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The government of India is preparing a new national policy to deal with the country's acute deficit of generating capacity. Addressing a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee on power, Minister of Power Y.K. Alagh said the policy would adopt a two-pronged approach: a long term policy would define the role of the State Electricity Boards (SEBs) and public sector power generating companies; and a short term policy would focus on improving inter-regional transmission systems and improving efficiency of existing power plants operated by the SEBs. As part of its new policy, the government is considering privatising the SEBs, splitting them into separate generation and distribution companies in the process.