Why Not  Five Vs Five Mr Prime Minister?

Dipankar Mukherjee

PRIME Minister Vajpayee, while dedicating three power projects to the nation, which were commissioned six months back, last week reportedly lamented that the achievement of his NDA government in power sector could not be highlighted because of the dismal performance of power sector during the last 50 years. This was incidentally an official function and not an election meeting. But that did not deter him from putting forth his party’s electoral slogan of so-called “Five Vs Fifty years rule.” One need not be an admirer of the fifty years rule but the performance of NDA government in power sector during 1998-2003  Vs the earlier years speaks for itself.

• During VIIth plan (1985-90) the country added 21,000 mw.  In the VIIIth Plan (1992-97) it was 16,000 mw. In the IXth plan the capacity addition was 19,000 mw against the target of 40,000 mw. In the current X plan, against the target of 41,000 mw, the projects under execution and likely to be completed by 2005-06, are reportedly 19,139 mw.  The achievement therefore lies more with fixing high target for public consumption without any improvement in implementation.

• In 1997-98 before the NDA came to power the energy shortage was 8.1 per cent and peak shortage was 11.3 per cent. In 2002-03, the same has increased to 9.1 per cent and 12.2 per cent respectively.

• Interestingly the generation showed a growth of 40 per cent (from 301  billion units to 422 BU) during five years preceding the NDA rule.  During the period from 1998-2003, it has gone up by 30 per cent (422 BU to 550 BU) only.

•   Average tariff rate for both domestic and agricultural sector has increased by 2-3 fold during the NDA regime.

•  The shining glory of the NDA government, which has pleased the corporate lobby is, of course, the legislation of Electricity Bill, 2003 which would privatise the power sector and  `remove the cross-subsidies so that  access to electricity is further denied to  rural and urban  poor  including farmers. 

• The NDA government can also take pride in the  $3 billion power plant  which is lying idle for the past 32 months without generating a single unit of electricity. Enron’s 2184 mw Dabhol Power Company, which was financed by domestic lenders like IDBI to a large extent, is a sordid saga of political somersault of the BJP and its ally Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. After vowing to throw the Enron project into the Arabian sea once they came to power, Vajpayee government’s only contribution in power sector during its 13-day rule in 1996 was to extend counter-guarantee to the same project. Subsequently, the BJP-Sena government permitted Enron to erect  this plant  with an enhanced capacity. 

Power sector is not the only area where this bogus campaign of  Five Vs Fifty   years rule is being propagated by the BJP campaign managers. In every sector, the dismal performance of the present government is being covered up with such half truths or untruths. Even the prime minister’s chair on an official occasion  with the emblem of  Satya Meva Jayate  in the background is also being utilised for this purpose. Mungeri Lal  made people to dream. Natwarlal robbed people with sweet talk. There is a combination of both in the campaign of  “Shining Wallah” pracharaks.  Why go back to  fifty years,  “Five Vs Five”   is  enough to reveal the truth.