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1.5 lakh MW to be added in 10 yrs: PM
SC lambasts PSEB for delay in connections to farmers
2 Bills mooted for unorganised labour
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Centre monitoring Bangladesh
situation,
says Pranab
Modi to stay put: Advani
CTBT has lost relevance: Kalam
Kalam favours indigenous passenger aircraft
Buta clips Adviser’s wings
Rights panel serves notices on cops
UN project to check AIDS
Rain hampers rescue operations
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1.5 lakh MW to be added in 10 yrs: PM
New Delhi, August 20 “The exploitation and development of various forms of energy and making energy available at affordable rates is one of our major thrust areas”, he said. Stating that energy was a vital input for economic development, the Prime Minister said the country had come a long way from producing just 3,000 MW to 1,27,00 MW as of today. Chairperson of the National Advisory Council Sonia Gandhi said as world oil prices were skyrocketing, the renewable energy sources assumed importance which had been also stressed by the President in his Independence Day speech. Besides other uses, she said renewable energy offered a solution to one of our serious problems of urban waste, which could be used for generating electricity and thus lead to clean life. The Minister of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Mr Vilas Muttemwar, said in India there was a huge potential of producing 2 to 3 lakh MW power from non-conventional sources in the coming 20 to 25 years. Underlining the need for utilising these sources like solar, wind and bio-mass, he said of the present need of about 2.5 lakh MW, only about half was being met. He said his ministry was working on providing grid quality electricity to 25,000 remote villages which would not be connected with grid by 2012 through the renewable energy sources. The minister said renewable energy clubs were being formed in 1,300 engineering colleges and technical institutions with a grant of Rs 25,000 per annum by the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, which would help development of renewable energy technology and present this as a career option. District advisory committees had been set up in 465 districts for accelerating the use of RE devices and removing obstacles in the way. |
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SC lambasts PSEB for delay in connections to farmers
New Delhi, August 20 The commission, in its order in 2003, though had directed the PSEB to pay the compensation at the rate of Rs 10,000 with 12 per cent interest for not granting electricity connections to farmers who had applied in 1986, a Bench of Mr Justice Ashok Bhan and Mr Justice S. B. Sinha modified the order by reducing the compensation to Rs 5,000 with 9 per cent interest, saying this would “sub-serve” the interest of justice by taking into consideration the peculiar circumstances of the case. Several farmers, led by Zora Singh, had initially moved the District Consumer Forum, alleging that despite their depositing the security with the PSEB long ago, they were not being granted the electricity connections. The forum, in its order on August 4, 2003, held the board guilty of not honouring its commitment and directed it to award the affected farmers compensation as well as electricity connections within the specified period. The commission had quantified the compensation when the board filed an appeal as well as the interest on it from the date the security amount was deposited by the farmers. Dismissing the PSEB’s appeal against the commission’s order, the apex court said as per board’s own circular, the time limit for granting electricity connection for various types of consumers had been clearly specified. It was three months for large industries, two months for medium industries and agriculture pumping supply, two or six weeks for small industries and two weeks for domestic consumers, the court pointed out. “The board had failed or neglected to supply electrical energy to a large number of agriculturists and the National Commission had secured the presence of (PSEB) Chief Engineer who gave an assurance and undertaking that while maintaining the seniority list (of applicants) electricity connections would be given to all complainants by March 31,2004,” the court pointed out to its counsel, senior advocate Ashwani Kumar. “The board in terms of the regulations was obliged to display the reasons for delay on the notice board. They were also required to indicate the probable date of supply thereafter…and such cases were also required to be brought to the notice of the Chief Engineer (Operation),” the court said, reminding the PSEB that the compliance of the statutory requirement of granting electricity connection within the stipulated time limit had not been brought on record. “We find from the records that the persons had applied for grant of electricity connections as far back in 1986 and the board had asked them to deposit security amount only sometimes in the 1999,” the Bench said, adding that if the PSEB was serious to implement its own circular, it was “obligatory on it to draw a blue-print so as to enable it to make supply of electrical energy to the consumers in order of seniority of applicants upon procuring the requisite materials thereof. But it failed or neglected to do so.” The court also rejected the argument of the board that it was facing financial crunch, holding that it was under obligation to notify the persons concerned stating the reasons why the connections could not be granted to them within specified period. If the board was “cash-starved owning to any faulty decision” on the part of the State of Punjab or had suffered losses due to certain direction issued by the government due to its policy decisions, “the same being an internal matter between the state and the PSEB. The prospective consumers cannot suffer therefor for it,” the court said. It further reminding the board that under the Indian Electricity Act supply and distribution of electricity was “indisputably” a public utility service and the law cast upon a duty on a licencee to supply the energy as per prescribed terms and conditions. |
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2 Bills mooted for unorganised labour
New Delhi, August 20 Addressing a press conference here today, the acting Chairman of the Commission, Dr K. Jayashankar said that the rationale underlying this division of the Bills was to ensure a smooth and effective implementation of the proposed legislation, in view of the fact that the objectives sought to be achieved through these two Bills were different in nature. Elaborating the provisions of the two Bills, he said that the Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Bill 2005 would cover all workers in the unorganised sector with a monthly income of less than Rs 5,000. There would be a national minimum social security cover comprising health insurance, maternity benefits, life insurance and old age pension for all eligible workers. The scheme, which creates an entitlement for all registered workers, did not seek to replace the social security schemes that had been introduced for selected groups in a number of states. The national minimum social security cover would be a contributory one, with contribution by workers. The government would add one rupee per day for each worker. For workers belonging to the BPL households, the contribution would be borne by the Central Government. The number of workers was estimated to be around 30 crore. The financial implications of the proposed Social Security Scheme for all 30 crore workers would be up to Rs 32,850 crore of which the share of the Central Government would be Rs 17,548 crore and that of the state government Rs 5,010 crore. This added up to a total of Rs 22,558 crore. This was equivalent to 0.8 per cent of the GDP of the country in 2004-05. Taking into account administrative expenses, as well as expenses for capacity building and related activities, the upper boundary of the public outlay on the scheme would not exceed 1 per cent of the GDP, he added. The second Bill i.e. Unorganised Sector Workers (Conditions of the Work and Livelihood Promotion) Bill, 2005 sought to address the question of conditions of work for wage workers in the unorganised sector with a view to providing a basic minimum standard on hours of work, payment of minimum wages and adherence to Bonded Labour Abolition Act and Child Labour Prohibition & Regulation Act, he said. As for self-employed workers, the Draft Bill had proposed various measures for protection and promotion of livelihoods. These relate to the provision of credit, right to common property and natural resources, use of public space to engage in economic activities and encourage the promotion of associations of self employed workers. Dr Jayashankar felt that these two Bills taken together would go a long way in creating a much-needed floor for providing a measure of social security as well as minimum acceptable standards with regard to conditions of work. |
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Centre monitoring Bangladesh
situation,
says Pranab
Kolkata, August 20 Mr Mukherjee visited the border district in Murshidabad and spent the whole day there in holding official as well as political-level talks and meetings. He also enquired about the situation in the Malda border at Adampur where the BDR and the BSF were involved in an exchange of fire during the past 24 hours following a dispute over the anti-erosion work of the Mahananda embankment. This morning, a girl and a man were injured in the firing by the BDR and were admitted to the local BSF hospital. The firing, which began at 8 a.m. today, was stopped at 1 p.m., after the district authorities of both countries held peace talks over the phone. The Defence Minister described the recent blasts in Dhaka and elsewhere in Bangladesh as alarming. He said the Centre was continuing official-level talks with Bangladesh in persuading it to launch an operation against militants who had been operating inside Bangladesh and also in the Indian territory from various training camps and hideouts there. Mr Mukherjee said the Centre was also negotiating with the Nepal Government for launching a Bhutan-type flush-out operation against the MCC and other militant groups in Nepal as suggested by the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. |
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Modi to stay put: Advani
Gandhinagar, August 20 Mr Advani told mediapersons that the functioning of the state government was eliciting praise from all quarters and he was happy with its performance.” I have no doubt that this government can provide an efficient and transparent administration which will measure up to the expectations of the people”, he said. Reacting to the action taken against Mr Madanlal Khurana, Mr Advani said that he had himself pointed out that he would not be able to function efficiently and so the party relieved Khurana of his charge. Mr Advani’s statement coming as it did at a time when the dissident group had launched an offensive for the removal of Modi, effectively poured cold waters on their plans and was a shot in the arm of the Chief Minister. The dissident group in Gujarat also sought to distance itself from Khurana on the plea that they had nothing to do with it and that could be his own personal view. “We would continue to press ahead with our demand”, one of them said. Meanwhile, a large crowd gathered here tonight for the dedication of the renovated Vastrapur talao to the people of Ahmedabad and raised slogans in support of the Chief Minister. Also noticeable on the stage at the ceremony to be performed by the BJP national president were Mr Gordhandas Jhadapia and Bharat Pandya besides a galaxy of ministers and BJP leaders, including state party president Vajubhai
Vala. |
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CTBT has lost relevance: Kalam
Bangalore, August 20 Speaking to children of various schools of the city during an interaction organised by the Karnataka Rajya Vidhan Parishad to mark its silver jubilee celebrations, the President said the CTBT had become relevant in India’s case after it became a nuclear weapon state in 1998. However, it lost its relevance later on when the country adopted a nuclear doctrine which did not allow it to carry out any more nuclear tests, he said. Answering a question of a children, the President said exploitation of the ocean was more difficult than the exploitation of space. The exploitation of the oceans was restricted due to difficulty in reaching its depth. Dr Kalam, while answering another question on India’s major achievements, said building of a rocket using indigenous technology was one of the milestones of Indian science. He said with this technology the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would be able to put its spacecraft into orbit in 2007. Regarding apprehensions about nuclear waste, he said the country had developed a capacity to dispose off nuclear waste in a way which would not cause harm to either mankind or nature. Answering a question which took him back to his days as a scientist, Dr Kalam said the the most difficult challenge he had faced during his career as a scientist was manufacturing the heat shield for the Agni missile using new carbon material. On the difference between a scientist and a philosopher, Mr Kalam said philosophy was a way of life whereas contributions made by scientists could lead to benefits for society. Thinking, however, was common among both, he added by way of a light comment. Later, the President also addressed a leadership conclave organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Dr Kalam exhorted planners and private entrepreneurs to generate greater employment opportunities in rural areas of the country. He said only this could help bridge the divide between the urban and rural areas besides creating wealth for the country. He said to eradicate poverty a 10 per cent growth was needed in the gross domestic produce of the country over the next 10 years. Dr Kalam also stressed the need to avoid any social or economic discrimination. He said this was necessary to attract the best scholars from all over the world. Recalling the glory of the historical Nalanda University, he said attempts should be made to reverse the brain drain which had resulted in scholars and scientists moving out of the country. Calling for a need for creative leadership, Dr Kalam said governance should use the latest technology and be transparent and responsive to the needs of the people of the country. |
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Kalam favours indigenous passenger aircraft
Bangalore, August 20 Delivering the JRD Tata Memorial Lecture on “Vision for aeronautics missions” at the Indian Institute of Science here, the President said the proposed commission could plan, develop and mandate the design which could send an Indian passenger aircraft soaring into the Indian skies. This would surely make the late J. R. D. Tata smile, he said while recalling his efforts in developing an aviation industry in the country. The President said taking up such a project was important as India was expected to be one of the fastest growing countries in the aviation sector. He said by 2020 there would be a demand for around 60 aircraft with a capacity of 300 plus passengers, 30 with a capacity of 200 and 70with a capacity of 150 passengers besides other small aircraft. He said a national aeronautics policy could also be formulated to ensure better use of the strengths of both the civil and military aviation sectors. Dr Kalam also called for an integrated development of a supersonic unmanned combat aircraft, a hypersonic reusable missile and launch of planetary missions, including manned missions aimed at generating more energy and water for the country. Later, while talking to newspersons on the sidelines of the function, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G. Madhavan Nair said preparations for India’s maiden mission to the moon was progressing very well. The ISRO was also conducting talks with the United States for a US payload which could ride piggy back on the Indian payload during the lunar mission. He said a memorandum of understanding had already been signed with the European Union for a similar payload, he added. Mr Nair said ISRO was awaiting clearance from the European Space Agency for the launch of the fourth generation INSAT satellite INSAT 4A. He said integration work on Cartosat - II was on and it would be ready for launch in December. |
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Patna, August 20
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Rights panel serves notices on cops
Hyderabad, August 20 Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports that due process was not followed while carrying out the arrest of the Naxalite sympathisers on Friday, the commission served notices on DGP Swaranjit Sen and Hyderabad Police Commissioner V. Dinesh Reddy. The commission headed by Justice B. Subhashan Reddy, after a special sitting, sought a report from them by August 22 ‘on compliance of guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the D.K. Basu versus the state of West Bengal case wherein the apex court laid down the procedures for the arrest of anyone’. |
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UN project to check AIDS
New Delhi, August 20 It would be followed by a day-long sensitisation-cum-orientation workshop on trafficking and HIV in which policy makers, representatives of the government, UN representatives, experts, NGOs and individuals from networks of trafficked survivors and people affected with HIV/AIDS would participate. |
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Rain hampers rescue operations
New Delhi, August 20 The Russian-made Kamov-28 submarine hunter helicopter-proceeding from Goa to Vishakhapatnam- carried six naval personnel of which four were feared killed. The copter lost contact with the ground control almost 25 minutes after it took off from Dabolm Naval Airbase. |
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