In search of structured business model for renewable energy expansion in India

While overall power generation in India has been increasing over the years, the coverage of households in the energy access net (with 38% of total households or over 500 million people having no energy access) and availability of supply (at only 5-6 hours/day) are still prime concerns for the Government.  In such a scenario, is renewable energy an alternative given the shortage of supply from conventional sources, with over 30,000 MW stranded power plants, commitment of the Government to set up 100 Smart Cities, High-speed/Semi-speed Rails, Industrial Corridors and more beyond that ‘power to all’ by 2022’ Through this study, an attempt has been made to understand the socio-economic-environmental impact of renewable energy expansion and examined the factors that govern the feasibility and/or viability in meeting the ambitious clean energy target of 175 GW set out by the Government. The key determinants of renewable energy are found to be functionality variation, the pattern of household’s energy consumption, willingness-to-pay, behavioral change in tariff and cost, grid integration, energy efficiency and access to cheap green finance. Selective implementation of a combination of On-Grid, Off-Grid, and localized Mini-Grids application and flexible revenue modalities such as ‘Pay-as-you-go’ in off-grid areas and ‘Net-metering’ or ‘Feed-in-tariff’ concept in grid-connected areas are best suited. Further, enforceable renewable purchase obligation, renewable generation obligation, faster and efficient implementation of renewable energy certificates as tradable commodity, carbon trading as a source of revenue, green marketing, mobilization of funds under corporate social responsibility and single procurement of all renewable energy by a centralized unit would go a long way in achieving the renewable targets

In search of structured business model for renewable energy expansion in India

While overall power generation in India has been increasing over the years, the coverage of households in the energy access net (with 38% of total households or over 500 million people having no energy access) and availability of supply (at only 5-6 hours/day) are still prime concerns for the Government.  In such a scenario, is renewable energy an alternative given the shortage of supply from conventional sources, with over 30,000 MW stranded power plants, commitment of the Government to set up 100 Smart Cities, High-speed/Semi-speed Rails, Industrial Corridors and more beyond that ‘power to all’ by 2022’ Through this study, an attempt has been made to understand the socio-economic-environmental impact of renewable energy expansion and examined the factors that govern the feasibility and/or viability in meeting the ambitious clean energy target of 175 GW set out by the Government. The key determinants of renewable energy are found to be functionality variation, the pattern of household’s energy consumption, willingness-to-pay, behavioral change in tariff and cost, grid integration, energy efficiency and access to cheap green finance. Selective implementation of a combination of On-Grid, Off-Grid, and localized Mini-Grids application and flexible revenue modalities such as ‘Pay-as-you-go’ in off-grid areas and ‘Net-metering’ or ‘Feed-in-tariff’ concept in grid-connected areas are best suited. Further, enforceable renewable purchase obligation, renewable generation obligation, faster and efficient implementation of renewable energy certificates as tradable commodity, carbon trading as a source of revenue, green marketing, mobilization of funds under corporate social responsibility and single procurement of all renewable energy by a centralized unit would go a long way in achieving the renewable targets

Control of Ralstonia solanacearum Infection in Tomato, Brinjal and Capsicum by antibiotic sensitivity test

Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the important dreaded soil’s borne bacterial phytopathogen which causes enormous losses in the crop plants in tropical, subtropical and temperate region of the world. In India, the disease is highly prevalent and active throughout the year where the soil is acidic in the Eastern Plateau and Hill Region. Once the disease is established in the field, it cannot be controlled by chemical means. Keeping these in view, screening of potential antibiotics for the management of R. solanacearum was done. In the present study, three strains of R. solanacearum were isolated from Brinjal, Tomato and Capsicum. Against these three strains of R. solanacearum, four antibiotics were screened through food poison techniques viz. Kasugamycin, Streptomycin, Ceftriaxone and Gentamicin. The different strains of R. solanacearum and antibiotic sensitivity showed varied response. Among the screened antibiotics, Gentamicin showed strong antibacterial efficacy which inhibited 100% Colony-forming Unit (cfu) at very low concentration (1 ppm) followed by Ceftriaxone which inhibited >50% cfu at 1 ppm against all three strains. However, Streptomycin also showed antibacterial efficacy and inhibited >50% cfu at 3 ppm, but Kasugamycin was found less antibacterial as compared to other tested antibiotics and inhibited >50% cfu at 4 ppm

Trichoderma asperellum, a potential fungal biocontrol agent against Aspergillus niger

Trichoderma asperellum is free-living, ubiquitous fungus which is very common in the habitat of soil and root ecosystem, is known as a potent opportunistic, avirulent plant symbionts and it parasitizes several soilborne phytopathogens. Aspergillus niger is well known black mold which causes several storage diseases. Among the storage diseases, black mould disease of onion is an important disease which is caused by A. niger. Antagonsitic potential of T. asperellum was assayed against three isolates of A. niger [RC1, RC2 (isolated from soil samples of Farm 1 and 2) and RC3 isolated from diseases onion]. Antagonistic efficacy of T. asperellum of A. niger almost similar against all the test isolates. Percentage inhibition of radial growth (PIRG) of A. niger by T. asperellum inhibited 55.17% within five days, 77.20% within 7 days and 92.06% in 12 days. Antagonistic efficacy of T. asperellum can be exploited in the management of black mould disease of onion

Optimization of the Observing Cadence for the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time: A Pioneering Process of Community-focused Experimental Design

© 2021. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. This work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a ground-based astronomical facility under construction, a joint project of the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, designed to conduct a multipurpose 10 yr optical survey of the Southern Hemisphere sky: the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Significant flexibility in survey strategy remains within the constraints imposed by the core science goals of probing dark energy and dark matter, cataloging the solar system, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. The survey’s massive data throughput will be transformational for many other astrophysics domains and Rubin’s data access policy sets the stage for a huge community of potential users. To ensure that the survey science potential is maximized while serving as broad a community as possible, Rubin Observatory has involved the scientific community at large in the process of setting and refining the details of the observing strategy. The motivation, history, and decision-making process of this strategy optimization are detailed in this paper, giving context to the science-driven proposals and recommendations for the survey strategy included in this Focus Issue.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Critical evedenciarcy analysis of 26/11 attacks with reference to cyber-terrorism

By thorough analysis of Mumbai terrorist attacks of 26/11, it was observed that the attacks were form of Cyber terrorism as it was done to convey particular destructive message to the government, sending of threatening emails, defacing of government websites, hacking and cracking of crucial government systems. 'Protected systems' were compromised and civil amenities were disrupted. Digital information systems computer networks which not only affected governing system but also the population of a target area was affected to create a panic or situation of threat. Computer and digital communication networks were main tools of extremists in this case. Also, Supreme Court judgement on Mumbai Attacks case, in para number 57 specifies about use of Google Earth, tampering with telecommunication networks and digital networking shows that the Attack was done by was done by Hi-Tech offenders. Although electronic eavesdropping often yields valuable data, even tantalizing clues can be missed if the technology is not closely monitored, the intelligence gleaned from it is not linked with other information, or analysis does not sift incriminating activity from the ocean of digital data as traced by Inteligence agencies of US, UK and India during investigation of attacks.</jats:p