The Political Economy of Power

India has taken a long time to arrive at a reasonable direction for the improvement of the power sector. For long it has been difficult to strike a proper balance between the commercial viability of the sector and the imperative need to make power available even to those deficient in resources to pay for it. This paper discusses the various issues in the sector and the present state of the reforms programme. It sees some room for hope growing understanding of the sector that seems to have developed among policy-makers.