Its just March and Vashi ( Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra), where my family lives, already faces upto three hours of power-cuts everyday. My friend who lives in nearby Khargar announced that power-cuts would be further increased to 6 hours, as it currently is in areas such as Dombivili. Folks who have big homes and the budgets are putting in invertors. But what about people who cannot afford them?
My grand-parents are in their 70's and 80's. Sairam, the baby of the house is one. My grandpa uses the plastic hand-fan for about hf hour at times to ensure Sairam naps undisturbed during the power cut. And my heart-aches that they suffer so. I have been ruminating about this whole thing for a week now. Today I found this article in BBC.
Do I see things getting better? Yes, but not through the big power projects. I feel strongly that alternative sources of energy and electricity are the answers to our woes to a great degree. Bio-gas may not be a viable solution for cities but are a fantastic option for small towns. The answer to cities though lies largely in solar energy. I do feel its potential is not fully explored. Recently when looking for solar fans I found scores of websites to buy products in the US. The only website I did find for India was this Solkar one. But there is no mention of where it can be bought in India. They do have an option for people in the US to buy and gift a solar table fan and light to their folks back in India. How about letting people here buy one on their own? Why aren�t more such products marketed actively in India?
Anyways here are a few interesting solar energy in India related weblinks:
Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF)
Indiasolar.com
Renewingindia.org
Living in Grace 
There is this place in Pune that also supplies the panels that utilize solar energy.I don’t know the details, but my friend used them to run everything in his house. Surely Satya would know about them since its his home town.
I want to use them for the Panvel house, so if you find out more, do tell me.
mitts
Hey Mitts. No, he doesnt know. Solar Panels are easier to obtain, I hear, but getting a fan that runs on them is the challenge. I’ll let you know when I find out more.–>