Srinagar, Apr 13: Jammu & Kashmir has figured at the bottom of the NITI Aayog’s State Energy and Climate Index (SECI), which was released on Monday.
The SECI ranks states and union territories on six parameters – Discoms’ performance; access, affordability and reliability of energy; clean energy initiatives; energy efficiency; environmental sustainability and new initiatives. The index is based on 2019–20 data.
According to the Index report titled “State Energy and Climate Index” with an overall score of 29.3, Jammu & Kashmir is placed at 32nd spot among states and union territories – which is the bottom of the index.In the category of UTs, J&K figures at 6th rank in the index. The report is expected to come as a wakeup call for enviornmental sustainability needs in the energy policy domain of Jammu & Kashmir.
Goa topped NITI Ayog’s State Energy and Climate Index(SECI) in small states category with a score of 51.4points.
Gujarat, Kerala, and Punjab have been ranked as the top three performers in the category of larger states.
The key findings of the report/index document show 24 states had aggregate technical & commercial (AT&C) losses of more than 15 per cent in 2019-20, while India’s average T&D losses was 21.3, which is more than twice the world average and much above the desirable range of 6-8 per cent and India’s average per capita energy consumption is low at 272 kgoe (kilogram oil equivalent).
The other findings include Renewable Energy (RE) penetration was 19 per cent of total electricity generation and CNG vehicle penetration was 1.2 per cent of the total numbers of registered vehicles. In the environmental sustainability parameter, the forest cover has increased by nine per cent, which is a remarkable progress at national level, and India’s average per hectare carbon stock was observed at 98.4 tonnes, which further needs to be improved, it said.
“Among Union Territories of Chandigarh, Delhi and Daman & Diu/Darda & Nagar Haveli (both combined) are the top three performers, and Andaman & Nicobar, J&K and Lakshadweep are the bottom three performers,” reads the report.
The overall data used for Jammu & Kashmir includes Ladakh, which is functioning as a separate UT from October 31, 2019.
“Due to non-availability of separate data for two UTs (J&K and Ladakh), Ladakh is not shown as a separate UT in this index. However, from the next round of the index, the data for J&K and Ladakh will be collected and shown separately,” the report states.
—(With KNO inputs)
