Girish Sant (1966–2012) was a noted Indian energy analyst held in high esteem as an energy policy commentator from India. He co-founded the non-governmental organisation Prayas in Pune, India. His analytical inputs helped shape India's energy policy over the decades of the 1990s and 2000s. He was considered an effective team builder and mentored several energy researchers and activists.
Formative years Girish spent his childhood in Thane, and joined IIT Bombay in 1982 for BTech in Chemical engineering. After completing BTech in 1986, he also completed Masters in Energy Systems in 1988 from IIT. Girish's years in IIT Mumbai brought out his leadership, team building and mountaineering skills. He was an accomplished mountaineer and rock climber, and made important rock climbing ascents with fellow mountaineers including the first ever climb of the Konkan Kada. He was an active member of the IIT Mountaineering Club and also the Institute Mountaineering Secretary during 1985–86. During his stay at IIT, particularly during his Masters study, Girish started thinking about full-time work in a field of direct social relevance along with friends – Ajit Gaunekar and Aniruddha Ketkar. He started interacting with Subodh Wagle, then research fellow at Center for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas, with whom he explored appropriate technologies, rural society and related developmental paradigms.
Entry to the energy sector By 1988, when Girish completed Masters in energy systems, he developed a clear idea that he wanted to work for the betterment of society and not for personal prosperity, using his professional skills on issues related to energy. He relocated to Pune and initially worked as a lecturer in an engineering college, undertook sporadic energy audit and industrial consultancy projects and then worked at Systems Research Institute. This was a period of exploration along with other like-minded friends – Shripad Dharmadhikary, Sanjeevani and Vinay Kulkarni – that brought him closer to people's movements, particularly the NBA. During this period he came across the Development Focused End Use Oriented (DEFENDUS) approach to power sector planning developed by Prof. Amulya Kumar N. Reddy. Subsequent interactions with Prof. Reddy shaped his thinking and work in the energy sector in the early period. By this time, Girish started working with Shantanu Dixit who continued to be his colleague for the rest of his life. Analytical motivation from DEFENDUS, along with the support of friends and a scholarship from Dr. Ashok Gadgil, led to his first major work on development of a least cost plan for Maharashtra. Development of the least cost plan, its dissemination to various quarters and subsequent responses from power sector actors and activists contributed to his understanding of the energy sector and the broader political economy and institutional dynamics of the sector in India. This was also the time of reforms for the power sector in India, which witnessed entry of projects such as Dabhol Power Company built by Enron. Girish, Subodh and Shantanu were able to see the long term implications of such projects and reforms for the Indian power sector and economy at large. Realising the need to de-mystify such complex projects and to highlight their implications for people of the state and the country, they worked relentlessly to unravel the complex power purchase agreement of Enron and communicate the devastating impact of the project to activists and the wider community. These early experiences shaped his vision for the power sector as well as his strategic and substantive approach to work in the energy sector.
Formation of prayas, institution building and approach to policy analysis
In 1994, his work in the energy sector evolved into the formation of Prayas, Initiatives in Health, Energy, Learning and Parenthood along with Sanjeevani and Vinay Kulkarni. Girish believed in and ensured teamwork and democratic working of the group. Under his leadership, the Energy Group within Prayas (PEG), which started with three people, expanded to a team of over 15 researchers from a variety of backgrounds. Girish had the ability to connect with a wide range of professionals, which attracted senior researchers as well as young engineers to join Prayas. Girish was particular about encouraging intellectual and substantive growth of colleagues, and supported new initiatives in the form of Resources and Livelihoods group of Prayas as well as academic interests of young researchers. Girish paid meticulous attention to the internal processes within Prayas and ensured that proper procedures were followed. Many peers and friends of Girish consider his institution building abilities as important a contribution and achievement as his substantive work in the energy sector. Girish assisted the likes of Sucheta Dalal, then a columnist in the Times of India, in understanding the controversial Dabhol power project and the Enron India scam that they unearthed. Girish emphasised the need to be agile and to undertake strategic interventions in the sector. High quality and in-depth analysis, comprehensive approach, and prioritising interests of disadvantaged sections became the hallmark of his work and he successfully cultivated these principles across PEG. He believed that improving governance in infrastructure sectors like energy has the dual advantage of improving lives of the poor as well as saving public money that can then be spent on other services such as education. He successfully motivated and actively supported many young researchers to take up the task of policy advocacy in the energy sector based on public interest analysis. In spite of several accomplishments and achieving an important stature in the energy sector in India, Girish remained humble and self-effacing, as is reflected in many of the tributes on his memorial webpage and in the Smriti Grantha (or Collection of Memoirs). He was mild mannered and soft-spoken, even when trying to convince someone holding a contrary opinion. This quality endeared him to many in the sector resulting in increased impact.
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