India’s solar energy push, border anxieties and political shifts

MORE THAN A DECADE AGO, THE WEEK visited eco-evangelists Sumangala and Arun Deshpande at their home in Ankoli, in Maharashtra’s Solapur district. The Deshpandes playfully called the largely agrarian district SolarPur. “Because a farmer is the most efficient harvester of solar power. He collects the dispersed energy and gives it to you as food,” Arun told THE WEEK.

When I read Chief of Bureau (Delhi) Namrata Biji Ahuja’s interview with Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, who shepherds the new and renewable energy portfolio, Arun’s words came to mind. Namrata opens the interview with an observation on the changing role of the Indian farmer from annadata (provider of food) to also urjadata (provider of energy). And before you pillory Namrata and me for not clarifying that food is also energy, in urja we meant the stuff that powers your phone and not the calories that put kilos around the waist.

This issue of your favourite newsweekly is on renewable energy and how India’s push in the sector has meant a great deal to rural India, and farmers especially. In the lead article, Senior Assistant Editor K. Sunil Thomas picks two schemes that championed the change: PM-KUSUM, which was aimed at the de-dieselisation of agricultural pumps, and PM Surya Ghar, which drove the installation of rooftop solar plants for domestic consumers.

The cover story has interviews with Director General Ashish Khanna of the International Solar Alliance and Vineet Mittal, chairman of Avaada Group, one of the bigger players in India’s green energy ecosystem.

A different kind of energy has taken over Europe’s streets these days. Just as electricity is a good slave and a bad master, violent protests take attention away from the focus of the grievance. From Portugal, our contributor Job Rinol writes about the housing crisis that is fuelling anger there. Portuguese house prices rose 124 per cent between 2015 and 2024, Rinol says.

Closer to home, Special Correspondent Prema Rajaram covers the angst of a village on the India-Bangladesh border. They have no quarrel with the fence coming up; they fear losing land to the government. If there were at least some compensation, they could move elsewhere, villagers told THE WEEK. It is a life far removed from what we have ever known, dear reader.

Among other articles, Senior Assistant Editor Pratul Sharma takes the political temperature of Goa, as the assembly polls are expected in February 2027. He spoke to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who was confident of the BJP returning to power, but did not commit to a seat target.

Senior Special Correspondent Kanu Sarda interviewed Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, who answered questions about interesting issues like the master-of-roster arrangement and his friendship and disagreements with former Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud. Justice Kaul’s memoir, Without Fear or Favour, will have been released by the time this magazine reaches you, dear reader.

Prince Mathews Thomas, who has joined us as Business Editor in Mumbai, looks at the very successful Jio IPO. This is not Prince’s first copy in THE WEEK though, as he was a trainee in Delhi two decades ago.

Senior Assistant Editor Sanjib Kr Baruah interviewed Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh, who retires on October 31. The detailed interview covers his 41 years in the Indian Air Force, and the tenure at the top.

Given a chance, I would have wanted to know more about why the chief brought out the 1967 Ford V8 Galaxie for the 94th Air Force Day celebrations earlier this month. And, looking at the response to the car online, I am not alone.