Power Sector In India - Article 0 of n!

Hi,

I am keen to understand the Power Sector in India, and have a feeling that my 1st comprehensive blog would be on "Sorry State Of Affairs In Power Sector Of India"!

Have been (only) thinking about it! and have gathered a some news articles from Economic Times, and  Business Standard. But until I stitch the complete sequence of events with my understanding / views, I want to kick-start! Hence this "article 0"...

I'm actually copying the whole text from a webpage of SNP Infra Research Solutions. They have published a report on 'Power Tariffs In India: 2011-12'. Following is intro to the report.

The government needs to take strong measures to help the debt-ridden distribution companies, whose miseries are being compounded by low tariffs and reluctance of banks to finance ­­­­­– given their perception of the sector as unviable. Tariffs are expected to rise once the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) approves a hike in the unit price of electricity sold to customers. Many power utilities, including NTPC -- the country's largest power generating company -- have been demanding an increase in power tariffs amidst rising input costs. However, the impending General Elections in 2014 may prove an obstacle to CERC’s move.

There are few states where tariff has been unchanged for the last 4-5 years (unchanged for the last seven years in Tamil Nadu and four years in Rajasthan), whereas loss-reduction demands a 25-30% revision annually. However, some states have been increasing the tariff regularly (such as Maharashtra). In the year so far, 12 states have increased tariffs in the range of 9-34% to ease the burden of distribution companies. Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar account for 70.6% of the power distribution losses in the country.

India’s state electricity distribution companies (discoms) reported an aggregate loss of around INR 40,000 crore in the year ended March 2010, which is as high as the government’s annual divestment target. The losses are estimated to cross INR 1.16 lakh crore by 2014.

Against this backdrop, SNP Infra Research is launching a report titled “Power Tariffs in India (2011-12). The report will provide an insight into the latest tariffs (2011-12) applicable in each of the states in comparison with 2010-11. It will also capture the percentage change in tariffs.

(Source: http://www.snpinfrasol.com/services/research-report/power-tarrifs-in-india-2011-12)

Thanks!

Recipe and Procedure for Daliya (Salty version)

After a long time I prepared some stuff in kitchen today, almost entirely... under the able guidance of my roomie! And liked it very much... so thought would save the recipe for future reference! :)

Recipe and Procedure for Daliya (Salty version):

For 2 persons - in good quantity.

1.

Keep following raw material ready:

- Green peas: quantity according to your liking

- Carrot - cut in thin circular shape. 1 medium sized carrot was good for two of us.

- If you have more veggies, go ahead and add them (in chopped form). These can be lauki (pumpkin), beans, moong (green pulses), etc.

- You don't have to WASH the daliya :)

- Haldi not really needed. I did not add.

- Daliya quantity - two kevis or mini-bowls. ('kevi' is a word in Sindhi language for serving-spoon! :)

2.

Take a pressure cooker

Put 2 Table spoons of cooking oil

Warm it up, on medium to high flame

Add a little 'rai' to it.

(warming is for about a minute.)

3.

Add carrot and green peas to it. 

Mix them.

After about a minute, add daliya to it.

Add water - 4 times the quantity of daliya. In my case, it was 8 kevis or mini-bowls.

Add salt to taste - little less than 1 teaspoon  should be okay.

Mix it well.

Put the lid.

4. Cooking time:

Depending on how much time is available to you:

- we tried: keeping it on minimum flame until 1 whistle and then on medium flame until 2 whistles.

- If you want it quicker: you can go for medium flame all throughout, cook it until 3 whistles.

- Turn off the flame.

- Open the lid after a few minutes. 

- Garnish with finely chopped dhaniya (corriander).

- Serve it and enjoy the delicious daliya with your buddies.

5.  Give me your feedback!  :)

Cheers!

eReaders' survey (as of May 22, 2011)

(click on the above images, to view them clearly in new page/window)

> Very good website/blog for e-readers' reviews: http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/

e-Readers

Almost all the e-readers have audio (music), browser (for internet), mini-USB slot (for connection to PC).

Some also as micro-SD card slot.

Amazon Kindle-3:

(1) WiFi: $ 139 (Rs. 7000), (2) WiFi + 3G: $189 (Rs. 9500)

- Both 6" screen (diagonally)

- QWERTY keyboard

- Provision to make notes

- 16 levels of grayscale, makes you forget color! (Take it with a pinch of salt!)

Sony 'Reader Daily edition' (PRS950)

- 7" Touch screen (with stylus - but finger/nail also works fine!)

- $ 300 (Rs. 15000/-)

- Highlight. You can write "on the screen/pdf itself". It will be saved in 'bibliography-summary'.

- Dictionary. Select the word, right-click, click on dicitionary.

- Wireless: WiFi only (you can't download using 3G)

- Memory: expandable up to 32 GB

- Link

Onyx - Boox 60 (Boox X60)

- 6" Touch screen (with stylus).

- pdf: highlight, area-zoom, annotation

- Wireless: WiFi, CDMA, GPRS, 3G

- 16 level grayscale

- 4 models. Min cost $280 (Rs. 14,000/-)

- 300gms

- Memory: Int: 512 MB, micro-SD: 32 GB

- Link

Indian e-Readers:

1. Wink (by EC Media)

(1) WiFi: Rs. 9000, (2) WiFi + 3G: Rs. 13,750

- Both 6" screen (diagonally)

- Not 'color' yet.

- No Touch screen. QWERTY Keyboard

- Stores in Pune:

Croma, Pulse mall - I checked out the 5" (12.7cm) model. Not bad!

Koregaon Park: Reliance, Reliance Leisures Ltd, CTS No. 15/A 7/15 8/15 9/15,

Koregaon Park Near Taj Blue Diamond, Mobile/Phone No: +91-8108304945

2. Infibeam's Pi2

(Source: http://www.infibeam.com/Pi/Pi2.html?track=nl131 )

- Screen: 6", Resistive Touch, Black & White 8/16 grayscale, 600 x 800 pixels, 166 dpi, 122 x 91 mm, No backlight

- WiFi. Browser available.

- Rs. 10,000/- (as of Aug'11) + assured gift (which is 10 vouchers of Rs. 1000 each, to buy ONLY BOOKS / eBOOKS)

- Thickness: 11mm

- Weight: 235 gm

- Internal memory: 2GB

- AC adapter, 4 hrs charging time

- OS: Linux 2.6.28

- Memory: Internal memory = 2 GB (expandable up to 32 GB i.e. 10k books; micro-SD card); RAM: 128 MB

My choices:

1. Sony Reader Touch (7")

2. Onyx Boox X60 (6")

A User's Review on Sony's 'Reader' (source: Sony Reader's website):

I do wish the Sony had an option to use the digital keyboard for note-taking like you can use it for searching, etc, though. That would be nice (and more legible, as my touchscreen handwriting is atrocious!). The Sony 650 doesn't have wireless or 3G connectivity like some of the other devices out there now. This isn't an issue for me because I browse the internet more on my laptop or phone so it would be pretty redundant for me to have it on my reader as well. When put side by side, the font used on the Kindle seems to be darker with more contrast than the one used on the Sony 650. This seems like it's merely due to the choice of font style, not due to the Sony's screen being inferior in any way. As one reviewer has already mentioned, the sync software available for the reader is terrible. It crashes often and it makes browsing the Sony store very slow and cumbersome. I don't use it if I can possibly help it, not even when I had my 505. I use Calibre for my syncing needs. It syncs beautifully with the Sony reader, especially for tags and collections - all with a few clicks of a button. You can manage your ebook library, convert ebooks, download rss feeds so you can read blogs and news on your reader - it's just an amazingly useful program. One of the main reasons that I sent my Kindle back was because it was nearly impossible to make collections on it in any sensible way. Using Calibre to sync your collections saves time and a lot of headaches

For the first few days I did have a problem with my Sony 650 freezing at random times. It would always come back again when I did a reset, but it was happening quite a lot. I found out that it was due to a large PDF file on my SD card. I used Calibre to convert my PDFs to ePub format and reloaded everything onto my SD card again. Since then, I haven't had a single frozen screen, no matter how fast I try to flick the pages or access the menus. I'm assuming that one of the PDFs was just too large for the reader to handle as-is.

Right education needed (for young minds) at very early age!

Today, while jogging in the evening at about 7.30pm, when it is chilling cold in Pune, I noticed 4-5 kids of the age group of 8-10 years were burning dry wooden sticks/bamboo and paper like a bonfire and sitting-n-chatting around it. I had observed them couple times earlier also in the past few days doing the same thing.

This time I could not resist going and talking to them about it. So I went and asked one of the kids, "why are you burning these sticks?" He answered: "to warm ourselves, it is so cold here". He was wearing socks and canvas shoes. I asked him why don't you go and play (you will automatically feel warm). He said "I have finished playing, and now just sitting here".

Then other guy said, "hi uncle, do you remember me? We met while playing TT a few months ago". I asked him, "do you know how much pollution you are creating?" He replied in a very casual manner - "I know all that global warming". After a pause he said "all this affects the earth, why should I worry"! I persisted and asked "why? are you living on moon?". Upon that his reply was, "jab tak jeeyenge..." (i.e. I don't care how long I stay alive, why worry about all this?) (he didn't complete the sentence). I did not leave him, and asked: "Is it not affecting you?". He shied away and knowing that it does affect him, he still said 'no' in a low tone, trying to hide away his face.

I was surprised and sad at the same time, to see such careless attitude of a 10 year old kid, who is aware of the effects of global warming, but is consciously neglecting it. I left from there with a feeling that it is not his mistake, but he has not been given right training.

It just gives me the lesson that 8-10 years is not an early age to train the kids about their responsibility towards environment, which will be for the good of their own future.

Solar energy - some of my notes

CDMA vs. GSM; and about handsets

While researching on internet to decide about my new handset, I did get to know a lot about lots of terms, differences between GSM and CDMA technologies, and about the handsets. This post is under-construction, and will be updated (hopefully!). Here are some of the terms..

BREW

In short: It allows developers to write applications for CDMA handsets, and allows users with BREW-enabled handsets to download and use these applications.

Details: (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) is Qualcomm's open source application development platform for wireless devices equipped for code division multiple access (CDMA) technology.

BREW makes it possible for developers to create portable applications that will work on any handsets equipped with CDMA chipsets. Because BREW runs in between the application and the chip operating system software, the application can use the device's functionality without the developer needing to code to the system interface or even having to understand wireless applications. Users can download applications - such as text chat, enhanced e-mail, location positioning, games (both online and offline), and Internet radio - from carrier networks to any BREW-enabled phone.

BREW is competing for wireless software market share with J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition), a similar platform from Sun Microsystems. The initial version of BREW is solely for CDMA networks; later versions could be enabled for time division multiple access (TDMA) and Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) networks.

RUIM

In short: RUIM card is equivalent of SIM card used in GSM handsets. All CDMA handsets do not have RUIM card.

Details: A RUIM card (also R-UIM) or Re-Usable Identification Module, is a removable ID chip for cellular phones made for the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network. The RUIM card holds a user's personal information such as name and account number, cell phone number, phone book, text messages and other settings.

The RUIM card provides flexibility to switch phones by simply removing the RUIM card and slipping it into another card-enabled phone. The new phone would then be able to make and receive calls on the user's account without having to go through the carrier for activation.

Be Inspired

Be Inspired
(Source: http://www.punemate.com/)

"The idea of transformation is most often
symbolized by the butterfly which takes
a completely different form, “trans-forms”,
from one part of its life to the next."
In its earlier form it is usually a slow, “dull”, earth-bound consumer.
By going within, into its dark chrysalis, for a period of time,
the butterfly emerges to take flight into beauty and grace.

In Norie Huddle's book, “Butterfly” she writes:

The caterpillar’s new cells are called ‘imaginal cells.’
They are so totally different from the caterpillar cells
that his immune system thinks they are enemies… and gobbles them up.

But these new imaginal cells continue to appear. More and more of them!
Pretty soon, the caterpillar’s immune system
cannot destroy them fast enough.
More and more of the imaginal cells survive.
And then an amazing thing happens!

The little tiny lonely imaginal cells start to clump together
into friendly little groups.
The little tiny lonely imaginal cells start to clump together
into friendly little groups.

They all resonate together at the same frequency,
passing information from one to another.
Then, after awhile, another amazing thing happens!
The clumps of imaginal cells start to cluster together!
A long string of clumping and clustering imaginal cells,
all resonating at the same frequency,
all passing information from one to another there inside the chrysalis.

Then at some point,
the entire long string of imaginal cells
suddenly realizes all together
that it is something different from the caterpillar.
Something new! Something wonderful!
…and in that realization
is the shout of the birth of the butterfly!

Since the butterfly now “knows” that it is a butterfly,
the little tiny imaginal cells
no longer have to do all those things individual cells must do.
Now they are part of a multi-celled organism—
A FAMILY who can share the work.

Each new butterfly cell can take on a different job—
There is something for everyone to do.
And everyone is important.
And each cell begins to do just that very thing it is most drawn to do.
And every other cell encourages it to do just that.

A great way to organize a butterfly!”

*Adapted Version of Nori Huddle’s story from her book, Butterfly.