Nexus Debate // "Choke Point: India", Washington DC/USA and webcast

The presentation by Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue's senior editor and chief correspondent, encompasses India's globally distinct contest for resources in India's food-growing Punjab region, coal mining regions in Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya, solar and wind development in Rajasthan, and hydro-electric construction in Uttarakhand. India's ambition to be a modern influential state is driven by decades of technical innovation and policy initiative to secure adequate supplies of energy, food, and water. A nation that has known hunger solved that challenge by fostering popular programs that provide free electricity for pumping free water to farmers. But in providing such valuable resources at no charge, India has generated an inefficient cycle of ecological and economic risk that wastes energy, impedes economic performance, and produces serious ecological and public health risks. Huge grain surpluses are endemic and rot in warehouses. Though India's electrical generating capacity has more than doubled over the last decade, most of it fueled by coal, India's mining companies cannot keep pace with rising demand. New power plants run below their generating capacity due to fuel shortages. Brownouts and blackouts are endemic. Clean energy alternatives are not close to achieving mainstream status. And India's hydroelectric development is seriously hindered by the difficulty and danger of building new power projects in the Himalayas.

Webcast

There will be a live webcast of this event at the {http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/choke-point-india-wilson-center-circle-blue-joint-initiative|website of the Wilson Center}.

Speakers and Discussants

Speaker

-Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue

Discussants

-Upmanu Lall, Columbia University -Michael Kugelman, Woodrow Wilson Center -Diego Rodríguez, World Bank