Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
Among major projects stalled awaiting new legislation are Posco, ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel and Coal India More than a century after it was drawn up by British colonial rulers, India's land acquisition law is finally set for a revamp that promises to breathe life into scores of frozen industrial and infrastructure …
The State is likely to get some relief from the power crisis in the coming days with the Centre reportedly asking the Coal India and Singareni Collieries Company managements to ensure supply of coal for generating 350 MW power to the fuel-starved thermal generation stations at Simhadri and Ramagundam. Though …
Shaken by the adverse comments made by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the government’s captive coal blocks allocation policy, the coal ministry is planning to conduct a fresh audit of all cement, steel and power companies that have been allocated such blocks. The aim is to ensure the …
So, why the power crisis? Reasons are deeply systemic & extremely worrying. There is no doubt that supply is constrained The power outage in northern India on two days should not be dismissed or misjudged. Analysts are jumping to the conclusion that the crisis was foretold. They blame delays caused …
Rejecting charges of wrongdoing in coal block allocations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said the government has already initiated the process of cancelling mines to companies which failed to develop them and action would be taken against 'wrongdoers' if any. "We have initiated action to cancel the allocations of …
While the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) thinks the private coal miners could rip off Rs 1,85,591 crore from the state, the coal ministry has had to threaten companies with invoking bank guarantees to make them work on their mines. The threat was issued this month by an inter-ministerial group …
Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Wednesday accused the Opposition-ruled Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Orissa of blocking the smooth implementation of the competitive bidding process, initiated by the Centre in 2004. At a press conference here, he said the competitive bidding process for coal blocks allocation could not be implemented due …
Competitive bids for coal blocks need to be so designed as to rev up operational efficiency on the ground Coal, the country’s main source of commercial energy, remains mired in opacity, non-reform and worse. There’s the pressing need to overhaul market design and have multiple non-captive, commercial producers in coal …
Business: The coal ministry on Wednesday said the charge that private companies benefited to the tune of Rs 1.86 crore as estimated by the CAG is untenable as the auditor's observations about “windfall gains” from the allocation of coal blocks without auction were highly debatable and subjective. Insisting that a …
Reforms, competition in distribution and ending coal monopoly are the only antidotes to power failures The power failure in India on July 30-31 was big news in US media. When the radio and TV stations began calling with the question whether this spelt the end to India’s claims to global-power …
PARTHA S BHATTACHARYYA FORMER CMD, COAL INDIA Make it Transparent, Incentivise End-Users As the debate on CAG’s report on the allotment of coal blocks without auction continues, the process of further allotment through auction needs to commence at the earliest. This is because an increase in coal availability at an …
When the country’s attention has got focused on the issue of coal block allocation, those closely associated with the coal mining sector here are especially pointing to the amendment in the Coal Mines (nationalisation) Act, 1973, which allowed private sector participation in captive coal mining for power generation and a …
While the CAG is right about resource allocation through competitive bidding, mineral resources are universally let out on annual lease and not auctioned off for a lump sum. India needs to follow global precedents and not reinvent the wheel. Shortly before the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster, the US interior …
New Delhi In a deviation from the existing policy barring domestic coal linkage for power projects bid out on the basis of fully imported coal use, the government is set to clear domestic coal allocations for six such projects totalling a 4,650 MW capacity. Of these six projects belonging to …
Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has rejected the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s conclusion that coal blocks allocation helped private companies gain Rs. 1.86 lakh crore. Talking to journalists after the report was tabled in Parliament on Friday, he said: “The policy adopted to allocate coal blocks was not faulty. There could …
The Congress-led UPA government responded aggressively to the three reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), which accused it of pursuing policies that conferred benefits upon private companies while depriving the exchequer of revenue. The government fielded two ministers—minister of state V Narayanswami and minister for coal …
The coal allotment controversy is a fallout of an old state monopoly, inefficiency and a complete lack of coherent policies Now that the CAG’s report on coal mine allocations has seen the light of day, the resultant controversy could push the government to create a regulator for the sector. A …
New Delhi: It’s official now. The comptroller and auditor general has said that the government extended windfall gains of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to private players by distributing coal blocks without bidding over years, escalating UPA’s fight with the opposition over corruption amid the latter’s calls for Prime Minister Manmohan …
New Delhi: Pointing out that the government extended windfall gains of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to private players by distributing coal blocks without bidding over years, the CAG has said, “A part of this financial gain could have accrued to the national exchequer by operationalizing the decision taken years earlier …
Rejecting the CAG report, the Government said Friday that coal block allocation to private firms were done in a transparent manner. Defending the allocation, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said, "There could not have been a better policy than this.” The CAG has come to the conclusion that the Coal Ministry …
