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World's large population lives in remote areas where electricity is unavailable or unreliable supply. For electricity supply, a low‐cost, minimum‐emission hybrid renewable energy system is necessary due to power shortages or unavailability, high electricity costs, and large greenhouse gas emissions. The current work develops a standalone hybrid power generating system and assesses its techno‐economic feasibility for rural sites in the Lucknow area of Northern India. To address the electric load requirement, the proposed work includes a system that includes a solar photovoltaic (SPV) module, a lead‐acid battery, a wind turbine (WT), and a diesel generator (DG). The system is sized and optimized using the hybrid optimization of multiple energy resources software. In this off‐grid system, the proposed system is intended for a home load need of 52.00 kWh/day with a peak of 11.04 kW. The technical and financial specifications are drawn from the local Indian market for the proposed standalone system. In this article, seven different resource combinations are investigated. A combination of 13 kW DG, 16 kW SPV, 50 kWh lead‐acid battery, 9 kW inverter, and 4 kW WT produces the best optimal system. With a 98.4% renewable portion, the cost of energy and total net present cost are $0.162/kWh and $57 390, respectively. The sensitivity analysis inflation and discount rates are 5.5% and 8%, respectively. As a consequence of the findings, we can conclude that the suggested standalone system is more cost‐effective for rural areas in Northern India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reprint is presented of the article "Politics of Identity, Caste, and Religion in India" by Asghar Ali Engineer, which appeared in the June 13, 2010 issue of the newspaper "Dawn." It discusses identity politics in India in terms of caste and religion. It is noted that the traditional caste system, although officially abolished by the country's constitution, persists in many regions. The question of whether questions about caste and religion should be included in the Indian census is discussed.

The question of future of secularism in India is very important particularly at this juncture. Secularism was never meant to be the indifference to religion by our leaders and freedom fighters, who realised that India is a highly religious country. That is why even the most orthodox Hindus and Muslims accepted it as a viable ideology for India. But after independence Indian secularism followed a tortuous course and religious fundamentalism has grown dangerously in the last few decades. The Bhartiya Janta Party and the Sangh Parivar, in particular, are likely to intensify the Hindutva agenda in the future. In these political circumstances the future of secularism does not seem to be bright in the short run. But in the long run, India’s bewildering culture of pluralism, dating back many centuries, economic progress in the future and the well-established Indian democracy are factors that point to a more stable and secular polity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]