Welcome to the Proposals Library of AltKuznets Advisors Pvt Ltd., Your Sustainability Nirvana !

St. Patrick's Day? Nah ! Ganga Prasad G. Rao http://myprofile.cos.com/gangar 'Life ain't easy for a sociologist' thought Patrick. How does a problem that is entirely the onus of inefficient producers and profligate consumers in a third-world country turn a 'problem child' of a Sociologist in a developed, even environmentally exalted nation? Surely, we did not create solid waste....and spread it around....or hire children, barely toddlers, in to lifelong slavery? If we weren't consulted in the matter to start with, why would it be dumped upon us for resolution.....and that too in the evanescent 2 weeks of summer in the upper reaches of Quebec? Jeez, even Guantanamo criminals enjoyed more summer! But summer work is summer work, particularly when his sponsor, now visiting India with this family, had paid for 3 summer courses that he was cramming in to his resume to graduate by August and move to latitudes closer (but not too close) to those whom he envied. Glad...

Ganga Prasad Rao http://myprofile.cos.com/gangar Disclaimer : As with other columns and blogs in this series, the author makes no claims to factuality, or the outcomes therefrom. The author also explicitly rejects culpability for any financial, environmental, legal or other undefined impacts that might follow from adopting this proposal. For decades, even the US, the nerve center of capitalism, evaded economics in its environmental policy-making despite evidence inefficient regulations were costly to the environment and the economy. Instead, it chose to persevere with medical risk benchmarks and technological innovation to guide its environmental programs and standards. Then came the pollution trading schemes in which firms and industries could trade their current and future emissions with each other and re-allocate production resources to jointly achieve economic and environmental goals. It was theoretically sound, practically feasible, and demonstrably a success. But, there has been ...

Consumer Activism Vs Energy Economissm ? Ganga Prasad G. Rao http://myprofile.cos.com/gangar Ever so often, we come across those occasions when our professional prudence is extended and challenged by ethical dilemmas. Physicians weighing the pros and cons of referring a patient for a procedure or to a specialist not unaware of the gain to their practice; an HoD extending the PhD program of a candidate to squeeze out a couple more semesters of teaching to avoid a costly faculty recruitment; even policymakers and bankers winking lagged-asynchronously with the RBI when it comes to monetary moves that shake up the bourses. But would it be 'harakiri' of an Energy Economist to break the bounds of his discipline, tear the fence of professional decency and question the  logic of revised power tariffs - self-interest or otherwise? Just the past month, the Chief Minister of TN proposed the revised power tariffs applicable for various classes of TANGEDCO customers. Surprise, surprise....N...

Regulatory Lines and Cost-Benefit Lessons Ganga Prasad G. Rao http://myprofile.cos.com/gangar Trekking is for lovers, or so one would believe. Why else would anyone walk miles of treacherous serpentine paths to be stung by spines and bees, suffer sunburns and risk exhaustion, only to turn around and walk what would be the equivalent of twice those miles? Brett though, was an exception. His love for trekking was an expression of his freedom, and distaste for the mundane and the routine. Working for the Strategy Group within the Industry-Government Regulatory Panel, IGRP, was supposed to be a breeze. Some considered it a liaison job and looked down upon him, but Brett, the Regulator on the Panel, did not care to stoop low and respond. Instead, what bothered him now, as he ambled along the trekking path, was the perpetual pressure to come up with new concepts and ideas that were at the same time incrementally more efficient, more equitable, and did not engender externalities. Ain’t that t...

Half-Money, Full Sustainability! Ganga Prasad Rao http://myprofile.cos.com/gangar The media was full of news – of the wrong kind. Food colors and flavors poisoning the young yet growing their brains, muscles, and bones (Kidneys are disposable, aren’t they? Hey,…what are stem cells for!). Plastic bags choking every drain, nook and corner of our commons. Detergents with chemicals so toxic they put nuclear materials to shame. Untreated effluents and solid waste despoiling the rivers and our landscape. Industries, caught in the capitalist ‘more profit’ trap, shunning every social responsibility to fulfil the lifestyle expectations of investors abroad. There was no resolution to the problem despite much talk, reams of paper, twitters, blogs, even U-tube videos. Wasn’t anyone smart enough to find a common denominator across these seemingly disparate issues and design a strategy that addressed them together, simultaneously? Perhaps the media does affect our sensibilities, for an idealist who ...

Boursing My Way to Utopia ! Ganga Prasad G. Rao http://myprofile.cos.com/gangar ….And Alice woke up, all blurry-eyed, not remembering a word of what she had penned while in Wonderland. After staring and blinking a few seconds, she dozed off again in to another dream, this time just as exotic. Yes, something wasvery ‘grotesque’. The entire global financial system was in disarray. Panic ruled the markets.Buffeted between fears of currency crisis, global depression, and sovereign default, the entire financial community was looking for deliverance from their Messiah. But would the Messiah deliver on their pleas? Call it the Big Lord’s design, Satan’s test of character, or cruel fate, but the Messiah was none other than a half-baked, unemployed albeit worldly-wise Economist, who, oblivious to the utter desperation in the financial community, fancied his hand at putting the world in order, and blog his resolution to the travails of the global markets. And, pray, what was his message? The Mes...