Central Water and Power Research Station, Khadakwasla, Pune, India
Online published on 20 January, 2014.
Power requirement in the country is increasing every year as there is severe imbalance between the demand and supply. Though it was observed that there is great potential for the country to generate hydro power, still the production is not as much as resource available. According to one estimate India has the potential of producing 1,50,000 MW of hydro power of which about 20 percent has been harnessed so far. Many projects are under construction to increase the hydro power production. The major areas considered are the Himalayan based river systems in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and some North Eastern states. But whenever dam protagonists go for dam construction, antagonist are always there to detract them showing the cases of failure of dams and thereby consequences. Buildingup of dams has been the bone of contention between the environmentalists and the policy makers since many decades. These kinds of complicated issues can be better addressed with SWOT based approach. SWOT technique is a strategic managerial tool useful in matching the system to the social environment in which it operates. In the present context, with the help of SWOT approach the authors tried to explain how to overcome the negative factors of hydropower development in Himalayan region with the positive factors.
