Key Concepts

The important terms and ideas introduced in this chapter, with brief explanations, are given below.

• Infrastructure — the network of support structures and public services (roads, railways, power, telecom, education, health, sanitation, the monetary system, etc.) that facilitates the development of a country.
• Economic infrastructure — infrastructure connected with energy, transportation and communication, which directly supports production.
• Social infrastructure — infrastructure connected with education, health and housing, which supports development indirectly by building up the social sector.
• Commercial sources of energy — energy sources that are bought and sold in the market — coal, petroleum and electricity; they are generally exhaustible (except hydropower).
• Non-commercial sources of energy — energy sources found in nature and not traded — firewood, agricultural waste and dried dung; they are generally renewable.
• Conventional and non-conventional sources — commercial and non-commercial sources together are conventional; solar, wind and tidal power are the non-conventional sources.
• Transmission and distribution (T&D) losses — the electricity lost between generation and final consumption, so that what reaches the user (the net availability) is less than what was generated.
• State Electricity Boards (SEBs) — the state bodies that distribute electricity; many run large losses due to T&D losses, wrong pricing and theft.
• Global Burden of Disease (GBD) — an indicator of the number of people dying prematurely from a disease and the years they spend disabled by it.
• Morbidity — proneness to fall ill; a measure of the incidence of ill-health in a population.
• Health infrastructure — hospitals, doctors, nurses and para-medical staff, beds, equipment and the pharmaceutical industry needed to deliver health care. …