS prep...is it mandatory...which r the recommended coachings for geog and pub ad according to u?
2. What shud be the structure of an answer....what all u shud right?
3. How is pub ad as an optional...lately the qn pattern is shifted towards more opinion based qns and level of objectivity is reduced.....can a person from engg background with decent writing skills master the subject over ,say , a period of few months....and how important will be additional guidance in terms of coachings?
4. Is coaching for GS compulsary...or can one do it on own..with std books and material from market...(say Vajiram and all)?I know I have asked quite a few qns..u may chose to answer me in person or reflect on them in ur blogs...I will be following ur blogs keenly...In anticipation of a quick response...
**************************************************************************************
POSSIBLE ANSWERS:
Thank you for your intrest in this blog.Ofcourse Manmauji is not my real name. For the strategy first of all read whole syllabus.Sit with past year question papers and try to generate answers.If feel comfortable thne no need of any coaching.After completion of full syllabus you can avoid few units at the examinationn time for e.g inGeo optional-Thinker unit,world economy unit [few topic you must cover for short notes],biogeography,etc and in PA-financial adm,personnel ad[few topics],etc.
[1] It is not at all mandatory to go through coaching.It depends on you and your confidence level.You can do without it. Regarding coaching institutes...you can attend at anyone from Interaction,Jains,Direction for Geography and for Public Ad- VajiRam,Synergy or uniyals.
[2] First have a command over subject then start writing.You must write according to question.No need of Intro and conclusion in short notes...you can even write in points and paragraph in same answer.
[3]For me,PA is a good subject because it gives you space to express your opinion...here 'mugga' has little role [4 engg it is a huge problem]....you can master it within few months.If you face any problem then attend the coaching.
[4]Look,I have not attended any class for GS...so you can do without it....it is upto you how confident you feel in certain optional.....just take zerox of Vaji and mug it.Read few standard books several times.For eg histroy-Spectrum,polity-Vaji and DD Basu,Sc & Tech-Vaji,Geo-MNM series book,Stat-NCERT,Current-Vaji and Wizard,Eco-Vaji and PD special issue...I think this will be suffice and sail you through....."mugga' is must in GS....... But I will suggest you that first read whole syllabus by your own and then if requires attend the classes.In this way you can maximise your coaching.
For anyother query write to me....your views are welcome here.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
HELP REQUIRED FOR SETTING UP A LIBRARY
we all are aware about the poor educational conditions in our countryside.The schools don't have appropriate facility e.g. play grounds,teaching material,toilet facility for girls,library etc.To resolve few of these problems few energetic and proactive civil service qualified people are going to form an umbrella organisation for Creation of libraries across the country.
For this ,we requires a lot of fund,personnel,suggestions,books,etc.Kindly come forward to build a strong India by helping in all possible directions to make this project a huge success.
The suggestions are also invited for this noble cause to make this project effective,transparent and efficient.Interested candidates can write to this blog at neutralviews@gmail.com. Their views shall be incorporated.
For this ,we requires a lot of fund,personnel,suggestions,books,etc.Kindly come forward to build a strong India by helping in all possible directions to make this project a huge success.
The suggestions are also invited for this noble cause to make this project effective,transparent and efficient.Interested candidates can write to this blog at neutralviews@gmail.com. Their views shall be incorporated.
INVITATION FOR MUKHERJEE NAGAR AND JIA SARAI GUYS
This blog invites neutralviews from the locations such as Mukherjee Nagar,Ber Sarai,Katwari Sarai and Jia sarai about the latest happenings regarding civil services preparation as well as some other socially relevant issues.This is an effort to make this blog more interesting and useful for 'Gen X' as well as 'old Gen'.The report must be gender neutral and should satisfy this blogs ideology.Their comments will be published without any editing.
Interested fellows can send their reports at neutralviews@gmail.com
Interested fellows can send their reports at neutralviews@gmail.com
Sunday, June 15, 2008
INSTALLING LOVE
Tech Support: Yes, ... how can I help you?
(Customer): Well, after much consideration, I've decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process?
(Tech Support): Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?
(Customer): Well, I'm not very technical, but I think I'm ready. Whats I do first?
(Tech Support): The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart?
(Customer): Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?
(Tech Support): What programs are running ?
(Customer): Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now.
(Tech Support): No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off ?
(Customer): I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?
(Tech Support): With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.
(Customer): Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?
(Tech Support): Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.
(Customer): Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error -Program not run on external components." What should I do?
(Tech Support): Don't worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.
(Customer): So, what should I do?
(Tech Support): Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.
(Customer): Okay, done.
(Tech Support): Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.
(Customer): Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?
(Tech Support): Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.
(Customer): Thank you, God.
(Customer): Well, after much consideration, I've decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process?
(Tech Support): Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?
(Customer): Well, I'm not very technical, but I think I'm ready. Whats I do first?
(Tech Support): The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart?
(Customer): Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?
(Tech Support): What programs are running ?
(Customer): Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now.
(Tech Support): No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off ?
(Customer): I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?
(Tech Support): With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.
(Customer): Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?
(Tech Support): Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.
(Customer): Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error -Program not run on external components." What should I do?
(Tech Support): Don't worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.
(Customer): So, what should I do?
(Tech Support): Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.
(Customer): Okay, done.
(Tech Support): Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.
(Customer): Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?
(Tech Support): Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.
(Customer): Thank you, God.
SOME TOUGH COMMENTS FROM VIEWERS
We sincerely thanks to all our dear visitors of this blog.One of the anonymous reader has written something very tough.I want to make it clear that UPSC exam is a mix of hard work,luck and blessing from all possible sources.We all know about the long gestation period of this cruel process.Nobody can dare to think himself very smart ..[except few of course]..after the selection I feel genuine hardworking guys must be polite and always thankful to God and all those who have prayed for him.
I want to make it clear that this blog was created to provide a neutral platform to comment on any topic.There has never been any attempt to hurt any body's sentiments.If by chance anyone get hurt by these comments,this blog sincerely apologise for that unintentional comments.
Please read this blog just for fun and also sensitisation.The comments of all categories harsh,cruel,critical,praise,etc are welcome by heart and will be published in its orginal wordings.
I want to make it clear that this blog was created to provide a neutral platform to comment on any topic.There has never been any attempt to hurt any body's sentiments.If by chance anyone get hurt by these comments,this blog sincerely apologise for that unintentional comments.
Please read this blog just for fun and also sensitisation.The comments of all categories harsh,cruel,critical,praise,etc are welcome by heart and will be published in its orginal wordings.
Friday, June 13, 2008
MY VISIT TO MY HOME TOWN
Let me share my experience during this sortie to my home town....
When I returned by bus [of course with success in Civil Services Examination..]...a lot of people were standing at the bus stand with garlands in their hands...it was very nice feeling to see the gathering from all walks of society...Almost everyone was in festive mood and just want to celebrate my success in IAS exam.After wards i was received by several known faces of society ....I thanks God for all this because it was HIS blessings that this could have happened.....I strongly felt that I am one of the luckiest guy on this planet....In return to society for all this standing ovation I have started series of lectures and interaction session with the students of 9th,10th,11th,12th class...i got huge response and citizens were appreciating my efforts...i m getting support from even my enemies...so i feel when you do good thing with pure heart [without any selfish motive] people come forward to support you.....now schools and colleges have taken my time in the month of July when they will start with fresh session....even schools from villages are coming to take my time for their kids.......my town does not have any library and community hall..so i m gathering public support for these projects...I feel that people want change in real and good sense and they want to learn new things which i feel i am capable enough to bring winds of change to this place...but it will not be revolution which is very fast and not sustainable....i will require support from numerous friends in this endeavour.......think about nation and its citizens...I am glad that I belong to a very remote area of my country where people are very easy and nice with golden heart.I want to do all the possible good thing for these people within my capacity....Everything else is secondary to me....
When I returned by bus [of course with success in Civil Services Examination..]...a lot of people were standing at the bus stand with garlands in their hands...it was very nice feeling to see the gathering from all walks of society...Almost everyone was in festive mood and just want to celebrate my success in IAS exam.After wards i was received by several known faces of society ....I thanks God for all this because it was HIS blessings that this could have happened.....I strongly felt that I am one of the luckiest guy on this planet....In return to society for all this standing ovation I have started series of lectures and interaction session with the students of 9th,10th,11th,12th class...i got huge response and citizens were appreciating my efforts...i m getting support from even my enemies...so i feel when you do good thing with pure heart [without any selfish motive] people come forward to support you.....now schools and colleges have taken my time in the month of July when they will start with fresh session....even schools from villages are coming to take my time for their kids.......my town does not have any library and community hall..so i m gathering public support for these projects...I feel that people want change in real and good sense and they want to learn new things which i feel i am capable enough to bring winds of change to this place...but it will not be revolution which is very fast and not sustainable....i will require support from numerous friends in this endeavour.......think about nation and its citizens...I am glad that I belong to a very remote area of my country where people are very easy and nice with golden heart.I want to do all the possible good thing for these people within my capacity....Everything else is secondary to me....
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
PERCEPTIONS MATTERS
One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?""It was great, Dad.""Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked."Oh yeah," said the son."So, tell me, what you learned from the trip?" asked the father.The son answered:"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have creek that has no end.We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night...Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.We buy our food, but they grow theirs.We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them."The boy's father was speechless.Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!
LOVE HAS NO LIMIT
While Dad was polishing his new car,his 4 yr old son picked stone & scratched lines on the side of the car.In his anger, Dad took the child's hand & hit it many times, not realizing he was using a wrench.At the hospital, his child said "Dad when will my fingers grow back?"Dad was so hurt.He went back to car and kicked it a lot of times.Sitting back he looked at the scratches, child wrote "I LOVE YOU DAD"Anger and Love has no limits...
READ AND LAUGH
A man hated his wife's cat and he decided to get rid of it. He drove 20blocks away from home and dropped the cat there.The cat was already walking up the driveway when he approached his home.The next day, he decided to drop the cat 40 blocks away but the same thing happened.He kept on increasing the number of blocks but the cat kept on coming home before him.At last he decided to drive a few miles away, turn right, then left, passed the bridge, then right again and another right and so on until he reached what he thought was a perfect spot and dropped the cat there.Hours later, the man calls his wife at home and asked her, "Jen is the cat there?" "Yes, why do you ask?" answered the wife.Frustrated the man said,"Put that bloody cat on the phone, I'm lost and I need directions."
Saturday, May 24, 2008
'DEV BHOOMI' RAJINDER NAGAR
Thousands of civil service aspirants are swarming in the streets of Rajinder Nagar.Some prominent institute for civil services are also located in this area.These students are burning late night oil to get a seat in this prestigious exam.It is their hard effort and drop of the swat from their forehead which make the land of Rajinder Nagar a "DEV BHOOMI' in true sense.You can see several 'तपस्वी' doing their 'तपस्या' in very samll rooms...[..even Dog will fear to live in those conditions some time]....As a lot of stories are written in our ancient scriptures that whenever any 'tapasvi" does his/her ' TAPASYA' God usually send some 'APSARAS' to distract that 'Tapsasvi"...It is happening in Rajinder Nagar too.God has sent several Apsaras [..babes in modern vocabulary] which are loitering around these tapasvis and distract from their noble path.This way these poor tapsvi got ruined and these apsaras become successful in civil service exam.you can see them easily in near by Rajinder Park or Mr. Anil Chai Wala where poor tapasvi provides valuable insite about the method of tapasya and provide notes too [.some even say that some tapasvi even wash and cook for their apsaras...].....
thus,dear friends beware from these cunning apsaras if you want to succeed in this exam.You can use them for your entertainment and timepaas but don't ever let them dominaate on your 'tapasyaa'...otherwise you will be one of the modern Mr. Viswamitr.
thus,dear friends beware from these cunning apsaras if you want to succeed in this exam.You can use them for your entertainment and timepaas but don't ever let them dominaate on your 'tapasyaa'...otherwise you will be one of the modern Mr. Viswamitr.
AM I CONFUSED?
I don't know a lot of things and complexities about me....may be i don't want to think about all those secondary things which are essential in life....TO the fullest of my knowledge I rarely think about my personal life...i always dreamed to do some thing for people of our great nation...i m planning to do a lot of things for my local area...as i m going home tomorrow..there is already a good planning of a series of my lectures to the students...i will report you back about the details.. Apart from national service all other things are secondary to me which i m not going to plan in advance as i strongly believe in serendipity for secondary and sundry things.....i think God sent me for a different and big purpose...i m just a puppet in HIS hands......let us see how much positive influence i can make in the life of millions of people of this great nation.......
Thursday, May 22, 2008
MY VISIT TO HARIDWAR
Recently I went to a sacred place Haridwar to thank God for the blessing...due to that I am able to find place in the successful list of civil service examination 2007 conducted by UPSC.I stayed there for three days and enjoyed every moment.After a long time I was not having any tension to got up early in the morning to finish news paper..[or health related tension..].I sat for long hours along the banks of sacred Ganga ji and observed her pure water and millions of people lined up to take bath on the occasion of "Purnimasi"....I liked the evening Pooja and those small plates filled with flowers and "deepak" floating on the water.The seen itself was very emotional when small kids were crying to take bath but they were forced to take bath in the cold water by their parents [...I feel it is a good methgod to transfer the "sanskars" from one generation to other generation....].
Along with this beautiful pictures I saw lot of beggars here and there crying for help.This site disturbed me a lot..[few beggars even have a bad makeup to make people pity so that they can fetch good money from them....].There is no proper arrangement of sanitation at "Haree-ke-paudi"...people are just sitting here and there and doing their daily activities which make site very dirty.Local administration must workout some plan for this problem [otherwise it may happen that somebody takes sacred bath in Ganga ji with the loud chanting "har-har-gange" and suddenly he found that there is some trace of night soil stick on his head...uh..uh..uh...]......but anyway I wish that one should visit these place for internal purification occasionally.
Along with this beautiful pictures I saw lot of beggars here and there crying for help.This site disturbed me a lot..[few beggars even have a bad makeup to make people pity so that they can fetch good money from them....].There is no proper arrangement of sanitation at "Haree-ke-paudi"...people are just sitting here and there and doing their daily activities which make site very dirty.Local administration must workout some plan for this problem [otherwise it may happen that somebody takes sacred bath in Ganga ji with the loud chanting "har-har-gange" and suddenly he found that there is some trace of night soil stick on his head...uh..uh..uh...]......but anyway I wish that one should visit these place for internal purification occasionally.
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