AA Edit | To a hydrogen-powered India

Like most other countries of the non-European world, India missed the industrial revolution, and when its benefits arrived under a colonial, imperial regime, it took the shape of an exploitative curse rather than a benign gift.

Independent India showed great resolve in implementing the green and white revolutions, but this they did more out of desperation and as a way out of extreme poverty and misery, with its back pushed to the wall. Not too different was the story when it came to our acceptance of other disruptive mass technologies including radio and the TV.

Even in the race for economic liberalisation, or the adoption of the policy of leviathan urbanisation or making telecom ubiquitous, India was slower than others such as China and South Korea. Only in a liberalised India, could we adopt the Internet and mobile technologies, making software and other services a buoyant industry capable of becoming economic engines that could fuel overall growth, generate mass employment and transform the lives of millions.

The Central government’s decision to launch the National Green Hydrogen Mission, with the objective of making India a global hub for green hydrogen, and its derivatives, and take the lead in its production, utilisation and exports, is one of India’s first attempts to be on an early curve of a new revolution.

India must also urgently add research and development to its armoury so that the highest value creation in this nascent energy sub-segment, with its potential for green and clean energy, is created in our country. Hydrogen, with its limitless and extremely low cost supply, can become a powerhouse for India’s next generation transformation, and for the first time in our history, we are not going to be missing the bus but being a pioneer instead.