Govt bats for LED bulbs again, wants mass use

The government today called upon people to use energy-efficient LED bulbs, saying every unit of energy saved can be used to light the home of a poor household.
"Every unit of energy we save can be used to light the home of a poor person. I urge all to use LED bulbs. #ILEDTheWay," Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet.
Maintaining that India has one of the least energy consumption levels in the world, Goyal said still 250 million people go without power.
"India has one of the least energy consumption levels in the world - 1,100 units per capita. Still, 250 million people go without access to energy," the minister tweeted.

"If all 770 million bulbs are replaced with LEDs, India will save 100 billion units in power consumption every year."
The state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) is distributing 4 lakh LEDs per day under the DELP programme without any subsidy, which will be scaled up to 10 lakh a day later this year, Goyal said.

It has been able to procure LED bulbs for about Rs 73 per piece as of June, down from Rs 310 in February 2014, a reduction of over 75 per cent.
"After all where does terrorism originate from. We all
recognise that terrorism does not have any religion. Terrorism does not have origins necessarily in one country or few countries alone. World is grappling with terrorism. If you go into the root cause analysis of terrorism, it will come out of economic deprivation," Goyal said.

He said that even in India there are 150 districts affected by Maoists and their activity is attributed to economic deprivation.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu at the event called for investment in infrastructure as it is one sector that is going to take the world economy to the next level.
"When you invest in infrastructure, the nature of infrastructure is such that where infrastructure goes that geography will be benefited the most. That is one way to look at it.
"Actually the value chain, the supply chain which is involved in making infrastructure in a particular geography, will have huge potential to create demand of a very different magnitude in different parts of the world," Prabhu said.

He said that India needs USD 250 billion investment in the infrastructure sector which needs financing from right sources.
"Banks cannot have normal household saving finance infrastructure. We are trying to finance long-term infrastructure needs with short-term financing source. That is not going to happen," Prabhu said.
He said that countries across the world need to sit on a round-table to discuss issues with investors and resolve it.
"Actually getting proper investors interest in policy making is very key to the success of policy itself. Having realised that public investment in infrastructure will not suffice alone, we are going for public private partnership model," Prabhu said.

He said that the best option available with the government to finance infrastructure is pension fund.
"Pension fund can be right source because that matches profile of infrastructure as well as the pension fund itself," Prabhu said.