To Power Without Power

And as the elections near, the speeches get more and more promising. And more entertaining. The great Indian democratic machinery has to be woken up from deep slumber after five years to ensure that the common man votes for the leader of his choice. Suddenly the Election Commission becomes the most important organization for the entire country. Not bad, I must say, after all, we still have democracy dictating the terms in this country.

This morning, I was reading the main page article in the newspaper that talked about one such speech given by a leader in a public meeting. The message given was, we are the wheels of progress and we promise progress along with social justice. What made the whole thing funny was the fact I was reading all this in a candlelight. Yea, in candlelight because of a regular power outage we have during that time. 

Power outages for hours - because there is an acute shortage of power - still makes you wonder about the progress that's been made by the elected governments. The situation's worse in villages and small towns where the power is out for hours together. So, just like all other years previously, power has become a major factor this election year too. In the past, governments have fallen after police fired at people who were protesting about the power situation. Power begets power. But the converse need not be true. I must say that the issue of power scarcity has been a major concern for almost since 3 or 4 elections that I remember. And it is still alive or at least comes to life during the elections. Even after so many years of "progress", there are some things about the political system that still nag you. They nag you so bad that you feel that we are progressing backwards as the rest of the world is moving forward.

The more I think about it, the more backwards I have to travel in time. To the days where we had something called the "load shedding", a term which the state-owned electricity companies invented to switch-off power during the nights, days and whenever other times possible for hours together. Why? Because they were not ready to admit that there was a power shortage situation the state could not solve. The state would not allow private sector to step in to help strengthen the grid. Private enterprises would mean a capitalist fleecing the common public with high rates for the power he generated and sold. Power was a state-owned business and nobody but the public was supposed to benefit. 

Noble thoughts indeed, but easier said than done. The power companies though established with good intentions were also inefficient in many ways. And no one benefited from their inefficiency. Well, having said that, to be honest, some did benefit, by stealing power from the power transmission lines and they still do. Some even stole the high-tension transmission wires because they were made of copper (subsequently the wires were changed to Aluminium which is not as good a conductor as copper is and results in massive power losses during transmission). So the people, who paid, also paid for the power that was stolen by others. And the wires too. It’s common news even today that some industries and residences steal power to save on huge electricity bills. Some of the politicians themselves have been indicted for such activities. 

Power is such an irresistible topic for elections, that you can’t help but keep the issue alive. Thankfully, with better sense prevailing, the governments have been able to involve private enterprises in power generation. Though this is coming at a cost, at least we are plugging the holes that would otherwise weaken the progress.

While all this happens, it will still be sometime before I can stop buying candles. Till that time, I will be reading about the ridiculous speeches on progress, development and modernization under candlelight. More about progress later.