One important provision of the Bill is to a National Transportation Policy with a view to establish a planning framework within which transport bodies and all forms of road transport would operate.
New Delhi Nearly half of the 1,000-Mw capacity addition envisaged under the first phase of the national solar mission is likely to miss the commissioning schedule, with technical and equipment availability issues hampering progress in project execution. Developers are required to commission these projects by May next as per the terms of the power purchase agreement (PPA). In case of default on PPA, they would be liable to pay penalty. Apprehensive that they could fail to meet the committed schedule on power supply, developers have approached the nodal ministry for extension.
Mhaswad Armed with the latest monsoon rainfall data, weather experts finally conceded this month that India is facing a drought, confirming what millions of livestock farmers around the country had known for weeks. For over three months, even state agencies have been providing free fodder to those most vulnerable to a shortfall in India’s annual monsoon — farmers who eke a living out of small landholdings and the milk provided by cattle.
New Delhi The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is likely to consider awarding of eight more oil and gas blocks that were offered in the ninth round of bidding under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), on Tuesday. The government had offered 34 areas for exploration and production of oil and gas in NELP-IX in 2010 and bids for 33 were received at the close of bidding on March 28 last year. Of these, CCEA in March awarded 16 blocks to firms, while bids for 10 blocks were rejected due to bidders offering lesser than expected profit petroleum.
New Delhi The Delhi government is drafting a new legislation that will provide a one-time amnesty to several illegal constructions, currently exempt from demolition on a temporary basis. The Union government had cleared a special legislation in 2006, offering amnesty to thousands of illegal constructions that were in line to be sealed or razed. The Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act was passed by Parliament on May 19, 2006, and has been extended several times since — with the latest extension valid till December 31, 2014.
New Delhi Adani refused power supply to GUVNL due to rising coal prices The Supreme Court on Monday admitted Adani Power’s appeal against the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity’s order asking it to supply power to state utility Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) at an agreed price of R2.35 per unit for 25 years. Adani Power had, in December 2009, terminated its 2007 power purchase agreement (PPA) with the state utility for supply of 1,000 mw power on the grounds that it would not be possible to supply electricity at the earlier agreed tariff of R2.35 per unit due to high coal prices.
Perspectives of industries and non-government bodies often differ on environment protection norms. While NGOs insist on putting in place the most stringent environment safety standards, industries often find it difficult to comply with such norms. Similarly, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-government organisation, and public sector steel maker SAIL are unable to agree on what would be the right green norms for the steel industry.
New Delhi Scientists, farmer bodies and industry associations alike have slammed the parliamentary panel on agriculture for suggesting a probe into the go-ahead for commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal, India's first genetically-modified food crop. They have also criticised its recommendation for a ban on the field trials of such crops,terming the report as “unscientific and partisan”. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) had approved commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal in 2009, but the then environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, had put an indefinite moratorium on the decision following protests.
New Delhi State-run oil explorer ONGC said on Saturday it has made a huge oil discovery off the west coast that will help the state-owned firm raise its sagging oil output. The new discovery was made in
Kolkata Steel maker SAIL has decided to outsource development of two huge virgin iron ore mines at Rowghat in Chhattisgarh and Chiria in Jharkhand, a company official has said. ‘‘Rowghat—which will have a capacity of 14 million tonne per annum and Chiria— 15 mt are crucial for SAIL’s capacity expansion,’’ Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) director (raw materials & logistics) AK Pandey told PTI here. ‘‘We have decided to develop these two mines through mine developer-cum-operators. We hope to get a good response in this route being tried for the first time by the company,’’ he said.
New Delhi Maharashtra has banned the sale and distribution of the genetically modified cotton seeds of Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) with immediate effect on charges of supplying inferior quality seeds, a senior state government official said on Thursday. “Mahyco has not received any official communication from the Maharashtra government about the cancellation of its license to sell Bt cotton seeds in the state,” the company said in a statement. “Mahyco has complied with all the guidelines set by the state agriculture department and has always provided required information to the agriculture department....We will address the concerns raised by the authority once we have received the official communication from the department,” the statement added.
