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  • Building on a solid foundation

    In initialling an agreement on cooperation in setting up additional nuclear power plants, India and Russia got around a glitch that had affected the long-standing relationship. The two countries can now start drafting commercial contracts, and perhaps even undertake some preparatory work, for constructing two additional reactors at Koodankulam. However, India may not be able to take further steps to operationalise the deal before it concludes negotiations with the Internat ional Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group. These negotiations being held under the terms of the 123 agreement with the United States could break down. New Delhi has of course been bending over backwards in its efforts to stay on the right side of Washington. It was for this reason that India refrained from signing the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement even when it was pressed to do so by Russia's President Vladimir Putin during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Moscow in November 2007. With the initialling of the bilateral agreement during Russian Prime Minister Victor Zubkov's return visit earlier this week, Moscow has been provided some assurance that it will have the inside track when the scope for India-oriented nuclear commerce is widened. India and Russia were able to sort out differences over the utilisation of the rupee debt fund, placed at Rs.8,000 crore, during Dr. Singh's November visit. In New Delhi, Mr. Zubkov announced that the newly launched titanium project in Orissa had been identified as a target for this fund. Given the depth of the strategic relationship between the two countries, the lack of a substantial increase in bilateral trade is disappointing. Future prospects do not look bright either, since the two countries think they can at best increase commerce between them from $3 billion to $10 billion by 2010. Whether expectations will be exceeded after a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement is finalised is an open question. Mr. Zubkov has responded positively to the proposals put forward by Petroleum Minister Murli Deora for cross-investments in the energy sector. India is particularly interested in acquiring a stake in the Sakhalin III and other major petroleum projects in far-east Russia. India's commercial and industrial enterprises perhaps need to be reminded that there can be destinations other than the West. The cultural shows to be organised during the current "Year of Russia in India' will, hopefully, serve this purpose.

  • Three trees to get the axe on Nungambakkam High Road

    Making way: Workers cut down a tree on Nungambakkam High Road on Friday.

  • CIL may spend Rs 1,800 cr on coal imports in 11th plan

    Coal India (CIL) will have to spend around Rs 1,800 crore for importing over 200 million tonnes (mt) of coal valued at current international prices to meet domestic demand during the 11th Five-Year Plan period, according to the public sector behemoth's latest estimates. The imports are necessitated due to a number of letters of assurance (LoA) issued by the coal ministry recently. The LoAs have been issued to different independent power producers, captive power producers, cement and sponge iron units. CIL's estimates, worked out on the basis of applications received by way of LoAs issued to different coal consumers, reveal that the total domestic coal demand during the 11th plan period would be around 773 mt as against the projected production of 520 mt. CIL has received 400-odd applications for the 11th plan period, taking the total coal demand figure to around 773 mt. This leaves a shortfall of over 200 mt to meet domestic requirement. However, the state-run company has also worked out a second conservative estimate of 706 million tonnes for the period. This estimate is based on the feedback that some power units may not be able to commence production during the period. Highly placed CIL sources said, "A necessity for imports is genuinely felt if actual demand and supply are taken into consideration during the 11th plan. Talks on imports have just begun and we have to work out the issue in the shortest possible time to cater to requirements.' For the first time, the new coal distribution policy, announced a few months ago, has kept provisions for meeting domestic coal demands through imports and that might have prompted CIL to work out its internal assessments till 2011-12. The imports would come mostly from Indonesia, South Africa and Australia. Internationally, prices of non-cocking coal are ruling at $90 a tonne. The average domestic price of the product is Rs 800 a tonne. According to CIL estimates, the major part of the domestic demand for coal would come from power plants, taking up about 533 million tonnes, followed by sponge iron, cement and captive power units. Till date, the coal ministry has issued LoAs to 64 new and upcoming units.

  • Five new cases of meningococcemia

    The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has recorded five new cases of meningococcemia in the city taking the total number of cases so far to 53. Eight deaths due to meningococcemia have been recorded so far this year. "We have recorded 29 cases from Delhi and 13 from Haryana; the rest have come in from other neighbouring States. The symptoms of meningococcemia include fever, rashes on the body, severe headache, stiff neck and nausea,' said an MCD official.

  • Rashtrapati Bhavan to have a Palm Garden

    The sprawling President's Estate that already boasts a Herbal Garden, a Nakshatra Garden, a Spiritual Garden and a Tactile Garden for the visually impaired will soon have a new patch of green -- a Palm Garden that will have on display an assortment of palm trees. The proposal has already been given the go-ahead by the President's Office and the garden staff is now working out the details of the garden that will be the newest attraction at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Palm Garden will be President Pratibha Patil's second gift to Rashtrapati Bhavan. She had planted a Jamun tree to inaugurate the Nakshatra Garden on her birthday this past December. According to sources, while the President -- who is fond of the fragrant "mogra' and the colour "basanti' -- has planted cypress (saru) and tulips, her husband Devisingh Shekhawat is interested in the Herbal Garden and has planted a "rudraksha' in the Spiritual Garden. Apart from increasing and maintaining the green cover at the President's House, efforts are also being made to make the place eco-friendly. "Steps will be taken to segregate waste generated inside Rashtrapati Bhavan and use of plastics will be greatly reduced. The President wants Rashtrapati Bhavan to be seen as an example of an eco-friendly unit. The residential units inside the estate would be encouraged to segregate their waste,' a Rashtrapati Bhavan source explained.

  • Rs. 1,000 MSP for paddy recommended

    Political parties have been demanding parity with wheat for kharif season NEW DELHI: The Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices has recommended that the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy be fixed at Rs. 1,000 a quintal for the common variety and at Rs. 1,050 a quintal for the A grade variety for the 2008-09 kharif marketing season. Several political parties have been demanding that the support price for paddy be raised to Rs. 1,000 a quintal to bring it on a par with wheat. The support price for wheat this rabi is Rs. 1,000 a quintal as against Rs. 850 a quintal last year. The MSP for paddy at present is Rs. 745 a quintal for the common variety and Rs. 775 a quintal for the A grade. This included a bonus of Rs. 100 a quintal announced by the Central government after several political parties exerted pressure to raise it. The Commission said the estimated costs of paddy production put out by State governments were "much higher' than those estimated under the Comprehensive Scheme of the Directorate of Economic and Statistics. It, however, warned of an overall increase in the price of essential commodities in 2008-09 due to the "tight supply position.' The CACP suggested that the MSP for jowar be fixed at Rs. 840 (hybrid) and Rs. 840 (maldandi). For maize and and bajra, it recommended a support price of Rs. 840. It said the MSP for tur (arhar) could be Rs. 2,000, moong Rs. 2,520 and urad Rs. 3,520. The MSP it recommended for groundnut was Rs. 2,100, soyabean (black) Rs. 1,350 and soyabean (yellow) Rs. 1,390. The MSP for sunflower should be Rs. 2,215, nigerseed Rs. 2,405 and sesamum Rs. 2,750, it said. It recommended that the support price for cotton be Rs. 2,500 for a staple length of 24.5-25.5 mm and Rs. 3,000 for a staple length of 29.5-30.5 mm. In its recommendation to the Ministry of Agriculture, the Commission said it had taken into account the cost of inputs for all crops based on consultations with all stakeholders including State governments, scientists, farmers, millers and traders. The Ministry will take a view on the Commission's recommendations before placing them in the Union Cabinet for approval.

  • Lankan waters heavily affected by pollution

    The waters around Sri Lanka are among the most heavily damaged and polluted ocean regions in the world, a study has revealed. The research by a team of American, British and Canadian researchers was published in yesterday's edition of Science. Activities like water and air pollution, overfishing, commercial shipping or greenhouse gas emission are continually damaging the planet and there is no sign that they will ever stop. Apparently, the most affected areas are "the North and Norwegian seas, South and East China seas, Eastern Caribbean, North American eastern seaboard, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, Bering Sea, and the waters around Sri Lanka, the study said. The survey, analysing all 17 activities through which humans impact the oceans, and their conclusion was that every square mile of the ocean has been damaged in some way. The researchers have designed a map that emphasizes and explains the results of their study. The map was released at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston and published in yesteday's edition of the journal Science, the Associated Press reported. "Our results show that when these and other individual impacts are summed up, the big picture looks much worse than I imagine most people expected. It was certainly a surprise to me,' said lead author Ben Halpern, an assistant research scientist at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara, according to the Associated Press. The oceans around the polar areas are the least impacted, but scientists predict they will be damaged more and more in the following years, as long as the global warming continues. "There were two things we didn't anticipate,' Halpern added in the telephone interview. "Every single spot in the oceans was affected by at least one human activity ... we figured there'd be places people just hadn't gotten to yet.' Some good news is that, in the Congress yesterday, the House voted the approval of $454 million for ocean exploration programmes and studies over the next seven years, at the National Geographic and Atmospheric Administration. Ben Halpern still has hope that things can be improved. "There are some areas in fairly good condition. They are small and scattered, but have fairly low impact. That suggests that with effort from all of us, we can try to protect these patches and use them as a guideline for what we'd like the rest of the ocean to start looking like,' he stated. e-News

  • IGL to take gas to Ghaziabad

    The company will begin with Piped Natural Gas and Compressed Natural Gas NEW DELHI: The State-owned Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) is all set to extend its operations beyond Delhi. To begin with, it will launch supplies of the eco-friendly Piped Natural Gas (PNG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for the residents of Ghaziabad in the next financial year. Reliable sources revealed that IGL, which has the licence to develop gas distribution in Ghaziabad, bordering Delhi, is expected to start operations from the first week of April. Sources said IGL Managing Director Om Narayan had written to the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry seeking allocation of 0.2 million metric standard cubic metres per day (MMSCMD) of natural gas for meeting the PNG and CNG needs of Ghaziabad. Joint venture A joint venture of the Gas Authority of Indian Limited and the Delhi Government, IGL owns a city-wide gas pipeline network of 1,250 km in the Capital. It has 145 CNG stations. The No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation Limited now entitles IGL to develop, finance, operate, own and maintain natural gas distribution system to supply gas to domestic, commercial, industrial and CNG for the automotive sector. IGL has carried out the route survey for laying the pipeline network and permissions have been applied for. The Ghaziabad Development Authority has also cleared allotment of land for setting up CNG stations in the city. The decision to opt for CNG and PNG follows the decision of the Supreme Court to curb pollution levels in cities. IGL had carried out a detailed feasibility report for implementation of city gas distribution project in the cities of National Capital Region, including Ghaziabad. It has assured the UP Government that the gas pipeline distribution network will be so designed that at least 25 per cent of the capacity can be utilised for other supply companies.

  • Coal-fired power plant construction to be expedited

    The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NPTC) are exploring the possibility of expediting the construction of 500 MW coal fired power plant in Trincomalee, Power and Energy Ministry official said. Power and Energy Minister W.D.J. Senevirathne held discussions with Indian Commerce Minister Jairam Ramesh in this regard in Colombo recently. CEB and NTPC officials will visit the proposed site at Nilaveli, Trincomalee in the coming weeks, the official said. Senevirathne said a new jetty would be constructed close to the site and the Trincomalee Town would also be developed under the project. Indian Minister Ramesh had assured that India would provide assistance to develop the energy sector. He said India would expedite construction of the India-Lanka inter-transmission line through which India hopes to export electricity to Sri Lanka at cheaper rates. The minister said India would assist in the development of renewable of energy such as wind and solar power. Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Alok Prasad expressed willingness to assist in the rural village electrifying project in the Eastern Province.

  • Foresters to kiss and make up with tribals, Bhavai style

    It's time for some sweet-talk, folk drama, street plays and

  • Two new planets discovered

    Researchers have discovered two planets in a solar system 5,000 lightyears away that appear to be structured in some important ways like our own. The planets are gas giants similar to but smaller than Jupiter and Saturn. In addition, they circle their star at a distance proportional to the distances of Jupiter and Saturn from the sun. "This is the first time we've found a Jupiter-like planet in the same system as a Saturn planet,' said Scott Gaudi of Ohio State University, lead investigator. The discovery, published in the online edition of the journal Science, lends support to the long-held belief of many astronomers that there are many planets orbiting their stars in ways similar to our solar system. The simultaneous discovery of two planets is rare and this was the first time researchers had the opportunity to do so using a technique called gravitational microlensing, which magnified the light of the distant star 500 times.

  • Give tribals their due

    The agitation in Polo is a result of the forest department's failure to understand the spirit of the law passed by the Parliament. The Scheduled Tribes and Other

  • Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan fails in basics

    Creating basic infrastructure in schools was the most important goal of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the government's most ambitious scheme to provide education to all children in the 6-14 age group. Reports, however, point out that the government has a long way to go as a vast number of schools are still devoid of basic facilities like classrooms, drinking water and toilets. According to a report by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NEUPA), under the human resource development ministry, about 30 per cent elementary schools in the country do not have a pucca building for holding classes. This when the government has been consistently increasing the allocation for the scheme. The government has been collecting a 2 per cent cess on all taxes from 2004-05 to fund the SSA and the mid-day meal scheme. Statistics from all schools imparting elementary education (more than 80 per cent of them are government schools) show that a primary school has on an average only 2.8 classrooms for classes I-V. The minimum requirement is five rooms. The number is 4.1 for all schools (primary and upper primary). An upper primary school requires around eight classrooms. The survey found that of the existing rooms, only 72.96 per cent are in good condition, the other being vulnerable to adverse weather conditions like rain. The data show that more than 60 children sit in one room in more than 16 per cent schools This is in sharp contrast with public schools, which have one room per 20 children. More than 50 per cent schools do not have a boundary wall. Around 58.1 per cent primary and upper primary schools have common toilets for boys and girls. Around 15 per cent schools do not have access to safe drinking water. This means lakhs of children stay either thirsty or have to drink unsafe water. Under the mid-day meal scheme, the government allocates money for constructing kitchens in government and aided schools. But data show that by 2006-07, only 29.36 per cent schools had kitchen sheds. Officials, however, emphasise that the dropout rates are coming down and enrolments are increasing. The allocation for the SSA is Rs 10,671 crore for this fiscal. The ministry wants about Rs 18,000 crore for the programme in the next fiscal. The SSA and the meal scheme are run with the money collected from the 2 per cent education cess on income tax, excise, Customs duty and service tax. The proceeds from the cess are credited into the Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh. About Rs 10,393 crore is expected to be transferred to the fund during 2007-08.

  • Jindal Power eyes 4,500 mw in 4 yrs

    Jindal India Thermal Power, a subsidiary of the BC Jindal group, is planning a power generation capacity of more than 4,500 mw in four years. Jindal Power will invest Rs 20,000 crore for the capacity, expecting high returns. "We expect 15-18 per cent return on investment for these projects,' said Director Punit Gupta. Though power is a regulated return sector, private sector companies have managed to better the 14 per cent return that the regulator allows. The Jindal group, which follows many other private sector companies in diversifying into power, is setting up the projects in the coal-rich states of Orissa, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. While it is planning a 2,000 mw project in Madhya Pradesh, for which a memorandum of understanding will be signed with the state government shortly, work on the 1,200 mw plant in Orissa is in progress. Financial closure of the Rs 4,400 crore Orissa project is expected by next month-end. The company also expects to procure main plant equipment (boiler-turbine-generator) through bidding. The project is expected to be commissioned by September 2010. "In Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the states have the first right to purchase of 30 per cent of the power, while in Orissa it is 25 per cent,' said Gupta. The rest of the power will be contracted through PTC India. The company is also planning a foray into hydroelectricity.

  • Co-management of electricity and groundwater: An assessment of Gujarat's Jyotigram Scheme

    In September 2003, the government of Gujarat introduced the Jyotirgram Yojana to improve rural power supply. Two major changes have since taken place: (a) villages get 24 hour three-phase power supply for domestic use, in schools, hospitals, village industries, all subject to metered tariff; and (b) tubewell owners get eight hours/day of power but of full voltage and on a pre-announced schedule. It has, however, offered a mixed bag to medium and large farmers and hit marginal farmers and the landless. This article offers an assessment of the impact of Jyotirgram, and argues that with some refinements it presents a model that other states can follow with profit. Feb 16-22, 2008

  • World's most accurate atomic clock developed

    Washington: Physicists have developed a new atomic clock that surpasses previous records for accuracy of current US time standard, making it the world's most accurate atomic clock. Developed by physicists at JILA, a joint institute of the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder, the new clock is based on thousands of strontium atoms trapped in grids of laser light.

  • $100 million Swiss ethanol plant project in jeopardy

    A Swiss company's $100 million plan for setting up maize-based ethanol generation plant near Port Qasim has been jeopardised due to poor law and order situation in the country. Sources in Sindh Environment and Alternative Energy Department told Business Recorder on Friday that the poor law and order and political instability have put the project in doldrums as the company is reluctant to invest in the country in present scenario. Without naming the Swiss firm, sources said that a high-level delegation of the firm has called on Mohammadmian Soomro some six months back in Islamabad, when he was Senate Chairman to brief him about the project. Soomro had asked the delegation to work jointly with Board of Investment and Planning Commission to remove the financial and legal hitches in the plan. Later, the Alternative Energy Development Board was asked to see the possibility of setting up the plant near Port Qasim, the sources said, adding that the AEDB had also started feasibility study of the project in collaboration with Swiss firm. Sources said the firm was also intending to invest in large-scale projects in oil and gas sector. Sindh Alternative Energy department had also announced setting up of a $110 million ethanol plant on which AEDB was working but this project was also in doldrums owing to indifference of the officials concerned. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

  • Another solar system' found

    Astronomers Discover A Scaled-Down Version Of Our Planet System Washington: Astronomers and amateur stargazers have used an unusual technique to find a solar system that closely resembles our own and say it may be a new and more productive way to scour the universe for planets

  • Vedanta' out, SC admits Sterlite plea

    What's in a name? Apparently, everything, given the manner in which the Supreme Court has reacted to Norway's expulsion of the Vedanta group from its "investment universe' allegedly for environmental and human rights violations. While dealing with a controversial mining project in Orissa, SC replaced one subsidiary of the group with another simply because the latter does not bear the name Vedanta.

  • Gerrymandering, poverty and flooding: A perennial story of Bihar

    Bihar's fall from a state with healthy socio-economic indices to now being one of India's least developed states has been drastic. The major failures lie in governance, and in the downfall of the agricultural sector. A study of the perennial story of flooding and relief measures and the consequent failure of agriculture show how disorganised the state of affairs is. Feb 16-22, 2008

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