Post-independence condition of Power or Energy in India.
Power or energy is a crucial input into all economic activities and therefore rapid economic growth is possible only if adequate power is made available everywhere. It is essential not only for growth of industry, agriculture and commercial business but also for household lighting. In India, the percentage of households having electricity connection has increased from 56 in 2001 to 67 in 2011. Thus even now about 33 per cent of households have no electricity connection. Besides, for achieving rapid economic growth on sustainable basis, there is need for rise in productivity.
The rise in labour productivity ultimately requires greater use of electric power which is obtained from primary sources such as coal, oil and gas. Consumption of energy by the various countries of the world varies significantly. The United States and other developed countries use or consume much higher energy per capita as compared to the developing countries such as India.
The data of per capita consumption or use of energy for some selected developing and developed countries along with their per capita income for the year 2009. It will be seen from the table that per capita energy use in 2009 in USA was 7503 kilograms of oil equivalent while in India it was only 545, that is, energy use per capita in the USA is 15 times higher as compared to India. No wonder that the per capita income of the USA was 45,640 PPP $ as compared to India’s 3,280 PPP $, that is, about 15 times higher than that of India. In fact, the data in the table shows that there is a very high degree of positive correlation between per capita energy use and per capita income of a country.
That is, the greater the energy used per capita of a country, the higher the per capita income and productivity levels of a country. This shows the importance of increasing energy production for economic growth.
In case of India, according to the Twelfth Plan projections, total energy production will reach around 670 million tonnes of oil equivalent (MTOE) by 2016-17 and 844 MTOE by 2021-22. This will meet around 70 per cent of expected energy consumption of the Indian economy and the balance will be met through imports. Thus, even though the domestic production of energy in India is projected to increase significantly, dependence on imports will continue to remain high, particularly for crude oil where nearly 78 per cent of the demand will have to be met through imports by the end of the 12th Plan (i.e. by March 2017).
Further, it is estimated by the Planning Commission that the import dependence for coal, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil taken together in the terminal year (2016-17) of the 12th Plan is likely to remain at the 11th Plan level of 36 percent. It is worthwhile to note that the potential for energy generation depends upon a country’s natural resource endowments and the technology used to harness them. India has both non-renewable energy resources (such as coal, lignite, petroleum and natural gas) and renewable energy sources (such as hydro, wind, solar, biomass).
